Chapter 1: A Long-Awaited Request

The following day, Saria, Al, and I found ourselves once again lingering over a slightly late lunch at the inn. Sunlight filtered through the wooden shutters, catching the steam rising from our plates and the faint clatter of cutlery. It was a peaceful, unhurried afternoon, the sort that had become a rare luxury lately.

Zora and Lulune weren’t with us; they had gone off with Origa to visit the orphanage again. Apparently, when Saria went there yesterday, she and Origa promised to play together again today. It was nice to see that Origa had finally made friends her own age, and from what I’d heard, Zora had blended in with the children just fine this time. She hadn’t scared them away, which was honestly impressive. As for Lulune… Well, I could only guess how she was being received.

As we ate, Al suddenly lifted her gaze from her plate, as if something had just struck her. “Come to think of it,” she said, brushing a strand of silver hair behind her ear, “I brought this up yesterday too, but… Seiichi, Saria, are you two taking any guild jobs lately?”

“Huh?” I blinked.

“Guild jobs?” Saria tilted her head curiously.

Al let out a small sigh, half amused and half exasperated. “Yeah. Haven’t been able to take on many myself lately. I’ve been busy with a few things… But you two haven’t taken any as far as I can tell.”

Saria tapped a finger to her chin. “Hmm… I did visit Miss Clare’s orphanage yesterday, but that wasn’t really a job or anything like that.”

Now that she mentioned it, I realized I couldn’t recall the last time I’d accepted a proper guild request. Not since that test when we first registered, at least. I’d completely forgotten about that… or maybe I just never cared enough in the first place. To be fair, I hadn’t joined the guild because I wanted to make a career out of it. My goals back then had been simple: gather information on my senior Kannazuki and the others, and get something like an ID card so I could move around without trouble. Taking requests was just an afterthought.

Al gave me an unimpressed look, resting her cheek in one hand. “You and Saria went through all that trouble to pass the test, and even managed to get yourselves regular clients out of it. Now you’re just wasting the opportunity.”

“Ah… ha ha…” I scratched my cheek awkwardly. “You’re right. I’ve got no excuse.”

During the registration exam, Saria had been assigned to help out at the orphanage, taking care of the children, while I’d accepted a simple request from Mrs. Adriana to walk her pet wolf, Milk. Both clients had been so pleased that we were promised regular work with them afterward. But ever since then, life had taken a turn for the hectic: teaching classes at the Academy, dumping Kaizell Empire soldiers into the sea, rescuing Routier’s father… Ordinary guild requests had completely fallen off the radar.

Thinking about it now, I couldn’t help but laugh a little to myself. My life had become absurdly eventful.

Lost in thought, I found my gaze drifting toward the window, the afternoon light hazing at the edges of my vision. Al watched me with a long, weary sigh, brushing her bangs aside with one hand as if she couldn’t decide whether to scold me or just give up entirely.

“Haa… Well, I get that you’ve been busy. And it’s not like guild jobs are mandatory anyway.”

“R-Right! Exactly!” I nodded eagerly, trying to ride the wave of her leniency—

“However!” Her sharp voice cut me off mid-thought. I froze as Al turned toward me with narrowed, half-lidded eyes that could’ve cut glass. “With your level of power, staying at F-rank is basically fraud!”

“H-Huh? Really?”

She slammed her hands against the table, incredulous. “Why are you tilting your head like that?!”

“Well, I mean, the people at the Guild Headquarters have tons of strength too, but most of them are still stuck below C-rank, right?”

Al arched a brow, a dangerous gleam in her eye. “So you’re saying you’re one of those perverts, too?”

“Wha—?!”

Her words struck like lightning. N-No way! If I stay at this rank, they’ll lump me in with those freaks!

“I-I have to raise my rank right now!” I declared, gripping the edge of the table with sudden conviction.

“Well,” Al muttered dryly, “the S-rank crowd’s all weirdos too.”

“Where’s the salvation in that?!”

Apparently, I couldn’t win no matter where I stood. If I aimed too low, I was a fraud; if I aimed too high, I’d be a certified lunatic. What was I supposed to do with that?!

Al let out yet another sigh, her patience clearly thinning. “Just calm down, will you? I’m not saying you’ve gotta shoot straight to S-rank or anything. But at least get yourself out of F-rank.”

“You’re right. I should at least do that.”

Her words made sense. Even if I wasn’t aiming high, there was no reason to stay at the very bottom forever. Deciding to take her advice to heart, I silently added a new goal to my list, something to work toward besides heading to the coast.

Just then, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up, her chair scraping lightly against the floor. “All right, then. We’re going to the guild.”

“Huh?”

“We’re gonna see if there are any requests toward one of the port towns,” she said matter-of-factly, slinging her cloak over one shoulder. “If we’re lucky, there might even be a good escort job.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” I admitted.

“Then it’s settled,” Al said, already heading for the door with brisk steps. “You’ve finished eating, haven’t you? Let’s move!”

“Huh? Ah! Wait, hold on!”

Still halfway through my meal, I saw Al stride out of the inn. I hurriedly shoveled the rest of the rice into my mouth, gulped down my drink, and bolted after her.

※※※

When we arrived at the guild headquarters for the first time in quite a while and were immediately greeted by a booming voice.

“Oh? Well, if it isn’t Seiichi and the others! You don’t show your faces around here very often!”

As energetic as ever, Gustle stood beside the reception counter, gleaming white teeth flashing as he struck yet another exaggerated muscle pose. The man was built like a statue, but honestly, I couldn’t help wondering for what had to be the hundredth time, Does this guy ever actually work?

Before I could say anything, Al stepped forward, one hand resting on her hip. “Gustle, got any requests lately that are toward the coast?”

“The coast?” His brow lifted, muscles flexing even as he tilted his head. “What’s this about?”

“Well, actually…”

Al explained how I’d recently decided I wanted to take a trip to the ocean, just to relax a bit.

When she finished, Gustle’s face shifted from curiosity to something that could only be described as deep, heartfelt concern. “Seiichi, my boy, I didn’t realize you were that mentally worn out. What in the world happened to you?”

“Don’t look at me like that!” I protested, taking an involuntary step back.

His eyes brimmed with pity, the kind you’d offer a wounded comrade. “We adventurers live for freedom,” he declared solemnly, crossing his arms so his biceps bulged impressively. “But if you’ve reached a point where you can’t even choose to rest, then that’s proof you’re being crushed by the weight of it all.”

“Ugh… That’s not—”

He wasn’t exactly wrong about me not taking time off, but he was missing the point. I wasn’t depressed or desperate; I’d just realized I’d never really enjoyed myself since coming to this world. Ever since arriving, it had been one battle after another. Even back on Earth, I could barely remember the last time I’d done anything just for fun.

As Gustle’s melodramatic sympathy echoed through the hall, the nearby adventurers began to look over, their gazes softening as if they were staring at some poor, overworked soul on the verge of collapse.

“Hey, man,” one of them called out, resting a sword on his shoulder, “if you’re that burned out, why not come smash a few things with me? I’ll even let you break the first one!”

“Seiichi, my good man, care to join me in watching over some little girls? It’s deeply therapeutic, you know.”

“What are you saying?! Absolutely not!”

Another adventurer leaned forward, grin stretching far too wide. “No, no. How about stripping down with me instead? Nothing beats the liberating feel of being completely free!”

“Stop trying to drag me into a life of crime!”

Why?! I just said I wanted to take a short break. How did it turn into this?! I swear, if this keeps up, I’m gonna cry!

Being pitied by perverts was an all-time low, even for me. Do I really look that mentally wrecked to them?

And yet, as the chaos swirled around me, a thought struck.

Ah, come to think of it, the idea of “rest” must mean something completely different here than it did back on Earth. Maybe that’s why they’re reacting like this. Honestly, even I’ve started to think like an overworked employee at a toxic company, as if taking time off is some kind of sin.

“Well, jokes aside,” said Gustle, his muscles gleaming as he struck another heroic pose, “there’s something to be said for letting your desires out! Seiichi, my boy, why not bare your soul, indulge a little, and let the city guards handle the consequences?”

“Are you stupid?”

“HA HA HA! A muscle joke!” he boomed.

That’s not a muscle joke; that’s just dangerous encouragement! Should a guild official really be promoting behavior that gets you arrested?!

I shot Gustle a sharp glare, but he didn’t even blink. He just kept posing proudly, muscles rippling in slow motion under the hall’s lantern light.

Al, clearly unimpressed, crossed her arms and exhaled through her nose. “So? Do you actually have any requests or not?”

“Of course!” Gustle switched to a double-biceps pose mid-sentence, his grin never faltering. “As luck would have it, a single escort request just came in. The destination happens to be the Port Town of Sazarn. Exactly what you were hoping for, Altria!”

“Perfect,” Al said, though her tone made it clear she was humoring him more than anything.

Gustle nodded enthusiastically. “The rank requirement hasn’t been officially set yet, but with you there, and Seiichi and Saria as well, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

So, the job was simple enough: escort someone safely to the town of Sazarn. That sounded easy, but one thing did bother me.

“Uh, hey, just checking, but Saria and I are still F-rank. Are we even allowed to take an escort mission like that?”

“Hmm, normally those are intended for D-rank and above,” Gustle admitted, pausing just long enough to flex his pecs for emphasis, “but since Altria’s an A-rank, there shouldn’t be any problem. Besides, I already know how strong you and Saria are.”

“Yeah, I’m just gonna stay quiet on that one.”

For now, I still kept my status disguised, or at least pretended to. But honestly, lately it had started to feel pointless. My body keeps doing ridiculous things that make it impossible to hide. I’ve basically given up.

Yeah, there’s no fooling anyone at this point. I’ve done way too many outrageous things already. It’s far too late to play innocent now!

At first, I’d thought concealing my true abilities might save me from unnecessary trouble. If I don’t stand out, I won’t get dragged into anything, or so I’d reasoned. But after everything that had happened, I’d realized the truth: whether I hid my power or flaunted it, trouble always found me anyway. So really, what was the point?

“Well, in any case,” said Gustle, striking yet another pose, “there’s no problem with you taking the request. Just remember that your official rank is still low, and the client doesn’t know who you are. Because of that, recommending lower-ranked adventurers like you might slightly reduce the commission fee. I hope you understand.”

“That’s fine,” Al replied with a shrug. “Honestly, if we’re heading to the coast anyway, we might as well take a job that adds something to Seiichi’s record.”

“I see!” Gustle flashed a brilliant grin, his teeth gleaming brighter than ever. “Then speak with Eris and get the paperwork done. I’ll contact the client myself, so return to the Guild Headquarters tomorrow for the formal briefing!”

Following Gustle’s instructions, we found Eris at the counter and explained that we’d be taking the escort request to Sazarn. After finishing the paperwork, we left the guild together, stepping back into the warm afternoon light.

Chapter 2: Scarface Trading Company

The next day, we returned to the guild to meet our client, and the first thing I did was look around for Gustle. Normally, he could be found right near the front desk, proudly striking one of his signature muscle poses like some kind of living statue. But today, he was nowhere in sight.

Huh? That’s weird.

As I tilted my head in confusion, a familiar voice suddenly called out from a doorway behind the counter. “Hey! Seiichi! Over here!”

“Oh,” I murmured, surprised.

We’d never been invited past the reception area before, so being led behind the counter felt oddly formal. Curious, we followed Gustle through a short hallway until we stepped into what looked like a reception room. A polished mahogany desk gleamed in the center, flanked by elegant, barely used sofas.

Wait. Do they actually use this room? It’s way too clean. Has anyone even sat here before?

Still wondering, I turned as Gustle entered behind us, beaming as usual. “Glad you made it. Let’s not waste any time. I’ll introduce you to your client. This is Mr. Scar from the Scarface Trading Company.”

Scarface Trading Company? I froze. What kind of dangerously shady name is that?!

Before I could process the thought, a large man stepped out from behind Gustle. His head was shaved smooth, a jagged scar carved across one cheek, and his frame looked like it had been built from bricks and iron.

“Heheheh… Name’s Scar,” the man rumbled, lips curling into a crooked grin. “Good to meet ya.”

Oh, no. Nope. Definitely underworld material. This man screams “illicit business.”

Scar looked us over with a predator’s ease before smirking again. “So you’re the bunch takin’ my job, huh?”

Before I could find my voice, Saria raised her hand brightly. “Yes! That’s right!”

“I heard you’re F-rank,” Scar said, narrowing his eyes. “That’s gonna be a problem, hmm?”

He probably wasn’t trying to sound intimidating, but the sheer weight of his presence made it feel like he was glaring daggers straight through us.

I was still trying to decide how to answer—technically, yes, we were F-rank—when Gustle jumped in, laughter booming through the room.

“HA HA HA! No need to worry about that, Scar! I swear on my muscles, these two are the real deal!”

Scar’s grin widened. “Heh. Can’t imagine a more trustworthy guarantee than that.”

Wait… Really?! Since when did “I swear on my muscles” count as a credible endorsement?! Not even a god’s name, just… muscles?!

Come to think of it, to Gustle, his muscles probably are more important than any god. Still, how does that even make sense?

Al let out a tired sigh, one hand pressed against her temple. “Well… putting our Guildmaster aside, I’m an A-rank adventurer. If anything happens, I can cover for them.”

Scar’s scarred lips curved into a grin. “Heh, that’s good to hear. Makes me feel a lot better.”

“Um,” I ventured cautiously, “if there’s no issue, we’d like to accept your request.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Scar said with a shrug. “Just makin’ sure, is all. I know that musclehead Gustle wouldn’t send me any useless bunch.”

He smiled, though on a face like his, that grin looked more like something out of a nightmare. I-I’m sure he’s a good person. He’s just… intimidating, that’s all.

Relieved that we’d cleared the preliminary check, I let out a quiet breath. But one question still nagged at me.

“Um, if you don’t mind my asking, why did you decide to hire guards? You look strong enough to handle yourself.”

Scar chuckled, resting his huge arms across his chest. “Well, things have been rough lately, y’know? Bandits, wars… World’s gettin’ dangerous. Gotta protect myself somehow.”

I mean, I’m really sorry for thinking this, but sir, you look way more like the kind of guy who’d be robbing people!

Please forgive me! I know that’s just my bias talking, so I’ll keep that one firmly inside my head!

Scar went on, his tone turning a touch more serious. “Sure, everyone at my shop can fight, but given what we deal in, we’re not exactly confident we could defend our goods on our own. Those bandit bastards come at us as if their lives depend on it.”

What on earth are you transporting that bandits would go all out to steal?!

“Uh, pardon me,” I asked hesitantly, “but what exactly do you sell?”

Scar’s grin widened into something that made my blood run cold. “What, this? It’s a little something we call magic powder. Just one lick and you’ll be flying high as the heavens.”

GUAAAAAARDS! SOMEBODY CALL THE GUARDS!

This was bad. Really bad. The look, the tone, the words… Everything screamed illegal substance!

Completely oblivious to my panic, Scar reached into his coat pocket and carefully pulled out a small packet, wrapped with meticulous care, containing a neat pile of pure white powder.

“This here,” Scar said with a proud grin, holding up the small packet between two thick fingers, “is the miraculous powder that brings happiness to all: Heaven Powder.”

“It just keeps sounding worse and worse!”

That name alone screams “illegal substance”! There’s no way this is safe! Are we seriously supposed to escort this guy?!

Heart pounding, I instinctively activated my Advanced Appraisal skill, focusing on the powder in Scar’s hand.

It’s perfectly legal?!

Wait… It’s not only safe, but it’s also healthy?! This is basically the same powder they put on certain rice crackers back on Earth! The kind that’s so good you can’t stop eating! They have that here too?!

While I was still reeling from the revelation, Gustle nodded gravely beside me, as if discussing a matter of world-shaking importance.

“Indeed. That very product is the reason Scar commissions guards every time he travels to another city. Were it not for this powder, he wouldn’t need escorts at all. After all, Scar himself possesses combat power equivalent to at least A-rank, and most of his employees are B-rank or higher.”

What kind of trading company is this?! A business run entirely by adventurer-tier warriors?!

As I stood there, dumbfounded by the Scarface Trading Company’s absurd strength, Scar added with an almost casual tone, “By the way, just for reference, one country actually collapsed once over this powder’s popularity.”

“Then it should be banned immediately!” I shouted.

Legal or not, that’s way too dangerous!

Scar chuckled, clearly enjoying the dramatic effect. “If this powder were to disappear from the market, riots would break out across the world. Civilization itself might crumble, y’know?”

“That’s how popular it is?!”

Isn’t this powder actually more dangerous than the Demon God? I mean, we’re talking about a single seasoning that could plunge the entire world into crisis! How does that even make sense?!

Scar chuckled, holding up the packet as if it were a holy relic. “See, if you take just one lick of this stuff, any bad feelings you’ve got? Poof, gone. With this powder, all of humanity can live in happiness.”

The more he talks, the more illegal it sounds!

Wait. Hold on a second.

The Demon God revives and grows stronger through negative emotions, right? But if everyone’s blissed out from this powder, that means there’d be no negative emotions left to feed on…

Why is there a perfect cosmic balance between a spice and a god of destruction?! They’re on opposite sides of the divine food pyramid!

Scar’s grin faded into something more thoughtful. “Still, this powder’s got one fatal weakness.”

“Huh?” I blinked.

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s a seasoning.”

Right. Incredibly, impossibly, this miracle drug-looking substance was a hundred percent legal, a seasoning with no narcotics whatsoever. How is that even possible?

“But here’s the catch,” Scar went on with a sigh. “It’s so damn tasty on its own, no dish can balance it out.”

“That means it’s failed as a seasoning, doesn’t it?”

So basically, it’s just a dangerously addictive powder now. Great.

And honestly, I’d seen something like this before in that one gourmet hunter manga from back on Earth. Who knew that if it existed in real life, it’d be this terrifyingly unhinged?!

Scar, oblivious to my internal panic, continued proudly, “Lately, though, people have discovered that dishes like fried chicken and tempura—recipes spread by those so-called heroes from another world—pair perfectly with this powder. Also, there’s this thing they make from rice, fried or baked into crunchy little bites… Rice crackers, I think? It goes great with those, too.”

That’s just Japanese happy powder snacks! What are these heroes teaching people?!

Still, he wasn’t wrong; just hearing him say “fried chicken” and “tempura” made my stomach growl. I don’t know if this stuff tastes the same, but if it does… Yeah, I can see the appeal.

Scar folded his arms, his tone turning businesslike. “Anyway, the port town we’re heading to has a new craze for fried fish. That’s where our Heaven Powder comes in. We’ve sold it there before, sure, but once people learned it pairs well with tempura and fried dishes, the demand exploded.”

“I-I see…”

The more he explained, the more legitimate it actually sounded… and that alone was shocking.

No, I’m the weird one here. It’s legal. Completely legal. The only thing insane about it is the effect, but I still can’t accept this! There’s no universe where this makes sense!

As I groaned and buried my face in my hands, someone who had been quiet until now suddenly spoke up. Lulune straightened, her expression sharp and confident.

“Hmph. I’ll volunteer to taste this seasoning for you.”

“Glutton,” Zora muttered, eyes narrowing. “Drool. Lots of drool.”

“T-Truly impressive… Like a waterfall,” Saria whispered.

Lulune’s stance was majestic, but as Zora had pointed out, a literal stream of drool was cascading from her mouth. Ugh, that’s disgusting! Wipe it off already!

And no way was I letting her taste that stuff. Who knew what would happen if she did? Knowing her, she might just snatch the entire bag from Scar by force.

Trying to steer the conversation away before that could happen, I hurriedly cut in. “S-So! When do we depart?”

We were ready to leave at any moment. With the provisions and supplies stored in my item box, the trip would be manageable. If anything ran out, we could simply teleport back to Terbelle, restock, and then return.

Scar rubbed his chin. “If possible, I’d like to leave right away. That work for you?”

“Of course! Is it urgent?” I asked.

“Yeah… it’s been a while since the last batch of Heaven Powder reached Sazarn. By now, the townsfolk might be fightin’ each other for it…”

“Then it definitely needs to be banned!”

Fighting to the death over a seasoning? That’s not supply trouble; that’s a civilization-ending crisis!

“That’s why,” Scar went on, “I’d like to get moving immediately. You in?”

“Yeah, understood! Let’s head out right away.”

One thing was certain: a condiment that could start riots wasn’t something you delivered late. I wanted to believe Scar was exaggerating, but the deadly seriousness in his expression made it impossible to ask.

And so, after finishing our introductions and confirming the plan, we departed straight for the Port Town of Sazarn.

Please, let it be blue waves waiting for us… not a sea of blood.

Chapter 3: The Port Town of Southern

“Gimme that—!”

“No, it’s miiineee!”

“Heeheehee! It’s so goood! So gooooood!”

“Huh?! It’s already gone?! M-More! Give me more—!”

After about a week on the road, we finally arrived at the coastal town of Sazarn, which lay along the shores of the Winburg Kingdom. What spread out before us, though, was nothing like the salty breeze, fresh seafood, or glittering sea I had imagined. The whole place had devolved into a battle royale. Men and women, old and young alike, had bloodshot eyes and fierce, desperate looks, clawing and shoving at each other for the stash of Heaven Powder that had just been brought in.

We stood there, stunned, while Scar, the head of the Scarface Trading Company, who’d hired us, barked orders to his crew as if this were all perfectly normal. “Tch… they really went berserk, didn’t they? Hey, you lot! Stop those rioters by force if you have to! And sell what we brought. Sell it all!”

“Aye!” his men answered.

Just as Gustle had warned, Scar’s entourage consisted entirely of burly men whose very presence suggested they did more than legitimate trade. They looked like people who’d be just as comfortable wielding a ledger as a cudgel, intimidating in a way that made you wonder what business they operated when they weren’t selling seasonings. Still, the upside was clear: we weren’t ambushed by bandits on the road. If bandits had attacked, they’d supposedly try to steal the powder with their lives on the line, and watching the scene unfolding in front of us, I was starting to believe Scar wasn’t exaggerating.

Once he finished barking instructions, Scar turned back to us. “All right, then. You’ve done me a solid this time. Here, this is for you.” He handed over a document proving the job had been completed, and, to my absolute horror, a packet of Heaven Powder itself, the very stuff that had just triggered the chaos.

“W-What?! N-No, I’m fine, really!” I sputtered, about to hand it back.

“Nah, I’m off. I’m taking the men and going to shut those idiots up,” Scar said with a grin, and without another word, he charged into the mob, fists flying.

“W-Wait, what am I supposed to do with this…?” I muttered, clutching the packet as it might explode.

Then one person, wide-eyed and eager, stepped closer. “M-Master? If you don’t want it, I-I’ll eat it!” she blurted out.

“No way in hell am I handing it to you,” I snapped, horror at the idea already written across my face.

“Gaaah?!” she cried, crestfallen.

This is a nightmare. We came to escort a shipment, not become custodians for a substance that can reduce people to rabid madness. I could feel heat rising in my chest, a mix of dread and exasperation. If that stuff gets into the wrong hands, it’ll be a bloodbath. I don’t want any part of that… yet somehow here I am, holding the cause of it.

We had to keep our heads. With the town in free-for-all mode and Scar already deep in it, there was no time to overthink. We’d accepted the job and would see it through. Just please, let the sea be blue, not stained red.

There was no way—absolutely no way—I was giving that thing to Lulune. The townspeople were already tearing each other apart in front of us; if I handed her the Heaven Powder, I could practically see the future where she flattened the entire town just to keep it all for herself.

I quickly tossed the packet into my Item Box for safekeeping, then looked back toward the chaos raging through Sazarn.

“Are we really supposed to just walk in like this?” I asked uncertainly.

Al glanced toward the main street, arms crossed. “Who knows? Doesn’t look like there’s much of a checkpoint situation going on, that’s for sure.”

She didn’t even sound surprised, just exasperated. Wait, is this normal? Is this what “everyday life” looks like here?

Still, standing around doing nothing wasn’t going to help. So we pushed forward and entered the city.

Once inside, Sazarn revealed a different kind of energy from that of Terbelle or the Academy City. As expected of a port town, the streets were lined with seafood stalls, their tables stacked with fish, shellfish, and squid.

Or at least, that’s how it should’ve been. Right now, the shopkeepers were all too busy wrestling each other over Heaven Powder to sell anything.

“Guess that means grabbing a bite’s out of the question for now,” I muttered.

“Yeah,” Saria sighed. “There’s no one left minding the stalls.”

“Gaaah?!” Lulune’s wail echoed through the street like a death knell.

After losing out on the Heaven Powder, she had probably been looking forward to trying the local food the most. Seeing her frozen in shock again was almost pitiful. Almost.

Meanwhile, Scar and his men were somewhere in the distance, trying to break up the brawls—or maybe not so much break up as beat down, since I distinctly remembered him shouting something about “stop them by force.” That really doesn’t sound like a legitimate business practice, does it?

Still, the goods had been delivered, and once things calmed down, this madness would surely subside. Hopefully.

“For now,” I said, “let’s report the completion of the job.”

Ideally, we’d have asked a local for directions to Sazarn’s adventurers’ guild, but seeing as every sane person was currently mid-riot, that was clearly not an option.

Even Al, who was usually the reliable one, admitted she’d never been to this town before and had no clue where the guild was located.

“Ah! Over there! Could that be it?” Saria pointed down the street.

After wandering the streets for a while, Saria suddenly pointed toward a building up ahead.

Following her gaze, I spotted a familiar sign: a sword and shield emblem identical to the one displayed at the Guild Headquarters in Terbelle.

“Oh, so they use the same design here, too,” I remarked.

“Yeah,” Al replied dryly, “though the people inside are probably a lot different.”

“Huh?”

Her cryptic tone made me tilt my head, but before I could ask what she meant, we stepped inside.

Structurally, the place wasn’t much different from the main guild—same open hall, same adjoining tavern—but one glaring difference hit me the moment I looked around.

“T-There aren’t any perverts?!”

Everywhere I looked, people were behaving normally. Adventurers browsed the job board, checked contracts, or shared a drink and a laugh at the bar. The air was calm and relaxed… a peacefulness utterly alien to the chaos of the main branch.

“Al! Are we sure this is actually a guild? We didn’t accidentally walk into a city hall, did we?!”

“You’ve been corrupted,” she deadpanned.

“Wha—?!”

Her words struck me like lightning, and realization dawned.

She’s right! This is what a normal guild looks like! The one in Terbelle is the weird one! Oh no… they’ve already warped my sense of normal without me even realizing it!

“Wait,” I muttered, slumping slightly. “I guess my sense of normal was never normal to begin with…”

“What are you even talking about?” Al shot back, exasperated.

I couldn’t blame her for the look. Lately, “normal” seemed like something that kept slipping further and further away from me.

We made our way toward the reception counter, where a woman with sun-kissed skin greeted us with a bright, professional smile. Her outfit resembled the one Eris wore back at the headquarters, though it had clearly been adapted to fit Sazarn’s hot, coastal climate. The fabric was light and breezy, leaving more skin exposed. It was practical, if slightly distracting.

The temperature here wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely warm enough to make heavy clothing uncomfortable. Thanks to my equipment, I didn’t feel the heat much, but Al had started to glisten with sweat by the time we reached the guild branch.

“Welcome to the Sazarn Branch! Are you here to place a request or to register as new members?”

“Oh, no. We’re here to report the completion of a request.”

“I see! Then may I please see your documents and guild cards?”

I handed over the paperwork Scar had given us, along with our guild cards. The receptionist glanced down to verify them, and for a split second, her eyes widened in surprise.

“Ah, so you’re the ones who took Scar’s commission. You must’ve been shocked by the state of the town, coming here from elsewhere.”

“Yeah… that’s one way to put it.”

She chuckled lightly. “Well, it happens about once every few months, but things always settle down in time, so please don’t worry.”

Once every few months?! That riot-level free-for-all happens several times a year?!

I was dumbfounded by how casually she dropped that terrifying bit of information. Yet judging by the calm atmosphere in the guild, everyone here treated it like some kind of local festival, one that was as violent as it was cheerful. A festival of madness. Great.

After finishing the necessary checks, the receptionist smiled brightly. “All right, I’ve confirmed completion of the request. Congratulations! With this commission, Miss Saria, Mr. Seiichi, and Miss Zora have all been promoted from F-rank to E-rank!”

“Ohh.”

“Whaaat?!”

“Huh?”

We all reacted differently: Saria with pleasant surprise, Zora with her eyes gone completely blank, and me in disbelief.

A rank-up? I hadn’t even thought about that possibility. Had we really done enough jobs to qualify?

If I remembered correctly, advancing from F to E required completing either ten F-rank requests or five E-rank requests. I hadn’t exactly been diligent about taking jobs. Saria, though, had been helping at the orphanage pretty regularly. If those tasks were registered as official requests, it made sense that she’d rank up.

But me? I can’t recall doing nearly that much. And Zora just registered not that long ago… How did she move up too?

It must’ve shown on my face, because the receptionist smiled knowingly and offered an explanation.

“As for this rank-up,” she began, “Saria-sama had already accumulated several completed tasks from her volunteer work at the orphanage. However, the escort request you just completed was officially classified as a D-rank request, so fulfilling it alone qualified all of you for promotion.”

“Ah, I see…”

Right. Gustle-san had mentioned that escort missions were typically treated as D-rank and above. So, by completing one request two ranks higher than ours, we’d jumped straight up.

“In short,” the receptionist continued, “the rank increases for Seiichi-sama, Saria-sama, and Zora-sama are all formally approved and fully valid. Please rest assured.”

“Thank you very much,” I said, bowing my head.

“And here are your updated guild cards.”

She handed over our new cards, and sure enough, the letters “E-Rank” gleamed proudly on the surface.

I hadn’t exactly been diligent about taking requests since joining the guild, so this felt long overdue. It took me this long just to reach E-rank? My body evolves faster than my career does.

“You did it, Seiichi!” Saria said cheerfully.

“Y-Yeah,” I replied with a sheepish smile.

“I never imagined I’d rank up this quickly,” Zora murmured, staring at her card as if it might disappear.

Come to think of it, I realized, I joined way before Zora, and now we’re at the same rank… That’s kind of embarrassing. Maybe I should start taking more jobs. Though, technically, this is supposed to be a vacation.

“Oh, right,” I said suddenly. “What about Lulune and Origa-chan? Shouldn’t they register too?”

I’d never really thought about it before, but both of them were ridiculously strong. Origa might still be young, but she’d already gone through more life experience than most adults and knew plenty about adventuring.

Lulune, meanwhile, had combat power on a level that defied reason, but also a mountain of… other issues that made her hard to manage.

Lulune placed a hand over her chest proudly. “I am Master’s knight! I won’t accept any request that doesn’t serve you, Seiichi-sama!”

“Oh, right. That was your… setting, wasn’t it?” I said, teasing her lightly.

“Setting?! It’s not a setting!” she cried, puffing her cheeks indignantly.

Well, I couldn’t help it. The only impression I have of her is eating. And for someone who calls herself my knight, Lulune’s so-called loyalty always seems to come second to her stomach.

“I don’t plan to register either,” Origa said softly. “Just being with Seiichi-oniichan and everyone is enough for me.”

“I see.”

I reached out and gently patted her head. Origa’s eyes softened, and a small, content smile bloomed on her face.

Once we’d finished all the paperwork, I decided to ask about a place to stay while we were in town. “Um, this is our first time in Sazarn. Could you recommend a good inn?”

“In that case,” the receptionist said with a bright smile, “I’d suggest the Black-tailed Gull Inn! It’s one of the finest establishments in town.”

After she kindly gave us directions, we thanked her and left the Sazarn Guild branch behind.

※※※

“So this is the Black-tailed Gull Inn, huh…”

“It’s huge!” Saria exclaimed, eyes sparkling as she took in the view.

The building before us was every bit as grand as the receptionist had promised, something that looked straight out of an Earth seaside resort. Built right along the coast, it promised a stunning ocean view from the balconies above.

By the time we left the guild, the town had mostly calmed down. Here and there, merchants had reopened their stalls, tentatively resuming business.

Still, that powder is seriously dangerous. Anything that can freeze an entire city’s economy, even for a short time, is way beyond “spice” level.

When we stepped through the doors, we were greeted by a bright, open lobby. Sunlight streamed through a high atrium onto tropical plants, a small fountain, and elegant wicker tables and chairs. The breezy atmosphere instantly brought to mind an Earth resort hotel, something I’d never actually visited before.

It’s almost surreal. I’ve been through battles, dungeons, even otherworldly wars, but never a place this fancy.

“Welcome!” a cheerful voice called from the front desk.

As I took in the breezy, sunlit interior, one of the staff members approached us with a friendly smile. His skin was tanned from the seaside sun, and his outfit, short sleeves and shorts, matched the inn’s relaxed, summery atmosphere.

“Um, we’d like to stay for the night,” I said. “Do you have any rooms available?”

“Yes, of course! This season is a bit slower for tourism, so we still have plenty of vacancies.”

I’ll bet! Who’d come here to sightsee after witnessing the townspeople go full riot mode over a seasoning?!

“And what sort of room would you prefer? At the moment, our finest suite is still available…”

“How much would that be?” I asked.

“It’s two gold coins per person per night. But I can assure you, the quality matches the price.”

Two gold coins, huh?

That definitely caught my interest. After all, the main reason we’d come to this town was to rest and recover. If we’re here to relax, we might as well do it properly.

Besides, I hardly ever spent money anyway, and after defeating so many monsters lately, I had more than enough gold sitting idle.

“With your group size, I can prepare two triple rooms for you,” the clerk continued.

“That’s fine,” I said. “We’ll take them.”

“Very good, sir!”

There was a time when I might have worried about sleeping arrangements, but after everything we’d been through, I’d gotten completely used to sharing a room with Saria. Not that anything improper ever happens. We’re perfectly wholesome travel companions, thank you very much.

I handed over twelve gold coins to cover everyone’s stay, and the clerk exchanged them for two elegant brass keys.

“Your rooms will be on the top floor. Numbers 601 and 602,” he said. “Meals are included with your stay, and you’re welcome to dine in our restaurant at any time.”

At the mention of meals, Lulune’s eyes practically sparkled as she perked up, but before anyone could make a beeline for the dining hall, we decided to head up to our rooms first.

Chapter 4: A Scene at the Restaurant

“Waaah! It’s so big!”

“Yeah… no kidding.”

The moment we stepped into the room we’d been shown to, we all stopped in awe.

Being the inn’s most expensive suite, it was spacious enough to fit three large beds side by side and still have room to spare. Even to an untrained eye, the polished floors, carved furniture, and elegant drapery all screamed luxury. Every piece looked as if it had been crafted from top-quality materials.

