RUMBLE!

The purple lightning cracked across the sky, illuminating the cloudy sky as the rain fell on Earth like an endless waterfall.

In an unknown village, the villagers observed a strange man with hesitation.

He was sitting in a graveyard that they had made months ago, when the demon that turned their lives into misery was killed.

And that man was digging!

With both his shaky hands, he continued digging relentlessly between two graves.

Wearing a colorful funny outfit and a strange hat, it was natural that he drew the people's attention.

"Should we… stop him?" A villager asked: "Those graves specifically… They belong to two knights who died against the demon. Should we inform the baron?"

A woman sitting on a stone golem shook her head: "Look at the corpse behind him. Scan it carefully this time."

The villagers listened to her and scanned the corpse that the man brought with him.

It was the upper half of a woman with golden hair, which had lost its brightness long ago.

The corpse was in a terrible condition, missing even one arm, but its facial features looked familiar.

A villager's eyes widened in recognition: "Wait, that's the saintess!"

The villagers gasped, realizing that it was the truth. She was the saintess who spent hours healing the villagers one by one!

That meant… those were her knights. Every villager remembered the story that was told to them by the frost elf.

"So she died…" the villager sighed, looking at the mysterious man with pity.

That man wasn't in a good condition himself.

He looked tired. There were two dark circles under his eyes, and his body was trembling continuously, as though he'd fall any moment.

In addition to that, his outfit was covered in blood, and his body looked like… like it was cut and attached by force several times.

The villagers were afraid that if they touched him, he would scatter into pieces immediately.

"We will make a small funeral for her tomorrow. Any objections?"

"No."

"Absolutely not."

Unaware of the villagers' conversation, or subconsciously ignoring them, to be precise, Michael continued digging until the hole was big enough to fit Elizabeth.

With shaky hands, Michael lifted her gently, tears streaming down his cheeks as he looked at her face for one last time.

"I'm sorry…"

With a heavy heart, Michael dropped her into the grave and buried her body. Now, she was resting between her knights forever…

Leaving Michael alone.

"What should I do now?" Michael held her head, trying to stop himself from trembling.

What was the purpose of his living now?

He was the only survivor of his camp. He was the weakest soldier who couldn't kill a single enemy. He was the useless hostage who survived instead of the woman he loved the most.

"It should have been me, not her…"

Unfortunately, Michael couldn't go back in time and fix his mistakes.

"Should I go back?"

Michael scanned his jester costume, something he acquired after advancing to Rank 2.

He was far stronger now. He had traveled alone from the Holy Kingdom to Ashton Kingdom, fighting countless horrors and escaping from most of them.

Was he ready to go back?

"No, I'm not." Michael bit his lower lip and shook his head furiously: "I'll only cause someone else to die. I'm still weak, too weak to scratch a real master. I'm useless!"

"I have to change this."

"I won't return… until I'm worthy of fighting again. Until I ensure that no one will ever die in front of me again."

"Until I'm strong enough to slaughter most demons."

Michael's eyes gleamed with unshakeable resolve.

He had made a lot of mistakes in the past, one of them being ignoring his class because of how stupid it looked, but he finally decided to change.

The first step toward real power was becoming a real jester.

Michael brought one finger to each of the corners of his mouth and pulled the corners of his lips upward, forcing a smile.

¢¢¢

"Is anyone interested in cards?" Michael smiled, rotating several floating cards above his finger.

"I'm pretty sure I have seen something similar before." Jin narrowed his eyes, passed his hand under the floating cards, remembering Ruby's carriage that was stolen: "That's really cool. How are you doing that? Tell me your secret! I'll give you my, my… my wine!"

Jin's voice carried intense sadness and hesitation, as though he was offering the most precious thing in the world. But Michael shook his head at his offer.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You'll have to pay me with your soul for that secret." Michael pulled a jester card and made the other cards explode: "I'm just showing off my skills. I won't reveal any of my secrets, especially to my opponents."

"Tsk, stingy." Jin crossed his arms and leaned back against his seat before drinking a whole bottle of wine.

'Something is wrong.' That thought kept repeating through Fafnir's mind as he scanned the man in front of him.

Everything about him was wrong.

He wasn't the shy, weak, and anxious Michael that Fafnir had known in the camp.

He wasn't the ordinary soldier who avoided fighting even a dog.

He wasn't the talentless boy who asked his master to train him.

Spirit value? It was 60. Not too impressive for a Rank 2, but for an ordinary guy who had only 30 points 5 months ago, that was an insane improvement!

'What did he do exactly in those 5 months? I remember that my master said that he had high potential… but isn't this too much? Wait, doesn't that mean I almost killed him?'

If Fafnir wasn't a shadow, his face would have paled, realizing that he almost killed his friend.

Michael noticed Fafnir's sharp gaze, so he looked at him, his smile widening: "It's you, right? Can you still turn into that little form?"

"..."

Fafnir clenched his fists as Michael added: "I wasn't certain at the start, but I'm sure now that it's you. I just didn't expect you to have a human appearance that looks too… normal."

Fafnir sighed helplessly. He was exposed now. He had been maintaining a shadow form all the time in front of Elizabeth and the others, so he didn't expect to be noticed like that.

'Is it my fighting style, my blindfold, or something else?' Fafnir wondered about what exposed him exactly, but just then, Michael handed him the jester card.

"I want to tell you how I became like that and hear about how you arrived here… but I don't think this is the right place to do that."

"Please accept this card for now. It's a gift." Michael winked: "I'm pretty sure it'll help you someday."