It was late into the night when Eva woke up in the middle of the night. She tried to move but Ramiel held her tighter and mumbled something unintelligible. Eva let out a soft sigh of annoyance. She knew he wasn't waking up anytime soon so she decided to just give him a little longer. She stared up at the ceiling and listened to the sounds of the night, there were no crickets singing, and no animals were running around the forests.
Her thoughts drifted to the events that had happened not to long ago, what a crazy day. She remembered the feeling of Ramiel's strong, yet gentle hands on her, the pain that he caused her when he touched her, the smell of his musky body, the way his lips connected with her tender ones. It all seemed so unreal yet beautiful.
She smiled as she realised how much he has changed. The sweet loving and caring man that she once knew was now here before her. Her heart fluttered in her chest.
Eva closed her eyes and enjoyed his scent as memories and scenes flashed behind her eyelids: their first kiss, where they first slept together, their first time being intimate, their first fight, their first time ever, and more. She sighed happily at the memories, she missed him.
Eva began drifting off to sleep again thinking about him until her eyes grew heavy. As her dreams became more vivid she thought about what they did the day before. It all seems like such a long time ago. She giggled at the memories.
Eva opened her eyes and noticed that it was morning. She sat up and stretched her stiff muscles before standing up to go downstairs for breakfast only to notice that ramiel was gone . A small frown appeared on her face and she wondered where he could be. After searching everywhere she finally found him sitting at a table on a deck.
She smiled when she saw him and went straight to sit next to him. When he saw her coming he smiled and kissed her.
"Good morning love" he greeted her smiling widely.
"Good morning Ramiel, I am sorry if I disturbed you" Eva said apologetically.
Ramiel shook his head "No darling that's not necessary...you didn't disturb me" he replied smiling.
She cuddled into him and leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.
They spent the rest of the morning chatting and laughing with each other. Their conversation gradually led them to talk about the past, their families, and the people that they used to know since Ramiel wanted to no secrets among them he told Eva about him how he is really the god of war that united the 9 kingdoms years ago and with some strange magic he cannot describe or explain he was reborn.
Eva had never heard of anything like that before, but after witnessing his power firsthand she understood why that would have been possible a commoner could not have lasted long against a knight even if they were trainees and 20 of them even a Knight would have a hard time in the 9 kingdoms each have their own titles to classify their wariors for the human kingdoms it would be knights and mages. Knights were ranked accordingly from a trainee, Knight, paladin and general being the highest grade while mages were ranked from 1-9 with 9th tier mage being the highest level. She also learned all about that from her parents who are merchants they have constant dealings with knights and mages of all kinds.
She learnt lots and tons about the world from her parents, even the dark continent.
After breakfast Ramiel and Eva left the inn to find another since the death of the 20 young knight will soon come to light and they did not want to cause uncessary attraction since Ramiel had to find a way to meet the king. They walked down the street to an open area where Ramiel had bought his clothes from before and got dressed. He had brought the black hoodie and pants from home while he was traveling and he put them on before joining Eva outside again.
The town was quiet when they arrived at the marketplace . A lot of villagers and townsfolk were busy buying and selling food and drink. People stopped what they were doing when a carriage covered in gold appeaed escorted by knights wearing red armour drove towards the square. The soldiers that rode the carriage wore crimson cloaks and carried two swords each and both of them carried huge crossbows and arrows with them. They pulled into the square and dismounted their horses which immediately bowed low upon their arrival.
The doors of the carriage opened and 4 people came out 3 men and one woman who seemed to be their leader they all stepped down from the carriage and waited for the woman to address the crowd of villagers.
The woman was beautiful she stood tall and proud with jet black hair styled in a simple French braid that ended halfway down her back. She was wearing blue silky robes that showed just a hint of cleavage underneath as well as matching high heels and matching pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet. "Who is she ? " Ramiel asked Eva.
She looked at him "that is the princess of Hepis Anara " She explained
The princess looked at the crowd. There were many people looking at her and whispering amongst themselves.
The princess stepped closer to the podium.
"People of Hepis we are here today to discuss about the incoming raid on the neighbouring kingdom of Aecotor they have declared war over and over again but this time they haveand a large army. The news spread like wildfire across the land and this is not what we expected at all." She paused for a few seconds staring deeply into their eyes. "We need to prepare to defend ourselves".
A few people gasped in shock.
"What will happen if they attack?" One villager yelled "How can we defend ourselves against such a huge army?"
