Zen’s face, after confirming my presence, lit up brightly. The happiness radiating from his body just looked like a dog welcoming his mast…. cough cough. I shouldn’t look at a good friend of mine in that light. Yep.

I looked at Zen, who, for some reason, sat down as he stared at me in happiness. His legs must had given away by the feelings of relief I guess, since he looked pretty desperate just a moment ago. There’s no helping it. I gave a tiny sigh as I held out my hand.

” Well, shall we get going? ”

Taking hold of the grinning Zen, it was when I pulled him up. My [cheat] hearing caught some noises. Bang bang. It sounded like something heavy was striking something. Wait a minute. I heard of that noise before. It sounded just like how an ax was used to cut down trees… no, not sounded like.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the direction to the north. That direction where the [Demon Forest] was. All the previous a.s.sumptions about how Hattuo would invaded Elzmu and started a war was so naive.

” This is bad…. Something is coming! ”

Grabbing Zen’s hand, I started running.

” Zen, where’s your father right now? ”

” The Adventurers Guild…. ”

” Perfect timing. Let’s go! ”

” Eh? ”

At this speed we won’t be able to make it. Ignoring the perplexed Zen, I got hold of his waist and lifted him up like that. What a perfect strawbag-carring motion.

Doing a princess-carry was way too embarra.s.sing I guess. Putting speed as the priority, this was the best method. You were welcome to cry at how considerate I was.

I continued on as I asked Zen for the directions. There was no need to fly through the streets and caused unwanted panic since there was no difference whether I ran or fly.

” What’s going on Zen? ”

” The neighboring One-san was kidnapped by a suspicious person…! ”

I asked about the matter as we moved. Zen then spoke of his troubles in a heavy voice. He must be panicking a little, hearing how his voice was trembling. No, I am not hearing any opinion that said that it’s the speed I was going at that caused that tremble instead. This was the best speed to reach our destination in the shortest amount of time.

But… I see, his neighboring One-san. Looking at his desperate look, that One-san was not just a normal neighbor to Zen. Maybe they grew up together, or was even Zen’s first love or something.

The word raijuu flashed pa.s.sed my mind but now was not the time. I can think about that after all this was over. If what I thought was correct, something terrible was about to happen. Carrying Zen and running to the best I can, we finally reached the Adventurers Guild.

” Father! ”

After putting down strawbag-Zen, he rushed towards a depressed-looking uncle immediately. That uncle seemed like he was Zen’s Father. Zen’s father had a look of a bada.s.s craftsman and compared to the cute and childish looking Zen, they looked nothing alike. But then. Looking closely, it seemed like Zen had inherited that curly hair from his father. Oh right, there was no perming machine invented in this world yet.

And a Knight-like man standing next to the curly-haired uncle had a look of relief as well. Looking at his armor, he seemed to be one of the White Knights.

But immediately after, his face grew stern as he narrowed his eyes and glared at the [Demon Forest]’s direction. That confirmed my suspicions. As I thought, something happened within the [Demon Forest]. And it looked like the territorial lord knew about it.

I gathered mana and strengthen my hearing even further. What I could hear was the sound of ax hitting a tree.

As I thought. Hattuo was thinkin

g of cutting down the forest to open up a path. And the consequences of that would be terrible not just for this street but for the entire human kind.

And the Lord, knowing about this consequences, had arranged for a counter-measure like this. I learned about this from the diary but it seemed like the knights that had been in charged of this place since the beginning knew about it too. That this land was [Blessed upon the First Founder by G.o.d for recognizing his achievements] and if the [Forest is d.a.m.naged, bad things would happened].

I was sure that there was quite a bit of information on this left behind for the Sociunnov family. And at this moment, the Knight (?) finally noticed my presence and a surprised expression showed on his face. Following the Knight’s gaze, Zen’s father looked at me and showed a bewildered look.

” You are…. ”

Although it was to my best friend’s parent, I did not wanted to be treated as a lost child so I made the first move. I then interrupted the Knight’s sentence. I knew it was not polite but I can’t helped it. There was no time.

I, it was not that I hated being treated like a child.

I tried my best in showing a gaudy smile as I introduced myself.