But the true highlight wasn’t the room itself; it was the breathtaking view from the balcony. Beyond the wide glass doors stretched the endless ocean, sparkling under the afternoon sun. And sitting right there on the balcony was a gleaming, bubbling jacuzzi.

Apparently, the jacuzzi was a rare magic tool reserved exclusively for the suite, and one that cost an absurd amount of money. Honestly, the range of magic tools in this world is insane. There’s no electricity, no modern science, but they’ve practically recreated everything with magic anyway.

Sure, there weren’t things like televisions or the internet. No world-spanning magic network or anything. Still, it was far more advanced than I ever expected.

As I took in the room, Saria spotted the jacuzzi too, her eyes lighting up with pure wonder.

“Wow! There’s a bath inside the room! Seiichi, let’s get in together!”

“W-W-What?! T-Together?!”

“Wha—?!”

Al and I both froze at Saria’s completely unfiltered suggestion.

Saria tilted her head in confusion. “Why are you so surprised?”

“W-Why?! Because that’s not normal! It’s… It’s improper!”

“Why? I’m your wife, Seiichi.”

“W-W-Wife?!”

My brain stopped working altogether.

She said it. She actually said it. I mean… she is my wife, but… wait, is that really okay?!

Before my thoughts could fully reboot, Al suddenly flushed bright red and shouted, “T-That may be true, but I’m here too, you know?!”

“Huh? Then Al can join us too,” Saria said, perfectly innocent.

“H-Huh?!”

Sariaaa?!

This time it was Al’s turn to freeze, her face burning crimson as she stammered incoherently.

“M-Me?! T-Together?!”

“Uh-huh,” Saria nodded brightly, as if suggesting something as ordinary as sharing tea.

“M-Me… with Seiichi…?”

Al’s face grew redder by the second, until, at last, it seemed her brain simply gave up trying to process what she’d just imagined. Thin wisps of smoke practically puffed from her head.

“Al, snap out of it! If you lose it, who’s going to be the voice of reason?!”

“Me… and Seiichi… naked…”

“Allllllllllll!”

It was no use. She was gone. Al had left the realm of reason.

Sure, from a purely male perspective, bathing with Saria and the others would be a situation straight out of heaven. But no! I wanted something a little more wholesome than that.

Besides, I haven’t even met Al’s parents yet! There’s an order to these things!

As I shook her by the shoulders in a desperate attempt to bring her back to reality, the one responsible for the verbal explosion, Saria, was standing out on the balcony, gazing at the sea in awe.

“Still… it’s amazing,” she murmured. “So this is the ocean…”

Her voice was soft, filled with genuine wonder.

Al, finally regaining her senses, followed Saria’s gaze toward the horizon. “Y-Yeah… it really is something. Can’t believe there’s such a huge… uh, puddle out there.”

“A puddle…?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she phrased it, but Saria nodded with bright-eyed agreement.

“It really is a huge puddle! I’ve seen lakes and rivers before, but I didn’t know there was something this vast in the world…”

Watching Saria’s pure awe as she took in her first sight of the sea, I felt a quiet warmth stir inside me. I’m glad we left that forest together. If I can keep showing her new places like this… then that’s enough for me.

For a while, we simply stood there, enjoying the salty breeze and the glimmering waves, letting the calm settle over us.

Eventually, Lulune and the others came by to visit our room. And before long, our peaceful moment turned into a cheerful march toward the inn’s restaurant.

※※※

“…”

We all stood frozen, staring in disbelief.

The restaurant connected to the Black-tailed Gull Inn was quiet, except for the steady clatter of plates stacking up in front of a single, calm diner.

“Hm… not bad. A fine flavor… Ooh, this one’s excellent as well… Oh, I do like this seasoning. But hey, why is the portion so small?”

Legs crossed like a noble and an air of refinement on her face, Lulune spoke like some self-important food critic as she surveyed the mountain of empty dishes before her.

The waitstaff, carrying yet another tray of steaming meals, simply stood there in stunned silence.

Of course, the moment we arrived, Lulune insisted she was starving to death. So, naturally, we’d ordered nearly everything on the menu. The result was now… this.

Staying in the inn’s best suite meant we could’ve ordered room service if we wanted, but that would’ve taken too long, and when Lulune got hungry, “waiting” was never an option. So here we were, trying to contain the disaster in a public restaurant instead.

“What are you standing around for?” Lulune said imperiously. “Hurry and bring me another round.”

“Y-Y-Yes, right away!” the poor waiter stammered, scurrying off.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I finally snapped out of my stupor and threw up my hands. “I know you were hungry, but this is insane! How are the plates empty the instant they’re served?!”

“But of course,” Lulune replied serenely, “it’s because I’m eating them.”

She tilted her head slightly, as if wondering why I’d even asked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

This wasn’t humanly possible. Every time a dish arrived, it vanished before anyone could even tell what it was.

And the strangest part? Lulune wasn’t even chewing. She just sat there, back straight, perfectly calm, chatting away as if she weren’t somehow consuming entire entrees in the span of a blink.

If she were actually eating, she’d at least sound like it. Even the fastest eater in the world couldn’t down food at this rate.

“That’s not eating. That’s a magic trick!” I shouted. “You’re talking normally! You’re not even moving your mouth!”

“Oh? But that’s because I’m eating with my body,” she said matter-of-factly.

“What are you even talking about?!” I shouted. “You eat with your body? Food goes in your mouth! That’s how eating works!” The absurdity didn’t end there. “And you’ve been the only one eating this whole time! At least leave some for the rest of us!”

“Seconds!” Lulune declared without hesitation.

“LISTEN TO ME, NOT THE FOOD!” I snapped. The poor waiter’s face was pulled so tight he looked like he might shatter. Our room package technically included a meal for each person, but Lulune’s appetite had blown straight past the limit. We weren’t hurting for money, but still, she could learn a bit of restraint.

“And stop treating this like some kind of conveyor-belt sushi place!” I said. “This is a high-class restaurant… or it should be, but thanks to you, we can’t even tell what the dishes look like!”

Given the inn’s quality, the food here had to be exceptional, but Lulune was eating so fast we hadn’t seen anything except empty plates. As yet another dish vanished instantly from the waiter’s tray, she finally reacted to something I said.

“What is… conveyor-belt sushi?” she asked.

“Can you stop responding only to the food words?!” I groaned. If she ever went to Earth, she’d probably devour the entire restaurant before the sushi even reached the next table. Sure, she’d been disappointed earlier when the town’s restaurants were all closed because of the Heaven Powder chaos, and I understood her excitement now, but we wanted to eat too. We had come all this way to enjoy seafood.

“Waaah… Lulune-chan, you eat so much…” Saria murmured.

“Is she gonna leave anything for us?” Al asked, voice strained.

“I-I’m not sure… Hopefully…?” Zora replied quietly.

None of them seemed to know what to say anymore, and honestly, neither did I. This is beyond anything I can handle. But as I held my head in my hands, trying to figure out what to do, Origa suddenly began to cry.

“Origa-chan?! What’s wrong?!” I rushed over as she began to sob.

“I’m sorry, Seiichi-oniichan,” she sniffled. “The glutton… she isn’t a living creature anymore…”

“Not a living creature?!”

Then what exactly is sitting at our table right now?! She used to be a donkey, remember?!

“The glutton… has become the universe…”

I had no idea what that meant. None. How could a donkey job-change into the cosmos? The only conclusion I could reach was that giving Lulune human food in the first place was the original sin. Nothing else explained this.

“At this point, I don’t even care. Just leave something for us to eat too!” I yelled.

Somehow, while reining in Lulune’s rampage, we finally managed to begin our meal. Or rather, it was the first time we actually got to see food on a plate instead of a stack of empties. Before us were translucent slices of sashimi, tender simmered fish, and an array of seafood dishes so beautiful they looked like artwork.

To think all this gorgeous food was being erased before it even reached our eyes. Scary doesn’t begin to cover it.

Everything looked incredible, but one dish in particular gave me pause: a single plate of perfectly fried white fish.

“Um, excuse me,” I asked the waiter nervously, “this fried fish… Does it have Heaven Powder in it?”

After what Scar-san had told us, Heaven Powder paired extremely well with fried foods, so it wasn’t impossible that the restaurant used it. Still, I needed to know before taking a bite.

The waiter shook his head reassuringly. “No, please don’t worry. We do not use Heaven Powder in any of our dishes. In fact, I don’t believe any restaurant in town uses it.”

“Really?”

“Well, Heaven Powder has such a powerful flavor that it overwhelms every other seasoning. From a chef’s perspective, it wouldn’t be ideal. But of course, restaurants don’t forbid customers from using it themselves. If someone wants to add Heaven Powder, they’re expected to bring their own. Most chefs keep some at home as well, so it’s not as if anyone dislikes the powder itself.”

“I see…” I murmured. The downsides of Heaven Powder were astonishing. The flavor might be good, but it caused nothing but misery for chefs. For someone like me who wanted to experience this town’s cuisine properly, though, their refusal to use it was a blessing. Saria and the others seemed relieved as well, and only Lulune looked disappointed.

Absolutely not. She’s already become “the universe.” Whatever that means. If she ate Heaven Powder on top of that, what would she turn into next? A god?

“Mmm! This fish is delicious!” Saria said happily.

“Yeah. It’s my first time eating raw fish, but… this is really good,” Al admitted.

“Mm… This black sauce? It goes well with it,” Zora observed.

“I-I like this soup!” Origa said with a tiny smile.

Everyone quickly found a favorite dish. Saria loved the simmered fish, Al preferred the sashimi, Origa enjoyed the fried pieces, and Zora had taken a liking to the clear broth. Terbelle had fish dishes as well, but you couldn’t serve sashimi unless the fish were extremely fresh. It had been a long time since I’d eaten raw fish myself.

Just to be safe, I activated Advanced Appraisal before eating to check for parasites, but everything came up clean. Maybe this world doesn’t have as many parasites as Earth…?

Every dish was delicious in its own way, making it hard to choose a favorite, but in the end, I had to agree with Al: the sashimi was incredible. That was partly because I hadn’t eaten it in so long, but the soy sauce and wasabi made a huge difference too.

Interestingly, neither soy sauce nor wasabi had anything to do with Earth; apparently, they’d been introduced long ago by a nation in the East and had become staples here in Sazarn. Now that I think about it, there’s a country that resembles Japan. I really should visit someday.

Lost in those thoughts, I finished my meal just as the waiter returned to clear the plates.

“How was your meal?” the waiter asked with a polite smile.

“Oh, it was very delicious!” I replied.

“I’m glad to hear that! Given the current political climate, we don’t get many visitors from outside lately…”

That made sense. With the Kaizell Empire starting a war, tourists from other countries probably wouldn’t be flocking here anytime soon.

“So we’re relieved to hear you enjoyed the food. May I ask, are you all visiting this town for sightseeing?”

“Yes. We’re registered as adventurers, and we did come here on a request, but sightseeing is our main goal.”

“I see,” the waiter said, nodding in understanding. That reminded me of something I wanted to ask.

“By the way, are there any recommended places to visit around here? For now, we only planned to enjoy the ocean, but if there’s any specific place that’s good for swimming, we’d love to know.”

The waiter brightened immediately.

“Oh, you’re here for a swim! In that case, I recommend Heaven’s Beach! It’s the largest one in town, and it’s very close to this inn.”

“Ooh, the name makes it sound beautiful. Is there any special reason it’s called that?”

“Yes! Because the sand looks just like Heaven Powder, so that’s what they named it!”

“Can we PLEASE separate this town from that powder?!”

This town is dangerous. No, that powder is dangerous!

“Of course, the ocean is wonderful,” the waiter continued, “but personally, I also recommend the lake located in the western forest.”

“There’s a lake too?” I asked.

“Yes! This place is well-known as a port town, so we’re famous for seafood. But there’s a forest nearby, and you can enjoy ingredients from the mountains as well.”

Wow, so you can enjoy both the sea and the mountains from just this one place.

“And within that forest is a lake where you can fish. If you bring back whatever you catch, we can prepare it here as a meal for you.”

“Let’s go to the lake, Master!” Lulune said immediately.

“You’re only saying that because you’re thinking about the food,” I sighed. A donkey caught by the promise of fish. Why am I not surprised?

Still, it was interesting to learn that we could enjoy not only seafood here but also freshwater fish from rivers and lakes. Everything in the restaurant had been ocean-based, so I couldn’t help being curious about what lake fish tasted like. On Earth, rivers and lakes were often polluted, but in this world, the air and water were clean and free of chemicals.

Though freshwater fish on Earth were known for parasites, so maybe they’d serve it cooked… I wonder how things work in this world. When I appraised the sashimi earlier, I hadn’t detected anything dangerous. Maybe parasites are rare here altogether.

Caught between possibilities, I asked the others what they wanted to do. “What do you think? The ocean sounds fun, but fishing at the lake could be really nice too.”

“I’m fine with fishing!” Saria replied. “I’ve never tried it before!”

“Yeah, I’m curious too,” Al agreed. “And it’s not like we have to do everything in one day.”

“Mm. We’re on vacation. We can play in the ocean tomorrow,” Zora added calmly.

“I’ve seen lakes inside dungeons before,” Origa said, “but I’ve never been fishing. I’d love to try!”

Seemed like everyone was on board, so today’s plan was set: we’d go fishing. As Al and Origa said, there was no need to rush. We could save the ocean for tomorrow.

“There is a chance you may encounter monsters or wild beasts in the forest,” the waiter cautioned, “but since all of you are adventurers, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“That’s true. Thank you for the information! We’ll head out to try fishing right away.”

“Not at all. And if you need fishing rods, there’s a shop selling gear just to the right as you exit the inn. Please stop by there. I look forward to seeing what kind of fish you catch!”

From the way he said that, I couldn’t help but think the waiter’s real goal was to get his hands on the lake’s fish. The thought made me chuckle as I thanked him again.

With that, the five of us headed to the fishing shop he’d mentioned and set off toward the lake.

Chapter 5: Fish

After the restaurant waiter recommended we try fishing at the lake, we stopped by the fishing shop, each of us picking out a rod we liked, and then made our way to our destination. The lake wasn’t anywhere near the size of Lake Biwa back on Earth; it was modest, the kind you could see across with ease. Still, unlike the lakes on Earth, there wasn’t a single piece of trash floating on the surface. It looked clean and well-kept.

The water wasn’t crystal clear, but that made sense. I’d heard somewhere that perfectly clear water actually meant a lack of nutrients. So maybe this slightly cloudy water is healthier? I don’t really know, though. In any case, the waiter had warned us that monsters might appear on the way, but we’d been lucky enough not to encounter a single one. Maybe, since this lake counted as a tourist spot, local adventurers regularly patrolled the area to keep it safe.

Still…

“There’s seriously no one here,” I muttered.

“Sure is empty,” Saria agreed.

I’d expected at least a few locals, even if there weren’t any tourists, but the lakeside was completely deserted except for us.

“I figured we’d see at least some people from Sazarn,” I said.

“That was never gonna happen,” Al replied. “The folks in town were practically dying for the Heaven Powder we brought, remember?”

“Right.”

Hearing her say it made everything fall into place. Normally, this spot probably drew plenty of visitors, but at this time of year, people were either desperately chasing Heaven Powder or busy with their regular jobs.

“Oh! What’s that?” Zora suddenly asked.

“Hm?” I followed her gaze.

She was pointing at something floating on the water. “That. What is it?”

“Oh, that? That’s a boat.”

“It’s sitting on top of the lake, but what is it used for?”

“You ride on it,” I explained. “Then you use oars—long paddles—to row and move across the water.”

“Amazing. Turns out there are vehicles like that too,” she breathed.

For Zora, who had lived her whole life inside a dungeon, every little thing on the surface was fresh and fascinating. Her eyes sparkled the same way the sunlight shimmered across the lake’s surface.

“Still, they’re renting out boats, too? And they’re just left here unattended…” I murmured, taking another look at the small vessel drifting near the shore.

Looking more closely, I noticed a small sign and what looked like a payment box set up beside the docked boats. Apparently, anyone who wanted to use a boat was supposed to drop their fee into that box. On Earth, you’d see unmanned vegetable stands or offertory boxes at shrines, but I never expected to find something similar in another world.

Especially in a world like this, where the crime rate was far worse than anything on Earth. There were thieves, bandits, and monsters everywhere. Normally, the idea of an unmanned payment system would be unthinkable.

But I guess it works here…

“It probably only works because this place is special,” Al said. “Same as the royal capital.”

She had a point. Security was clearly a priority in this town. As I admired the unexpected honesty of the system, Lulune, who had been getting increasingly restless, finally tugged insistently at the hem of my shirt.

“Um, Master…” she said softly.

“Hm? What is it?” I turned toward her.

With teary eyes and an expression full of pitiful desperation, she looked up at me. “I… I want to hurry and catch a fish so I can eat it…”

“You just ate lunch!” I yelped.

It hadn’t even been an hour since our meal at the restaurant, yet she said that with a straight face. What kind of stomach does she have?!

While I stared at her in shock and exhaustion, Origa quietly added, “I don’t agree with the glutton, but I want to go fishing too.”

“Yeah, we didn’t come here just to chat,” Al said. “Come on. Let’s get started.”

“You’re right,” I replied.

With that little push, we all began preparing our gear. The fishing shop had carried everything from simple rods made of plain wood with a string and hook attached, to incomprehensibly advanced rods with assist functions that I couldn’t even begin to understand. Apparently, that assist feature came from magic-tool technology, and the price reflected it: five gold coins for a single rod. That was enough to spend a night in the suite we were staying in.

I hadn’t wanted one of those cutting-edge magic-assisted rods anyway. All I cared about was relaxing and enjoying some peaceful fishing, so I bought a reasonably well-made rod, and everyone else ended up choosing the same model. The craftsmanship looked similar to the fishing rods I’d seen on Earth, but the material itself was something unique to this world: a mysterious mineral called Bamboo-Stone.

Apparently, it bent beautifully, was extremely hard to break even under strain, and was basically the perfect material for fishing rods. If Earth had something like this, it’d probably be useful in all kinds of ways… though I can’t think of any right now.

As for bait, the shop had sold normal worms and insects, but the clerk had strongly recommended something else, and before we even had time to check what it was, he’d rung up the purchase with a smooth, experienced motion that left us no room to object. I assumed it was fine since the hotel staff had recommended the shop, but still, it felt suspicious.

Curious and slightly worried, I pulled the bait out of my item box and used Advanced Appraisal on it.

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!”

Even out here, the powder shows up?! How far does its influence spread?! Is this town trying to get the fish hooked, too?! I mean, it’s technically just a seasoning, but still!

I stared at the bait in my hand, trembling, when a horrible realization struck me. I whipped my head around toward Lulune.

She was already leaning in, eyes sparkling, nose inches from the bait as she breathed in deeply. “Hm? What is this bait? It smells strangely delicious…”

“STOP!” I lunged toward her with panic in my voice.

“Ah! Master!” she yelped, flinching back.

Just as I feared, she’d been about to eat the bait. Heaven help me… There really was no such thing as letting my guard down around her.

“Lulune! I really don’t think you should be eating fish bait!” I cried, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“But Master,” she murmured, eyes glimmering as she leaned toward the bait again, “This bait… It smells so good…”

“If you eat it, we won’t be able to catch any fish. And if we don’t catch anything, you won’t get to eat the river fish you were so excited about. Are you really okay with that?”

“T-That would be terrible!” she gasped.

Even so, she stared longingly at the kneaded bait, her mouth subtly twitching like she was trying to resist the urge to take a bite. Eventually, with one last look of mournful regret, she let out a defeated sigh and began attaching the bait to her hook. Safe. Barely… but safe.

Once I confirmed Lulune had dropped her line into the lake without incident, I finally looked back down at the bait in my own hands.

This is actually safe to use, right? We’re not going to accidentally catch a person, are we? This entire town is starting to worry me…

Before I could spiral any further, Saria came sprinting toward me, her voice bubbling with excitement.

“Seiichi! Look! Look!” she called, waving enthusiastically.

“Hm?” I lifted my head.

“Tadaaa! I caught a big one!”

“Whoa! That’s amazing!” I said, grinning.

In her hands was a beautifully shimmering silver-scaled fish. A quick appraisal told me it was called a Queque, a species unique to this world and apparently commonly eaten in town. Only one thing worried me…

“Ku-ke-ke-ke-ke-ke!”

The fish’s eyes were completely glazed over, and it let out a bizarre cry that absolutely no fish should ever be able to produce. Do fish even make noises?! Ever?!

Every part of it screamed “wrong,” and the unsettling display only made my doubts about the bait grow stronger. But according to the appraisal, the fish wasn’t dangerous to eat, even if the Heaven Powder bait had clearly driven it halfway insane. I’ve never seen a fish look this unhinged in my entire life…

That fish, the one with those oddly intense, unblinking eyes, now had its pupils rolled halfway upward in bliss, drool-like bubbles collecting at the corner of its mouth. It looked like it had ascended to some forbidden paradise. I don’t understand any of this. At all.

While I recoiled from the fish in absolute horror, Saria beamed up at me with innocent excitement.

“Fishing is really fun! Catching them with my bare hands as I did in the forest is faster, but this is interesting too!” she said cheerfully.

Her words pulled up a memory. Back in the Forest of Endless Heartbreak, she used to catch fish for me bare-handed. For Saria, grabbing fish directly was probably the easier method. With a gorilla mindset, scooping fish with her hands made perfect sense, but if she tried it now, with her current strength, the sight would be surreal. And possibly violent.

“But Al is even more amazing!” she added suddenly.

“Huh?” I blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Look! Over there!” Saria pointed energetically.

Following her gesture, I turned toward Al and immediately did a double-take. Something was very, very off.

Because—

“This one’s big, too. All right, just one more and— Oh, another one’s already on the line…”

The moment Al dropped her fishing line into the lake, a fish bit. Instantly. Without fail. It was a nonstop stream of catch after catch, pure, uninterrupted auto-fishing.

Staring in disbelief, I watched her reel in another fish. Noticing my gaze, she met my eyes with a bewildered frown.

“Hey, Seiichi,” she said, lowering her rod slightly as she stared at the flailing catch. “They just keep biting one after another. Is this normal?”

“No, definitely not…”

“Right? Then what’s going on?”

She tilted her head, completely puzzled. And yet, I had a pretty good idea why.

Before she met me, Al had been so unlucky she’d earned the title Calamity, a name given because her misfortune was so extreme it even affected the people around her. That curse of bad luck had kept her confined to the royal capital, unable to move freely.

From what little I’d heard, an adventurer acquaintance of Al’s had erected some kind of barrier over Terbelle. Thanks to that, her misfortune had been kept in check while she lived there. In reality, because of her title, her Luck stat had once dipped so far into the negatives that it practically snapped the scale. But ever since we defeated that mimic chest inside the Black Dragon God’s dungeon and obtained the item that nullified her title’s curse, all of that crushing misfortune had vanished. In its place, she’d gained a Luck value so absurd that it felt like her past suffering had been a lie.

And that was before she and I had traveled through countless dungeons together.

Now, Al was a being who surpassed level 500, someone people called a Transcendant. I couldn’t even begin to guess how far her Luck stat had grown. Which meant this current situation, where she was hauling in fish the instant her line touched the water, wasn’t strange at all.

Even so…

“Ughhh…! Nothing! I can’t catch anything at all! Why! Why won’t anything bite?!” Lulune wailed, practically vibrating with frustration as she yanked her empty line from the water.

“Glutton, you’re loud,” Zora murmured, her flat stare somehow even more piercing than her words.

“Aahaha… Oh! Your line is pulling!” Origa exclaimed gently, pointing at the twitching rod she and Zora held together.

“Mm. Then let’s lift it,” Zora replied with her usual calm as the two of them reeled in their catch.

Meanwhile, next to them, Al was in the middle of a one-woman fishing festival, pulling in a new fish every few seconds. Beside her, Lulune was experiencing the purest, most textbook version of being skunked. The contrast was almost artistic.

In comparison, Origa and Zora, fishing together as a pair, were catching fish at a relaxed, pleasant pace, smiling quietly as they worked. Their gentle rhythm and peaceful mood were so soothing that just watching them eased something inside me.

Thank god someone here is having a normal, wholesome time.

While I watched everyone enjoying themselves, Saria tilted her head toward me, her ponytail swaying softly.

“Seiichi, aren’t you going to fish?” she asked, leaning in with innocent curiosity.

“Hm? Nah, I’m about to start,” I replied, rolling my shoulders.

“Really? I bet you’ll catch something amazing!” she said, her eyes sparkling with absolute confidence.

I let out a weak laugh. “Huh, I wonder about that…”

My stats deserted me a long time ago. I don’t have luck, I don’t have sense, I barely have dignity at this point. Should I file a missing-person report for my status screen?

Still, even if I didn’t trust this cursed bait, staring at it forever wouldn’t change anything. Bracing myself, I finally prepared my line and cast it out over the lake.

Once the line settled, there wasn’t anything to stress over. Or so I thought, until I remembered the dead-eyed, blissed-out fish Saria had caught earlier. Yeah, that image was going to haunt me. Nope, not thinking about it. Focus on the water. Zen. Peace. Tranquility.

I relaxed, letting my gaze drift over the rippling surface, enjoying a rare moment of calm. Then the float dipped under with a sudden, decisive jerk.

“Oh? Looks like something’s on,” I said, tightening my grip.

When the float sank completely, I flicked my rod upward in one smooth motion.

And then—

SPLASH!

“…”

All six of us stood frozen, mouths hanging open, as something enormous exploded out of the lake. A colossal creature, sleek like a dragon yet thickly built, its whole body armored in massive plates of shimmering silver scales. Its head mixed the worst features of a dragon, a crocodile, and a shark, and its enormous maw was packed with rows of cruel, jagged teeth. It was so absurdly massive that no laws of nature, nor the lake itself, should have allowed it to fit there. And because I’d reflexively yanked the rod, this monster was now airborne, suspended in the sky like someone had punted God’s own pet.

The fish looked just as stunned as we were, its eyes wide and unfocused, as if it genuinely could not process the concept of being caught like a common carp.

Still in absolute disbelief, I triggered Advanced Appraisal.

>True Bahamut: Level 10,000

HAH?!

“BAHAMUT?!” I screamed so loud the lake probably formed new ripples. “And what’s with the ‘True’ part?! Why is there a True version?!”

But as absurd as it was, a part of me understood. Because no matter how I looked at it, this thing was bigger than the entire lake. There was no universe in which its body logically fit in there.

And its level—seriously, its level—wasn’t even remotely normal! In games, this would be a hidden superboss, the kind you unlock by fulfilling twelve cursed conditions and sacrificing your social life. What was something like that doing in a peaceful lakeside town populated not by heroes, but by addicts craving a dangerous powder?!

And the bite strength! That tiny tug on my line? There was no way it belonged to a colossal beast. It felt more like, “Hi, I’m a small fry nibbling the bait.” I’d fished guppies that put up more of a fight. It hadn’t even been a dramatic hit; just a casual little tap. I reeled it in, and suddenly, boom: True Bahamut.

Is it because my strength is so broken that it came up like a soggy leaf?!

There were so many things I wanted to shout. Too many to count.

But first, let me say just one—

“Why are you a freshwater fish?!”

“That’s not the part you should be questioning!” Al snapped, her voice cracking.

“No, Al-san, listen! It’s a Bahamut! In games, it’s practically final-boss material! What’s it doing in a lake?!” I shot back, waving my arms wildly.

If anything, a creature like this belonged in the deepest part of the ocean, surrounded by whirlpools, storms, and ominous background music. Sure, that was just my personal bias, but come on!

Meanwhile, the massive True Bahamut hung helplessly in the air, still wearing a stunned, vacant expression, as if trying to process the fact that it had been caught like a goldfish at a festival booth.

Seriously, what does the “True” even mean…

As I stared upward in horrified fascination, something abruptly smashed into the monster’s face: a kick.

“BAAAHAAAMUUUTOO!” Lulune howled, eyes blazing like a starving beast as her heel connected with divine force.

“GYAAAAAAGH?!”

The colossal dragon-fish-thing was launched as if a meteor struck it.

But Lulune didn’t stop there. Not only did she refuse to let it fall, she vanished from sight for a split second, reappearing in the trajectory of the flying Bahamut, and delivered a second brutal kick square into its jaw, sending the monster ricocheting through the air like a cursed pinball.

“I… will… DEVOUR YOU! I’ve waited… I’ve waited for this day!” Lulune roared, every syllable vibrating with murderous hunger.

“Gyaa?! Gguh?! Ggoh?! Gyuh?! Gyegegegegegege!”

Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick.

It was an endless flurry, an overwhelming barrage of blows, each one detonating like a cannon as Lulune unleashed her wrath upon the helpless True Bahamut.

“Become… my sustenance! BECOME MINE!” she screamed, her voice shaking the trees.

“GUGYAAAAAAAAAGHHH?!”

Her final kick hammered into the monster with bone-crushing force, sending the massive creature rocketing back down toward the lake.

A colossal explosion of water erupted. A tidal wave of spray poured down over us like we’d been shoved fully clothed under a waterfall. By the time the rain of lakewater settled, the surface had gone eerily calm.

And floating there, belly-up, limp, and very much defeated, was the completely KO’d True Bahamut.

“So cool, Lulune-chan!” Saria cheered brightly, completely unfazed by being drenched.

“…”

The rest of us stared in trauma.

Dripping wet, Saria smiled as if she’d just seen a cute animal do a trick. Meanwhile, Lulune strode back with her chest puffed out in pure triumph.

“Master! I’ve finally done it! I have claimed my long-awaited Bahamut!”

“…”

“Master?” she asked, tilting her head hopefully.

“Lulune, you’re skipping dinner tonight.”

“Masterrr!” Her scream echoed over the lake like a dying banshee.

And no, it wasn’t because she soaked us; that part was annoying, but survivable.

But—

“Lulune,” I said quietly, jabbing a thumb behind me, “look around you.”

“Huh…?” She blinked in confusion and slowly turned.

When I first hauled Bahamut out of the lake, sure, the splash had been ridiculous. But even then, the boats were still intact, and the trees around us hadn’t so much as trembled.

But after Lulune slammed the monster back into the water?

The boats were destroyed. The shoreline appeared as if a natural disaster had paid a visit. Trees were snapped, and the ground was gouged open. Everything was in chaos.

What do we even do about this?

“Glutton, this is too much,” Zora muttered, glaring at the destruction with quiet fury before shivering and letting out a small, “Uh… Achooo!”

“Zora-oneechan, are you okay?” Origa asked softly, tugging at her sleeve.

“Y-Yes. I think the sudden water just cooled me a bit…” Zora replied, trying to keep her composure.

“See? Glutton is no good,” Origa said flatly.

“N-No good?!” Lulune whimpered, eyes wide as she took emotional damage from a single line delivered in monotone.

I sighed heavily. “Ahh… honestly, Lulune’s punishment can wait.”

“C-Can wait?!”

That seemed to finish her off; Lulune froze as if someone had unplugged her.

Al shook her head, her expression exasperated. “More important is what we’re gonna do about this mess.”

“Well, for the boats, we’ll obviously have to pay for them,” I muttered.

“The boats are manageable,” Al said dryly. “But what about this?”

She gestured to the forest that now resembled the aftermath of a monster rampage. The trees were bent or snapped, the soil torn and scattered everywhere. This was the result of nothing more than the shockwaves from Lulune’s kicks.

I rubbed my temples. “Haaah, fine. I’ll fix it with magic.”

“You can?” Al raised a brow.

“Yeah. Back in the Varcia Empire, after I threw Kaizell Empire soldiers, land and all, into the sea, I used magic to restore the empty area’s forest. So this is fine.”

“Do you hear yourself? That ‘precedent’ is insane.”

I know. I really do.

That whole incident was pure impulse, a moment of questionable judgment that had already settled into my soul as a permanent black mark on my history.

Leaving Lulune frozen in shock like a bleached statue, I first retrieved the downed Bahamut, then used magic to restore as much of the shoreline as I could. After repairing the terrain enough to prevent suspicion, we headed back toward town to apologize for the boats, and hopefully minimize the fallout of this little catastrophe.

Chapter 6: Swimsuits

“Bahamut… Bahamut…”

Even after we returned from the lake and made our rounds across town to apologize, Lulune kept muttering that name under her breath like someone feverish and half-asleep.

The reason was simple: every last part of the Bahamut we’d fished up had been donated to the Port Town of Southern. We’d even gone to the mayor to bow our heads and explain everything. He’d never even heard that such an absurdly dangerous creature was living in the lake, and instead of being angry, he ended up worrying about us. That only made the guilt settle deeper in my stomach.

And when we added that the Bahamut had been safely defeated and that we would pay for the ruined boat, he stared at us in disbelief before insisting we didn’t need to concern ourselves with any of it. From his perspective, the fact that a legendary-class monster had appeared and the only damage was to a single boat was nothing short of a miracle.

Which, honestly, only made me feel worse. So in the end, we chose to donate Bahamut’s remains to the town.

When we brought it back, the Bahamut turned into drop items just like any other slain monster. We received pieces corresponding to its body parts: scales, fangs, and the like. I couldn’t tell you what half of it was good for, but considering it was a legendary creature, the materials were probably valuable in all sorts of ways.

Still, because I hadn’t dealt the finishing blow, my Full Dismantle skill didn’t activate. I didn’t gain any stats or skills. Not that I wanted them. Even if I got new stats, I wouldn’t be able to display them anyway! And skills? I could practically make those on demand!

So, no, we didn’t walk away with every scrap of the Bahamut. But even the portion we did acquire was far more than the rest of us could ever hope to use. Well, all of us except Lulune.

Bahamut meat was supposedly delicious, after all, and I genuinely wanted the townspeople to have the chance to experience it. That was why we donated the whole thing.

And the result of that decision was the Lulune currently melting down beside me.

“Don’t look so depressed. We caught plenty of other fish, and it’s not like the Bahamut went to waste. They said the cooks at the Black-tailed Gull Inn would be preparing it, remember?”

“But… but… it’s not all of it!”

Her voice cracked as she wailed.

“I mean, you weren’t seriously planning on eating the entire thing, were you?”

How many days did she think she could live on Bahamut meat alone? It wasn’t curry. She couldn’t just keep reheating it forever.

Sure, Lulune might’ve managed to eat it all eventually, but getting dragged into that culinary marathon was not something I was eager for. And besides, she wasn’t the one cooking it; other people were.

