1 A Face in the Dirt

"There's got to be someone here. . ."

‍ There was a man, searching for someone in the rubble of the Royal Palace in the Lunin Kingdom.

He was about 180 centimeters tall and looked to be about 18~19 years old.

His red eyes were complimented by his messy, flaming red hair, that was glistening in the sunlight as he was searching through the rubble. He looked well built, especially for someone around his age.

He held a white sword that was stained with the blood of enemies, in his scabbard. The sword looked a bit dull, most likely due to his encounters with Demons.

"H . . . help . . ."

‍ He stops staring at the ground and lifts his head up, once he heard that voice. He starts running towards where he had heard that voice while screaming:

"Keep talking! The more you talk, the easier it is for me to locate you!"

After a few minutes of searching, he finds the place where the voice was coming from. He lifts up all the rubble from where he was.

‍ Much to his surprise, he found a young child with few bruises. But the child wasn't completely devoid of injuries. She had a broken leg and she most likely had broken fingers too.

If someone were to asked to describe her, they would say "cute."

She had short, puffy, reddish-brown hair that nearly reaches her shoulders, coupled with golden-amber eyes, and bangs covering her forehead.

He thinks to himself "Such a child survived all this. . . She must be traumatized."

"Uh. . . Hello there. Do you know if your parents survived?"

"My. . . 'Parents'? I don't have any memory of them . . . Or this castle that collapsed . . . Or anything else . . ."

What he saw in front of him, was a child with Amnesia. He knew that he couldn't be of any help to return her memories.

"Oh . . . Well, do you at least remember your name?"

"My name is . . . Tenma."

‍ "It's a good thing that you at least remember one thing. But anyways, my name is Justice. Justice Hendricks."

"Justin Hendra?"

"No. Justice Hendricks. But you're free to call me whatever you want."

"Papa."

Justice turns his head left and right.

"Hm? Did you find your dad? Where is he?"

Tenma uses all of her strength left, to stand up, and hug Justice.

"You."

". . .Eh?"

A small sound escaped from Justice's mouth.

"H——Huh?! What do you mean?! I'm only 20!"

‍ As he realizes how loud he said that, he covers his mouth. Demons, especially lesser-Demons, are attracted to loud sounds and will usually head to where they heard the aforementioned sound, immediately.

Though, covering his mouth wasn't enough to prevent 3 lesser-Demons from arriving.

"Tenma. Stay back, I'll handle this."

‍ He pulls his sword out of his scabbard and readies into a fighting stance. While waiting for the Demons to attack, Justice mutters something under his breath and starts glowing red for a few seconds.

He defeats one of the three Demons by slashing it on the chest with lightning fast speed.

The other two Demons start attacking Justice. He was able to defend against both the Demons, without even getting any scratches.

‍ As his sword and the Demons' claws collide, multiple times, it was clear that the battle was favoring one side. Despite having the numerical advantage, the Demons were still somehow losing. Justice stabs another one of them in the chest, leaving one more left.

Once again, Justice and the remaining Demon begin colliding with their weapons. Still colliding his weapon with the enemy, Justice constantly starts looking at Tenma, — to make sure if she was okay — after he's knocked away the enemy.

This ends up being his downfall, as the Demon manages to get a few strikes on Justice, while he isn't looking, and manages to make him bleed.

‍ "D . . . Don't hurt Papa!"

A white light starts surrounding Justice, effectively healing the wounds he gained. While the Demon is distracted, he quickly finishes it off by slicing it from multiple different angles.

He puts his sword back in its holder and falls sits on the ground. He lets out a relaxed sigh.

"That was close. Thanks, Tenma."

Hearing no response, Justice turns around and finds an unconscious girl. "Well, makes sense. Healing Magic takes an extraordinary amount of Mana to use."

‍ He gets up and starts carrying her in a bridal position. As he's walking, he looks happy. Happy that he found at least one person that he saved from dying under all that rubble. Optimistic that he might be able to find another person in the rubble if he continues searching.

But he didn't. He's used enough effort to fight and look for someone.

‍ He carries her back to a Cave. The aforementioned cave was Justice's hideout base. He would search for people and bring them back there, to protect. But he was unsuccessful at bringing someone back. With the exception of this day and another.

While walking deeper into the cave with Tenma in his arms, he is greeted by a beautiful woman, with sky blue hair.

"Welcome back, Justice!"