Suzu and Haruki took a week off school to help heal the scars from his first kill.

He was constantly lost in his head, reliving the tearing sensations as if were happening all over again. He got little sleep from the nightmares and even lost his appetite, not eating for a few days. Suzu waited for him patiently, always nearby.

Truthfully, Suzu's presence probably helped him the most. Haruki wasn't sure if he could've handled the guilt by himself.

Suzu kept him distracted with stories from her time as a warrior, of all the rough times she'd been through and how there would be many more to come.

This sobered him up the most and, in the end, his brain boiled the chaos down to a simple question.

'Do I give in to cowardice and hide behind Suzu forever? Or do I accept it, live with it and fight by her side?'

When Haruki asked himself that question, his mind snapped back into to order. He squashed down all the negative emotions with simple, raw determination to stand beside the woman he loved. Haruki's hesitation towards violence had been deeply embedded in his heart for many years, but now, it had vanished.

By the time their leave of absence came to an end, Haruki was mostly back to his old self. He still had frequent nightmares, but his conscience had been fully squared away.

In the wake of the duel, everyone in the school started referring to Haruki as “Windblade”. No-one knew who exactly came up with the name, but it circulated quickly throughout the Academy and eventually the entire town knew the name.

On the day they returned to class, most of the students looked at him in either terror or awe as they walked into the lecture hall. The boys were respectful and short with their answers, while the girls would often look over and giggle, turning away to chatter about something or another when his eyes caught their gaze.

Even the teachers handled him carefully, calling him 'Haruki-san'. Most who had seen the duel still shuddered, remembering the sounds of tearing flesh and splashing gore.

Haruki and Suzu were quite happy about the extra space, since they needed to catch up on all the work they'd missed.

That afternoon, Haruki managed to get his hands on an encyclopedia in the Library using his newfound notoriety. They were normally always checked out, since such a book was rather valuable, but he'd been allowed to borrow a spare.

Turning to the geography page, eager to see a map, Haruki finally laid his eyes on the world he now inhabited.

'It's a fucking DONUT!? Are you kidding me!?'

According to the book, the continent was almost perfectly circular. In the middle, there was a massive in-land sea with a single island, labeled “The Holy Citadel”.

His country was currently listed as “The Epimethean Theocracy”, or Epimethia for general use. It was in the north-western quarter of the continent.

There were another 3 countries listed, each taking up their own quarter, with massive mountain ranges creating the borders.

'I swear, the more I see, the more suspicious this whole thing becomes. Whoever made this world had no skill in map design...'

The Elven country in the south-west, Yanshou, held the many Beastmen tribes as well. A large part was covered in dense forest and jungles, but they seemed to mostly be further south. In the north-east lay the Barbarian and Dwarven lands of Stonehaven, the birth-place of his father.

The biggest enigma was the country to the south-east. It was simply labeled as “Forbidden Zone” and even the tunnels through the mountains had been sealed off. Despite searching around for another few hours, Haruki could find nothing more about it.

Rushing over to check out the book, Haruki smiled to himself. Jogging home, he instantly buried his nose in the large tome.

'Sweet, time to get more answers!'

Pope Decius Augustus the 5th sat at his large wooden desk, massaging his temples while reading a recent report.

'Completely disemboweled in a single move? Appeared behind him in an instant?'

Decius felt a slight shiver as he scanned over the report again.

'Truly a shame... Hasn't stepped foot in the cathedral once... Displays no reverence towards the church... If I can't make him loyal, then we'll have to move forward as planned.'

“Attend me.”

A young priest walked in nervously. “Your Holiness, how may I do your bidding?”

“Tell Cardinal Romulus that I expect him to have a follow up plan if his first doesn't succeed.”

The priest paused for a moment, puzzled. “Your Holiness, have you had a premonition about the boy?”

Waving his hand dismissively, Decius grunted as he turned back towards his paperwork, irritated over being questioned by a mere messenger.

“Tell Romulus that I'm simply being cautious. Now go.”

The priest bowed as low as his waist would allow, scurrying off to find the Cardinal.

Cardinal Romulus was sitting in his office, grumbling to himself. It was quite late, but just as he was finishing up the last of his paperwork, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

'Why now? I was about to go for some tea...'

“Come in...”

The door opened as an exhausted priest poked his head in meekly.

“Orders from his Holiness – He asked that you have a backup plan ready when the time comes, in case your original one doesn't work out. He urges caution.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes, Cardinal.”

“You may leave”.

Turning his head back to his paperwork, Romulus sighed again, exhausted from the recent work load.

'Fine then, I'll bring a full cohort. 200 regular soldiers ought to be enough for the first wave, but perhaps I'll double the paladins in the second... Maybe I should ask Brother Brutus for a few more priests to be safe? 400 men should be enough.'

Briefly writing himself a memo, he stood with a stretch, groaning as his tired body moved for the first time since lunch.

'Back to the important things...'

With a slight skip in his step, Romulus hummed happily to himself as he scampered off towards the kitchen.