As she continued to shout, Origa shot her a long, icy side glance, her eyes narrowing into that wonderfully sharp, unimpressed look only she could pull off.

“But gluttons don’t get dinner tonight.”

“Nooo! Anything but that! Please, no!”

Lulune broke down instantly. If she kept her mouth shut, she was an unbelievable beauty, but right now she was wailing without a shred of shame, tears spilling everywhere as she sobbed loud enough to shake the walls, snot dribbling in the least dignified way imaginable.

Origa, however, didn’t look even remotely moved. She clearly had no intention of forgiving her. For a moment, I considered stepping in—maybe we’ve punished her enough—but then I remembered this was exactly why she kept spiraling out of control. Lulune loved eating, and that was fine. What wasn’t fine was when she let that appetite turn her into a rampaging child.

She kept bawling right up until the end, but Origa never relented. So in the end, we left Lulune in her room and went down to the restaurant for dinner without her.

They served both the river fish we’d caught and dishes made from the Bahamut. The river fish were wonderfully fresh, as expected, but everyone at the table ended up stunned by how good the Bahamut tasted.

It really was something special. One of the restaurant staff told us they planned to prepare a variety of Bahamut dishes for both breakfast and lunch tomorrow, including different preparations from tonight, and I found myself genuinely excited.

With Lulune absent, the rest of us finally enjoyed a quiet, peaceful meal. Afterward, we each returned to our rooms, stepped out onto the balcony’s open-air bath, soaked until the heat unwound every last knot from our bodies, and then drifted off to sleep.

And yes, we bathed separately. Obviously.

※※※

“Mmm… it’s so good… It’s so goood…”

The next morning, freed from her dinner ban, Lulune was eating breakfast at the restaurant with tears of pure joy streaming down her cheeks.

What surprised us even more was that, unlike yesterday’s lunch, Lulune was actually eating slowly, tasting every bite, savoring it with deliberate care.

Still sniffling, she tried to explain this sudden transformation as tears slid down her cheeks.

“I-I was a fool… Before food, all living things stand equal. We kill in order to live, and we accept the lives of others when we eat. Meals carry the weight of life and death, and to enrich that experience, our predecessors built a long history of cooking, shaping it dish by dish. And yet I didn’t even bother to savor any of it. I just stuffed my face like an idiot, going ‘yum, yum’ without a thought…”

I wasn’t sure I understood a single thing she meant, but it seemed skipping one dinner had triggered some sort of massive spiritual awakening inside her.

During the Royal Capital Cup, she’d skipped breakfast simply because it “looked like livestock feed,” but being forcibly denied a meal seemed to hit her in a completely different way.

Even the long-awaited Bahamut meat, when she finally tasted it, only drew the same quiet reaction she had toward the river fish: “It’s delicious. I am grateful for everything… It’s all so delicious…” She whispered it again and again, her voice trembling with reverence.

She’d changed so much that it was almost unsettling, but for now, I decided to just keep an eye on her. Logically speaking, if it meant that runaway appetite of hers might finally calm down, then maybe this wasn’t a bad thing.

Once we finished breakfast, we set out to do what we originally came here for: visit the sea. None of us had brought swimsuits, so we asked a hotel staff member for recommendations and headed to a shop that carried them. Only after buying what we needed did we finally plan to make our way to the beach.

And with our preparations complete, we stepped out to begin the day.

※※※

After purchasing my swimsuit without incident, I arrived at the beach a little ahead of the others.

“So this is Heaven’s Beach…”

Regardless of how it got its name, the sight before me really did deserve to be called paradise. Pure white sand stretched endlessly in every direction, its brightness striking against the deep, vivid blue of the sea, the two colors forming a breathtaking contrast that looked almost unreal.

The reason I arrived ahead of everyone else was simple: they told me to.

Apparently, choosing swimsuits was going to take them a while, so they asked me to go on ahead to the beach and handle the preparations. The hotel staff had mentioned that parasols and tables could be rented near the shoreline, and since someone had to set them up, that task had fallen to me.

Just as they said, I borrowed the parasols and a table and looked around.

“Hmm… not a single person in sight.”

The place was completely deserted, like a beach well past peak tourist season.

Honestly, thinking of it as a private beach made the emptiness feel like a luxury.

After wandering around to find a good spot, I set up the parasol and table, then relaxed under the shade until the others finally arrived.

“Seiichi!”

“Hm? Oh… Whoa!”

I turned toward their voices… and the words evaporated from my throat.

I hadn’t thought much about it earlier—setting everything up, buying swimsuits—but of course, they would be wearing those swimsuits now. Which meant their appearances were far more stimulating than I’d mentally prepared for.

First was Al, wearing a pure white bikini that popped brilliantly against her warm, bronze skin.

“H-How is it? D-Does it look good?”

“Uh, um…”

Al stood there, fidgeting shyly, and the sight was so stunning I momentarily forgot how to speak. The longer I stayed silent, the redder her face became.

“S-Say something! I know it doesn’t suit me!”

“That’s not true at all! I just… I mean… You looked so beautiful, I kinda… lost my words…”

Al’s face went crimson, practically steaming.

Just then, Origa tugged on my attention.

“Seiichi-oniichan, look at me.”

“This swimsuit. Wow. The material really is unusual.”

To my utter shock, Origa was wearing, of all things, a school swimsuit. A full, traditional one. And written right across the chest in big, friendly hiragana was her name, Origa. There was no doubt in my mind: this had the hero’s fingerprints all over it.

Origa’s swimsuit alone was surprising enough, but the others were no less overwhelming.

Zora stood in a green bikini similar to Al’s, though she’d added a pale pareo around her hips that gave her a mature, elegant silhouette.

“And you, Lord Seiichi? Do you think it suits me?” she asked, her voice quieter than usual and tinged with nervousness.

Then there was Lulune. She wore a green-and-white striped short-swim-pants set with a simple top, a look that perfectly matched her energetic personality. But today she seemed strangely timid, glancing up at me with uncertainty. “W-What do you think?” she whispered.

“Origa’s swimsuit really surprised me, but it suits you perfectly. Zora, you look incredibly mature. And Lulune, you’re… um… cute. Really cute.”

Mom always taught me to praise others honestly, but complimenting girls in swimsuits was far above my comfort level. For someone like me, who had practically zero resistance to girls in general, this whole situation was both amazing and overwhelming. My brain was beginning to short out from sheer stimulation when something suddenly struck me.

“Wait. Where’s Saria?”

“Hm? Saria should be—”

“Seiichiii!”

“Huh? Sari— WHOA!”

I turned toward her voice and once again had my vocabulary forcibly erased.

Because—

“Do I look good?” she asked cheerfully.

“WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!”

Standing there under the bright sun was a gorilla, one wearing a bright red bikini.

“You don’t have to be shy, Seiichi. Look more,” she said, posing bashfully.

“Before I look, please explain why you’re in that form?!”

“I thought this would make you happy… You like it, right?”

“I do not like that!”

Moments like this made me genuinely question what Saria thought I was. Then again, I had confessed to her when she was a gorilla, so maybe she wasn’t entirely wrong.

Oh no. That actually lines up too well.

Looking closely—shockingly—I found myself thinking that even Goria looked sort of cute.

“Yeah, it suits you so well,” I said with a dramatic thumbs-up, adding a sparkling effect.

“Oh my, you’re making me blush,” she answered, placing a hand to her cheek and twisting her body coyly.

Then her whole form flashed with light, and in an instant she returned to her usual appearance as Saria.

“Since Seiichi said it looked good, I’m satisfied!”

“I still don’t understand the standards by which you feel satisfied!”

In her human form, Saria’s swimsuit suited her extremely well… so well I honestly had trouble figuring out where to look.

Yeah… Goria was way easier on my eyes.

As I struggled to keep my composure, Al’s blush finally faded, and she cleared her throat sharply.

“Ahem. Instead of standing around talking, how about we actually go play? Looks like we’ve got the whole place to ourselves.”

“Good idea! Come on, Al, let’s go!” Saria cheered as she seized Al’s hand.

“Huh? W-Wait! Saria?!”

Without giving her time to resist, Saria pulled Al straight toward the ocean.

“Zora-oneechan, let’s go too?” Origa asked quietly.

“Y-Yes! I’ve never been swimming before, so I’m a bit nervous…”

“It’s fine. It’s my first time too. That’s why I borrowed these.”

“Eh? Those are…?”

“They’re called ‘swim rings.’ They float on water, so as long as we hold onto them, we’ll be safe.”

It seemed the shop where they bought their swimsuits also lent out floatation gear, and Origa had borrowed two rings. The two of them headed toward the shoreline, each clutching one.

As I watched everyone scatter toward the sea, the only one who hadn’t moved, Lulune, approached me hesitantly.

“Um… Master, aren’t you going to swim?”

“Huh? Ah, well… not exactly…”

Staring out at the ocean, I couldn’t help remembering Earth. Specifically, the me from before I evolved.

Coming to the beach only reminded me that I didn’t have many good memories involving water. Back then, it wasn’t unusual for someone to dump water on my head while I was in a bathroom stall. But the worst of all had been the swimming classes.

Those were absolute hell.

Back then, the kids who bullied me would wait until the teacher wasn’t looking, shove my head underwater, and hold me there until I nearly drowned. It happened so often it felt routine.

I eventually reported it—this is going to kill me—but the teacher never did anything about it.

“You keep insisting your classmates are trying to kill you, but look, you’re right here. Alive.”

“Sensei! If I actually died, I wouldn’t be standing here!”

“Don’t spout nonsense!”

“Nonsense?! That counts as nonsense?!”

And that was the end of the conversation.

I honestly thought I was being perfectly reasonable! I even cried afterward. Who wouldn’t?

And of course, the bullies found out I’d told on them. After that, they only got more meticulous about avoiding the teacher’s gaze while shoving me underwater. If they’d put that level of effort into improving their actual swimming, they’d have been Olympic material.

And when I begged the teacher to let me sit out of swimming class because of all this, he still refused.

“You’ve got guts, trying to slack off right in front of me. As punishment, you’ll keep swimming until I say you can stop.”

“W-Wait, that’s—”

“No excuses. With all that useless fat on your body, you won’t sink anyway. Now get moving!”

“Huh—?!”

And so I was forced to swim endlessly, no breaks, no mercy. If my pace dropped even slightly, or if I so much as looked like I was trying to take it easy, the teacher would blast me with another scolding. A perfect chain of misery. Even now, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

Between the bullies’ water torture and the teacher’s “training,” I ended up swimming nonstop, over and over. The bitter irony was that I became good at swimming because of it.

But becoming good at it didn’t erase the memories.

So then, why did I come to the ocean? Because I wanted to finally overwrite all those water-related memories with something good. For once, I want the water to feel safe. Fun. Mine.

Just being able to come to the ocean like this with Saria and the others already made me feel more fulfilled than I ever expected.

“Honestly,” I murmured as I watched the waves roll in, “just showing up at the beach is enough to make me happy.”

“Haa… By the way, Master,” Lulune said as she stepped beside me, tilting her head with genuine curiosity.

“Hm?” I asked, glancing over.

“This sand… Can you eat it?” she asked, staring at the ground with a serious expression.

“Don’t eat it!” I snapped, nearly choking on air.

Sure, the bright white grains did look uncannily like Heaven Powder, but no matter how similar they looked, sand was still sand!

“Really, don’t say silly things,” I said, letting out a tired sigh. “Go have fun with the others, Lulune. Give me a few minutes to take in the view, and I’ll join you.”

“Really? Then I’ll head over first,” she said, giving me a small bow before jogging off toward Origa and the rest of the group.

A lot had happened before I came to this world, but now, I had people who were precious to me. Many of them.

The Kaizell Empire, the Cult of the Wicked One… There were plenty of strange and dangerous groups out there, enemies I barely understood. But even so, I only wanted one simple thing: to protect the people important to me.

With that thought warming my chest, I finally stepped forward and began walking toward the ocean.

Chapter 7: The Sea

“Hey, Seiichi! Over here!” Saria’s cheerful voice rang out across the beach, her arms waving high above her head as she beckoned me over.

“I’m coming!” I shouted back, pulling myself out of my thoughts.

I had been standing there, staring at the ocean, my mind drifting through old memories and hazy doubts about the future. But honestly, none of that mattered right now. Sulking wouldn’t change anything. Today, I was here to have fun, and that was exactly what I intended to do.

“Alright then! Here goes!” I grinned, heart lightening, and broke into a run.

Without hesitation, I launched myself forward in a heroic dive straight toward the sea.

“Bweh?!” I yelped as something went horribly wrong.

Instead of plunging into cool, welcoming waves, I slammed face-first into the sand.

Spitting grit from my mouth, I lifted my head with a groan. “Pft. Ugh. Wait… seriously? I wasn’t even at the water yet?” I muttered, dazed and mildly horrified.

God, that’s humiliating. I winced, brushing sand off my cheeks. I’d meant to dive in with style, but instead I’d eaten dirt in front of everyone.

“I swear I had the distance right…” I muttered, narrowing my eyes toward the ocean. “Whatever! One more try!”

Digging my heels into the sand, I took a few steps back, then bolted forward with renewed determination. I jumped again, arms outstretched, ready to break through the surf—

“Mmph—?!” I grunted as my face hit the ground again. Jerking upright, I spat out a fresh mouthful of sand, my expression twisting in disbelief. “What?! Why didn’t I hit the water?!”

There was no way I’d misjudged it twice. This time, I knew I’d reached the shoreline.

Wiping my eyes and lifting my head, I stared straight ahead and froze.

“The ocean… It’s dodging me?!” I gasped, my voice rising with incredulity.

It wasn’t a trick of the eye. Right where I’d tried to jump, the water had pulled back, leaving behind a perfectly dry gap as though someone had scooped the sea away just for me. It wasn’t just receding; it was actively avoiding me.

“Wait! Hold on. Please don’t!” I cried, scrambling to my feet.

I sprinted after the retreating waves, desperation surging in my chest. But the sea moved with me, gliding backward in eerie coordination, slipping out of reach every time I got close.

“Why?!” I screamed, my voice cracking as I kept chasing the water. “Let me swim tooo!”

I kept running, kicking up sand in a wild pursuit, but no matter how hard I tried, the sea refused to let me in.

I knew how insane it sounded. But no matter how impossible it seemed, this was really happening.

Sure, if I got even a little serious, I could catch up to the ocean. But if I actually did that, I’d probably blow the entire beach away with my first step. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if this planet could handle it.

What the hell am I even saying?

Still, as ridiculous as it sounded, that was the plain truth, and there was no getting around it.

While I continued sprinting after the retreating sea like some beachside lunatic, Al, who had been playing nearby with Saria, glanced over at me. She squinted with half-lidded eyes, the corners of her mouth twitching somewhere between amusement and pity.

“What are you doing, Seiichi?” she asked, her tone flat, as if questioning the very nature of my existence.

“The ocean’s running away from me!” I wailed, arms flailing as I continued the hopeless chase.

Al blinked, unimpressed. “That makes no sense.”

“I know it doesn’t, okay?!” I shouted, practically clawing at the air.

We’d come all the way out here to swim, and I was being actively rejected by the ocean itself. Seriously, what even is this?! Somebody explain this cosmic-level absurdity!

And then, right on cue, that ever-so-familiar voice echoed calmly in my head: my helpful, mysterious internal announcer.

“Since when does the ocean feel reverence?!” I screamed, skidding to a stop in the sand.

From where I stood, nature was already awe-inspiring enough. Vast. Powerful. Beautiful. It didn’t need to bow down to me. I was just a guy!

Okay, sure, the ocean splitting like that did kind of remind me of the Moses story, but that guy used divine power! He earned that miracle!

Me? The sea was just fleeing all on its own. I hadn’t done a damn thing!

“I came to the beach, and I can’t even swim?!” I yelled in disbelief, dragging both hands through my hair. “What’s the point of being here?! Was I supposed to just stand here gazing wistfully into the sunset? How depressing is that?!”

My rant was spiraling into the stratosphere when the voice in my head chimed in again. This time, noticeably more hesitant.

“I don’t need a path!” I snapped, recoiling as if they’d just offered me a throne made of knives.

What was with this excessive, borderline worshipful treatment?! It was starting to feel more terrifying than flattering.

“I just want to swim like a normal person!” I shouted, stomping one foot into the sand. “I don’t care if I get wet. Just let me enjoy the water, for crying out loud!”

>U-Understood… If that’s truly what you wish…

The voice trailed off, almost sounding nervous.

Just as the internal announcer faded from my mind, the ocean, once stubbornly avoiding me, began to inch back, as if testing the waters itself. It approached with awkward hesitation, little by little, until finally, I was standing in the sea.

“I did it… I actually did it…” I whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. A grin spread across my face as I raised both fists triumphantly. “I’m in the ocean! I made it!”

From a few paces away, Al stared at me, arms crossed, one eyebrow arched in deep concern. “Seriously, do you even hear yourself right now?”

“I don’t understand it either, okay?!” I shot back, throwing both hands up in surrender.

Her deadpan retort had me beat. I couldn’t argue with her even if I wanted to.

Still, I shook it off. “Whatever! I’m finally in, so it’s time to swim!” I declared, puffing up my chest with renewed energy.

I leaned back into the water, letting it support my body as I prepared to start paddling—

And then I realized something was off.

“Huh?”

Without warning, I’d been flipped gently onto my back. I floated there, completely still, not moving a muscle. And yet, I was drifting smoothly across the surface of the sea.

Even stranger, I was gliding in exactly the direction I wanted to go. I hadn’t even kicked. The ocean was carrying me on its own. No effort. No resistance. Just passive, dignified transport.

From the shore, Saria and Al stood in stunned silence, watching me drift across the water like some sacred relic.

“This doesn’t count as swimming,” I muttered, breaking the silence with a bitter groan.

The internal announcer’s voice rang out, genuinely shocked.

“What are you surprised about?!” I snapped, sitting up with a splash.

From any angle, I was clearly just floating. Some poor bystander could easily mistake me for a corpse!

I forced myself upright and wiped water from my face, still grumbling. That’s when the voice returned, this time sounding almost apologetic.

“What burden? It’s swimming! That’s the whole point of coming here!” I shouted, flailing in disbelief.

Who the hell gets VIP treatment from the ocean like this?!

The wildest part that only I could feel? While I was floating, the sea hadn’t just been carrying me. It had been massaging me. Seriously. The water had been shifting and pulsing gently beneath me, working my muscles like a full-body aquatic massage bed, all while ferrying me along at a luxurious pace.

And dammit, it had actually felt kind of nice. But that wasn’t the point!

I didn’t come here to be a glorified drowned body! I came to swim, dammit!

From the very depths of my soul, I turned my thoughts inward and shouted at the mental announcer with righteous fury.

“If you’re going to support me anyway, then at least do it in a normal way!” I shouted, throwing my arms out toward the sea in exasperation. “I mean, we’re already at the ocean, right? So just give me some kind of ability that helps me adapt to the environment or something! That’d be fine!”

Who the hell are you talking about?

Dust and debris?! Since when did we start measuring gods in vacuum cleaner terms?!

Also, I am not someone who deserves to be called “Your Exalted Self,” thank you very much!

The voice asked again, this time with cautious hesitation.

“Wait, that’s the part you’re hung up on?” I gaped.

“Let me stay human!” I howled, clutching my head as if to keep the last scraps of my identity from flying away.

“There’s a huge gap between your idea of a human and mine!” I snapped.

There’s no way we were talking about the same species here. What they were describing was more like something that resembled a human on the outside, but definitely wasn’t one inside. I wasn’t asking for anything crazy! I just wanted to enjoy the ocean like a normal person! So all I was asking for was an ability that made sense in this situation, something chill, something peaceful, like a Swimming skill.

The voice responded, still sounding a bit unconvinced.

Then, as if reluctantly yielding to my desperate plea, the announcer made its declaration.

That’s not swimming! That’s inhabiting!

I’m not trying to live underwater, okay?! I don’t need a skill for underwater residency. I just wanted to swim! How hard is that?!

This isn’t just a step away from humanity; it’s a dive into another category of existence!

As I spiraled into an unstoppable storm of mental protests, the announcer suddenly gasped, a voice that sounded as if it had finally reached enlightenment.

“Ohh… Finally, you get it,” I muttered, slumping slightly in relief.

Maybe now I’ll finally get the actual Swimming skill…?

I mean, I could swim just fine without it, but if I had a skill with some kind of bonus or modifier, it might make a difference.

“WHYYY?!” I screamed to the heavens, arms flailing in despair.

This wasn’t just further from human; it was in another galaxy! It was worse than before!

You’re telling me I don’t even need to breathe underwater now?! Even fish need to breathe!

What the hell was going on with my body, with this so-called “internal announcer,” with the laws of reality themselves?!

The voice asked innocently, as if nothing in this situation was remotely unhinged:

“Everything is the matter!” I shouted, gripping my head like it was about to burst. “There’s nothing okay about this!”

“That’s not the kind of ‘human’ I know!” I bellowed.

Because I’ve never met a human who can casually live underwater without breathing. That’s not adaptation… that’s evolutionary betrayal!

“Huh?! Hold on! Wait a second! Can’t you at least give me the Swimming skill inste—”

“Don’t just sign off like that!!!” I roared, eyes wild as I flung my arms toward the open sky. “Come back! Please! I beg you! Come back!”

No matter how many times I screamed, the voice didn’t return.

I collapsed in defeat, buried in the sand like a broken man.

Moments later, Saria and Al approached, their shadows falling over me.

“What’s wrong, Seiichi?” Saria asked gently, crouching beside me with concern in her voice.

“Everywhere you go, it’s always some kind of disaster,” Al muttered, squinting at me like I was an ongoing crime scene.

“I-It’s nothing,” I said with a weak laugh, scratching my head. “The world’s just being a little too considerate, and now I’ve… accidentally gained the ability to live underwater.”

Al blinked. “What the hell happened in the last five minutes?!”

That’s what I’d like to know, Al… That’s what I’d really like to know.

But the only one who could give me an answer was gone; my internal announcer had gone silent, and I was left with nothing but existential dread and a permanent underwater residence.

And so, with no way to protest, all I could do was accept it.

“Screw it! If that’s how it’s gonna be, then I’m going all in!” I shouted, flinging my arms out like a man on the edge. “I’m gonna swim my heart out!”

“Yeah!” Saria cheered, pumping a fist in solidarity.

Al blinked, momentarily stunned, then gave a resigned shrug. “I… don’t really get what’s going on, but sure. If you’re that fired up, let’s all swim together.”

Just like that, the three of us ran into the ocean and dove in.

Saria, who used to catch fish in the rivers of the Forest of Endless Heartbreak, moved through the water with practiced ease. She glided beneath the waves like she was born to it, smooth and effortless.

Al, on the other hand, had barely ever been near the ocean. In fact, before meeting us, she hardly left home at all. She’d never had many chances to swim. And yet, once she was in the water, she moved so naturally it was hard to believe.

And as for me…

“Seiichi,” Al called out, her voice flat and unimpressed.

“Yes?” I answered innocently, looking over my shoulder.

“That’s not swimming!”

“Yeah, figured,” I muttered, sighing in defeat.

Because I, somehow, was sprinting through the ocean.

I know it doesn’t make sense. Rest assured, I don’t get it either.

It wasn’t that I was swimming. No, I was moving through the water as if I were on solid ground. Just running. Freely. Effortlessly. The ocean didn’t resist me. I wasn’t even touching the seafloor. The currents themselves seemed to gather beneath my feet, giving me a platform to push off from with every step.

So yeah, I was literally running underwater.

Sure, I could swim the normal way too. But this was way faster. Like, visibly faster.

“Whoa, that’s amazing, Seiichi!” Saria beamed from nearby, eyes sparkling. “I’m gonna try it too!”

“Wait… Huh?”

Before I could stop her, Saria’s body shifted. In the blink of an eye, she transformed into her gorilla form. And then, she didn’t dive under the waves.

She ran.

On the surface.

“I did it,” she said casually, dashing across the ocean like it was dry land.

“That’s terrifying!”

My scream echoed across the open water.

A gorilla sprinting full-speed across the surface of the ocean? That’s just plain terrifying!

And her form? It was perfect! Posture straight, arms pumping.

Is she a professional sprinter or something?!

Al, watching the same jaw-dropping scene as I was, muttered under her breath. “Out of all of us, I think I’m the most normal one here.”

“Hey, I’m pretty normal too—”

“Not even close.” She cut me off so fast it was like a reflex.

You didn’t have to shoot me down that hard… I was just trying to feel a little human again…

Still, her words made me pause.

“But now that I try to imagine being normal… I honestly can’t think of what that even looks like anymore.”

“Yeah, that right there? The moment you’re trying to define normal? That’s already not normal.”

“Wait, really?!”

Now that she mentions it… She’s completely right! If you have to work at being normal, you’ve already lost the plot.

While I was pondering the meaning of normalcy, Al glanced over, a curious look crossing her face.

“Hey,” she said, “are you actually okay with this?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, this whole beach trip started because you said you needed a break, right? That you wanted to relax. So, are you actually enjoying yourself?”

Her question hit me harder than I’d have expected. She was right. That was the reason we’d come here: to unwind, to relax. But ever since we arrived, I’d been at the mercy of my absurdly overpowered body, unable to do something as simple as swim properly.

This is really bad. Like, existentially bad.

“I mean… I want to enjoy the ocean,” I said, scratching my head. “But I guess now that I’m here, I don’t even know what to do exactly.”

Back on Earth, there were tons of options: beach volleyball, watermelon smashing, water gun fights. But this was another world. We didn’t exactly have all that gear lying around. Our choices were kinda limited.

“Take this!”

“Wha—?!”

While I stood there groaning to myself, a sudden splash of water smacked me right in the face.

“Al?!”

She smirked, cupping another handful of seawater. “Come on, it’s your day off! You’re supposed to be having fun! Loosen up already. Here. Take this!”

“Whoa. Hey! You started this, huh?! Fine, bring it on!”

“Ack!”

After Al splashed me, I immediately retaliated, sending a wave of water right back at her. She let out a bright laugh, not even bothering to dodge. Then, without missing a beat, she scooped up another handful of seawater and flung it at me with a grin.

Ah… This is what playing around is supposed to be.

I’d been overthinking it, trying too hard to define what “fun” meant. But thanks to Al, I realized I was already having a great time. Pure and simple. I couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks, Al,” I said, chuckling softly.

“W-What are you thanking me for? Tch. Whatever! Take this!” she shouted, flustered, before hurling a much bigger splash straight into my face.

“Pwah—?!”

I sputtered as water drenched me head to toe. Immediately, I launched after her in mock fury, determined to get her back.

“Oh! I wanna do that too!” Saria called out from nearby, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she ran toward us.

And then—

“Take this!”

“Wait, why are you in gorilla form— Blurrrghhh!”

“Seiichi!” Al cried out in alarm.

Saria, now in her hulking gorilla form, sent a massive wall of water crashing into me with tidal-force intensity. The impact sent me flailing backward, and I ended up drifting helplessly across the surface like seaweed caught in a current.

That was how it went: the three of us laughing and splashing and completely immersed in the fun of the ocean.

And just as we were catching our breath, a small voice called out from the direction of the beach.

“Seiichi-oniichan!”

“Hm? Origa? Wait, what the—”

I turned toward the sound and froze. Somehow, standing right there, behind her, was an enormous, towering sandcastle.

“Huh?! When did that happen…?”

“No idea,” Al said, shaking her head. “But I did see Origa and Zora playing together on the beach earlier. They probably built it between the two of them.”

“It’s huge!” Saria exclaimed, eyes going wide.

She wasn’t kidding. The castle behind Origa was easily as tall as we were… maybe taller.

We headed over to get a closer look. As we approached, Origa stood in front of the structure, chin up and arms crossed with pride.

“Mmh. We worked hard on it,” she said softly, puffing out her chest just a little.

“That’s amazing!” I exclaimed, genuinely impressed.

“Hmph.” Origa puffed out her cheeks, clearly proud, but then added quietly, “But I didn’t do it alone. It’s thanks to Zora-oneechan.”

“Huh?”

Zora let out a surprised noise, clearly caught off guard. It looked like she hadn’t expected to be brought into the conversation.

“About the castle,” Origa explained, placing a hand gently on one of the towers, “Zora-oneechan used her ability to reinforce it. That’s why it’s so sturdy.”

“Whoa! I see. That’s clever,” I said, turning my gaze toward Zora.

She fidgeted under the attention, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looked away in embarrassment.

“W-Well, lately, I’ve been feeling better for some reason,” she said quietly. “Before, I couldn’t control it. My ability would activate on its own and turn everything around me to stone, whether I wanted it to or not. But now, I’ve started learning how to control it. I can choose what to petrify, and even adjust the strength of the effect.”

Seriously?!

None of us had expected that kind of progress, and we all stared at her in shock.

“You did it, Zora-chan!” Saria beamed, clapping her hands.

“Yeah, that’s incredible,” Al added, her tone sincere. “I know better than most how much it means to stop being at the mercy of a power you never asked for.”

Zora’s smile deepened at Al’s words. It wasn’t flashy, but it was full of quiet happiness.

“So I guess that means… your glasses are finally retired?” I asked, tilting my head.

Zora’s glasses were originally made to suppress her ability. But if she could control it now, she probably didn’t need them anymore.

At least, that was what I thought, until Zora slowly shook her head.

“No,” she said softly. “These… These were something you made for me, Seiichi-san. Because I had them, I wasn’t afraid to look at people anymore. I could see the outside world without fear. That’s why they’re my treasure.”

“I see,” I murmured, taken a little off guard by the weight in her words.

“Yes,” she said, smiling as she gently adjusted the frames on her face.

When Zora gave me that straightforward, honest smile, I couldn’t help but get a little flustered. I hadn’t done it expecting gratitude or anything. Back then, I’d just acted on impulse, hoping maybe I could help ease some of her burden. So to have her thank me this deeply and even call the glasses I made her a treasure… It was honestly overwhelming.

Still, just like Zora felt grateful to us, I felt the same toward everyone else. I never really had good memories of the ocean. Or even water, for that matter. Pretty much every water-related memory I had was tied to being bullied.

But thanks to Saria, Al, Zora, and the others, those memories had been overwritten, washed away, and replaced with something bright and warm.

They’ve really saved me, I thought, a quiet smile tugging at my lips. More than they know…

Embarrassed by the emotional turn things had taken, I tried to steer the conversation somewhere else, and that’s when I noticed something.

“Wait a second… Where’s Lulune?”

“Huh? You’re right… She’s not here,” Saria said, blinking as she looked around.

Everyone began scanning the beach, but Lulune was nowhere to be seen.

And then—

“Masterrr!”

“Huh?”

We all turned at the sound of her voice, which was coming from the ocean, and what we saw made my brain freeze.

“I caught something for you!”

Charging toward us at full speed, Lulune was running on the water, just like Saria had earlier. Her hooves slammed against the surface with ridiculous force, sending up splashes as she closed the distance fast.

But that wasn’t even the problem. The problem was what she was holding above her head: a grotesque, squirming creature radiating ominous energy.

It was massive, easily several meters across, and looked like some unholy fusion of squid and octopus. Dozens of slimy tentacles writhed from its bloated, fleshy body, and just looking at it sent a chill down my spine.

We all stood there, speechless, unable to process the sight.

What even is that…?!

Without thinking, I activated my Advanced Appraisal skill and focused on the monster.

“Why did you bring that here?!”

My scream echoed across the sea and sky, as Lulune happily charged toward us, completely unaware of the existential horror she was cradling like a souvenir.

An Elder God. An actual, capital-lettered, Elder God!

Where did she even find that thing?!

No. Why was it even there in the first place?!

This thing looked way worse than the True Bahamut we defeated just yesterday! And that was supposed to be a top-tier boss fight! This one didn’t even have a level! Not a number. Not a range. Just question marks.

Isn’t this thing the same class as the Cult of the Wicked One’s ultimate objective?! You’ve gotta be kidding me!

Its mere appearance felt like it should lower your sanity stat just by looking at it! The skin, the tentacles, the vibe… All of it screamed “end of the world.”

“If my eyes aren’t broken, I’d say that thing is pure, unfiltered nightmare fuel…” Al muttered, her tone flat but clearly disturbed.

“Altria-oneechan, you’re not wrong. Even I think it looks dangerous,” Origa said quietly, clinging to Al’s side.

“I agree…” Zora added nervously. “There’s something deeply wrong about its aura.”

“Look at all those wiggly bits!” Saria said brightly.

Saria… You really are made of steel nerves, aren’t you? That thing looks like it’s moments away from plunging the world into madness, and you’re just… amused?!

And then it got worse.

My Universal Language Comprehension skill suddenly triggered, and I heard the thing speak.

“… hurts… kill… scary… can’t… run… must… hide… terrifying… please… kill me…”

Lulune… what exactly did you do to this poor cosmic abomination?

The Elder God was shaking. Trembling. Not with rage, but pure, primal fear. This thing that looked like it should cause terror was the one begging for mercy.

Staring up in stunned silence at the monstrosity she was holding, I watched as Lulune’s face bloomed into a bright, satisfied smile.

“What do you think, Master?!” she said cheerfully. “Doesn’t it look delicious?”

“I’m sorry, but my taste buds aren’t deranged enough to find that thing appetizing! And seriously, why did you even bring it?!”

It was a completely reasonable question, one I asked with every ounce of sanity I had left.

Lulune flinched slightly, guilt flickering across her expression. “Well, after what happened yesterday, I caused you a lot of trouble, Master. So, um… this is sort of an apology. I thought maybe if I brought something back, we could all eat it together. Not just you, but everyone.”

“Lulune…”

We all stared at her in disbelief. Not because of the monster. That was already too much. But because of what she’d just said.

Lulune, who normally guarded food like a dragon hoarding gold, was offering to share.

Clearly, skipping dinner last night had left a serious impact. Maybe too serious.

Either way, it was clear: bringing back this Elder God was her way of making amends, because she wanted us to eat it.

“Lulune, you…” I murmured, overwhelmed.

“Master…” she replied softly, eyes shining with hope.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t eat this!” I blurted out.

“W-Whaaat?!” she wailed, her ears drooping dramatically.

No, really, her intentions were touching. They were. But in what world do humans eat an Elder God?! I mean, sure, at a glance it resembled a giant squid, but the longer you looked, the less edible it became. No. Absolutely not.

The others nodded vigorously in agreement. Even Saria.

Realizing we truly couldn’t eat it, Lulune’s shoulders sagged in visible disappointment.

