Fa.
Or rather, in this very dubious case...
Infamy.
Yes, infamy.
Never in his upright and honorable life had Damon imagined his infamy would spread all the way to the Demon Continent.
It felt like just yesterday he had been a nobody.
And now?
Now he was a figure of world renown.
It almost felt as if the heavens themselves trembled at the na Damon Grey.
At least, that was how he imagined it.
In his mind he expected to be a figure of fear. The kind of warrior whose na alone made enemies shudder. The hero every child dread of becoming.
So why...
Why was he hearing things like this?
"I heard Damon Grey is shaless," Gabo said with visible disgust. "A degenerate who beats his own servants and kills n for trying to protect their wives from his lustful ways."
Damon froze.
He had fallen so low...
That even a goblin was calling him lustful.
The warmth of the sun suddenly felt very far away.
"This world is horrible..." Damon muttered blankly. "It should just be destroyed."
This level of slander had never even crossed his mind.
Gabo nodded aggressively.
"Exactly! That Damon Grey is vile. I heard he seduced and drugged every woman he knows. He’s nothing like you, sir. A man like him couldn’t possibly be fierce enough to have four wives. He’s too cowardly and shaless."
Damon slowly lowered his head.
"Oh... is that so."
Another goblin suddenly spoke in fluent goblin tongue, spitting on the ground.
"I heard he likes little girls."
Damon almost cried.
He truly did.
Beside him, Wendy and Renata were trembling as they tried to hold in their laughter.
Matia remained completely deadpan.
Lana, however, was a Radiant Knight.
And her knightly pride would never allow soone to insult her lord.
Matia noticed the spark of anger in Lana’s eyes.
For a mont she considered stopping her.
Then she quietly gave up.
Damon was slandered constantly.
Nothing would stop Lana anyway.
"Shut up," Lana said coldly, drawing her sword.
"That is not true."
Her voice was sharp and filled with conviction.
"Damon Grey is a great hero of the Goddess Races."
She raised her blade slightly.
"And it would behoove you to treat him with a warrior’s respect."
The goblins blinked.
They looked at each other.
Then back at her.
"Hmm," Gabo said.
"But we are."
He scratched his chin.
"Damon Grey is very powerful. There’s even a massive bounty on his head. If you kill him you get a reward."
He grinned, showing sharp teeth.
"The Snake Temple might even raise you to a Demon Lord candidate if you succeed."
Damon blinked.
Wait.
There was a bounty on his head?
"Huh... wait."
He frowned.
"So you aren’t looking down on him?"
Gabo shook his head vigorously.
"No! By the Unknown God and the greatness of the Goddess, I would never do such a thing."
He puffed out his chest.
"Even if he’s a little eccentric, what peerless genius doesn’t have strange quirks?"
Damon suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
"That’s true. That’s very true."
Feeling encouraged, Damon decided to add a little hype of his own.
"I heard he once killed a dragon from a thousand miles away with just his gaze."
The goblins gasped.
"And I heard he defeated the Elf King in a fierce staring contest."
Even Damon had enough sha not to claim he had beaten soone of the Seventh Advancent in an actual fight.
The goblins eagerly joined in, adding more and more exaggerated stories about Damon’s supposed feats.
After a while Damon finally cleared his throat.
"By the way..."
He tried to sound casual.
"Where exactly did you hear those... rumors about him?"
Gabo answered imdiately.
"Oh, that information is verified."
"It ca from Bakemon Baal."
Damon paused.
His face slowly tightened.
"Oh... you don’t say."
That bastard.
Bakemon Baal.
He couldn’t accept defeat with dignity, so he decided to slander Damon across the entire world.
Damon nodded slowly.
"Fine," he muttered coldly.
"Fine."
Gabo was about to say sothing when he suddenly paused.
From the side of the adow a large group appeared.
They were huge figures with brownish skin and massive weapons resting on their shoulders. Heavy armor covered their bodies, and each of them radiated a powerful aura.
Trolls.
The mont Damon saw them he tensed slightly.
Beside him, Matia casually waved her hand and a sword ford from solid ice.
"Our luck is truly spectacular, don’t you think?" she said calmly. "We keep running into familiar faces."
Damon didn’t even react to the fact that she spoke. His mind was focused elsewhere.
She was right.
This really did feel like the Duhu Mountains all over again.
First redcap goblins.
Now trolls.
Who knew what would appear next?
Maybe ogres.
Maybe sothing worse.
Still, Damon remained calm.
Who knows, he thought. Maybe they won’t attack. This is the Demon Continent after all. And we look like demonkin to them.
Apparently he was wrong.
The goblins imdiately shifted into formation behind him.
Their arrangent was flexible and loose, clearly designed to give them space to retreat if things went bad.
From the look of it, they fully intended to run if necessary.
Damon stood at the front of the group, completely calm.
Why wouldn’t he be?
Yes, the trolls were well ard and powerful.
But at most they were in the Third Class Advancent.
Creatures like that could destroy a small town, maybe even a poorly defended city.
To Damon, that ant nothing.
He could destroy them.
Even soone in the Fourth Class might struggle against trolls because of their monstrous regenerative abilities.
But Damon was not just so ordinary Fourth Class warrior.
Their regeneration would not save them.
They would still die.
Still, there was one question that bothered him.
Damon glanced at Gabo.
"Why are you all so on guard?" he asked. "Don’t monstrous species get along here?"
Gabo stared at him in disbelief.
"Absolutely not."
He snorted.
"Most tribes don’t even get along with their own kind, much less different races."
Then he nodded toward the approaching trolls.
"And those guys?"
He tightened his grip on his weapon.
"They’re bandits."
Damon slowly nodded.
That made sense.
Bandits did not care about race or tribe.
To them, everyone was prey.
User Comments
0 comments from readers