Vol 1 Chapter 7 – Survival【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

Going back in time a little.

Right after Allen Norsh defeated the Evil Eye King.

True to the Demon King’s final words, the Evil Eye Castle triggered a tremendous explosion, scattering debris all across the continent as it blew apart.

Caught in that blast, the black-clad knight was spectacularly blown away, crash-landing in some unknown part of the continent along with the rubble.

The aftermath of the explosion spread as an earthquake, causing damage to the land below.

And yet, despite being caught in the explosion at point-blank range, Allen was completely unscathed.

While his former comrades were falling ill with grief or harboring tragic resolve… …And completely oblivious to the fact that some nation’s king was hatching wicked schemes, the black-clad knight shouted in the middle of a forest overgrown with bizarre plants.

“—Total success! The ‘get-left-alone-in-the-Evil-Eye-Castle-and-fake-my-own-death’ operation went off without a hitch! Dying in the line of duty—the absolute most perfect retirement scenario! And against the Demon King, no less! Going down in history as a dead legend makes me look way too cool!”

Usually taking great care to act cool and composed as the ideal knight, he let it all out now that there were no prying eyes.

“Man, constantly worrying about how people saw me and acting like a hero every single day was literal mental torture. Every mission was about catching criminals with screwed-up heads and ridiculous strength, or dealing with peerless demons and magic beasts invading from the Demon Continent. If I failed, it meant the end of a nation. It was physically exhausting, dealing with enemies like that. If I kept that up for another few years, I definitely would’ve gone bald. No doubt about it.”

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Allen clutched his head and rapid-fired his complaints.

Deep in a frontier forest, with absolutely no trace of human presence around, Allen was purging all the darkness that had built up in his heart.

It was a sight guaranteed to completely disillusion his fellow 【World Knights】, but fortunately, they weren’t here. However, his one and only partner who did know his true self was.

“—You really put on a serious face and said, ‘I leave the world to you,’ didn’t you, Allen? I nearly burst out laughing at that moment.”

Suddenly, a cute voice echoed through the forest.

The purplish-black longsword strapped to Allen’s belt—the 【Thunder-Annihilation Sword Asmodeus】—turned into particles of light.

The particles converged once more, restructuring into a humanoid form.

What was revealed was a cute little girl with her purplish-black hair tied up into twin buns on either side of her head. Her round, dot-like eyebrows were incredibly adorable.

Unsurprised by the highly abnormal sight of a sword turning into a person, Allen replied with a slight, wry smile.

“I kinda just said it in the heat of the moment, you know? Thought it sounded cool.”

“I bet Nozes is overthinking it and getting the wrong idea as we speak.”

The Thunder-Annihilation Sword turned little girl—Asmodeus—twirled the parasol in her hand while staring off into the distance.

Perhaps because she was able to take human form for the first time in a while, the little girl took a deep breath in the forest in high spirits.

Allen, for his part, had no idea how someone could overthink those words, so he tilted his head. She turned around, gazing at Allen’s confusion, and narrowed her eyes in amusement.

“…Anyway, Asmodeus. Lying and saying that the cost of activating your power was my lifespan really worked like a charm. If it had been anything else, I wouldn’t have been able to fake my death.”

“Right you are, right you are. ‘Tis all thanks to my brilliance.”

“Of course I’m grateful. I mean, there’s no way I could tell them the real cost is sexual arousal. I’ve got this whole cool-guy character going on, that would completely destroy my image.”

Allen stated this with the utmost seriousness.

“True enough. If you told those colleagues of yours the truth, they would undoubtedly be utterly disillusioned. You are hailed as the 【Obsidian Knight】, but they might mock you for being nothing more than an 【Ob-sexual Knight】.”

“Hey, that’s because of your ability. Why are you saying it like it’s my fault? I’m not actually controlled by my sex drive.”

“…Is that so?”

Asmodeus stared intently at Allen’s face with half-lidded, doubtful eyes.

It was true that Allen had tried to sneak out into the night town away from prying eyes countless times, but every single attempt had ended in failure before he could do anything.

Ahem. Clearing his throat, Allen swiftly changed the subject.

“More importantly, the Demon King said something interesting right at the end. I wonder what that was about.”

“…Ah, yes. Something about sacrifices from the Holy Empire.”

The Demon King had been quite panicked in that moment.