“I-I see… Well, I can’t force you, of course… So, I’ll take responsibility and eat it myself…”

“Huh?”

Before I could even wrap my head around her words, Lulune opened her mouth wide and sank her teeth right into the Elder God.

“Gyaaaa… pain… it hurts… scary… hoofed demon… help… someone… help me…”

The Elder God’s mental screams echoed in my skull through Universal Language Comprehension.

Lulune, meanwhile, chewed thoughtfully.

“Mm… as I suspected… I can eat it raw… And the ocean’s salt flavoring is… quite nice…”

“…”

All five of us stood there, frozen in horror, watching an Elder God get devoured bite by bite. Tentacles, flesh, whatever organs it had. The whole thing steadily disappeared into Lulune’s stomach.

And the Elder God’s mental wails continued the whole time, but…

Nope. Didn’t hear a thing. I definitely didn’t hear anything.

At last, the final wriggling tentacle vanished between her teeth. Lulune patted her stomach contentedly and flashed a radiant smile.

“It turned out exactly as I hoped! Delicious!”

“I-I see… That’s… good. I guess?” I managed, my voice trembling.

“Yes!” she answered brightly.

And so, despite the trauma burned into all our retinas, I found myself honestly relieved. Lulune, in her own terrifying way, had grown a little. More than that, I was relieved that this town, or maybe even the whole world, had narrowly escaped annihilation.

※※※

While Seiichi and the others were enjoying themselves in the Port Town of Southern, King Landzelf of the Kingdom of Windberg was buried under a mountain of work.

“The tax report from this territory looks wrong,” Landzelf said, tapping the parchment with a knuckle as a deep frown creased his brow. “Last year’s poor harvest explains the lower revenue then, but there’s been no rumor or report of anything similar this year. Either have them resubmit the numbers or send someone to investigate.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The soldier accepted the documents and withdrew. Landzelf didn’t even look up; he was already reaching for the next file in the stack. Hours of staring at cramped handwritten reports finally caught up with him, a dull ache forming behind his eyes.

“Damn… my eyes are killing me,” he muttered. “Even if Seiichi did extend my lifespan and make me healthy as a horse, pushing myself like this is gonna break me sooner or later…”

He grimaced at the mountain of paperwork piled across his desk.

A knock sounded.

“Enter.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty! Excuse me!”

A young soldier stepped inside, snapping to attention.

“You’re one of the patrol soldiers assigned to the border region, aren’t you?” Landzelf asked, glancing up.

“It is the greatest honor of my life that Your Majesty remembers my face!” the soldier answered earnestly.

Landzelf did, in fact, make a point of remembering every soldier: faces, names, postings. It was a habit he never advertised, but his men respected him all the more for it. Recognizing this soldier’s assignment was easy, but the timing troubled him.

“So? What is it? Coming here in person means something happened at the border, yes?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Actually…”

The soldier delivered his report, and Landzelf’s brows knitted together in surprise.

“Hm? You’re telling me the Kaizell Empire has been making unusual movements near our border?”

“Yes. It seems they’re searching for someone.”

Landzelf folded his arms, frowning deeply.

“No idea what they’re after, but this stinks of trouble. Our nations are far apart, and we don’t even share a border. For their soldiers to be showing up anywhere near our territory… something’s definitely off. More than off, it’s trouble waiting to happen.”

Landzelf let out a weary sigh and leaned back in his chair, looking every bit as exhausted as he sounded.

“And besides, I’d rather they didn’t operate anywhere near that area. If the Mountain stirs again, we’ll have a real problem on our hands. What in the world are they after?”

“What are your orders, Your Majesty?” the soldier asked.

“Right. If they really are searching for something, as you said, it might be something of great importance to the Kaizell Empire. Go fetch Louisse.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier hurried out and soon returned with Louisse in tow.

“Your Majesty, I’ve brought Louisse-sama!”

“Good work. You’re dismissed.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldier withdrew, leaving Louisse to step forward and approach the king with her customary grace.

“Your Majesty, you summoned me? What seems to be the matter?”

“Something unusual,” Landzelf said, folding his hands atop the desk. “Soldiers from the Kaizell Empire have been spotted near the border by the Mountain. It looks like they’re searching for something, or someone. I want you to observe the situation personally.”

“I see… Though stealth isn’t exactly my specialty,” Louisse admitted with a thoughtful frown.

“That won’t be a problem,” Landzelf replied, shaking his head. “I don’t want them crossing the border to begin with, and more importantly, I don’t want another Mountain incident. If they interfere, you have permission to engage. Take the Swordsaint Valkyries with you and locate whatever the Kaizell Empire is after.”

“As you command.”

Louisse bowed deeply and turned to leave.

Watching her retreating figure, Landzelf let out another long sigh.

“Honestly, that damn empire never brings anything good. I just want a nice, peaceful bath for once…”

He sighed a second time, straightened his back, and forced himself to dive into the next stack of documents awaiting him.

Chapter 8: The Castaway

“Alright, should we head back to the inn soon?” I asked once I’d finally worn myself out splashing around in the ocean.

“Yeah! We played sooo much today. I’m totally beat!” Saria said, stretching her arms above her head.

“No kidding,” Al muttered. “We used muscles we never touch in combat. I bet I’m gonna be sore tomorrow.”

“If you get sore, Al, I can give you a massage when we get back,” Saria offered brightly.

“What? Saria, you can do that?” Al blinked, surprised.

“Mm-hmm! Leave it to me!” she said, thumping a hand proudly against her chest.

Even after everything, Saria’s specs were still ridiculous. She didn’t do as much for us day-to-day anymore, but when she did act, she was perfect at everything. Cooking, cleaning… anything domestic, really. And that was before she learned to transform into a human. The fact that she had that level of skill as a gorilla made it all the more insane.

While I was marveling at Saria’s superhuman competency, Origa tugged gently at the hem of my pants.

“Seiichi-oniichan.”

“Hm? What’s up?” I asked, turning toward her.

“Something’s there,” she murmured, pointing down the shoreline.

“Huh?”

I followed her finger, and sure enough, something was lying on the sand, washed up by the waves.

From here, I couldn’t make out what it was.

“We should check it out,” I said. “If it’s a person, we can’t just ignore them.”

Not that people normally wash up on beaches like that, but—

“It’s a person?!” I screamed the moment I got close enough to see clearly.

Collapsed on the sand was… a young man? A young woman? It was hard to tell. Their face was strikingly androgynous.

But that wasn’t the part that froze me in place; the clothes were. They were wearing a hakama¹, with a haori² draped over their shoulders, a perfect outfit straight out of a Japanese period drama. As if that wasn’t enough, a sword-like object hung at their waist.

Why?! How?!

“W-W-What do we do?! This is a person, right?! A real person, right?!” I sputtered, panic rising fast.

“Calm down, idiot! Check if they’re conscious first!” Al snapped, grabbing my shoulder. “And you can cast healing magic while you’re at it!”

“Ah, right! Of course!”

I’d panicked like they were a washed-up corpse, but Al’s voice snapped me back to my senses. I forced myself to breathe, lifted my hand over the stranger, and invoked the most potent healing spell I had, my highest-tier light magic: Saint’s Restoration.

A soft, radiant glow poured from my palm, sinking into the collapsed figure.

Moments later, their body twitched.

“Ngh…”

“They’re alive!”

“Yeah,” Al said, studying them closely. “Your magic should’ve fixed any injuries, but they still look totally drained… We should bring them back to the inn. At least then we can take care of them properly.”

“Got it.”

I lifted the unconscious figure carefully into my arms and hurried back with the others toward our lodging.

※※※

We reached the inn safely, but the moment we stepped inside, the person I was holding suddenly stirred awake.

“Nnh…? W-Where… am I…?” asked a man’s voice.

“Ah! Are you alright?” I inquired gently.

His reaction was instant.

“—!”

The moment my voice reached him, he jolted upright, hand flying to the sword at his waist. In a single smooth motion, he drew the blade and slashed at me.

“Hah!”

“Seiichi?!” Al cried, already shifting her stance, but then she froze.

“What the—?!”

Because the blade never reached me. Before the sword could touch my skin, the metal abruptly twisted like warm wax, warping in on itself. It curled and spiraled into an abstract knot, more like a modern art sculpture than a weapon.

The attacker stared at the ruined blade in stunned disbelief.

And honestly? I did the same.

The moment his eyes fell upon the sword, the man who had drawn it froze. His hand trembled ever so slightly on the hilt, expression twisting in disbelief. Beside him, Al let out a long, beleaguered sigh, as though this sort of thing had already happened one too many times.

“Yeah, no. That doesn’t make a damn bit of sense,” she muttered, waving a hand toward the weapon. “How does a weapon even end up like that?”

“Beats me,” I said with a helpless shrug, resigned to my role in whatever this was.

Al gave me a sharp look. “Why don’t you know?!”

I’m sorry! Even if you ask me like that, I seriously have no clue!

Honestly, this wasn’t even the first time. Back when we fought the Kaizell Empire’s soldiers, right before leaving Barbodel Magic Academy, it had been the same story. Weapons falling apart mid-swing, armor collapsing into useless scrap. And in some cases, it got worse. Equipment hurting us instead. Limbs failing out of nowhere. Just… breaking down, inexplicably.

But listen… I need you to believe me. I swear I didn’t do anything. Not a thing!

As I silently pleaded my case to the universe, the swordsman slipped free of my grasp and took a step back, blade raised. His gaze sharpened, wary and defensive.

“You there. Identify yourselves at once. What manner of people are you?”

“Uh, yeah, we could be asking you the same thing,” I replied, blinking at the sudden shift in tone.

The man’s eyes narrowed further, then suddenly widened again, as his gaze swept down and fully took in our appearance.

“What… What is the meaning of this attire? It is disgraceful!” He recoiled, visibly scandalized, and pointed a shaking finger straight at me.

“What do you mean? It’s just a swimsuit,” I said, glancing down at myself.

“A swimsuit? You expect me to believe such garb is acceptable? You walk exposed beneath the sky and think nothing of it? And that young woman beside you… What is she wearing?! T-This is outrageous!”

Okay, yeah. Definitely never seen a swimsuit before.

To be fair, they did sort of resemble underwear if you just looked at the surface. I’d never really thought about it before, but now that someone was yelling about it? Yeah, fair point.

Anyway, this is going nowhere. We need to get past this.

“Look,” I said, lifting my hands in a peace-offering gesture, “can you please calm down and just hear us out? We didn’t mean anything by it. We just found you collapsed on the beach and carried you here. That’s it.”

“I was… collapsed?” he repeated, brow furrowing. “No, that cannot be. I remember… I was…”

His voice faltered. Then, suddenly, all color drained from his face. His eyes went wide with alarm, and without another word, he spun around and bolted toward the treeline.

“Muu-sama…! No—!”

“Whoa… Hey!” I lunged after him before I could think.

“Ngh—!”

Though his wounds had been healed by magic, that didn’t mean his strength had returned. Just as he was about to go down, I caught him at the last second before he could crumple to the floor.

“U-Unhand me, you insolent knave!” he snapped, struggling weakly in my arms. “Do you realize whom you lay your hands upon? I am the Guardian Deity, Yaiba!”

“Sorry,” I said, still holding him upright. “That name doesn’t ring a bell.”

“What?!”

The man, this so-called guardian deity, stared at me as if I’d just declared the sky was green. His face paled, lips parted in stunned disbelief.

No, really. I have absolutely no idea who you are.

Just to be sure it wasn’t only me, I glanced back at the others.

“You guys ever heard of him?”

“Nope!” chirped one of them immediately.

“Not a clue,” Al said, folding her arms.

“Never heard the name,” someone else added with a shrug.

“I-I’m sorry… I haven’t either.”

“Couldn’t care less,” the last one muttered flatly.

Okay, maybe I should’ve expected that answer from her, but the fact remained: no one here had ever heard of this guy.

The Guardian Deity, Yaiba, stared at us in frozen disbelief. Then, as if his legs had given up completely, he dropped to his knees.

“You mean to say… none of you know my name?” he whispered, dazed. “I, who was once feared throughout the land of Yamato…”

“Yeah, sorry,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Never heard of that place either.”

“…”

Silence fell. He said nothing. Just stayed there, kneeling, his eyes vacant. I wasn’t sure whether to apologize or give him space.

Eventually, he looked up again. His voice was quiet but composed.

“May I ask you something? Where am I?”

“You’re in the Kingdom of Windberg,” I explained. “Port town of Southern. This place is called the Black-tailed Gull Inn.”

“The Kingdom of Windberg?” His brow furrowed, confusion overtaking his expression. “A foreign land? But how could this be…?”

“Um… you alright?”

“Forgive me,” he said after a pause, steadying his breath. “I allowed myself to become… overwhelmed.”

At last, the guardian deity seemed to regain his composure. He drew a steady breath, rose to his feet with quiet dignity, and gave a deep, respectful bow.

“It appears I owe you my life. Though it was a misunderstanding, I must apologize for having drawn my blade against those who saved me.”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied quickly, waving my hands in front of me. “If I were in your shoes and woke up surrounded by strangers, I’d be on edge too. Besides… I mean, I’m not sure it was my fault, but your sword ended up like that, and it might’ve been because of me…”

“Ah…”

As if suddenly remembering, he glanced down at the weapon still in his hand. His expression tightened as he took in its twisted, warped form.

Al, who had been quietly watching from the side, jabbed an elbow into my ribs.

“Hey… Seiichi,” she muttered, eyes narrowing. “Can’t you do something about that?”

“Huh? What do you mean ‘do something’? I don’t even know what’s happening!”

“Look, you saw it too, didn’t you? That sword, whatever it is, hesitated when it tried to hit you.”

“The sword hesitated?”

What does that even mean? How can a sword hesitate?

Then again, this is me we’re talking about. The guy who got dodged by the ocean itself.

So maybe it really did twist itself up like that just to avoid hurting me? And if that’s true, would forgiving it bring it back to normal?

“Uhh, it’s okay now. You can go back to normal,” I said, tentatively, almost like I was trying to soothe a spooked animal.

The moment the words left my mouth, the grotesquely bent and tangled blade shimmered, and in the blink of an eye, it returned to its original, pristine form.

“What?!”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think that would actually work.”

“Hey!” I snapped, turning on Al. “You’re the one who told me to try something!”

She just shrugged.

The guardian deity, still staring at the sword in stunned silence, took a slow step back and raised it into a testing stance. With a few practiced swings, he traced elegant arcs through the air. Even to someone like me, who barely knew the first thing about swordsmanship, it was obvious: this man was strong. His form was precise, refined, and effortless.

After a few more graceful cuts, he seemed satisfied. He slid the sword smoothly back into its scabbard, then turned to me once more and bowed deeply.

“My gratitude. Though this began with a misjudgment on my part, you not only spared me harm but even restored my blade. I am in your debt.”

“I’m just glad I could help get your sword back to normal,” I said, offering a sheepish smile.

“Ah… I have yet to offer my name,” the man said, bowing low with deliberate grace. “I am called Yaiba, eighteenth of my line from the House of Guardian Deities, bound for generations to serve the Yamato family.”

Whoa. That sounded straight out of a samurai film.

I couldn’t help but feel a strange rush of admiration. There was something kind of cool about hearing someone actually speak like that in real life: formal, refined, as if he’d stepped straight off the stage of a historical drama.

The more I looked at him, the more he started to seem like someone pulled right out of the past. His long, indigo hair was tied neatly in a single cord, his sharp eyes carried a quiet intensity, and the hakama he wore hung from his frame as if it belonged in a museum exhibit.

Honestly, he looks like he could’ve been in the Shinsengumi³ . And, well… yeah. He’s definitely handsome. Not that that should matter, right?

His way of speaking almost sounded like a foreigner trying to imitate a romanticized version of a samurai, but on him, it just worked.

After Yaiba gave his name, the rest of us followed suit, introducing ourselves in turn. Once we’d all spoken, Yaiba offered us a solemn, apologetic look.

“Were the circumstances different, I would see my debt to you repaid without delay,” he said. “But I must return to my homeland. I hope you will permit me to offer proper thanks another day.”

“That’s fine, but will you be alright?” I asked.

“I assure you, I am not without skill,” he said with quiet confidence. “Though I was caught unawares before, that mistake will not be repeated.”

He turned his eyes toward the window, the horizon reflected in his gaze as he focused on some distant place far beyond the reach of this town.

Whatever happened to him, it’s not something we should be digging into.

“Um… you mentioned going back,” I said. “Do you know where you are, exactly?”

At that, Yaiba’s expression shifted. He furrowed his brows, clearly troubled.

“That is the problem. I did not realize I had ended up in a foreign land until just now. The only thing I know for certain is that my country lies across the sea.”

“The sea? What’s the name of your country?” Al asked, tone sharpening slightly.

Yaiba shook his head slowly.

“It has no name,” he said. “Our territories remain divided, still contested between clans. There is no single name to give. However…” He paused, searching his memory. “I once heard what outsiders call it. Just once. They referred to our land as… the Eastlands.”

Al exhaled quietly through her nose.

“I see.”

The Eastlands…

I’d heard the name tossed around a few times before—usually in passing, half-whispered like a rumor—but nobody seemed to know much about it. It was one of those places that existed more in myth than reality, a land cloaked in mystery.

Looking at Yaiba now, his formal manner, his name, the way he dressed, it made sense. I’d suspected as much. But hearing it confirmed hit differently.

“I must apologize,” Yaiba said, voice solemn. “But I must take my leave immediately. My Muu-sama awaits me back in the Eastlands.”

“I see…” I murmured.

“There’s no use trying to stop him,” Al said, arms folded as she watched him steadily. “He’s got his own mission, and we don’t know the first thing about this place either. Not like we can offer much help.”

She wasn’t wrong. We were only in Southern as tourists, after all. This wasn’t our turf, and it wasn’t like we had any real influence here.

Just then, Saria raised her hand, bright-eyed as always.

“Oh! Then why don’t we ask the guild about ships?”

“Huh?”

“Well,” she continued, “if Mister Yaiba came from across the sea, he’s probably going to need a boat to get home, right?”

“That’s… true,” I admitted.

“So if there’s anything we can do to help, it’s probably finding out where he can catch a ship.”

She had a point. That much, at least, was within our abilities. Luckily, we’d arrived in town a little earlier than Yaiba, so we already had a basic grasp of the layout. We even knew exactly where the local guild branch was.

“In that case,” I said, turning to Yaiba, “we’d be glad to help you get to a ship. We can at least guide you that far.”

“You would go so far?” Yaiba said, flustered. “You have already saved me once. I could not possibly impose further…”

“Come on,” Al said with a smirk. “If you’ve got to move fast, then just take the help.”

For a moment, Yaiba looked conflicted. Then his expression softened, and he gave a small, grateful bow.

“You have my thanks. I would be most grateful for your aid.”

And so, with Yaiba still not fully recovered, we set out together toward the guild branch in Southern, doing what we could to ease the burden on our unexpected visitor from the Eastlands.

Chapter 9: How to Set Out to Sea

To help Yaiba return to the Eastlands, we headed to the guild branch in Southern to ask about ships.

We approached the same receptionist who had handled the paperwork for our last completed request. She looked up with a pleasant smile, but the moment we explained the situation, her expression turned apologetic.

“I’m very sorry,” she said gently. “But at present, there are no ships departing for the Eastlands.”

“What?!” Yaiba stepped forward, stunned. “Why not, pray tell?!”

“There was trade in the distant past,” she explained patiently, “but currently, there is no commerce of any kind between the Eastlands and the Kingdom of Windberg. In fact, we understand that the Eastlands have ceased all foreign relations entirely.”

“I… see…”

Yaiba fell silent, his lips pressed into a tight line. It didn’t take much to see the weight of the news in his expression.

So the Eastlands have shut themselves off from the outside world?

Sounded a lot like Japan during its old isolationist era. Not that this world needed to copy Japan down to the last detail. Then again, it might just be how things work here, with its own unique culture. Probably not fair to compare.

“In short,” the receptionist continued, “there simply are no vessels that make the journey to the Eastlands. Even if someone wished to sail there, we don’t have a confirmed safe route. We know the general direction, yes, but not the waters themselves. No reliable charts, no tested currents. It’s far too dangerous to send a ship into the unknown.”

Yaiba clenched his fists, jaw set in quiet frustration.

“That said…” the receptionist added, lowering her voice slightly, “the lack of trade routes isn’t the only reason we’re being cautious about sending ships out to sea.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She glanced around, then leaned in just a little.

“Kaizell Empire vessels have been steadily advancing,” she said. “They send out patrols that cruise farther and farther across the ocean, claiming territory with each pass. And the truth is… the Kingdom of Windberg is not equipped to handle a naval conflict. Because of our unique geography, we’ve struggled with shipbuilding and marine defense. If it ever came to open war at sea, we would be at a significant disadvantage.”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Thankfully,” she went on, “that same geography has protected us so far. The Kaizell ships haven’t reached these near waters, so the towns remain mostly unaffected. But the moment you try to sail into deeper waters… That’s another story. Fishing expeditions have already been scaled back. Several species have practically vanished from the markets.”

“Damn it…” Yaiba muttered under his breath, voice tight with frustration.

He looked like someone being forced to stand still while his homeland drifted farther away.

Seriously, is there anything the Kaizell Empire doesn’t ruin?

Maybe, from the perspective of Kaizell’s citizens, everything their government did seemed like progress. Maybe. But somehow, I doubted even they were better off for it.

In the end, we left the guild with heavy hearts. With no ships bound for the Eastlands, Yaiba had no way home. And we were powerless to change that.

※※※

“What… What am I to do now…”

Even after we left the guild, Yaiba remained visibly dejected. His steps were slow, his shoulders low. None of us could figure out what to say.

Wordlessly, he wandered toward the sea, his steps unsteady, as if drawn by some invisible force. Eventually, he stopped near the edge of the shore, gazing out across the endless water, the waves reflecting in his vacant eyes.

“I must return. At any cost,” he murmured, voice strained. “And yet, I am denied even the means to do so… Once, I was called the hidden blade of Muu-sama, feared by many as the Heavenly Blade. Now, I am utterly powerless.”

“Yaiba…” I started, but trailed off.

Al stepped forward, face creased with uncertainty. “I don’t know if I should even ask this, but… is it really that bad if you don’t get back soon?”

He nodded slowly.

“Before I awoke in this land, I had been locked in battle against a band of brigands,” he said, eyes still fixed on the sea.

“Brigands?” I echoed.

“They were after Muu-sama, my master,” Yaiba explained, his tone low, controlled. “A group of attackers, their origins unclear. We fled together as I shielded her from their blades. But we were outnumbered. I feared my lady would be struck down at any moment…”

He took a breath.

“And so I chose to remain behind, to face them alone as a decoy.”

Damn…

“They were more skilled than I expected. Despite all my training, I was soon cornered. And at the end of it all, I… fell into the sea.”

The image flashed across my mind, unbidden: Yaiba, wounded and staggering, backed to the edge of a seaside cliff, blood trailing from his side. A desperate last stand, like something straight out of a period thriller.

“After that… well, the rest you know,” Yaiba said, letting out a weak, humorless laugh. “I must have drifted ashore unconscious, eventually ending up here.”

He smiled faintly, though there was no light in it.

Whoa… that was way heavier than I expected.

I barely knew the guy. I didn’t know who this Lady Muu was, or why they were being hunted, or even what kind of world Yaiba had come from. But none of that changed the fact that he was standing here now, stranded, helpless, and desperate to get back.

Still, thinking about it, someone my age throwing his life on the line for his master? It felt so surreal. But I guess in this world, that kind of thing wasn’t exactly rare.

“Just curious,” Al said, breaking the silence, “but do you have any idea who was behind the attack? I mean, if they were that skilled… even if you made it home, wouldn’t you just be walking into the same danger again?”

Yaiba’s expression twisted with frustration.

“There are too many possible culprits,” he said bitterly. “You see, my homeland has no king. Power is fragmented. The nation is in a constant state of unrest, with warlords vying for supremacy.”

He paused, eyes narrowing.

“The Yamato family, to whom I am sworn, is small, but for certain reasons, it commands considerable influence. That influence has drawn envy… and fear. I suspect that fear is what led to the attack on Lady Muu.”

What kind of hellscape is that country?

This continent, at least the parts I’d seen, was chaotic too, sure. The Kaizell Empire was constantly stirring up trouble. But there weren’t civil wars breaking out left and right. Or… maybe I just hadn’t seen that side of it yet.

Still, here in the Kingdom of Windberg, it was easy to forget how bad things were elsewhere. Probably because the people here were so… intense. Between the guild and the city itself, there was always something distracting you from the world’s ugliness.

As I was thinking that, Yaiba’s expression grew even more serious.

“Lately… I have heard strange rumors,” he said quietly.

“Strange how?” I asked.

“There are reports of unfamiliar individuals moving in and out of the region. Outsiders, those not native to our lands.”

Al raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound that weird. You’d think even your people would trade with other countries from time to time, right?”

“That would be unthinkable,” Yaiba said firmly. “My country is built on pride. The people, especially the powerful clans, see themselves as superior to all outsiders. To be conquered? Unthinkable. To submit? Impossible. To trade? Only if it furthers their dominance. There are many who believe that to rely on another nation is to forfeit the right to rule.”

Al frowned. “I mean… that’s extreme, but I guess I get it.”

“More than that,” Yaiba continued, “once foreign interests become involved, it complicates everything for whoever takes the throne. And no warlord seeking power wants that kind of liability.”

“So you’re saying even in civil war, they’d rather keep it in-house?”

“Precisely. In the Eastlands, strength is everything. Each house vying for rule believes, without question, that it is the strongest. And those who believe themselves strongest… do not ask others for help.”

That’s a whole different world of thinking.

It wasn’t just isolationism. The Eastlands sounded outright severed from the rest of the world. Not just closed off, but proud, factional, and volatile. If they really lived by that “strength above all” philosophy… Yeah, I could see why they’d never turn to foreign powers, even in crisis.

Japan had some form of trade during its isolationist period, but the Eastlands? Absolutely nothing. That was… wild. Still, if they could afford to stay shut off from the rest of the world entirely, they had to be self-sufficient, at least.

“I have spoken at length,” Yaiba said, his voice heavy. “But in the end, it changes nothing. I am stranded. I cannot return to my homeland… not by my own hand.”

He gazed out at the sea with frustration etched into every line of his face.

We glanced at one another, uncertain.

“So what do we do?” Al asked, quiet but direct.

“I mean, what can we do?” I replied, unsure myself.

As we stood there, stalled in indecision, Saria raised her hand as if answering a question in class.

“Well, if you’re not sure, then why don’t we just help him?”

“Huh?”

“Come on,” she said, tilting her head. “It’s not like any of us don’t want to help, right?”

“I mean, yeah, that’s true,” I admitted.

We all nodded in quiet agreement.

“There’s still a lot we don’t understand,” Al said, crossing her arms, “but it’s not like any of us are against helping him.”

“Mm. Just caught off guard, that’s all,” someone added.

“I-I’d like to help him too,” came a soft voice, filled with quiet resolve.

Lulune said nothing, but the way she stayed close, eyes steady on Yaiba, made her answer clear.

Helping him meant getting him back to the Eastlands. But the problem was that none of us, myself included, had ever been there. Which meant we couldn’t use teleportation magic or portals to send him back.

“The real issue,” I said aloud, “is figuring out how to get him there…”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Saria blinked, confused by the hesitation in my voice. I turned to look at her, and she tilted her head.

“Why don’t you just take him, Seiichi?”

“Sorry, what?”

Her words made all of us, Al included, tilt our heads in unison.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look, I’d love to take him back myself, don’t get me wrong. But the problem is… how?”

“Why not ask the sea?” Saria said brightly.

“Ask the sea?!”

I stared at her, completely blindsided.

“What are you even saying, Saria?” Al said, frowning. “You do realize that’s not something people can just—”

She cut off, noticing the change in my expression.

Because at that moment, memories from earlier in the day came flooding back: the way the waves moved around me, how the ocean itself seemed to avoid me, almost as if it feared me.

“You know,” I murmured, “it might actually work.”

“It might what?!” Al snapped, staring at me like I’d grown a second head.

I mean, yeah. Logically, it sounded impossible. And it probably was. I wasn’t even sure what I was saying anymore.

But if the ocean really was the same one that refused to touch me earlier, supposedly because I was “too terrifying,” then maybe, just maybe, it would listen if I asked.

Still half in disbelief, I walked toward the shore again, the salt breeze brushing against my face. Behind me, I heard Yaiba call out, confused.

“Seiichi-dono? What are you—?”

“Hey, Ocean,” I said. “Mind giving us a ride?”

Yaiba let out a startled cry. “What madness is this?!”

But before anyone could say more—

“…”

—waves shifted.

The sea rose and rippled smoothly, shaping itself into a massive, unmistakable form: a perfectly sculpted thumbs-up emerging from the surface, like a hand made of living water.

Chapter 10: Arrival: The Eastlands!

“…”

Right now, we were heading toward the Eastlands at top speed… and we were doing it while sitting on the open ocean.

No boats. No magic. Just… sitting.

It was, objectively, the most ridiculous thing any of us had ever seen.

Al broke the silence, her voice low and solemn.

“Hey, Seiichi.”

“Yeah?”

“What are you?”

“I’D REALLY LIKE TO KNOW THAT MYSELF!” I screamed, unable to take it anymore.

All I’d done was ask the sea itself to take us across the ocean. And for some unfathomable reason, it had said yes.

Not only had it agreed, but it had also gone all-in.

Now here we were, lounging comfortably as we cruised toward the Eastlands at ninja-grade speed, just sitting on the surface of the water like it was the most natural thing in the world.

No waves. No rocking. Not even a breeze.

And the sea? It handled everything. Any monsters that popped up ahead of us? Gone before we even saw them, swept away like crumbs from a table.

And that wasn’t all.

A thin layer of seawater wrapped gently around each of us, giving us full-body massages as we traveled. If that wasn’t weird enough, fish started leaping out of the ocean right in front of us, and then—schlrrrp!—the water shaped itself into blades and sliced them clean into sashimi.

The ocean even made little plates out of water to serve the damn fish on.

At this point, the service was so absurdly luxurious that we were all just… stunned.

Well, almost all of us.

Saria and Lulune were acting completely normal. Especially Saria. That girl was absolutely unfazed. It was like she thought this was normal.

Seriously, how is she so calm about all this?

Honestly, even I hadn’t expected it to work this well. I’d considered the possibility, sure, but at most, I figured the ocean might form a raft or a plank or something for us to ride on. You know, something to make the physics kind of make sense.

But this?

No boat. No magic. No effort. Just plopping down on the ocean’s surface and getting five-star treatment all the way across the sea?

Yeah… no. Nobody could’ve predicted this.

As we floated along, the silence broken only by the sound of fish being filleted mid-air, Yaiba finally spoke, his voice soft and awestruck.

“The outside world has some truly terrifying individuals.”

“Hey! Don’t lump us in with him!” Al snapped instantly.

“Rude!” I cried.

Al didn’t even flinch. “He is not the same species as the rest of us.”

“Come on!” I protested. “We’re all human here! Can’t we get along?”

“He’s not human,” Al muttered. “He’s… something else entirely.”

“Different species?”

Al’s remark hit me square in the heart.

Different species…? No way… I’m human… I swear I’m human…

I mean, sure, my status screen had ghosted me again, so I couldn’t check for proof, but still. I’m pretty sure I’m human… probably…

While I sat there in silent despair, emotionally wrecked, Zora suddenly raised her voice.

“Ah! Look! There’s land ahead!”

“Huh?”

I followed her pointing finger, and there it was. A distant stretch of land rising on the horizon.

Still far enough that we couldn’t make out the details, but the size alone was telling. This wasn’t some tiny island; it looked more like a small continent.

Well, yeah. Makes sense, I guess. If it’s home to a bunch of warlords all fighting for control, it’s not gonna be a patch of farmland. Even though Japan looks small on a globe, getting from one end to the other still takes hours by bullet train or plane.

As the sea continued carrying us forward, the full shape of the landmass began to reveal itself.

There was no beach to speak of, and no port either. Instead, the coastline was littered with jagged reefs, sharp outcrops jutting up from the water like natural defenses. And looming ahead was a massive cliff face, rising steeply above the waves.

“Do we… have to climb that just to get on land?” I asked uncertainly.

“Nah,” Al replied, squinting at the terrain. “If we circle around, there’s probably a beach somewhere.”

As we drifted closer, still scanning the shoreline, Yaiba suddenly stiffened beside me. His voice came out tight and strained.

“T-That is… Muu-sama?!”

His urgency snapped our attention back to the cliffs. I squinted at the scene unfolding near the edge.

There, at the base of the cliff, was a woman in an ornate kimono, shielded by a figure in ninja-like garb. They stood with their backs to the cliff, cornered.

Opposite them, a group of men—dressed like Yaiba, in traditional robes—stood with blades drawn, slowly advancing.

Yeah. Not a friendly reunion.

“Holy crap,” I muttered. “That’s an actual topknot.”

“What are you so impressed about?!” Al barked, aghast.

Come on! I wanted to shout. That was a real topknot! A legit, no-wig-needed, fully committed topknot!

Yaiba just wore his hair tied up in the back, so I hadn’t expected actual topknot culture to be alive and well here! Honestly, that discovery alone was kinda moving!

But before I could fully bask in this oddly specific joy, the samurai-like men below started to move.

“This is bad!” Yaiba’s voice was sharp with urgency. “Seiichi-dono! I beg of you, carry me to the top of that cliff!”

“Excuse me?!”

Carry him?! How?! There wasn’t a single normal landing spot in sight. No beach. No path. Just sheer rock. We’d have to scale it ourselves!

As I struggled to process that impossible request, a voice rang out inside my head.

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘handle’?”

A chill ran down my spine.

This feels like a really bad idea.

“W-Wait! Don’t just say ‘off we go’ like it’s… Wait, you’re not seriously—?!”

“Gah! I knew it!”

The ocean—yes, the very ocean—shifted again, morphing without warning into a titanic arm of liquid.

Before we could react, it scooped all of us into its giant watery palm… and launched us skyward like skipping stones from hell.

“Wheee! We’re flying!” Saria cheered, absolutely delighted.

“This is nice,” Lulune murmured, completely relaxed.

“W-We’re airborne!” Zora shrieked.

“Seiichi! What kind of lunatic are you?!” Al shouted over the roar of wind.

“I’m sorry!”

