Prologue: The Young man and The Adventurer

He chose this road out of curiosity—perhaps on a whim.

When he saw the signpost with the village name scratched out, he already had an idea what he’d find. And true enough, debris littered the ground like the aftermath of a storm, but the deep claw marks carved into broken walls suggested something far worse.

A village by the edge of a forest where monsters roam from its depths… of course, an attack was always a possibility. The villagers should’ve known that. The hunters double as guards and have defensive measures in place. But sometimes, a monster's strength simply exceeds the defense they could muster.

The scent of scorched wood still lingered in the air—this hadn’t happened long ago. Maybe the adventurers burned the corpses to prevent disease.

The young man’s black coat brushed on the ground as he knelt to pick up a soot-covered teddy bear. He set it gently beside a splintered doorframe—one of the few structures still standing.

“Young man, do you have family in this village?” a voice asked from nearby.

“No… I’m just a passing traveler,” the young man replied. He got up and turned towards him.

“What happened here?”

“Everything happened so fast… right after we heard a howl of the beast, monsters from the forest… those orcs raided this settlement, killing everyone on sight. I was one of the few that was fortunate to run away and survive… but rest was…”

The man trailed off. He wore light armor over a brown coat, coupled with a sword on his hips suggested he was an adventurer.

“I see…” The young man gazed at the nearby tree where four large lines clawed on its bark.

“My condolences.” He nodded with respect.

He walked past him and continued on his way.

“By the way… There is a hamlet an hour on foot from here, forking along this route… It’s now dangerous to camp outside with these monsters roaming around.

Stopping his pace, the young bowed in gratitude before he proceeded.

A few steps later, a small familiar clink of metal reached his ears.

“Fuck…”He cursed in a whisper. Mask manifested in his hand, and he fixed it on his face.