Chapter 11: Despair Harvested

11.0

The galloping sound of hooves became soft as the coach came to a halt. Once the light rocking to John’s ride stopped, the noises from outside became audible to him.

“When will this blockade be over? I have an important product to deliver to noble!” said one.

“You soldiers, as if I don’t pay enough in taxes, are you that desperate for corruption money that you finally come for us outside of Registoria?!” said another.

“Quit your empty blockades! Everyone knows you imperials soldiers don’t do anything to protect us small townsfolk and villagers.”

John who was resting himself after his impromptu sightseeing, opened his eyes upon hearing those words. A roadblock on his way back to a place as obscure as Parac Village was unheard of, to add, imperial soldiers who never left Registoria are now carrying it out the blockade.

What is going on?

“The southern area is currently blocked for all vehicles! Should anyone wish to travel further, they would have to go by foot. This are the orders from the Immortal Emperor himself!!!”

Following that declaration from an imperial soldier, John felt the coach lightened, the coachman who had been wielding the reins to the horses climbed down the driver’s seat, footsteps could be heard approaching him.

Knock, knock, knock, the door to the coach sounded.

“Mr. Sarvod, Mr. Sarvod? May I have a word with you?”

John squinted his brows for a moment but he quickly reacted and opened the door to face the elder gentleman.

“Sure, what do you need.”

The coachman placed a hand at his chest and lowered himself into an apologetic bow.

“I am regret to inform you that we won’t be able to reach Parac Village today. There seems to be an emergency down south.”

John blinked, he could not believe his ears. Parac Village was the next stop to the south after this small town, it made no sense that a village as insignificant as Parac had something serious happened to it.

In any case, all emergencies that could be found down south could be simply handled by adventurers in Purefold Town, making it harder for John to think of any complications that have caused this blockade. After all, the adventurers are the protectors of Parac Village.

His feet became cold.

A feeling of unease stirred in John’s gut.

“A-and what do you suggest?” he tried to suppress his emotions but stuttered instead.

The coachman replied, “They have not banned entry with horses as of now, this of course, might change as the night goes on, I highly suggest Mr. Sarvod for you to take a night here and—”

“I want to go back now, I promised my family. In the first place, I should not have kept them waiting, I want to honor my promise.”

The elder gentleman wanted to say something to him, but swallowed his words upon seeing John’s conviction.

“Understood.”

“Is there a place here that sell horses?” John said as he exited the coach and looked around the small town. But to his disappointment, aside from the horses that the merchants had by their carriage, there was not a single stable in this place.

“If I may, you could use one of mine.”

His eyes widened at the coachman’s offer, John wanted to refuse but before he could, the elder gentleman spoke.

“It is only a short distance to Parac Village, I assume you won’t be needing an extra ride elsewhere after this, correct? Once you have travelled far enough you can just let them come back to me, I assure you my horses are capable of returning to me.”

“Are you sure that’s fine?”

“Of course, I’ll prepare them for you in just a moment, please make sure you haven’t forgotten your belongings.”

The coachman quickly moved to the horses and began to remove the reins that connected one of the horses to the coach. John quietly retrieved his two bags from where he sat earlier and moved to where the coachman was.

“Alright, that should do it,” the elder gentleman had a hand on the newly equipped saddle on the horse that he intended for John to use. The man leaned into the horse and said to it, “Be swift but gentle,” before gesturing for John to climb onto it.

With his two bags hung by his sides, John climbed onto the horse one foot after another, it had been a long while since he last rode a horse, he can’t help but to wonder that he might have lost his touch at riding one.

“Thanks, umm…” John said to the coachman his voice faltered when he realized he did not know the coachman’s name. “I’ll be going now, see you sometime later in the campus.”

“All the best to you, Mr. Sarvod and safe travels.”

John cracked the reins, prompting the horse to move at incredible speed, just like that, he left the light filled town travelled into the dark roads ahead.

The clacking sounds from the hooves of the horse gave off a certain tune as he leaned close to the animal as they galloped in the wind.

Cold air brushed against his thin clothing, causing his body to shudder as his tighten his grip on the reins.

I… Should have had more clothes on…

Though the seasons changing meant that it would become warmer as it progressed through the next few months, however, riding a fully sped up horse in the night was an entirely different situation.

