《Grimoire: Retake》 Prologue: Im a Harem member?! So far in my 14 years of life, I have experienced two major shocking and life changing events. First was after going through a horrible traffic accident at the age of nine. Back then we were going to my aunt''s house to celebrate my big brother''s winning a competition when a big truck suddenly steered off the track and hit our car. Both of my parents lost their life leaving me as the only survivor due to my mother who firmly shielded me from the impact. My brother was lucky as he''d already gone to my aunt''s house before us. After that, I became less talkative, gloomier, and only after excessive crying with my brother did I begin to move forward. The second time is when I was 11 years old and Iwas out with a cold for three days. Actually, the cold should have been gone ever since the first day, but it was something else that made me break into a fever lasting for another two days. Right, it was the memories of my previous life. Countless scenes flashed in and out of my head, from a 4 years old me until the 24 years old me, with the last being the scene of a white hospital room and my parents'' crying faces. I was a normal girl living a normal life but what''s special was that I was a hardcore Otaku. Ever since I was told that I would not be able to live pass 30 years old, I indulged myself in animes, mangas, and even light novels. So that I could see and feel a world where I could do what I wanted through placing myself as the main character, it helped me live a happy life inspite of my short time. Waking up after three days of fever, I felt like my head would burst but there was something more alarming than any headache. That is the familiarity of the names like Kurozawa Serika, Kurozawa Enri, and Laker Shelton. Somehow I seem to have known these before.... ''''Ah!" *Thud* "Oow..." The final trigger was hitting my head on the edge of the bed as a result of dizzily trying to get up. Right [Grimoire Knights]! "Uuu..." Patting my red forehead. I triedto once again piece my thoughts together. [Grimoire Knights] was a highly popular RPG game or should I say, a Galgame( a game intended for boys, usually is about battles and capturing hotgirls creating a harem in between) back in my previous life with millions of sales made in a very short time of its release. Due to its great graphics, beautiful characters(mostly beautiful girls), and lavish advertising, it boomed in no time at all, but at that time it was my best friend, a game otaku, who introduced me to the game. I had to accompany him in playing the game due to a favor I owed him, and it was only a short time later that I got into the game itself ,half of it was definitely not due to the boy version of the game. Uhem, it really wasn''t. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.[Grimoire Knights] is more of an action game with a slight function of a gal game. Hmm, it was a game that follows the protagonist, Laker Shelton, when he got summoned to another world to train and fight against an evil force while building his own team of hare- ahem! girl fighters. Heh, I can totally picture Shelton as the harem mc, wait hasn''t he already began to show traits of one right now? Ohh, and there''s also the important antagonist or rival character, Kurozawa Enri. In other words, my big brother....To think that the kind big brother of my memory would turn into ''that'' guy in a fewyears time. I already feel like crying. But most importantly, Kurozawa Serika, Serika, Seri......Seri~chan!!(0_0) Thinking up to there, my thoughts blanked out. If anyone were to see me now, they would probably see the funniest expresson on my face ever. My mouth was gaping wide, eyes dazed, and there is probably even signs of saliva going to come pouring out of my mouth. No way, no way, no way! I am ''that'' Seri~. Uwah, Iwanna cry. To think that I became her. T^T Kurozawa Serika, the first ever harem member of Shelton, his childhood friend, and the girl who sacrificed the most for him when he started training in the other world. She was also summoned with him to the other world, and due to not being fit for fighting,she became a healer and a cook for Shelton. Following him everywhere, and only with her death did Shelton get the resolve to firmly stand to fight andbecome strong. Right, you did not misread that, by sacrifice Imean she even died for him! Even when I was playing I can''t help but think she is so annoying as she just kept following Shelton everywhere and kept