The wind.

The purple sky marks the end to the night, and with accompanying morning sunrise a flock of birds fly through the sky.

Underneath the birds view was the vast earth, the land called Alayzard.

Right now the birds were flying over the Kingdom of magic, Sherfied.

In the royal capital Erdia, the castle built upon the hills, even the town which was built on open land, still the scars of war remain.

Five years ago Erdia was once under siege from the demon army and destroyed.

With the royal lineage almost gone the situation had seemed bleak. Through gaining cooperation from the neighboring countries, Erdia had after 4 years finally begun to recover from that tragedy.

You could really say that the restoration progressed abnormally fast.

Around that time, the queen's triumphant return had brought forth courage and hope within the citizens.

Now at the present time, the citizens of Sherfied were filled with joy.

As every citizens wishes had finally come to pa.s.s, for the demon king Garius who had descended with power thought to be absolute had finally been defeated.

Surrounding the castle was a huge forest spreading as far as you could see, in ancient times when the civilization had collapsed.

In a region where animism was a popular belief, the believers had succeeded in making a pact with the four great spirits of fire, water, earth and wind.

As a result, the majority of the land had begun to flourish with nature. With people gradually coming to live in these nature-filled areas, the country Sherfied was born.

In the eastern part of the forest, a temple to wors.h.i.+p the four great spirits was built. Even now, people go there to pray for the protection of the four great spirits.

In the western part of the forest where the sun sets by cutting through part of the forest there lays a cemetery for the souls of those who lost their lives to the demon king.

In the corner of the cemetery there stood a gravestone different from the rest, a gravestone which was created two years ago surrounded with lots of flowers and cards, on it

“Here lies the True hero Leon Esuperio”

was engraved.

Fighting the demon army and earning various war achievements, the hero Leon was Sherfied's true hero.

But he too lost his life from the siege five years ago. It was only three years ago that Sherfied could finally create a proper burial for him, even people still come to his burial with expressions filled with extreme sadness to wish that his soul rest in peace.

Thus, the demon king had been defeated and a banquet was held for the heroes return.

The morning after the banquet, there was a silhouette of a young man in front of Leon's grave.

He was a tall man with a firm build, dressed from head to toe in black clothing, unkempt hair that was black like the darkness, even his eyes that had a bright s.h.i.+ne in them were jet-black in colour.

“.....”

The young man had just silently been gazing at the grave of the former hero without even twitching ever since the sun had started rising.

As if reporting the results of the long and hazardous battle, he silently whispers,

“See ya.”

After finis.h.i.+ng his farewell the young man picked up the sand-coloured bag beside him and swung it over his shoulders, turned around and started walking. The sound of his steps resounded throughout the cemetery.

There was no one around since it was still the morning after the demon king had been defeated, though once the sun has fully risen it will be the signal that world shall wake up once again.

In front of the iron-fence surrounding the cemetery the young man had noticed two figures, a man and a woman. But the young man's pace did not change as he walked straight through them to the outside of the cemetery.

As the young man had pa.s.sed the two of them the man had called out to him.

“You okay with that, Akatsuki?”

“Yeah this is enough.”

Replied the young man called Akatsuki.

Ousawa Akatsuki.

The young man had been summoned to this world five years ago, defeating the Demon king Garius and becoming the new hero of Sherfied.

“Hey are you seriously leaving?!”

“You're persistent, I've been telling you I am, haven't I?”

Said Akatsuki with a face filled with disdain.

As to not disrupt his pace the conversation happened as they were walking with the man and woman walking behind him.

The red-haired man was called Zeks Doltrake while the half elf with silver hair reaching to her waist was called Rutie Trum.

These two fought along side with Akatsuki as comrades.

“But right now you are the hero that defeated the demon king, if you stay here your whole life you would be living a life without troubles” as one of his close friends, Zeks said with a slight tone of regret.