Still, John did not shrink from the cold, he clenched his teeth as his hands firmly held onto the reins. If anything, his was getting restless the longer he spent time on the dark roads.

It will be fine, it will be fine, I am just arriving a little late, once I open the door and see their faces, everything will be alright.

He comforted himself over and over, doing his best to convince that his unease was just no more than a baseless hunch.

Despite that, Ephinelyth’s words from earlier reverberated in his mind.

“Dezarith Empire is dangerous.”

“Your life might be in danger.

“Please bring you and your family out of the Empire.”

John’s face turned into a scowl, he did not like that her voice still lurked somewhere in him after he spent his whole afternoon trying to forget the heated conversation they had.

He had decided that he would cut ties with the dragon girl the day after he finish reading that article he found in the restricted section of Moxnet’s library. In no way, John was going to have her disrespect him after all that, she voided their promise, she left him waiting without an answer, especially after she took his lips in hers during the ball…

At the very least… Don’t lie to my face when you have clearly forgotten about our promise.

She did contact him a week since then, but when she claimed to have sent letters to him when he never got a single note his anger worsened.

The Elder Dragon who claimed to be all high and noble was no more than a filthy liar when it suits her.

That was not the only thing that disgusted when he recalled her voice.

Ephinelyth’s tone of urgency when she pleaded to him to leave the empire, reminded him of the tone of voice that he used when he protested his innocence in front all of A’vetheas. It was the very one where he would use whenever he tried to convince someone of a certain matter that required immediate attention

One that he often used as he was a child to his parents.

His parents that treated him no more than a dancing monkey, a tool and symbol for their social standing.

“Arghh! Shit!”

John cursed as his head throbbed in pain, he shook away the memories of his childhood as quickly as they have surfaced in his mind.

Whether that day that he was engulfed by a blazing fire was real or just a trick of his mind, he did not need to experience it now.

Not when he was still uncertain of what caused the blockade to Parac Village…

All of a sudden, the horse stopped in it’s tracks, raising its hooves in such a horrified manner that it almost caused John to fall off the saddle.

Thankfully, his arms were strong enough to keep himself from dropping to the ground.

“Woah, woah, woah!”

After some skillful redirection of his ride, John managed to steer the unwilling horse a few meters backwards.

“Guess this is how far you can to take me, huh?”

The horse let out a snort as reply, it remained stiff to the ground and did not move any further.

“Aight, I can already see the village lights already,” John said as he hopped of the horse with his belongings. “You can go back to—”

Neighh!!!

The horse made the same gesture by raising its frontal body and its hooves in the direction of Parac Village once more before it vaulted away from John and returned to where the dark roads they came from.

“Is it me or the animals here are more hostile?”

He watched as the horse ran in a speed that was much faster when he rode it. If the darkness was not playing tricks with his vision, he could have sworn that the horse was trying to say something to him.

Whatever, its not like I will be riding it anymore.

John shrugged away that thought and continued on his way, his eyes automatically looked about his surroundings as his strolled his way in the cold night.

In front of him was a well-lit Parac Village, the lights that came from it made it seemed that the village was holding an unofficial banquet for some important noble, perhaps, for him even...

Though it was a rare that small villages like Parac would have celebrations in the night, especially when its inhabitants consists of people who chose to have quiet lives, still, it was not a sight that he would worry over.

“I wonder who is the important—”

John stopped and chocked on the air he inhaled.

“Ack! Ack! Ack! What’s that disgusting smell, it smells like rotten fish…”

His voice became quiet when he saw the gathering of a group of unusual people in front of the Harvest household, the streets, the neighbor’s lawns, wielding staffs, maces, shields, bows, axes and whatnot.

“Adventurers? Why are they here? What do they want from the Harvests…”

His voice became small.

It was then did the smell of rotten fish register in John’s mind.

No…

Something happened.

No.

John bolted from where he was at and ran to the house that he was the only home he knew. But before he could reach the doors, he was stopped by two men who placed themselves in his path.

“Watch it kid, you don’t want to go further, or you just might loose your appetite—”

“Move!” John wrung his shoulders as he pushed and managed to slipped past the two adventurers.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t allow that,” one of the men caught up to John an placed an arm in front of him.

