Some minutes after the end of their conversation, Marco found out that Alice hid herself again, meaning that a monster was nearby. Marco looked in front of him and saw a woman getting attacked from a monster.
Woman: Kyaaaaa!
The victim was a young woman with long blonde hair, she was wearing a sky blue dress and hat, while the monster was a Sea Cucumber Girl, with the usual human upper body while the rest was something else.
Woman: Ahh! Get away from me!
Sea Cucumber Girl: I'm hungry… Even someone like you is fine, let me suck out your energy…
The woman stepped back with a panicked face.
Woman: Stop!
Marco sighed and just got around them while saying.
Marco: The woman is a monster too!
The Sea Cucumber Girl and the woman, or monster, stopped and looked at Marco before looking at each other, the monster revealed to be a Shellfish Girl under a disguise, but that didn't stopped the Sea Cucumber Girl to hunt the other monster for juices.
Marco ignored them and walked away, he wasn't an hero so he didn't have obligations to save a monster from another monster for something like that, even if it would be another matter if it was murder.
Even if his mother wanted him to be a hero, he could just do it slowly, and in Illiasburg and Happiness Village he is already recognized as a hero, an unbaptized hero, but a true hero.
When the monsters were far enough, Alice turned to Marco's side and said.
Alice: How did you know that the girl was a monster?
Marco: Have you ever seen a dress with the interiors made of flesh?
Alice shook her head and Marco said.
Marco: Neither I, obviously I didn't know which one was, but while I was sizing her up, I found that detail.
Alice was impressed and asked.
Alice: Really?
Marco smirked and said.
Marco: No, I just said it randomly, I never knew that it was really true… Heh. 'I already knew everything since the start…'
Alice sweatdropped at Marco's words, and let out a sigh of exasperation before following Marco at San Ilia.
[Later]
After a while, Marco and Alice continued to walk away from the beach, always towards west, and in front of them San Ilia was visible in front of their eyes, but…
A shadow suddenly coiled around Marco, surprising him, Marco looked at his side and found that Alice was gone, meaning that it was something else that captured him.
He looked down and found that it was a azure snake tail, but was incredibly weaker than Alice's tail, then he looked behind and found a lamia with blonde curly long hair and blue eyes, she was wearing a white bra and a white and black skirt, and a pair of white gloves.
Lamia: How lucky, an unbaptized traveler, and an handsome one too…
The lamia licked her lips, while Marco sighed and used the 1st Gate, he was sure that he couldn't escape from her grip with 'Start', and the monsters were getting stronger the further he goes to north, probably at Hellgondo he would use the 1st Gate or 2nd Gate 24/7.
The Lamia got a bit surprised, which was replaced with shock when Marco was able to escape from her tail with pure strength, it was a bit hard getting out from a snake tail, but not by that much.
Then when Marco touched the ground, he immediately sprinted towards the Lamia and used Thunder Thrust, but she nimbly dodged and smirked.
Lamia: Do you think you can hit a snake just like tha- Guh!
She was interrupted when Marco's tail slammed against her like a hammer, bruising her arm, and in that moment of distraction, Marco executed a Demon Decapitation at her neck, cutting her throat and make leak out magic energy.
The Lamia covered her throat with one hand, to prevent the leakage, and used her tail to slam Marco with anger.
Marco seen the attack and instead of dodging, he caught the tail with his own, and grabbed it with his two hands, then he anchored his feet in the ground and started to lift the Lamia from her tail, then he slowly rotated his body, swinging the lamia too.
Marco's movements became slowly faster, and the lamia was getting afraid from knowing what would happen. And at last, Marco threw her away while she screamed.
Marco put an hand over his eye to not get blinded from the sun and watched the lamia in the sky, who was slowly falling down, and when she connected with the ground…
*Crack*
Marco: OH FUCK!!
Marco panicked immediately when he heard the lamia's neck doing a sound that it shouldn't do, and immediately ran away towards San Ilia.
While he was running, Alice caught with Marco and patted his shoulder.
Alice: Calm down, Marco…
Marco slowly stopped, and caught his breath.
Marco: Haa… Haa… Sorry if I killed her… Haa...
Alice: I don't really care…
Marco: Huh?
Marco raised his head and looked at Alice with a strange expression.
Alice: I don't care if you killed her, I knew one day it would happen, but are you alright? You still killed someone, even if accidentally…
Marco: Eh? I don't care about killing, I already killed someone at 10 years, this doesn't change anything. I was just guilty that I killed someone I didn't wanted to kill and afraid of what you would do about it.
Alice: At… 10 years? *Sigh* You know what? I'll stop questioning your past… Let's forget about the lamia and go to San Ilia.
Marco nodded and stopped running while deactivating the 1st Gate. Then both of them walked towards the city in front of their eyes, forgetting about the dead lamia.
[Later]
They reached San Ilia, Marco and Alice were in front of the castle to enter in the library.
The castle of San Ilia seemed a massive european-looking cathedral, because this WAS a cathedral before becoming a castle.
It was famous due to the great amount of heroes that met with the king to receive his blessing or whatever.
But Marco didn't give a shit about it, he was there only for the library, so he and Alice stood in a queue, waiting for his turn to enter since many heroes were there, in front of the main gate.
