After a month had passed the promised day had arrived. Hiro and Quinn walked out of the Whitmore manor and they found a large caravan of guards, mercenaries, servants, and coaches before them. Hiro looked around at the large convoy and asked one of the maids behind him, “Aren’t there are a few too many coaches? Even accounting all the guards, and servants we shouldn’t need nearly these many coaches. And in the first place, why are there so many guards? ”

The maid respectfully replied, “Young master, those coaches are for the commoners.”

“The commoners?”

“Yes, the Master has arranged for us to pick up several prospective servants and commoners across all twelve fiefs so that they may receive training in the capital or at the academy. He stressed it’s vital we don’t miss out on any talents as some of these commoners may grow up to be skilled craftsmen or vital personnel to your family.”

“I see, so that’s why we have so many guards.”

The maid shook her head, “The guards are to escort the goods we intend to trade in other territories.”

The maid pointed at one of the coaches in the rear that was filled with barrels and crates, “We also have goods we intend to sell to the capital that are worth quite a sum so we’ve hired extra personnel as a cautionary measure. There’s also additional space for any material we procure during our journey.”

"Hmmm, additional material?"

“Ah,” Hiro heard a little girl cry out, “Big Brother Hiro, Big Brother Quinn!”

Hiro turned his head, “Eris?”

Eris ran up to Hiro and hugged his leg, and one of the butlers walked up to Hiro, “Young Master, while the young miss is too young to attend the academy, the Master has arranged for her to stay in the Capital as the Master will be doing business in there for some time. We apologize for informing you on such short notice”

Eris cheered, “We’ll get to see Papa soon!”

Hiro smiled wearily and patted the little girl’s head, over the years he realized he wasn't the only one who rarely saw his father. Though he doubted even if he did see his Father that they’d end up talking, or at the very least peacefully.

Hiro patted Eris's head and said, "Alright, but behave okay.”

Eris nodded her head, “Mmm”

…

Hiro walked over to the carriage at the front of the caravan and looked around. Most of the guards wore a standard issued leather armor reinforced with iron that the Whitmore's smiths had forged. These guards were all either equipped with a sword and shield or a long spear. There were also a few armored knights riding on horseback currently sitting down or tending to their horses.

Hiro was rather familiar with these guards he'd seen them quite often in the manor. Though he never took the time to really talk to them, after all, he wasn’t quite sure if he should pretend to be a child or go up to them and speak like an adult.

However, as he looked around Hiro noticed that there several other armed guards who possessed a wild variety of equipment. Some of them seemed to be equipped with large war-axes or daggers, while others were equipped with all manner of weapons from throwing knives to whips to bizarrely shaped swords seemingly constructed from the bones and ligaments of animals and monsters.

Their armor wasn’t the standard issue armor infantrymen and guards typically wore. Some of them wore pelts while others wore leather armor or the carapace of some large monster. One of these men noticed Hiro was looking at them and came over.

He was a well-built bald man who didn’t seem to be especially well equipped. His arms were wrapped in bandages, and his armor mostly just consisted of a vest and pants revealing his large bulky muscles. Other than the small knife hanging from his waist and the pouch which seemed to contain a few bottles he didn’t seem to have anything much on him.

The bald man looked down at Hiro and smiled, “So you’re one of the brats we’re escorting?”

Hiro nodded and extended his hand, “I’m Hiro”

The bald man laughed, and grabbed Hiro’s arm with his large hand and shook it, “The names Edward! You don’t need to worry about a thing with me and my pals here. Just leave things to me and take a nap why don’t ya!”

Hiro smiled, “Alright”

“Anyway,” Edward looked around and turned to a maid, “Are we about ready to set off here?”

The maid bowed, and apologized, “I’m sorry, but can we wait for just a-”

“No, it's fine,” The Head Maid suddenly appeared holding a halberd on her shoulder, “We can depart.”

The maid turned around slightly confused, "But Head Maid what about-"

"I said it's fine, also we don't have time to wait. We'll be fine as long as I'm here"

The Head Maid clenched her fist and put it on her chest, and the air around her began to spin rapidly as her body began to emit a faint white light.

Edward looked at the Head Maid sizing her up and laughed, “As expected of the Whitmore Family! To think they’d have a magic knight act as a maid.”

Edward walked back to the rest of the mercenaries, and raised his fist, “Alright boys lets get a move on!”

Hiro watched the mercenaries and guards move about, and then turned to the Head Maid, “Noel don’t you think this is a bit excessive?”

The Head Maid shook her head, “On the contrary, I fear we should have hired more armed guards.”

"By the way who were you waiting for?"

"Thomas, the Head Butler. We sent him out with several guards to complete a mission. We intended to meet up here before departing, however, he's a bit late."

