"Sir, please, you are humanity's last hope. You need to fight for the sake of our species... please...ple-"
Kneeling down, with tears flowing down his face, a brawny man with shiny and durable-looking armour was clutching my robe. He was hunching, bowing and pleading, looking like he was about to lick my shoes.
I look at the knight with dark eyes, eyes that have lost their light.
Doing such a thing may persuade other people, but as someone who knows this knight personally... I am not budging.
"Do you think that doing this will make me help you. Hey, do you remember when I also knelt like this underneath your feet, when I crawled asking for food?" Hearing my words, the knight slowly looked up at me with trembling eyes. I then grabbed my robe and pulled it out from his arms. "Do you...?"
"T-That..." Seeing my ice-cold look, the knight trembled... Noticing my insubordination... "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
The knight said, banging his unhelmeted head on the floor repeatedly. "What I had done was truly unforgivable. However, I was dumb back then, with our backs. No, humanity's back on the wall, I humbly ask for your help, I WILL DO ANYTHING."
I look at the bowing knight, with blood scattered on the floor.
"Anything?"
Hearing my reconsideration, the knight looked upwards with glowing eyes.
"Yes, anything..."
"Then... get out of my house!"
"What?" The knight, looking confused, was then pushed outward by my magic just outside the door.
But before the door was closed forcibly by me, a hand stopped it. Pushed it inward towards the house, fighting my force magic, gripping it and breaking it.
"I suppose sending this man was the worst decision I have made. I am truly sorry, sir. I suppose you wouldn't mind if I were the one talking, right?"
The owner of the hand appeared with a sense of honour. He has an aura of someone to be respected, someone with power. With his beautiful blonde hair, enviable silver and diamond crown, old stature, yet muscular build, he stood there with the aura of a king...
Well, he is a king.
"With the world ending... I do mind, King Barboa. Well, barboa only, cause you won't be king for long."
With my disrespect hurling towards the king. He released a blue aura, trying to tie me down and make me kneel. However, I didn't budge for I knew he was weaker than I.
"Try whatever you want, even if you scratch me or, through a miracle, kill me. That won't change the outcome of this scenario."
Hearing my words, the king wrinkled his face. He grabbed one of the chairs in the room, sat down on it, removed his crown and set it on the table near it.
He breathed in and out
"Oh, great hermit, please just don't stand there and sit with me. You might hear something amusing."
Hm? Something amusing, they say. This might be worth the attention.
"So, what is it? What's so amusing other than the world ending?" I said, sitting down and putting my cheek against my hand that was resting on the table.
"I think it would be better for you to hear it from someone familiar." The king said, pointing towards the door.
There still lies the unconscious knight, sleeping on the floor. But what truly caught my attention was the person who slowly appeared.
He was someone I knew, someone who, before being exiled, was the person I respected the most. The one who raised me, cared for me and gave me education. He was my father, Baron Choppin, the one who also exiled me from my own country.
The way he was built as of now was different from what I previously knew. He was a former knight, so he should be built with muscles. However, the person in front of me was slim, he was pale, and looked as if he had no power.
This makes me sick. To think that he used to be the person who exiled me, and now he looks like this. Preposterous!
I look at the king with a furious glare but with an approachable smile.
"Oh, and who might this be? You said someone familiar, but I don't know anyone who looked as weak as this person."
The king looked at me with pity, then looked towards my father. There my father stood, head down, looking all gloomy, and biting his lips.
"This is Baron Choppin, a former baron from Aizdeil. You're former country..."
"Oh? And what makes such an 'important person' visit such a 'filial person' like me?"
I used words that he used back when he exiled me. Probably hurting from it, he was trembling and clenching his fist.
"That... How about you sit down inside Baron Choppin? So, we could talk on a much more personal level," King Barboa said.
However, my father simply replied by shaking his head and saying. "No, I can't... I am not worthy."
Hearing that pissed me off. This is not the father that I knew; this guy is an impostor.
I then stood up from my seat and slowly walked toward him. Frightened, he stepped a step backwards from me.
"Why would you not be worthy to go inside the house of someone 'lower' than you? Since you're so much more 'important' than me."
There he was, underneath the moonlight and darkness, trembling, head down and could not even look at my face.
I was there, standing just inside the house next to the doorframe with lights at my back, forming a shadow above him.
I knew it. This is not my father.
