Artur de Pele was a full-time militia guard in the town of Vallas, unlike the main army of the Republic of Duceras, local militiamen like Artur were only tasked to protect the city or town they worked for, they were under the command of the local garrison's commander who also serves the local lord mayor of Vallas.
With their usual routine, Artur was again tasked to guard the western gate of the city along with several other militiamen, wearing the armor and equipment he had gotten when he entered the job as well as some items he bought with his own money, Artur was well equipped. He wore a mixture of tunic and leather underneath his iron chest plate armor, an iron gauntlet, an iron vambrace, and iron pads for his arms and shoulders, as well for his legs and leather boots while over his armor, he was wearing a surcoat with the Berg of Vallas' Emblem to signify them from other units of soldiers.
Only a few people come in and out of the western gate since the west of the town of Dallas only has smaller settlements like villages or sometimes some native tribes also come in and out to barter or trade.
While observing the calm outskirts of the walled city, Artur noticed a small and strange man, he was wearing a dark hood and seemingly gray pants, as well as a strange bag on his back, but what stood out the most for Artur was the young man's dark hair.
They are incredibly rare in the continent, and most people with dark hair come from prominent positions such as the legendary hero Klein, who sacrificed his life and his companions to kill the last of the evil fiends, or famous adventurers and wealthy families.
He knew this since he had a friend who worked and served as a clergyman in the church of Solarium, The church mostly worked to find people with dark hair for unknown reasons, until now their secrets were still uncovered, knowing this could potentially involve the church, Artur was quick to get one of his juniors.
"Jones come here!" The man named Jones was fast to approach Artur, "Yes Captain?" he asked.
Artur meanwhile started to write something on a small parchment of paper, careful to not commit mistakes knowing how expensive paper parchments can be, "Use the horse and deliver this to the local parish, this is very important so be fast."
Jones saluted and quickly went into the stables to get the horse, Knowing the report was important, he was moving much faster than his usual pace, Artur then went down from the wooden walls to meet this young man, and as soon as he made it down, the young man was already talking with one of his men.
Seeing his superior, the militia who was talking to Yozora approached Artur, "Captain, this strange young man here wanted to enter the town, but he doesn't have any identification with him, he said he was a wandering merchant who left his hometown because brigands raided it."
Artur glanced at Yozora who didn't show much emotion, 'Heh, he is smart. He made up quite a touching already haha.'
Artur patted the man's shoulder saying, "I'll handle this one myself, go and tend to other people," Without asking much, the man proceeded to leave, focusing his attention on the young man, Artur gave a friendly smile and introducing himself, "I'm Artur de Pele, captain of the western gate company, it seems you don't have an identification with you, then we had to make you one, please follow me inside the town."
Yozora's mood was brightened but did not show it, he only smiled while introducing himself and thanking Artur, "Thank you, Sir Artur, I'm Yozora from uhh.. the village of Suki, nice to meet you."
Artur nodded as he guided the young man towards the local parish, 'They should deal with this, we really can't meddle with the church's affairs, it's a bad idea.'
...
Yozora was expecting a difficult time getting into the town, but it seemed luck was on his side, the people, and especially the guards were friendly so far, and even the Captain of the militia himself guided him to make an identification, 'Hah~ it seems I'm already caught. What kind of lowly commoner or peasant will be guided by a militia guard himself in the medieval era, Tsk!'
Yozora, as soon as the captain talked to him already suspected that they knew he was not some mob in the outskirts, he also managed to take a glance at one particular guard who mounted and rode a horse into the town, 'Did they reported me to the local lord already? Not good, I suppose I'll prepare for the worst."
With the plasma shotgun hidden inside his black jacket and the plasma pistol on his waist, Yozora was prepared Although he had not killed a person before nor did he have any experience with combat, with his life on the line, he had to do it.
They eventually reached a pathway made of cobblestone, on a small mound, a small building was located, probably a local parish, Yozora knew they were common, especially in the medieval era where the church held a lot of power with the use of faith.
Steeling himself, he continued to walk until they reached the parish's doors, the guard captain knocked using the door knocker, knocking three times, the double door opened revealing a middle-aged man with red hair, he wore glasses, a brown cassock with a cape, he glanced to the captain before looking to Yozora and scanned his appearance.
"Is this him Sir Artur?" He asked.
Artur nodded, "Yes Father, his name is Yozora," Yozora lightly bowed while the man returned the gesture, "And this man right here is his Reverend Father Claudio de Sousa, the local priest in our town and the head of religious practices, he will take care of you for now, I'll be leaving you then."
As soon as Artur left the Priest quickly invited Yozora inside, "I know you have a lot of questions young man, and all of that will be answered shortly, for now, how about we go inside my office with some tea?"
Yozora, although wary nodded, "Alright."
As the two proceeded to walk to Claudio's office, Yozora glanced around the church, style according to the lessons of his history teacher back in his high school days, This church was a baroque style church, the ceiling had four chandeliers that gave light to the church, there are a lot of candles being lit inside, and various paintings, relics and other holy artistic designs and works were displayed around.