“I need to know what is going on, please!” John said as he slid away from the man’s blockade

The man immediately unsheathed the broadsword on his back, barricading John from going forward. “No, this is a crime scene, we are told to keep it as such until help from the empire arrives.”

“Why are you people doing here!?” John having caught a glimpse of red from beyond the open doors of the Harvest household, lost his patience. “Adventurers have no rights to restrict a citizen’s movements! Where are your permits!?”

“I am afraid you aren’t allowed to meddle with our business, as a random passerby—”

“I live here! All of you are blocking my way back home! So, if don’t have the required permits, you better get out of my way!” John demanded, eyes still glued to the open entrance of his house.

His heart thumped as loud as it did back when he and Raina encountered the three men in that unknown human town, as loud as it was when he was trialed before all of A’vetheas, he felt though he was thrown back to a time where his powers meant nothing.

They have to be alright, they have to be safe.

John’s eyes squinted into an aggressive glare at the man in front of him, at the adventurers who had gathered in Parac Village, at their empty expressions towards him, it did not matter what gender they were, their age, their equipment, how strong they are, if the adventurers were to put up a fight with him and keep blocking him, he’ll have to resort to…

“Let him pass.”

The voice came from a bald adventurer who was leaning against the fence by the front yard, he had an eyepatch over his right eye, thick muscular arms, bronze skin that indicated the time he spent underneath the sun.

“But leader…”

“Pull him back when he oversteps his boundaries, a runt like him will shut up when he sees it.”

The man nodded, he stood aside and cleared a path for John to where his house was.

The man moved away, a thick foul stench pierced his nose, it was the same rotten fish smell that alerted him to hurry back.

But that did not bother him.

What bother John more was the open entrance.

And the red stains that his eyes saw.

John swallowed.

This is all a big misunderstanding, I am sure nothing serious is going on, I am sure of it, that’s the only explanation isn’t it? Nothing big ever happens in this village, Miros said so, Miros said so.

He took a step forward, another…

Miros said… s-so…

When he reached the entrance, he lost the strength to his legs.

Bam!

The wood beneath him resounded loudly as he dropped to his knees.

Miros and Itzella Harvest, or what was left of them…

John’s breath became shallow, his eyes shook in their sockets.

“No… N-no…”

Their bodies, limbs, organs, intestines, all their flesh and bone, shredded and exposed in bits, their dark crimson blood smeared the walls, celling and the ground.

Their two heads, in all their decapitated state, left on display on the wooden floors that he once walked on, watching him with their tongues hanging out.

His vision blurred itself before he could make out the details of the scene before him.

“…no. This can’t be…”

John slammed his arms on the ground weakly.

“Why… What happened…”

His fingers dug into the wooden floor, his eyes glued to the scene before him, he desperately wanted to look away in fear, but he forced his head forwards despite his blurred vision.

John shook his head.

No… This must be fake, they were supposed to wait for me to come back.

Even right now, with the horrifying scene burned into his retinas, the stench of their torn flesh, exposed intestines, withering his sensitive nose, John found it hard for this to be his reality.

“Who did this…?”

The adventurers who were watched him from behind became silent. His words were like a wild beast’s growl, ready to lash out at any second, the adventurers simply looked away from John when their eyes met.

“Miros, Itzella…”

John got to his feet, he returned a woeful gaze to the Harvest couple. Wondering what had he done for them to deserve such a fate.

A-all I did was…come h-home late…

His shaky hands extended before his chest, reaching towards their tattered bodies in hopes that he would use [Heal] to revive them.

It was impossible. He knew that a life lost could never be returned with his healing magic, he knew that he might not even restore their corpse from the bits and pieces of…of…what’s left of them…

“[H-hea—]"

Before he could chant his magic, a few adventurers appeared behind him, locked his two arms into an unbreakable hold and yanked him away to the outside.

“That’s enough, you are not going to tamper with the crime scene.”

John resisted, he used all the strength in his body to free himself from them, but the harder he tried, the stronger the adventurers’ hold against him became.

“Let me go… I want to see them. Please…they are my family,” John’s voice was shallow, his felt that his heart was about to break the further his distance and the Harvests household grew.

