Julia Tisdale, a girl from the line of loyal retainers that served under the very first king of the Zweifel kingdom. The daughter of the former guard who had once served directly under the queen as the head of the queen's guard. This led to the introduction between Julia and Alicia.

She had lived her whole life as a n.o.ble. Though she wasn't required to have become a knight, the admiration and reverence towards the princess made Julia follow the same path as her parents. At least, until she had met the person who was supposed to be the one to save the kingdom.

"…" Julia silently stared at herself in the mirror.

Kazuya and she were currently in one of the clothing stores at the capital's common districts. They left the duke's manor after the hero had changed into common looking clothes which he had bought previously with the guidance of the two maids.

The hero had told her that she stood out even with her common clothes so he took her to get a more unnoticeable outfit. This led to the current situation where Julia was experiencing yet another event that she never thought would ever happen in her life. She looked at herself and couldn't help but wish that no one she knew would see her wearing garbs that many people must currently be wearing.

"Oh, that looks great. Certainly the one that fits you the most from this shop." Kazuya praised. "We're a little short on time so we'll only be buying that for you to wear today."

He paid no mind to the fact that Julia didn't react to his statement. Kazuya already knew that even if Julia was not in a state of shock, such compliments from him would not be able to faze her. Certainly to a n.o.ble, they would much rather prefer not to wear such common clothes and protective gear.

What he didn't know was that it wasn't that Julia ignored him, it was that she didn't know how to react to being complimented while wearing commoner garbs. If she still held the status which she just lost a few hours ago, she would have taken it as an insult.

"She'll keep on wearing the clothes we picked out." Kazuya signaled the shopkeeper to calculate their bill.

"Add this too. I'll pay for it myself." Julia grabbed a common hood that matched her outfit and paid for herself.

Kazuya didn't say anything since they were indeed pressed for time and exited the store after Julia put up the hood she bought. He was tempted to let her walk around meeting people she knew but there was a chance that he would miss his objective.

Julia didn't feel comfortable moving by Kazuya's side, so she walked behind him. She did not know what he was up to but the fact that he was trying to blend in as a commoner rather than simply moving around in a carriage baffled her.

Another thing that confused her was how familiar he appeared to be with navigating through the capital. Though she already heard that he went around some places in the capital yesterday, he moved as if he had not walked these streets more than just once or twice.

"(Must be just me overthinking it…)" Julia sighed.

"I'm here again uncle!" Kazuya stopped by the horse stables he visited the previous day.

"I keep telling you that I'm not your d.a.m.n uncle!" the man replied. This friendly kid who looked like he was from one of the eastern kingdoms got along with him after casually talking to him like they had met before.

"What'cha want? Do you want a pair of horses to stroll around the city with again?" he glanced at the hooded girl behind him immediately locked Kazuya's head under his arm.

"Wha?" Kazuya quickly signaled Julia to stand down secretly and got dragged a little further away from the hesitant guard.

"Hey kid, did you come to this country to fool around with women? You had two different ones with you yesterday and now…" he glanced at the hooded girl that obviously was acting awkward so suddenly.

Julia was young but she was still one of the royal knights. She had no problem hearing what they were talking about if she wanted to. Of course, the listening girl shuddered when she was referred to as one of the hero's women.

"You got it all wrong uncle. This lady is someone who I hired to protect me." Kazuya pointed at the sword on Julia's waist.

Kazuya found the thought itself to be absurd as well. Though Julia was indeed a beauty, he would much rather dismember her than sleep with her.

"Is that so?" remaining unconvinced, the man shrugged and decided not to press any further.

"So, do you want to rent horses for strolling around the capital again?"

"That is tempting but I want to go exploring outside a bit so do you have any fast horses?" Kazuya's words startled the hooded Julia.

"(Why does he want to do that?)" she stared at the hero's back.

