First Year

Since the day that stories about the Black Devil began to circulate in the Kingdom of Rhamian, a shadowed figure always appears at night, he hates the light, it is said that he hunts the weakest beings, often slaves who disappear when the sun emerges on the horizon.

No one has ever seen his real appearance, some say he shouldn't even have one, darkness is his only form, but some lived after an encounter against such evil.

Discredited by people, even by those who believe that the Black Devil exists, two ex-soldiers who swear on their feet together to have survived this apparition, however, several people just wanted to brag about never having met the infamous Black Devil.

That's how even the creators of this entire legend were discredited and thrown into oblivion. So the days passed, in addition to vague rumors about supernatural beings, something shook the whole kingdom, a hero will finally emerge in these lands, wearing white and golden armor that gleamed on the battlefields, guaranteed him the title of Hero of Light.

But it wasn't all flowers, on the other side of the ocean, demons seemed to stir for some reason, maybe a turnaround in the world scene that would help them.

However, neither humans nor demons could predict what the world had in store for them, as far from the big cities or news, a man was taught every day, whether it was about culture, various types of fighting, survival techniques, etc.

With black hair tied in a ponytail, he wore old leather clothes, also wearing a cloth coat, he carries several packages on his back as he climbs a steep mountain with his bare hands.

This was Satoru Seigi's life, last year, since the day he asked for help from a demon named Hilda, he practiced with various types of weapons every day and even went back to practicing Kendo, something he could never forget, even after so long his passion was rekindled.

Sometimes he had to leave to go to a nearby town or city because he didn't get tired and could run faster than anyone else, he made this difficult and long task something easy and fast, taking only a day to go and come back.

He got money by attacking slave wagons whenever he could, that was one of Hilda's conditions to help him, freeing slaves, but that was the most he could, after freeing them they were on their own.

However, he continued to have difficulty talking to others, whom he did not know, this made it difficult for him to purchase, but in the end, he always managed, earning the nickname of silent shopper wherever he went.

What didn't apply to his current master or her protege, when he finished climbing the mountain, he came across a small fortification made in the rocks, Satoru and Hilda never discovered what this place was or why it existed, but they didn't.

They mattered so much with these details, the fact was, apart from the two of them, it was practically impossible to get here without flying or having the strength to climb for hours on end.

"I'm back." Satoru opened a thick wooden door and was soon surprised by a figure jumping on it.

"Big Brother!" A young girl of now 11 years happily jumped on the incoming figure, Envy, who lived in this small fort, adored Satoru especially when he came back from town.

“Hey Envy, you're going to knock me down like this.” Balancing on the girl's sudden jump, Satoru nearly fell over on his back.

"Do you mean to say I'm fat?", said the girl with puffed cheeks.

Awkwardly, Satoru sighed, no matter how much time passed he couldn't handle this girl properly since he decided to protect her, he took care of her like she was her sister.

"Well, if I fall, you won't get your gift"

Only nobles cared about birthdates in this world, so everyone else celebrated on the first day of the year.

However, Satoru decided to celebrate Envy's birthday every time autumn started, as it was the same season when he first met her.

"Eh? Seriously, present? At where? WHERE?"

The excited girl returned to the ground and started looking at Satoru's back who only laughed at the girl's attitude.

"Only at dinnertime."

With Envy's face dejected upon hearing the sentence, Satoru followed her down a corridor until he exited the kitchen, stopping there, he got rid of most of the things he had brought, including a large piece of meat and a bag of salt, luckily in the last few weeks he's made a lot of money.

Keeping the gift hidden with a cloth, he tucked it behind the barrel so Envy wouldn't find the gift. Luckily, she didn't usually go into the kitchen much, so even with the lack of places to hide, it was enough.

When going to the center of the fortification, in the arena he saw Hilda swinging a spear in the air, she trained every day, in this one year living with her, Satoru found out very little, only that the woman belonged to a race called Daemon, and that was a former general, however, he never found out which army or how she ended up here.

Another thing was that the term "demons" was created by humans to so generalize them as threats and not need to memorize the names of various races, but the "demons" themselves didn't like that, so calling them by races was best to be done, which is why Satoru memorized all the names.

From what Hilda had said, there were a total of 6 races: Dwarves, dark elves, demons, succubi, harpies, and beast-men.

There should be one more race, the high elf, however, it seems they sold the other races in exchange for an alliance, so they were considered enemies also by other races.

Apart from that, most were as Satoru himself knew, even giving him comfort in knowing that this world was indeed an isekai, even if not as cool as the ones he read in books or watched on TV.

"Mind if I join?"

There was one more spear lying there on the ground, Satoru took it and climbed into the arena.

"Hmmm" Hilda just looked at him and adjusted her posture ready for the confrontation.

Satoru took off his cloth coat and played outside the arena before he was 1.70 tall, but in this one year his height jumped to 1.80, even he didn't understand it, but not only his height, his muscles also grew rather, if you looked at him now, you would think that he is already a man in his twenties and not a 17-year-old teenager.

Satoru placed his left foot in front and his right behind, both slightly bent while holding the spear at waist height with the spear in hand.

Hilda maintained the same posture as he as she stared at him with her yellow eyes like a tiger's. In the past, Satoru would have been afraid of that, but now, he had already fought several times against Hilda, enough to know that she attacks aggressively, but with impeccable precision.

The two started walking without letting the other get farther or closer, often a first move could end the fight. Suddenly Hilda slammed her right foot forward and thrust her spear at Satoru's head.

