Re: Zero - Dawn Eater

Time passed.

Hedin found himself caught in a simple and happy cycle of training, learning, playing with the villager kids and trying to work things out with Beatrice and Rem... whatever it was that was going on with those two.

With Beatrice, everything Hedin was with her, he felt her emanate strong feelings of hope mingled with sorrow and doubt. Honestly, he was not sure what to do about that.

And Rem... well, as he had come to find out, she had more than just a crush on him.

And he had no idea how to reciprocate that. Honest.

And it was not like he could. His responsibility as a hunter came first and foremost. And so, he did the only thing he found logical. Act completely oblivious.

Yes. He had chosen the route of a coward.

The matters of love were difficult to traverse even for a hunter.

And as days grew, that feeling became more and more prominent. Complimenting him on the smallest things, trying to garner his attention, trying to keep tabs on him, keeping him company in the morning; it all reinforced his belief that she was, in fact, in love with him.

The incident with the large feast and alcohol made it crystal clear.

And that made it scarier.

But regardless of that fact, he would be lying if he said he did not enjoy it. He was beginning to grow into it, even; beginning to see the blue haired maid in a new light as much as he tried not to.

And so, he came to a decision. He would let everything continue as is and cross that line when he got to it.

Another thing that happened, was that he officially became a member of the mansion - becoming Emilia's de facto Knight. Emilia, of course, was overjoyed at this.

Come to think of it, that was another thing he took note of.

Emilia was lonely. To the point that Hedin was her only friend. Of course she would be happy that Hedin would be staying with them long term, she had no other friends.

That too, became increasingly clear with Puck's shedding of mana and the feast.

And so, Hedin took it upon himself to try and educate her about social interactions. It had varying levels of success but he didn't pride himself as a great teacher anyway.

He had researched all the common and important facts about the world. History, politics, myths, swords of power, divine protections, magics, spirits, current trends of the time, witches and all.

And after two weeks of his stay at the mansion, his desire to learn magic was addressed.

Roswaal would arrange his water magic lessons, particularly, Healing Magic with Sir Felix Argyle – the knight of Crusch Karsten, another candidate for the throne.

As for his normal water magic and spirit arts, for the time, that was taught by Rem and Emilia respectively.

And finally, for his Yang Magic, Roswaal would hire a private tutor from the Royal Magic Research Institute.

And just like that, a month had passed since he arrived in the mansion.

Hedin stretched his joints again, having finished his morning routine. Having fitted himself into the routine, his attire too had changed, but not by a lot.

He didn't feel the need to wear his trench coat at all times, neither for his hat. The rest stayed on for the most part, but he would switch them out during morning training with some shorts and a simple T-shirt.

The attire only accentuated his toned muscles and tall figure, features previously under sold by his choice of wear.

Raven croaked by his side and he gave his head a good scratch.

My power of miracle has grown exponentially. Goes to show how quickly it can accumulate if I don't use it. Maybe this is how I can achieve a higher control. Hedin mused. The amount of power he could hold with his glory grew exponentially over time. As of now, he had almost a hundred times more power than he had at the time of the mabeast attack- which was the sum total of three days of cradling!

This might also be how the first hunter was able to pull destined death into a tangible shape. Hedin had never had an excess of miracle. He was always on a quest, always fighting beasts.

There was always something to use miracle on.

Here?

He was free to accumulate it.

With his morning routine done, he was ready to head to the forbidden library.

"Let's go raven." He said and began to walk off.

The forbidden library was always a tough place to find. Although Hedin had a weird sense of finding it, it could appear on any door in the entire mansion. Seeing that, he sometimes had to circle the entire mansion to find the right door.

He walked over from the back of the garden and to the front.

Just then, his eyes landed on an opulent carriage waiting at the front.

Was there any news of a guest's arrival beforehand? Hedin had not heard any word of it from Emilia.

Hedin approached with measured steps.

In front of the carriage, he noticed, tending to the ground dragons was a man.

It was an older gentleman, with a physique and stature not quite seen in such age. He had bountiful locks of white hair combed all the way back and wrinkles ran across his face like the tributaries of a river.

On his face, which was otherwise gentle, rested two sharp eyes of a beautiful sky blue colour, reflecting the world inside them. All such features, combined with his well maintained white beard gave him a certain amount of elegance.

His body was adorned with a traditional butlers outfit. A white shirt, over which he draped a white vest with gold minted buttons and a black coat to cover it all. Finally, he had black pants and a pair of white gloves to go along with it.

As he stood there, in front of the ground dragons, Hedin could not help but feel that the man was extremely dangerous. Like a sword in it's sheath, waiting to be released.

Hedin wondered what type of a man he must have been in his youth to have such a sharp aura in his old age. Shaking his head off these thoughts, he moved to greet the man.

"Good morning." He said, moving closer.

