A boy raised by a demon king and a dragon king seems to be peerless in his school life.

Volume 7 Chapter 36 Preparedness

‘Silver Knight Roland.’ His name was a bit of a celebrity in the kingdom.

He had earned numerous tales of valor, from slaying stray dragons to crushing notorious criminal organizations, rising to the gold rank at a mere eighteen years of age.

Among the many adventurers, he stood out for his extraordinary feats, accomplishing them with remarkable vigor. Now, he had turned his blade towards Max. The reality of this situation left Max feeling incredulous.

“Show my determination…?”

“Yes, I’ll swing this sword at you with all my might. Since it’s still in its sheath, it won’t cut, but it’ll hurt quite a bit.”

The sheath of Roland’s sword was made of the same silver as the blade itself.

If struck with such a chunk of metal, it would be fatal for an ordinary person. Even though Max had trained as an adventurer, his physical capabilities were not significantly superior to an average person. A poorly aimed blow could cost him his life.

The surrounding adventurers understood this, so they thought Max would give up. However, Max’s response was quite unexpected.

“Sure, go ahead,” Max said, with a resolute tone that contrasted his usual light-hearted demeanor.

The adventurers couldn’t help but hold their breaths at Max’s newfound courage.

“If you thought I’d hesitate and pull back, you better reconsider. I don’t entertain such naive notions,” Roland calmly and coolly replied.

Upon hearing those words, Max felt a cold shiver down his spine.

This guy was serious. Max’s adventurer’s instinct told him that. However, he couldn’t run away for Ruisha.

Max summoned all his bravado, grinned, and provocatively said, “Are you sure you’re not the one who’s scared? Heh, even a gold rank adventurer isn’t that impressive, huh?”

Instead of being terrified, Max’s taunting words surprised the adventurers. Roland’s intimidating aura was so strong that even they, with no involvement, felt like running away from this place. Taunting Roland like this was insane.

“What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to do it?”

“…Alright.”

Roland slowly gripped the hilt with his right hand and assumed a stance with his sword.

“Come on,” Max was about to say, but in that instant, Roland’s arm seemed to disappear.

Of course, it didn’t actually vanish. Roland swung his arm so swiftly that it created an illusion, and he thrust the sword into Max’s abdomen.

“…!”

It hurt. It was a pain beyond description that Max couldn’t even comprehend.

Every hair on his body stood on end, and sweat poured out. His vision reddened, and the sensation in his abdomen vanished in an instant.

In the face of this excruciating pain, Max’s thoughts circled back to him, and he oddly thought, “Surprisingly, you can’t see your life flashing before your eyes.”

“Max!”

Marl, rushed to Max who had collapsed helplessly. Max’s body had turned surprisingly cold, and spasms racked his body visibly. Sensing the urgency of the situation, Marl quickly cast a potent healing spell.

The adventurers were stunned by the scene. No one dared to laugh at Max anymore. While everyone worried about the valiant adventurer, the lone knight in silver armor continued to aim his blade mercilessly at Max.

Everyone thought that the sword would strike again, but suddenly, a large claw emerged and deflected the blade.

“Hey, lay off my comrade!” a fierce-looking adventurer, Munba, intervened, pushing between Max and Roland. He was equipped with his favored claws and was ready for combat.

“Oh, weren’t you opposed to what he said just a moment ago?”

“Shut up. I changed my mind! Anyway, sheathe that sword of yours.”

In agreement with Munba’s words, the surrounding adventurers rose, glaring at Roland. Some even rested their hands on their weapons.

“…Heh. Looks like I’m the bad guy here. It seems the victory is yours.”

As if responding to Roland’s words, Max slowly rose, leaning on Marl for support. His legs were shaking, and his breath was labored, but he seemed to be conscious. Slowly starting to speak, he said,

“Heh, Munba… so you’re standing up for me…?”

“Tch, I’m not heartless enough to refuse a man who’s been through this much. Come on, hurry up and talk. You need our strength, don’t you?”

In agreement with those words, the adventurers nodded.

Max rubbed his teary eyes, attempting to hide his emotions, and began to explain to his fellow adventurers what was about to unfold.

