And now, after a few minutes of walking, they have arrived.

***

The existence of a so-called "Hero" did not exist in the game "SOUL ADVENTURERS!!!". Hearing the word "Hero", the closest thing that came out of s.h.i.+ro's mind was the warrior cla.s.s - "Divine Paladin" which specializes in both close-combat and healing, but in s.h.i.+ro's guess, that might not be the Hero's job cla.s.s at all. The job cla.s.s, Divine Paladin, was one of the highest and hardest cla.s.s to reach in the game, a level of 97 would not be enough to level-up in that cla.s.s. s.h.i.+ro thought that the Hero's job cla.s.s was something that might not even existed in the game at all.

One more thing s.h.i.+ro was curious about, was the fact that the hero was said to visit this city to subjugate a vampire.

After thinking for a while, s.h.i.+ro decided to think that the vampire they were talking about was a completely different existence and was not him. The fact that he just arrived at this world the day before, there was no chance that he was the vampire they were talking about.

But the existence of the vampire itself made s.h.i.+ro curious. In the game, vampires are just NPCs following their A.Is' orders, but in this world, there was no need to guess that they also have minds of their own. Now that s.h.i.+ro is in the body of Vlad Alucard which is a vampire, he thought that it might be a good idea to communicate with them.

~~~

[ So that's the hero's party, huh? ] jerking his chin, s.h.i.+ro muttered.

Outside of the large structure of the guild, a total of five figures of people stood in the middle of a stage made of logs and wooden planks. Countless people were standing and watching below them, all noisy and in a disorderly fas.h.i.+on.

Close to the stage were people wearing odd kinds of armors and weapons, while the people far from the stage were wearing normal clothes.

s.h.i.+ro and Stella were standing far away from them that they could only barely able to see their figures.

After a while of waiting, a figure of a girl from the people at the stage took a step to the front and faced the crowd. Seeing this, all the people went silent and waited for the girl to start to talk.

[ Everyone! As you may have already heard it, I am the hero, Hana! And the people behind my back are my supporters, my party! We thank you for welcoming us to your great city. ]

The hero's shout that came from the stage resounded throughout the large s.p.a.ce outside the guild. Her voice dominated the chatterings and cheerings of the people. s.h.i.+ro was not able to properly see her face, but he was able to clearly hear what she was saying because of her loud and powerful voice.

( So the hero was a girl, huh...? )

s.h.i.+ro thought.

[ After our last battle with the demon country, we came to the capital to train ourselves again. And now, we would like to see how far we've improved ourselves by subjugating one of the most feared monsters in the entire kingdom! The vampire that lives in the ancient ruins near this city! ]

Almost instantly, the faces of the adventurers in front tensed up and made excited faces.

The words, "So that vampire will finally get beaten", "And here I thought the heroes were just ignoring that vampire's existence", I wonder if we could come along too" can be heard from all over the place, even where s.h.i.+ro was.

[ It was said that the vampire in that unexplored ruins was able to defeat all adventurers that the guild sent to subjugate it, there's no doubt that it's strong! ]

Hearing those words, the adventurers watching in front of them all nodded at the same time, agreeing to what she just said.

[ It was also said that the vampire has his own underlings! So that is why we would like to recruit adventurers that have confidence in themselves! ]

[ [ Ooohhh!!! ] ] every single adventurer shouted in excitement.

[ Please, anyone who would want to join us, raise your arms! ]

In an instant, almost all of the adventurers raised their arms up.

[ Everyone who had raised their arms, we will allow you all to join u- ]

[ Wait! ]

Before the hero could finish her sentence, a large voice with an arrogant tone interrupted her. The guy then stepped forward from behind the hero and crossed his arms.

( Hmm...? What's with this guy...? )

s.h.i.+ro was still not able to properly see what the five people look like, but he was still able to see the color of their hair and the structures of their bodies.

And this guy has red hair and a well-built body.

[ We can't simply take all of them with us. We need to test their strengths first... ] he faced and muttered to the hero, Hana.

And after a pause, Hana nodded.

[ It is what he said. We cannot simply take you all with us, we will limit the number of people we would allow to join us. Caiden. ]

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she said and stepped back after.

[ My name is Caiden Lionheart! I'm the son of this country's war general, Cristov Lionheart! If you want to join us, I would like to test your strengths first! ] he shouted with a voice that's louder than the hero.

Hearing his words, many adventurers placed their hands down as fear swells up inside them.

[ We can't beat that guy! Just looking at him makes me s.h.i.+ver! ]

[ I-I've heard about that guy before! I heard he took down a higher demon in the war with just one hit of his axe! ]

[ I-I guess we should've expected this... ]

[ This is a once in a lifetime chance to fight together with the heroes of the country... I might as well try... ]

And so as some of the adventurers say.

[ Oho~ It seems there are still some of you who are brave enough to accept my challenge! I am proud! Now, the guild will provide us the arena! ]

***

An hour later, almost a hundred fight was already fought.

Almost 2/3 of the people who accepted the challenge were knocked down by Caiden. Those who were able to survive were recruited while those who lost were healed by healers.

And now, on top of the large arena was Caiden and a laying body of an adventurer.

[ So? Is there anyone left!? ] Caiden shouted without any signs of exhaustion.

...

...

Only no one responded to him. Everyone was now quiet and not a single hand was raised.

...

...

( Well, I might as well try. )

And so -

Seeing the pitiful state of the adventurers and the dissapointed look on Caiden's face.

Vlad Alucard raised his hand.

***

Caiden Lionheart came from a family of well-known knights. Since he was just a kid, he was already well-trained by his father, a war general. He thought that maybe his father was the reason he was now the kind of person he is now.

Caiden knows for himself that he was a battle maniac. He had always searched for someone who would be able to match his strength in combat, he was constantly searching for rivals. Joining the knights was just an excuse to fight with strong people that he can match his strength with.

After just a short period of time, he was able to make a name for himself, and after two years of serving the knights, he got hand-picked by the king to support the growth of the prophesized hero of the church.

He was arrogant because he knows that he's a strong individual.

Yes, he was a strong individual who has never felt fear.

...

...

Yet -

He was now the opposite of the person he thinks he was.

He was scared... And he felt that he was weak...

As he looked at the figure of the person walking towards him, all kinds of emotions swelled up inside his large body.

In his long time of fighting all kinds of individuals, he was able to develop something that lets him measure a person's strength just by looking at them. But now, all he felt was pressure cras.h.i.+ng his very instincts.

This person...

Was nothing like he has ever seen before.

...

...

( Well... There's no going back now... ) he whispered to himself.

And so - Caiden became the challenger in the game he had created himself.