Demihumans are not good at fighting.

At first Fang Zheng didn't quite understand what the sunglasses merchant meant, but when the facts were laid out before him, he quickly understood.

That is not a problem of physical fitness, but an internal... Strictly speaking, it is a spiritual problem.

Although the two little girls acted very bravely at the beginning, just drawing the swords in their hands made them tremble with fear. Even if they were hit, they didn't dare to fight back. I don't know if this is the nature of the demi-humans for a long time, or the sequelae of being slaves.

Under normal circumstances, Fang Zheng would have asked them to leave. But before leaving, he got another piece of information from the bald store manager...

"I know you don't want to fight, but you've also heard from the store manager that when the wave comes, the hero and his companions will be teleported to where the wave occurs. Even so, there is no guarantee that we will be teleported together. If we are together, then of course I can protect you. But if we are teleported to different locations separately, then you will have to rely on yourselves!"

Fang Zheng tightly gripped the shield axe and roared loudly.

"Now, you only have two options. One is to pick up your weapons and fight. The other is to leave me and dissolve the team with me. In this way, when the wave occurs, you will not be teleported to the battlefield!"

Although according to the system settings, the team should be disbanded manually, Fang Zheng tried it and found that neither of the two little girls could disband the team.

How should I put it? It's just like the NPC that must join when passing the story levels in an RPG game. There is no way to change them.

I always feel there is a strong sense of malice.

“Hmm…”

After hearing Fang Zheng's speech, the two little girls looked at each other, then nodded as if they had made up their minds, and then Raphtalia shouted loudly.

"I, I want to fight!"

"Me too, I want to follow the Shield Hero!"

While shouting, the two little girls clenched their short swords and stabbed at the balloon-like monster in front of them. Seeing this, Fang Zheng nodded, and then he immediately released Long Wei who had originally restrained the balloon monster.

“Squeak!!”

The balloon monster, which had lost the pressure of the dragon's might, screamed and pounced on the two of them.

Although it was a bit rough, the two of them still tried their best to kill the balloon monster in front of them, then gained experience points and successfully upgraded.

By the way, the people in this world seem to be different from those in ordinary game worlds. Just like in the world of SAO, in order to make it closer to reality, NPCs do not know their attributes and levels, and only players can see them. Because this will make it more "realistic".

But in this world, even ordinary people seem to be able to understand game terms such as "level", "teleportation" and "attribute".

Perhaps this is the case for people who were born in a similar gaming world. After all, levels and other things are commonplace to them. If they know them from birth, they will naturally treat them as normal things.

Only those who traveled from other worlds would be surprised by this.

Although strictly speaking, the fight between the two children was indeed a bit cruel, Fang Zheng, who had traveled through various worlds, did not soften his heart. After all, in the end, everyone can only protect themselves. If you can't even protect yourself, you can't protect others. All Fang Zheng can do is to help them grow and gain strength, but if they don't cheer themselves up and face reality, it won't work if they just hide behind them.

Even Kyon and Yoshino have started to work hard at learning how to communicate with others.

The first day's training only took half a day. After all, they were still children. After reaching level three, they were too tired to play anymore.

"Okay, let's stop here for today."

Seeing that the sky had darkened, Fang Zheng clapped his hands. Then he stretched out his hand and pointed in the air. Soon, a halo appeared in front of Fang Zheng.

"Let's go."

"Ah, yes..."

Although they didn't know what it was, the two little guys still followed Fang Zheng obediently into the halo.

Then, their eyes widened in surprise.

On the other side of the halo, there was a very warm and spacious space. There was a fire burning in the fireplace nearby. The sofa and rocking chair next to it also looked very comfortable. There were various books and a series of game consoles on the bookshelf not far away, and there was an LCD TV hanging on the wall.

That’s right, this is the wizard’s mansion!

Of course, a general wizard's mansion is a recreation of the scenes in the wizard's memory. For ordinary wizards, they can only materialize places like taverns, but for Fang Zheng, there are many more that can be reproduced.

Of course, Fang Zheng's favorite thing is to lean on the rocking chair by the fireplace, flipping through a book while thinking. Under the dim firelight, feeling the warmth and listening to the crackling sound of burning firewood always makes people feel peaceful.

