Yosai was much more distinctive than Obuch.

The most eye-catching thing was that the half of the village that was facing the forest was protected by a wall.

Everything inside was very different as well. All of the people's lives have been made to fit the 'danger'.

But it wasn't like this from the start. This village used to be just like every other village, until the mabeasts' attacks started happening.

Nobody knows when or why they started happening, all that's known is that this was the turning point for this village.

At first it was abandoned. Who would want to live under the threat of those monsters after all?

But then the mabeasts started attacking the other closest settlement, so to combat the danger from these mabeasts, Yosai was rebuilt from the ground up.

At first they didn't make it a village, they made it a fortress that was only needed in the season the mabeasts would go crazy.

But the mabeasts ignored the fortress. What was the point of hunting hard food, when there was easy food not too far away?

It was then that Yosai was forced to become a village once again. The mabeasts need some insentive to go here after all.

This was also the reason it was such a big village in both size and population. The insentive has to match the danger or else it won't be worth it.

But let me ask the question on most of your minds... does all of this even matter to the story?

Not really.

The person whose adventure we are following doesn't know any of this and never will.

But that doesn't mean that this description is something that must be ignored.

Of course some people would see this as a waste of time, but some will see it for what it is and appreciate these small little tidbits.

But we cannot spend too much on this 'worldbuilding', as that would take us too far away from the main story.

So let us follow our little protagonist once more.

He's the main star of the show after all.

.▓▒░▒▓▒░▒▓▒░▒▓▒░▒▓▒░▒▓.

Shinyu: "It's so big!"

We were looking out of the carriage at Yosai.

Cylob: "What did you expect? A plain fortress?" I look at him.

Shinyu: "Kinda. I mean... it's dangerous there, is it not? Why not just make it a fortress?" He turns to me.

Cylob: "Mabeasts need mana to live. Is there going to be a lot of mana in a small fortress with a small amount of people?"

Shinyu: "I guess not..." He slowly starts understanding.

Cylob: "They would either have to make it a village, or find some other way to make a lot of mana. The village path is much cheaper, but also harder. There has to be some value in making a village here specifically, and there also has to be a good reason for people to live here after all."

He blinked with a straight face a couple of times.

Shinyu: "It's impressive how much you know about stuff like this."

Cylob: "It's called common sense." I look at him with the most poker face I can.

Shinyu: "I don't really think it is..."

I shrug.

Cylob: "It's common sense for me. If you just think, everything will most likely make sense."

Shinyu: "I see... wait. Is that a jab at me?!"

Cylob: "That's up to you to decide." I do a mischievious smirk.

Shinyu: "The more I talk to you, the more confused I become! Can you please be straightforward?!"

Cylob: "I'm pretty sure I can't."

Shinyu sighs and looks at Yosai again. He looks at the forest and at the wall surrounding the village.

Shinyu: "That's where we'll fight, huh."

Cylob: "Yes."

He keeps looking, but then he suddenly raises his eyebrow and tries to lean forward further. I stop him with my hand on his shoulder.

Cylob: "You wanna fall out, or somethin'?"

Shinyu: "Ah, sorry. I just thought I saw the mabeasts already coming out of the forest. There's no way that's true, right?"

?: "It is true."

Shinyu: "Huh?!"

We both turn to the knight who said that.

knight: "Did you think that they would come out all at the same time? No way. At first there's going to be small waves of them, and the waves will become bigger and bigger until the main one. But even that isn't the end. The waves will still come, but this time they will become smaller and smaller until they fully stop coming. It's how it always worked and how it will work this time."

Shinyu: "So what I saw was the small wave, huh."

knight: "Yes... Although it is weird."

Cylob: "What is?"

knight: "We should've arrived before the first waves started coming, but it seems like they are earlier than expected."

Cylob: "Is that bad?" Don't be my fault. Don't be my fault. Don't be my fault. Don't be my fault. Don't be my fault.

knight: "Eh. It's nothing much. Even though this 'early awakening' is rare, it has happened a couple of times. And we'll be there for the main wave, so it's fine."

Thank god.

I still have a question th-

Shinyu: "If the waves are structured like a curve, then why did you distinguish the main wave so much?"

He beat me to it.

knight: "That's because there's always a leader for the main wave. The total number of them is also Ten times bigger than the previous and next wave."

Ten times?! The leader is not called that for no reason, huh.

Cylob: "Why weren't we told all of this previously? This seems like important information."

knight: "They will tell you everything as soon as you arrive, so you'll have to listen to everything I said once again."

So we basically wasted our time.

Shinyu: "Then how do you know about this?"

knight: "This is my second time here. I've also read a lot about the world as a whole, and that includes mabeasts."

So he knows a lot about mabeats? Let's test how much he knows. It's not like I have anything better to do.