As I was about to go back inside the room. He looked upward and glared at me. His eyes, though faint, had fire. A blue one.
"Here." He handed me a briefcase made of leather. "Inside there are the artefacts from 3 of the 4 original kingdoms, King Barboa should give you his personally."
"T-This" Then, Barboa stood beside me and patted me on the shoulder.
"Here, the artefact of my kingdom. Use it well." The king said, giving me his crown, then going away, raising his hand and bidding farewell, "Oh, and also, the saint and her party who ran away are now branded as traitors. If you come to the battlefield, we, the 4 kings of the original kingdoms, will give you access to all the grimiore and make you king."
"I, as the representative of the 4 kingdoms, shall now give you a mission. Defeat the demon lord." My father said.
"See you on the battlefield... 'The hermit'"
"Make sure to come, my 'son'"
The two of them then walked towards the carriage waiting on the street.
Sigh~ to think that they would persuade me by showing me my father's awakening... It was almost as if they knew I still cared for him...
Fine, then so be it. See you two on the battlefield, I have all I need to defeat the demon lord after all.
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"In the end, you showed up, huh. A little bit too late, don't you think?" King Barboa said with bloody hands.
He was completely different from the person I saw inside my house. With majestic white and gold armour, though with a lot of cracks was better than when he was wearing a robe. His hand was all bloody, and the blood was dripping and flowing onto the sword he was holding.
"My father? Where's my father?" I asked, looking around
"He's there, resting around." The king said, pointing towards a pile of demon corpses. There sat on top of them, my father, though with tattered legs and a missing arm, he was still holding the sword that was burning with blue flames, which he stabbed at the corpses.
Seeing him, I felt relieved.
"Now the,n where is this demo lor-" There he was, floating in front of me. And, in a span of milliseconds, a blur was flying towards me.
1 millisecond passed
2 milliseconds passed
3 milliseconds passed
Then, I was hit.
Or so everyone thought.
Right before the demon lords swung grazed me. I manipulated space using my space magic and widened the gap between me and the demon lord, just enough so that the attack would miss. I then returned the space to its original position.
That was a close one. Without the all-seeing Eye artefact of the Aizdeil kingdom, a small metallic ball in my hand, I would have missed that attack.
I then activated the Mind with Clarity artefact, which is in the form of a crown that King Barboa from the Exmia Kingdom used to wear.
With the activation of the artefact, I could see the demon lords' next move. And, it was... A magic missile from above!
However, instead of using space magic, this time I used one of the artefacts.
From the Ghaila kingdom, the Unmovable Contractual Will, which was in the form of a collar, allowed me not to feel damage from the magic missile.
Then, with the last artefact, the Force of Order, which was a bracelet that came from the Yllova kingdom of the elves. I constrained the demon lord, who was caught off guard.
"Ooh? So there was still a fighter among your people. If I have to guess, you're 'The Hermit' aren't you?"
"So what if I am?"
"Then good!!! The last remaining fighter, the only one who remains to be the problem! With you dead, no one can stop me anymore!!!" The demon lord laughed while looking at the sky. "And, do you think you can restrain me with mere artefacts?"
The demon lord then blew off my constraint and started growing bigger, darker, and more sinister as seconds passed.
Following the demon lords' changing atmosphere, the atmosphere itself was also changing.
"Now, do you, The Hermit, think you can stop me now?" He said, looking down on me.
"Hmph." If I were the ordinary hermit, then I don't think I could. However, I have the 4 kingdoms artefact now. "Don't look down on me."
The time I spent living as a hermit, 10 whole years, I spent most of my early twenties trying to be stable. Next, I spent time researching.
One by one, the four artefacts started to glow, they then started to float in front of me, and they then flowed in circles.
During my research, I found a plot hole in history. Before the hero could seal the demon lord in the past, they had a plan B, in case the hero failed. It was gone, so what was this plan B?
The artefacts were then stacked at each other. The all-seeing eye in the middle, next the bracelet, then the collar, and lastly the crown. They then started to turn like crazy around the middle artefact.
My conclusion to that question was... a bomb.
The artefacts then shone brightly, and the light grew bigger and bigger, enveloping the area that surrounded it.
Using my Space Magic, I teleported everyone to somewhere safe. Everyone except for the demons, the demon lord, and me.
With this... I can finally die. Ah... The light
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"Don't touch her!"
"Eh?"