"You happen to be in luck! There are exactly two horses for travelling left. A bunch of mercenary looking folks were in a hurry and just rented a bunch of them today. I wouldn't have had enough left if you went with the two you were with yesterday!" he laughed. Though Kazuya already denied it, he still tried to help the boy score some points with the shy lady.

"Great! I'll take them." he quickly paid and took the horses that were taken from the stables before heading towards the capital's western gates.

"Where are we going?" Julia finally couldn't take it and asked.

"I want to see what's outside the capital." Kazuya replied instantly.

"Why?" she didn't understand what he was thinking.

"(Is he perhaps planning on escaping?)" Julia couldn't help but wonder. After receiving money from the kingdom, it was more than enough for him to live by for a long time.

"Looks like you're the type to overthink. Heh." Kazuya looked at the confused expression and laughed.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Her glare made Kazuya smile even more.

"Why must I remain in this stuffy city? This is my first time in this world, this country even. I can always walk around the city since I have no intention of limiting myself within the confines of it. The duke's people would be hard to get rid of and I a.s.sume they wouldn't let me roam around on my own outside the capital. This is the perfect chance."

"Aren't you overlooking the fact that I'm here?" her eyebrow raised.

"What about you? Unlike those two girls, you are my subordinate." He scoffed at Julia. "I'll have you protect me if we encounter any dangers while I'm exploring."

"At least that part about heroes is accurate…." She mumbled.

"Why wouldn't I want to see this world for myself? Shouldn't I be encouraged to see what kind of world I would be protecting?" They pa.s.sed through the gates where Kazuya made his horse go faster.

"W-wait!"

Breathing in the fresh air from the wilderness away from the capital, Kazuya finally felt that he was back. The familiar scent and feeling of the rich mana which he had almost forgotten. Kazuya ignored everything else and reveled in the world that he once picked over earth.

"(What a weird person…)" Julia thought.

She looked at him and couldn't understand why he looked so happy. What was so fun about riding around? Was he seeing something that she couldn't?

Kazuya paid no attention to her as he was aware that she was staring at him. He had already decided to deal with this woman slowly so he didn't bother caring about what Julia was curious about. He didn't follow the normal roads and traversed places where even Julia was not very familiar with.

"Hmm?" he sensed something and had the horse slow down.

"What's the matter?" Julia immediately noticed the return of the hero's neutral expression.

"There's something ahead…" he pointed towards the place where the trees are packed densely.

"GROAAA!!" the creature revealed itself after being pointed at.

"Oh, what a scary looking creature. From the looks of it… is that an orc?" Kazuya remained unfazed as he glanced towards Julia who couldn't believe their luck.

A grey skinned seven-foot-tall brute appeared before them. it had a b.l.o.o.d.y large axe on its hand and wore shabbily made leathers that looked to have been made from different types of scavenged equipment. Its snout made aggressive snorting noises as the creature's bloodshot eyes glared at Julia.

It was one thing for goblins to be found near the wilderness, but orcs were different. These creatures were very similar to both human and beast races. Possessing intelligence and a specific racial trait, even the lower variants of their race have been known to have the ability to build their own societies.

Even earth had their own legends about orcs. These days, orcs were referred to as common monsters. That opinion would both be correct and wrong at the same time. A person who had encountered an orc before would immediately recognize if another person who tried to speak of orcs had encountered one.

Kazuya immediately recognized that Julia was not unfamiliar with these creatures. In his previous life, Julia had always stood to defend Alicia no matter what danger came at them. This was one aspect of her that both annoyed him and made him admire her at the same time.

Orcs were creatures that had a very high drive to reproduce. In Kazuya's opinion, this was the scariest trait that this specific race had. This was the reason why they were cla.s.sified as monsters. If one knew about the history of Orcs, they were considered one of the demi-human races who were extremely violent and battle driven.

They had the ability to reproduce with other races. The mix of genetics with lesser creatures such as goblins soon led to the birth of the cla.s.sification of the low intelligent defects as monsters and the original high orcs as a member of the beast races.

