Forced by Circumstance

The fireball hit the ground, just a step behind Mathias who was hugging his sister, then exploded and created a hole in the ground.

The explosion also threw Mathias and Alicia into the air and returned to the ground with a loud thud.

Mathias was in excruciating pain all over his body, most notably, his burnt back.

In the midst of it all, he still maintained some semblance of consciousness to find his little sister.

He screamed her name but he could not hear because his hearing was ringing so loudly that it was almost deafening.

When he found where Alicia had crashed, he tried to crawl over to her.

However, several hands came to grab him and force him to stand up, then lifted him and carried him to one place.

He still saw his little sister, albeit faintly, screaming again with her arms outstretched. He saw other people also lifting Alicia who seemed to be motionless.

Then the cavalry and hundreds of other people came as if to prevent the Demon Army from moving further.

The last thing Mathias could see were the warriors, the royal envoys sent to drive the Demon Army from their land.

Knights, Swordsmen, Archers, and Mages were working together, fighting with their respective skills to repel the monstrous creatures invading the area.

And after that, Mathias found it more and more difficult to maintain his consciousness and the men kept carrying him to a large carriage.

Not only Mathias and Alicia but also all the villagers, almost all of whom were old people and children, were mostly injured.

The adults had joined the fighters to defeat the Demon Army.

"Hey, someone. Help this man, he has burns on his back!" someone shouted.

"Oh, look at this farm boy," said another voice. "You pathetic, clown!"

"Enough! Pick him up, take him to the other carriage!"

"Hey, hurry up!"

Mathias had no idea where he was or what big room he was in. As consciousness slowly returned, the first thing he thought of was his little sister.

"Hey, hey!" someone held Mathias down. "Don't get up, man. Hey, help me out here!" he shouted at the others.

"My sister..." Mathias kept trying to get up. Or at least, sit up on the bed. "Where's my sister? Please!"

"Hey, calm down, man," someone else said. "We're trying to treat your burns here. Stay down if you still want to have a normal life!"

"Hey, we need people here!"

"My sister!" shouted Mathias with both hands held by more than one person. "Where's my sister? Tell me where she is?!"

"Hey, calm down, farm boy!"

Mathias didn't realize that he was currently naked as the back of his body had suffered severe burns from the fireball explosion that a dragon had spewed at him moments ago.

He had lost most of his hair which was also burnt at that time. His condition was now completely miserable but he was still shouting about his little sister.

The people who were trying to treat Mathias' wounds were forced to tie him to the bed to make their work easier.

Mathias could only scream and scream some more, not about the excruciating pain he was now beginning to feel, but rather about his sister's whereabouts.

"Alicia, where are you...? Alie!?"

Mathias was not the only one in the massive room, there were thousands of others receiving treatment for the various injuries they had sustained. And all of that was caused by the Demon Army's sudden attack on the Land of Purbha.

The room looked like a circular hall and was extremely large. Also, it was filled with screams and cries.

Doctors, healers, and mages who were masters of healing worked hand in hand to provide treatment, alleviating the suffering of the poor people.

Meanwhile, other warriors went in and out of the great hall to carry the wounded.

In another corner of the same room and a quieter place.

Three people approached a stretcher where an eighteen-year-old girl lay unconscious on it.

"Is this her?" asked one of them.

"Holy shit, man," the second one sounded doubtful. "Isn't this girl the younger sister of that guy from earlier? The clown?"

The third chuckled. "Why are you doubting?" he asked the other two. "That Clown has contributed nothing to the Kingdom. All he knows is to run away like a weak old fart or an unreliable baby!"

"But, dude―"

"You want to follow my orders or what, huh?" the third man snapped at the second man. "I'm sure she's a virgin. The warriors from the elite and nobility will be very entertained and like her. And that clown, he can thank us later!"

"Alright, dude," the second man let out a long sigh. "It's up to you. You're more powerful than us!"

"Take her!"

***

Mathias regained consciousness unpleasantly. The sound of a thunderous boom followed by terrified screams reverberating throughout the large room was deafening.

"Alie?!"

He looked around, people were running in all directions to save their own lives.

And just then the farm boy realized that his head was wrapped in gauze, as well as his entire body down to his waist.

The memory of a fiery ball of fire that a dragon had thrown at him came back to his mind and made him smother his head which suddenly became very dizzy.

"Stand up, rookie!"

Mathias gasped as someone threw a set of clothes at him.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

The person frowned at Mathias, then took a spear from the hand of his comrade.

"Haven't you come to your senses yet, rookie?" snapped the person who was a Knight. "Hurry up and put on your clothes. You will join the other warriors. Now!"

Between understanding and not, Mathias quickly put on the clothes given to him despite grimacing in pain from the burns on the back of his head and all over his back.

"Take this!" the Knight tossed the spear in his hand to Mathias. "Hurry up, join the others outside!"