Do Not Smile

While Rudeus had a rather good relationship with the Imperial Guards, not all of them were as taken with Rudeus as the friendly seniors. They thought of him as an upstart human filled with arrogance. Some were demons over a century old. Of course they would not casually accept a 10 year old human as having more talent than themselves.

But things like bullying didn't exist amongst the Imperial Guards. It was an unspoken rule. Because, no matter how strong any one of them was, were they stronger than Atofe? In the end, they were still slaves!

Camaraderie between the Imperial Guards was actually pretty high, Rudeus observed. They treated each other like good brothers who were all in the same boat together. None of them thought of doing something like plotting against each other in order to monopolize Atofe's favour.

Partly because they were all simple minded martial idiots who only knew how to fight. Since they were all strong warriors in their own right, every single one of them had a healthy amount of respect for their fellow brother in arms.

But mainly because Atofe hated to see things like politics and schemes, so she had long ago already directly killed anyone who tried to do something like that in the past.

"There is no need to do these complicated things. All you need is strength!" She had declared after cleaving a particularly conniving human subordinate in half. That happened roughly 150 years ago, and it had also been an outlier which was not the usual breed of people who arrived at Fort Necross.

Not even the North Emperor Strauss who was the strongest amongst Atofe's subordinates ever tried to uphold any sort of hierarchy amongst her forces. In fact, Rudeus was told that he was actually one of the most humble and down-to-earth guy here.

Strauss was the strongest Imperial Guard. But being the strongest also meant Atofe paid the most attention to him. Humility was inevitable after constantly getting beaten up by the Demon King for decades.

"There is always someone stronger. What is the point of being conceited? I will just get beat up regardless." That was the North Emperor's favourite saying, apparently.

Rudeus actually spent the most time with Grayson and Moore. One was a human from the Central Continent just like him, so there was a familiar sense of comfort that let them become fast friends. And the latter was the only other person who could use Advanced magic that incorporated it into their fighting style.

Moore was incidentally also considered Atofe's right hand man. He was the castle's administrator, serving as Atofe's majordomo as well. The immortal demon was the only person amongst the bunch of muscular men only knew how to fight who was conscientious enough to deal with day to day administrative matters.

"Chantless casting, huh? It's not like I never tried it before. But I could never comprehend it, even after centuries. You must be a genius for being able to silently cast spells at your age." Moore had praised Rudeus when they talked about magic.

Rudeus didn't know whether or not to tell him there were two other people he had taught how to cast spells without incantations. One of them was even a muscle-brained lass who only learned how to do simple arithmetic when she was 9 years old. The other learned how to cast spells silently when she was even younger than Rudeus.

Thinking about them made Rudeus fall silent. Though he immersed himself in swordsmanship and felt himself become stronger every day, he couldn't help but worry about his family and the kind members of the Boreas family who showed him so much compassion.

The light that brought him to the Demon Continent was massive. And it had first struck Roa before ballooning and swallowing Rudeus. According to Hitogami, the entire Fittoa Region had been caught up in the mana calamity.

Paul and Zenith, the two people he recognized as his parents after being showered in their love and affection. His two sisters who weren't even 4 years old yet. Lilia, a person he considered a second mother, who had helped raised him since he was a baby. His first disciple, Sylphiette. The villagers from his hometown who always greeted him warmly. His childhood friends, Soma and the other kids whom he had taught soccer.

Philip and Hilda that sometimes acted like substitute parents towards Rudeus knowing that he sometimes missed his own parents who were in Buena Village. Sauros, who was loud both in his mannerisms and his affection for his family. The fiery Eris that he had taught for close to 3 years, and whom he had watched grow up to be a respectable young lady (sort of).

Ghislaine, his first crush since he arrived in this world, and a master to whom he felt deeply indebted to. The servants of the Boreas household that always took care of him even more than what they were required to. The guards who acted like friendly older brothers that were never frightened or intimidated by his strength.

Most nights, he had difficulty sleeping thinking about these people who were all etched deep in his heart. Where were they? Were they safe? These questions plagued his mind, but he received no answers in return.

Rudeus knew Sylphiette was safe, according to what Hitogami had told him, though he didn't really put much faith in that being's words. But what about the rest? He had been teleported alone, so he didn't know if that was the norm.

Ghislaine was the strongest person he knew in the Fittoa region, so one way or another she would be fine. She also had experience as an adventurer, so unless she had been transported to a truly deadly place like deep in the heart of Red Dragon Mountain, his master would be fine.

Similarly, Paul and Zenith were ex-adventurers who were once part of an S-rank party. His father had reached the threshold of Saint-rank with his proficiency in all three sword styles, while his mother was a competent magician in her own right. They would be able to take care of themselves in 80% of the world they found themselves in.

