My Girlfriend is an S-Class Adventurer

<strong>— December 7, 1512, Era Arani. —</strong>

"Huf! Huff! Come, father, run!" A little girl shouted to her father, who needed to use crutches to walk.

The man was doing his best, but still the shadow that followed him and his daughter was still very close. He could feel this closeness not by the noise, but by the shiver down his spine caused by the cold that the mysterious creature emitted.

"Run ahead, daughter! I'm right behind you, I just need to catch my breath a little..." The man stated.

The little girl hesitated to heed this order, but she remembered that her father once said that children who don't obey their parents are ugly. Because of this, she continued to run as far as she could down that long alley, however, it only took one look back for her to stop running again.

Her father was leaning on a wall, and when he saw her stopping, he shouted at her to run, but the child was paralyzed with fear. Behind the man was a spectral monster, whose black cloak was black and translucent, and the yellowish bones frightening to someone who had never seen a spectral before.

The little girl tried to scream to warn her father, but no sound came out of her mouth.

Desperate, the man screamed as hard as he could for his daughter to run, but the little girl's bulging eyes evidenced his terror.

Eventually, the man was grabbed by the spectral creature, and the monster's nails dug deep into his skin. Just then, a man who was nearby and heard the screams appeared in the alley. His hair was mostly brown, but there were also many gray hairs. His full beard highlighted his age; his mature look, his experience.

Since he had only his right arm, this man took the child on his lap with a little difficulty.

For the man with the crutch, seeing this bearded man determined to get his child out of this place was like a spark of hope, at least enough to make him smile in his final moments, even as he was pulled up by the spectral man and his flesh slowly tore away.

However, the man suddenly heard loud footsteps coming from above, and when he looked up, he saw almost in slow motion a horned woman punching the spectral with her white gauntlets. The spectral creature was thrown to the ground with a powerful blow, and Alexis Dmitry caught the man before he fell to the ground as well.

The little girl saw it all up close, and began to cry with happiness when she realized that her father had been saved.

The man who was carrying the little girl was also impressed by the scene, and was even more awestruck when he realized that it was someone he already knew. The same applied to Alexis, who smiled at the sight of that man.

The daughter shook herself free from the brown-haired man's arm easily and ran towards her father, who was bleeding heavily.

Alexis pulled out of a side pocket an advanced healing potion and gave it to the man in the crutch, which not only healed his injuries, but also his spine. At the man's feeling the intense pain in his spine cease, he almost cried with emotion, but restrained himself and focused on matching his daughter's embrace.

"You're still as amazing as ever, aren't you, Alexis?" The one-armed man stated.

"And you're still alive, which is impressive." She said with a wry smile. The two shook hands, and she stated, "I'm glad you're okay, man. We have a lot to talk about..."

So they guided the little girl and her father to the next safe area of Oukiwa, and finally sat down to talk in a tavern when it got dark.

A woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a kind smile poured a glass for Matthew and another glass for Alexis, and then continued to pour the glasses with beer on her tray to people at other tables.

"It's been a while since we've seen each other...three weeks maybe?" Matthew asked Alexis, and took a sip of his beer.

The half-dragon took the handle of the mug, but felt no urge to drink the alcohol. "No, it's been five weeks."

"Ow! Time is passing even faster than I expected."

Alexis looked at the brown-haired waitress, and pointed with her chin as she asked Matthew, "Your girlfriend is pretty."

"Jess? Yes, for sure in the world. In fact, she accepted my marriage proposal, and now we're engaged."

"Engaged, huh..." Alexis felt a small twinge of envy, and to suppress it she took a long sip of her beer. "Lucky you..."

Matthew realized this, but chose not to say anything. "And the others, how are they? Have they come to the front line too?"

"Ynosuke is training civilians who enlisted in Sheltered. John enlisted as well, but he doesn't feel confident to go to the front lines yet, so he's upgrading. Zack and Shiro are in the 17th squadron, fighting as Tanks. Nathalia, Ayumi and the other Strogueher are in Sheltered as well. Everyone is very angry about Luke and Meredith's decision, but there's nothing to be done."

"Wait a second, what did those two do? The last thing I heard was that Luke was in a special squadron protecting the North."

Alexis looked around, and realized that all the combatants in the tavern weren't even paying attention to the two's conversation. "They infiltrated the Melki Empire." She whispered, while covering their mouths with one hand.

"What?" Matthew squinted his eyes.

"He thinks the only way the Broteforge Empire can win this war is to figure out how the monsters are manipulated, and maybe try to stop that. I don't know how he's doing, but then that third wave was even harder than the first two. If he really gets any meaningful results or information, he will be the hero of this war, but I don't know... those towers are full of monsters, doom and gloom, and demons... I don't have a good feeling about it."