Ary closed his eyes with a little smile as a belief ran down his head. He gently opened his eyes and, while looking at Erica, he said,
"Thanks a lot, Erica."
Then he silently moved toward her, and when their faces came closer to each other, with a smile on his face, Ary commented,
"Thanks a lot for giving me a reason to protect you now."
Then he gently kissed her cheek and noticed his sperm on her face.
His expression changed to bewilderment. He pondered,
'She did that in heat. She may not know this. I better wipe away my sperm from her face or else it would be a catastrophe if she found out what she had done with me.'
He knew that it wasn't really her fault. It happened because of the contract that they made accidentally.
He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sperm from her face. Then, he picked her up in his arms and laid her down on the bed, covering her with the blanket so that she wouldn't catch a cold.
Then he sat down on his futon while folding his legs and arms and he pondered,
'I wonder what would happen if we went any further than this step. What if we end up having sex?'
Then, his face turned slightly red after thinking this, and while shaking his head, he said to himself in a dedicated voice,
"W-Why the hell am I even thinking about this? I have to better focus on improving my strength so that I can fight the Demon King."
Then suddenly, he widened his eyes as he remembered something important.
He turned around and picked up the book of Almita and opened it,
"Almita, would you be able to recognise a person in someone's dream?"
He inquired since he wanted to know who that guy was that he saw in his dream.
Almita reported.
Almita instructed.
"Oh, okay."
Ary nodded and did what Almita instructed. He placed his right palm over Almita's pages and tried to remember the dream.
He remembered the dream of that strong man that he saw, and while he was remembering, the pages of the book of Almita were emitting golden light. It looked like his dream was getting analyzed.
"Ding!"
After analysing the dream, Almita made a dinging voice.
"Hmm?"
Ary responded as he opened his eyes and glanced at Almita.
Almita reported.
"Wha?! That person was the first Warrior?"
Ary repeated, in a flabbergasted voice. Then, while narrowing his eyes, he pondered,
'But why was he looking so furious? He seems to be having a bad time.'
Then, he gulped down the saliva in his mouth and, with a slightly horrified expression, he commented,
"But why did I have that dream?"
Then, while neglecting that thought, he got up from his futon, saying,
"Well, since now I'm already awake. Let's find a place to get to train a little."
He was indeed tired, but he wanted to get stronger so that he would not face a catastrophe like Jack and Jinne.
"Almita, gear back!"
In a low, still wholehearted voice, Ary called out, and his dress changed back to his Astral dress.
He attached the book of Almita to his right arm and peered at Erica, muttering,
"I'll be back soon."
Then he turned around and stepped toward the door.
*Chirp*
The door chirped aside, then he stepped out.
"Hmm?"
While stepping out of the room, Ary's eyes fell to his right as he saw Selina, sleeping on a chair. It looked like she was doing the duty of a watchwoman here.
"Selina?"
Ary called out after discovering her sleeping there.
He stepped toward her and mumbled,
"The job of caretaker seems so rough, isn't it? Hmm? What's this?"
Suddenly, he noticed something in her eyes.
They were the pearls of tears. It seemed like she was having a bad dream.
"Tears?"
Ary called out as he forwarded his right palm toward her eyes to wipe the tears away, and as soon as his palm touched her eyes, a glimpse was seen in front of him.
"What again?!"
Ary said to himself in a surprised voice. It was the second time he saw a glimpse.
***
It was a glimpse of a village that was on fire. It didn't look like an ordinary fire. But it seemed like an invasion had taken place there.
"Selina! Run!!"
A lady in her late 30s yelled,
"But mother-?!"
Selina, who looked like a kid in her late teens, screamed out, but in a split second,
Slash!
"Ha?!"
Selina dilated her eyes as her mother got stabbed in the back by the red-skinned demon.
"Mother!!!!"
She yelled in agony after witnessing this scene.
"Seli...na...run..."
Her mother uttered some words, and in the next moment, the demon yanked back his blade, and Selina's mother fell to the ground with a thud sound.
"M-Moth... er..."