Cylob: "Do you know about Wagpigs then?"

knight: "Yes."

Cylob: "What's their weakness?"

knight: "Their belly. Are you testing my knowledge or something?"

Cylob: "Yes. I want to see how far normal knowledge can get you in this field."

knight: "Bring it on then! I take a lot of pride in my knowledge on topics like these!"

It seems like Shinyu decided to take a backseat in this conversation.

Cylob: "Do you know Snow Blight?"

knight: "Hoh. That's not a widely known one. It's from cold environments like Elior Forest. It doesn't really have a weakness. It's a primate-like one."

Cylob: "Do you know Elgina?"

knight: "Elgina... Isn't that a snake-like one from Volachia? You seem to know a lot, huh."

Cylob: "Yes. What about Courtesan Bear?"

knight: "...That one is from Kararagi. Or at the very least it used to be there. Nobody knows where it's now."

Cylob: "Do you know about Hungry Horse King?"

knight: "...No. I don't know that one. Who are they?"

So this is where the wall of knowledge stands for normal people. Good to know.

Cylob: "They are from the underground of the Augria Sand Dunes. They are one of the most powerful mabeasts ever. They can regenerate everything including their horn. They have the body of a horse and the top half of a human. Except! Instead of their heads they have their horn which twists quite a lot. Their mouth runs vertically from belly to chest. They can't see, but their hearing is incredibly good. Their fur is also constantly on fire, which they can use to throw fireballs at you." Along with my verbal explanation, I visually showed them where some things are and how they looked like.

Shinyu: "...How do you know so much about them?"

Cylob: "I've read their description. I've also seen a drawing of them."

knight: "Where did you find information like this?"

I feel like I have to lie here. I don't have any other way of getting out of this situation.

Cylob: "I don't really remember. I just remember them being very memorable, but where I read it, I don't remember."

knight: "*sigh* What a shame. I bet it would've been quite a good read."

Maybe. I liked Re:Zero, but I'm not sure whether you would've liked it.

Shinyu: "I told you it's not common sense!"

Cylob: "That's a fast change in topic. But yeah, I guess you're right. It's nowhere near common sense." I look down at my hand.

Just shows how distanced I truly am..-

Shinyu: "I can almost see them fighting the mabeasts already!"

He was once again leaning out of the carriage, so I had to pull him back once again.

Cylob: "Can you stop trying to kill yourself please? The Divine Protection Of Wind Evasion is not all powerful, you know?"

Shinyu: "Sorry, I'm just too excited! This my first ever real mission! How can I not be excited?!"

Cylob: "I'm not telling you to not be excited, I'm telling you to stop trying to kill yourself."

Shinyu: "Sorry! Sorry!"

Cylob: "You better be, 'cause I'm really angry right now."

He kept looking at me... until-

Shinyu: "Heh."

Cylob: "What's so funny?"

Shinyu: "You already get angry for me. I say that's good progress."

Cylob: "Of course I'm gonna get angry if you try to kill yourself! What's wrong with you?! I'm not that heartless!"

Shinyu: "Hehe."

Cylob: "Please stop laughing. I'm getting really pissed off right now."

Shinyu: "Hehe."

Cylob: "YOU-"

I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

And when I open my eyes, Shinyu is once again leaning out of the carriage, but this time it's not too far away, so I don't have to pull him back.

I join him in looking at Yosai.

Cylob: "Why did it take you two times to stop doing that?"

He turns to me with a big smile on his face.

Shinyu: "I'm not sure. I guess I just wanted to talk with you more, I really enjoy it."

He enjoys talking with me? But I do nothing but tease him. How can that be enjoyable? Sure, he's teasing me back, but still! How can that be enjoyable?!

Cylob: "You enjoy it, huh..."

Shinyu: "Yeah, I do." He says with a geniune smile on his face.

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That knight wasn't lying, huh.

I was walking around Yosai at night. It has been 2 days since coming here.

When we arrived here, we were briefed on everything around here.

Me and Shinyu already knew most of the stuff, but that doesn't mean that we knew everything.

We will take turns guarding the wall until and after the main wave, where all of us will fight at once. We will have a place to stay at, which we can't go too far from. All of us have to strictly follow the rules... except for me.

What did you expect? I'm not really a knight and I have connections to people like Crusch, so of course I would have no 'chains'.

This means that I could literally do nothing and everything would be fine.

I'm not necessary in the best way possible!

But since I have nothing to bind me, this also means that I can work more than others.

It's a true test of will, some might say.

So I worked as much as I could... without impacting the newer knights training.

Yes, that's an excuse, but can ya blame me? And from my perspective it was quite a good excuse as well.

I didn't want to kill literally every single Kyopug after all. That would leave nothing for the knights.

So I took some breaks... maybe too many, but who cares! I still worked more than the average knight.

