Steel Conviction

The story takes place in the continent of Issril, where it follows the wandering warrior Bellic. He travels to a town and notices that something is indeed wrong with it. Nobody there looks him in the eye, and when he goes to get a drink the tavern patrons seem to regard him with fear. He learns by talking to the town's mad old outsider, that the town has had a problem with invading bandits, and a wise man said that they could ward them off by making regular sacrifices, the stronger the better. Horrified by this news he bursts right back into the tavern to tell off all the patrons. He rushes into the square and asks for the mayor of the town. When he is brought to him, the mayor is obviously feeling remorseful but claims it is needed. Bellic then has a speech about how many more lives were sacrificed in order to save lives, and what the point of it was. He swears to protect the town if they halt their sacrifices. Over time, the townspeople are trained by Bellic in the way of fighting, and when the bandits come back, they fight and win. However, due to the lack of sacrifices the old man comes back to complain, revealing himself as Galbrezuul the demon. Bellric and him fight and he is slain, his conviction allowing him to uncover the evil and destroy it.

None really.

A lot of the stories for children remove the human sacrifice element and just have them pay the demon in their food, leading to starvation.
A few stories change Bellic from being a wandering fighter to explicity a paladin of Conqost.

The Ballarada is an anthology collection of the adventures of Bellic the warrior, and this story is one of the most famous and longest.