Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

This should grant me a good income," Ethan said while he was putting away the magic spears of the demi-humans on his inventory. "Now I want to see you guys pointing your sticks at me again. It looks like some of you still have some fighting spirit left. If you are interested in testing the power of your fists, you are free to come and test it against me. Translate this to them, Cen."

The demi-humans tried to attack Ethan, but since they weren't that strong physically and they were only good at debuff magic, he defeated them with ease. A single slow hit on their heads with the grip of his sword had been enough to knock out most of them.

"Do people of these worlds usually behave like this?" Ethan asked.

"Yes… after some of us were captured by people like you," Cen said. "I mean… people from your world."

"Whatever," Ethan said. "I can sense some presences inside the cave, but they are not hostile. Go check things inside while I keep an eye on those idiots. Do take your time. Emily's spell won't last forever."

Cen nodded, and he ran toward the cave. As expected, after noticing that those guys were incredibly against the idea of letting him and Ethan enter the cave, Cen recognized that something was off. In any case, while Cen was inside, one by one, those demi-humans began to wake up or recover themselves from the damage. However, they stayed sitting on the ground since Ethan still had his sword in hand, and he looked in a bad mood. Suddenly, a tall and thin woman with short black hair cast a spell on her. It was the same spell Emily used.

"Who are you, stranger?" The woman asked. "For what reason did you come here, and why do you have one of us with you?"

"My name is Ethan, and I am an alien," Ethan replied.

"Alien?" The women frowned.

"Yes, I have come from another planet to teach you how to build pyramids," Ethan said.

"What is a pyramid?" The woman asked.

Ethan sighed. That is what happens when he tries to be friendly and crack a joke, and he ends up looking like a fool… Regardless, at least he didn't let her notice that he only made a fool out of himself.

"… I have come to cooperate with you to recover this planet from the hands or paws of the devourers," Ethan said. "To do that, we will need your knowledge. That is why I brought the kid with me, and he was captured by some guys that are more or less working with me."

"You captured him, and you hope that we will work with you?" The woman asked.

"I never said that I captured him," Ethan said. "Besides, does he look like a prisoner to you?"

After hearing that, the woman went quiet. As expected, even though they were confused, they knew that Ethan had more than the necessary power to kill them all, and he only didn't do it because it wasn't his goal.

"If you aren't an enemy, then return our weapons," The woman said. "We can't do anything without them."

"No, can do that," Ethan said. "I will sell them since they are mine now, and it is my compensation since you guys tried to attack me."

After saying that, Cen returned while he was breathing hard. After he recovered a little, he nodded to Ethan. Apparently, his mother and sister were there… even though they didn't respond to his shout. Most likely, they were wounded and were resting since they probably didn't escape unscathed thanks to the grenade.

"Well, at least you guys are decent enough to look after the wounded," Ethan said. "Anyway, how many of the guys are out there?"

"What do you intend to do with that kind of information?" The woman asked.

"What else? I will reunite all of you in a single place and get as much information as possible from all of you. A massive battle is about to start, and we don't need any extra factors roaming around. Speaking of which, what is your name? What do you call yourselves, anyway? It is kind of tiring to refer to you guys as demi-humans, and it also sounds a bit pejorative."

"… My name is Maerys from the Clannian race," Maerys said. "I don't know if what you said is true, but we have no intention of joining your side since many of us died when others came to this planet. Not to mention, the fake hero was also from your planet, and he let many of us to die."

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "You talk as if you guys are not to blame for that," Ethan frowned. "Didn't you wait for him to solve all of your problems? If you guys had been a bit more proactive, perhaps things would have ended in a better way. Still, I can't say anything about the others that came before us, but unfortunately, you guys don't have a choice. For the good or the worse, it would be a pity if your species goes to extinction due to those devourers, so you guys are going to come with me, even if I have to knock down each one of you. After the battle, you can do whatever the hell you want."

Maerys bit her lips in exasperation since she couldn't exactly say no to Ethan's demands. He was strong enough to do whatever he wanted with them, even though he was much younger than any of them. Fortunately, Maerys couldn't feel any ill intentions from him, so she didn't give in yet. Perhaps he was telling the truth, and he would let them go after the fight against the devourers, or at the very least, they will have some chances to escape in the middle of the battle.

"Anyway, how many people do you have here, and how many others of you can we find in other regions?" Ethan asked. "As I mentioned, there are other guys working with me, and they aren't as open-minded as I am. So, we need to find the others and move on before they find our trail."

"We have some wounded and sick people with us," Maerys said. "We can't move that fast, and we won't leave them behind."

"How many?" Ethan asked after he crossed his arms.

"… Eight are sick, and three are wounded," Maerys frowned since learning that wouldn't change anything. After all, Ethan was a warrior. "You will find a similar situation in three other camps."

"Use this, then," Ethan said and then made some potions appear out of nowhere. "It should do the trick. Now move on. We will leave in five minutes."

Ethan wondered why the hell he had to worry about the reputation of others at this point in time… that was why it was a pain to work with others. Still, he had to endure that kind of problem since he wasn't alone on an alien planet anymore, and to prevent some beyond unpleasant situations, he needed to deal with those minor problems.