him from interacting(flirting)with the other girls, but after I saw her death, I could only feel sympathy for her. She tried everything she could to help and stand by her loved one, only to die tragically and remembered as harem member #1 after she died. It was to the point of feeling angerfor her at sight of Shelton standing in a group of hot girls at the ending, never again speaking of her. No way, there is no way I am going to follow the storyline and fall for that heartless and enemy-of-all-women guy! Even though the boys back then said he was only ''dense'' but you know you can''t just cut it with a ''I am dense'' and get away with messing witha maiden''s heart, you know! You''d be cursed by the god of maiden hood! Huhuhuhu.... *After a few hours of inhumane cursing* Hah, finally I feel a little bit better. Now what to do? According to the story line, we are supposed to be summoned at around our first year of high school so that is in 4 or 5 years time, so I have to somehow figure out the ''safeguard my life and maiden heart'' strategy. Huhuhu, an otaku me will not lose to the likes of you, Shelton and stinking harem game! (Pardon our mc for her unstable state of mind at the moment...) Chapter 1: Introducing the Casts *Ring!Ring!Ring!* "Ugh" Without a doubt my clock is ringing nonstop, but I''m still sleepy so I just smashed it to shut it up. Hah, finally some peace and quiet. "Come on wake up!" Just when I was slowly drifting back into my dreamland a shout disrupted me. "Uuu.." I can''t help but groan in protest. " Come on Serika, wake up already! Time to go to school!" This voice like the chirp of a roaster, the morning car screech, and the devil''s blessing, is nothing other than my aunt''s voice. "*yawns* just ten more minutes aunt Rei...." I had club activity yesterday so at least let me sleep over today. "KUROZAWA SERIKA! Wake Up!" Just when I was going to protest a bit more while still having my eyes closed, I felt the blanket being pulled and- *Thud* Following that comes the sound of me falling off the bed. "Owww... what you''d do that for? I only wanted ten more minutes." I said with a bit of tears in my eyes due to pain. Taking my sheet and forcefully pushing a fourteen years old girl out of bed is just plain cruel. I am still growing and I need my beauty sleep you know. "Finally up are we? If I don¡¯t do this, you will never wake up on time. Come on, go get ready for school." Aunt Rei, said while pushing my uniform and towel at me while I was still yawning and scratching my aching bottom. "Geez, look at you. I can''t believe you are still salivating when you sleep." She said while giving me a disapproving look. "Wha- I didn''t! And I told you to not push me like that!" I denied but still stealthily used the back of my hand towipemy mouth. "Whatever, if you don¡¯t like it then why can''t you just wake up on your own?" Well, it''s not like I''m bad at mornings or anything, there is a separate reason to that. "Just hurry and get ready. Your brother and Shelton is already waiting outside." There it is, my reason. I don''t know why but ever since this year started, it has been decided that I would go to school together with those two troublesome duo. No matter how much I protested to my aunt, she never seems to falter or change her mind but she just continuously muttered creepy stuff such as "*mumble* with such cute boys walking beside you*mumble* like a scene in fairy tales*mumble*..." with that fantasizing expression of hers, that I shuddered while feeling like I have seen an Asura and went *Hiii*, ending up surrendering every time. For your information, ever since I remembered my past life, I have taken all kinds of pre-countermeasures like giving my brother and Shelton cold glares from time to time, stealing their toys, scold my brother to treat woman better, and Ieven manage to scare a girl away from Shelton. Hehe, he won''t be able to get a harem member anytime soon as I have even spread a rumour in school that he still likes our kindergarten teacher. Huhuhu, I bet now everyone still thinks he can''t forget her yet. (Author: That last part, aren''t you behaving exactly like a jealous girl?) Hmm, seems like I heard something distracting but I guess it''s just my imagination. I know, praise me, everything is according to plan huhuhu. Uhem, anyway, now I am walking towards the door outside, while still reminiscing about my achievements for the past three years. Though they might be insignificant but with the measly ability of an eleven