” I am Zen’s friend, William Beryl. I just so happens to pa.s.s by this place. ”

There was no way anyone would ‘pa.s.s by’ this place that was at the edge of the [Demon Forest] but I still said it. Because there was no time to explained. The Knight should had realized my relations with the Leader of the Knights (Father) when he heard my family name. As for why I appeared here, he should have an inkling of the reason.

As so implied that, I gave a smile full of implied meanings at him.

” Please take care of Zen for me! ”

Leaving behind the astonished Knight, I turned and rushed out of the guild. Halfway through, I checked to make sure that the surrounding had no one before casting [Invisible] on myself and flying up into the sky. From there, I looked towards the [Demon Forest].

Strengthening my sight, I saw a group of Knights strengthening the barrier at the edge of the town. As expected of the man who raised his fallen family back up to this position. It was Manual, whom Mi so respected and looked up upon. If not for him making used of everything he got as the Sociunnov’s Head, there would be no way he could get everything set up at such short notice.

Not mention the procedures he had to go through just to do anything, I would also see rations and tents set up at that area. Looking at the amount prepared, there was no way it could be done within a few days.

After observing it as a whole, I now paid attention to where all the knights were gathered at. I then gathered my mana as I began imagining that at the next moment, I would be at that place…

《転移》 [TN: Tenni, Teleport]

The magic activated immediately and as I appeared, the surroundings went into an uproar.

The knights moving materials. The knights who were going to take over those standing guard at the edge of the [Demon Forest]. And in the middle of the camp, a leader-like person stood there. It looked like he was conversing with another knight with a rugged-looking face.

The surrounding knight’s att.i.tude showed that he seemed be the highest person around, not to mention him sitting at a raised stage in the middle of the camp. Oh, and that he looked exactly like Mi.

But having arrived at this place, without even needing the need to strengthen my hearing, the sound of an ax chopping down a tree could be heard clearly. And that sound was not only coming from one place, it sounded like the trees were being chopped in a straight line.

It seemed like they were really clearing a path. d.a.m.n it, stop joking around, Hattuo!

This place would be the first place to fall if anything happened due to chopping down the trees of the [Demon Forest]! ….I see, so this was what they were aiming for.

Without the need to sacrifice any troops yet dealing the greatest damage and getting a new piece of land in the meantime. Finally having the clear picture of that plan, anger rushed into my mind that made me wanted to grind my teeth as my body shook.

All of a sudden.

A huge sound like an earthquake resounded out and I lost my balance. Right after, the sounds of countless number of hooves as well as the neighs of countless of monsters could be heard.

What was it that I needed to do?

What should I do?

What was it that I wished for?

Don’t say something stupid like ‘I wanted to like liked by everyone’ again. My wish was to give this me, who was satisfied with what I had done, a good beating.

The me who proudly declared that I liked everyone.

The me who did not find myself pitying those who liked this kind of me.

Yes, what I need to do now, was not to be negligence just so I could blamed my average face, not to ask for a reward (love) in such a shallow way and to be more like an adult. Because no matter what, I was given a [Cheat] by G.o.d.

Yes, I need to protect everyone first. My parents, friends who accepted and loved me for who I was unconditionally and helped me lowered my shallowness and greed for attention and love.

Stuff like thinking it was sad not to be loved.

I just realized that I was actually very fortunate to be loved by so many people.

Regaining my balance, I had an urge to click my tongue in annoyance. Something big that caused the land to shake like it was an earthquake was happening. There was too many things to be done.

I was asked by Zen to saved his One-san and of course, to also save Tattor from this disaster.

This tremor meant that the barrier generated by the trees in the [Demon Forest] was being broken and we were under the attack of countless demon beasts. And it also meant that Tattor was not the only place that was being invaded by the demon beasts.

Luckily, this part of the [Demon Forest] was the furthest north of the continent so it was not like beasts would be rus.h.i.+ng out in all directions. But I can’t confirmed that there won’t be beasts that heads towards the west or the east.

Beating them all down was a way, but if I ever let one slipped through the cracks, the citizens would be in trouble. Plus I could be said to be a n.o.ble. In exchanged for the taxes given, I had the responsibility to protect them. No matter about my feeling or my duty, this was a situation where I can’t allow any beasts to slip through.

No matter how strong one was, there was only so much grounds one would covered. Plus, this was also where the knights does their duty of killing the beasts. I wanted to abandoned my fear of revealing my strength and started teleporting troops from Father’s side over but looking at the situation in front of me, I felt like I was leaving the Sociunnov’s troops to die if I left. They would be attacked while I was over at the other side preparing to teleport the troops over.