“That's not true and you know it, because of the demon king starting with Sherfied and then the other countries I'll probably end up going all over the world as a symbol to help the restoration process, right?”

To Akatsuki's bitter smile,

“Well that's true, since a hero is the symbol of hope to the citizens. You're practically a slave because of that”

“It's rare for you Zeks to say something wise like that but...”

Having kept quiet thus far, Rutie spoke out:

“But for Akatsuki who comes from another world we can't forcefully make him stay here.

As he didn't have any obligations to help us defeat the demon king, but since he did help us I think the aftermath should be dealt with the citizens of this world.

Like us he also has a world he loves. So we have no right to stop him.”

“Yeah, that's right you tell him Ru.”

While saying that Akatsuki grabbed Rutie by the shoulder and embraced her, as she let out a voice of surprise and her face became fl.u.s.tered, Akatsuki faced Zeks and spoke:

“You're gonna be Sherfied's army's top commander so what are you gonna gain by leaving it to other people, you perverted commander.”

“Who's the perverted commander!? You pervert hero, even though you're trying to say something convincing, you're touching Ru's a.s.s so nonchalantly it's not persuasive at all.”

While pointing towards Akatsuki's hand that was currently rubbing Rutie's a.s.s, Akatsuki retorted,

“You sure are an idiot, since it's the last time of course I'd rub it.”

“Um, Akatsuki...”

With a fl.u.s.tered face and a bewildered expression Rutie looked up towards Akatsuki, with a serious expression Akatsuki spoke:

“That's the reason, so is it okay if I rub your b.r.e.a.s.t.s too, as a memoir?”

It seems that request was impossible as Rutie struck at Akatsuki's cheek.

The gate behind the castle of Erdia surrounded by nature became their farewell.

“Akatsuki, I guess this is where we part ways.”

“It's still a bit regretful but take care, Ru.”

With his hand that was suppressing the stinging feeling in his cheek he firmly shook Rutie's hand.

He then moved his gaze towards Zeks, but as if sulking his back was towards Akatsuki.

Chuckling a little,

“See ya Zeks once you become Sherfied's official commander keep the womanizing in check, if you act like you did on the journey until now it's instant dismissal from the position, you hear me?”

“I don’t wanna be told that by you.”

Wanting to prolong Akatsuki's leave Zeks asked:

“What are you gonna do about Risty?”

“...”

Akatsuki's mouth was shut tight. That was definitely an effective method to stop him.

The person Zeks had mentioned was the sole survivor of the royal family who had escaped from the slaughter five years ago and was now the queen of Sherfied, Risty da Sherfied.

She is a talented magic user as well as one of Akatsuki's comrades. With the four of them they had fought together to defeat the demon king.

Akatsuki had definitely felt himself being attracted to her since their first meeting after being summoned to Alayzard. But she already had the best partner...

Alayzard's symbol of hope and the strongest hero, Leon Esperio.

Ousawa Akatsuki knew just how much those two loved each other. The whole world wished for their happiness and that includes Akatsuki himself.

But that wish never came true.

Because five years ago Leon was slain by the demon king, in front of his own eyes.

Even now the image of that moment was burned into his mind as well as Risty's expression when she found Leon in a puddle of his own blood and Akatsuki who was sitting next to him in a daze.

After that incident Akatsuki had successfully escaped to the religious kingdom of Alecrasta and temporarily disappeared.

Seeking power Akatsuki proceeded to the High Sanctuary where the G.o.ds lived.

After gaining the ability of Renkan Keikikou and descending from the High Sanctuary Akatsuki had fallen into another dilemma. After saving Risty and the others, his status had been raised to being a hero but after losing the hope of Alayzard the majority of the citizens could not forgive him, for letting Leon die and having only him who wasn't even from this world live and to make matters worse he had abandoned Risty when she was in a period of suffering. That's why to this day, they criticize him as being a coward and although they praise him as the new hero, with a slight tone of cynicism they began to call him the “Rogue Hero”.

