Ryan took the bow and the magic inventory the holy knight girl had given him earlier.
His heart was racing, filled with a strange sensation.
Up until now, Ryan had enjoyed becoming stronger.
Fighting demons or dungeon bosses, though it had been dangerous, wasn’t sothing that made him feel odd.
Since entering the cellar with the holy knights, Ryan was well aware he had to kill them.
But... at the sa ti, this was the first ti he had to kill a human, and he knew that now humans, the Church, and adventurers considered him a traitor.
It was an unpleasant feeling he would have to get used to, and he couldn’t afford to hesitate anymore.
He sighed.
’Well, for now I’ll put this away; there’ll be plenty to do around here.’
He took those items and stowed them in his own magic inventory.
He walked to the cellar stairs.
When he placed his foot on the first step.
He glanced back slightly.
He didn’t say anything, nor did he think about it.
He left the cellar, and outside were Beatrice and Irina.
"Is it over...?" Irina asked, her eyes still red from crying.
He looked at her for a mont and nodded.
’This is far from over. From here on out, whatever cos next will be a thousand tis more troubleso.’
He looked at his hand for a mont and clenched his fist.
"I’ll beco S-rank before Helen and Mirian arrive in two days," he murmured to himself.
But the murmur was almost a whisper.
Beatrice approached him.
"Did you say sothing?"
"No, it’s nothing."
"Hey there, young Ryan," an elven soldier said as he approached.
Ryan looked at him, paying attention.
Then the guard continued.
"The elders will hold a eting in at least an hour, and they want you to participate, young Ryan."
"All right, but there’s sothing I have to do first. Though I’ll be back on ti."
Irina stood in front of him, looking at him with a mixture of calm and curiosity.
"Are you going sowhere?"
"Yes, I left a wyvern in the forest, and I want to bring it with ."
Beatrice cut in.
"But I can do that. You don’t have to bother."
"Don’t worry, besides that I want to go check on sothing quickly. I promise I won’t be long."
She didn’t say anything, but her body language reflected that she didn’t want to be left alone in the village.
Ryan looked at Irina.
’I know that after what happened, being alone will hurt her, and I think it’s better to give her work to keep her distracted.’
"Irina, can you take care of Beatrice until I get back?"
"Don’t say it like I’m a little girl," Beatrice grumbled.
Though it was subtle, Irina smiled for a mont.
"All right, I’ll take care of her," she said, taking her right arm with both hands.
"I won’t be long," Ryan replied with a smile and walked away.
"Do you think he’s okay?" Irina asked as he walked away.
"What do you an?"
"It seems like it’s the first ti he’s killed a human. There’s sothing different in his gaze..."
But Ryan kept walking away and couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.
Once Ryan reached the portal gate, one of the guards assisted him as he went out. Then he told him that since it was his first ti returning alone, he should give a signal when he was back.
Then he gave him a sort of whistle and told him to blow it six tis upon his return.
Ryan took it and left.
He passed through the forest filled with corpses.
Both elves and demons, and holy knights.
"If only I had arrived much sooner..."
Then he sighed.
"Calm down. The only reason I ca was because of everything that happened in Varvylon; otherwise I wouldn’t have co at all, so there’s no point in putting more weight on my shoulders."
He reached the wyvern and freed it. When it saw him, the wyvern flapped its wings, but it wasn’t hostile; it climbed out of the hole and nuzzled Ryan’s face.
"How spoiled you are."
Ryan mounted it and stroked it under the neck.
"All right, let’s fly over the area. I want to see if the S-rank dungeon is really still there. Later, I’ll co back to clear it properly..."
Then the wyvern took to the air and began to fly over the forest first. Ryan, using his skill to detect stealth, began to search for any trace of demons or enemies.
After confirming there were no threats nearby, he flew higher.
After a few monts, he saw the rift in the sky coming from the S-rank dungeon.
The colors the rift emitted were a shade of fuchsia, very different from what he had seen before in the A-rank dungeon.
But the density of the mana coming from the dungeon entrance was massive, and it felt as if it were rging with his body. While it wasn’t hostile, Ryan interpreted it more as if the dungeon were calling to him.
"That ti when we left this place, it was a long fall. At the ti, I couldn’t see what the entrance looked like."
Ryan smiled as he felt the dungeon’s mana calling him.
"I’ll co later. Just wait for ."
He turned around with the wyvern and returned to the village.
Just as he had agreed with the soldier, Ryan began to blow the whistle.
After the sixth sound.
The entrance to the village appeared before him, and he managed to enter with the wyvern.
Then he was called by the soldier from before, who guided him to the place where the eting with the elders would be held.
Upon entering.
The site was arranged with a round table.
Six elders, including Irina’s grandfather.
"Welco, young Ryan," Irina’s grandfather said. Then he added, "You can sit there." The elder pointed to the empty space at the table.
The space was in front of them.
Or put another way, right where Ryan sat was the head of the table.
"All right." He did so, but didn’t ask any questions.
Each elder began to introduce themselves.
Then they thanked Ryan for everything he had done.
Then one of the elders, an older woman with white hair, asked him.
"I know we can’t keep you here, you’ve already done so much for us, but... could you stay? You and your companion while we rebuild the village? Of course, you will both be rewarded."
Ryan placed both hands together on the table.
"Even though you ask that, you should know that I am currently considered an enemy of humanity... and I must surely be being hunted."
He paused while looking at each of the elders’ faces.
But none of them seed surprised.
Then he continued.
"So, my being here will surely bring many more problems than you imagine I can help solve."
"Young Ryan..." Irina’s grandfather interjected. "We already imagined sothing like that. I an, when I saw you with the young demon accompanying you, I could already guess you had gotten into that kind of trouble."
The elder paused and then added.
"After all, you have a big heart, and it seems you’re the only human who doesn’t discriminate between races, so you shouldn’t worry about that. I know you already know, but beastn are considered demons, and having a real demon around won’t make any difference."
The elder looked at the others and asked if he was right in what he was saying; they all nodded.
Then the older woman spoke again.
"Besides, this senile old man said he saw the young lady fight; rest assured she won’t be a burden."
Ryan processed everything for a mont.
And when at least his gaze seed to be in agreent, the elder added.
"So, now that we know you’re on the run and have nowhere to stay, I’ll rephrase it. We’ve all spoken amongst ourselves, and what we want is for you to not just be a villager... but to beco the King of the Elves."
"What? The King?"
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