Everyone had their own reaction to being forcibly yeeted into the sky by a sentient sea, and none of those responses were the least bit comforting. At this rate, we weren’t going to land on the Cliff of Poyo; we were going to end up on Cliffside Splat.

As the ground raced up to meet us, the two groups still facing off on the cliff finally noticed us screaming toward them.

And then—

“Muu-sama!”

Amid the chaos, only one among us had eyes for the battle ahead.

Unshaken by the absurdity of being launched sky-high, Yaiba focused solely on one thing: protecting Lady Muu.

In mid-air, he shifted his stance into a lightning-fast iaijutsu draw. Then, just like Saria’s Sky Stride technique, he launched himself off the very air, using it as footholds, and shot toward the armed samurai below with terrifying speed.

“Haaah!”

“Yaiba?!”

“Seiichi! Forget about him, we’ve got our own problem to deal with!” Al snapped, her voice tight with panic. “We’re about to faceplant into the ground!”

She was right.

Left to gravity’s mercy, we were plummeting fast, and while I might survive a fall like this just fine, I wasn’t sure about the others.

Actually, as I thought about it, at my current level, I might not even take damage from anything anymore. Physically, at least. Mentally, I remained as fragile as ever, thank you very much.

Still, I wasn’t about to test that theory with a bellyflop from terminal velocity.

So, just like I had with the ocean, I decided to take a chance.

“Um! Mr. Land, could you catch us, please?!”

“What?!” Al’s shout of disbelief barely had time to register—

Because the cliff below shifted.

Just as the sea had done before, the rock face morphed, rising into a massive stone hand and forming a familiar thumbs-up gesture.

Then, gently, that hand opened… and caught us.

We landed with a soft boing, as if we’d fallen into a cushion made of clouds instead of stone. I had no idea how it worked, but it didn’t hurt at all, just a light, springy bounce, like a balloon had caught us in mid-fall.

Cradled in the giant rocky palm, we were slowly lowered to the top of the cliff, and what we saw upon landing was pure chaos.

Yaiba had already thrown himself into the fray, cutting through the enemy samurai with ferocious precision.

“Hraaah!”

“Impossible! What is the Heavenly Blade doing here?!”

“He was supposed to be dead!”

Clearly, Yaiba’s sudden appearance had caught the enemy completely off guard. Their formation broke as panic rippled through them.

Even the pair standing closest—the kunoichi in ninja garb and the noble-looking woman in the luxurious kimono—stood frozen in disbelief, staring at Yaiba as if he’d risen from the grave.

Just as Yaiba had warned, the samurai weren’t pushovers. No matter how skilled he was, the tide of battle had begun to turn against him. Surrounded and steadily outnumbered, Yaiba was being driven back inch by inch.

“Seiichi! Should we help him?” Saria tilted her head, voice light but serious.

Helping would mean stepping fully into Yaiba’s mess and getting tangled up in his whole conflict, all the way to the end.

Not that we aren’t already neck-deep at this point.

I sighed.

“This is so weird. I came out here for a vacation…”

“Give it up,” Al muttered beside me. “You could be dropped in the middle of a wheat field and still end up in a warzone.”

“That’s not a good thing!”

As we bickered, the pair of women—one in a formal kimono, the other dressed in sleek ninja garb—finally noticed us.

“Y-You there…!”

The ninja woman’s voice was sharp, feminine, and tense. She stepped in front of the noblewoman protectively, eyes narrowed as if we might suddenly charge at them.

Great. Now even they’re wary of us. One wrong move and we might end up with a kunai between the ribs.

I was just wondering what the least threatening thing I could say was when, once again, a voice echoed inside my mind.

“Huh?”

The voice sounded completely confident.

“I… guess?”

I didn’t know who or what I was taking orders from anymore, but if it could help with the situation, sure, why not? It’s not like this day could get any weirder.

I felt Al’s eyes on me as I took a step forward. She’d noticed the change in my expression and was bracing for the worst. Rightfully so, perhaps.

Saria looked curious. Al looked resigned. Zora looked mildly horrified.

They weren’t wrong to be concerned, but come on. I wasn’t about to do anything crazy. Not like earlier with the ocean throwing us at a cliff, right?

Right?

With a deep breath, I spoke the words the voice gave me.

“Ocean-san. Land-san. Do your thing.”

“Yes, sir!”

…

Wait.

What?

Before I could second-guess what I’d just said, a massive geyser erupted from the sea behind us.

And then, the cliff face behind us began to shudder.

Massive chunks of stone erupted outward, linking like chains in midair as they flew toward the enemy samurai. A moment later, jets of water burst skyward from the sea, rising like tentacles—no, like divine punishment made manifest—and surged straight toward the enemy lines.

“W-What the hell is this?!”

“Bluh… Gahhh! The water’s— Blehhh?!”

“Rock tentac— Gwrhhh!”

The battlefield turned into a slapstick massacre. Samurai were swept away one after another, tossed through the air by writhing tendrils of water and stone. The sight was so overwhelming, so nonsensical, that none of us could do anything but stare.

Not just me and my group… no. The kunoichi and the noblewoman stood frozen, slack-jawed. Even Yaiba, who had just been risking his life moments ago, could only gape at the carnage.

By the time the dust settled, every one of the samurai attackers was down for the count, lying in limp heaps on the rocky plateau.

And then, the very entities responsible for the chaos—those serpentine arms of sea and earth—slithered to either side of me, looming like loyal guardians. Just as I opened my mouth to maybe say something, anything, the familiar voice returned in my mind:

Wai— Wait a damn minute!

My brain stalled for a second too long before catching up to the nonsense spewing from my own telepathic narrator.

Who the hell are you mimicking now?! Some kind of divine monarch from a historical drama?!

Also, you realize you’re in my head, right?! No one can hear you but me! The whole “tremble before Lord Seiichi” bit doesn’t work if you’re invisible to everyone else!

Not to mention… everyone’s already unconscious! Nobody’s standing! Or kneeling! They’re just out cold!

While I was mentally flailing, I felt the weight of a stare settle on me. A slow, deadpan stare.

I turned toward it and met Al’s eyes.

She was looking at me like I’d just sprouted antlers and declared myself Queen of the Moon.

“…”

“Don’t just stare! Say something! Anything! Please!”

Her silence hit harder than any tentacle ever could, and all I could do was scream into the awkward void as my dignity crumbled around me.

Chapter 11: A Test of Skill

“My deepest thanks… Once again, I owe you my life, Seiichi-dono.”

“No, really, we didn’t actually do anything this time. Seiichi just… did his thing,” Al muttered.

“Can’t even deny it!” I cried, hands in the air.

True enough, I had technically neutralized the samurai threat single-handedly, but not because I planned to. If anything, the rest of the group didn’t have time to do anything. By the time anyone could react, it was all over.

Yaiba and the ninja woman had acted fast once the enemies were down. With practiced efficiency, they’d trussed up the unconscious attackers in thick, heavy ropes, like they’d done it a thousand times before.

Once the dust settled, Yaiba bowed to us again, his gratitude sincere.

But not everyone looked pleased.

The kunoichi, who had been shielding the noble girl this entire time, shot us a sharp, wary glare. She clearly hadn’t dropped her guard, and her next words came in a tense voice.

“Yaiba-dono. Why have you brought outsiders here? Do you have any idea what the situation is?”

“I do,” Yaiba replied calmly. “But had it not been for these very people, I would never have made it back alive. And had that been the case, neither you nor Muu-sama would be standing here unharmed.”

The kunoichi bit her lip, frustration flickering in her eyes. She knew he was right.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Yaiba straightened and gestured toward the girl behind her. “Let me offer a proper introduction. This is the one I serve, Lady Muu of House Yamato. And the one beside her, clad in black, is a kunoichi under her command… You may think of her as a covert agent. Her name is Tsukikage Eiya.”

Introductions complete, I turned my attention to the pair.

Lady Muu was not what I had expected.

She looked around twelve. Just a kid. Her kimono, though worn from travel, was clearly made of fine materials. Even a novice like me could tell. It wasn’t as extravagant as the twelve-layered robes I’d seen in books, but it gave off the same kind of regal air.

She had long, snow-white hair, and her eyes—clear blue—seemed distant, unfocused. Doll-like, almost. Not fragile, exactly, but… emotionless. Like something vital had been carefully removed and locked away.

By contrast, Eiya looked every bit the deadly ninja. Her entire body was wrapped in fitted black cloth, her head covered by a matching hood that left only her sharp, watchful eyes exposed.

She stood protectively between her lady and us, unmoving. Every inch of her radiated suspicion.

Though I couldn’t see her face beneath the black hood, it was painfully clear that Tsukikage Eiya didn’t trust us. And honestly? I couldn’t blame her.

I mean, we’d shown up out of nowhere, literally launched in from the sea, and then the ocean and land themselves had sprouted tentacle-like limbs to sweep aside a group of samurai like they were nothing.

If I were in her shoes, I’d have already sprinted off into the woods screaming. This had “mysterious threat” written all over it.

Still, thanks to Yaiba’s vouching, we managed to exchange brief introductions without getting stabbed. Once that was done, he turned toward us again, eyes sharp with renewed resolve.

“Seiichi-dono,” he said, bowing low. “You have saved us again. Thanks to you, I was able to return to Lady Muu’s side. I am deeply grateful.”

“Oh, uh… Please don’t worry about it. I’m just glad we could help.”

He bowed even lower. “Your kindness honors me. But… because I have been aided so greatly, I must now ask something more. Seiichi-dono, I implore you, leave this country. The Eastlands are no place for outsiders. Not now.”

“Well,” I muttered with a dry smile, “after what we just saw, I think we figured that out.”

I didn’t know the whole story yet, but judging by how freely assassins seemed to operate here, it was obvious that this was not the kind of place you could just stroll through unscathed.

Still…

“If you don’t mind, could you tell us what’s really going on?”

The words left me before I even realized I’d spoken. I wanted to know. Not out of curiosity, but because I didn’t want to walk away from this.

My question made both Yaiba and Tsukikage blink in surprise. Their eyes widened slightly.

“You sure about this?” Al asked quietly, stepping beside me. Her voice was calm, but her gaze was steady and unflinching. “If we hear him out, we’re in. No backing out after that.”

“I figured as much,” I said, giving a small nod. “And yeah, I know it might drag the rest of you into this. I’m sorry for that. But…”

My eyes wandered toward Lady Muu, doll-like and still, dressed in silk that was frayed at the hems.

“I can’t just look the other way after seeing something like that. If someone’s being hunted, I can’t pretend it’s not happening.”

Al let out a small breath, not quite a sigh, and gave me the faintest of smirks.

“Of course. Figures you’d say that.”

Al gave a quiet chuckle in response to my answer, the kind that spoke more of satisfaction than amusement.

One by one, the others stepped forward as well.

“I’m in too! We’ve gotta help people when they’re in trouble, right?” Saria declared, beaming with her usual brightness.

“Yeah. Helping each other matters,” murmured a soft voice, calm and steady.

“If I can be of any use, then I’m more than happy to help!” said another, her eyes sparkling with determination.

“I will follow only my master’s will,” came Lulune’s quiet, composed response.

Wow… Lulune’s come so far.

Just hearing those words made something tighten in my chest. I had to blink a few times as I glanced at her.

But then Yaiba suddenly raised his voice, a bit panicked.

“W-Wait a moment, everyone! D-Do you truly understand what you’re saying?! There is still time to turn back, you know!”

“It’s fine,” I said with a calm smile. “Besides… after what I did to those guys tied up over there, there’s no turning back now, is there?”

“Ugh…”

Yeah, no matter how you look at it, I don’t think ‘unrelated bystander’ is gonna fly anymore. We really did blast them halfway into next week.

“So please, don’t worry about us.”

“I see… If you would go so far for us, then—”

“Wait, Yaiba-dono!”

At last, Tsukikage Eiya, who had been silent with tension, could no longer hold her tongue.

“I still cannot trust these people! Especially not someone from outside our land!”

“Eiya-dono, I do understand your concern. But why such distrust toward outsiders in particular?”

“Why, you ask? No… it was after Yaiba-dono disappeared that it became clear.”

“There was trouble while I was gone?” Yaiba asked, his brow furrowed.

Eiya’s expression darkened with loathing as she gave a solemn nod.

“Yes. We’ve finally identified the mastermind behind all of this.”

“What?!”

“But worse still, that mastermind has already made their move. The power structure of our nation, its strongest leaders, has been completely wiped out. The Eastlands now…” She took a breath, her voice low and grave. “The Eastlands are effectively under their complete control.”

“What are you saying?!” Yaiba cried, aghast, eyes widened in shock at Tsukikage’s words.

According to him, the Eastlands hadn’t even solidified as a proper nation yet, just a chaotic collection of feudal houses battling for power, each like its own warlord. But from what Tsukikage was saying now, the reality seemed far different.

“The mastermind behind this is someone from beyond our borders. I do not know which land they hail from, but their power is overwhelming. In the span of a single night, they brought every major faction, save the Yamato House, under their control.”

“What?!” Yaiba’s voice cracked in disbelief.

“This is getting more dangerous by the second,” Al muttered, brows furrowed.

Origa, who had been silently listening, gave a small nod.

“Yeah. In this kind of situation, the first country that comes to mind is the Kaizell Empire.”

Honestly, she has a point. If we had to point fingers based on past events, the Kaizell Empire was always the most suspicious. They’d never once stayed quiet.

But something clearly didn’t sit right with Origa. She tilted her head in thought.

“I used to be in the Kaizell Empire. I know a bit about how they operate. From their perspective? Invading the Eastlands wouldn’t be a priority. Not yet. They’d have to conquer Windberg, the Varcia Empire, or the Demon Kingdom first, other countries on the same continent. Stretching their forces too thin across the sea would only leave their homeland vulnerable.”

“Huh, makes sense.”

Apparently, Tsukikage had overheard our conversation. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

“So you, too, cannot identify the nation seeking to take our homeland. But that does not mean I trust you. The suspicion I hold for outsiders is unchanged. No matter the reason, foreign hands meddling in our affairs only ever bring misfortune. And if you truly intend to fight alongside us, then know this.”

She stepped forward, her tone colder, sharper.

“Half-measures will not suffice. The ones ruling our land now, the outsiders who usurped our lords, are powerful beyond measure. If your strength is lacking, you’ll only slow us down.”

She’s not wrong. Even if we say we’re here to help, it’d be meaningless if we can’t actually do anything.

But still, if it’s not the Kaizell Empire, then who the hell is it?

It would probably take the Varcia Empire a little more time to stabilize after the recent attack, and the Demon King’s Realm was surely in turmoil as well now that Zephal, the former Demon King and Routier’s father, had returned.

As for the Windberg Kingdom, where we lived… Well, yeah, that place was busy in every sense of the word. Way too busy to be worrying about serious matters like this. The soldiers alone had their hands full dealing with perverts, after all.

Which left only one possibility: an invasion from yet another continent, one different from both the continent Windberg sat on and this eastern land.

Honestly, I didn’t even know how many other continents existed out there. Still, as a possibility, it wasn’t exactly far-fetched.

“I understand your concern,” I said, turning to Tsukikage. “So what would convince you that we’re strong enough to be worth your support?”

“Hm, let me think.” Tsukikage crossed her arms, her expression tightening slightly as she considered it. “Fortunately, the guardian deity has returned. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that you are our allies…”

She fell quiet, eyes lowering as she mulled it over. A moment later, as if something had clicked into place, she looked up again.

“Very well. Let us do this. At present, we are being hunted by agents of various lords who have sworn fealty to that outsider nation. To guard against them, I wish to first test your ability to detect an enemy.”

I see. She wants to test our detection skills.

That made sense. With strong scouting abilities, there’d be no fear of ambushes. If you could spot the enemy early enough, you could even take a wide detour and avoid them altogether.

“So,” Tsukikage continued, already shifting her stance, “I will now conceal myself within that forest over there. I want you to find me.”

“Huh?”

“I am a ninja. Naturally, our enemies have ninjas as well. Attacks from such individuals are the most dangerous of all.” Her gaze sharpened. “If you cannot find me here, then it would only be a matter of time before Lady Muu falls to a surprise strike. That is precisely why this trial is necessary. Do you accept?”

We exchanged glances. No one seemed to have a problem with it. One by one, we nodded.

Tsukikage gave a single, satisfied nod in return, then turned her eyes toward the guardian deity.

“That being the case, I leave Lady Muu in your care for the time being.”

“Of course, I’ll protect her without needing to be asked,” Yaiba said.

He didn’t voice it outright, but his gaze lingered on us with clear unease.

Well, yeah, I couldn’t blame him. Tsukikage was a ninja through and through, exactly as she looked. There was no way she wouldn’t be better at hiding than someone like me.

When it came to detection skills in our group, Origa and Saria were probably the standouts. Origa was an obvious choice, given her past as an assassin. Saria had spent her life in the forest, hunting, tracking, and erasing her presence; she should be well-versed in all of it. Then again, considering how strong she was, maybe she’d never even needed to bother hiding herself. Still, I figured her presence detection had to be solid.

Al had likely picked up similar skills over the course of her adventuring career, so I wasn’t especially worried about her.

The real problem was Zora, Lulune, and me.

I had at least learned one thing. When I went to the underworld, I’d acquired techniques for manipulating life force, originally meant for dealing with evil spirits. Thanks to that, I could sense living beings.

How well that would work against Tsukikage, though, was something I wouldn’t know until this actually started.

Zora, on the other hand, had spent most of her life living inside dungeons. Among this group, she was easily the least accustomed to combat and detection alike. Of course, she had abilities unique to her, so fighting wouldn’t be an issue, but when it came to sensing enemies, she was practically a novice.

And then there was the biggest headache of all: Lulune.

Can she even do detection? I honestly have no idea.

After all, she’d originally just been an ordinary donkey.

And yet, she had now devoured an evil god and become a being whose entire body was “the cosmos itself.” I had no clue where the donkey part had gone.

In battle, she possessed enough raw power to obliterate even powerful monsters with a single kick.

But does that translate into detection abilities?

I can’t even begin to guess.

Without thinking, I glanced her way. Lulune noticed immediately and simply tilted her head, staring back at me with a puzzled look.

Well, whatever. As long as we don’t rely on her.

If the rest of us do our best, that should be enough.

Once I’d more or less organized my thoughts, Tsukikage moved again. To make absolutely sure the captured samurai didn’t escape, she bound them even more thoroughly than before, then rolled them into a spot where they remained firmly within Yaiba’s line of sight.

“Whew, that should do it,” she said with a small exhale. “Now I can step away for a bit without worry.”

“Um, are you sure this is okay?” I asked. “I get that you want to test us, but holding a trial out here like this—”

“There’s no need for concern,” Tsukikage replied calmly. “Aside from the attackers we captured here, there was no one else in the area. In other words, until their side comes to confirm whether we’re dead or alive, we have a little leeway.” She paused briefly. “That said, we don’t have time to drag this out.”

She straightened, her tone sharpening.

“I’ll explain the rules. While Seiichi-dono and the others count to thirty, I will conceal myself somewhere in the nearby forest. As for how far I’ll go… well, I won’t be unreasonably far. I have no intention of moving an absurd distance. If anything were to happen to Muu-sama, it would be unacceptable, so I plan to remain relatively close. If you manage to find me, that will be your victory.”

She nodded once to herself.

“The time limit will be… Roughly one koku should suffice. Find me within that time. Are you ready?”

I looked around at Saria and the others. They nodded, their expressions tightened with focus.

“Good. Then…” Tsukikage drew a breath. “Begin!”

The moment the word left her lips, she moved. In a flash, she dashed toward the forest, and in the blink of an eye, her figure vanished completely.

While that was happening, we used the few seconds we had left before finishing our count to talk things over.

“So… what do we do?” someone muttered. “Think we can actually find her?”

“Hmm… I think we’ll be fine,” Saria said lightly.

“Yeah, I agree with Saria-oneechan,” Origa added with a small nod. “There’s no way she could’ve gone very far in just thirty seconds.”

“But even from here, that forest looks pretty dense,” Al said, narrowing her eyes. “And Tsukikage’s dressed in a way that won’t stand out at all, kind of like Origa. Finding her won’t be easy.”

“T-That’s true,” another voice chimed in. “I can’t feel her presence at all anymore…”

Everyone threw out their thoughts, but nothing really came together into a solid plan. Before we knew it, we’d finished counting to thirty.

“Well, either way,” Al said with a shrug, rolling her shoulders, “guess we’d better start looking. If we don’t pass this test, we can’t even help Yaiba.”

Just as Al was about to head into the forest, something suddenly occurred to me.

Wait. Maybe this could work?

“Huh?” Al said, turning back. “What is it?”

As Al, Saria, Origa, and the others looked at me with puzzled expressions, I quietly turned my gaze downward.

Then, I spoke to the ground beneath our feet.

“Um… Land,” I asked hesitantly. “Can you catch Tsukikage, since she just moved?”

“Hey, Seiichi? What are you doi—”

“Eek!”

Before Al could finish her question to me, a woman’s scream ripped through the air.

I instinctively snapped my gaze in that direction, and there it was. The same rocky tentacle that had swept the samurai aside earlier had wrapped itself around Tsukikage, hoisting her high into the sky.

Then, as if nothing were amiss, the stone tentacle slid smoothly back toward me. When it reached us, it gently lowered Tsukikage onto the ground right in front of us.

“…”

The silence that followed was… painful.

※※※

Before Seiichi and the others ever met the Guardian Deity, Yaiba, events were already unfolding in the Eastlands. At the very center of this region stood its most prosperous city, Eikyō, the capital. Within Eikyō rose the largest structure in all the Eastlands: the colossal Sun Castle.

If Seiichi were to see it, he would probably think it looked like a five-story pagoda fused with a traditional Japanese castle. That was the impression it gave.

Inside the castle’s grand hall, a single man sat in elegant repose, leisurely drinking sake.

The hall itself was laid with tatami mats, and the surrounding décor evoked the aesthetics of Japan’s Sengoku period. Yet scattered throughout the room, almost jarringly so, were high-tech platforms, faintly glowing circuits, and unfamiliar mechanical frameworks woven into the architecture.

The result was deeply incongruous.

It was as though someone had forcibly embedded future technology into the heart of the Warring States era, a strange, unsettling space that defied common sense.

Just then, one of the man’s subordinates approached him.

“P-Please accept my report… The kidnapping of the Yamato house’s head… has… failed.”

“Mm?”

The man responded with a single word, his voice glacially cold.

Still bowing deeply, the subordinate began to tremble.

“T-The thing is, we were counterattacked by the one remaining member of the Heavenly Blade. During that opening, the head of the Yamato house—”

“So you came all this way merely to inform me of your own incompetence?”

“N-Never! I would never dare—!”

The subordinate pressed his forehead against the floor again and again, offering nothing but frantic apologies.

The man looked down at him with icy disdain, then slowly curled his lips into a cruel smile.

“Very well. I am magnanimous. I shall grant you one more chance.”

“…”

“Bring Mu-Yu before me at once.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The subordinate bowed one final time, then hastily withdrew from the hall.

The man did not bother to watch him leave. Instead, he quietly turned his gaze toward the outside world.

“Hehehe… To think such an existence would be found on a backwater planet like this…”

The instant his grin deepened, his body twisted grotesquely. From his back, writhing tentacles burst forth, and his face warped into something no longer human, something else entirely.

It resembled the so-called “grey” aliens of Earth, tinged with faintly piscine features. Whatever it was, one thing was certain: it was not human.

In that transformed state, the creature’s smile widened even further.

If I obtain that being, I shall become the ruler of the universe. Ku he he… Ga ha ha ha ha ha!

So utterly convinced of his plan’s inevitable success, the man failed to imagine even a single thing that awaited him beyond this point.

Chapter 12: Muu

“I acknowledge… Seiichi-dono and the others’… strength.”

“Okay.”

We hadn’t even moved from where we stood, and within seconds, we’d already caught Tsukikage.

In terms of results, we’d proven our ability, but the outcome was so absurdly one-sided that Tsukikage wore an indescribable expression on her face, while the guardian deity looked utterly baffled.

Don’t worry. I’m confused too.

Just then, Al—who’d been all fired up and ready to head into the forest to search—let out an exasperated sigh.

“Well, considering you’ve had the sea personally escorting you around before, I guess it’s a bit late to be surprised now, but still…” She glanced at me sidelong. “Seiichi.”

“Y-Yes?”

“You don’t even use magic anymore.”

“Huh?”

Now that she said it, it was true… But come on! What was I supposed to do? If I asked and it moved on its own, of course, I’d rely on it!

I had no idea how much magical power I actually possessed at this point, but at the very least, it wasn’t something that would run dry easily.

Still, if I could get by without using magic, wasn’t that better?

While I wallowed in my despair, Al continued, sounding oddly sentimental.

“You know, you were good enough that Barbodel Magic Academy scouted you and had you teaching as an instructor…”

“Stop! That’s more than my heart can take!”

“For someone saying that, you look pretty lively to me?”

Well, this kind of banter was just business as usual for us.

Even when it’s rough, stay cheerful. That’s important.

As Al and I went back and forth, Tsukikage, still wearing that hard-to-read expression, turned to Yaiba.

“Are all people from the outer lands nothing but monsters like this?”

“I-I couldn’t say…” Yaiba replied hesitantly. “Seiichi-dono and his companions are the first people from the outer lands I met…”

“Sorry, but he’s an exception among exceptions,” Al cut in flatly. “No one else can copy what Seiichi does. You can rest easy.”

“I-Is that so?”

“If what Altria-dono says is true,” Tsukikage murmured, “then there could hardly be anything more reassuring.”

Seeing that Tsukikage still hadn’t quite processed everything, Saria stepped in with a bright smile.

“It’s fine! Seiichi will take care of it somehow!”

“I-I mean, Saria, I appreciate the trust, but there are limits to what I can actually handle…”

“Relax. If it’s something even you can’t handle, then it would all be over anyway.”

“That far already?!”

I seriously doubted that was true. There were plenty of things in this world that were beyond my ability to deal with.

“W-Well, fine. Putting that aside, what do we do next?” I asked. “That mastermind you mentioned… They’re after Muu-sama, right?”

As I spoke, I turned my gaze toward Lady Muu. Just like when we first met, she stared vacantly into the empty space, her expression hollow and unfocused.

“Um… Guardian Deity? Is she always, you know, like this?”

“I understand what you’re trying to say, Seiichi-dono…” Yaiba replied quietly. “But this is Muu-sama’s usual state. No, rather, it would be more accurate to say this is what she has become.”

“Huh?”

At Yaiba’s words, I tilted my head in confusion. His expression darkened, and Tsukikage beside him wore the same sorrowful look.

“Muu-sama’s current state is the result of sealing away her own power.”

“Her… power?”

“That is correct. Tell me, Seiichi-dono, do you know what gave birth to this land? Not just this country, but the very land itself.”

“Gave birth to this land?”

One strange statement after another left not only me, but Al and the others as well, staring in bewilderment.

“This place, known as the Eastlands, was created by Muu-sama’s power.”

“Wha—?!”

The words hit us like a thunderclap, and we were struck speechless.

A land created by one person? What does that even—

“What exactly does that mean?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Yaiba said. “The land where we now live did not exist before.”

“And no, I do not mean it was once an uninhabited island,” Tsukikage added quietly. “It truly did not exist at all.”

“Didn’t exist…? So, are you saying it was just the ocean?”

“That would be the correct interpretation,” Yaiba answered.

“So she’s in the same category as Seiichi, huh…”

“Could you not summarize it like that?!”

At Al’s weary remark, I couldn’t help snapping back. I hadn’t gone around creating land, okay?! I was just asking for certain things to cooperate with me. That was all!

“Wait… hold on,” I said, suddenly catching on. “If I remember right, Guardian Deity, you’re the tenth-generation head, or maybe even later, right? Doesn’t that mean those generations were passed down somewhere outside this land?”

“No,” Yaiba replied evenly. “They were passed down here, in this country, on this very land.”

“T-Then…” My voice faltered. “Muu-sama is… Just how ol—”

I stopped myself before the words slipped out. Asking someone important their age was bad enough, but asking a woman? Absolutely not.

Still, one thing was clear: she had lived for a span of time far, far longer than we ever had.

And yet, no matter how you looked at her, she appeared to be nothing more than a young girl. She didn’t give off the impression of an elf like Barney, either.

“Returning to the matter at hand,” Yaiba continued, “it is no exaggeration to say that this continent was born by Muu-sama’s power. Truly, it was power befitting a god.”

“However,” Tsukikage added quietly, “there arose those who worshiped that power, those who sought to eliminate it… and those who wished to exploit it.”

“That’s…” I trailed off.

“A natural outcome,” Yaiba said. “Muu-sama’s power is such that calling it divine would not be incorrect. Earlier, I said she created this land, but her power was not limited to land alone. Muu-sama could create anything.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“Hey. Don’t tell me—”

Al’s cheek twitched as something clicked in her mind.

Meeting her gaze straight on, Yaiba spoke with grave certainty.

“Of course… Humans as well.”

“—?!”

“You’re not saying she got married, had a husband, and gave birth to kids the normal way, right?”

“That is not the case,” Yaiba said quietly. “Muu-sama created humans from nothing at all. Those she brought into being varied in age and gender, and the place where those created people gathered is what became this country.”

“She’s seriously a god,” Al muttered.

At her words, the rest of us were left speechless. After all, what she had done was exactly what you’d expect from a god.

She created land and living beings. That was something no human could ever accomplish.

Even I couldn’t do that. Right? No, I’m not doing that. I’m human. It’s fine.

Yeah. Thinking about it any further was honestly terrifying, so I decided to stop. There was no way I could do something like that. I was human, after all.

In any case, Lady Muu was truly a being worthy of the title of god.

“So about Muu-sama’s power being sealed…?”

“Muu-sama wielded power akin to that of a god,” Yaiba said, his voice heavy. “Yet while her power was divine, her heart was that of a human.”

“Huh?”

“Muu-sama created many humans and lived among them. But of those she created, the ones who could truly be called her children, many ended up betraying her. Some tried to eliminate her, while others sought to use her for their own purposes.” Yaiba lowered his gaze. “To be betrayed by the humans she herself had created… Muu-sama’s heart was deeply wounded. And so, in order to never feel that pain again, she sealed away her own power along with her heart. That is the Muu-sama you see before you now.”

“That’s so sad,” Saria whispered.

She was only voicing what she honestly felt.

Not just Muu-sama, Zeanos and even the Black Dragon God had all suffered in much the same way because of humans.

We really are a hopeless species, aren’t we? Well. I guess I’m human too.

“So then,” Al said, scratching her cheek, “what kind of position has Muu-sama held all this time? She’s basically a founding god, right?”

“Before sealing her heart, Muu-sama ruled this country as its queen,” Yaiba explained. “But after the sealing, she became little more than a symbol of the nation, a presence that merely existed. As a result, the country fractured. Lords who sought to take her place rose up one after another, and thus this land descended into an age of war.”

“I see…”

So her position was something like the emperor back in Japan. Or rather, closer to the emperor during the Sengoku period, maybe?

With that thought, a question naturally surfaced.

“Then why target Muu-sama now?” I asked. “She sealed her own power, didn’t she?”

“She did,” Yaiba said. “However, the one orchestrating this incident appears to possess the means to break her seal. That is precisely why they are targeting her.”

“That’s insane. You mean they want the power to create anything?”

“No,” he replied firmly. “Their objective is not that power.”

“Huh?”

“Muu-sama possesses another aspect,” Yaiba said with a gravity that made my skin prickle.

Another one? There’s more?

“She has two faces,” he continued. “One is that of the one who brings forth existence from nothing: the creator. And the other is that of one who is nothingness itself.”

“Is… nothingness?”

“In other words,” Yaiba said quietly, “the power to reduce everything to nothing.”

The implications hit us like a physical blow, and once again, we were struck dumb.

E-Everything… to nothing?

Al, her face twitching just like before, forced out the question. “D-Don’t tell me… that power too…”

“Anything,” Yaiba answered. “Without exception.”

“…”

There were no words left.

To erase anything at all.

In other words, even humans could be erased, their existence wiped away as if they had never been there at all.

“A being that possesses both creation and destruction, one who embodies existence and nothingness alike. That is Mu-Yu, the truth of Muu-sama’s nature… and everything our enemy is after.”

Let me just say one thing. I remembered having the same thought when we helped Routier’s father, Zephal, but the scale of things now was truly absurd.

What the hell? I already thought things were ridiculous when we faced the Night King, but this was on a whole different level! There was yet another outrageously overpowered existence sitting right here!

Was there really any opening for a Demon God to exploit in this world?! How could that even be possible?! This didn’t look like a world where a Demon God could get anything done! Then again, maybe the Demon God is even more insane than everything I’ve seen so far. That is possible.

Still, this is way more dangerous than me. Not even close.

I can’t erase humans—

… Huh? No. That line of thought feels bad. Really bad.

D-Don’t think about it.

It’s fine. I’m human. Just human.

“We do not know how knowledge of Muu-sama’s power leaked to the outer lands,” Tsukikage said, her expression grave. “But we cannot hand Muu-sama over to such vile beings, who would pursue her for nothing more than their own selfish desires.”

She finished firmly, her resolve unmistakable.

“We’ve talked long enough. It’s time we move. If the ones who attacked us haven’t returned by now, the enemy has likely already sensed something is wrong.”

“Understood.”

We nodded, then followed after Tsukikage, leaving the area behind.

Chapter 13: Village of Shadows

“…”

“…”

As we moved along behind Tsukikage, Lady Muu kept staring straight at me.

For the record, she was currently being carried on Tsukikage’s back, which meant she was deliberately twisting around just to look at me.

“…”

“…”

“Um. Is there… something wrong?”

“…”

Oh no. She’s the type you can’t hold a conversation with.

Well, according to what Tsukikage and Yaiba had said, Lady Muu had sealed her heart along with her power. If that was the case, it wasn’t surprising she couldn’t really communicate properly.

Still, why was she staring at me?

Wait.

Huh?! Don’t tell me… Do I smell?!

“H-Hey, Al,” I whispered. “Do I stink?”

“Where the hell did that come from?” she shot back.

“I’m suddenly feeling insecure about my body odor…”

I mean, I had once killed a higher-ranked monster with my stench, after all.

Al leaned in slightly, sniffed once or twice, then shook her head. “No, you don’t stink. I-I actually like the way you smell.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah! Seiichi smells nice,” Saria chimed in brightly.

“N-Nice?”

That was a first.

Though, to be fair, aside from Al, Saria’s opinion was questionable.