"We will do whatever it takes to survive our attackers." the princess responded confidently.
Another villager shouted "what can the citizens of Hepis do? They are too weak and frail to protect themselves".
Many murmured in agreement.
"Which is why we will be enlisting the help of those able bodied warriors." The princess added.
Everyone began arguing and shouting amongst each other loudly demanding the princess to reconsider her decision.
"Silence!" The princess bellowed "I am giving you a chance to take up arms and help us defeat the invaders". She took a deep breath.
This shut everyone up.
She continued "All the able-bodied townsfolk of Hepis will be going to the battlefront, we will leave within the week. If any of you wish to join your fellow townsfolk of Hepis and fight against our enemies I am willing to welcome you as an equal" Despite being a kingdom Hepis is actually part of the lower level equalling in power with Aecotor but with the sudden rise of a 7th tier magician in the kingdom of Aecotor the tides turned against Hepis . The Magician named Masha from Aecotor appeared out of nowhere and easily decapitated more than 100,000 knights magicans are naturally stronger than knights if they are given a time to launch there spells heavily guarded and unforseen the kingdom of Hepis lost alost 1/4 of their trained troops. Even the strongest general of Hepis couldn't do anything against Masha and was killed leaving the kingdom without a general.
Magicians are very rare in the 9 kingdoms due to the lack of magic. Every year a new generation of magicians emerge and the people are taught how to use their magic but the ability to cast magic itself is something that needs constant study and training. Only
5 magicians out of every 10000 mages are capable of casting powerful and deadly fireballs, wind blades, thunderous bolts and all sorts of destructive powers. This also makes them extremely dangerous 4th tier magicians are comparable to a knight, while 6th tiers are comparable to a paladin and 7th tier and above is said to be comparable to a general. For a kingdom such as Aecotor and Hepis who are considered low tier kingdoms a 7th tier magician is already considered very strong but to the people in the middle tier and high tier kingdoms there are many of them.
The princess can be seen to be very exhausted by the end of her speech. She looked tired and worn out but still held her ground.
"Now if anyone has any problem with this you can come forward and speak to me. But before I dismiss you for today I must remind you that you are all adults and should act mature, don't think you're children because you'r still young. Your job right now is to protect the kingdom from the invasion that is imminent, so please remember that. Good day" the princess gave them a curt nod and disappeared back inside the carriage followed by the others. The low tier kingdoms are Hepis, Aecotor and Vikar while middle tier kingdoms are Astarean, Geles and Phasha, lastly the high ranking kingdoms are Ezivaira,Slearus and lastly Phetia.
Eva watched silently as Ramiel watched the princess go away. Since there funds were about to dissappear they needed to find a quick job to earn money. They had been living with Eva's remaining money "What is the easiest way to earn money ?" Ramiel asked her.
She thought for a second then answered "Well probably taking on quest, but the adventurer's guild only allows a knight to accept quest." Eva said "So I will need to be a certified knight ?, I know that the process on getting certification is very long maybe becoming a mecenary is also acceptable ?" Ramiel said thinking aloud.
"You mean as a mercenary?" Eva asked confused at his choice of a profession.
Ramiel nodded "Yes, my skills would be enough for me to take care of you" Ramiel said making Eva smile and blush "you're too sweet, I'm sure you will be the perfect knight for me. I would love nothing more." she kissed Ramiel on his forehead and hugged him tightly "Let's get to work, I believe there will be jobs awaiting us at the guild."
She said smiling and kissed his lips lightly.
They left the marketplace hand in hand and walked through the bustling streets to the nearby guild and entered It was a big open room full of tables filled with different materials tools, ingredients weapons and armor of various types. "Hello, I'm looking for a job" Ramiel said as he walked into the guild.
He received numerous looks from the ladies working in the guild who wanted nothing more than to be his woman but he ignored them all. Eva and Ramiel walked past all of them to the counter at the far side of the room. "May I help you, gentlemen?" The female worker asked in a professional voice.
"Yeah" Eva responded "My husband would want to take the mecenary exam "
She looked at them and raised an eyebrow "and what is your, sir?"
"My name is Ramiel, I would love to take it." Ramiel said while he stared at the girl's breasts which was large.