years old child, you can say that I have properly crammed common sense into those two. "Ah, Seri-chan is here." A boy with short black hair, silver eyes, and with a pointlessly handsome face for a fourteen years old flashes a perfect sunshine smile at me. Uuu, stop! The smile is too blinding, I feel like I''ll choke the milk I previously had for breakfast. By the way, you shoul already have known but Shelton actually is a half foreigner as his mother is British, and of a noble family at that. That''s why his eyes are silver which anyhow just make him a (fist-)attracting ikemen(handsome). Actually, he also has blond hair but it is too eye-cathcing, so granny Laura who is his mother side''s grandmother ordered him to wear a wig. "Morning.¡± Flashing him an indifferent look, I greeted him in my usual way. I don¡¯t know why but every time I look at him, I have this sudden urge to give him a look of disgust. Maybe because these past three years despite of my teaching, he still continued to attract girls and brainwashing them with his ''All girls are good girls'' line of his. "Finally ready, you sleepy head." Giving me a knock on my head is my brother, Kurozawa Enri. Giving him an upward glare due to our height difference, I rubbed my head and ignored him with a humph. Don''t tell me about it. The most painful thing is that even after these three years, this guy is already starting to turn into the ''Enri'' like in the game. It''s only a matter of time until he becomes a full blown womanizer! What¡¯s more, he keeps teasing me every chance he has, so just like right now I am in my 15th ''Ignoring Enri'' strike. I wonder where my kind and loving older brother went to *sob*, so sad. "What? Still angry about last night?" Enri asked with a smirk. "...you still have the nerve to talk about it?" I menacingly grumbled back. Just by remembering yesterday, I feel like I would make a certain someone my punching bag any second right now. "Come on... heh, who knows that drawer is where you put your private stuff?¡± He said with a amusing grin and then turned to talk to Shelton. "Hey, Shelton, you know what? This girl here actually has her own private drawer in her room. She is more perve-" Noo! I will not let you spill nonsense to others about my private drawer!!! This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. *Thud* "Oww, haha what? You don''t want to let others know that you keep porn though you are a girl?" Growling and rubbing his face where my punch landed on, he still continued about it! Ukyaaa!! "That''s not porn in there. I keep my secret diary there you know! It was you who went through my stuff without my permission and thought it was porn on your own!" While chasing him to give him another punch, I protested loudly. By diary, I mean the diary that I have noted about the events and anything else related to the game and my strategies, so there is no way I would let anyone else read it. Never!! We began our chase with Shelton as our pole, with me throwing out punch after punch while my brother was able to dodge them all. "What? It''s not porn? Then why did you *swish* overreact like that?¡± He asked while in the interval of my punches. "Well, Serika, stop playing around, and Enri. She said it''s her diary right? of course she wouldn''t want to show you." Shelton added while trying to stop me by holding my forehead with his hand. "Let go, Shelton. I''ll punish that privacy invading freak so that there will be no more victims." With our height difference, I suddenly feel like cursing the foreign blood in Shelton. After all, who in the age of fourteen years old is almost 175cm tall already? I don''t even reach up to his chest at this point, and my height is normal for a girl my age. Really, even his stature is one that you would only find on a model. This guy grows too fast! "Alright, sorry Serika. I promise you that I won''t touch that drawer again...