When Shinyu was on duty, I would talk with him as well. Our conversations weren't that much different from the ones in the carriage. The biggest difference was the fact that we sometimes talked about Kyopugs, their behaviors and such.

Kyopugs are dog-like mabeasts. They are the exact same as Wolgrams except for their fur. They are much more fluffy and the colour of their fur is... white? grey? biege? Anyway!

It's said that they came from cold places and their fur was originally for protecting them from the cold, but now it works as pseudo armor. And it works quite well. There's another property of the hair, but it only affects me, so I'm not gonna talk about it right now.

They can be a pain to cut sometimes, as such, knowing their weak points is a must.

Of course the eyes are the weakest points, but that's not all.

Their legs have less fur than their body so it's easier to cut. So naturally the best part to cut is the part where the legs and the body come together. From that part you can cut into their bodies much easier.

Their ass is also a weak point, and you can guess why.

Switching from the topic of Kyopugs, I was really enjoying my time here.

But the problem was... I wasn't really getting much out of the fighting.

I didn't feel myself improving in any aspect and honestly... I kinda expected that.

I already had some pretty ugly fights and I was constantly training, so there wasn't anything here that could 'pull a trigger'.

I didn't get better at conserving my mana. I didn't get better at body enhancement (still my weakest part). I didn't find new strategies to use my abilities.

I felt like I was wasting my time here.

But I was hoping that all of this stagnation would end on the main wave.

It was probably the only thing that could give me a run for my money over here.

It was supposed to happen in about 2 days, so me walking around Yosai right now wasn't a problem.

Why am I walking around Yosai? I decided to take a break and I'm bored.

Being bored has actually been a big problem for me so far.

I've gotten so used to my computer and phone, that being without them made me EXTREMELY bored.

I have some songs in my head that I could fall back onto when I'm too bored, but most of the time I didn't do that, since I would probably get tired of them that way.

So most of the time I just had to endure my boredom, which wasn't pleasant in the slightest.

That was the reason my mind sometimes went for the most obscure topics.

Now that I think about it, the royal guard that came with us left for Abiate as soon as we got here.

Their activities are becoming more and more suspicious. It's almost like they're searching for something or someo-

?: "You bastard! Come back here!"

I look at the source of the sound.

I could see a small kid running away with something in their arms, while a man was screaming at him.

The man wasn't trying to follow the kid, so the kid managed to easily get away.

man: "Damn bastard." He says through gritteed teeth.

The man walks back into his shop.

This could probably cure my boredom.

I use Mana Sense and follow the kid.

But before I could turn the corner where the kid was, I hear him speak.

?: "Damn humans! I hate them I hate them I HATE THEM! If I was a human I bet that they would've treated me differently! But no! I have to steal for scraps! I hate them! If I had the chance I would've killed them all...!"

Ah, that's right. This boy has dog ears, so he's a demi-human. That's a lot of hate though. Is the descrimination against demi-humans this bad?

A small bit of silence followed, before something splashing on the floor could be heard.

?: "...Why? *sniff* Why did my parents abandon me? *sniff* I don't want to be alone. *sniff* I just want to have a home. *sniff*" 'I just want to have a safe place...'

I feel really bad for him... can I do something?

...

I don't feel like I can. I can't take him under my wing, and I can't think of any way I can permanently improve his situation.

I could give him some money, but that's not gonna solve shit.

...

I can't leave him like this though, can I? Even if giving money won't be a permanent solution, I should atleast do that, right?

...

What do I do?

...

This situation is way too complicated for me.

It's a combination of parent neglect, descrimination against demi-humans and many other factors.

...

I hate this perpertual cycle of hatred that the descrimination causes, but I have my own business to do. I don't know anything about politics, so getting involved in them is a death sentence.

I know that this is normal and that I shouldn't get involved in stuff like this, but... why does my heart cry like so?

This was happening in the slums of the Capital as well, but I didn't get this kind of sympathy... because I never went there, huh.

I'm so good at shit like this. I never went there because I wanted to focus on my goal, and this would just be a distraction.

That was my excuse for never facing the harsh realities of this world.

I'm more pathetic than Felt... For some reason that didn't feel like a good insult at myself.

Probably because Felt is in the Royal Election, so it's completely understandable that a boy from the modern times would be more pathetic than her. Volcanica deemed her worthy after all.

*Metaphorical slap on the cheeks* I'm getting carried away. I got lost in thought once again. Thank god I used Thought Acceleration, so not much time passed.

Now that I'm back on topic tho... What the hell do I do?

...

I'll try talking with him first.

I turn the corner and the boy reels back as soon as he sees me.

He tries to run away, but I block his path.

I could see the shock in his face at how fast I was.

But he immediately abandoned that expression for a crying one.