Akatsuki thought back to the days after he had started being called the rogue hero, he had traveled with Risty throughout numerous lands and they had survived on the battlefield together and during that time he had seriously thought that they had established an emotional bond.

But even so Akatsuki showed a bitter smile as he declared.

“I'm the rogue hero, even if I went to see her she would just be dazzled by my appearance.”

For the new queen as someone who is the complete opposite of her, Akatsuki was not fit to be by her side.

Moreover, even if they aren't tied by any sort of political bond. The influence of having defeated the demon king will never disappear, even if it ends with having countries being split because there were people who thought of using that influence or people who didn't even think much about it.

Akatsuki had decided he would defeat the demon king on his own and take all the citizens praise and everlasting grudges and forever carry them on his shoulders and disappear.

That was the best choice for him, the rogue hero to make which is why he left the castle without telling anyone. To return to his own world.

Risty had probably realized what Akatsuki was thinking which is why she didn't show up, this was her way of saying farewell.

But Zeks didn't seem satisfied as he shouted

“Whatever, it's not like you, the rogue hero to suddenly have a conscience.”

It seems he couldn't take it anymore as he turned to face Akatsuki, while looking at his expression that was about to cry Akatsuki thought to himself, it looks I wasn't wrong. This was his friend's way of displaying his understanding.

To that:

“Idiot.”

As Akatsuki said that while whispering the words “thank you” in his heart.

Silently hitting his comrade on the shoulder while smiling,

“It's fine like this, she probably understands that too.”

Saying farewell he continued walking.

“Please wait a moment, Akatsuki-sama.”

Hearing this new voice that seemed slightly familiar he turned around, positioned behind Zeks and Rutie lining up at the gate behind the castle were maids, starting with the head maid Valkuria these were Sherfied's prided Beautiful maid alliance.

With such a spectacular view of these maids who were lined up so uniformly Akatsuki scratched his cheek “This is embarra.s.sing did all of you come to see me off, Valkuria?”

“Yes, we have come to deliver a message from the princess.”

Getting straight to the point and not bringing emotions into factor was Valkuria's style.

To everyone who knew her well they could tell she was being thoughtful in her own way, Akatsuki was also someone who knew her well and as such had understood.

“Is that so?”

Not being honest to the end and sending a message was very much like Risty, that's why,

“Let me hear it”

Nodding Valkuria spoke with a smooth and rhythmical tone,

“A hero who has saved the world and thinks about leaving the next day, don't look down on me! You should have your body beaten and cool off... That seems to be the message”

“Huh?”

As Akatsuki tilted his head in puzzlement, the maids had all got their weapons prepared and a.s.saulted him.

With that his eyes had awoken, in other words he had been sleeping.

Ousawa Akatsuki had understood what he saw was a dream.

It happened the day he left and the maids attacked him.

“To think I would see it in a dream... Seems I was pretty restless.”

While in Alayzard he had been surrounded by enemies a lot that's so even after Leon's death, fighting for his life or even if the situation had seemed desperate he had never hesitated.

But that farewell, he had let down his guard completely because of that, the whole thing seemed like a surprise attack with all the magic infused and s.h.i.+ning weapons and on top of that starting with Valkuria all the maids were emotionless and in all honesty he was a bit frightened by it.

Scratching the back of his head Akatsuki slowly got out of bed, the room was still dark, while looking at the clock it was still in the middle of the night at 2:30AM.

Looking at the clock he narrowed his eyes and wondered to himself

“I get the feeling the shape of the clock had changed from before.”

The clock which was chipped as if it had hit something hard was made from artificial marble so he seriously wondered how that could of happened.

“Well it's all good it doesn't seem like it's broken.”

as he whispered that he faced the faint moonlight.

Opening the window, walking forward onto his veranda while looking at the night sky he thought to himself.

“Seeing that dream means that none of the things I've done there have been forgotten, those words I said to Valkuria definitely weren't a lie there’s no way I'd forget.”