I need to know what happened to Miril, Mera and Meli too…

Thud!

John was flung onto the road. The adventurers only looked at him with lowered brows as they shook their heads at him.

“Miros… Itzella…” he crawled on his fours, in attempts to return to where the Harvest couple were, where his family had—

Tears filled his eyes. His body became weak, he no longer fought against what is now his reality.

They truly are dead. Body beaten, squashed, bashed into smithereens, their blood splattered to all the walls.

He’ll never have the chance to speak to them again, John can never tell them how grateful he was for their hospitality, he could no longer share the same meal with them, never have another chance to Miros and Itzella’s warm smiles…

…

…

…

The world around him became quiet. The background noises that Parac Village once had while he lived here was no longer to be heard, all replaced by the metallic clacking and clanging of the adventurer’s equipment.

“The neighbors…”

It was then did John noticed it, the people of Parac Village.

None of the villagers were to be seen.

The doors to each of the neighboring houses were either opened, destroyed or both at once, in front of each of those respective houses were wrapped body bags, body bags that closely resembled the shape of a cocoon, except that these black cocoons were filled with the dead who will never emerge to see the light of day.

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An attack on Parac Village.

The grim expressions on the adventurers are proof of that.

But why are the adventurers now here cleaning up the aftermath?

He dropped his body to the floor, laying on it as though it was his bed in Moxnet. He needed to calm down, to regain his composure, to take in the horrible realization that the Harvests… that the Harvests…

“That boy… What a poor thing.”

“The last thing we need after cleaning up is to take care of some victim of this attack. Be thankful Purefold isn’t attacked.”

Quiet conversations from the adventurers could be entered his ears as John wallowed in silence.

“Still no information on the assaulters?” another voice asked.

“No, but from the looks of it, only monsters belonging to mythril rank can do this.

“Mythril! B-but those kind of monsters don’t exist in the empire. Even leader from who is Orichalcum rank can’t handle monsters like that on his own.”

“I am so glad the danger detector got sabotaged or we might have lost or our lives. We don’t get paid enough for bullshit like these,” another voice chimed in.

Following that comment were a few murmurs of agreement.

“I mean, who in their right mind would want risk their life to defend a backwards village. Their lives probably aren’t even worth anything.”

What!?

John’s eyes opened wide to what he just heard.

The adventurers were the protectors of Parac Village, they were the insurance for this village’s safety. Instead of mourning and holding a funeral for the deceased, they were instead belittling his deceased family.

John knew something was up when the adventurers around him exuded a feeling of relief, negligence, given that a massacred had happened in the village. The apathetic look in their eyes…

“Leader! We’ve found 3 more bodies in the nearby forest!” A man from beyond Parac Village ran towards the man with the eyepatch and reported.

“Their conditions?”

“Same wounds on their neck region as the rest of the villagers.”

“Any indication to why these three bodies are found in the forest?”

“N-no, not that I know of. Though they seem to be younger than most of the villagers here. I suspect that they are the children, from the first house.”

If his heart was not broken already, that news entering his ears became a mighty boot that stepped on the pieces of his shattered heart, rending them to nothing but dust.

“Miril, Mera, Meli…”

The names of those three came from John’s lips. There was no doubt about it, in Parac Village, only the Harvest household had children who have yet to reach maturity of eighteen years of age.

For just a moment, his body paralyzed at the sight of the three body bags that were being dragged into the village. His eyes glued to the body bags until they were laid on to the ground with a resounding thud.

He wanted to collapse, all the energy that was in his body left him.

But he couldn’t do that just yet, not when his eyes had not confirmed it.

John’s legs moved on their own, the various adventurers called out to warn him of possible curses and poison that were left in the newly arrived corpses but John could no longer hear them.

All the voices that filled his head were his own.

It’s my fault… If I had not wasted time, I might have made it back earlier…

He crouched besides the body bag that had the smallest sized corpse in it, John brought a trembling hand and pinched the zipper, pulled it down slightly…

“Meli.”

Small nose, tender lips…

His eyes became heavy, the acid in his stomach bubbled threatening to vomit when he found her corpse.

John closed Meli’s body bag, he gently patted her as he moved to the corpse that was beside hers. He thought he was prepared for it when he saw Miros and Itzella’s bodies, but he almost cried the moment he saw the young girl who lived barely a decade became nothing but a corpse.

