Am I Really the Hero? - Chapter 7 - Return

The demon that had escaped earlier appeared, and he had brought the vice commander of the 10th squad.

Aric panicked. "What do I do now?! Should I escape? I mean, can I escape without him sensing my mana?"

"So the hero attacked you here?" asked Liven, the vice commander of the 10th squad in the Demon Lord's army.

"Why would you take a hero on a fight? He might have lost to the Demon Lord, but don't underestimate him. Also, the Demon Lord is in a whole different league than you. Don't even dare compare yourself to him!"

"It was Mortis that started the fight. Apparently, he met the hero in Aegis while observing the fight between the demons that attacked Aegis a couple of days ago, as per the commander's orders," said the other demon.

"And what? Did he have an unfinished fight with him or something?"

"I'm not sure, Vice Captain. Mortis didn't tell me much."

While the demons were talking, Aric escaped quietly, when a monster appeared before him.

"I can't fight him this close to the vice commander or he'll find me. I need to get away without starting a fight. "

The demons heard the noise, but Aric was too fast. He fled before they could even spot him.

"Good thing I drank that healing potion, or the vice captain demon would have found me in seconds! I managed to escape that demon without having to fight too."

Aric continued heading toward the mid-rank zone. On his way there, he encountered demons, but he managed to kill them quickly and quietly without letting his mana spill out of his body, so the vice commander didn't sense his mana.

"That was a close one. I can't believe I escaped."

Aric managed to reach the mid-rank area safely.

"Should I spend the rest of the night here? My wounds have healed from the last battle thanks to the healing potion, but my body still hurts. Especially after killing those demons on the way here without using mana."

He found a safe place to spend the rest of the night and fell asleep.

The morning came soon after, and Aric woke up. He checked his surroundings. There were no demons in sight.

"Ahhh," Aric yawned. "I should head back to the city now. I've spent too much time here."

Back at the city, Kail was searching for Aric but couldn't find him anywhere.

"Hey, has anyone seen Aric today?" asked Kail while entering the guild.

The receptionist turned her head toward Kail and said, "No, I haven't seen him. In fact, I haven't seen him since yesterday when he took that A-rank quest."

"What?" Kail panicked. "Do you think something bad happened to him?"

"His rank is SS, so an A-rank quest shouldn't be hard for him. Maybe he went to the Demon Forest to gather some materials."

"But why hasn't he returned yet?" Asked Kail.

Rune overheard Kail and Emma's conversation.

"Why don't we form a search party and go look for him in the Demon Forest?" suggested Rune.

"Can we?" asked Kail.

"I'm B-rank, Elias is C-rank, and you're D-rank, so we should be fine to go to the mid-rank zone at most."

"Yes, you can do that," replied Emma.

"Fine, I'll go get my gear. You guys wait for me here."

Kail got a sword and armor. He returned to the guild fast after that.

"I'm back and ready! Let's go!"

After that, they made their way to the forest quickly and began searching in the low-rank area first.

Meanwhile, Aric was still in the mid-rank area.

"Killing these demons seems even easier now. Did I get stronger after fighting that demon Mortis?" thought Aric.

The demons in the mid-rank zone attacked Aric, but they were no match for him. After a while, he arrived at the low-rank zone.

"What's this? I'm sensing mana, but it isn't dark. Are they adventurers?"

Aric approached them slowly and saw that Kail, Rune, and Elias were there.

"Guys? What are you doing here? Are you on a quest?" asked Aric.

Kail turned around, and the moment he saw Aric, he ran toward him.

"Aric, is that you? Where were you? I searched for you in the city and didn't find you, so we made a search party to look for you in the forest."

"Don't worry. I just came to the forest to fight some more and didn't realize when night came, so I decided to spend the night here."

"Better not to tell him about the fight with the demons from the Demon King's army members. Who knows how he might react or do." Thought Aric.

After that, they returned to the city. Aric sold the demon materials he had gathered at the guild and got a lot of money.

"So what are you going to do now, Aric?" asked Kail.

"Well, for starters, I'll go eat something. I haven't eaten since yesterday. And then… hmm… I'm not sure. Maybe take some rest. You know, sleeping on the ground in a forest isn't really comfortable," joked Aric.

And with that, Aric finally returned home safe, sore, and starving.