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Volume 7 Chapter 37 Player substitution

“I never expected you to bring so much support! Amazing, Max!”

“Heh, hehehe. It’s worth the effort when I get praised like that by you, big bro.”

Max, feeling shy, scratched his head as he received praise from his respected companion, Ruisha.

Temporarily leaving the front lines, Ruisha approached Max. The adventurers were handling the confrontation with the demon tribe.

“…But seriously, Max, your sweating a bit too much? What’s wrong?”

At those words, Max flinched internally. The pain from being punched by Roland a little while ago hadn’t completely subsided, and that’s why he couldn’t stop sweating. However, he didn’t want Ruisha to worry if he found out he had gone through such an ordeal. So, Max decided to keep this fact hidden from him.

“Heh, well… I guess it’s from all the running.”

“Hmm, just from running? I wonder if it’s normal to sweat this much from running.”

Ruisha looked at Max with a skeptical gaze. However, seeing that Max wasn’t willing to talk, he gave up. He thought it would be uncouth to force information out of him if he didn’t want to share.

“Brother, we should leave the adventurers to handle this and focus on finding the main enemy.”

“I’d love to, but are you really okay with that? There are still quite a few demons around.”

At first, there were about 150 demons, but thanks to Ruisha, their numbers were reduced to nearly a hundred. However, there were only about forty adventurers in total. The breakdown was two gold-ranked, seven silver-ranked, and the rest, about thirty-one, were a mix of bronze and iron ranks.

Gold and silver ranks might stand a chance in one-on-one fights, but anyone below that rank wouldn’t fare well.

“I think I should stay too…”

“Don’t worry, lad. We’re tougher than you think.”

Interrupting the conversation, Roland, the knight clad in silver armor, spoke.

“Indeed, many gold and platinum-ranked adventurers are currently outside the kingdom. I’ll risk my life to fight here. To repay the heroes present and more.”

Saying this, Roland glanced briefly at Max.

Ruisha didn’t understand what was being conveyed, but he knew of Roland’s capabilities, having witnessed his movements when he saved the young boy earlier. With such skills, he wouldn’t fall behind in combat against the demons.

“The kingdom is a comfortable home for us adventurers. We won’t let it be taken by outsiders. So, young man, do what only you can do.”

“…Understood, I’ll do my best here. Max, I’m counting on you too!”

“Sure thing, bro! Leave it to us!”

Satisfied with Max’s enthusiastic response, Ruisha nodded and turned to run. From his pants pocket, he pulled out a small, flute-like wooden carving and blew into it.

A high-pitched sound echoed through the area, and after a moment, a massive shadow appeared in the sky.

“Squaaaawk!!”

With a flap of its large wings, appeared Palom, the giant wise parrot that Ruisha keeps. Palom had grown quite proficient in various skills as Ruisha, dealing with moments of leisure, had imparted numerous teachings to the already intelligent Wise Parrot species.

Palom flew at a low altitude and positioned itself beside Ruisha, who was running. Confirming they were at the same speed, Ruisha hopped onto Palom’s back and urged it to gain altitude.

“Good job, Palom.”

Saying this, Ruisha patted Palom’s head, and it happily chirped.

“Now, where could the boss be…?”

Although they were flying, Ruisha had no idea where the boss of the enemies might be. Even scanning the kingdom from above, nothing unusual caught his eye.

…However, giving up was not an option. Ruisha widened his eyes and carefully scanned the entire kingdom. Suddenly, something peculiar caught his attention.

“…Again.”

Ruisha saw something akin to a mysterious aura, something he had witnessed several times in the past, floating in the sky. It resembled the view through his Dragon Eyes, but with slight differences.

These peculiar auras were drifting all around the kingdom, but one place stood out where the aura was unusually dense.

It was at the top of the ‘Destino Clock Tower,’ the second tallest building in the kingdom after the castle.

There was no concrete evidence.

Yet, Ruisha had a strong foreboding emanating from that place.

“Palom! Head to the rooftop of that clock tower!”

“Squawk!”

Palom energetically responded and sped through the sky, aiming for the clock tower.