"Alright then. Follow me" She said turning around. He and Eva followed behind her. She lead them to a desk where an older man sat behind the desk. She gestured for them to take a seat, Ramiel sat next to Eva while she sat next to him. "I've heard you have requested to take the exam ?" The man asked in a gruff voice. "Yes Sir"
"Very well then, I'll give you some rules to follow" He leaned forward and lowered his voice "You are not permitted to talk during the test or you will fail the test and be disqualified from the examination. You are allowed to take breaks to eat, drink water and relieve yourself . You will receive your badge as soon as the test ends, understand?"
"Yes Sir"
"Alright then, you may start now." He handed them two pieces of paper and Ramiel grabbed one. On top was written 'Your mission: To destroy a bandit camp bring me the leader's head. If you succeed, I will reward you and give you 10 Gold if you lose.. Well you will have to make do with less'. After reading this the girls let out a collective sigh, the bandits are known for attacking travellers and travelers who travel through the mountains or pass through the deserts or plains are always targets for these criminals . Most of them have either taken hostages or are blackmailing travelers they are mostly at the trainee knight level so if they really want to hurt someone they usually choose to just kill them instead of capturing them. The mission seemed easy enough for ramiel it's not like he will be forced to fight a dragon, but if it is he is confident in bringing one down. He is quite skilled at using magic which could help in killing a dragon.
The mission is simple, go to the bandits' camp, kill the leader and bring his head back and return safely. Simple.
The bandits are usually found in the caves near their campsites. Ramiel and Eva made their way towards the bandits tent where they could hear the bandits' loud voices and laughter coming from outside. As they got closer they could hear men fighting and cursing at each other. "What kind of fools are they?!" One of the men cried out while another guy punched another guys face. "Come here!" He yelled "I want you to fight me!".
They both stood in front of the cave entrance. "Who wants to challenge me? Come on! I'll give you a good thrashing!" Another man shouted. A few of the bandits laughed and cheered their friend on. "Don't worry, my friend, you can beat that bastard! I won't hold it against you" Another yelled back "I know, I've beaten up much bigger opponents than him. Just don't hold back okay?".
"Okay...but seriously, if he gets too cocky, hit him hard!"
"Alright". There was a short silence as they waited for somebody else to step forward.
"Hey! What are you waiting for?" One of the bandits finally yelled "It seems nobody has volunteered yet! You wanna fight? Let's go!". The two started to throw punches and kicks at each other as the audience cheered them on. Suddenly one of the guys got kicked hard in the stomach sending him flying and landing on the floor on the side of the camp. He groaned in pain and struggled to rise up from the floor.
"Ouch, ow ow! Damn it!". He yelled and clutched his side with his right hand as the wound on his face bled profusely. Suddenly a dagger flew through his back and embedded itself in his chest. Everyone gasped. His eyes widened and he screamed in agony as he fell backward on the floor again, this time laying motionless on the wooden floor as his blood ran down from the wound.
Everyone's jaws dropped. They were clearly shocked at what they saw. All eyes were fixated on the person who threw the dagger. They recognized the attacker straight away .
"Ramiel!?" Eva exclaimed surprised "How did you-".
Ramiel smilled and he quickly jumped up and unsheated his sword . With one swift move he cut the neck off of the nearst bandit who came running at him. He quickly turned to his left and attacked another one who was trying to attack him.
"How did you get in here!? I told you not to bother with these stupid knights!" One of the bandit leaders said angrily while he tried to stab Ramiel with a dagger but failed when Ramiel dodged and stabbed him with his sword and sliced open his torso.
As Ramiel continued his onslaught on the bandits the rest took out their swords and prepared themselves for the next wave of attacks. Eva was standing frozen watching the battle, she felt numb and completely lost. Ramiel fought bravely but every time they got close to him the bandit would get killed in an instant by Ramiel without holding back. The bandit leader was clearly losing ground, he knew that it would only take moments before Ramiel reaches him he started to run.
However he was soon stopped by a small arrow sticking out of his leg and blood pouring out of his wound, Ramiel immediately turned around to see the shooter Eva was shocked how the bow Ramiel gave to her would be usefull . In the same Ramiel arrived near the bandit leader and gave him a smile and a wink as he pointed his sword to the bandit's neck.
"It seems this game of tag is over, huh?" Ramiel questioned with a grin.
Ramiel cut the Bandit's leader head off and walked over to Eva still shocked by how fast he had managed to slaughter the entire bandit group which was over a hundred of them. He walked over to Eva and put his hand on her shoulder gently. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before looking at her. She smiled and held onto his hands and pulled him
in for a hug.