Back in the dungeon where Zora lived, when even Anakongda had tried to force me into marriage, I’d genuinely started wondering if my body was emitting some kind of gorilla-attracting pheromone.

Given everything that’d happened to me so far, the only reason I could come up with for being stared at this hard was my smell.

“Why is she looking at me like that?” I muttered. “She’s staring so hard it feels like she’s going to burn a hole through me…”

“I do not quite understand why you suddenly became concerned about your scent, Seiichi-dono,” Yaiba said carefully, “but for Muu-sama, there must be something about you that caught her attention.”

“Something that caught her attention…?”

“I am just as surprised,” Yaiba said. “As far as I know, Muu-sama has never shown interest in anything since the moment she sealed her heart. I believe this is the first time it has happened. And yet, for some reason, she reacted to you, Seiichi-dono. She must have sensed something within you, something beyond my understanding. Even with her power sealed, the mystery that surrounds her has not faded in the slightest.”

“So that’s how it is…”

What could someone who’s basically a god possibly sense in an ordinary human like me? Maybe it was my overwhelming small-citizen aura or something equally unimpressive.

Just then, Saria spoke up with a bright smile.

“Seiichi’s fun just to be around, you know? Maybe Muu-sama thinks so too.”

“Huh?”

“They say Muu-sama’s heart is sealed, but maybe Seiichi’s weird behavior is so strange that even that seal can’t fully suppress the impulse to react to it.”

“Hold on… am I really that weird?”

“Yeah.”

“An instant answer?!”

And from everyone, no less. Even Tsukikage, who hadn’t even been part of the conversation, was nodding along. We hadn’t known each other that long, and yet I was already being labeled the odd one out. I mean, sure, I could be loud, and I had a habit of doing ridiculous things, but still…

Hey, common sense, normalcy. You two can come back anytime now. My body is always ready to welcome you.

“We’ve arrived.”

In the middle of that completely pointless exchange, it seemed we’d reached our destination.

When I followed Tsukikage’s gaze, I saw a village nestled deep within the forest, carrying the unmistakable air of a hidden settlement.

So that’s how it is. I hadn’t noticed at all, having followed along behind her without thinking, but apparently, we’d been traveling by some kind of special route the entire time.

That was because, despite being surrounded by forest, the place sat against a sheer cliff face. Houses had been built jutting straight out from that cliff, clinging to it in layers. Under normal circumstances, they should have been visible from some distance away.

And yet, the fact that we had not noticed those houses until we were practically on top of them meant there had to be some kind of special mechanism at work, something deliberately concealing the village.

I had no idea what that trick was, but honestly, it did not matter. Even if I figured it out, it was not like I would have any use for it.

“Whoa!”

“That’s amazing…”

“Mm. It really feels exotic.”

“Y-Yes! The construction is completely different from the houses in the royal capital or Southern!”

Saria and the others voiced their amazement at the sight unfolding before us.

Just as Zora said, the homes here were not stone buildings like those in the Kingdom of Windberg or other nations. They were wooden, thoroughly so. It really felt like old-fashioned Japan.

Many of the buildings resembled long row houses, and to me, a Japanese person, their appearance felt oddly familiar, almost nostalgic.

Thin plumes of smoke rose from all across the village, making it clear that this place was very much alive and thriving.

As we stood there taking it all in, Tsukikage spoke.

“This is my homeland, the Shadow Village. Ordinarily, Muu-sama should be residing in Sun Castle in Eikyō, the heart of this nation. However, that place has already fallen into enemy hands. And with the other lords having sworn fealty as well, there are very few places left where she could flee.”

“And so,” Yaiba continued, “we’ve brought her to Tsukikage-dono’s homeland, this Shadow Village. Seiichi-dono, you likely felt it yourselves. Reaching this place requires the use of special methods. For that reason, we need not worry about pursuit for some time. The village itself also stands firmly on Muu-sama’s side.”

“I see…”

So it really was a ninja hidden village.

As I took another look around, two men dressed like townsfolk from Japan’s Sengoku period hurried toward Tsukikage, their faces tight with concern.

“Eiya! You made it back safely!”

“Yeah,” Tsukikage replied with a nod. “Thanks to fortune. Muu-sama is here with us as well.”

“Your service as shinobi is appreciated. The others can stay in this village for a time. We will also pass along the information we have gathered to you, Eiya.”

“You have my gratitude.”

It seemed those two men were shinobi as well. After exchanging a few words with Tsukikage, they melted into the bustle of the village and vanished as if they had never been there. Seriously, that was incredible.

As I stared after them, Tsukikage turned back toward us.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Those men were shinobi like myself. In fact, everyone who lives in this village is a shinobi. The people here are one of the factions that support Muu-sama. For the time being, you will be staying at an inn provided by the village. This way.”

Following Tsukikage’s lead, we made our way through the streets.

“Welcome! How about some dango?”

“This blade was forged by that famous master smith…”

“Cheap and fresh! Just caught today!”

Voices rang out from all sides, brimming with life and energy. It was obvious that the village was thriving.

Even so, it was surprising that it still did not compare to the central capital. Just how prosperous was that place, anyway?

To be honest, when I heard “hidden village,” I had imagined something far quieter and more subdued. This lively scene completely overturned that image, though in a good way.

“This is it.”

“Huh?”

While I was busy taking in the sights, a massive structure suddenly filled my vision. Calling it a castle would not have been an exaggeration.

But hanging over the entrance was a short curtain with a single character: “Bath.” That made it clear this was not a castle at all.

In other words, the enormous building before us was an inn.

The image was eerily close to a certain god’s bathhouse I knew. This is dangerously similar. I feel like the name has already been taken.

Crossing a red bridge that looked just as familiar, we approached the inn where we would be staying. A woman in a kimono stepped out to greet us, stopping in front of us and bowing deeply.

“Welcome. We have already been informed of your arrival. Please, come inside and make yourselves comfortable. We will do everything we can to see to your needs.”

“Ah… I see…” The words slipped out before I realized something important and started to panic. “W-Wait, hold on. Money! What kind of currency do you use here?”

Staying at a place this fancy without any money would be no laughing matter.

Sure, in the Kingdom of Windberg or anywhere else on the same continent, I never had to worry about cash. But this place was culturally completely different, and given how this country had come into existence, it wouldn’t have been strange at all if even the currency itself had been newly created by Muu-sama’s power.

Depending on the case, most of the money I was carrying would be completely useless.

At my concern, Tsukikage and Yaiba exchanged glances.

“What kind of money, you ask…”

“I believe it is the same as what Seiichi-dono and the others use,” Yaiba replied.

“The same as ours?”

“Well, you see. When you defeat monsters, money drops, does it not? We simply use that.”

“Oh, thank goodness…”

At Yaiba’s answer, I finally felt a wave of relief. Apparently, the currency used in this country was gold coins and silver coins, just like everywhere else.

Still, when I really stopped to think about it, how exactly did money dropping from monsters even work?

If someone told me it was just a system built into the world by the god who created it, that would be the end of the discussion, but still. I had never given it much thought before, but the whole monetary system in this world was full of mysteries. I did not even know whether each country minted coins identical to those dropped by monsters or simply circulated what they found.

From an ordinary person’s perspective, being usable was all that really mattered. Even so, once you started thinking about it, it became oddly fascinating. Then again, this was probably not something worth digging into right now. The more I thought about it, the more it felt like I would fall into a bottomless pit of questions, so it was better not to dwell on it too much.

While I was lost in those thoughts, the woman from the inn suddenly spoke up in a flustered tone.

“Oh, please do not worry. We will not be charging you!”

“Huh? Really?”

“Of course. We could never ask for payment when welcoming Muu-sama. Naturally, the same applies to those accompanying her. If you are serving as her guards, then it is our duty, as those who serve the House of Yamato, to offer you the utmost hospitality. Please, make yourselves at home in this inn.”

What an incredible level of preferential treatment.

I got treated like an honored guest by the sea earlier, and now I’m being treated like royalty by people, too. Is this some kind of trend today?

“We shouldn’t keep talking out here,” the innkeeper continued with a gentle smile. “Please, come inside. We have already prepared our finest rooms for you.”

Following the woman’s lead, we stepped into the inn.

Chapter 14: Life in the Eastlands

“T -This is…!”

Some time after Seiichi and the others had repelled the samurai attack and headed for the Shadow Village, a group of suspicious men appeared at the scene.

They wore robes that covered their bodies from head to toe, an unusual sight in the Eastlands. Their clothing carried none of the region’s usual Japanese flavor. Even more unsettling were the masks on their faces, shaped like demonic visages that made their presence deeply eerie.

The members of this mysterious group approached the fallen samurai and began checking each body in turn.

“Captain… It looks like they’re all still alive.”

“They’ve been beaten badly, though. None of them will be able to move anytime soon.”

“W-What in the world happened here?”

Listening to his subordinates’ reports, the man called the captain felt a headache coming on.

“I sent fighters more skilled than ever before, since we couldn’t afford another failure,” he muttered. “And that was with the Heavenly Blade supposedly gone! The people still attached to the House of Yamato should have been nothing more than a handful of shinobi at best. How could this possibly…?”

“Captain! One of the samurai has regained consciousness!”

“What? Bring him here at once!”

At the captain’s command, one samurai was carefully lifted and carried over. He was battered from head to toe, barely clinging to consciousness.

“What happened? Explain yourself!”

The captain forced himself to rein in his impatience as he demanded an answer. The samurai grimaced in pain, then somehow managed to speak.

“F-First… t-the Heavenly Blade… he was still alive…”

“What?!”

The captain could not hide his shock at the report. The Heavenly Blade, the Guardian Deity of the House of Yamato, feared for his strength, was supposed to have been killed.

No one had ever been able to accurately measure his full combat potential, but it was said to rival that of an S-rank adventurer from foreign lands.

The Heavenly Blade had been overwhelmed by numbers in the previous attack, or so they believed. They had been certain he was dead.

That was why the next assault would settle everything.

At least, that was what the captain and his men had thought.

“Damn it… the fact that the Heavenly Blade is still alive is certainly a blow. But you were supposed to be even more skilled than the group that attacked him before. On top of that, you outnumbered them by more than double. And yet… why?!”

“That’s the thing… I-I don’t really know…”

“You don’t know?!”

Not only the captain, but the subordinates listening nearby were visibly shaken by the samurai’s response.

“You expect us to believe that men of your caliber were defeated without even understanding what happened?!”

“Yeah… Ngh… It was sudden. Water tentacles… rock tentacles… They came out of nowhere and tore through us one after another…”

“What kind of situation is that supposed to be?!”

None of it made any sense.

That was the shared impression of everyone present.

There was no one in this country capable of controlling something as incomprehensible as water tentacles or rock tentacles. Even if it had been some newly discovered monster, there was no way these elite samurai should have been so completely overwhelmed.

“W-We don’t get it either… b-but… near the target… There were some unfamiliar people. Looked like foreigners…”

“What did you say? Explain in detail!”

“I mean… there’s not much to explain. By the time we even got a glimpse of them… we were already being taken out by those tentacles. Every last one of us…”

“Tch…!”

Judging by the circumstances, those foreigners were clearly the most suspicious element. But the fact that the samurai had been defeated before even grasping what those people really were made the situation all the more troublesome.

“What do you think, Captain? Some kind of sorcery? Taoist arts? Or perhaps ninjutsu?”

“No. If they were foreigners, then it must be that thing they call magic. How utterly detestable…”

The captain spat the word out, his anger barely contained.

Sadly for him, he would never learn that this devastation had not been caused by magic at all. It had simply been the sea and the land answering Seiichi’s request, a suppression carried out by raw natural forces.

Realizing there was nothing more to be gained from questioning the samurai, the captain issued orders without delay.

“Have a few men take the samurai back with us. Even damaged, they are still valuable assets.”

“Yes, sir!”

“The rest of you, come with me. They are likely hiding in the Shadow Village. We will search for its entrance.”

“Yes, sir!”

With their next course of action decided, the mysterious men moved at once.

“Just you wait… Next time, we will not fail.”

With that vow burning in his chest, the captain sprinted off into the forest.

※※※

“This will be your room.”

“Oooh!”

The room we were shown into was a spacious shared chamber.

For the record, Yaiba, Tsukikage, and Lady Muu had been given separate accommodations, so this room was for just us.

Tatami mats covered the floor, and a well-crafted table sat at the center. On top of it were a teapot, teacups, loose tea leaves, and sweets, with something that looked like an electric kettle placed neatly beside them. That was probably a magical tool, too. Magic really was incredible.

The tea leaves looked like green tea, judging by the atmosphere. Definitely would check it later.

The room was more than large enough for all of us, yet it carried a calm, refined elegance that made it feel luxurious rather than empty.

As I soaked in the comfort of tatami mats and floor cushions for the first time in a while, something suddenly occurred to me.

“Oh. That reminds me. What should we do about our room at the Black-tailed Gull Inn?”

“Ah, yeah. Now that you mention it.”

“But we didn’t really leave any luggage there, did we?”

“True. So we could leave right away if we wanted to, but still…”

“I’ll teleport over and let them know.”

“You sure? Sorry about that. I’d appreciate it.”

I immediately teleported away and headed for the Black-tailed Gull Inn in Southern, where I explained that we would be departing sooner than expected.

“Hm, of course, there’s no problem with you checking out,” the staff member said, sounding a little surprised. “But this is quite sudden, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry. A lot of things came up all at once…”

“Not at all. Thanks to you, we had a very good run, and you even shared that legendary ingredient, the Bahamut, with the entire town. We truly cannot thank you enough. If you ever have occasion to visit this city again, please do consider staying with us here at the Black-tailed Gull Inn.”

“Yes!”

What a nice person. I could leave here in such a good mood.

Or so I thought.

“Oh, one more thing,” the staff member added, as if just remembering. “When you come next time, I would strongly recommend paying attention to the season.”

“Gah! You just had to remind me!”

I had been all set to leave feeling great, and then right at the very end, I was forced to remember those addicts again.

Still, they were right. Next time I come here, I really will need to choose the timing carefully. I never wanted to witness a scramble like that again.

With that rather bitter aftertaste lingering in my mind, I used teleportation magic once more and returned to the inn at the hidden village. Inside the room, Al and the others were relaxing at ease.

“O-Oh, welcome back. Sorry about that. Wait, what’s wrong?”

“No, nothing. Just a bit off.”

“I-Is that so? Well, whatever. Come sit down. This tea stuff is really good.”

“It has a strange taste, but it’s easy to drink!”

Prompted by Al and the others, I sat down and took a sip of the tea Saria had poured for me. Just as I’d expected, it tasted like green tea.

“Hah… it really sinks into you, this flavor…”

“You aged about ten years all at once there, Seiichi.”

“You sound like a grandpa!”

Apparently, my reaction had been that strange, because Saria and Al burst out laughing.

Then, Lulune, who had been quietly enjoying the tea sweets, gently offered some to me as well.

“Master, please have some. When paired with that drink, it is exceptionally delicious.”

“T-Thank you.”

Lulune, who had grown noticeably quieter, was calmly eating the tea sweets without any wild indulgence. Well, she was still eating quite a lot, but unlike before, the food was no longer vanishing in an instant. She was actually tasting it properly now.

“The futon is so fluffy.”

“It’s amazing! I’ve never slept on bedding laid directly on the floor before, but with this, it doesn’t look like my body will hurt at all!”

“Mm… And we get to sleep together.”

“Yeah!”

Zora and Origa were especially close, the two of them bouncing around excitedly in front of the futons laid out in the room. Come to think of it, both The Tranquil Tree back in Terbelle and the Black-tailed Gull Inn we’d stayed at earlier used beds. Japanese-style futons were probably a novelty to them.

As everyone relaxed in their own way, Al suddenly spoke up.

“Still, it’s strange.”

“Huh?”

“This is supposed to be a hidden village, right? So why is there such a fancy inn here?”

“Now that you mention it…”

An inn was, by definition, a place meant for guests to stay. Given the nature of this village, it was hard to imagine outsiders being allowed to lodge here in the first place.

As we all tilted our heads in confusion, a voice suddenly addressed us.

“That is because, in the past, influential figures would visit this place incognito.”

“Oh, Yaiba.”

Turning toward the voice, I saw Yaiba standing at the entrance to our room. Tsukikage and Lady Muu were nowhere to be seen, so they were probably waiting in their own room.

“Incognito, you say? Really?”

“It is not something I should speak of too loudly…” Yaiba replied, lowering his voice. “But it was once a common sight for powerful individuals to come here accompanied by their mistresses, or the like. Even so, those figures never knew this village’s true location. After all, without our guidance, it is impossible to enter this place.”

“Guidance, huh… So that means some of their retainers must have originally come from this village?”

“No. The shinobi of the Shadow Village have served only the House of Yamato for generations,” Yaiba said. “However, the head of that house, Muu-sama, is in her current condition. For the people of the village to continue living, funds were, frankly, insufficient. That is why this place was opened to other influential figures, under the pretext of relieving them of some of their wealth. If someone wished to come here, they would speak to a shinobi stationed at the Yamato main residence. In other words, they would contact Tsukikage-dono and arrange it much like a reservation. Naturally, there was also a password required at the time of booking.”

“There’s a lot going on behind the scenes, huh?”

Adult circumstances, or something like that. Still, as long as the location of this place stays hidden, it isn’t a problem for now.

Just then, Yaiba clapped his hands as if remembering something.

“Ah, yes, yes. The reason I came here was to pass along a few things.”

“Huh?”

“First, while you are staying here, you may do as you please. Tsukikage-dono and I will handle the usual guard duty.”

“Um, are you sure? I mean, is that really okay? We can help too…”

“It is fine,” Yaiba said with a nod. “However, if you happen to notice anyone suspicious, I would like you to apprehend them. Of course, only if you have the leeway to do so. Still, when it comes to Seiichi-dono and the others, I have no particular worries.”

“Well, with Seiichi around, there shouldn’t be any problems,” Al added casually.

“I-I will do my best to live up to that trust.”

The words came out awkwardly, almost stilted.

Is this really okay? I still don’t understand where all that confidence in me comes from, but I guess I just have to try.

At my response, Yaiba nodded in satisfaction.

“Good. And there is one more thing. As for this inn, Seiichi-dono and the others are to be treated the same as we are. That means you may freely use almost all of the facilities here.”

“Facilities… Now that you mention it, I never actually asked what they have.”

“Well, it will be dinner time soon, and the proprietress will explain everything then. But if you like, the hot springs are available right now as well.”

“Wait. There’s a hot spring?!”

I couldn’t help myself. The moment I heard Yaiba’s words, my voice rose in excitement.

He, however, paid no mind to my reaction and simply nodded.

“Of course. The hot springs at this inn boast excellent restorative effects and magnificent scenery. And what is more, no other guests are staying here at the moment. In other words, you will have the baths entirely to yourselves. Given the current circumstances, that is one small blessing we can appreciate.”

“Oooh…!”

I had not gone to hot springs very often back on Earth, but I had always liked baths in general. That was exactly why the idea of a proper hot spring made me genuinely happy.

The jacuzzi at the Black-tailed Gull Inn had been wonderful too, especially paired with the view, but somehow, this hot spring felt like something to look forward to even more.

“So then, enjoy your time in the village for now,” Yaiba continued. “If anything comes up, we will contact you. Until then…”

With that, Yaiba turned and made his way back to his own room.

Chapter 15: The Steam and Blade Incident

“Ahh… this feels incredible…”

I had wasted no time heading straight for the inn’s hot spring.

Just as Yaiba had said, this was the men’s bath, and aside from me, there was no one else here. I sank deeper into the water and let out a slow breath, the tension draining from my body almost immediately.

Come to think of it, I realized I had never actually figured out whether Yaiba was male or female. Both their voice and appearance were strikingly androgynous, making it genuinely impossible to tell. In the end, I had assumed Yaiba was a man, but even now, I still wasn’t sure.

Well, it wasn’t really that important anyway. Whether someone was a man or a woman, the only thing that mattered when talking to them was not saying anything that made them uncomfortable. As long as I kept that in mind, there was nothing to worry about.

“Man… this really is nice…”

Just like I had been told, the water quality here was outstanding. My skin already felt smooth and silky, as if it were being gently polished with every passing second.

The scenery was just as impressive. At the Black-tailed Gull Inn, the jacuzzi had offered a sweeping view of the ocean, but this hot spring was built to overlook the mountains instead. I did not know much about this country’s climate, but the forested slopes were lush and vividly green, filling the view with a refreshing sense of life.

If this place had proper seasons like autumn and winter, then soaking while watching the leaves turn red or enjoying a snow-viewing bath would be unbeatable. Seriously, that would be paradise.

“I’m still not old enough to drink, so I can’t really do that,” I muttered to myself, sinking my shoulders deeper into the water. “But adults probably enjoy alcohol in situations like this.”

Of course, I had heard that drinking in the bath was dangerous, and even back on Earth, it had fallen out of fashion. Still, it was hard not to feel a little admiration for the idea.

“When all this is over, I should bring Dad here. Mom too. I want them to enjoy a place like this.”

I had been given the chance to spend time with my parents again in this other world. If I could, I wanted to show them even a little gratitude. I had hardly ever bathed together with my father before, and strangely enough, the thought of doing so now felt kind of nice.

“Though I guess this isn’t really a situation where I can relax that much…”

The truth was, enjoying myself too freely right now carried its own risks. Lady Muu possessed genuinely godlike power, and there were people out there who were after her because of it.

“Honestly… how tasteless.”

Compared to all that nonsense, quietly soaking in a bath like this was infinitely better. After hearing Lady Muu’s story, I could not help but think that power on the level of a god was nothing but trouble.

Of course, being able to do anything was impressive, but compared to that, I was far more drawn to the small, immediate happiness right in front of me. Well, that kind of happiness wasn’t exactly easy to come by either, but still, cherishing it suited my nature far better. I was a small-time guy at heart, after all.

As I soaked leisurely in the hot spring, a voice drifted over from the neighboring bath. In other words, the women’s side.

“Seiichi! Can you hear me?”

“Hm? Is that you, Saria?”

“Yeah! This hot spring on our side is really big! How’s it over there?”

“It’s big over here, too. And I’ve got it all to myself!”

“Oh, really? Then I’m coming over there!”

“Yeah, sure… Wait, hold on just a second! That’s not okay! This isn’t a mixed bath, you know?!”

“Huh? But we couldn’t bathe together at the Black-tailed Gull Inn either. I kinda want to bathe together this time.”

“Guh…”

W-What a terrifyingly tempting suggestion!

But this was not a mixed bath. It was clearly separated into men’s and women’s sides. Family baths or proper mixed baths were one thing, but breaking the inn’s rules was not acceptable.

This was where I had to be a man and clearly refuse her.

“N-No, no, no way, S-S-Saria!”

“You need to show a little more self-control!”

“I’m sorry?!”

Al’s sharp rebuke rang out from across the way. Yeah… I couldn’t argue with her. Given how sensitive that age was, I really had no excuse.

Somehow managing to survive Saria’s dangerously appealing proposal, I went back to enjoying the bath on my own. Then, from the women’s side, I heard voices filled with unmistakable cheer.

“Al, I’ll wash your back!”

“Huh? No, I’m fine—”

“Come on, come on!”

“Hey, hey… sheesh. Fine, then I’ll wash your back later too, Saria.”

“Yay!”

“Wow.”

“Huh? What’s going on? Origa-chan.”

“Altria-oneechan’s got a big chest.”

“Where are you looking?!”

“B-But, Altria-san’s chest is really big…”

“Oooh, totally! Al’s chest is amazinggg.”

“Wait… S-Saria?! Why are you grabbing…”

“Saria-oneechan’s also got big ones. Nice.”

“Really? Origa-chan will grow big too!”

“Can’t wait.”

“So, it’s… No! Stop it… Don’t grope my chest…”

“Eeeh? But it feels good.”

“But, but… Stop it…!”

“Speaking of which, Lulune-san’s chest is big too, right?”

“Yeah. She’s a glutton and yet so bold.”

“What?! What’s so good about that?”

“Bold.”

“Hey?! O-Origa! My chest… Wait!”

I was floating in the hot spring, blood streaming from my nose.

T-This is too much stimulation!

Weren’t they being a little too careless over there?! I mean, I was technically right next door! Or did I seriously not even register as a member of the opposite sex to them anymore? Was it okay if I cried?

“Hah! I almost took another trip to the Underworld there…”

Shaking my head, I somehow managed to pull myself back to my senses.

“I-I should probably get out. If I stay any longer, I’m going to overheat…”

And not just because of the hot water. My body felt feverish in an entirely different sense as I stood up to head back to the room. That was when I suddenly felt a presence.

“Hm?”

For a split second, I thought it might be Yaiba. When I turned around, however, I found myself staring at something completely unexpected.

Despite it being a hot spring, a group of mysterious figures stood there, fully cloaked in robes, their faces hidden behind demon-like masks.

“…”

We froze, eyes wide, staring at one another in silence.

And then—

“Eeek! Pervert!”

“That’s him! Kill him!”

The moment I screamed, the mysterious group lunged at me without hesitation.

“Hey, wait! This is a hot spring! Take your clothes off first!”

“What nonsense are you spouting?! Kill him already!”

“You guys are terrifying, you know that?!”

Honestly, wasn’t I the one making more sense here? This was a bath. Why were they fully dressed?

My weapons and clothes were all safely stored in my item box, but the fact that I was in a hot spring dominated my thoughts so completely that I ended up dodging their attacks stark naked. From an outside perspective, it must have looked unbelievably ridiculous.

Just then, voices called out from the neighboring bath where Saria and the others were.

“Seiichi?! What’s going on?!”

“I-I’m being attacked by some people I don’t recognize!”

“W-What?!”

As that exchange unfolded, the man who seemed to be the leader of the mysterious group clicked his tongue in open irritation.

“Tch. To think we finally found the village and managed to infiltrate it, only for this. What are you dawdling for? Kill him already!”

“T-That’s the problem… Our attacks just won’t land. It’s unsettling how none of them hit!”

“Enough excuses. If he is brazen enough to flaunt that thing while provoking us, then cut it off!”

“Eeeeeek?!”

Did that guy just tell them to cut that off?! Sure, I was naked, so it was swinging around and all, but still!

I can give up on reproductive functions if I have to, but I still need it for basic bodily necessities, so please do not take it from me!

“Damn it! I-I can’t hit him!”

“Curse it all! Is that supposed to be a boast?!”

“Are you mocking us by implication?! It is true that you are abnormal, but we are not exactly lacking either!”

“Who the hell are you people anyway?!”

Weren’t you trying to kill me?! Why are you appraising my junk like it’s on display?! Honestly, I was not bragging about anything. You were the ones who decided to ambush someone in the middle of a bath, you know?!

“To think an enemy could be this bold,” the leader muttered. “To flaunt such an abnormality before us, leave your weakness exposed, and still believe you can escape. Are you saying you are that confident?”

“I am not thinking anything like that at all!”

I was so done with these people. They were probably the attackers Yaiba and Tsukikage had warned us about, but the longer this went on, the more I began to question that assumption, given the sheer nonsense coming out of their mouths.

“Still, I can’t just let myself get taken out like this!”

“What?! Gah!”

I stepped in close to the nearest attacker and lightly placed a hand against his stomach. The force I used was no more than a feather brushing against him.

That was all it took. The man went flying as if he had been launched by a cannon.

“T-This guy!”

“Sorry, but I’m still planning on enjoying this village!”

Starting with the first one, I went on to take down the attackers one after another.

Of course, I was holding back as much as I possibly could, at least in my own mind. Whether that actually counted as restraint was… questionable. Still, thanks to the effects of the skill Endless Hell, they were not going to die, so there was that.

As the attackers kept coming at me one after another, aiming not at me, but very specifically at that part of me, I sent them flying in rapid succession. Grab, toss. Grab, toss. Before I knew it, only the man who appeared to be their leader was left standing.

“You’re the only one left now,” I told him.

“Ggh… to think I’d be cornered by a naked man…”

“You’re the ones who attacked this place, you know?!”

Being naked was not my fault. Well, if you really wanted to argue it, you could tell me to put some clothes on, but this was a hot spring. Doing something that tasteless here was against my personal policy.

The leader lowered his face, then let out a quiet laugh.

“Heh… Heh heh… I never imagined you were such a formidable opponent. Very well. If that is the case, let us settle this properly. You and I.”

“Yeah, sure, why n—”

“With my lethal blade, and your lethal blade!”

“What are you even talking about?!”

The leader lunged straight at me, swinging the weapon in his hand. It was not a knife so much as a short blade, a dagger perhaps, and it was aimed directly at me.

Was he seriously trying to settle this with his weapon versus that? Was he out of his mind?!

“I’ve got you!”

“Crap!”

The sheer stupidity of his plan, or maybe just how far outside my expectations it was, made my body hesitate for a split second. I forgot to dodge.

And in that instant, his blade finally reached me.

“This battle of lethal blades is my victory!”

“Noo! Stop!”

I let out a scream that sounded more like something a girl would cry.

And then—

Crack.

“W-What?!”

“Huh?”

The lethal blade that struck that part shattered on contact, breaking apart completely. At the same time, and just as naturally, that part remained entirely unharmed.

The man stared blankly at the weapon that had turned to dust in his own hand. After a long, stunned pause, the leader quietly sank to his knees.

“I concede… Truly a lethal blade…”

“You people are idiots, aren’t you?!”

I had no idea what this fight had even turned into anymore. Weren’t they here to take my life? Well, I guess in a very specific sense, they were trying to take my life as a man, but still. And seriously, why was it that in this exact situation, the weapon had not rejected attacking me? When I fought the soldiers of the Kaizell Empire, their weapons had conveniently self-destructed on their own, but this time, it had played out normally. For a brief, horrifying moment, I had felt my soul leave my body.

As I stood there tilting my head, unable to make sense of the difference, a familiar announcement echoed inside my mind.

“Is everyone in this world an idiot?!”

Do not praise me. And what is with these attackers anyway? Are they all like this? Is the mastermind absolutely sure they hired the right people?

“A loss is a loss,” the leader said quietly. “Do as you will.”

“Well then, I guess I’ll have you take a short nap.”

“Gah?!”

At this point, everything about the situation was exhausting, and more importantly, I had no guarantee he would not try to escape. So I knocked him out as well.

With all the attackers lying unconscious, I stood there in silence, wearing an expression even I could not properly describe. That was when I noticed hurried movement coming from the changing area.

Then—

“Seiichi! Are you okay?!”

“Are you hurt, Seiichi?!”

Huh? I thought, as Saria and Al burst into the room, completely naked, their faces contorted in sheer panic. We all froze, exchanging silent, bewildered stares. Saria looked utterly clueless, but Al’s expression shifted from confusion to realization as her gaze slowly drifted downward.

“W-Wait, what?!” she stammered, her voice cracking.

“Buahhh!” I let out an explosive nosebleed, sputtering as I bobbed back to the surface of the hot spring.

“S-Seiichi?!” Al shrieked, her face turning bright red as she finally processed the situation.

With Al’s flushed expression still in my line of sight, I floated there, blood streaming from my nose, the absurdity of the moment sinking in.

Chapter 16: A New Attack

“There is one thing I would like to confirm.”

“Yes.”

“Is it normal in the lands beyond ours to cause incidents during one’s free time?”

“I’m so sorry!”

I dropped into the deepest bow of my life, my forehead practically drilling into the floor.

As for how things had ended up like this, it all traced back to the group of mysterious men who had attacked while I was enjoying the hot spring.

“No, truly, I am relieved that Seiichi-dono and the others were unharmed,” Yaiba said, letting out a slow breath. “However, given the circumstances, there was a… remarkable lack of tension for those who were supposedly under attack.”

“I am incredibly, terribly sorry!”

After that incident, Saria and the others had rushed to my side in a panic, which I appreciated, but they had been so flustered that we had all ended up naked. Especially Al and me. We had seen far more of each other than anyone ever should, and I had not been able to withstand the shock, promptly spraying blood from my nose.

As for Al…

“Ugh… I saw it… Is that… normal? That size… T-That big… I don’t… I don’t know… I don’t know anymore…”

She was still muttering to herself, her face bright red. I was truly, deeply sorry.

If I had just abandoned my stupid personal principles and calmly gotten dressed before fighting, none of this tragic nonsense would have happened.

No, wait. The ones at fault were those idiots who attacked someone in the middle of a bath in the first place. If they had not shown up, no one would be suffering like this now. Seriously, what was I supposed to do about that?!

Meanwhile, Saria seemed completely unfazed, acting as if nothing had happened at all. Well, considering she had lived in the forest for so long, where clothing was often optional at best, I supposed being naked barely registered as unusual for her.

In any case, after somehow driving off the attackers, we quickly got dressed and handed over the bound intruders to Yaiba.

Watching me prostrate myself, Yaiba let out a sigh, then fixed me with a serious look.

“Well, enough of that. For now, the fact that Seiichi-dono and the others are safe is genuinely good news.”

“I… I’m sorry…”

“More importantly, the real issue lies with these individuals who attacked us.”

His gaze sharpened as he looked toward a certain spot.

There, the mysterious men I had knocked unconscious were left bound and sprawled on the ground.

All of the strange masks had already been confiscated, so their bare faces were now fully visible. Not that it helped me much. I did not recognize a single one of them, so seeing their faces did nothing to clarify who they were.

That said, Yaiba clearly did recognize them. Or rather, he recognized one man in particular. His expression hardened as his gaze settled on the leader, the one who had ended up losing to me in that absurd showdown.

“To think that you, of all people, would fall in with the enemy…”

“Hmph. Say whatever you like.”

The leader looked to be somewhere in his forties. A large scar ran diagonally across the upper left side of his forehead. His hair was neither tied nor styled like the other samurai’s topknots. Instead, it hung loose and unkempt, giving him the unmistakable look of a bandit or mountain brigand.

“Do you know this guy, Yaiba?” I asked.

“I do,” Yaiba replied grimly. “He comes from a venerable house that once served to protect Muu-sama. While my role was to remain at her side as her personal guardian, his house bore responsibility for military affairs. They existed to deter the other lords through sheer power. This man is the current head of that house.”

“I see…”

Someone who should have been protecting Lady Muu had instead turned his blade on us.

For Yaiba, I could imagine how deep that cut must have gone. Even if their duties differed, they shared the same purpose: to protect Lady Muu. There had to have been a sense of kinship there.

“Why?” Yaiba demanded, his voice tightening. “Why did you do this? You have long kept the other lords in check. You bore that burden yourself. So why now?!”

“Yaiba-dono,” the man replied calmly, almost coldly. “The world is full of things that lie beyond human understanding. I learned that truth the hard way.”