*mumble* at least when you''re there*mumble*." Enri said while still hiding behind Shel. Though Enri is also a freak with his 177cm height. "I heard that!" Using my favorite scarf as a rope I pulled Shelton''s hand away and face my one year older brother. *Bang* "Oww!!" "Geez, not cute at all. Punching your big brother because of just a little tease." Brother Enri grumbled while we were walking to school, which resulted in a death glare from me. "Ahaha. Why can''t you two just get along already?"Shelton asked with a dry laugh. "As long as he stops being annoying." Flashing Enri a disgusting look, I answered Shelton while walking along the street. "Aren''t we getting along justfine though?" Geez, what is this guy saying with that deep charismatic voice of his. Really, I sometimes can''t help but wonder why the heaven is so harsh. Giving these two such awesome features, but you just have to give them such bad traits. A cool charismatic guy is actually a womanizing pervert+ an M, and a model-like ikemen(handsome) is actually a harem mc+ a super dense enemy of all girls. "Shelton, you absolutely can''t trust this guy. He is a freak in many ways." "Serika, what''s with that whispering and that disgusting look? You know I am still your brother right?" "Ah, Seri, your scarf is loose." huhu, Enri is ignored means that this is my win. While I am still engrossed in my win, Shelton stepped before me, leaned over, andcarefully fixed my scarf in place. *Badump, Badump* Uwaa, I can feel my heart beating hard. Such a girl killing trick, this guy is so brutal. I can totally imagine countless girls who would fall for him in the future. Wait a sec, you know this is the way to the school so there are a lot of students right? You do know you are the number 1 most popular guy in school right?? So stop doing such embarrassing stuff already or I''ll be the one to suffer! "There this should do it." Shelton stepped back with a sunshine smile. "...."I can already feel dagger gazes from the girls all around. I think if glares could shoot lasers like superman, I would already have been pulverized without a trace. "Shuu, how many times that I told you to not get within a meter of me?" "Ah, right you did. Well, sorry. I got careless." Shelton apologize with a sorry look. If you wonder why he apologized so earnestly then it is becauseI have fooled him into thinking I hate physical contact with other people. This is also part of my plan to not get unnecessary enemies due to being a certain ikemen''s childhood friend. "Ahh~<3 Shelton, Enri~here you are." Such overly gracious voice is nothing but the voice of a certain duo''s fan group. "Ahh, Kana." My brother who was quiet since a while ago greeted the newly arrived girl who is Yamada Kana, his girlfriend. "Good morning Kana."Shelton replied with his usual smile. "Did you miss me Enri?"With a shrew voice she went to Enri and asked with a wink. Eww, what''s with that flirty attitude? I swear I heard you greeted Shelton first then Enri later. I really have no idea what my brother sees in this girl as all she has is probably a cute face, and a nice body, but I bet her inside is almost rotten. "Shelton~Enri~.hi<3" Following her is her usual group of girl followers or in other words the ''Shelton and Enri'' fan club''s executives. As a result, I was blown away from the two by the group of ants- I mean girls. Just like a group of ants roaming over sweet sugar cakes, laughing sound and shrieks are heard and occasional sarcastic remarks directed at me flies over. *sigh* Letting out a breath, I went ahead to school without turning back to look at the duo. Well, this is actually nothing special as I get even worst treatment sometimes. Being the lone girl friend for two popular boys is harder than ever. I''d be lying if I say I didn''t miss the times that I was an Otaku, and an air-like existence in school. Well, at least now you know why I''d rather not go to school with them. Chapter 2: Pre-summon days Chapter 2: Troublesome Situation By the time I arrived at the school, it was already almost time for class. Well, my club president set this rule that we had to go to the club every morning so I had to hurry on the way to my clubroom while ignoring the looks and attention from the people around me. *sigh* Though my looks as a girl is only a little above average, but I guess being a childhood friend and a sister to the two most popular guys in school is getting me famous in a not really good way. I really am sick of being compared to all the beautiful people around me. ¡°Look at that girl. Only with a look like that and still acts so arrogant sticking to Shelton and Enri¡¯s side like a gum.¡± *twitch* Would you at least tell me with what or when the h*ll you saw me acting arrogant?! FYI, it¡¯s Shelton and Enri who keeps sticking to me when I must be the one who most want to run away to the other side of the planet! ¡°So gross! It¡¯s not even winter so what is she wearing that scarf for?