After a few seconds, his ears finally picked up her heartbeat and her sweet, soft, tree-like scent. He turned and looked at her, catching her right in the act of ogling him.

She was stunned when he looked at her. She immediately jerked backward and tried to hide, only to trip on a stick and fall, but Ken moved immediately, so fast that he reached her before she hit the ground. He grabbed her and helped her up.

"Be careful, Luna," he said in a calming tone. He had not noticed it, but as the days passed, his care for her had deeply grown, and he didn’t want to see her hurt at all.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. She stepped forward with a bright smile and shining eyes. "You caught me so fast, you must really care for me," she said.

"Yeah, that’s to be expected," he said casually and turned away. Even if he was oblivious to how much he cared for her, it was no secret that he did care for her to an extent.

"On this note, there is something that I’ve been wanting to talk to you about," he said.

Her ears immediately stood, twitching at the tips and ready to hear what he had to say.

Ken opened his mouth to speak, but then suddenly he heard something move in the forest, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one, as Luna looked in that direction as well.

Horses were riding through the forest fast, men draped in full black cloaks on their backs as well, over fifty of them, and they all rode toward the town.

Ken looked at the riders. It was clear that they were headed for his hometown. He didn’t know much about the town to care about it, but his new family lived there, and so did his mother and sister, two people that he had come to love.

He turned to move, but Luna grabbed him. He looked at her in a way that asked, what’s wrong?

She seemed like she wanted to say something, but then she swallowed it. "Can I help?" she finally asked. She could tell that whoever those people were, they were not nice people.

"No, stay in the forest. You can’t risk your life and the life of your people for my issue," Ken said and then turned, dashing out of the forest fast. He moved like the wind, hoping he would make it back fast enough. After all, his house was at the edge of the town, which meant one of the first that would be hit if this turned into anything bad.

He burst out of the forest after running for a few minutes, and there his town was right before his eyes, and so were the people that had come this way. Their horses rode into it without a single care in the world.

They didn’t start attacking right off the bat, but rather they made their way to the center of town.

"Phew," Ken heaved a sigh of relief as he watched. He decided to walk closer and see what was happening. He rushed back into town.

Everyone in town was very quickly informed of the arrival of these men, so everyone headed to the town center to also see what was happening.

"Maybe nothing bad is happening, tch, I still can’t shake the feeling that this isn’t good."

He followed, merged into a crowd, and stood. The men reached the town center and dropped from their horses.

They were all wearing hooded, waist-length capes. They were all black and had red embroidery at certain parts. Underneath that were casual black clothes, and a few had swords at their hips.

One important thing was also the fact that their faces were all hidden behind masks, black masks with a red circle at the forehead and a red dot at the center.

One of the men stepped forward. He removed his mask slowly and revealed his face, a pale face with a sharp jawline, a slightly pointed nose, and eyes like that of a snake. His white hair fell from the sides of his hood.

His eyes scanned around in a very uncanny manner, and then finally he spoke.

"Who is the leader of this town?"

His voice was masculine but not too heavy. He sounded in a way that forced respect, not controlled it.

The town’s people cleared up, and an old man was brought forward, easily in his seventies or eighties, hunched over and using a carved stick to walk.

Two men followed him a few steps out, but then he raised his hands and signaled for them to stop, and then he proceeded forward himself until he stood before the man.

The man scanned the old man that stood before him. His eyes showed that he wasn’t impressed.

"Identify yourself."

"I am Leonel Crawford, the low-ranked baron of this town," the old man said.

"Tch, have you no sons of good age?" the man asked, evidently not wanting to speak to some old man.

"Both my sons left to join the army, as well as many men that live in this town. They are aiding the fight against the demons," Leonel said.

For some reason, the lips of the man curled up slightly when the old man said that, like he had heard what he wanted to hear.

"Good, then this town is left undefended and easy for the taking. I should introduce myself. I am Kang, a follower of the Seven Sins Church."

The moment he said those words, the expression on the faces of everyone went sour, and instantly those that could run started running in immediate panic, the type you had when your life was in danger.

Kang saw that everyone knew who they were and why they were here, so he smiled ear to ear before lifting his hands and pointing at the baron, who was still standing there.

The baron looked at the palm of Kang, and there was a magical circle. He instantly knew that Kang was a mage, and that meant there was nothing they could do.

"You’ll be the first to die, old man." His eyes carried a look of a predator looking at prey, glowing with evil.