“What are you saying?”

“That being is no human. It is something far more terrifying. A monster.”

“A monster?” Yaiba’s expression darkened even further at the word. “You would betray Muu-sama out of fear of something so vague and ill-defined?!”

“You say that because you do not know!” the man snapped back. “You have never witnessed that being’s true terror! That thing is not merely beyond Muu-sama. It is beyond the ability of this entire world to control!”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Yaiba shot back.

The leader’s sheer panic left all of us at a loss.

Beyond this world’s ability to handle?What kind of existence even qualifies for that? The thought sent a chill through me. Don’t tell me he’s about to say something like a demon god. Please don’t say it.

“Enough,” Yaiba said at last, cutting him off. “More importantly, the real issue is that these men have discovered this place. The entrance to the Shadow Village should not be so easily found…”

“It’s already too late…”

“What?”

The leader slowly lifted his face, his voice eerily calm.

“Too late? What do you mean by that?” Yaiba demanded.

“I had nowhere left to run. You thwarted the first attack, and I failed to capture Muu-sama.”

“And that changes what, exactly?”

“Can you not see it? I was granted a second chance, one I could not afford to fail. And yet, not only you, but those foreigners over there stopped me as well. Because I failed the first time, that monster placed me under surveillance.”

“What?”

“There are already forces here, sent by that one.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the door to our room burst open. Tsukikage rushed inside, her movements sharp with urgency. On her back, just as expressionless as ever, was Lady Muu.

“Tsukikage-dono?!”

“Yaiba-dono, we must leave at once,” she said. “This village is under attack. Unknown creatures have begun assaulting the Shadow Village.”

“Unknown creatures?!”

Nothing about this situation made sense anymore. As confusion spread through the room, the leader clutched his head and began to tremble.

“They’ve come… It’s over. This country is finished. No, this world is finished. It will all be conquered by that being…”

“You…” Yaiba began.

At that very moment, something came crashing through the window of our room.

Whatever it was—

“Kishaaahhh!”

“W-What is that?!”

“It’s wriggling.”

Just as Origa said, the creature that had suddenly burst into our room looked like something stitched together from mismatched parts. It had the body of a human, but its head resembled that of a fish. Or rather, calling it a fish might have been too generous.

Its face was far more vicious, with bulging, glassy eyes, both of its arms transformed into writhing tentacles that squirmed incessantly.

Seriously, what is it with tentacles lately? Even when I asked the sea and the land for help, everything turned into tentacles.Is this some kind of trend I don’t know about?

“What in the world is that thing?!” Yaiba exclaimed.

“That creature is one of that being’s subordinates,” the captured leader said hoarsely.

“A subordinate?! This disgusting thing?!”

“Kishaaa?!”

Having been clearly labeled disgusting, the creature twisted its fishlike face in an oddly expressive way, as if genuinely shocked. Oh. So that’s something it’s sensitive about.

That shock immediately twisted into rage. With no further hesitation, the creature lunged at us.

“Kishaaahhh!”

But it never reached us. The creature was violently blasted aside, sent flying across the room before it could even swing its tentacles.

When I followed the trajectory back to its source, I saw Lulune standing there with one leg raised from a completed kick.

“Fish should not come onto land.”

What kind of criticism is that?

And honestly, Lulune saying that of all people was rich. If anyone started throwing stones here, the first thing they would say was, “A donkey shouldn’t be talking.”

That said, visually speaking, the thing could pass for a fish if you squinted hard enough.

Even so, despite facing such a bizarre creature, Lulune showed no sign of losing control.

“Lulune, you really have grown,” I murmured, moved despite myself.

“Mm. But now, I’m worried,” she replied flatly. “Is it really okay to call myself a glutton?”

“What kind of concern is that?!”

Sorry, Lulune. I kind of understand how Origa feels.

“I mean, I was just surprised,” I said honestly. “Seeing a fish and not having your appetite kick in right away felt strange for you.”

“Master, t-that may have been true before, but after eating Bahamut, ordinary fish just don’t quite…” Lulune trailed off, looking faintly uncomfortable.

So it wasn’t really growth, just her becoming a gourmet?

Still, the fact that her appetite had finally calmed down was a blessing. If becoming picky was the price, I would gladly pay it. I should take her out for something delicious again sometime.

After kicking the fishlike creature away, Lulune lightly shook her leg and muttered in clear annoyance.

“That aside, can the people of this country truly not defeat something like that? It was merely a fish with arms and legs attached.”

Fish aren’t supposed to have arms and legs.

I was taken aback by her casual remark, but then something occurred to me.

“Wait… come to think of it, we never actually figured out what that thing was.”

“Huh? Does it matter?” Saria said cheerfully. “It looks like we could beat them easily anyway!”

“Yeah,” Al agreed with a shrug. “Whatever they are, if they come at us, we just knock them down.”

“I-I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” Zora added nervously, “but I’ll do my best!”

Everyone sounded far more confident than I expected. That was when I noticed how quiet Yaiba and the others had become. When I turned to look at them…

“…”

“…”

“…”

Yaiba, Tsukikage, and even the captured leader were staring at us in stunned silence.

Uh… what?

The leader, in particular, had his eyes stretched wide, as if they might pop out of his skull.

“Impossible… our blades cannot even scratch those creatures!”

“That simply means your kitchen knives are dull,” Lulune replied flatly. “You should sharpen them properly.”

“They are not kitchen knives! And that thing is not a fish!”

Honestly, Lulune. The weapons that man carried, and certainly the swords Yaiba and the others used, were very much not kitchen knives. And while the creature did look vaguely fishlike, if anything, it felt far closer to some kind of alien than an actual fish.

Still, compared to that evil god Lulune had supposedly picked up from the sea, this thing was practically cute.

As that thought crossed my mind, yet another creature of the same kind came crashing in through the window.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter how many times they come,” Lulune muttered, irritation clear in her voice.

“Wait, Lulune!” I hurriedly cut in. “Let me at least check what this thing actually is first!”

Before she could land another kick, I immediately activated Advanced Appraisal on the creature right in front of me.

But then…

“Huh?”

There was nothing. No name. No level. Not even question marks. The display was completely blank, as if the system itself had refused to acknowledge the creature’s existence.

“That’s weird…” I muttered.

Advanced Appraisal worked just fine on Bahamut and even on that evil god. There’s no way this thing is stronger than them. I tilted my head, utterly confused. So why is it coming up as nothing at all?

While I was still puzzling over it, the creature let out a shrill cry and lunged straight at me.

“Kishaaaaaaaaah!”

The next instant, its movements went completely haywire. It thrashed wildly, as if it had lost all control over its own body, flailing its limbs and repeatedly striking itself.

“K-Kisha?!Sha?!Shaaa?!”

Its fishlike face twisted in pure confusion, unable to comprehend what was happening to it. Then, with one final, self-inflicted blow, it sent itself flying backward and tumbled straight out through the window on its own.

“Well, I don’t really get what just happened,” I said honestly, “but it looks like we’re fine.”

“No, no, no, no, we are not!”

Tsukikage, Yaiba, and even the captured leader all shouted at once, vehemently rejecting my conclusion.

“That makes no sense!” Yaiba barked, his composure finally cracking. “What was that phenomenon just now? How does an enemy suddenly destroy itself without being struck?”

“E-Exactly!” Tsukikage added, clearly shaken. “By all accounts, these were foes our weapons could not even harm. And yet, just now…”

“Our attacks truly did nothing,” the bound leader muttered, his voice trembling. “That is precisely why we were invaded by that being in the first place. And still, why did this happen?”

“Don’t ask me,” I said helplessly. “I’d like to know too. I didn’t even do anything. It just panicked and ran off on its own. That’s kind of unfair, honestly.”

As Yaiba and the others struggled to process what they had witnessed, Al let out a tired sigh.

“If you’re going to stick with Seiichi, you’ll never survive if this level of weirdness shocks you,” she said flatly. “We’ve seen the same kind of thing happen a few times already, so we’re used to it.”

“You have seen this phenomenon multiple times?” Tsukikage asked, incredulous.

“Yeah. And thinking too hard about it is pointless,” Al went on. “No matter what we come up with, it’ll always be something beyond our understanding anyway.”

“I am not doing this on purpose!” I protested. “Why does everyone act as if I dive headfirst into nonsense by choice? None of this is under my control. It’s all collateral damage!”

Al ignored my complaint entirely and turned back to Yaiba and Tsukikage. “More importantly, what now? If enemies like that are the best they’ve got, we can handle them ourselves. Might as well take the fight to their home base.”

“T-That is…” Yaiba hesitated, clearly uneasy.

Tsukikage, however, fell silent for a moment, then gave a single decisive nod. “That may indeed be the best course.”

“Tsukikage-dono?” Yaiba looked at her in surprise.

“Yaiba-dono, you have seen them fight,” she said calmly. “Seiichi-dono and his companions possess power far beyond anything we could have imagined. And in any case, the entrance to the Shadow Village has already been discovered. Running will change nothing. It would merely mean fleeing straight toward the enemy’s stronghold.”

“I still believe that to be dangerous,” Yaiba replied, frowning.

He thought it over carefully, then finally let out a long sigh.

“Perhaps this, too, is a path we must take. Very well. It is decided. From here on, we head for the enemy’s base.”

With Yaiba’s declaration, our next destination was set, and without wasting another moment, we began preparations to move.

Chapter 17: The Four Heavenly Kings

With our destination decided, we left the Shadow Village immediately.

That said, we could not simply depart without dealing with the strange creatures that had attacked the village. Leaving them unchecked would have been disastrous, or so we thought.

“Ki… kisha… sha…”

“K… ka…”

“Blub… blub…”

For reasons utterly beyond our comprehension, the creatures were scattered across the ground like fish washed up on shore, gasping weakly as if starved of air. They were in no condition to fight. We did not even need to intervene.

What… happened?

The ones that had attacked us earlier had moved normally. Did the air itself turn hostile this time? That sounded absurd, and yet, given everything I had experienced so far, I could not dismiss it outright.

The strangest part was that I had done nothing. I had not asked for help, nor had I consciously acted. The phenomenon simply occurred. Still, it worked in our favor, so I chose not to dwell on it too much.

“What is happening?” the bound leader muttered, staring at the incapacitated creatures in disbelief. “We struggled so desperately against these monsters, and now they end up like this…”

The man had come along as our guide to the enemy’s stronghold, restrained under Yaiba’s watch. He clearly could not reconcile what he was seeing.

By the way, his name was Gonbei.

As we continued onward, Yaiba spoke while keeping Gonbei firmly in check.

“Gonbei-dono. What is the state of Eikyō now? Is it overrun by these strange creatures?”

“Yes,” Gonbei answered grimly. “And that is not all. There are countless mechanized weapons deployed as well, devices beyond anything we know. But worse than all of that are the attendants serving that being.”

“Attendants?” Yaiba asked. “Are they different from those creatures?”

“Entirely different,” Gonbei said, his face draining of color. “They understand our language and can speak it fluently. They command powerful mechanized weapons at will and wield bizarre, unnatural techniques. I cannot even imagine how one could defeat them…”

He was genuinely terrified, even while bound.

Attendants of those things, huh. So even fish get promoted? Like some kind of career ladder? Do they eventually become yellowtail or something?

Putting the joke aside, something important occurred to me.

Those earlier creatures had not triggered Universal Language Comprehension, nor had Analysis worked on them at all. What exactly are they? Are they even native to this world?

The deeper we pressed on, the more unsettling the mystery became.

There was no way those strange creatures were stronger than the evil god Lulune had picked up somewhere and casually eaten. Still, the questions only kept piling up.

“Steel yourselves,” Tsukikage said sharply. “Eikyō is just ahead.”

For a while, we had been moving through terrain that could barely be called a path, weaving our way through dense forest. It was all part of avoiding detection by those creatures. Then, at last, we broke free of the trees, and our destination lay before us.

Just not in any way we could have imagined.

“W-What… What is that?” Yaiba murmured, his voice hollow with disbelief.

No one, Gonbei included, could answer him.

Because before our eyes…

“What are those iron boxes…?” Tsukikage whispered.

Eikyō, just as Tsukikage had said, looked like a far grander version of the Shadow Village. But floating above the city were countless iron boxes, unmistakably resembling spacecraft.

That alone would have been shocking enough. Inside the city itself stood bizarre towers unlike anything this era should have been capable of producing. Pale blue lines of light ran across their surfaces, glowing faintly.

And there was not just one.

They were arranged at regular intervals, encircling the entire city.

The towers were so overtly science-fiction in design that they clashed violently with the surrounding streets, which still carried the unmistakable atmosphere of samurai and old Japan. The contrast was jarring to the point of absurdity.

“Y-Yaiba,” I asked carefully, partly to confirm my own sanity. “Those structures… were they there before?”

Still staring ahead, Yaiba slowly shook his head.

“N-No. They were not. Such things have never existed here… Never.”

“This is getting worse by the minute,” Al muttered. “This isn’t just an invasion from another continent. The gap is way too big. This looks like an entirely different world’s level of technology.”

She was right. Everything spread across Eikyō reeked of science fiction, of a civilization that simply did not belong on this planet.

If that’s the case, I thought, then those creatures really are beings from space, aren’t they?

I had not seen any other continents, so I could not say for certain. Still, if they truly possessed the power to construct structures like those, then it made little sense that they had never appeared on this continent before.

“For now, we enter Eikyō,” Yaiba said gravely. “Until we see it with our own eyes, this is impossible to believe.”

His reasoning made sense.

So, using what he described as a hidden passage, one he and the others had relied on when fleeing the capital, we slipped into Eikyō without incident.

Moving carefully, we kept ourselves concealed as we surveyed our surroundings. Just as expected, the strange creatures roamed the streets openly, yet not a single human was in sight.

More than that, now that we were close, there was no denying it. The towers that did not belong to this era, and the objects unmistakably resembling spacecraft, were very real.

“Gonbei-dono,” Yaiba asked quietly, eyes fixed on the sky, “those iron boxes above us…”

“Yeah…” Gonbei answered, bitterness heavy in his voice. “Those are warships. We’re killing ourselves just trying to build iron ships that float on the sea, and they already have iron ships that fly through the sky. Tell me, how are we supposed to fight an enemy like that?”

“There is no ‘how.’ You simply die.”

“!”

A distorted, mechanical-sounding voice echoed down from above us.

We snapped our gazes upward. Hovering in midair was one of the fishlike creatures that had attacked us before. But this one was different.

Until now, the creatures had been nothing but raw instinct, charging mindlessly without even a trace of reason. This being, however, had addressed us directly. It possessed clear intelligence.

Moreover, its body was clad in what looked like silver armor, sleek and unmistakably science fiction in design.

Faced with this new variant of the creature, Gonbei’s face drained of color, his body beginning to tremble.

“A-Ah… you are…” he whispered.

“I am not alone.”

“!”

As those words fell, three more figures appeared, identical in both appearance and bearing, bringing the total to four. They descended slightly, gazing down at us with cold, assessing intent.

“This is precisely why I detest creatures from underdeveloped worlds,” one of the beings said coldly. “To think you could not even fulfill a single request from our lord.”

“Now, now,” another interjected, its tone condescending even through the distortion. “Their very construction is different from ours. Expecting the same standards from inferior life-forms would be unreasonable.”

“Besides,” a third added with a faint note of amusement, “it seems they have at least managed to bring along our lord’s objective.”

While the strange beings carried on the conversation entirely among themselves, we were left standing there, completely ignored.

Unable to help myself, I finally spoke up.

“Um… you attacked us out of nowhere, and now you’re talking over us, so could you maybe tell us who you actually are?”

“Hmph. To speak without our permission,” one of them replied. “Under normal circumstances, we would end your life immediately. However, as a reward for delivering our objective, we will enlighten you.”

“We are the Four Heavenly Kings of Space,” it declared with pride. “Servants of Lord Gyogyon, the one destined to become the new ruler of the cosmos.”

“That name’s way lamer than I expected!”

The phrasing alone made it obvious they were some kind of cosmic entity. Still, I had been expecting something with a bit more… gravitas. Something cooler. Not “Four Heavenly Kings of Space,” which sounded about as subtle as a blunt instrument.

The instant the words left my mouth, I clapped a hand over it.

“S-Sorry! I didn’t mean anything by it! I just thought it sounded kind of lame, that’s all. And, uh, you keep calling us inferior life-forms, so I figured your sense of aesthetics might be a little… unusual…”

“Seiichi,” Al said flatly, “that explanation is not helping.”

“Huh?”

I looked back at the aliens and immediately regretted it. Their faces had flushed a vivid red, almost like an octopus reacting to stress.

Oh. That definitely landed.

“To mock us so brazenly…!”

“I-I mean, it’s true people say everything about Planet Gyogyo is lame, but still!”

“You didn’t have to say it out loud!”

Wait. Were they actually taking emotional damage?

“It is precisely because beings like you, who cannot comprehend our refined sense of style, exist that—”

“Once Lord Gyogyon conquers the universe, no one will dare mock us ever again!”

“Enjoy flaunting your pitiful sense of style while you still can!”

“Wait, what? That’s the reason for conquering the universe?”

You have got to be kidding me. They were planning universal domination just because people said their taste was lame?

That line of thinking alone was cutting-edge in the worst possible way.

“Enough of this!” one of them barked. “Kill everyone except the objective and offer it to Lord Gyogyon at once!”

“Yes!”

“Tch!”

The aliens shifted their gazes to Lady Muu, then thrust their arms toward us in unison.

Strapped to each of their arms was what looked like a tablet device. The moment they manipulated it, the armor covering their forearms began to morph.

The transformation was dramatic. In the blink of an eye, their armored arms reshaped into cannon barrels, reminiscent of a certain blue warrior from a virtual world or a notorious space pirate.

The difference was obvious, though.

The barrels were unmistakably fish-shaped.

“Be erased before this marvel of Planet Gyogyo’s technology, the ‘Amazing Beam’!”

“That name is awful!”

No, awful was underselling it. It was not even creative. Did the inventor never once stop to think, “Maybe we should workshop this?”

Before I could finish mentally tearing it apart, the aliens fired all at once.

Wowo. Wowo. Wowo. Wowo.

First of all, that sound. Between their appearance, their planet’s name, and now this, everything about them screamed fish. Even the beam sounded like someone chanting “fish, fish, fish.” If anything, I half expected it to go blub-blub-blub instead.

The beam was not a straight ray of light like I had imagined, either. Instead, glowing fish-shaped projectiles surged toward us in a writhing school, darting through the air as if alive.

I found myself staring far too intently at the bizarre beam when Al suddenly grabbed my arm.

“Seiichi! This is not the time to be calmly observing!”

“Huh?! Oh, right! We have no idea what that beam even is, so for now we should retreat and figure things out first!”

The moment I said that, something strange happened.

“K… Kisha…”

“Huh?”

“What?”

The glowing school of light-fish suddenly began to writhe. Their mouths opened and closed as if gasping for air, and then their bodies started to crumble. One after another, they broke apart into particles of light and vanished completely.

No matter how I looked at it, it was identical to a school of fish dying from oxygen deprivation.

“…”

The sheer absurdity of the scene robbed everyone of their words. Then, for some reason, every single gaze except the aliens’ turned toward me.

“At this point, it is painfully obvious whose fault this is.”

“Seiichi-dono truly is… beyond comprehension.”

“Wait, this is my fault?!”

“Who else would it be?” Al replied flatly.

“That makes no sense!”

With the others pointing it out so seriously and Al shutting me down so calmly, I felt completely cornered. I had not done anything. Not a single thing.

“O-Our beam?!”

“What did you do?! What did you do to it?!”

“That beam contains the pinnacle of Planet Gyogyo’s technology! Anyone struck by it should be reduced to particles at the subatomic level! How did you neutralize it?!”

“For something called the ‘Amazing Beam,’ that effect is terrifying!”

I mean, if it really was that dangerous, then maybe the name made sense.

No, never mind. It still sounded ridiculous.

“Enough! If this is how it is, then we shall deal with you personally… Ugh?!”

The aliens faltered mid-sentence, their movements stiffening as confusion and unease spread across their faces.

Something felt off, and judging by everyone’s looks, it seemed I was involved again.

The aliens, realizing their beam attacks were useless, had tried to rush us directly. The instant they moved, however, they suddenly clutched their throats and began to writhe in agony.

“I… I can’t breathe!”

“W-What’s happening?”

“Blub… blub blub?!”

“Aaagh…”

A moment later, whether from oxygen deprivation or sheer panic, they lost consciousness and dropped straight out of the sky, crashing helplessly onto the ground.

※※※

“Could you all please stop looking at me like that?!”

I was just as shocked as everyone else. They had made such a dramatic entrance, radiating overwhelming menace, only to go down the exact same way as the earlier creatures. Who would ever expect them to be defeated by a lack of air? Was this some kind of cosmic hierarchy? Land and sea were already taken, so was air secretly the final guardian?

An awkward silence hung over us until Tsukikage let out a long sigh.

“Very well… Whatever the reason, the enemy’s commanders have been defeated. All that remains is to deal with their leader, and then—”

“That moment shall never come.”

Everyone froze.

The voice echoed from above. When we looked up, we saw it.

Hovering in the sky was a being similar in appearance to the so-called Four Heavenly Kings, but with thick tentacles sprouting from its back, as though it had undergone some grotesque upgrade. There was no doubt it was one of their kind, yet the pressure it gave off was on a completely different level.

Yaiba inhaled sharply. Tsukikage’s posture stiffened, and Saria and the others instinctively readied themselves.

Okay, yeah. This one actually looks dangerous.

And yet, before I could stop myself, the thought slipped out of my mouth.

“They really don’t have much variety when it comes to entrances, do they?”

“Is that seriously what you’re commenting on right now?!”

No argument there. Absolutely fair.

Chapter 18: Gyogyon

“What are you supposed to be?”

Just as Al was in the middle of chewing me out, the guardian deity turned, his eyes sharpening like drawn blades as he fixed a glare on the alien floating high above us. His voice rang out with the formal edge of a warrior demanding answers.

The alien looked down at us with a smug, icy expression before speaking, his voice layered with arrogance and theatrical grandeur.

“I am Gyogyon, King of Planet Gyogyo, and the destined Great Emperor of the Universe. Bow your heads, you pathetic lower lifeforms. How dare you stand before me?”

“W-What?!”

The instant Gyogyon’s words thundered through the air, the Guardian Deity, Tsukikage, and even Gonbei dropped like stones. It was as if some unseen force had slammed into them, pressing them down with crushing gravity. Their knees hit the ground hard, and they couldn’t rise.

“Guardian deity!” I shouted, instinctively moving to help.

“Seiichi-dono…” he gasped, his voice strained. “Are you… unharmed…?”

“Yes! We’re all fine!”

“But… how are we not affected?” I muttered, watching as both Yaiba and Tsukikage stared at us with stunned, pained eyes. Gonbei’s brow twitched, sweat beading at his temples.

They were clearly in agony, but the rest of us stood untouched. Even Saria looked around, puzzled but perfectly composed.

From above, Gyogyon’s voice crackled again, this time thick with contempt.

“Hmph. You defy my command, you insects? You dare resist me? Such audacity… deserves only death.”

“Seiichi!” Saria’s voice snapped through the tension.

In that split second, a grotesque bloom of tentacles burst from Gyogyon’s back. Dozens, maybe more, twisted through the air like living whips and shot straight for me.

“GAH! That’s disgusting!” I shouted, lurching back as the first tendrils slashed toward my face. My skin crawled just looking at the wet, rubbery things that squirmed with too much life.

As I ducked a second strike, a chipper voice called out behind me.

“Oooh! Master!” Lulune’s eyes sparkled like she’d spotted a gourmet feast. “Those totally look like squid or octopus legs, right?!”

“How do you even see that right now?!” I shouted, still dodging like mad.

“Can I eat one?!”

“You’ll poison yourself!”

Yeah, okay… tentacles, fish-skin shimmer… Sure, I can see the squid comparison. But you take one look at that alien freak’s face, and it kills any appetite. This ain’t seafood. It’s space horror.

Still, seafood or not, those tentacles were definitely hostile. Slippery as they were, they came at me fast from every angle.

“All right, that’s enough!” I growled, raising my blade. “Let’s hack them down!”

“Rahhh!” I charged, slashing hard, but the moment my sword hit one, it rebounded like it had struck a spring-loaded trampoline.

“Ugh, gross! These things are way too rubbery! I can’t cut through them cleanly!”

“Take this!” Saria yelled, landing a heavy punch that sent a tentacle flying in a wet spiral. “Al! Try punching them! They go flying if you hit ’em right!”

“That’s just you, Saria!”

“Mhm… Al’s right. But if we use Zora’s power, we can just break them.”

“Yeah, good point. Zora, think you can handle it?”

“Y-Yes! Leave it to me!”

As Zora’s eyes began to glow, one tentacle after another turned to stone in midair. With precision and force, Al stepped forward and shattered them one by one, her attacks slicing through the petrified limbs like glass.

Watching us from above, Gyogyon’s face contorted in disgust. His brow furrowed deeper, lips curling with loathing.

“You would dare destroy the sacred limbs of my noble form? Such insolence! Do not think death will come easily to you!”

In the same moment, even more tentacles burst from Gyogyon’s back. But unlike the fish-shaped beams fired by the Four Heavenly Kings earlier, these weren’t bizarre energy projections; they were blinding lances of pure light. Crackling like lightning, laser blasts shot from the tips of his new limbs, raining down on us with lethal intent.

“Yeah… Okay, those definitely look like they could kill me in one hit! Just saying!” I shouted, narrowly dodging a blast that turned a boulder into molten slag.

“Stop narrating and start fighting, idiot!” Al snapped, her blade flashing as she deflected a beam aimed for my head.

Right, sorry! That’s fair.

“If he’s coming at us with tentacles, then I’ll just—”

“Grow some tentacles of your own?” Al asked, leveling a disturbingly serious expression at me.

“No, I won’t! Why would I ever?!”

Why was she giving me that look like she actually expected me to sprout something unspeakable?!

Come on, I’m not some deep-sea horror! I don’t have anything like that growing out of me, right?

“I don’t, do I…?”

“No, I don’t want tentacles!”

The voice in my head, the mysterious inner commentator, just casually dropped that question like it was no big deal. Seriously, what kind of customer service was that?!

Could you maybe stop offering me cursed upgrades and start thinking about my mental health instead?!

Wait… What if all those over-the-top transformations I’d gone through in the past weren’t accidents? What if… What if on some subconscious level, I’d actually wanted them?

Nope. Nope, not going there. I refuse to believe that. I don’t even trust my own mind anymore!

Above us, Gyogyon’s voice crackled like a death sentence.

“You scuttling pests… How you squirm. Just die already.”

As I found myself spiraling deeper into thoughts about my own subconscious, Gyogyon’s assault only grew fiercer. More beams, more writhing tentacles, and even more chaos rained down from the sky.

No, I’m not growing tentacles out of my body. That’s never happening. But that doesn’t mean I can’t fight fire with fire… or in this case, tentacle with tentacle!

“Land! I’m counting on you!”

“You really have no sense of urgency, do you?!” Al shouted, slicing down a blast as she glared at me in disbelief.

Hey, can’t help it; it’s just my nature.

The moment I called out, the earth beneath us trembled. Mounds of soil cracked and lifted, morphing and reshaping until jagged, spiraling limbs burst forth. A swarm of rocky tentacles, each one twisting like it had a will of its own, rose to answer my call.

“What?!” Gyogyon’s voice cracked in surprise, but he was reacting too soon.

The stone tentacles surged upward, coiling around his own fleshy limbs. They wrapped, crushed, and then, with a stomach-turning wrench, ripped them out.

“GYAAARRRGHHH!”

His scream split the air.

“Whoa! That was amazing, Seiichi!” Saria called out, lifting a hand to her brow as if watching a street performance.

“Looks painful…” Origa added softly, wincing.

Saria, though, was completely unfazed. She watched Gyogyon writhing in agony like it was a mildly interesting TV show. Kind of surreal, honestly, but then again, she was originally a gorilla. That probably rewired her shock threshold.

With every last tentacle torn free, Gyogyon thrashed in midair, screaming. And just like that, the crushing force that had been pinning down Yaiba and the others faded away. They wobbled to their feet, still visibly shaken.

“Are you okay?” I asked, running over.

“Y-You saved us… Truly…” Yaiba breathed, his legs still unsteady.

“I was caught by that thing too…” Tsukikage muttered, brushing herself off with a dazed expression. “I… still don’t understand what just happened…”

“Don’t sweat it,” Gonbei grunted. “No one understands Seiichi.”

“Hey! That’s not true!” I protested. I’m like, the most straightforward guy here!

“Well, anyway, that man,” Tsukikage said, turning her sharp gaze up at Gyogyon, “if we can even call him that, is clearly our true enemy. Wouldn’t you say so, Gonbei-dono?”

“Y-Yes. That is Gyogyon-sama, the one who rules over Eikyō now.”

“Then we’re on the same page. If we defeat him, Eikyō will be free once more!”

“But Tsukikage-dono, what about Lady Muu—?”

“Indeed. Mu-Yu… That is the one.”

“!”

Suddenly, Gyogyon thrust a hand toward Lady Muu, who had been carried on Tsukikage’s back this whole time.

In an instant, she was surrounded by a shimmering, semi-transparent sphere. The glowing orb lifted her from Tsukikage’s back and into the air.

“What the—! You bastard!”

Tsukikage and Yaiba sprang into action, unleashing twin strikes at the shimmering sphere encasing Lady Muu. Despite their precision, the barrier didn’t crack or even ripple; it remained completely unscathed.

“Gwahahahaha! It’s useless! The moment you set foot in this city, your fate was already sealed!”

“What?!” Tsukikage snapped, her blade still drawn.

The orb drifted upward, gliding toward Gyogyon as if magnetized. He reached out and caught it with a theatrical flourish, smirking down at us.

“Did you truly think I left this city unguarded? I knew without a doubt that you’d try to reclaim Eikyō eventually, so I prepared in advance. I wove a trap specifically to capture Mu-Yu. Initially, I intended to kill you all and take her by force, but your resistance was more troublesome than expected. So I must say, my preparations were well worth it.”

So he’d predicted our moves.

To be fair… even if Gonbei and the others hadn’t come to the Shadow Village, our options were limited. Sooner or later, we’d have made a move on Eikyō. There was no avoiding it.

With Lady Muu now securely in his grasp, Gyogyon began rising, ascending higher and higher into the sky. Then, with all the pomp of a mad emperor, he shouted for all to hear:

“Watch closely! Witness the moment I ascend as ruler of the new universe!”

He thrust a hand skyward.

In that instant, the strange, silent towers surrounding Eikyō lit up in sequence. Their peaks pulsed with light, collecting energy like antennae preparing to fire. And then, one by one, those beams converged at a single point; not Gyogyon himself, but at Lady Muu, still floating beside him inside the orb.

The moment those rays struck her, golden light burst from her body like a dam breaking.

“Yes! Yesss! This is it! This is the moment I’ve been waiting for!”

Gyogyon’s eyes gleamed with madness as he extended both arms toward her. The radiant energy flowing from her began to shift, drawn to him like a tide pulled by gravity. The golden streams twisted, pulsed, and then surged into him.

“OHHH!”

The glow intensified with every passing second, his body drinking in the light greedily until the golden radiance erupted in a final, blinding flash so bright we could do nothing but shield our eyes. For a moment, all I could see was white. Gradually, the light began to fade; I felt the warmth slipping from my skin before I finally dared to open my eyes.

“Wait, is that…?”

I stared up at the sky, eyes wide, as Gyogyon floated above us, wreathed in golden light like some freshly evolved final boss.

“Kukuku… Kuhahaha!”

I wasn’t the only one left stunned; Saria and the others were just as thrown off. Even Yaiba and Tsukikage stood there, dumbfounded, eyes locked on Gyogyon with blank stares.

And the reason was simple—

“Behold! Feast your eyes upon the newly evolved form of—”

“Nothing’s changed!”

“Huh?”

My outburst brought Gyogyon’s speech to a screeching halt. He blinked, his face slack with confusion, as if he’d just realized he was standing on stage with his fly down.

I mean, come on.

“After all that ominous buildup with the lasers, the golden glow, and the dramatic monologue, I expected a terrifying second or third form. But he looks exactly the same. Is it just me?”

“No way,” Al said, frowning as she squinted up at him. “With an entrance like that, he has to be different. Probably. Maybe?”

“Huhhh? He looks the same to me,” Saria said, peering upward like she was trying to spot the difference in a puzzle book.

“Yeah. No change,” Origa added in her usual flat tone.

“I-I think so too,” Zora murmured, still staring up with a vaguely pained expression.

“A Gyogyon without tentacles holds no worth,” Lulune said coldly.

“Yeah, that’s definitely just you,” I muttered.

Still, I couldn’t blame her. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t spot a single difference. The same alien face. The same smug expression. No new horns, no extra arms, no glowing tattoos, not even a change of outfit.

“Yaiba, Tsukikage, either of you see anything different?”

“W-Well… uh… I… No,” Yaiba admitted, averting his eyes.

And then Gyogyon exploded.

“Silence!”

His scream cracked like lightning, echoing across the sky as he trembled with fury.

“How dare you! I gave you a front-row seat to witness divinity, and you dare to mock me?! I have become the ruler of the entire universe!”

“Yeah, but… you look exactly the same, so…”

“Enough. Then let me show you the power I have obtained!”

Gyogyon raised a hand toward Lady Muu, who continued to float silently beside him. A wicked grin stretched across his face.

“To begin with… why don’t I erase this worthless lower lifeform? She’s served her purpose.”

“Muu-sama!”

Yaiba’s voice cracked with urgency. But neither he nor Tsukikage had any means of stopping Gyogyon now. If he had truly changed, if he really had become something far beyond us, then her life was in real danger.

I didn’t hesitate. I summoned Land’s power, calling forth rocky tentacles from the earth to rescue Lady Muu. Gyogyon’s gaze shifted; he simply looked at the stone limbs, not moving his hands or showing any obvious power, just giving them a mildly annoyed glance. Instantly, they froze in place.

“Hmph. Interfering again? Pointless. That no longer works.”

“What—”

I barely got the word out before the tentacles, mere inches from reaching Lady Muu, suddenly lost all form. They crumbled into dust, collapsing as nothing more than loose dirt back onto the ground.

All he’d done was look at them.

I stood frozen in disbelief, and Gyogyon sneered with twisted satisfaction.