"Owner."

Soon, a magic servant came out and bowed respectfully to Fang Zheng.

"Prepare for dinner."

"Okay, I'm ready."

The dinner was naturally quite sumptuous, and the two little girls ate very happily. Not only that, they also ate quite a lot of food, so much so that Fang Zheng was a little worried that the two little girls might get an upset stomach... But fortunately, after scanning with the terminal, it was found that there was nothing wrong with their bodies, and Fang Zheng breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the fact that the two little girls each ate the amount of food equivalent to that of two adults...it can only be attributed to the fact that the demi-humans themselves have a strong appetite.

After dinner, the two little girls took a bath and went to the guest room to sleep, while Fang Zheng sat in the rocking chair by the fireplace, staring at the burning fire and began to think.

About this world.

About this mission.

The cry for help that came from my ear before was undoubtedly Raphtalia's. After all, the voice was exactly the same, and after Raphtalia and Lifana were rescued, the voice disappeared.

However, the mission was not accomplished.

Currently, the option to return to the main world in the Dimension Code is gray, which means that the task in this world has not been completed. Although the "Assistance Mission" has been activated, there is no specific mission information, only a line of names.

So I was cheated by this bastard again.

Of course, the aid mission itself is also a hint, and there is only one mission for which he was summoned to this world, which is to be the Shield Hero, stop the wave and save the world.

But Fang Zheng is not like those three middle school boys who complacently said “Okay, leave it to me” after hearing the other party’s flattery.

The first thing he had to investigate was the specific situation of this world.

After traveling through so many worlds, Fang Zheng has come to understand that each world has different characteristics and the reasons for these different characteristics.

For example, in the game world of SAO, because it is a game world, the existence of skills, levels, and experience points is normal. In the main world, its own dimensional code system comes from the order imprint of the Goddess of Order, and because of the qualifications, it is transformed into a similar system.

So, what about this world?

People in this world are accustomed to levels, experience points, attributes, etc., and in fact, according to the bald boss, this world has something called the Dragon's Hourglass, which can calculate the timing of the arrival of the wave.

When the wave comes, the hero and his companions will be teleported to the place where the wave occurs.

Of course, if this is just a game setting, there is no problem at all.

After all, it's a game, so it's normal even if the setting is that only giving birth to a child can save the world.

But this is the real world, and so the problem arises.

It can be seen from the shield's system code that all of this is man-made.

The so-called four sacred artifacts, the so-called levels, attributes, experience values, the hourglass that can predict the arrival of the wave, and teleport to the occurrence point when the wave arrives.

All of this can be seen as traces of human intervention.

So here comes the question.

According to legend, the four holy warriors will save the world.

However, the system used by the Four Holy Warriors was obviously not created by them.

So, what about the guy who created the Four Holy Warriors system?

There is also the wave. Although people in this country regard it as a disaster, if we look at it from the perspective of the game, isn't it actually equivalent to an activity like a large-scale battlefield or a Warcraft invasion?

Then again, is the wave really a disaster?

The original Four Saints Warriors system was designed to resist the waves, but if that was the case, why didn’t the people who created the system just eliminate the waves directly, instead of creating such a system?

Or just like a virus invasion, it can only be eliminated through anti-virus software, and the Four Saints System is the anti-virus software and firewall?

Is it because it cannot be completely eliminated, just like chaos?

Anyway, let's investigate it first. If all goes well, it might even be considered a rehearsal for resisting chaos.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!!”

Just as Fang Zheng was thinking about countermeasures, suddenly, a scream came, which scared him. Fang Zheng stood up quickly and walked towards the place where the sound came from.

When I opened the door of the guest room, I saw Raphtalia sitting on the bed, waving her hands desperately.

“Dad, Mom!! Aaaaaaaah!!”

“Woo… woo…”

Although Lifana on the other side did not speak, she was also curled up in pain and trembling constantly.

Psychological trauma?

This situation is not uncommon for Fang Zheng. The cursed children of the dark world also had similar reactions when they were first rescued by Fang Zheng. Although they have started a new life, the nightmares of the past still haunt them deep in their hearts. At that time, Fang Zheng also took great pains to appease these children.