Eris was young, but she was also pretty strong in her own right. An Advanced-rank swordswoman was at the level of a royal guard in most kingdoms. The only thing she lacked was common sense to keep herself safe from the machinations of humans and sufficient combat experience to make use of her strength. As long as she kept her wits about her, Eris should be able to take care of herself.

Sauros had been an accomplished warrior when he was young. With the magic items he had gotten from Rudeus, as well as the authority of his noble lineage, he shouldn't face any problems if he was teleported near human civilization.

Similarly, Philip and Hilda also held the magic items Rudeus made for them. They weren't inexhaustible artefacts that could be used indefinitely, but it was better than nothing. He thanked the heavens the Boreas family had the foresight to commission these items from Rudeus.

It was Lilia, Norn and Aisha he was the most worried about. Rudeus had heard from Lilia that she had learned swordsmanship she was younger, but it had been over a decade since she last held a sword. Plus, objectively speaking, Lilia was gorgeous with a killer body. Sometimes, good looks would only invite calamity.

And his sisters were obviously in the most danger if they had been transported alone. They were only children who could barely make sense of the world around them. Aisha was a precocious child, but intelligence could only bring her so far in a world full of monsters and certain people that were worse than monsters.

The possibility that any one of them could be in danger only filled Rudeus with even greater anguish, and a burning desire to leave Fort Necross.

One week into his arrival in the Demon Continent, Rudeus had slapped himself hard enough to cause blood to spill out his mouth. Why? Because he caught himself smiling after a particularly rewarding training session with Atofe.

How could he possibly consider feeling any shred of joy being trained by one of the strongest warriors in the world when his family was very likely in danger? How dare he smile!?

Rudeus was not able to leave Fort Necross no matter how much he begged Atofe during their training sessions, and with this cursed armour donned on his body, escape was impossible. This he could understand. But just because he had no choice didn't mean he had any right to smile or laugh or enjoy himself!

When he first arrived on the Demon Continent, he had been too overwhelmed with the sudden changes in his environment and situation that he hardly had time to think about his family. Dazzled by Atofe's beauty and the daily sparring sessions with his seniors along with Atofe's swordsmanship that had awakened his sword heart, Rudeus immersed himself in swordplay.

But after some time, he started to wake up from this daydream. He could not stay here. If anything happened to his parents, or god forbid, his toddler sisters, while he was having fun swinging his sword around in relative safety here on the Demon Continent, then Rudeus would never be able to forgive himself.

"Do not smile. Do not laugh. Remember what is most important. Not your sword, not your strength. Your family needs your help." Rudeus recited this mantra almost daily as he grasped his sword's handle tightly when he trained.

The strip of linen cloth Zenith had given to him as a farewell gift was still wrapped around the handle of his blade, and holding it tightly gave Rudeus a sense of comfort, as though he Zenith was right there with him. But it was also another necessary reminder that she, along with the others, were waiting for his return.

He was determined to never smile or laugh while he was stuck here. It was enough for him to be smart and grasp this opportunity to grow stronger while he waited for an opportunity to escape. But he couldn't let himself feel happy. An opportunity for him also meant disaster for the thousands and thousands of Fittoans who found themselves in danger after being teleported.

This agony of not knowing whether his loved ones were safe or not only drove Rudeus to push himself harder. Even if he could escape from Fort Necross on the day Hitogami had stated, he would still need enough strength to make it back to Asura Kingdom as quickly as he could.

Rudeus was more aware of his own strength than anyone else. He was in the upper echelons of Saint-rank, perhaps even nearing the threshold of King-rank. But after seeing so many Imperial Guards who were experts in their own right being forced under, he came to realize his own strength was nothing compared to the real monsters that existed in this world.

A single Atofe brought him helplessly to his knees. And she wasn't even one of the Seven Great Powers. Granted, it was perhaps because she had secluded herself in this Fort Necross for so long that the world had forgotten about her awe-inspiring might. Rudeus did not know how strong Atofe was compared to the current generation's Sword God and North God who were both ranked in the top seven.

Even his seemingly kind and friendly seniors were strong enough to suppress him when they got serious. He needn't mention the King-ranks and North Emperor Strauss. Even some of the Saint-rank Imperial Guards had more than enough tricks up their sleeve to defeat Rudeus.

One had to realize that these people were at least decades older than Rudeus and had the corresponding experience to go with it. And being stuck in Fort Necross with nothing else to do, their favorite hobby was going down to the arena and beating the hell out of each other. Moore, the only one who could use Healing magic would then have to patch them up.

After decades or centuries of sparring and being trained by Atofe, none of these Imperial Guards were inferior to the North Saint Kaballah, who Rudeus now thought to likely have been one of the weakest Saint-rank warriors in the world.

Or perhaps it was not that Kaballah was weak. It was that just the standard of the Imperial Guards were too high. High enough that Saints were as common as foot soldiers, while an Emperor ranked warrior still had to obediently serve Atofe like he was just a servant.