The Empire.

It is not a place for the innocent, or the naive.

Filled to the brim with corruption and injustice, it is truly a hell for those who simply wished to lead a peaceful life.

Its people oppressed, its government corrupted and completely lack any humanity, it's a wonder how the country hasn't fallen already.

Or perhaps not, considering its fearsome military might and its power over everything the people own, through violence and fear.

And at the center of it all, the Capital.

The source of all this malevolence, came from the despicable, dishonorable, inhuman being that the nation know as Prime Minister Honest.

His name itself, such irony.

Ruling from the shadows by tricking the Emperor, who is only a naive child, brainwashed by the prime minister, into not knowing the suffering he brought to the kingdom he rule.

Even those who lived on the outer lands, far from the Capital, far from the corruption, are still plagued by the dangers of Danger Beasts, ferocious creatures that roam the land, with a taste for human flesh.

The Empire is truly a hellish place, surely no one from the outside would dare to step in, lest they expect an unfortunate end.

Of course, that wasn't always the case.

_

Deep in the forest, a lone merchant was traveling through the thick forest in his cart with his wife, his horse walking at a slow pace, while humming a tune that only he was familiar with, completely unaware of the shadows that were lurking behind the trees, watching his every move, and preparing to strike at the right moment.

It all happened so fast.

"Look what we have 'ere, boys! Seems like we hit jackpot!" The bandit leader shouted to his comrades. They were tearing apart every box that they could find inside the cart, while looking for anything worth stealing. Meanwhile, the merchant was helpless in his tied up position, his face bruised and his clothes covered with a familiar red liquid.

"P-please, spare my wife!! Take whatever you want, do whatever you want to me, but don't harm her!!!" The merchant pleaded for mercy. He didn't care if his belongings were all ransacked, but he couldn't bear to see his loved one ravaged by these people.

Meanwhile, a couple of bandits were holding his wife hostage, and getting dangerously close to molesting her, as she was trying and helplessly failing to fight back, before stopped by their leader.

"Hold it boys!! Seems like our friend here wants a little chat." The leader said. The other bandits stopped what they were doing, while he walked towards the merchant, a smile plastered on his face.

Then, he said to the merchant's face," You think you're in control here? Sorry buddy, but we do whatever the hell we want, and no one's gonna fuckin' stop us!! Ain't that right boys!?" "Hell Yeah!!!" The bandits all happily answered their leader's question.

The man continued," How about this, since you loved your precious little doll so much, we gonna give her a view she won't forget!! Keep her eyes open! We gonna do a little show!!" The two bandits brought the woman to her knees, and forced her watery eyes open to look at her husband. Her eyes widen as she saw the man from earlier bring out a knife and slowly bringing it to her husband's neck, with a clearly obvious goal in mind.

"NOOOO!! Please, DON'T!!!" She cried out, begging for the man-no, monster in front of her to stop, unwilling to see her husband's blood spilling on the floor. The bandit leader's smile widen much more, and the merchant slowly closed his eyes, accepting his fate and repeatedly murmurs apologies to his wife, even though she couldn't hear it.

And just before the knife could touch the merchant's neck, the most unexpected thing happened.

The bandit leader's hand dropped on the floor, the knife still grasped in its fingers. Blood was already flowing out.

It took a while for everyone to compute what just happened.

"EEAAAARRGGH!! What the fuck!! My HAND!!!" The leader cried out to the top of his lungs, while his comrades just stared, but not at him.

They were staring at a stranger, who just seemingly appeared in the middle of the whole thing.

A teenager, with jet black, messy, short hair that seemingly flows to the back of his head. A seemingly youthful face, with bangs covering his forehead. Bright yellow eyes. A dull red scarf around his neck. A dull grey knee-length trenchcoat that looked worn, with a white shirt underneath. A pair of dark blue trousers with slightly torn edges, and a pair of grey sandals to complete the look.

The boy would've looked completely ordinary, if it weren't for those yellow eyes.

Not to mention the sword with a blade the colour of blood, grasped in his left hand.

Nobody dared made a move. Time seemed to stand completely still. Everything was completely silent for a whole minute, until said silence was broken by the voice of the bandit leader, still clutching his bloodied arm.

"Well what the fuck are you idiots waiting for!? GET HIM!!!" The bandits hastily pulled out their weapons, and began charging towards the boy, trying to overwhelm him with their numbers.

Obviously, it didn't work.

The boy dashed forward, slashing through every single bandit only once, then moving to the next. Blood flew everywhere. Just not the boy's blood.

It all happened so fast.

10 bodies, littered on the soil. All in less than 5 seconds.

To say the leader was shocked, would be an understatement. He had felt fear many times in his life before. The time he was abandoned by his parents, the first time he killed another person, and the first time he met a Danger Beast.

But this, they all pale in comparison to what he was feeling now. This boy, is not human. Those yellow eyes, eyes that stare right into your soul. And the worst part?

He looked completely calm throughout the whole deal.

No signs of fear, or hatred, or even pleasure from the fight. Just the same, blank stare.

It scared him, terrified him completely to the core.

He heard a gush of wind, and his vision started fading.

"Wha..." So were his thoughts. The last thing he saw, was those yellow eyes. And then everything went black.

The leader's head rolled on the dirty soil, his headless body collapsed right after.

The merchant, who was still tied up, was completely silent throughout the whole thing. He was too petrified, by the display in front of him. A teenager managed to kill off a group of bandits, in less than 5 seconds. And it doesn't even looked like he was trying.

The teenager slowly walked up to the merchant, and cut the binds off him. He rushed and hugged his wife, who was still too shocked to speak. Turning to the teenager, who had already sheathed his sword, he uttered,"...thank you. For everything."

The boy gave a blank stare, and merely walked away. The merchant was a bit surprised by this, and said," W-wait! Where are you going? Don't you want anything in return? I could give you some gold coins! I-is that good enough?" The boy stopped in his tracks, and looked back.' So he does want money after all,' the merchant thought.

After receiving a bag of gold coins, the boy slowly nodded,probably his own way of thanking, and walked away once more." Wait!! Where are you going? Is there somewhere you need to be?" The merchant asked, hoping for an answer.

However, the boy just kept walking, as if he didn't hear the merchant. His wife, who had finally broke out of her shock, asked her husband,"Wh-Who is he?" The merchant only gave a dissapointing answer."I...I don't know. Never seen him before. Perhaps he's not from here. A wanderer, possibly. He...he didn't even tell us where he's going...come to think of it, he never even spoke one bit." Was the boy a mute, is he simply too shy? Or something much more personal? So many thoughts lingered in the merchant's head.

The boy kept walking, away from the two, until he vanished from their view.

An enigma, that's what he was.

In the boy's head, there was...nothing.

He wasn't thinking of anything in particular, just wandering around, trying to look for something interesting to do.

He thought back to the couple earlier, why he saved them, because it was simply the right thing to do, no questions asked. Besides, there wasn't anything better to do, honestly. He even got some money from it.

If anything, he felt a bit bored. The fight surely was underwhelming.

If one were to look at him right now, they would have mistaken him for a walking corpse. His blank face held no emotion whatsoever.

He had heard of the Empire before. A massive country with a powerful military force, so much so that no other country dared to attack them. But other than that, nothing else. It's probably because he didn't really care that much about it before, that he had so little information regarding it. So now he decided to take a visit.

So far there's nothing interesting going on for him yet. So he kept his pace, going to where fate might take him.

But all that might change soon.