"Thanks Ramiel, those bandits were scum and were obviously planning something bad, it's a good thing the guild assigned us to this task even if our lives were at risk . " Eva said happily.
"Don't mention it, we should be glad there weren't any mages or it would have been a little difficult." Ramiel said chuckling
Eva giggled and placed her forehead against his and they left heading back to the guild .
Upon arriving at the guild, Ramiel and Eva walked through the crowds until they came upon the female worker of the guild who looked surprise seeing them come over quickly . "Ah! It looks like you two failed ?" she said Eve and Ramiel both chuckled and handed her the head of the bandit leader . She examined the head and nodded after she finished examining it. She walked over to a table behind her and handed the head to another member who immediately put it inside a basket, " good job since you have accomplish your mission you are now fully pledge mecenaries and as a reward" She handed them 10 gold coins and a namecard each with a letter E imprinted with their names. " You will start at the lowest rank E " She said
"Thank you, we're very grateful for your assistance, I guess we will be going now." Eva said.
"You're welcome" She said
"and congratulations" She added. "We hope to see more of you around". Eva smiled and waved goodbye before dragging Ramiel into the direction of their inn. "So, what do you think?". Eva asked excitedly
. "I didn't expect that the mission will turn out to be that easy". Ramiel laughed. "But why not? I mean I'm sure all I needed to do was defeat them and leave".
"With this 10 gold it can last us 1 entire week, but we still need to earn a lot more ." She sighed sadly
"I guess we can try again tomorrow they did not say we cannot take jobs higher than are ranks maybe ." Ramiel smilled.
"Yeah" Eva smiled
The sun had set and it was starting to get dark out. They decided to stay in the inn and sleep early. The next day arrived Ramiel can be seen training in the garden ever since he was reborn back to his younger self he's power is slowly climbing, but it wasn't still enough to unite the 9 kingdoms he can feel that he has at least 30% of his old power he could fight against several knights if they gang up on him, defeating a paladin and a low rank general would be easy for him 30% of peak Ramiel was very powerfull, but Ramiel cannot be too overconfient in himself because it has been more than 500 plus years, there must be someone who have reached peak Ramiel power somewhere or maybe have achieved a greater feat, but since none was planning on revealing themselves to solve the on going crisis they must either have bad intentions, hidden or none has reached his level. A steady progress is a lot better than a quick but unstable one .He continues to practice as well as train his body just before breakfast . After breakfast they left the inn and headed to the guild to find some contracts to complete so they can save some money.
They enter the guild and start looking around looking for a contract or anything like that Ramiel finds a small a group of contracts which were left untouched on the board most of them had very high difficulty but Ramiel was not worried he looked at the highest paid contract " Kill the rampaging demon reward 1000 gold." Ramiel looks at it again the demon would be a 6th tier mage at least or comparable to a paladin or maybe even a general. The contract had the highest pay rate and it was classified as an A rank contract which means it needed at least 5 A rank mecenaries or more ,Ramiel didn't really care it only matter whether or not he could do this he wanted to go and slay the demon quickly . He told eva about the contract
'That sounds quite hard " Eva thought, but rembering that Ramiel is the Ramiel of the legends , he has been through worse then death. She also knew he was not going to give up easily. " Then lets head out." Eva said smiling she put her arm around Ramiel's waist and they headed outside of the guild leaving for the town that was said to be invaded by the demon. The town would be 3 days away by foot so they rented a horse for 1 gold which would cut there travel time and started their journey toward the demon.
The first night they camped close to the road the horses grazed and drank. The two of them sat in silence enjoying the peace of the forest they both fell asleep with smiles on their faces, it was not unusual to see each other tired. Ramiel woke up feeling something warm against his side he turned to look at what he felt something move slightly he could hear the sound of birds chirping and the wind blowing, when he moved his hand to his cheek it came across wet droplets of water he blinked twice and tried to wipe his eyes from the rain drops falling in front of his face he turned his gaze to the side.Eva was sleeping peacefully her breathing slow and regular, he couldn't help but smile at the sight his love is beautiful even when she is resting. When he realized he has been staring he quickly turn to the side and faced the sky.