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng reached out his hand and gently stroked the two people's heads. Soon, a ray of holy light emerged from his hand.

Under the holy light, the screaming Raphtalia and the painful groaning Lifana gradually calmed down. Gradually, they fell into a deep sleep again.

I hope they can have a good dream this time.

When Fang Zheng woke up, it was already the next morning. However, Raphtalia and Lifana, who were lying on either side of his body, were still sleeping.

“Hmm…”

After a moment, Raphtalia trembled, then slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey, good morning."

"well?"

Raphtalia was stunned when she heard Fang Zheng's greeting, but after seeing the scene in front of her clearly, she immediately showed a surprised expression.

It was no wonder. The scene in front of him was quite funny. There were two beds in the guest room. Raphtalia and Lifana slept on one bed each, while Fang Zheng sat on the chair in the middle. However, his two arms were tightly held by the two people, so it was such a funny scene.

"Huh? Huh?!"

"Okay, it looks like everything is fine, so let's wait here..."

“Huh…”

As she was talking, Lifana also woke up. She yawned, opened her eyes, and then...

"Eh? Master Brave? I, I..."

"Okay, get up and clean up to get ready for dinner."

Fang Zheng stood up and stretched his slightly stiff arms.

"Next, we have to continue leveling up."

After breakfast, the two followed Fang Zheng out of the wizard's mansion and continued to move forward along the forest, killing all the monsters they encountered. When encountering high-level monsters, Fang Zheng would chop them with his shield axe to gain experience, and let Raphtalia and Lifana practice with low-level monsters.

Perhaps because they were full, the two little guys fought very hard. After passing through the forest, they came to a place called Root Village nearby.

There, Fang Zheng received the same treatment as in other places. Most people treated him with disgust and indifference, and the few who spoke did not have any emotion, as if they hoped that Fang Zheng would leave as soon as possible.

"These people are really too much, brave master."

After leaving the village, Lifana finally couldn't help but complain.

"My lord, do you really want to fight for these people?"

"It depends."

In contrast, Fang Zheng appeared to be very calm.

"You know what? Lifana, I'm not a good person. In fact, these people's reactions to me are expected and not surprising."

"But, my brave hero, you are clearly being wronged..."

When they were having dinner yesterday, Fang Zheng also told Raphtalia and Lifana about what happened after he was summoned to this world. Of course, Fang Zheng was telling it as a joke, but it was obvious that both of them were quite angry.

"So I'll give them a chance."

"Chance?"

Hearing this, Raphtalia looked at Fang Zheng curiously.

"What chance?"

"Listen up, Raphtalia, Lifana."

Having said this, Fang Zheng stopped and looked at them.

"As for me, I do fight to protect humanity and the world, but it also depends on the occasion and situation. Take those people just now for example. Their attitude towards me was due to the orders given by that idiot king, so it is not difficult to understand. After all, you can't just trust others without any contact with them. It's the same with you. If a criminal communicates with you, you will definitely avoid him because you are not sure whether he is really a bad person or is being wronged, right?"

"this……"

"But……"

"So in this case, I will give them one chance, but only this once."

"once?"

"That's right. I don't care about the attitude of the people I just met. But if they still have this attitude after I fight to protect them, then that's another matter. If they sneer at it and don't care, I will just sit and watch him die, because he obviously doesn't care about my help and protection, so I don't need to protect him. And if those guys who are protected by me still speak ill of me or even become hostile to me..."

"What will happen?"

"I will kill them."

"well?"

Raphtalia and Lifana were stunned at this unexpected answer.

"I said, I will only protect those I want to protect. I will not protect those ungrateful people. I will kill those who have received my kindness but not only do not thank me, but even try to repay my kindness with hatred. There is no point in letting such people survive in the tide. It is better for me to do it myself and kill them one by one."

“But, but…”

"There is a saying that goes, treat your enemies like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, or as cold and ruthless as a harsh winter. If you don't sweep away the dust, it won't go away on its own."

Having said that, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders.

"I love those who love me, and I hate those who hate me. You see, it's that simple."