“I now possess the power of Mu-Yu. That means, if I choose, I can return all things—heaven and earth, form and concept—to nothing or create them anew. There is no longer anyone who can defy me.”

“So he really did change…” I murmured.

“This is not the time for commentary!” Al snapped from behind me.

Right. Focus, Seiichi.

As Al chewed me out, Gyogyon’s smirk twitched. He was glaring straight at me now, a vein pulsing just beneath one eye.

“You continue to mock me… You dare mock me… Fine then. I’ll grant you the honor. Forget the girl. I’ll kill you first!”

“What?!”

I barely had time to react. In the blink of an eye, before I could move, breathe, or even think, Gyogyon appeared behind me. I didn’t see him move; he was just there.

And then, he grabbed my head.

“Seiichi!”

Saria’s voice rang out as she reached toward me in a panic, her hand inches too far.

“Now, wear your foolishness like a crown, and vanish into nothing!”

“S-Seiichi!”

Saria’s scream echoed through the sky.

Chapter 19: The Final Curtain

Saria’s scream still hung in the air, rippling out over the battlefield.

Al stared at me, breath caught in her throat, her face frozen in disbelief.

Origa and Zora stood wide-eyed, overwhelmed by quiet despair, as if they had just witnessed something irreversible. At the center of it all, Gyogyon basked in the moment, wearing a wicked, ecstatic grin.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Gyogyon’s grin faltered and his eyes went blank as he stared down at me in stunned silence. I glanced around and saw that he wasn’t the only one: Saria, Al, everyone had the same look of total confusion.

“W-What’s going on here?” Yaiba muttered, speaking aloud what everyone else was clearly thinking.

“Impossible! Why?! Why aren’t you gone?! Why are you still standing there as if nothing happened?!” Gyogyon howled.

“Uh, more importantly, what did you do?” I asked.

Saria and the others had looked like their hearts were about to shatter. But to be honest, I still didn’t understand what they were all so worried about.

As far as I could tell, nothing had happened.

“I mean, seriously,” I continued, “I don’t even know what that was supposed to be. You reached for my head, and then… what?”

“Y-You absolute anomaly!” Al shouted. “He erased your rock tentacles like they were nothing! You should’ve been more cautious!”

“Anomaly?!”

I couldn’t help snapping back at that, but okay, fair. I guess I could see how things looked. Since the tentacles had just crumbled apart, Al and the others must have thought Gyogyon was some unstoppable monster now. And considering I was the only one who could summon weird nonsense like “rock tentacles,” seeing that get neutralized probably made him look even more terrifying.

But hang on, doesn’t that also mean I’m the one who usually looks like the monster?

Wait… Is that what they really think of me?

As I started spiraling down that delightful train of thought, Gyogyon finally let go of my head and stared down at his own hand in utter disbelief.

“This is… This is impossible! I-I truly possess the power of Mu-Yu! The power of the divine itself! With this, I should be omnipotent! I should be able to erase all things… How could this be stopped?!”

“Someone like you could never lay a finger on Seiichi-sama.”

The voice echoed, calm and absolute, through the air.

At first, I thought it was just my usual internal announcer. It was spoken so smoothly, so naturally, that I assumed it came from inside my head. But this time, it was different. This voice wasn’t meant for me alone.

“What—?! Whose voice is that?!” Gyogyon shouted, spinning in place, searching the sky with wide, panicked eyes.

“Amazing! It feels like it’s echoing directly inside my head!”

“Huh?”

Saria’s eyes sparkled with wonder, but that wasn’t the surprising part.

Apparently, the voice that usually only spoke in my mind, the one I’d come to think of as the announcer, was now audible to everyone.

Wait, what?

My brain fumbled for an explanation, but before I could make sense of it, all attention turned to Gyogyon. Of everyone here, he seemed the most shaken by the voice.

“W-Who?! Who dares speak to me like that?! Show yourself, if you have the gall to mock me!”

“The fact that you can’t even perceive my form says everything I need to know about your limits.”

“Wha—?!”

Okay, hang on… Announcer? I’ve never seen your form either, y’know?! Do you even have one?

The situation was spiraling into chaos, and honestly, I had no idea where to even begin objecting. Meanwhile, Gyogyon’s voice grew louder and more frantic.

“Do not mock me! I possess the power of Mu-Yu! The limit, a concept that defines the finite, means nothing to me now. That means I can evolve endlessly! With that power, I shall…”

“And?”

“Huh?”

That single deadpan word landed like a slap, stopping Gyogyon in his tracks. Honestly, I felt the same way; the rest of us were just as thrown off. If what Gyogyon was saying was actually true, then he might have become something beyond reason. I mean, sure, I’d eaten the Fruit of Evolution, so I knew a thing or two about growth, but infinite evolution? I had no idea if that was even possible for me.

Yet the announcer didn’t flinch. Their tone stayed perfectly neutral, as if stating the obvious.

“Infinity, nothingness, finitude… They all lead back to Seiichi-sama.”

I-I’m not Rome, you know?!

“The infinity you claim, the limits you deny, the void, death, all of it—everything—exists under Seiichi-sama’s dominion. No, not even that. We simply serve him by our own will. Should he deem your existence unnecessary, then so shall it be.”

W-Wait, hold on! Time out! What is happening?! I don’t understand a word of this!

If what the announcer was saying was actually true, then what would happen if I denied the concept of death? Would that mean no one would ever die again? This was way beyond “I visited the underworld once” levels of insanity!

Since when did I turn into something like that?!

Actually, as I thought about it, maybe it had been that way for a while.

“And another thing,” the announcer continued coolly, “you speak of ‘evolution’ so lightly. But do you truly understand its origin?”

“W-What?” Gyogyon muttered.

“Across all worlds—what you and Seiichi-sama would call the omniverse, dimensions, all of existence itself—every capacity for adaptation, learning, imitation, growth, and evolution, along with every ability, trait, concept, and authority, exists for one reason alone. Every being that possesses these things does so for a single purpose.”

The voice sharpened, heavy with absolute certainty.

“Seiichi-sama is their origin. All those who inhabit the omniverse merely borrow their power by his grace. As for you… You are less than the residue scraped from the bottom.”

“N… N…!”

Hold on… origin?!

I’m still a teenager?! I haven’t even lived that long! Are we even talking about humans anymore?!

The content had gone so completely off the rails that no one aside from Gyogyon and the announcer could even follow it anymore. And that included me, the supposed centerpiece of this conversation.

Still glaring into the sky, Gyogyon shouted back, forcing his way through the shock.

“W-What does it matter?! If I evolve beyond that lower lifeform—!”

“Meaningless,” the announcer interrupted flatly. “The more you evolve, the more that evolution becomes Seiichi-sama’s power.”

“Huh?!”

“Huh?!” I echoed.

“Why are you surprised?” Al snapped at me.

Because this is the first I’m hearing of it!

While I stood there reeling, the announcer pressed on, utterly merciless.

“Do you understand now? No matter how much trash-tier power you acquire through evolution, the gap between you and Seiichi-sama will never close. No, there was never a gap to begin with.”

The words landed like a verdict.

“After stripping away the evolved power you gain, Seiichi-sama evolves. And it doesn’t end there. Even now, while you waste his valuable time here, countless beings across other dimensions and omniverses are continuing to evolve, grow, and adapt.”

My throat went dry.

“Seiichi-sama evolves by the same amount. And on top of that, all the power gained by those evolved beings also becomes his. By his mercy, those unrelated to him may continue their growth undisturbed…”

The pause that followed felt deliberate.

“—but you are not among them. You will weaken. And only Seiichi-sama will continue to grow stronger. That is all.”

Wait. I don’t remember having powers like that. And did they just casually say I’m getting power from people in other dimensions?!

Gyogyon’s face paled, then flushed deep red with realization.

“T-Then that would make you… omniscient and omnipotent!”

“Don’t lump me in with something so trivial.”

“Trivial?!”

Omniscience and omnipotence are trivial?! How?! What’s above that?! What could possibly be more?!

Apparently, Gyogyon was just as appalled as I was, because he shouted with righteous fury.

“How much further do you intend to mock me?! Omniscience and omnipotence are everything I’ve ever desired! That is my dream! With that alone, I could reign as the one true supreme god! And now you—”

“A dream so small,” the announcer cut in coldly. “Omniscience and omnipotence are merely servants—slaves—to Seiichi-sama.”

“Seiichi, you…” Al said, slowly turning toward me.

“Don’t look at me like that!”

I swear I didn’t know! I didn’t ask for this! Why would I want omniscient slaves?! I wouldn’t even know what to do with them!

I mean, let’s be real… I would have just left them on idle and forgotten they existed.

For someone supposedly omniscient and omnipotent, I felt like I was still missing a lot of critical information.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the announcer’s tone softened. It became calm, gentle, even reverent, as it addressed me directly.

“Seiichi-sama, you don’t need to worry about a thing. Of course, you are capable of anything you wish, but all the burdens of such tasks fall to us. Anything you desire, we will carry out or assist with to completion. You don’t even need to exercise your power. Omniscience and omnipotence will act on your behalf.”

That’s terrifying!

This went way beyond helpful; it was full-blown worship!

And what did it even mean for “omniscience and omnipotence to act on my behalf”?

Whose story is this?!

Also, how was a being like that supposed to live in a normal world, as a normal person?

“But of course. We know this is what Seiichi-sama desires.”

The announcer’s voice rang out again, this time tender and almost apologetic.

“We would much prefer that Seiichi-sama never need to raise a sword himself, but he seems to want to act personally. Our role is simply to support him and ensure he lives in peace and happiness. We would never do anything he dislikes.”

This is… horrifyingly generous treatment!

I mean, what could be scarier than everything ending before I even understood what was happening? If that was the kind of world I lived in, of course, I’d want to be at least somewhat in control of it. Anyone would, right?

Then again, I’m starting to doubt if my “normal” is even real anymore.

“In any case,” the announcer continued coolly, speaking now to Gyogyon, “no matter how much you struggle, no matter what power you obtain, your defeat is inevitable. Be a good sport and return to your little corner of the cosmos.”

While the rest of us were still trying to mentally catch up, the voice dropped that final line like it was nothing.

And that was when Gyogyon finally snapped.

“You dare mock me?!”

“!”

Tentacles exploded from Gyogyon’s body, far more than before, and not just from his back. They burst from his arms, face, and even his legs, making his entire body squirm and swell with them. It was disgusting.

Unlike earlier, these new tentacles unleashed wild laser blasts from their tips, tearing toward us in a chaotic frenzy.

To make matters worse, the alien ship hovering silently over Eikyō finally began to move. It shifted in the air as turrets unfolded from its hull like fangs. One by one, glowing cannons emerged, building up a violent storm of energy.

“Hey, Seiichi! What the hell are we supposed to do now?!” Al yelled, eyes locked on the incoming storm. “That voice earlier was related to you, right?!”

“There was a lot of weird, complicated stuff being said,” Saria added, tilting her head.

“Mhm… I didn’t understand any of it,” Origa murmured.

It’s okay, Origa. Neither did I.

That quiet thought flickered through my mind like a coping mechanism. But there was no time to sit and think things over; the situation was spiraling fast.

Gyogyon’s rampage wasn’t slowing. And now, with that alien warship preparing to fire, Eikyō itself might be obliterated.

“Wait, if this keeps up, Eikyō’s going to be destroyed!”

“And worse, Muu-sama’s still up there!”

Yaiba was right. Lady Muu still floated in midair, suspended and vulnerable. We had to get her out of there now.

It seemed neither Tsukikage nor Yaiba could reach her suspended state, floating helplessly in midair. So I casually kicked off the ground and leapt upward.

“S-Seiichi-dono?!” Yaiba’s voice cracked with panic as I shot skyward.

In the blink of an eye, I reached the spot where she hovered, still trapped inside that transparent sphere. I reached out and touched it.

Man, this thing’s in the way.

The instant that idle thought crossed my mind, the barrier shattered into glimmering shards and vanished into the wind.

Yeah… I’m starting to understand what the announcer meant earlier.

With Lady Muu now freed, I gently wrapped my arms around her and began descending. But of course, Gyogyon noticed.

“I won’t let you escape!”

Tentacles flared out from his body, twisting together into a single massive cord. At its tip, a dense orb of energy began to condense so tightly compressed that it vibrated with destructive force.

And then, he fired.

But—

“Yeah, we’re really over this kind of thing.”

I couldn’t help the words that slipped out.

And just like that, the crackling sphere of energy stopped mid-flight, then fizzled away with a sheepish “oh, uh, sorry” kind of vibe and vanished before even touching me.

Poof.

“What just happened?” Gyogyon gasped, the color draining from his face. “H-How can this be?! I possess Mu-Yu power, enough to rule the entire universe! So how? How?!”

“You’ve made one critical mistake.”

“Huh?”

Staggered by the failure of what was clearly meant to be a final attack, Gyogyon barely managed a dazed response as the announcer’s voice echoed once again, this time with cold amusement.

“Did you truly believe you could steal power from someone Seiichi-sama holds dear?”

“N-No. It can’t be…”

“That puffed-up arrogance, thinking our little theatrical display meant anything, believing you had seized power, when all you held was an illusion. The sight of you gloating was truly… pathetic.”

“Ah…”

“Farewell, pitiful fish, flung ashore and left to gasp for air.”

“Ahhh!”

Gyogyon’s scream tore through the air, but his voice quickly faltered, and his strength vanished as suddenly as it had surged. Just like the bizarre creatures and self-styled Four Heavenly Kings before him, he collapsed in the middle of his rage, choking for breath until he finally fell still, knocked out by sheer oxygen deprivation.

“Okay, but what was that?” I muttered.

“That’s our line!” Everyone else yelled in unison, a perfect chorus of exasperation and disbelief.

And just like that, the battle was over.

Chapter 20: The Accidental Savior, Again

Gyogyon had just gone down in what was, without exaggeration, the most incomprehensible way anyone had ever been defeated in history.

As we stood there, silently watching his twitching, tentacle-laden form crumpled on the ground, the voice of the announcer rang out once more.

“Uh… yeah. Thanks.”

“Uh… yeah.”

Still riding that high-strung tone, the announcer’s voice finally faded into silence, leaving me standing there like an NPC who’d only been coded with one response.

※※※

Yeah… My brain officially couldn’t keep up anymore. I needed to mentally sort things out before I had a seizure from pure confusion.

Based on what the announcer said… it seemed Gyogyon never actually stole Lady Muu’s power. That was just his own delusion. The truth? He hadn’t taken anything at all. His so-called godhood was a flashy mirage.

All of that—every dramatic moment, every escalation—had apparently been orchestrated by this “omnipotent” something-or-other, just for the sake of entertainment.

Right. So… I have a few things I want to say about this.

First of all, this whole “omnipotence takes care of everything” business makes zero sense. Second, Gyogyon’s grand cosmic conquest ended in the most anticlimactic, off-screen punchline I’d ever witnessed. But more than anything else…

“In the end, he didn’t change at all.”

“That’s your takeaway?!” Al snapped instantly, deadpan.

I mean, the guy had put on all that ominous pressure, the dramatic speeches, the golden light show. With all that, you’d think something huge was going to happen. Instead, when the curtain rose, he was the same sad alien with too many arms and way too much ego.

And the whole time, he insisted he had changed. Transcended. Evolved.

“Honestly… it was kind of pitiful,” I muttered.

“Mhm… A little sad,” Origa agreed softly.

“He was our enemy, and he did say plenty of threatening crap,” Al added with a reluctant sigh, “but yeah, I gotta agree with Origa. He thought everything was going according to plan. Then, Seiichi showed up and nuked his entire plan from orbit without lifting a finger. Got turned into a literal stage gag. That’s a hell of a nightmare.”

“I have nothing to say in my defense!”

Al was right. If anything, I was starting to feel like the real villain here. Or at least, the final boss everyone was too scared to admit was on their side.

After all, imagine carefully laying out your grand plan, only for the whole thing to be consumed as entertainment for someone else’s amusement.

That was exactly what had just happened to Gyogyon.

As Al, Origa, and I tried to make sense of the chaos, Saria tilted her head, looking puzzled but thoughtful.

“But if he was trying to do something bad, then maybe he got what he deserved? I mean, if you go around doing things that would make you miserable, it’s weird to think no one would ever do them to you, right?”

There was a surprising clarity in her words, as if she’d struck a nerve of truth with a single, innocent sentence.

Because yeah, even if all that nonsense with Gyogyon was a waking nightmare from his perspective, if his plan had succeeded, we would’ve been the ones living through that nightmare instead. In the end, both sides were just trying to avoid being the victim.

“One thing’s for sure,” I said quietly. “Don’t do bad things.”

“Mhm. I’ll be good,” Origa declared, solemn as ever.

I reached over and gave her head a gentle pat, and was rewarded with her usual quiet calm.

Just as the scene was starting to wrap up with a strangely wholesome moral, Yaiba, who’d been frozen in place this whole time, suddenly marched up to me like a man possessed.

“No, this still doesn’t make any sense!”

“Huh?”

“In the first place, just what are you, Seiichi-dono?! One moment, a voice appears in my mind, and the next, the enemy collapses without a fight! Nothing makes any sense!”

“It’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t get it either.”

“That makes it worse, not better!”

Look, I’m not trying to be difficult. If I knew, I’d explain! But if something makes no sense, then it just… doesn’t. End of story!

“Ah, right. More importantly, Muu-sama.”

I turned to hand Lady Muu back to Tsukikage, who gently took her in her arms. Seeing that she was safe filled me with relief, but when I looked at the ninja’s face, I paused. Her expression was blank, completely unreadable.

Then, in a small, flat voice, she said, “The outside world is terrifying.”

“Tsukikage-san?”

She was trembling. Like she’d just returned from an alien horror movie.

I was the horror movie.

How?! How does a guy like me, a walking embodiment of mildness and civility, get mistaken for the scariest thing in the universe?

The sheer misunderstanding made me want to curl up and die.

And just as I started mentally spiraling, a sudden question crossed my mind.

“So what now? I mean, it looks like all our enemies, including Gyogyon, are down for the count.”

It was a fair question. The announcer’s parting words had been followed by Gyogyon succumbing to oxygen deprivation, and as it turned out, not just him. His entire fleet of alien ships had begun plummeting from the skies, crashing far beyond the borders of Eikyō.

In other words, aside from the strange towers still standing around the city, Eikyō had more or less returned to its original state.

Though even those towers, as it happened, had only existed to extract power from Lady Muu. And that had turned out to be nothing more than part of a staged performance. A mere set piece. Terrifying.

“Y-Yes, well, there’s certainly much to do,” Yaiba said, clearing his throat. “First, we’ll need to check on the citizens of Eikyō, confirm their safety. But whatever the outcome, the truth remains: we owe our survival to you, Seiichi-dono. To that end, please allow us to show our deepest gratitude. You are more than welcome to stay here in Eikyō as honored guests.”

The moment Yaiba said this, Saria’s eyes lit up like twin stars.

“You mean… we can go to the hot springs again?!”

“Of course,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Okay, and can we expect a full feast this time, too?”

“By all means! It would honor us if you’d experience the finest cuisine Eikyō has to offer.”

It looked like we were finally going to get to enjoy everything the Eastern Kingdom had promised, something we hadn’t exactly gotten to savor during our time in the Shadow Village.

Grinning with anticipation, we followed Yaiba and the others toward the towering castle at the heart of Eikyō, where we were to be welcomed in full.

※※※

“Just a little farther!”

While Seiichi and company were causing cosmic-scale chaos in the Eastlands, deep within a forest near the borders of the Kingdom of Windberg, a separate group was sprinting for their lives.

Panting, soaked in sweat, a girl gasped as she stumbled over the roots underfoot.

“Haa… Haa… M-My legs…”

“Lady Hino! If we stop here, they’ll catch us!”

The sharp cry came from Karen Kannazuki, a girl wielding divine power, a priestess chosen by heaven itself.

Having finally broken away from the hero’s group, Karen Kannazuki and her companions had since rendezvoused with Agnos and the rest of Class F. Together, they were now fleeing from the grasp of the Kaizell Empire, aiming to reach the Kingdom of Windberg, one of the few regions still outside imperial control.

But their escape had not gone unnoticed for long.

Now, the furious shouts of pursuing imperial soldiers echoed from behind, crashing through the stillness of the forest like the roar of an angry tide.

“After them! Don’t let them get away! The Kingdom of Windberg’s border might be guarded by the Knight of the Sword or even the Black Paladin! If they make it across, we may have to fight those two! We might be strong, yes, but squaring off against them is no easy feat. Listen up, do not let them cross that border!”

The soldiers of the Kaizell Empire, all of them now ascended to the rank of Transcendant, were not so naïve as to think they’d lose to the likes of Windberg’s elite. They harbored no fear of the famed Knight of the Sword, Louisse, or the grim specter known as the Black Paladin.

Even so, the fact that Windberg still remained unconquered was proof enough that taking them head-on was more trouble than it was worth. It wasn’t cowardice; it was cold pragmatism. They wished to avoid unnecessary damage and losses.

Yet in this particular pursuit, they had one key advantage: there were no “Mountains” in the way.

In the Kingdom of Windberg, “Mountain” wasn’t always a literal term. Along certain stretches of the border lay a so-called “Mountain” that was, in truth, the slumbering back of a massive magical beast. It never stirred under normal conditions, but should too many humans tread upon it, the creature would awaken, shaking off its mossy disguise and moving as a living force of nature.

Naturally, the Kaizell Empire avoided that route in any offensive maneuver.

But as fate would have it, Karen’s group had taken a path with no such guardian beast, no “Mountain” to protect them. The soldiers, unhindered, gave chase at full speed.

“Hey, Kannazuki-senpai! How much farther?!” gasped Shouta, his voice ragged with desperation.

“I don’t know…” Karen’s breath came hard, her body aching as she pushed forward. “But we have to keep running!”

Their feet pounded the earth until, at last, they burst out of the forest.

And what lay before them… was nothing.

Just an open plain of waving grass, stretching endlessly to the horizon.

“No way…”

Up until now, they’d managed to shake the Kaizell Empire’s pursuit by darting through the forest, using the thick cover of trees and brush to their advantage. But that shelter had vanished. The path ahead stretched out into open grassland, flat and completely exposed. With nowhere to hide, it was only a matter of time before they were caught.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me. This is what we’re dealing with now?” Agnos muttered, his voice tight with disbelief as he stared at the plain unfolding before them.

“It can’t be helped,” Blud responded bitterly, arms crossed. “None of us knows the geography of Windberg well enough to avoid this.”

The whole group stood rooted in place, momentarily stunned by the hopeless sight before them, until the Kaizell Empire’s soldiers finally caught up.

“Well, well… You really made us work for it,” one of them sneered as he stepped forward with deliberate menace. “Not sure how you pulled it off, but it looks like those bracelets aren’t working anymore. No matter. We’ll just bind you again. This time with something even stronger. And you will be telling us exactly how you managed to break free.”

“Tch!” Karen gritted her teeth, fury and frustration flaring in her eyes.

Though she held the title of hero, Karen’s level wasn’t especially high. And in truth, none of the group had much in the way of fighting power. Meanwhile, over a hundred of the Kaizell Empire’s elite Transcendants had already surrounded them, their overwhelming presence suffocating any hope of escape.

That hope, however, hadn’t yet died in everyone.

A sharp, furious voice rang out. It was Nojima Yuuka, a friend of Airi and one of the girls who had fled with Karen.

“Oh, give me a break! We’ve kept our mouths shut long enough, and now you think you can just say whatever you want?! You’re the ones who tricked us to begin with! So what if we ran? What’s wrong with that? And now you wanna rob us of our freedom again? Like hell we’ll let you!”

“She’s right, you know,” Agnos added, stepping forward with a cocky grin. “Why the hell are you acting like you’ve already won, huh? What gave you that bright idea?”

His voice cut sharp as a blade, laced with open defiance and aimed straight at the Kaizell soldiers. Blud pressed a hand to his forehead, exasperated.

“Now’s really not the time to be picking a fight…”

“Can’t really blame ’em, though,” Airi said with a light shrug, voice dry. “Feels like we’re at the ‘last desperate stand’ part of the story, you know?”

“Airi, even if that’s true, maybe don’t say it out loud?” someone muttered beside her.

“Whatever,” grumbled Amakawa Rumi, one of Yuuka and Airi’s close friends. She threw up her hands, exasperated. “I’m just saying that if anyone asks me to run again, I will scream. My legs are done.”

Right beside her, Noa Shimizu let out a similar cry of frustration, clearly in no mood for more exercise.

Of everyone present, it was Yuuka’s group that stood out, their voices loud and their defiance unmistakable. The rest remained silent, expressions clouded with unease or tightly drawn in wariness. Each person reacted in their own way, but none dared challenge what loomed before them.

Not that it mattered to the soldiers of the Kaizell Empire. Their gazes were cold, unfeeling. Whatever fear or resistance these fugitives showed, it was irrelevant.

“Say whatever you want. This is the end of the line,” one of the soldiers declared flatly. “Take them.”

The Kaizell troops began to advance, step by deliberate step, closing in on Karen and the others with the clear intent to restrain them.

Everyone there knew it was over. That creeping finality settled in their bones. But just as the thought struck…

Something changed.

“Huh?”

One soldier stiffened, his brow furrowing as a strange sound reached his ear. It was faint at first, like distant ringing. He shook his head, tried to ignore it, but the noise grew louder and sharper. Soon, other soldiers began to shift uneasily, glancing around. It became clear it wasn’t just in his head.

“What the hell is that?! What’s making that noise?!”

“I’ve never heard anything like this…”

Karen and the others heard it too. They exchanged anxious glances and instinctively scanned their surroundings. Then, one of the soldiers looked up. His gaze locked onto something above, his mouth opened, but no sound escaped.

“What the—?!”

The others followed his gaze skyward and saw something massive falling from the sky.

And then—

ZUSHHHAAA!!!

A cataclysmic impact slammed into the earth, unleashing a deafening shockwave. Karen instinctively threw her arms over her head, bracing herself against the blast as a storm of wind and dust exploded outward, battering everyone where they stood. The ground seemed to scream beneath them.

Then, suddenly, everything went silent. Gradually, the wind died down, and the tremors faded.

“What… What the hell just happened…?” Karen whispered, trembling as she slowly lifted her head.

Her eyes widened.

A massive fissure had split the earth open between them and the Kaizell soldiers. It cut through the field like a clean, precise wound, as if the world itself had been cleaved by a single stroke.

She wasn’t the only one who noticed.

The stunned soldiers of the Empire stared in disbelief until one of them finally broke.

“What the hell is this?!”

They had finally cornered Karen and her group. The Kaizell Empire’s soldiers had them right where they wanted until that impossible rift tore the earth apart like a blade splitting two opposing forces. Now, with a gaping chasm dividing the field, the soldiers could do nothing but stand and stare.

The fissure wasn’t just large, it was absurdly vast, stretching easily over five hundred meters wide. Even trying to go around it was futile; the cleft extended beyond the visible horizon, as if it had no end.

How could something like this happen so suddenly? What kind of force could carve a wound like this into the world?

Just from the impact alone, it felt like something that could have cleaved a planet in half. That the earth itself remained intact was the real miracle.

But Karen didn’t have time to stand in awe.

“Hah! Everyone, run for it! Now’s our chance!”

“R-Right! I don’t know what the hell that was, but I’m not sticking around to find out!”

“Wait! Hey! Stop! Stop right there!”

The Kaizell soldiers shouted after them in vain, voices shrill with frustration, but there was no way across. The massive rift had cut off any hope of pursuit.

As their enemies screamed curses behind them, Karen and the others turned and bolted, vanishing into the grasslands. This time, they escaped for real.

They kept running across the plain, pushing forward until the winded silence gave way to a new sight ahead.

A formation of armored soldiers.

Karen’s group skidded to a halt.

“W-What is that…?”

“Don’t tell me we’re getting pincered?!”

Their bodies tensed. Could this be a second detachment of Kaizell troops? Had they walked right into a trap?

But as the frontmost soldier raised a flag, Blud narrowed his eyes and exhaled.

“No… it’s not them. That’s the flag of the Kingdom of Windberg.”

For the first time since their flight began, they were finally standing before what looked like soldiers from their destination. The tension in the group began to loosen, ever so slightly.

And yet, they couldn’t let themselves relax. Not yet. There was still no way to be sure who these soldiers really were.

That wary stillness hung over them until one soldier stepped forward to represent the group: a woman named Louisse.

“You’re the students of my mentor, aren’t you? What on earth happened to you all?”

Her tone was puzzled, but familiar.

And with that one recognition, with that one familiar face, Karen and the others finally knew that they had made it. They had truly escaped.

And not one of them had any idea that the massive rift that saved them was the lingering aftermath of a single strike. A blow delivered long ago, somewhere at the edge of the universe, when a human faced the King of the Night.

Bonus Chapter: The Current Varcia Empire

Thanks to Seiichi’s timely intervention, the Varcia Empire had narrowly escaped a crisis.

The empire, encircled entirely by the vast Sealed Woods, had long been known as a land where magic simply didn’t work. The suppressive field cast by those woods blanketed the entire nation, nullifying all magical activity within its borders. But everything changed when Seiichi arrived.

During his battle with the Kaizell Empire and the Apostles of the Cult of the Wicked One, Seiichi had quite literally torn off a portion of land—enemies and all—and hurled it into the sea. What remained was a massive void where the terrain had been uprooted.

To heal the damage, Seiichi used magic. As the land regenerated and greenery returned, something unprecedented occurred: the suppression weakened. Magic could now be used.

But that was only the beginning.

Thanks to Amelia’s unique ability, first used to guide Seiichi to the Varcia Empire, a tree imbued with false life had evolved into something far more powerful. It now radiated pure magical energy, saturating the area and creating an environment where magic not only functioned but could also be channeled smoothly and intuitively.

Now, alongside the empire’s postwar reconstruction efforts, Helen had taken the opportunity to begin something revolutionary: teaching magic.

“All right, listen up. Everyone has a natural affinity for a certain element. Mine happens to be fire,” she said, raising one hand.

Fwoosh.

Flames burst to life in her palm, controlled and elegant.

“Whoa!”

The Varcia soldiers cried out in amazement, their voices filled with wonder. To them, even this modest show of magic was a miracle. After all, aside from the most basic healing techniques, most citizens of the Varcia Empire had gone their entire lives without witnessing magic, let alone performing it.

And for good reason.

Few ever left the empire. The Sealed Woods, with their powerful anti-magic field and the deadly monsters that dwelled within, made passage nearly impossible. Without a compelling reason, no one left and no one entered.

Over generations, the Varcia Empire had become a model of self-sufficiency, with a production capacity robust enough to sustain itself entirely through domestic resources.

But now, with magic flowing freely and the outside world slowly becoming accessible again, a new possibility was taking shape: trade.

Given their exceptional productivity and newly awakened magical infrastructure, the Varcia Empire could one day begin exporting goods and grow its national power through commerce.

If the world weren’t at war.

The Kaizell Empire’s dominion had already consumed much of the continent. Trade was little more than a dream. For now, the use of magic was being pursued for one reason alone: self-defense.

Helen stood firm, arms folded, eyes scanning the room.

“So yeah. Magic works now, but that doesn’t mean just anyone can use it. We all grew up in a place where spellcasting was impossible, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t have mana. You’ve had it all along. You just couldn’t access it.” She began pacing, slow and deliberate, her tone slipping into that of a seasoned instructor. “If you can’t control your mana, you can’t cast. It’s that simple. That’s why our first goal is to learn how to handle the power inside you. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

With that spirited response, training in mana control officially began. But as expected from a group handling magic for the first time, no one managed to get the hang of it right away.

After a while, once they’d made some progress, Helen called for a break. She plopped down beneath the shade of a nearby tree, only to realize she was sitting under that tree. The one that had evolved.

And sure enough—

“You’re awfully enthusiastic today,” came a voice from above.

“You’re really settling in, huh?”

“But of course! I am a tree!”

“Right…”

Helen sighed, clearly unimpressed by the ancient tree’s chipper tone. She tilted her head back, gazing up at the clear sky beyond its rustling branches.

I wonder how Seiichi’s doing…

She didn’t say it aloud, but she didn’t have to.

“You’re thinking about Seiichi-sama, aren’t you? I knew it. I can tell!”

“Can I set you on fire?”

“NOOO!” The tree trembled violently, as if trying to flee in panic, but of course, it couldn’t move. “Agh! This is the downside of evolution! I stand firm against environmental destruction!”

“One less tree won’t kill the ecosystem.”

“That’s exactly what humans always say!”

Helen groaned, massaging her temple. She’d sat down to rest, but talking to this tree was having the opposite effect.

Then, unexpectedly, the tree’s tone softened.

“But really, I think you’re doing just fine, Helen.”

“Huh?”

“You’re not just worried about Seiichi-sama, are you? You’re also thinking about your classmates, the ones who returned to their homelands. You wonder how they’re doing, too, don’t you?”

“Well, I mean…”

Helen fumbled for a response, but the words didn’t come easily.

“You’re probably more worried about them, aren’t you?” the great tree replied gently. “Seiichi-sama? Worrying about him is pointless.”

“Okay, that’s harsh, though, honestly, you’re not wrong.”

“Knew it.”

Helen tried to argue. She really did. But no matter how she pictured it, she just couldn’t imagine Seiichi ever being in actual danger.

“Well, no matter how much you worry, there are things you can do and things you simply can’t. Unlike Seiichi-sama, we mortals can’t defy reality itself. We can’t save everyone.”

“You’re right… I need to focus on what I can do. If someone ever comes to this country asking for help, then I want to be strong enough to answer that call.”

“Exactly. That’s the right mindset.”

Helen rose to her feet and stretched her arms overhead, releasing the last of her tension. Then, with a faint smile, she turned back to the tree.

“Thanks for the talk. I needed that. Guess I’ll keep pushing forward.”

“Oh, think nothing of it. I’m just a humble tree. Though, wait. Does this mean you were pouring your heart out to a tree? That makes you kind of a tragic figure, doesn’t it?”

“I’m burning you down.”

“NOOO!”

And so, beneath the shade of a tree that never stopped talking, in a land that once knew only suppression and silence, the Varcia Empire had begun to know peace again. It was a gentle and gradual peace, something that would have been unimaginable in the days before.

Author: Miku

I love soba noodles, cats, and dogs, but I’m allergic to all three. I moved safely to Tokyo, and I’m managing here somehow. (February 2019)

Illustrator: Umiko/U35

I was born on November 17 in Shimane Prefecture. My favorite things are cooked potatoes and summer skies. (February 2019)

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