John would never get to speak to Meli anymore, the drawing set that he bought for her…

Would forever remain ungifted.

His heart became wrenched of all hope.

This next body bag that was in front of him, one look at its exterior was all he needed to know who’s corpse was in it.

“Mera…”

Still, John had to see it with his own eyes to confirm it, he lifted his trembling hand once more.

Before he could, a loud voice boomed behind him.

“What do you think you are doing, runt!”

John, despite overwhelmed by woe and grief for his family, was able to turn to face the person who stood solemnly behind him. It was the man with the eyepatch, the leader of the adventurers.

“…”

“I don’t know what your problem is, but I have tolerated you enough, runt! You don’t get to come into a crime scene and start opening body bags, jeopardizing all of us to possible curses and poisons. All the while pretending these people to be your family, while you look absolutely nothing like them!”

The leader of the adventurer’s must have seen the insignia on one of the bags he carried, because in addition to the sudden hostility that the leader had for him, the next thing John felt was dirt kicked in his way.

“…”

“Now scram to whatever rich family you have and go back to your silly academy! We don’t need empire trash here, go and complain to your all powerful—”

He understood that the adventurers disliked students who enrolled to Moxnet Academy, he knew that they intended to do their jobs until the authorities from Registoria arrived, he knew that they wanted to things intact before they are examined.

But to be insulted in front of his dead family while the adventurers themselves clearly did not come to their aid against whoever attacked Parac Village, and to accuse him of pretending to care for the Harvest just because he shared no blood ties with them.

“What do you know?” John said in a low threatening voice.

The spark of anger was ignited in him the moment he learned of the adventurers failure to protect the village. Now, it has manifested into a great conflagration, fueling him with a desire to clash with this so called “Orichalcum ranked” adventurer.

“Huuuh!?” the leader made a sound as to challenge John.

“I said, what do you know!?” John stood firmly and faced the eye-patched man. “What does someone who did nothing to protect this village while it was attacked by some dangerous monsters know!? You may be Orichalcum ranked, one of the most powerful people in the Empire, but you did not do shit when it mattered the most! Every single person who lived in this village has died because of all of your incompetence! So, I ask, what in the world do you know about me and my family!?”

Despite how small his stature was compared to the leader of the adventurers, John’s resolute voice blasted through the quiet Parac Village, garnering each and every adventurer’s attention.

Some even flinched when his eyes met theirs.

All of you… You are glad that you did not arrive on time, didn’t you? You are glad that only worthless lives are lost, aren’t you?

He would remember the conversations he overheard until he die, he would have this incident reported, reported to Kaldor so that the adventurers would be held accountable for negligence of duty and—

A humongous punch came flying at his cheek, behind the punch was the weight of the large muscular man, it collided against his body and smashed him a few good meters downwards.

The ground beneath John split into two as his tailbone sent a jabbing pain up his spine. John instinctively made a silent cast of [Heal] it was enough to negate any further damage to the rest of his body, but the injury was so severe that even [Heal] had a hard time negating that sensation.

“[Heal]…” he casted his familiar healing spell once more, but this time it was by chanting, it instantly recovered his dented jaw, fractured neck and a possible broken ribcage that had not healed itself during the silent cast.

An amused laughter came from the Orichalcum adventurer, “Ahhh!!! I see why you talk big so big for someone so naïve! Wielder of the [Heal] magic, of course, of course! Of course, someone like you would speak so condescendingly to others! Someone like you will never experience real pain in their lives, always selfish, always reluctant to help others, it is just what you higher tier magic casters do! Gahahahaha!!!”

The adventurer leader laughed, but it was not a joyous one, rather it was one meant to signal John that more pain was about to his way.

“But don’t you worry, all of that stops now. Today… Today is the day I’ll make you Empire dogs feel the pain we adventurers felt all this time. All this time of doing your bidding, of being taxed of what we earned by ourselves, of being told to stay in our placed… I am so sick of it!”

John was still struggling to get up from the soil crater that the leader had sent him into but the leader did not care and pulled the mace that was behind his back, readying the weapon while he watched John like a hawk, waiting to strike at the opportune time.

