“Our lord has returned! Let’s go!”

That was the first thing I heard in the morning as I stepped out of my house. In the distance, creatures appearing to be demons were scurrying away from my family’s farm. It’s my second time seeing them in person. Despite that, I do know a thing or two about demons, though it’s mostly heard from the other villagers.

Firstly, their lord, the demon king, is apparently super powerful. He had singlehandedly taken on the human army when he was only five.

What a responsible kid, already protecting his people from their enemies at that age. He may be the bad guy, but I do admire strong people when I see one.

Next, all of the demons are super loyal towards him. Well, that's to be expected since he's the most powerful one among them.

Lastly was something I overheard some demons in the forest say while I was out chopping wood. The demon king had been away from his castle for the past eight years. No one knew where he went or what he was up to. The demons were lost and depressed, it's like they don't even have the will to fight anymore.

It was only recently that some demons had decided to get themselves together, hunting the animals and cattle near the human nation. Had their prey run out in their territory? Or had they abandoned their loyalty towards their king and decided to slowly invade the humans?

From what the demons which had just ran away said, the latter was impossible. The news of their king returning made them run back as if they were a maiden whose loved one had just returned from war.

As for me, I'm just a potato farmer living in this peaceful village near the outskirts of the nation. Life was simple, we never had to worry about anything except the weather and how our potatoes were growing. Funnily enough, my parents named me Hiro, which sounded like "hero". If anything, I'm far from being one.

I wonder if the demon king returning would mean bad news for the humans. After all, having too much peace is kind of unsettling! It felt the whole “calm before the storm” thing people talked about. On the other hand, I’m rather curious about the demon king as well, since he was only seen as a toddler back then. Now that decades have gone by, he should be an adult, right? Unless demons age differently from us.

Though… If the demons really were to invade the human nation, what should I do?

Heaving a sigh, I picked up the basket of potatoes near my feet and returned to the house. There’s nothing a normal guy like me can do.

…

It has been a few days since the return of the demon king. The other humans seem to not know about that yet, which means the demon king had not made his move so far. This is rather concerning, I doubt I could bribe them to leave my family alone with just potatoes, as delicious as they might be.

I swung the hose around as I looked up at the clear blue sky. How long will this peace last?

“Urk-!” A voice was heard from not too far away. I turned over, forgetting about the hose which was spraying water in my hand.

The result of that: a drenched stranger.

“Oh sh- I’m sorry!” In a panic, the hose slipped from my hand, wiggling wildly as it descended to the ground like an aggressive snake.

Result: I’m now drenched along with the stranger.

After finally turning the tap off, I rushed over to the man, who seemed to be in shock.

“I’m so sorry about that!” I apologized. “Please come with me to dry yourself-!”

Although he didn’t seem to be upset, the guy refused to move, as if his feet were nailed into the ground. He kept staring at me with this weird look, as if he had seen a ghost. But I was certain that I haven’t met anyone like him before.

I would’ve remembered if I had ever met someone this good looking, after all!

“Mister?” I called out to him, to which he flinched in response.

“N-no, thanks. I’m fine.” He finally spoke.

“You’ll catch a cold if you go around all drenched like that! Besides, it was my fault that you’re in this state. At least let me dry your clothes!” I insisted, but with each step I took towards him, he would take a step back.

Do I look that scary to him?

“I said I’m fine-!” He snapped suddenly, then as if realizing what he had just done, he covered his mouth as he muttered an apology that was barely audible. If I could use a word to describe that, it’d be “cute”. The vibe he gave off reminded me of one that’s similar to an animal’s - wary, yet not of a bad nature.

“Haha, don’t worry about it! I’m just a farmer, I won’t hurt you! You’re an adventurer, right?” I asked, taking note of the sword on him.

“... I’m not an adventurer. My village had just been destroyed by the demons, so I’m heading to town, that’s all…” He mumbled. But that’s a lie, isn’t it? There hasn’t been words of any villages being destroyed or raided for years now. The last demons ever spotted were the ones I saw a few days ago. Besides, didn’t he come from the direction of the forest? There aren’t any villages there as far as I know.

It’s obvious that there’s something up with him - the way he reacted to me, the way he lied about his village being destroyed but he didn’t appear to be upset about it at all, and how he’s trying to go into the town because of that… Yet I feel compelled to believe in what he said despite not understanding why myself.

However… I’m not that shallow to believe in his words just because he’s cute, am I?

“But… The demons haven’t been active for years now.” I said. As expected, he was shocked to hear that.

“I-...” He paused, then ruffled the hair near his neck. “Okay, you got me. I’m not from a village. I’m actually… from one of the noble families. I ran away from home because I couldn’t stand them. But… there’s no place for me out here.” He turned away as he said that.

A son of a noble family…! No wonder he was trying to lie about who he is.

“I see… That’s why you seemed so wary of me… But don’t worry, I won’t harm someone from the noble family!” I reached a hand over to him. “Now will you come with me to get dried up?”

“No way!” An unexpectedly quick response. He even took another step back away from my hand, which was left hanging. What has this guy gone through to be so afraid of strangers?

Oh, right, I’m still a stranger to him.

“I’m Hiro!”

“Huh?”

“Now that I’ve told you my name, I’m not a stranger anymore. So you can come with me now, right?” I asked. Announcing my name out of nowhere was rather embarrassing, especially when it sounded like I’m claiming to be a hero.

He kept silent for a moment. The look on his face had changed slightly, now it just felt like he was judging me. I knew it, it was all because of my name…!

“... I’m Nico.” He looked at me, then let out a long sigh. “I just have to get dried up and you’ll let me go, right?”

I found myself smiling at the reply. It’s the same feeling of getting a wild animal to trust you by feeding it with your bare hands.