The next morning in Oakshade could be said to be the most chaotic in its long history.
Men woke up to the news of their goods being stolen—jewelers, goldsmiths, loan sharks, and blacksmiths alike. Their weapons, jewelry, gold, and gems had all vanished overnight.
A few unlucky ones who had left their coins in their stores found their entire wealth looted without a trace. The city went into lockdown as the guards sealed every gate, scouring the streets in search of the culprit.
The chaos grew so severe that even the lord of the town had to personally appear and take charge of the investigation, with everyone putting in their utmost effort to find the thief.
Reports of Damon—the rescued youth—having disappeared were also filed. Suspicions naturally pointed toward him, but considering his condition and the testimonies of others, he wasn't immediately branded as the culprit.
Normally, in cases of theft, the guards might have used such a disappearance to mark the missing person as the thief, regardless of the circumstances. But this time, with the lord himself leading the case—and with his own stores robbed—the matter couldn't simply be brushed aside.
The town was in chaos.
And the perpetrator behind all of it was already miles away, resting deep in a forest near the main road, breathing lightly.
"Oh god… you have to admit, robbing people in this medieval world is really easy—especially with the right magic," Damon muttered as he lay on a giant stone.
Equipping his invisibility—his power to erase his presence—he had left the town unnoticed, following the road toward the main city. With his experience living in forests, Damon had taken shelter among the trees for the moment, steadily approaching civilization.
"Now what…" He laid out an outline for his next steps. "Enter the city, take a carriage to Parnam, try to woo those two in, and then… what?"
Ever since arriving in this world, Damon had pondered every day how he would kill Souma.
Assassinate him quietly? That wouldn't be so hard, would it?
With all the privileges he had gained, surpassing Fuuga's level of strength was easy. With that level of power and the right magic, Damon could easily assassinate the king.
But how would he destroy the time machine?
The time machine—the entire royal capital itself and its foundations that extended deep underground. Damon's true mission was to destroy it completely.
"Sigh… with individual power, is that even possible?" Maybe. But facing armies of strong warriors and mages was a different story.
To fight them all, individual power alone wouldn't be enough. Maybe some grand magic could do it, but fighting an army of forty to fifty thousand soldiers alone?
"Nah, that's troublesome."
Putting his hands behind his head, Damon watched the drifting clouds above him—flying freely, or so they seemed, yet their movement dictated by the wind.
"Why did they even give me admin privileges of this level?" he wondered. If his purpose was to kill Souma and destroy the capital, the "new humans" could have given him full control.
He could've stripped away his enemies' powers and wreaked havoc across the kingdom. But no—they had given him only partial control over the nanomachines, full control only over his own abilities.
"Why did they do that?" he murmured. "To kill Souma? That's hardly efficient… then why?"
"For fun? Hah." Yeah—for fun.
Those who had abandoned the real world and lived in the virtual one, playing gods and heroes for centuries—even they must've grown bored. And now, seeing a chance to play gods in the real world, they decided to toy with it.
"Hahahahaha!" The thought couldn't help but draw a laugh from Damon.
"They're messing with my life for fun? Hahaha…"
A pawn. He was just a pawn in their game—a piece for entertainment. And so was this world.
As an AI, Damon wouldn't have had these thoughts at all. As an AI, he couldn't feel anything—he had been nothing more than a block of code.
But now, as a human—having memories of hunting, of family, of companionship—he couldn't help but feel something heavy pressing on his heart. Something binding him.
"Emotions… huh."
The emotions that made humans what they were.
"Hahahaha…" He laughed to himself as he rolled over the stone, his clothes stained with soil, laughing freely in the forest.
"Entertainment, huh…"
"If I'm just entertainment," Damon said, his eyes glinting with intelligence as a faint red light flashed within them, "then let me entertain you all properly."
'Parnam will be destroyed. Elfreiden will cry. King Souma will die—but on my terms.'
***
The day continued. Time stopped for no one, and Damon made his way toward the city, following the forest trail.
With the instincts of a tribal who had grown up in the wild, he moved expertly, avoiding danger at every step.
After hours of travel, as the sun began to set, civilization finally came into view—a large city surrounded by towering walls, guarded by soldiers in armor and armed with steel.
Long lines of merchants queued at the gates—carriages, carts, traders, adventurers, mercenaries, and soldiers bustling about.
Damon released a sigh of relief as he gazed at the city. But instead of heading straight toward it, he slipped deeper into the forest once again.
He had reached his destination—but it wasn't time to enter just yet. Preparations had to be made first.
"Now that I've reached the city, I can enter anytime. This is the perfect time to increase my strength."
He could've done so earlier, after leaving the town—but he didn't. The town was in chaos, and everyone was searching for the thief who robbed it.
Though the search wasn't directly for his head, his disappearance and the theft wouldn't be brushed off as mere coincidence.
That was why, instead of strengthening himself back then, he had chosen to flee first and find the city.
'I hoped to at least have one last chat with Owen… but yeah, let's forget about it.'
Owen had been a genuinely good man who helped him a lot. Leaving without a word of thanks or farewell didn't sit well with Damon—but what could he do?
He had healed himself, something he couldn't possibly explain to Owen. Even if he wanted to, there was no proper explanation that would make sense.
He might've left a letter, but Damon couldn't write or read the language of this world. Less than a third of the kingdom's people were literate—and certainly not a tribal boy who lived in the jungle. It was a skill Damon would have to learn himself.
With a quiet sigh, Damon entered the depths of the forest, his invisibility still active, masking him from the monstrous beasts lurking nearby.
'Now then… let's begin to power up.'
"Full Body Enhancement!"