And then a guard came and asked.
Guard: Are you also hoping for an audience with the King?
Marco: No, I am here to look at the library if possible.
The guard raised an eyebrow since everyone was here for the king, and Marco was not, but didn't cared much and said while taking out a paper.
Guard: Well, fill the paperwork anyways…
Marco nodded and wrote his name and his address, then he passed the paper to the guard, who said.
Guard: It will take some time since there are many different requests, I would say around 3 days, so please spend some time in the castle. You may explore the castle as you wish but some areas are restricted. You may also sleep for free, so please enjoy your time in San Ilia.
Marco nodded, and entered the castle with an annoyed Alice, it seems that she really doesn't like being here.
They passed a statue of Illias, which was famous and revered from everyone, but they just ignored it like dust, and looked around the castle to familiarize themselves with it.
Marco: Well, even if I don't care much about this place, I gotta admit that they built an impressive building…
Alice sighed and said.
Alice: This is the first step to being a follower of Illias.
Marco: Just shut up… I was just a bit amazed from the architecture, you can't see places like this everyday.
Alice: The Monster Lord's castle is better than this.
Marco smiled and said.
Marco: Is that so? Then I hope it will be worth going around the world…
Alice was smiling at Marco's behavior, sometimes he looked like an innocent person, sometimes he looked like a caring father, and sometimes he looked like a demon, it was hard knowing Marco's true self, but the entire time she was with him was really amusing.
Her thoughts about the past were interrupted from a yell.
?: Hey, is a Mr. Marco here? A Marco that applied to have access to the library?
Alice and Marco turned towards the person who yelled, it was the guard captain. Marco frowned, knowing that something was wrong about the situation, he was not even trying to be a Hero, he almost never killed monsters, and he just wanted to travel the world.
Either the guard captain wanted to arrest him for some reason, or the King of San Ilia had a vision about Illias telling him to meet with Marco, which should happen to Luka too if he was here.
Marco: It's me.
Marco stepped forward with a curious face, and the guard captain smiled.
Guard Captain: Hmm… So it's you? The King will meet you right away.
Marco frowned a bit before sighing in his heart and he and Alice followed the guard captain to the audience hall, the king was sitting on the throne in front of them, he was old, and wore a pope's uniform.
He had a meek and gentle look, but restless too.
Guard Captain: I've brought him, King.
King: Thank you, you're dismissed. I shall have a private talk with him.
The guard captain bowed and said before leaving.
Guard Captain: Of course.
Then he left the room, leaving only a Marco full of suspicions, an annoyed Alice, and a bit excited King.
King: Traveler that calls himself Marco… I wish to ask you something.
Marco stood in silence, which the king took it as an approval, and talked.
King: Could you… Show the 'Power' that you have?
Marco and Alice's eyes widened, and Marco's body was bent forward, preparing to attack or evade.
The King caught Marco's expression, and his eyes widened.
King: Oh! So it really is just as Illias revealed to me in a dream!
Marco was surprised from his words, when he finally understood the situation, and sighed in exasperation before calming himself.
Marco: 'That bitch…'
The King was getting excited and said.
King: Last night, Illias came to me in a dream. With her beautiful hair, and pure face. Her angelic appearance was like a breath of…
Marco: We all know how she looks like, you don't need to tell us about it.
King: ...Anyways, so Illias gave me a revelation. A person with a special gift, and with eyes red like blood named Marco, would come before me. And this person, would be the hero who will defeat the Monster Lord.
Marco: 'Suck it, not gonna do it'
Alice was surprised, and looked at Marco, who was smirking with disdain, meaning that he would not do it, this made Alice happy.
King: Now, I shall indicate the path you should take! There are three wise men on this continent. You need to demonstrate your power to all three, and receive their blessings. I shall bestow this only upon the one who receives all three blessings.
Then the King motioned to a sword next to his throne, Alice and Marco looked at it with indifference, which went unnoticed from the king who talked.
King: The sword of a true hero… The Goddess Sword! If you wield this sword, it's said all monsters, even the Monster Lord herself, will bow to you.
Marco: ...I have several questions about this fact…
King: You can talk, I'll answer them with the best of my abilities.
Marco: First of all, why is it still here if it can make the monster lord bow? Why not use it against her?
The King was surprised from the question, and sweated a bit before answering.
King: ...W-Well… I can't give this weapon to just anyone…
Marco: Then why not giving it to someone you trust?
King: …
The King didn't have any answer to that question, and Marco continued to talk.
Marco: If the questions can't be answered, then I'll apologize for my insolence…
Marco said this with a grin, planting seeds of doubt on the king, and Alice was amused, while the King calmed down.
King: It's nothing… It's obvious having some doubts about the sword itself… Still, if you prove to me that you are worthy of it, you can use it as you wish and be recognized as the best hero in the century.
Marco sighed, while Alice was getting really annoyed from the King's speech, and used her magic to catch the sword, and then overcharge it with her dark magic, shattering the Goddess Sword in many little pieces.
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
1st. Kick Gabriel's ass
2nd. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
3rd. Kill Illias
4th. Return to Lucifina's grave
5th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and Hellgondo
6th. Slap Lazarus' face