Selina mumbled with an empty-eyed expression due to trauma and fear.
"Well, well. It looks like a tasty kid to me."
A black-skinned demon claimed it as he glanced at Selina while licking his lips.
"Shut up, bastard! I'm the one who found her. She's mine."
The red-skinned demon bellowed at the black-skinned one.
"Alright, brother. I have a solution to it."
The black-skinned demon mentioned something.
"What?"
The red-skinned one asked.
A lustful smile formed on the face of a black-skinned demon, he suggested.
"Look at her body. You were the fool who killed that woman back there. This girl is her daughter. Why not use her to satisfy our desires? She will be just like our other slaves. What do you think?"
"Hmmm..."
The red-skinned demon frowned his eyebrows while thinking, then peered at Selina, who was trembling in fear. Then, while looking at the black-skinned demon, he agreed, saying,
"You're right. It will be fun."
Then, with evil smiles on their faces, both demons stepped toward Selina, saying,
"Come here, little girl. We'll give you a pleasure that you'll never have experienced before."
"N-No, stay back!!"
Selina screamed while stepping backward, but unfortunately, she hit the rock while stepping back and fell to the ground.
"Come here~"
As he thrust his right arm toward her, the black-skinned demon said.
"No, somebody help!"
Because of fear and anxiety, Selina yelled at the top of her lungs.
After seeing her screaming, both demons laugh, knowing that no one will come to rescue her. However,
SLASH!
"Hm?"
The black-skinned demon responded as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm.
He glanced at his right arm as he noticed that his right hand had fallen to the ground with an excess amount of blood streaming out of it.
"AAAAAHHH!!! MY ARM!!!!"
The black-skinned demon wailed in agony.
"What?! Who did that?"
The red-skinned demon was left perplexed as well as surprised after glimpsing this sudden attack.
With a swishing sound, a dark-hooded man appears in front of Selina.
"H-Hmm?"
Selina responded, still terrified.
"Y-you bastard!!"
The dark-skinned demon roared in anger, realising that it was that man who had committed that attack.
"Hmm?"
The red-skinned demon responded as his eyes shifted towards the hooded man.
But before any of them could react, at a swift speed, the hooded man darted toward them, holding a red blade in his right arm.
And, with a slash sound, he crossed paths with them.
"Y-You...Bastard..."
The dark-skinned demon groaned as he realised what had just happened to them.
"B-But how....?"
The red-skinned demon mumbled as he felt a sharp pain all over his body.
And in the next moment,
*Crack*, with a cracking sound, their bodies were cut into many pieces and fell to the ground.
Selina covered her eyes with her soft palm after glimpsing this horrifying scene.
"Are you alright?"
The hooded man asked, still not looking at Selina.
"Um, I...um..."
Selina hesitated.
The hooded man turned around and while facing Selina, he advised,
"I know a better place for you, where you can live without any worry."
After saying those words, he pondered, with his face lowered,
'My bad. If I managed to come here faster, then maybe this lovely village would not have to face this catastrophe.'
Then he raises his head a little to hear Selina's response.
Selina was solemn for a moment, then while wiping the tears from her sullen eyes, she got up and asked,
"Will I...have to do some bad tasks to stay there?"
She didn't believe in the hooded man either. She thought that she had to be a slave and have to do dirty jobs to stay there.
After seeing her cautious nature, a little smile formed on the hooded man's face. He answered,
"No, you don't have to do any of that dirty work. However, you have to take care of some pupils there. Will you agree to be a caretaker?"
After hearing those statements, Selina nodded without a second thought. She was assured that she would not have to do anything dirty. That's why she accepted this job.
***
"I see..."
Ary mumbled in a low voice after glimpsing her tragic past of Selina.
With a pitiful look, he glanced at Selina and pondered,
'Poor girl. She had already lost her family.'
Then he gritted his teeth in outrage and pondered,
'Those demons!! What's so amusing about them taking the lives of innocents? Grrr!!! I will never forgive the demon race...'
Then he lowers his gaze and mumbles,
"Especially the Demon King...."