Opening my eyes, I could see a clear blue sky, and breathing in fresh air, I felt relaxed compared to the covered sky and the iron-filled air of the other world. I stood up, looking around, and saw a forest to my right and a dirt road of some kind to my left. I smiled, thinking about how kind yet sneaky the goddess was.
'Armory,' I thought as my own spatial portal to a world I filled with hundreds of weapons and armor sets gained along my travels over the years looked at an empty armor stand that once held the skybreaker set I, along with my friend Fren, a dwarven master blacksmith, made together after I followed a falling "star" and fought many demon lords and their army for it. It took me three days and four nights to win against them, but that armor was long destroyed against the demon kind. Looking at my claymore, which is also broken, to think I tried to attack the goddess with this piece of junk, a crack-riddled blade, along with the top part of it missing.
Entering the portal, I walked to my favorite weapon. "Time for you to rest, old friend," I said softly as the blade made a low humming sound. I trailed the hilt and then turned to a longsword, my second favorite, made of magmatrove, a metal known to be made in the center of a supervolcano after a few hundred years.
Getting near it, the once dim blade brightened up as if sensing me. I smiled, "I see you missed me, Pollo. I have not used it for a while, and I am sorry for that. Just most demons are resistant to heat, but you did help me clear the whole northern part of the world from demons, and I ask you once again, will you travel with me again?" I said, grabbing the hilt, which heated up, burning my hand, but not backing down, I held on tight. After a few minutes, it cooled down enough not to burn, more like a warming pad. "I. . . I thank you, Pollo," I said, grabbing them and the sheath under it as I laid it at my feet and turn to the amor side of my Armory I grabbed my fourth favorite armor set, which I gained after killing the southern shadowflame demon lord, one of the few named demon lords. A slick black armor with high resistance to all form of magic and heat of any kind, which is perfect for my partner going to the mirror that is in the middle of my Armory I see my younger self, but how old am I? I was 16 when I first got isekaied, so I should be around my early thirties.
Taking all of my clothes off, I could see my body, pale white skin from being in my room all day playing games, and such a big difference from my older, tan body of my older self, riddled with scars and muscle as if created by God himself. I see some muscle, but not much. Putting on my armor and the helmet, I look really menacing compared to my white/gold Skybreaker armor. I wore this armor in my early days during my edgelord arc.
** FLASHBACK **
"Fear me, demons, for I have killed all of the demons of the south. Now I am headed to the east to clean that part of the world. Ahahaahahahaahah," I said, laughing at the corpse of the named demon lord wearing armor clearly too big for me.
** FLASHBACK END **
I am so glad I put the auto-size adjust enchantment on when I learned that was a thing. Grabbing Pollo from the ground, I put them on my back and did a quick draw test. They came out cleanly, sending a burst of wind shaking my armory a little from the normal force and quickness I drew them.
'Man I really did really strong I should control my strength a bit more before I get out," I thought, staying in my armory and controlling my strength.
****
After a bit I can now punch without outs ending a air blast enough to almost break my armory I can not tell you my heart almost stopped when I saw a black crack in my armory roof, a stark contrast to the pure white realm.
Coming out of my armory, I closed it and stood still for a few seconds just listening. After a few seconds, I caught the sound of horses and a carriage to the left of the dirt road and breathing to the right of the road of 20 or so beings.
"The carriage should be here any minute now. I guess I should wait, or I could go ahead and see what awaits them. That sounds better in my opinion. I could see how much of my strength I do in this world," I thought, walking to the breathing after just a few feet away from a group of burly men in armor that did not fit them completely.
"Drop everything you got on you or we'll kill you and take it anyways," The supposed leader said as he walked a few steps to me with a large axe in hand as some men behind him laughed while a man to his side seemed frightened by me.
I decided not to draw Pollo and got into a fighting stance. Seeing me ready to fight, he raised his hand as the mages hidden in the bush, who I sensed "miles" away, launched fireballs at me as another one made the ground grab on to my feet, "locking" me in place. I let the attacks hit me since they will do not even a hit point of damage to anything I have.
"B. . .Boss, he is not dead, and that mana is so strong we should leave while he is playing with us," said the man next to the leader, who seemed confused.
"Why, I bet he is heavily damaged. Those were some strong spells right there, hahaha." He laugh, looking in my direction as the smoked cleared seeing me stand unfazed he started to sweat I made a yawning gesture with my hand as he threw his thumb back; his men, seeing it, started to run into the forest.
"Arcane Chains," I spoke in a low voice.
Everyone in the bandit group was grabbed by my snakelike chains, locking them down.
"Bloom," I said as the once-now-looking chain turned into a razor-sharp chain, cutting them all into pieces in a slow and painful death.
"Scorch," I said as the body was alight with fire that turned even their bones to ash, cleaning the dirt road and just leaving the smell of burned meat lingering in the air.
Feeling the ground slightly shake, I turn to the three horsemen and carriage coming my way. As they stop, the horsemen jump off their horses and draw their swords, aiming them at me. I raise my hand as a sign of peace.
"What is a powerful mage like you doing away from your mage tower or academy?" said one of the Horsemen as he put away his sword; the other did not while he walked forward.
"I was just traveling when I ran into some bandits or something. There were some bandits, but might I ask how you know I am a mage?" I asked curiously. The other guy from the bandit group also seemed to know about the mages in the bush but did not know which, which confused me a bit, not gonna lie.
"Well, I can sense your mana, which is as strong as a kingdom's warlock, so might I ask which kingdom you belong to?" He said, putting his hand on his sword.
"I see. Well, to answer your question, none at the moment. I am just a vagabond mage traveling, hoping to settle down somewhere for some time," I said as I sucked up all the mana that was coming from it. I did not have to worry about that in the other world, so I sort of forgot about that.
"You must have mind-blowing control. I can't even sense any mana from you. Why not travel with us to the Drezean Kingdom? We have an important figure that we'll pay you handsomely for protection, and we can pay you two gold per day," he said, amazed and a bit frightened.
"Sure, I could use a guide, and if this kingdom of yours is close, I do not mind coming along. As for payment, that would be wonderful; I am short on money at the moment," I said, smiling under my helmet. "Where do I sit?" I asked, looking around.
"Why did we stop?" a female voice spoke out from the carriage, confused and angry.
The horsemen to the right of the man walk to the carriage.
"We have contracted a mage to protect you for the rest of the journey to Drezean," they said, sounding a bit frightened.
"Really, I know, but we have no extra horse, and he will not be sitting here with us, will he?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
"No, of course, ma'am," he said, shaking his head.
"He may be seated on top of the carriage to get a high view and shoot any spell from afar," she said, sounding amused.
"I will do as the young lady says," I said, jumping onto the carriage at a speed so fast it looked like I teleported, frightening the horsemen and landing as light as a feather.
"When he is up, we need to continue; my fiancé is waiting," she said, closing the window to her carriage.
"You heard here, get back on your horses and leave now," said the leader of the horsemen as he got back on his horse.
To be continued. . . .