As they reached Claudio's office, Yozora couldn't help but admire its interior, there was a blue carpet with various fancy furniture, there were also paintings on the wall, a small library, his office table, and in the middle of the room was a round tea table and four couch surrounding it.
Claudio offered the young man a seat as they finally went into business, Yozora meanwhile was on full alert, with the plasma shotgun small enough to fit in his jacket without being noticed his heart was also beating faster but maintained a stoic expression.
A young girl then entered the room with a tray where the tea kettle and tea cups were served, The young girl carefully served the two as Yozora nodded in appreciation, "Now, Yozora was it? I'm sure you are curious as to why you are brought here in this humble parish of ours instead and allow me to get on the point."
Claudio paused for a moment glancing at Yozora as he sipped some tea, Yozora drank some tea due to nervousness still wearing a passive expression, "You see people with dark hair are a rarity, after all, most of them are not from here."
Yozora raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, let me brief you with a bit of 'our' history. Back in the years of terror, slaughter, and evil when the Devil Fiends still existed, our god, Solaria descended to the mortal world to finish these devil fiends herself, however, as a goddess, she can't interfere personally in the mortal world because by doing it, she will break a taboo, a treaty of gods not allowing them to interfere in mortal affairs since it will break the balance of power among the gods not just in this world, Solaria herself said there is countless world across the vast sea of darkness that she called the "space"." Claudio took another sip of tea to allow Yozora to consume and process his briefing before continuing.
"But with her godly powers and intelligence, Solaria blessed selected mortals to be able to practice and use magic, it is the first time that magic was born into this world, not only giving birth to powerful races but also wild beasts, monsters, flora, dungeons and more. With a newfound power, the natives of this world fought the evil fiends who were not from this world, unfortunately, despite the power given by magic, the people who possessed that power at that time were not able to utilize magic enough, and their mana pool were laughable and could only give minimal damage to the fiends, and most of all, there were more than 1,000 devil fiends in existence, each was powerful with on their own, the devil fiend banded together and pushed all races of this world on the other side of the continent, with no choice left, our goddess, Solaria, has made up her decision."
Claudio stopped and sighed, "With a heavy heart, Solaria used her power and summoned ten individuals with dark hair, all of them were said to be from the fabled race known as "Japanese", which were completely unknown to us, one of those "Japanese" that was summoned was a beautiful girl named Asuka Furakawa, she was the most powerful of them all and was able to use Holy Magic and Fire Magic, she was also blessed by the goddess to be our Holy Saint, fast forward to five years, all ten of them trained vigorously, and when the time came, they prepared to fight the evil fiend along with millions of natives in this land to fight a bigger foe, the campaign against the evil fiend was the bloodiest war ever, tens of million people lost their lives, the land was ravage with blood and fire unabling it to be used for farming, many mighty kingdoms and empires collapsed from the Demon Horde, until the fated day finally came, the Heroes and the Holy Saint hunted the evil fiends one by one until they separated to kill more of them, each heroes tended by a special talented group of people, 30 years later, ten of them met in the cnter of the continent where the last of the evil fiend awaits them, the Heroes banded and fought as a team, they managed to defeat the last of the evil fiend but unfortunately, five of them died in the battle.
After the defeat of the evil fiend, the heroes finally were released from their duty and spent their lives as they pleased, some founded kingdoms and empires, some lived a laid-back lifestyle, and some established famous associations and organizations to seek wealth, fame, and power, while others indulge in their deepest desires.
And most importantly, the continent was now in peace, in 300 years, the continent rose from the ashes of war and destruction, and a new era had also started, an era of innovation, art, and peace that we called Pax Solarium, however, after 500 years, all of the heroes have left this world and into the side of Solaria, the Kingdoms, and Empires they left broke into a devastating war, the power struggle has begun with the heroes' death, the balance of power broke and the new era once again begin, this is the Aevum Belli Era, an era of Blood and Iron."
Claudio finished his cup of tea, and finally, dropped the million-dollar question, "Since the start and end of the Evil Fiends Era and the end of Pax Solarium and into the middle of Aevum Belli Era, the church has not recorded a single child born with dark hair, even the heroes themselves from their wives, harems, and concubines have not given birth to an offspring with dark hair, all of them only took a part of their parents faces but all other features came from the mother. The rift that our Goddess, Solaria until now is partly open because of the spell she used, now many dark-haired people are being summoned here due to the rift, some of them earned fame with their talent, skills, and intelligence, and unfortunately, some died, sold into slavery and treated as the most exotic and expensive slave, we, as the followers of the goddess Solaria has been tasked to take care of the dark-haired people who are accidentally summoned here and guide them towards the right path at all cost since many of these dark-haired people also brought violence and war.
Now, tell me Yozora, are you also summoned here?"
Yozora was stunned on the spot while Claudio was staring at him in the eyes, 'Shit, they know'
With a heavy breath, Yozora dropped a multi-million dollar answer, "Yes, but no."