Fake tears? Impressive, but I've seen how you really feel. I can't say that I'm completely immune to them tho.

boy: "Sniff. Please don't hurt me!"

Cylob: "What's your name?"

boy: "Carl. Sniff."

That might be a fake name considering how smart this kid is.

Cylob: "Why did you think I was going to hurt you, Carl?"

Carl: "Because, you're scary! Sniff. Popping up like that in the middle of the night is scary!"

Cylob: "I see. That might've certainly been scary, but I don't think your personality could've changed so much just because you got scared. Your fake crying isn't working on me, you know?"

Carl: "Sniff. I don't know what you're talking about."

Cylob: "*siiiiiigh* Listen, I mean no harm, but if you keep lying to me like this, I might not give you money."

Carl: "Money?" His expression changed to a more hopeful one.

Cylob: "Yes, money. But you're gonna have to drop the act, and I'm gonna have a talk with you."

After looking at me with teary eyes for a while, he finally gave up.

Carl: "Fine." He looks down at the ground.

Cylob: "Good. Do you have anything you would like to get off your chest?"

Carl: "Huh?" His head shot straight up at me.

Cylob: "I said I'm going to have a talk with you, not interrogate you. So? Do you have anything you would like to get off your chest?"

...

Carl: "No." He said with a serious face.

Cylob: "I told you to drop the act, didn't I? Or do you not want the money?"

Carl: "How do you want me to act then?!"

Cylob: "Say everything on your mind. Even if it's hurtful and you would feel like I would punish you for saying something like that. If you don't, then you won't get the money."

He kept looking at me as his expression got angrier and angrier.

I could see him slowly breaking the shackles that he put on himself to stop himself from getting in trouble.

I could feelhim clenching his teeth and clutching his fists.

And then he broke-

Carl: "You know what?! FINE! I DON'T EVEN CARE AT THIS POINT! I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU! ALL OF YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS PIECES OF GARBAGE! YOU HUMANS ARE THE WORST! WHENEVER SOMEONE SEES A HUMAN ON THE ROAD, THEY THINK (in a moking voice:)"Oh, what a precious soul! Let me give you something!" BUT WHEN IT'S A DEMI-HUMAN, THEY TREAT HIM LIKE GARBAGE THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST!" Tears start forming in his eyes. "I HATE THEM I HATE THEM I HATE THEM! Why do I have to be treated this way!? Why does everyone hate me so much!? IT'S NOT FAIR! *sniff* Why can't I be treated the same as them?! Why do I have to suffer like this?! Why did my parents have to abandon me?! Why does the world hate me so much?! Why... *sniff* WHY DID I HAVE TO BE BORN?!"

...

He keeps crying as his tears and snot cover all of his face.

Carl: "Why does everyone hate me so much? *sniff*" His voice becomes quieter and quieter.
"Why is everyone so scary? *sniff*" His final tears drop from his eyes.
'Why do I have to exist?'
...

...

"At this point. I would rather di-

A sword comes for his head, as he barely manages to get out of its trajectory.

He falls on his butt with the angriest expression possible.

Carl: "I KNEW IT! You were lying! Just like everyone else! You piece of shit!"

Cylob: "What do you mean?"

Carl: "You lied! You said you wouldn't bring harm to me! And yet you did! You liar! Why does everyone lie?! Why..." his expression changes from angry to sad, "did my parents have to lie? *sniff*"

Cylob: "But I'm doing you a service, am I not?"

His face immediately fills up with anger once again.

Carl: "You-! You just tried to kill me! How is that a service?!"

Cylob: "But you said you wanted to die, right? Or did you lie to me about that as well?"

He gets a little intimidated by my tone.

Carl: "I-..."

Cylob: "Answer me."

Carl: "I-... Alright! I don't want to die! Is that you wanted to hear?!" He covered his head with his arms in fear.

Cylob: "Yes." I sheath my sword.

Carl: "...Huh?" He looked at me while still covering in fear.

Cylob: "I hate people who lie, but I hate people who lie to themselves even more. So don't you dare say that you would like to die. Every life is precious and valuable, and yet you're saying that you could throw away all that value? I say that's bullshit. You want to live. You want to get back at the world that wronged you. You want to find out why the world is this way. You want to change the world." I take a deep breath. "You don't want to die."

His eyes widen as tears start forming in them again.

His eyes start filling with a child-like innocence.

Carl: "Why...? *sniff*"

I get on my knees and hug him.

Cylob: "You're safe now. Let all your feelings out. I won't let anyone hurt you right now."

*sniff*

"Why... did my parents leave me?"

*sniff*

"Why... does everyone hate me?"

*sniff*

"Why..."

*sniff*

"Why is... life so hard?"

*sniff*

...

...

...

"WAAAAAHH!"