It was highly likely it was just a desperate lie meant to confuse Allen.

“If it were true, it would seem as though the Empire actually wanted the World Knights to lose.”

“…If we lost, the world would have been ruled by demons, you know?”

“And yet, the Evil Eye King was practically stronger than Nozes had estimated beforehand.”

Allen fell silent for a moment, then…

“…No point thinking about it. I’d like to ask the Emperor directly, but I already quit being a World Knight.”

Saying that, Allen unfastened the black cloak from his shoulders.

Despite being exposed to the super-explosion of the Evil Eye Castle, the cloak didn’t have a single scratch on it. Alongside the Thunder-Annihilation Sword, this cloak was one of the pieces of equipment that symbolized Allen.

One of the 【Ancient Artifacts】, the 【Dragon King’s Winged Robe】.

While wearing this cloak, one could use the air itself as a foothold and run across the sky. It was pseudo-flight.

Half the reason he hadn’t died after being thrown into the ultra-high-altitude sky when the Evil Eye Castle exploded was his own physical toughness, and the other half was thanks to this cloak.

However, its role was finished.

Equipment fit for a hero stood out too much, so he had no intention of ever using it again.

To put away the cloak that had protected him all this time, Allen reached inside his knight’s uniform. Grabbing ahold of something, he pulled out a flailing toad.

And it wasn’t just any toad. It was a beautiful toad with a jade luster. Gems resembling aquamarines were set in place of its eyes.

One of Allen’s pets, the Infinity Frog.

A type of Spirit Beast—entities that stood in opposition to magic beasts, whimsically lending their aid to humans they took a liking to.

“Ooh, Boyo-chan! It has been a while! Unlike that black lizard, you truly are adorable!”

Asmodeus’s eyes sparkled as she pet the giant toad.

Whenever she got like this, it always took a while.

Forcefully pulling away the little girl who showed no signs of stopping her doting, Allen made a request of his pet.

“Boyo-chan. Store this cloak and the Angel’s Staff inside your body for me. In exchange, I need the Voice-Altering Mask, the Bandit King’s Cloak, and a sword to use in place of Asmodeus.”

Ribbit.

As Boyo the Infinity Frog (named because his belly and rear were all soft and squishy) gave his reply, his face rapidly expanded.

His mouth grew in proportion, and Boyo opened his massive maw, munching and swallowing the cloak whole.

Spirit Beasts were lifeforms made of mana. They didn’t have organs or blood, and the inside of Boyo’s body connected to a different dimension. He could store and retrieve items endlessly, so regardless of how it looked, Allen found him incredibly useful.

The storage method was straight-up predation, and retrieving items looked exactly like vomiting, but the items never actually got dirty.

Just as requested, his pet painfully regurgitated a mask, a brown cloak, and a longsword forged from a dark metal called Black Metal. Allen equipped them, putting together a makeshift disguise.

Unless it was someone he was incredibly close with, this would keep his true identity from being exposed.

“My new life starts now. If I kept my old gear, I’d get busted instantly, so a disguise is a must.”

After testing out his new vocal pitch with a few random words, Allen shared a crucial warning with Asmodeus, who was currently playing by squishing Boyo-chan’s stomach.

“Also, let’s change my name. Allen is a common enough name, but just in case. From now on, call me Noir, not Allen.”

“…Trying to sound cool again, are we?”

“The backstory goes like this: Noir, a mercenary who fought in the Human-Demon War. However, he took an arrow to the knee and decided to retire from the mercenary business, and is now searching for a village where he can recuperate. The mask on his face is to hide a scar he got from a magic beast. How’s that? I stayed up all night thinking of this setup.”

“Do not pull all-nighters for such trivial nonsense. And how exactly do you plan to explain me?”

“My little sister.”

“…You and I look absolutely nothing alike.”

“I’ll be hiding my face with a mask, so they won’t find out. It’ll be fine.”

Sidelong glancing at Asmodeus, who was throwing out half-lidded retorts while still looking subtly amused, Allen stood up, his heart pounding with excitement.

“Alright then, let’s head for civilization. We’ll find a nice little village, settle down, and live the slow life.”

“…I have no particular complaints, but there is absolutely no sign of human presence around here. Where are we, anyway?”

“…No clue.”

Caught in the Evil Eye Castle’s explosion, even Allen wasn’t sure how far he had been blown away.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was completely lost.