The Hero's Party

"Alright Gray, are you excited for this magic academy?!" Ben asked. "Yeah, I like going to school anyway. The only thing I'm confused about is..." Gray looked back at Ida, cheerfully prepping herself for the academy as well. "Why is she coming with us...?" he finished.

"I mean, you did bring her in," Ben spoke. 

"Yeah, only to let her recover, not to join our family!" Gray said, irritated. 

Ida wore a white sleeveless dress with a red hairpin, matching her vibrant red hair. She also wore the same pendant that she kept precious to herself. 

Looking up at the sky, it seemed like it was going to rain. "I expected the first day of school to be more welcoming, but I guess not." Gray feeling a weird glare behind him, glanced back at Ida. Ida quickly averted her eyes away from Gray as if she never looked at him, to begin with. Gray's presence still made her visibly uncomfortable. ("What's up with her, do I smell bad or something?") Gray thought, sniffing himself.

"Alright Gray, I'm going inside the mansion to sleep in your room now, see you later." Ben said, waving at Gray.

"Wait, I thought you were coming to the school with me?" 

"Nah, I'm not a human for now so I'll take advantage of not being a human and avoid school. Have fun." Ben said, fading into the shadows.

Gray wasn't really bothered much as a random Quokka on his shoulder would probably bring a lot of attention to him. "Well, I guess it's for the better of not being annoyed." Gray then saw a group of people walking down the road in front of the mansion.

As the group of people of mixed races approached the mansion, they approached the gates. "Excuse me, young man, are your parents here?" The man with chivalrous armor asked. He had orange hair and a giant steel greatsword with a gold outline around it. Right beside him was a very pretty witch that held tight to him. Gray pointed at himself, wondering if he was talking to him. The man stomped to the gates, facing directly at Gray. "Yeah, you, I'm talking to you. I'm the hero, Emmeric Kallus!" he shouted. 

Gray wasn't amused but rather bothered by this guy's sudden appearance. He was about to have a great day until an obnoxious man and his group of goofball accomplices interrupted him. "What do you want?" Gray had asked. "We're here to speak with your father, little brat!" Emmeric responded. 

His demeanor was quite assertive as if Gray was under him. Quite frankly, Gray didn't like this at all. He didn't want some random nobody treating him like some side character. "Yeah well I'm trying to go to school, so get out of my way," Gray spoke to him in the same way Emmeric had done. Emmeric realizing this, smirked. He then said, "Oh, quite confident are ya?" With an intense gaze, he leaned in closer to Gray until their noses were almost touching. Then, Emmeric was bonked in the head with a strong fist. The fist came from a lizardman. He had a strong and sturdy build with huge steel armor and a maul. "Stop trying to pick a fight with some kid, we're here to have a small meeting."

Gray remembered that there was more to the party than some irritating man, it was a whole party of different races. A dwarf, an elf, a lizardman, and even a demon. Gray extended his arm and pointed directly at the demon. "Why is he a part of your party?" he asked. Emmeric turned and looked at the demon. "Well, that's none of your business! Now we have to see your father before it storms. We have to set up camp before it starts pouring hard so you better move!"

Crossing his arms, Gray sighed. This guy was a pain in the ass. At this point, Gray would rather just ignore him than listen to his annoying ramblings. 

As this was happening, the demon noticed someone in the background. It was Ida, observing this weird sight of two children bickering right in front of her. Ida's gaze locked with the demon's for a split second before she quickly averted her eyes. She could feel a lot of devious schemes going through that wretched look in his eyes. 

The demon then whispered something to Emmeric as he argued with Gray. Emmeric stopped what he was doing and pulled out his sword. "Hmph, I see," he said to the demon. He then spoke, "Kid, give us that child right behind you, she's very important." he told him. "Um, what?" Gray replied.

"Come on, don't hold back now! Hand over that little girl standing behind you. She's the key to saving the world!" Emmeric urged with an intense gaze. Gray looked back to Ida after hearing this. The look on her face was mildly uncomfortable as she slowly stepped back from the gate. Emmeric seeing this, slashed down the gate with his greatsword. "I'll just take her myself!" 

Gray got in front of Ida before going into his boxing stance. The average orthodox boxing stance, the one he molded into his muscle memory. "G-Gray, what are you doing?!" Ida screamed. "Step back, this guy is weird," Gray commanded her. The girth of the giant greatsword shadowed over both Gray and Ida. Ida shivered in fear, seeing the massive threat that was in front of them. Ida's voice was said under her breath as she spoke, "G-Gray, stop playing around, you don't need to do this..." Still staring at the massive blade that stood in front of them. 

Gray then turned his head back to Ida with a gentle smile. "Don't worry, I won't let you get harmed again." Gray's usual cute self turned into a bold man with a strong conviction in his eyes. Her cheeks turned red as she realized, ("There's something different about Gray—he wants to protect me...?")

Gray, with his handsome smile, turned back to his intimidating opponent. Emmeric grinned as he watched Gray's heroic act unfold in front of Ida. "Oh, so you're trying to play hero now are you?"