Though, to humans, these cla.s.sifications didn't matter much. Because humans were also an intelligent race, the orcs would often kidnap females to produce more intelligent orcs. The two saw each other as mortal enemies most of the time.

"Yes… did it get lost…?" Julia gripped her sword tightly.

Those who have come across an orc and survived would never consider them as mere common creatures. Even those who have been abandoned by the high orcs and considered rejects were fierce by themselves. They have scattered themselves all around the world and plagued many races.

"(Looks like this woman doesn't put that fearless face up if she's not protecting the princess or her people…)" Kazuya thought. "(Should I…)"

"GRRRAAAA!" The orc's shout startled the horses. They were not warhorses, so they were affected by the battle cry and started to panic.

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"Since it looks like it's more interested in you more than myself, I want to see how capable my new bodyguard is." Kazuya smiled before having his horse back away to give Julia way.

"Why not handle it yourself? Aren't you the hero?" Julia frowned. She felt that she was being taken advantage of when this reckless guy didn't even bat an eye against even the king of their kingdom.

"Since you're not allowed to tell anyone about my secrets, let me remind you that I came from a world with barely any mana. My soul weapon does not use it and I can only use it a few times." Kazuya grinned after seeing Julia's shocked reaction.

"Then why did you—"

"You should pay attention to the enemy in front of you." Kazuya reminded her.

*SWISH*

The orc took advantage of her distraction and immediately launched an attack.

"Tch!" Julia clicked her tongue and dodged. She surveyed her surroundings and tried to sense if there were any other orcs hiding around.

She knew that this specific orc was from a grey-skinned tribe that moved in packs. They were not very smart but they were very fierce and relied on their numbers to overwhelm enemies. These types of orcs usually avoided places that were near cities or big human settlements and preferred to stay close to mountains or deep forests.

"Is this all a former royal knight can amount to?" Kazuya mocked her while looking disappointed.

He knew that Julia was holding back. She was hesitant on using the swordsmans.h.i.+p she learned from her time as a royal guard.

"Shut the h.e.l.l up!" she tried to parry the axe but got thrown back a few steps instead.

"There aren't any other monsters lying in wait so you don't have to look around so much." Kazuya crossed his arms to show her just how confident he was in this.

If there was one thing that Julia learned about this hero, he was extremely protective over his own life. The confidence he was showing after informing her that he had no plans on using his soul weapon had convinced her that he was not lying.

"I'll tell you another fact; though I hold a high position in my world, I am a commander. Due to an accident I had when I was a child, I was barely fit to do any strenuous activities."

She initially suspected that he wanted to get rid of her by using a borrowed knife but from what she just learned, the purpose she was brought along was because he really needed to be protected. Julia didn't have much doubt and it made more sense because the records indicated that the heroes that were summoned had to undergo training in which they could progress at a pace that no one in their world could match.

"HAAAA!" a thought came to mind and Julia enhanced herself with mana.

The orc may have been one of the most ferocious of the demi-human races, but this specific one was currently alone. Julia had come to a realization which helped her make up her mind in using the skills she had learned up until now.

The hero Kazuya was a person who was summoned for the sake of Zweifel kingdom. Alicia was the princess of the said kingdom so if she could do her part and protect the hero and have him do what he was summoned for, won't she be free to serve the princess again when the hero returns to his world

"UWOOOoooo" the orc groaned as the hand that was holding the b.l.o.o.d.y axe had been chopped off.

Julia immediately followed through by das.h.i.+ng immediately beneath the large orc and slas.h.i.+ng upwards the sword that had been clad with her mana. Dark blood sprouted from the orc's body as Julia swiftly moved back to the orc's side to avoid the mess.

*plop*

The head of the grey-skinned orc fell down as one last fatal blow mercilessly struck while it had been in a panic. Julia gripped her sword tightly before turning back to look at Kazuya who was still wearing an amused smile.

"(I finally figured out how I can still serve her highness!)"

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