Hiro paused, and turned back around and looked at all the armed guards and mercenaries, "Are you expecting an ambush?"

The Head Maid smiled, “One should always prepare and account for the worst of possibilities young master. We intended for our numbers to act as a deterrent but if there’s one thing this world doesn’t lack its fools. ”

“We could always postpone the-”

The Head Maid slammed the butt end of her halberd down to the ground, "We can't do that young master."

"..."

The Head Maid stared into Hiro's eyes and smiled, before sitting beside the coachman. Hiro walked over to the carriage where Eris and Quinn were sitting in and sat down. As he looked out the window he couldn't help but lose himself to thought, "In the end, she’s right the world truly doesn’t lack the foolish…”

Hiro closed and recalled the memories that were etched into his mind by the Divine Artifacts he wielded and he frowned. He possessed the memories of nine Heroes including himself and while he might not have lived a total of 900 years the Hero’s lineage has existed for nine centuries.

And over those nine centuries, in the end, no matter how dire the circumstances never once in those nine hundred years had Humanity ever truly united…

While it may be true that to defeat the Demon King Humanity came together and consolidated a great deal of Humanities power and resources under the Holy Empire, in the end, this was merely due to the Empire’s vicinity to the Underworld and their unwillingness to take on the burden themselves.

In truth, the Holy Empire which prided itself as Humanities sword and shield was nothing more than a meat shield for the Southern Kingdoms. In reality, the incredibly powerful Holy Empire actually lacked the resources to properly sustain itself without the help of the south as the centuries of battle destroyed acres of fertile land, and all those capable of fighting were conscripted in the effort to slay the Demon King.

So for centuries, the Holy Empire continued it’s dutiful role as the guardian to the Human world while the Southern Kingdoms below, who vowed to eternally support the Holy Empire till the Demon King was truly defeated, remained in constant turmoil as they fought each other for supremacy.

Hiro couldn’t help but wonder, what if all the powerful Kingdoms in the south banded together? What if the Holy Empire wasn’t merely the guardian of Humanity, but was Humanity as a whole? What if Humanity had truly united, would they even fear the Demon King? Would there be so many sacrifices?

As Hiro thought about it, and as he awaited the likely assault that would befall him and his family by his own race he couldn’t help but think that Humans were foolish. That Humans were truly, truly foolish.

~

The caravan slowly took off going from one fief to another, visiting farms and villages. Every time the caravan would stop to trade with the villagers, occasionally taking a handful of children. While most villagers were relatively reluctant to part with their children they also felt it was quite an honor and a privilege. To these villagers, the academy represented a hope of a better life, and in the end, they all allowed their children to leave them.

However as the caravan had just left another one of the fiefs and as it was getting late Hiro heard the sound of a horn, “Children gather to the center! Men form a circle! Mages get your asses out here!”

Suddenly, several balls of light shot into the air and began illuminating the ground like spotlights. And then in a matter of seconds, the battle had started. Several maids and butlers grabbed the children in the back of the coaches and dragged them over to the carriage Hiro and his siblings were in.

Hiro turned to the Head Maid who was sitting beside the coachman and asked, "How's the situation?”

The Head Maid smiled as she grabbed her halberd, “Don’t worry it’ll be fine. Leave this to us.”

She pulled out a scroll and opened it up causing a transparent square box to appear covering the children and the carriage. After observing the spell and nodding her head in approval she took off.

Eris who was taking a nap on Quinn’s lap woke up from the noise and looked at Hiro, “Big Brother?”

Hiro clenched his fists, and smiled, “Don’t worry just go back to sleep Eris”

He extended her hands, and a white mist shot out causing the already drowsy Eris to fall back asleep. Then as Hiro was about to leave the carriage, Quinn asked him, “What are you doing.”

“I’m going to fight.”

“With what your bare hands? You don’t a sword or a shield or even a scrap of armor.”

“It’ll be fine, I’m strong enough even without a weapon”, Hiro flexed his arms as he looked at Quinn, “Besides do you want me to just sit here? If I don’t go out someone might die.”

Quinn rebutted, “Yes, you. Besides what makes you think they’ll die so easily.”

“Intuition”

“That’s nonsense and you know it. You don’t know them, you don’t know their names let alone how strong they are. You might just be a distraction if anything. Besides what reason do you have to go out there and risk your life?”

“A reason?”, Hiro paused and smiled, “For justice”

Quinn raised his brow and watched as Hiro left the carriage and charged out the barrier frightening the guards standing outside. Quinn looked down at his lap and stroked Eris’s hair and for a slight instant, his dark brown eyes flashed with a tinge of red as he quietly laughed, “For justice he says… ah, what a joke…”