Gray then slowly crept forward, still in an orthodox boxing stance. At that moment, his heroic face transformed into a devilish grin. ("Honestly, I'm only doing this so I have the excuse to beat the fuck out of you.") He was still pressed over being called a brat earlier.

Emmeric wasn't amused at Gray's tactics so far. Being so confident against a blade—he expected more from him but was left with disappointment. "Are you really going to try to punch me with your puny fist-"

Gray cut him off by doing a sharp jab to his testicles. 

Emmeric's face was engulfed in despair as the pain surged through his body. His legs shaking, he attempted to keep his balance before having a right uppercut surge through his testicles. Emmeric tearing up, he collapsed to the floor. Gray attempting to go in for another punch to his testicles was stopped by the dwarf from the hero's party. "W-Wait, calm down, he has given up, can't you see?"

The witch ran over to Emmeric, screaming "Honey!", and began using magic to heal his testicles. Ida was left dumbfounded, "What." is all she could say after witnessing such an act. Emmeric struggled to stand up, his legs still unsteady after taking those blows. "YOU BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU!" He rose up his blade, gathering light upon his blade. Before anybody could stop him, he slashed in Gray's direction, sending a wave of light at Gray. It was so fast that Gray couldn't even react to the blow but only watch as it approached him.

Out of nowhere, the wave of light was abruptly cut off and fizzled out. Gray took a breather, he almost screwed up and nearly got himself killed once again. Emmeric stared at Gray in awe, he didn't know why his attack was nullified. "What did you do?" Emmeric asked Gray. Gray shrugged in response. Rufard then came from the sky, stomping onto the floor in front of Gray. His intimidating presence still scared him ever since he was a child, but this time, he was on another level. His bulky build resembled nearly an ogre, but he was just a mere human. His sword was just a big piece of iron but was twice the size of Emmeric. You could tell from first sight that Rufard was something beyond a normal human, almost like a juggernaut gifted by god.

Emmeric smirked, seeing Rufard. "Oh, is that some ogre in armor that your family hired? The Swayar family must be stupid if they think some ogre can stop us. We slayed a dragon just last week!" Emmeric lifted up his sword once again, gathering light into it. Sending out another wave of light, Rufard slashed his sword at it. As he smashed his sword, the light wave imploded with a burst of air, making it fizzle out. Rufard then began his assault by dashing into Emmeric and clashing swords with him. Without any delay, Rufard punched Emmeric in the stomach and used his Talent's magic. On impact, a burst of air imploded through Emmeric, sending him flying backward. As he skidded on the ground the rest of the party took a stand in front of Emmeric's unconscious body. As Rufard was about to go in to take care of the rest of the party, a voice ceased his actions.

"Rufard, stop this at once!" Hansen yelled. At the mansion's door, it was both Hansen and Ida. Gray glimpsed over at Ida cowering behind Hansen. ("Ah, so she went and called my father here.") Rufard lowered his blade, still keeping eye contact with the hero's party. The demon raised his eyebrow upon hearing the name. "Rufard, as in Rufard the Beast?" Hansen walked into the frame with his hands behind his back. "Indeed, Rufard is our family's knight and one of the strongest knights in the continent. You lot should take your hero guy out of here this instant." Hansen appeared calm and confident, trusting Rufard's skills to protect them. The demon chuckled before turning to the gate. "Take Emmeric and let's get out of here." the hero's party complied, lifting up Emmeric and waltzing out of there as fast as they could. 

Hansen turned to Gray, looking all around his body. "Gray, are you injured anywhere?!" Gray shook his head, pointing to Rufard. "Rufard saved me from getting killed, give him your attention instead." Hansen smiled, hearing Gray's words of praise towards Rufard. "Yeah, maybe I should." Hansen stood up and smacked Rufard on the back. "You did great today, why not get some ice cream with them before you send him to their first day of school?" Hansen handed him a pouch filled with gold. Rufard grabbed the pouch and stared at it. Gray, seeing this, thought his father was dumb. ("You can't be serious, a big monstrosity like him would eat ice cream? He's probably just going to run off with the cash to buy something else.") 

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"Have a great day!" the cashier at the Hot Shots Cafe said to them as they exited the place. Sitting at a table outside the cafe, the three of them ate their ice cream. Both Ida and Gray sat in silence, uncomfortable that Rufard was also there enjoying his ice cream as well. Ida leaned over and whispered into Gray's ear. "We're being stared at by everyone walking past us..." she whispered. "Yeah, it's kind of obvious why," he said, whispering back, gazing at the intense aura that surrounded Rufard. 

As they partially enjoyed their ice cream, the bells of the Academy of Yorka rang. Hearing the bells, Ida stopped eating her ice cream and said, "Gray, I believe Hansen told us that was the warning bells for the entrance exams of the school, we should get going." Gray got out of his chair, saying, "Okay, let's go then. Rufard, we will be going to our school now, see you later."

While they sprinted to the school, Rufard sat and calmly ate his ice cream in peace.