This sick bastard. I haven’t finish mourning and he comes and attack me…

Despite the fact that John had intended to come back to Parac Village to relax and enjoy the slow village lifestyle, his newly bought mythril sword was still on him.

I’ll play this stupid game of his…

It was sheathed in a special scabbard that camouflaged itself to his clothes, concealed and unnoticed by the man.

While he had [Heal], there was no telling how much his mana pool would last before he ran out.

Compared to the large man, John had no allies to cast support magic on him, he had no one to fall back onto if he was knocked out this instance.

He was alone.

In many more ways than one.

His family is no more, the one person that he had hoped to understand his ‘demonic’ powers was no more than a manipulative person who sought to pull at his heartstrings and used him for the tool he was.

He always had been.

It was the same when he was a child, when he was in A’vetheas, and even more so now. No one truly understood who he was, no one bothered to care for him, no one saw him for his efforts, no one appreciated him for his presence.

Somewhere inside John Sarvod’s overactive mind, he understood it deeply.

Only now, did the realization bothered him.

John raised his fists, with his left fist particularly close to his waist where his weapon was, he wanted trick everyone into thinking that he was unarmed until the eye-patched man came close to him.

He was aiming to take the leader by surprise, knocking out the man before the other adventurers noticed that he had a weapon on him, or else he would end up being ganged on for pulling such a trick against their leader.

This was the only choice he had if he needed to win.

It was his payback.

“Useless runt!” the eye-patched man called to him as he pulled a mace with the size of a ball from his back. “I’ll amuse you, spoiled brat. You were morally claiming that we are incompetent, I’ll accept that. You claim that you are a family of these villagers and care for them despite not having any resemblance to any of them, sure, I can assume that you are an adopted child of theirs.”

What is he trying to do?

Perhaps it was the gleam in John’s expression, perhaps it was how calm he looked while he was facing someone as strong as an ‘Orichalcum rank’ adventurer, or perhaps because he was a Moxnet student, because the eye-patched leader looked into John’s eye and declared.

“But do know this, fellow academy student… If not for the hero of the new generation, Scywell Shatterstep, all of this could have been avoided! All the carnage that you see in Parac Village today, would not have happened!!!”

The man charged.

“Wha—”

Scywell’s name popped in his head, the hero’s face registered in his mind, the hero who was blessed by the Archangel of Compassion, that he was responsible for the attack on Parac Village?

No, no, no, John, focus on the fight.

By the time he came to his senses, the image of a mace flickered before his face, swinging in his direction. He was too late to draw his weapon, and the spikes on the mace dug into his cheeks, ripping out a huge chuck of flesh from his handsome face.

Swish!

John was bashed onto the ground once more as he watched his own fresh blood rained before him. He had silent cast [Heal] on reflex, so the damage to his face was instantly negated, but his eyes were wide open with shock.

His friend, the hero who was thought to be the protector of the innocent was the cause for Parac Village’s annihilation.

“Scywell? W-why?”

John gasped for air. His friendship with the hero’s party, one of the last few things that are precious to him, he could felt it slipping from his grasp.

“Ahahahaha! So, you do know that good for nothing of a hero! As expected of the Empire’s lap dog.” John’s hapless expression caused the Orichalum adventurer to burst out laughing.

“Let me let you in on something,” the man squatted before John who was covered in his own blood, raised a hand and grabbed John’s neck, lifting John close to his and looked him in the eye.

“Your so called ‘hero’ is nothing but a fool who can’t govern the land that was his to protect. Purefold, Parac, Terstan, Hazper, and, Kershent, these are all under his so called ‘protection’ the moment he became the Empire’s toy. If you want to blame someone for your so called, family’s death, blame the naïve hero Scywell Shatterstep, not us adventurers, we aren’t responsible that the imperial soldiers no longer patrol the village.”

“…”

The adventurer leader shoved John to the ground and cast a cold look to him.

“Now get lost, or mourn like the weakling you are if the deceased are truly your family, your choice, runt. And if you continue to interfere with our work, I won’t hesitate to show you your place again.”

John was left on the ground with his empty hands. He could only stare at mindlessly as the realization ate away his sanity.

“S-Scywell?” his face contorted into disbelief, “Angeline, Gobbert, Helen, Randolph, a-all of them? Responsible… For this?”