The old man turned, his sky blue eyes gazing at Hedin, scanning his entire figure in a split second. He did the same.

"Good morning, young man. I was not aware of a person like you working here?" The Old man's voice was crisp and full of vigor. It was clear from a single sentence, this was a man who had retained most of his fighting prowess.

Hedin gave him a smile.

"Hedin Haverill. Lady Emilia's attendant." Hedin held a hand to his chest and bowed a bit.

The man bowed as well, "Wilhelm Van Astrea. A humble butler of Lady Karsten."

"You are very humble Sir Wilhelm." Hedin chuckled. "It was clear to me at a glance that you are no ordinary butler. Now that I know your name, I realize that I stand right before the legendary Sword Demon."

Wilhelm gave a small smile, "I am a sword demon no longer."

"Perhaps, but reputation has a way of following doesn't it?" Hedin continued. "I do apologize for greeting you like this. I wasn't aware that you had arrive. What is the purpose of the visit, might I inquire?"

"Please. I do not mind. And I am afraid a mere butler has no right to say anything about official business." Wilhelm shook his head, offering a diplomatic smile. "Do permit me to remain quiet on this topic."

"Then I suppose we'll leave it at that." Hedin nodded. Inwardly, he could not help but wonder how strong the sword demon truly was. He had read about his feats only in the books.

Though, if we fought, I'd have trouble not killing him... Hedin had not forgotten his fight with Rem. If we fought with pure skill however, I have no doubt I'd lose.

"You seem quite skilled at handling dragons."

"Only the ground kind." Wilhelm chuckled, patting one of the two dragons' on the head. The curious creatures nuzzled into his palm, eager for attention.

Just then, before Hedin could speak any more, a high pitched voice interrupted them.

"I'm back, Old man Wil!" The voice said. Hedin and Wilhelm collectively turned to the source, finding a person heading out of the door, escorted by Ram.

The first thing Hedin noticed about this individual was ears. Cat ears.

Demihuman? A cat woman? He mused. The person had flax coloured hair and a yellow eyes and a tail extended behind them. She wore a white dress with a prominent blue collar and a blue chest with white stripes. She had a blue hem, light blue ribbons with thin white stripes attached to the waist of the dress. There was a large white ribbon tied to the back of the dress and she wore blue leggings with thin white stripes coupled with dark blue shoes and white arm covers - detached from the main dress to leave her shoulders exposed.

Just then, a thought came to his mind. Wait... wasn't the knight of Lady Crusch Karsten a Demihuman with cat features? Since Wilhelm is here then...

Hedin again scanned the woma- man. That's right. Man.

This person with a feminine voice and a feminine appearance was in actuality, a man. And no ordinary man too. The greatest healer of Lugunica. The one supposed to be his tutor.

"Sorry to make you wait outside. I bet you were bored huh?" The cat man spoke to Wilhelm who shook his head.

"Not at all. I was given company by this man right here." Wilhelm gestured to him.

The cat man came forward and stared at him intently.

"Meow? Meow? Meeoow? Meooooww?" He looked at him from different angles, too close for comfort.

"Ahem." Hedin fake coughed and backed a little.

"Ah!" As if a light bulb had went off in his head, Felix leaned back and stood straight. "Nyow, I see! You must be the one Lady Emilia mentioned!"

Hedin nodded. "That's me. Hedin Haverill, Lady Emilia's attendant."

"Felix Argyle, Lady Crusch's knight!" Felix waved to him and walked over to the carriage. "See you in the capital! Let's go, Old Man Wil!"

And with that, they mounted the carriage and Wilhelm drove them outside.

...

"I was surprised to see you talking to him, Old Man. I thought you'd rather cut people into two than talk to them." Felix addressed the man driving the carriage, his tone carrying a hint of humour.

"I merely took a liking to his eyes." Wilhelm said with practised elegance.

"Eyes? Well, I do admit red eyes are somewhat rare." Felix chuckled.

"No, not that." Wilhelm said. "His eyes... those weren't the eyes of a warrior."

Wilhelm paused, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. The sound of the ground dragons' feet and the wheels of the carriage rang in his ears. "Those were the eyes of a predator, stalking down it's prey."

Felix turned quiet, analysing his words.

"A predator stalking prey? Well, if the sword demon says it, then I suppose the man has quite the talent huh." Felix laughed.

Wilhelm kept his quiet, not bothering to speak anymore.

And so, the carriage continued on through the forest.

...

Check out my chainsaw man fanfiction - "I'm only Human" on my patreon.

Read upto 17 chapters on there - 2 released for now.

Of course, the official release is still 2 or 3 months off and will only happen when Sequence Strength gets completed.

(Cover Image Here)

...

A/N: Read upto 10 advanced chapters on my patreon: patreon . c o m/Yesnth Just remove the spaces from between.

Cheers~