And there was also the case of Zen’s One-san.

He said that she was a hunter. She must had been captured as so to guide Hattuo’s soldiers around the forest. I was pretty sure she was not the only hunter captured. Which meant they must all still be within the forest.

It wouldn’t be feasible to fight within the [Demon Forest] as it was more advantageous to the beasts. Manual-San must be thinking that even if they were all destroyed, he would need to hold on until the back-up came. Which was why he was here, setting up the barrier, choosing the lives of the citizens of this street to the hunters that were captured.

I see now. I could finally understand why the Knight had such a regrettable face when he said that he can’t help Zen in finding out where the captured hunters were. This decision must had gave Manual-San great grief.

I am now quite clear about the situation.

Realizing that I had been holding my breath as I thought through all of it, I let out a deep breath and smiled bitterly. I then found out that I had been speeding up my thought process using mana unconsciously.

” But I am a willful person.. ”

I muttered to myself as I looked at the sky. There should be a way to solved this. Because I myself was a [Cheat]. I could do it as long as I can think of it.

But in this slight panicky state, my dumb brain can’t moved even with the support of mana. Sorry…

Let’s slowly think this through.

How should I save Zen’s One-san? I should first find out where she was. So should I head over once I got her location? I don’t have that time right now.

If I want to teleported Father’s troops over, there would be a few minutes loss in the preperation in the gathering of the knights and I would be leaving the citizens and the knights to fend for themselves. I don’t want that.

But I still want to hold onto that last bit of hope. What if I reduced the preparation time? How do I do that?

That’s right, how about I simply teleported those who were already prepared…. No, that would reduced the strength of the group. The strength of a group was way bigger than a single person.

Oh! What if the main culprit, the demons beasts were destroyed…. no, even if I can’t confirmed that none would slipped out and ran to other area. And I would need to kill them one by one as if I used a huge magic to washed over the forest, the people inside the forest would be killed too.

What to do…?

My thinking speed increased by using magic was making it looked as though the surroundings slowed to a still. But time was still running on as usual. Ahhh, what to do…!

I made a mistake. I was too caught up in thinking about what could I do with the power I had. What an idiot. Even with the help of mana speeding my brain power up, I still thought that this was the fastest record ever in gathering my mana together.

Father, Mother, Mary-San and Chiffon had said it before. Don’t piled everything onto myself when I were troubled but to also learned to relied on others. They must had been trying to tell me it was okay to rely on them too. Anyway, I just realized that it need not necessary be a person that I could relied on.

This amount of mana should be enough I think. The knights around me began to move slowly towards the edge of my vision but now was not the time to bother about them.

Aah, I should had trained more in controlling mana if I knew that this day would come. The huge ball of energy floated in front of my eyes. I then proceeded to compressed that large ball of mana.

Beads of sweat started rolling down my forehead. This had to be the biggest amount of mana I ever gathered in my life. If I ever lose focus for even a second, it would just burst out and caused a disaster.

But I was still worried whether if this amount of mana was enough. The plan I had in mind required a ridiculous amount of mana. The ball of mana was so big that it was about to go out of the area of my sight.

I then yell in a loud voice.

” ≪魔石作成≫! ” [TN: Create Magical Stone]

And at that moment a magical stone the size of an elephant floated down from the sky.

” d.a.m.n it all! ”

I took a pen out of my inter-dimension s.p.a.ce and began directly writing onto the magical stone. Yes, I was creating a magical tool.

If I can’t imagined it then I can simply just used magic (cheat) and leaved it all to it. Yes, it’s a rather childish way but I would use whatever I had. A magical tool, as long as it had a correct magical circle carved onto it and mana fed into it, will activated the magic without the need for imagination! How can I not make use of it?!

And finally, it was done.

” Magical tool, ≪起動≫! ” [TN: Kidou, activate]

It was the roughest tool ever, with just a phrase of j.a.panese written on it. And that phrase was ≪作成者であるウィリアムス＝ベリル以外のものの時を止める≫.

[TN: Stop time for every being apart from Creator William Beryl]

Slowly, the mana in the air began to move and the tool was activated successfully. Aah, but…

My vision just went white.