¡± *twitch* Excuse me for wearing a scarf in spring, but I¡¯m weak to the cold you know, and this scarf is my defense item for your so called harassments of my appearance! Geez, when I don¡¯t wear my scarf, I got told off for wanting attention with my above average face, but now that I wear my scarf you say I¡¯m gross. Should I be happy that I graduated from attention-grabbing to being gross? ¡°Shameless, just because she gets a little attention, and here she acts like everyone is invisible to her.¡± *twitch* You know I have never asked for such attention, and do I have to smile and thank you for all the harsh remarks you people are spitting at me? Like instead of ignoring you I should go: Thank you for the praise while flashing a sunshine smile?? Ugh, my mouth is getting tired from all the twitching already. It didn¡¯t use to be this bad at school but ever since my brother went out with Kana, ridiculous rumors about me have been circulating around at school like I have a serious brother complex or I am a sadist or I¡¯m monopolizing Shelton and Enri and so on. What a joke! It¡¯s definitely that rotten K*nt*cky or whatever¡¯s doings, just wait until Enri gets sick of you, and I¡¯ll get back the debt two fold from you. Even if I look like this, I¡¯m a black belt Taekwondo and I also practice other arts in a dojo. Even if I were to lose, I¡¯d just get one of my seniors or masters in the dojo to send you straight to a porridge-special hospital, huhuhu. By the way, one of my masters in the dojo is also a teacher here, that¡¯s why I can ask him to give me some justice. *Thud* ¡°Oww..¡± while hanging my head low lost in thought, I accidentally bumped into somebody in front of the club door. ¡°What¡­? Serika, what are you doing dazing like a dumb robot?¡± The one speaking is no one else but my club president, Takamiya Chizu. ¡°Ah¡­ Chizu-senpai¡± With long straight black hair and big brown eyes, she is one of the top beauties in the school. With a face that screams ¡®¡¯I¡¯m a weak girl, please protect me.¡±, you would never think that such a cute girl is the ace of the Taekwondo club. ¡°Are you checking in for this morning? The meeting is already over though.¡± Chizu-senpai asked with a smile. Aah, such an angel, somehow I always think of my cute sister from my previous life whenever I look at her. ¡°Yes¡­Are you already leaving for class?¡± She is Enri¡¯s classmate so her classroom should be on the upper floor. ¡°Yes I am. By the way, there is no club today. The club room is closed for cleaning, you see. Hmm, I don¡¯t see Enri and Shelton with you today.¡± She said smiling after gazing around the empty area behind me. ¡°They got ¡®sugared¡¯ by Kana and the others on the way¡­¡­ left them behind.¡± They would usually follow behind me when I come to my clubroom so I guess it ¡®is¡¯ strange for her to not see them today. Really I don¡¯t know if this is one of the scenario of the game [Grimoire Knights] or not. There wasn¡¯t even that much information of Shelton¡¯s life before being summoned but I get the feeling that the two are quite over-protective over Serika. For example, walking to and from school together, having lunch together, walking to class together, and even going with me to the clubroom everyday. Rather, I know we¡¯re close as childhood friends and siblings but don¡¯t they get tired of doing it everyday? I, for once, would like them to stop, as it just makes me gather more hate from their fans. It looks as if I¡¯m hogging them all for myself, you know. By the way, I wonder did Serika get bullied as much when she was in school? The harassments so far are manageable as I have fast reflexes but things sometimes tend to get out of hand, and there are even times that I got into arguments with Enri and Shelton. ¡°Serika??¡± Senpai¡¯s voice brought me back to reality. I seem to have been standing in a daze while thinking about such stuff. ¡°Sorry, senpai.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. Then see you tomorrow.¡± Chizu-senpai finished then walked to the stairs while waving to me with her angel smile. Waving back to her until I no longer see her back, I fixed my scarf in place and start to walk to class. Aah! I forgot to give her book back! Hmm, I should just text Enri to tell her for me since they are in the same class anyway. It didn¡¯t take long until I got to my class. ¡°Ah, Serika!¡± The first one who noticed me when I entered the classroom was Shelton. Hmm, the fact that he¡¯s here means that Kana has finally let him off, huh. ¡°Why did you just go ahead without me? We talked a lot about you. It would¡¯ve been fun if everyone walked together.