It has been three days since I started living at Hiro’s place. It felt like a fever dream, a demon king living together with the hero? What an absurd idea. It sounded like a scenario from a fanfiction!

On top of that, I was made to share a room with Hiro, even though I said that I could just sleep in the living room. It’s a good thing that I have enough mana to make the disguise last through the night, though it got dangerously close one time. I had to quietly chug an entire bottle of mana elixir after being woken up by the system’s warning. 

As much as Hiro is my all-time favourite character, it felt super weird interacting with him like that. Especially when I wouldn’t know if he would decide to shank me with his holy sword one day if my disguise went off. This is torture… Being right next to my favourite character and yet I have to be on guard all the time…! It didn't help that he's so friendly towards me either. 

I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts as I rolled up the mattress to make room for walking. Opening the room's door, I realized how the village sounded rowdier than usual, to the point that I could hear people shouting when I barely set foot in the living room.

“Nico! You’re up!” Hiro’s aunt greeted me, though her face wasn’t of her usual happy one. This small lady had been chirpy whenever she saw me for the past few days. I wonder what happened to have her make this kind of face early in the morning. “The village is in trouble…!” 

“What happened?” I asked, then glanced around the empty house. “Where’s your husband and Hiro?”

“A group of royal guards came to the village saying that this land is now the property of the royal family.” She explained, her trembling hands were holding onto my sleeves. “My husband and Hiro are now outside trying to stop them from chasing the other villagers out…”

Her grip then loosened as her gaze fell to the floor. She bit her lips, as if wanting to say something. 

It’s dangerous for normal people like her husband and Hiro, who doesn’t have his powers awakened yet, to go up against the royal guards. She probably wanted me to help them out, but I’m currently disguised as a son from a noble family. I can see why she’s hesitating.

“Don’t worry,” I took her shaky hands in mine and patted it once. “I’ll go make sure that they aren’t in danger.”

“R-really? But you are from a noble family… What if they recognize you?”

Well, there’s no way they’d recognize me.

“I’m not that famous, so it’s okay.” I let go of her hands, and stepped towards the door. As I pushed the door open, I could hear her telling me to take care and be careful. I nodded in response, it’s not a bad feeling, having someone who cares about you. It has been awhile since I’ve had that being said to me. 

Stepping out of the house, the noise from the crowd had gotten louder. I followed the sound all the way towards the center of the village, where the villagers and royal guards were gathered. 

“With our village gone, where are we supposed to go?” A villager cried.

“Even if it’s the royal family, we cannot allow this! This is our livelihood!” Another added. 

“We will not move out of the village!” 

“That is not up to you to decide.” The man donned in fancy armor spoke. “The king has spoken, all the villages at the outskirts will now be used to expand the kingdom!”

“This is our home!”

“Then you’ll just have to move your home elsewhere.” The royal guard forced his way through the crowd, knocking over the men easily with just a swing of his arm. What a distasteful sight, seeing the royal guards treating the nation's villagers so roughly. The rest of the guards followed behind him, ignoring the men who had fallen over as they marched forward. 

Until they arrived before me. 

“Step aside.” The guard commanded.

“No, I don’t think I will.” There's no hero in this village, but there's someone who's supposed to be the bigger villain here. Like hell if I'm going to just let them take over this place on my watch. 

Also, I couldn’t get that look on Hiro’s aunt’s face out of my mind. Who am I to refuse the lady who brought up Hiro?

“Are you tired of living? We’re the guard from the royal palace! And I’m commanding you as the commander of the royal guards to move away!” He bellowed, as if increasing his volume would make me do as he said. 

“Nico…!” A voice called out from among the crowd. I tilted my head slightly to get a better view, and surely enough, it was Hiro, squeezing through the rest of the villagers to get to me.

The commander however did not give me the luxury of greeting our dear protagonist. With his hand clenched into a fist, he swung it over at me. Similar to the time when I was up against the Broctopus, the punch appeared to be in slow motion as it approached me. 

It was supposed to be an attack I could’ve dodged with ease. 

But it all changed when from the corner of my eyes, I noticed a figure charging towards me and the commander, then forcefully slipping in between the two of us. Why is Hiro doing that? Doesn’t he know that it’s dangerous? Yet in that moment, all I could focus on was the strands of light blonde hair flowing before my face, and how nice it smelled. 

Having the world in slow motion must have gotten me insane. 