After some time the two woke up and continued their journey they crossed mountains and rivers and finally they arrived at the town called Nesme. After checking their surroundings they went to look for some places where they could rent an inn for the night. Ramiel found a small inn which had good rooms . They shared one room since they have been used to sleeping with one another and besides Ramiel didn't want to leave Eva alone here in Nesme, after all he doesn't know how dangerous things are in Nesme. As they walked to the room Ramiel noticed something strange about the streets, he couldn't understand why there was so little people walking in and out the street he couldn't stop looking for something out of place, the streets were completely silent and there was no sign of any human presence anywhere, he stopped and waited for Eva to catch up with him before asking her
"What is wrong?" Eva asked
"Nothing don't worry "
Ramiel replied turning to Eva " I'm just trying to figure out what is going on, there are hardly anyone walking around"
Eva looked at the ground for a moment "it must be because of the so called demon that is terrorizing this town"
Ramiel furrowed his brows "the demon must be hiding, but when it comes dark he will attack." Ramiel knows countless of demons afterall he has battled a lot of them in the dark continent and demons their are common, but to make it all the way here in human territory
he must have some kind of magic or strength. "I will go search for the demon at night" Ramiel said
"Don't let me stop you " Eva smiled.
When evening fell the two got ready to go to sleep , meanwhile somewhere else someone woke up. The man rubbed his eyes with his hands and stretched, he opened his eyes and looked at the window seeing that the sun has dissapeared he smilled with excitement, he quickly took a cloak from a wooden rack near the bed.
The man wore the hood of the cloak and left the room quietly closing the door behind him. He made sure that the door was locked with a key that was hanging on a hook. He made his way down stairs and exited the house locking the door behind him again. His feet touched the cobbled streets making soft steps echo. The cold air hit the man's face as he was walking and he shivered slightly.
The man was wearing long pants and brown boots that was covered with dirt and dried blood, his long dark hair covered his face. His dark cloak was covering his whole body except for his neck, but the only part uncovered was his eyes, but his eyes were colored red he was the demon that was terrorizing this town and was prepared to find his next prey he transformed into a pitch black demon his appearance was the same, but much bigger than his usual size. The man smirked as he made his way past the streets and went to the nearest populated area and found a young couple making love under a tree in the center of the village he watched as his target slept the demon smirked in satisfaction he knew what would happen now soon this would change. The demon grabbed the man silently by his throat choking him as the man kicked and screamed struggling to breathe the demon's eyes turned red as his pupils enlarged and the man was killed " honey where did you go?" The woman asked she was undressed her chest and stomach glistening with sweat. The demon changed his appearance and reappered before the woman as her husband " sorry darling i just needed to pee" Said the demon with the human voice "I am back, don't worry everything will be fine" said the demon grabbing the woman 's neck and thrusted his cock inside of her moaning at the pleasure "ahhhh so good baby" she moaned "I never expected you to be this long " the woman said moving his hips faster while thrusting her ass back towards him "well my sweet wife I have worked hard lately " the demon answered in the man's voice kissing her shoulder and rubbing his face between her breasts "You should come back home early then everyday " The woman said and the demon laughed before cumming inside of her "ohhhh yeahhh" the demon groaned as he cummed inside of her he pulled out of her and started walking away the demon was satisfied with what he just done so it would take a few hours until he is finished the demon left the woman who was fully exhausted laying butt naked in the ground with cum dripping down her pussy this was what he would normally do to enlarge the demon population in towns like these but since he would find a woman and if married kill the husband and transform as him and impregnate the wife. If the woman was not married then the demon would just either transform into a handsome man or rape them. The woman victims who were victimized would not be able to abort the baby because of the demon curse they would die instead of the baby that is why some can only kill themselves after knowing that they were raped. The demon's name was Krize he was on his way to find another woman when suddenly he saw Eva sleeping inside the inn he grinned and shifted back into his own form and snuck inside the inn he sneaked up to the stairs and walked to their room. The second door at the end of the hall Krize entered the room he slowly closed the door. He approached Eva and placed his hand over her mouth muffling her scream, he removed his hand revealing a wicked smirk on his lips. "Well hello gorgeous, I'm afraid you are gonna have to stay awake " the demon said in the man's deep husky voice. Eva struggled violently trying to get out of the man's grip. Her struggles were futile as the demon pinned her to the floor. "Haha, that's right try and escape you whore" Krize said and started caressing Eva's breasts. Eva tried to fight free but the demon was too strong. The man continued his assault on Eva. He ripped open her shirt exposing her white skin. Eva struggled more furiously still unable to break free. Eva's body shook as tears ran down her cheeks suddenly the door opened and Ramiel showed up "leave her alone"