He raised the spear using both hands making it stay vertical with the bottom up, making Hilda's attack miss his head.

Taking advantage of his mistake, he held the spear in his right hand only and made the point facing the ground towards the daemon.

Which, in turn, tilted his body and jumped to the edge of the arena, immediately investing with a horizontal cut.

Satoru deftly dodged and lunged, Hilda took advantage of her advantage and flapped his wings, dodging and attacking at the same time.

Satoru dropped the spear and jumped to the side dodging, as soon as he escaped, a tentacle of black goo came out of his fingers and grabbed the spear he had dropped bringing it back to his hand.

"Two can play this game," he said confidently, swinging his spear. Hilda didn't say anything, but Satoru noticed that her expression tightened, which made him feel a chill on his back.

Then, numerous thrusts were taken in vital points of his body frantically and relentlessly.

Faster and faster, the young man moved in hopes of blocking everything, but seeing the limit of what he could keep up with, he changed the position of his hands and when Hilda attacked again, he swung the spear with all his strength causing Hilda to lose her balance.

Swinging the spear, it was Satoru's turn to take the advantage, granting several horizontal attacks and switching to diagonal cuts, leaving no gaps for his enemy to escape, he finally amended several lunges in the end, however, he made a mistake in the end, opening a gap in the change of position was more than enough for her enemy to adjust her spear and hurl her full force at her target's head.

Not enough time to think, Satoru blocked the spear with an attack, but he didn't realize what was coming next, a fist slamming into his face and knocking him out of the arena.

A few months ago he would have said that it wasn't worth it, however, Hilda always said that in the real fight there is no phrase “that wasn't worth it”, with this fight it was 24 to 9 for Hilda.

By the way, Satoru was the only one who was counting, for him to try to beat her without depending too much on the thing, it was much more challenging, which helped him a lot to learn how to study his opponent.

Suddenly, clapping sounds were heard coming from the other side, it was Envy sitting clapping, she loved to see the two fight, Satoru even fought her a few times, but it was obvious that the poor girl was missing a lot.

"Satoru, prepare the food, Envy, come up, it's your turn!"

Still, on top of the arena, Hilda pointed the spear at Envy who was in shock, Satoru just ran towards the kitchen while putting his coat back on.

"EH! Big Brother get back here! DON'T LEAVE ME!" His wails were in vain, seeing his big brother's figure hidden by the closing door.

⊛⊛⊛

At last, it was time to eat, Envy walked into the dining room down, her body aching all over, her workout seemed to be going well from Satoru's vision.

But she didn't complain too much, as she had asked for it, luckily Hilda seemed to go easy on children, which took some of Satoru's worry away.

Dinner was simple, a large piece of meat each and a piece of bread, and also a glass of wine for Hilda while the other two drank water.

Envy still had difficulty using a knife and fork, but she was making good progress, it was quite impressive how quickly she learned things, even managing to memorize the stories from the manga that Satoru told her.

Hilda didn't even try to learn and just threw them away, which made Satoru a little sad that she didn't even try, afraid he didn't dare say anything and just kept his mouth shut.

"Hey big brother, when can I go with you?" - Still chewing food Envy spoke as she also pointed the knife.

"First finish swallowing the food, then follow where?"

“I don't know, like going into town would be soooo cool.” She walked over to Satoru and grabbed his arm.

Not knowing what to do, he sought help from Hilda who got up with the dirty plate and went to the kitchen.

"Maybe one day?" With his face turned away, he tried to look convincing in the answer but failed.

“I even stopped calling you uncle…” Envy went to get her plate as she muttered unsatisfied.For Satoru, it was difficult to deal with her, mainly because she was so agitated most of the time, however, he knew something that could cheer her up, waiting for the two to leave the kitchen, he took the plate and took it to the keg of Water.

Making sure no one was in the room, he bent down and picked up the bundle he'd saved, by which time she'd usually be wandering around the walking stick.

"Envy, come here"

Satoru found her practicing with the spear, so she wouldn't see him with thepresent in her hand, he kept it hidden behind his back.

"What was it?"

She was still upset, but it was normal for someone whose entire life had been cut off from most of the world to want to leave, however, Satoru got into a lot that wouldn't be said if he had to protect her as well.

Therefore, he and Hilda entered into an agreement that she could only leave when she reached thirteen years old, with this she would be better trained and ready to face the world and people, after all, holding her for longer would be almost impossible.

"Well, if you're in such a bad mood, I don't think you'll want your present," Satoru said shaking his head as if he was going to turn around to leave.

"Eeh! Gift!" Envy jumped from the arena, all gleeful.

Seeing that she will return to her usual self, Satoru smiled and showed her the gift.

Without even thanking Envy, she took the gift and opened it in a hurry, when she saw what it was she was happy and hugged Satoru.

“Thanks, Big Brother is the best."

Awkwardly, Satoru scratched his head, even though he didn't quite know what she would like.So he chose to choose something she needed, Hilda herself had told him that she used short weapons better like daggers, so he spent a good amount on a pair of iron daggers.

And lastly, it was something he had gotten from a trader in slaves he'd stolen, a necklace with an emerald, that's what he called playing it safe, women love jewelry, much as he doubts Hilda likes it.

"So how was it?"

Lost in thought, Satoru came back to reality when he saw Envy showing how the necklace had turned out.

"Not bad."

Even sincerely praising her, she ended up getting sulky again, and Satoru didn't even realize what her mistake was, for him it was easier to understand the thing.

Looking from a distance, neither of them even noticing, Hilda smiled seeing them interact, then she went to her room.