The citizens flooded the roads when the heroes returned from their mission. They already heard the triumph Alex and his peers achieved through the merchants and travellers coming from the village. That was why they were so enthusiastic to welcome the champions back to the capital.

The hero squad and Tristan’s army waved at the crowds, enjoying their minute of fame.

But that bright atmosphere suddenly turned gloomy when they arrived at the castle gate. The guards stationed there stopped them and treated them like fugitives.

“The king has been waiting for you,” explained the guards abruptly. “Make haste!”

“Chill down, Hero. Maybe the news about your exploits hasn’t reached his ears yet,” calmed Tristan down. “Go ahead and have the audience with Your Majesty. There is some paperwork I need to do first.”

“No big deal, I’m not obsessed with fame anyway,” replied Alex while leading his party to the throne room. He is prepared to receive any kind of harsh words from King Romeus.

As they entered the throne room, sour face of King Romeus was the first thing they were aware of.

“It’s about time, Alex!” scolded the king without any delay. “What took you lot so long?”

“We had our hands full preparing the villagers to defend themselves for their own battle,” argued the hero. “After the first invasion, we found them so helpless so we decided to polish their potentials and we were quite surprised with the result.”

“Who asked you to do that?” yelled King Romeus. “All I asked from you was to repel the demon horde. Yet I didn’t hear a thing from you! You’re supposed to report back to me as soon as you finish the mission!”

“And don’t think I was oblivious about what you did there!” continued the king. “I didn’t remember asking you to recruit the civilians to be wannabe soldiers! Why did you exploit them for your own personal amusement? You even had the gall to force them into harsh trainings and making them building unnecessary things!”

The heated ambience which enveloped the room made the attendees uneasy. Unexpectedly, Rasheed opened his mouth in Alex’s defense.

“Rasheed is a witness to Alex’s innocence!” testified Rasheed. “Rasheed’s eyes saw nothing like what Your Majesty said!”

“I can also vouch for the lad,” followed Gremio. “Though he seems lazy, but what he did back there in the village was the definition of hard work.”

“Your Highness, our hero woke up before anyone else, spending the whole days making sure the villagers properly trained. He even taught them things we didn’t even know yet. After all of that, he still had the time to patrol around the village just before he finally took a rest,” explained Pandora. “My, his stamina is something else.”

Hearing that, Stella nodded vigorously. Actually, she wanted to defend her crush too, but she was afraid her argument would accidentally reveal her feelings to Alex.

The king started to feel his rage slowly dissipated and turned into confusion. He didn’t expect that Alex would be supported by his compatriots. As far as he could remember, they weren’t too fond of Alex at the beginning.

“Irrelevant!” said the king with the rest of his remaining anger. “Instead of you bossing around my people, it would be better for you guys to depart for Falena and obliterate the demons there!”

Alex paused to ponder about the king’s order. Falena was a continent apart from Nousant and Maleo. During its glory days, they were even more prosperous than the other two continents combined. But thanks to demon invasion, Falena was now reduced into a barren wasteland, infested by demons and alike.

“I appreciate your offer, but I don’t think that was so wise of you,” uttered Alex. “Judging from what happened in Bonn village, the civilians would be helpless should there be any surprise attack from the demons. In order to avoid that, I would like to prepare them so at least they can defend themselves.”

“Si, Su Majestad. We also still feel the fatigue taking our bodies hostage after all we’ve been through,” expressed Saliery. “Have mercy, por favor.”

The refusal torched King Romeus’ wrath one more time, but he didn’t want to make enemies of the party members.

“Your Majesty, I don’t think the demons will go anywhere soon. They will stay there for a while. So I humbly suggest that we postpone the expedition to Falena,” persuaded Helene.

That word was the last straw for the king.

“Well, if my Royal Saintess said so, then so be it!” decided the king. “You people are dismissed.”

As everyone left to their respective assigned rooms, Salieri approached Alex who was going to rest.

“Senor, it’s nice to be back here, right?” said Salieri opening the talk.

“Yeah, if only it weren’t for the king’s stubbornness,” sighed Alex.

“Cierto,” affirmed Salieri. “By the way, what is your next plan, Senor?”

“My main focus now is to train you guys,” answered Alex while patting Salieri’s shoulder. Salieri couldn’t believe her ears.

“But we are the best the kingdom can offer!” disagreed Salieri. “What else do you want us to do?”

“While it’s true that nobody rivals you people, but stay alert and always on guard,” advised Alex. “In my dream, you were the first one to leave us to another world.”

Salieri gasped to hear that information. He never thought even once, that he would end so quickly.

“But, don’t you think our skills are good enough?” argued Salieri.

“Yes, exactly,” said Alex calmly. “But it won’t be good enough to face the demons.”

“I remember in my dream, after you died, me and the remaining comrades were having a hard time. It seemed like we depended too much on you, and that won’t do,” remarked Alex. “Not to mention, that you are a non-combatant, without any offensive skills.”

Alex left Salieri alone as soon as he finished, leaving Salieri all by himself. Although he respected Alex so much, he couldn't help but to feel slightly annoyed, grumbling all the way to his room.