The time he spent with those three, the war with the demon army and the days he spent learning Reikan Keikikou from the Fist Saint Granzes and reason why he went there in the first place... Leon's death.

“Because it was my fault.”

At the time Akatsuki had just been summoned to Alayzard and was just a young man without any abilities, Leon had s.h.i.+elded Akatsuki from the dagger of the demon king and thus lost his life.

At that time he had never cursed his powerless more, swearing to never lose someone important to him a second time. But in the end he still couldn't do anything. That tragedy gave birth to the rogue hero Ousawa Akatsuki.

He had starting thinking that his existence and defeating the demon king could act as a temporary relief

“Yeah right, as if it was that convenient.”

as he reprimanded himself.

Even if he had defeated the demon king and even if peace had come to Alayzard, Leon had died there was no way to change that fact. As long as that fact was not overturned Akatsuki's guilt will never disappear.

For Risty who had known him longer than Akatsuki she would definitely be in more pain over that fact.

“I wonder what she's doing right now.” thought Akatsuki.

It's been nearly a month since he had returned to his own world but even though he's returned no time had pa.s.sed at all.

But from the stories he heard while in the High Sanctuary the time that he now pa.s.ses in this world will also pa.s.s in Alayzard.

Since it's been a month since the demon king was defeated, Alayzard is probably spending its days being restored.

Just defeating the demon king won't bring back the hope in people's hearts, but for Akatsuki who knows nothing about politics, he couldn't even imagine the hard work that was needed even so, with Zeks and the others helping it should be progressing little by little.

“I can't lose either.”

Akatsuki s.h.i.+fted his gaze filled with resolution from the night sky to the darkness covering the other side of the city.

This was a gigantic man-made island which was built upon an open section of the interior of Tokyo Bay.

This island was created to guide the people who had been summoned to an alternative world onto the right path.

To the east of the island was a mountain area filled with nature, to the west was a huge facility with cutting-edge technology and towns had spread around the facility.

There was also a landmark centered in the middle of the island which can be seen from any direction.

Staring at that landmark in the shape of a tower Ousawa Akatsuki made a proclamation-

“Just you wait old man and Sakuya, I will definitely rise to top and reach your level.”

As he was about to return to his room, he showed a bitter smile as there was one more thing he couldn't forget just as the window of the room next to his entered his view.

The demon king's final wish as he perished to his death.

“I want to entrust my daughter to you...”

Akatsuki adhered to the demon king's last request and had brought the girl who had a name oddly similar to his deceased sister into this world.

She too like Risty was a person who by Akatsuki's hands has had a deep mental wound etched into her heart.

Like Risty who had lost her fiancee because of Akatsuki, the young girl, Miu had lost her father, Garius.

“Yeah I get it.”

There was no way he would ever be forgiven for what he had done but even then, Akatsuki still thought that he wanted to protect this girl, no matter what happens in the future.

“I don't intend to lose someone precious to me a third time.”

While thinking about the girl sleeping on the other side of the window Akatsuki softly shut his eyes and whispered

“I wonder if she's having dreams about Alayzard and if that's the case it would be good if it were about those happy times.”

Akatsuki shook his head, once again he ended thinking up another convenient situation, if on the other hand she was having nightmares it would definitely be his fault, even while knowing that he had brought her to this world while being fully resolved for that.

“I have make a place for her to feel at home properly as soon as I can.”

Having also once experienced the same pain of isolation he knew how the girl felt.

“That's why I have to stop those two as soon as possible...”

With that Akatsuki quietly returned to his room.

The wind had started blowing softly and quietly.

Just like the calm before the storm.

Even so I don't want to see your tears even if its because you have to go along with my selfishness.

Please note that I'll will probably change some of the terminology around in the later chapters and will make foot notes of them until I edit the prologue as well, so until then if there is anything that is inconsistent please let me know.