He couldn’t understand a thing that was happening to him.

The hero that everyone in the academy looked up to, was the reason that security at Parac Village became so weakened that the adventurers have protect them in place of the Empire’s soldiers out of pity. Scywell who wielded powers so strong that he was practically unstoppable if he put his mind to it.

But why had the hero failed to protect the land that was entrusted to him? Despite the power was bestowed onto the hero by the Archangel of Compassion, the hero had failed to protect his own citizens.

John believed that the purpose for power, for any individual, was so that people could protect the things dear to them, it was exactly why he personally had never been selfish in giving help to others should they need it.

If one was born with an advantage in skills, abilities or even intellect, for them to do good onto others with what they were gifted with was something to be celebrated and encouraged.

It was what the heroic legends did, and what those who aspire to become one do. When one had power and status, it was logical for them to uplift others, so that they could create a better world for others to live in.

That was why he protected Raina, it was why John placed himself in front of those weapons that fell onto Meli, it was the reason he jumped down to save Evie despite knowing she would at worse suffer slight wounds from that fall, it was why he agreed to help the hero’s party when Kershent Village was in danger.

He simply, wished to make the world a place worth living in, to give joy to those he cared about—however he can.

And for Scywell to neglect his sacred duty that was given to him, not by the Dezarith Empire but the Archangel of Compassion, was unfathomable. In reality, Scywell Shatterstep, was just like the adventurers who stood before him, they were people who neglected their duty in favor of their own gain.

The adventurers opted for incompetence in their responsibilities, and Scywell choose to waste his time in enrolling to the academy when he clearly had other liabilities.

It was not his duty to judge what people did with their lives, John believed that each was to their own when it came to how they wished to carry out their lifestyle, as long they did not interfere with his, they were free to do as they please. If the hero’s party wanted to attend Moxnet Academy, who was he to deny them.

But when he lifted his head and saw the three bodies of Meli, Mera and Miril...and their parent’s bloody corpses…

John felt useless.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

John slammed his fists to the ground.

Bam!

“Why!!!???”

Again.

Bam! Bam!

“Why!!!?? WHY, WHY, WHY!!!???”

Again.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

And again until he was out of breath, fingers bloodied and bent.

“Why is this happening…”

His voice subsided. John curled up into a ball on the cold dirty ground, he did not care that his blood was smeared over his face, he did not care that whether if monsters were nearby, all he wanted was the pain to go away.

His body trembled, his teeth clattered, cold sweat drenched his clothes. He truly had nothing left for him, his newfound family are now hours away for having their bodies buried into graves, his friends that he thought he could trust his life with were the reason that his family died a gruesome death, as for the dragon girl who he thought was toying with him…

Was actually someone who looked out for him.

Evie told him truth, the Empire was dangerous. The people here are just as selfish and conceited as they were in A’vetheas.

But he burned that bridge with Ephinelyth down, he threatened to kill her should she come close to him once more.

And perhaps… She had sent him letters informing of him that she was not returning to the academy anytime soon.

“I should have listened to her… I am sorry, Evie…” John sobbed like the hopeless mess he was as he counted his wrongs.

Like the Harvests, John would never see Ephinelyth again. He would never get to apologize for what he did, he would never get the chance to right his wrongs.

The Harvests are dead. Ephinelyth will never be a part of his life again.

And it was all his own doing.

He pushed her away. He delayed returning to the Harvests who he could have saved had he been with them when they were attacked.

All because of his selfish decision to spite Evie for not contacting him.

And what did he gained from visiting the various towns?

Nothing.

Nothing but his family’s lives.

His family who were the very first people to extend their warm welcome when he was sent into banishment from A’vetheas.

The Harvest family.

He had everything in his life to live for, everything that he could ever wished for, a perfect family, a great future ahead of him, a dragon girl who despite his dark ‘demon’ powers, still saw him for the person he was.

All John did was to take this blessing that was bestowed on him and defiled it like the accursed being he was.

“T-the elves are right, I a-am a demon… I bring nothing but chaos and pain to the things around me…”

He, John Sarvod, was a selfish swine who ate and bathed in the madness he created, like the broken world around him, he was no better the ones that lived in it.

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