Grabbing Hiro by his arm, I pulled him away so he'd be shielded behind me. In his current state, if the punch was to land on him, it’d probably break his nose. Though by doing that, I’ve lost my chance to dodge the attack myself. The punch hit me right in my left cheek, the momentum sent my body turning, but wasn’t enough to make me fall over. 

[Physical damage received: HP -320]

“Nico-!” Hiro grasped onto my sleeve while trying to get a look at my face. “Are you okay?” 

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.” I shook my head lightly to ease the numbness in my cheek. Glancing back at him, our eyes met for a second, and it was easy to tell that he was worried. How ironic, having the hero worry about the demon king unknowingly. But it was as if irony is contagious, I blurted out the next words. “I won’t let them take the village, so just leave this to me.” 

Hiro stared up at me, he was probably in disbelief. After all, I don’t have my sword with me, and his only knowledge of me was that I’m a son of a noble family A.K.A a rich boy who is probably useless in a fight. Still, he hesitantly nodded, then telling me to be careful before stepping aside. 

“Hey, you. You’re from the royal palace, right?” I turned to the commander. “Is this all you have?” 

Forget about charisma, this is not an encounter I will talk my way out of. 

“... Khh!” Ooh, there it is, he’s annoyed. “Get him!” 

The guards readied their weapons, pointing the sharp ends at me. Do they really need to do that just to deal with one person? Considering the corrupted state of the nation, they'd probably kill everyone in the village if that's what it takes to clear this place out. With a wave of the commander’s hand, they charged towards me. 

I suppose I’ll just have to deal with it like this. 

One by one, I dodged their swords. If there’s any quick time event in a full body controlled VR game, this is probably what it felt like. With them wearing helmets and metal plates, it’d be hard to knock them out like what I did with the Broctopus back then.

Using Hellfire or Poison Rain here would be a bad idea as well, the entire village would be burning and melting within seconds. If that’s the case… Then I’ll just have to use this!

Dark Lightning!

[Dark Lightning - LVL Max. A bolt of lightning that will bounce off every enemy within the radius, dealing dark and electric elemental damage. 35% to inflict stun upon hitting a target.]

A bolt of dark purple lightning gathered before my palm, although it didn't hurt, I could feel the static from the skill. I controlled the orb to be the size of a baseball, it'd be bad if I ended up killing all of them using one single attack. The guards stopped in their tracks, but the commander charged forward with his heavy two-handed sword, he was clearly aiming for my arm. Before the sword landed, I thrusted my hand towards him, and the bolt was shot out, leaving a trail behind as it zoomed through the space between us. 

With a spark, the lightning bolt touched the metal chest plate on the commander. The commander spasmed, letting out a loud yell as the lightning shot through his body. The guards behind, upon noticing the attack, began to turn away and run. But how could humans outrun a magic spell? The lightning soon found itself to its next nearest target, zapping them. One by one, the yelling continued. From where I was standing, I could see the looks on the villagers’ faces. They were in awe, yet afraid of this magic that could defeat even the royal guards. 

The royal guards fell onto the ground, the groans and moans indicating that they weren't dead from that, which was good. The lightning bolt then shot towards the villagers, but dissipated before it hit anyone. 

Among the villagers stood Hiro, who stared at me with widened eyes. 

My cover wasn’t blown yet, right? I’m just a regular human who has picked up a little magic, that’s all. 

“It… stopped.” One of the villagers muttered.

“It only bounced between them because they were all wearing metal armors.” I shrugged, walking through the fallen guards and towards the villagers. “Anyway, your aunt is worried about your uncle and you, Hiro.” 

“... Oh.” Hiro stared at me. Then quickly shook his head. “Wait, that’s not the point!”

Your aunt who’s worried sick is not the point?!

“You… Beat them using magic!” Hiro’s eyes were almost sparkling with excitement as he exclaimed. “You’re so powerful! Did you learn magic while you were running away from home?”

“... Yeah. I know a few tricks or two so I could protect myself.” 

Murmurs came from the crowd, before one of the men began cheering, then more followed after.

“The royal guards had been defeated!” 

“He saved our village!”

Wait… 

“Our hero!!”

No!!

This is wrong! It wasn’t my intention to be the hero here at all! I was just helping out because…

Because of what? Hiro? His aunt? The village?

It just felt like the right thing to do, no matter what the reason was.