¡± Or so he said with his usual smile. *sigh* come on, at least let me get to my seat first before sending that plagued gazes would you? You too Shelton. Stop following me especially when you have rows of girls behind your back. Really, this guy is so clueless that I feel like I¡¯m talking to a mental monster sometimes. ¡°Ah, yeah.¡± While giving him a half-hearted reply, I walked to my seat, ignoring Shuu and the gazes of everyone else. ¡°Shelton~ we were talking about today after school. Let¡¯s go to karaoke after club, ok?¡± ¡°Er, sorry. Today I kinda want to rest so¡­¡± He gave the girls a sorry smile and only then did they reluctantly let him off. ¡°So what do you want to talk about?¡± Seeing him standing there not going back to his seat, I asked to get this over with. ¡°Ah, Seri-chan really knows me best, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Stop with that -chan already. Got a favor to ask or something again?¡± Others might not be able to read his all-smiles expression but me as his long term friend, there is no way I can¡¯t. ¡°Serika, you know I¡¯m in the basketball club right?¡± He said as he took a seat in front of my table and turned around to face me. ¡°Yeah¡­so you want me to go cheer your match?¡± ¡°Yep! You know Enri is also playing and this time it¡¯s also against that East Middle school.¡± ¡°Hmm, is it an official match?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only a practice match but I know you won¡¯t go to the official match like usual, so can you at least come cheer us on today?¡± I don¡¯t really like places with too many people but since I didn¡¯t get to cheer for their previous games, I guess this time is fine. I also heard that East Middle school is tough. ¡°Fine, but on one condition.¡± ¡°Yes! It¡¯s fine by me. Anything you want Serika.¡± Happily smiling, I swear I saw imaginary tails and ears on Shelton just then. ¡°You have to win.¡± I said with a small smile. If I were to be there and cheer, of course they have to win. ¡°Of course!¡± Looking a bit surprised after hearing that, he responded in a firm voice and with a bright smile. Is he really this happy that I¡¯m going to watch his match? I haven¡¯t seen him smile like this for a while. It¡¯s a little different from his usual all-smiles expression, how do I say it, this somehow looks like his heartfelt smile. *Ding*Dong*Ding* Oh, class is starting. ¡°You promised to come alright?¡± Shelton asked for another confirmation. ¡°I got it already. I¡¯ll definitely be there so go back to your seat.¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. *Kyaa!!!* ¡°Shelton and Enri-sama are both playing today! This is such a hot event~¡± What greeted me just when I got to the gym was the shrieks from the girls. Geez, how did this got leaked? Isn¡¯t this just a private match? ¡°Serika? There you are. Come here.¡± Just when I am hesitating whether to go in through the crowd of girls or not, Enri who had stealthily gotten behind me called out to me, and pulled me into the gym through all the ruckus. ¡°Kyaa, Enri-sama~<3 pull us in too!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Hearing the shrieks at point blank range, I feel like my ears would burst. ¡°Ugh, this is too noisy, SHUT UP!!¡± Seems like Enri got passed his limit as he glared at them after shouting. The girls turned quiet from Enri¡¯s momentum, and only after we got passed them did they seem to snap back to reality. ¡°Kyaa!! Enri-sama! That glare, so cool~¡± Even without looking in the mirror, I can tell that I have an extremely apethic expression on. Once again, I realized how it is to be such a fangirl, and strengthening my resolve to not be one of them towards either Shelton or Enri in the future. Enri pulled me until we arrived at the seats at the front row, just a bit away from the place where our school players are staying at. ¡°Tsk! Aoyama! You and your big mouth! Why did you have to tell the girls?!¡± Enri shouted to a slightly thin boy just a little bit away from Shelton, who was walking towards us. The boy named Aoyama, flinched after seeing Enri¡¯s glare. ¡°Hahaha, stop it Enri, it was the president¡¯s intention to have the girls cheering for us in the first place.¡± Shelton spoke before turning to me. ¡°Serika, you came.¡± Uuu¡­ that same smile again. Sorry but I¡¯ve already gotten over it years ago. ¡°I promised, didn¡¯t I?¡± After answering him, I tried to walk to the seats and took a random one to sit. Only I got yanked back with the first step, realizing that Enri still haven¡¯t released my hand. ¡°Let go.¡± ¡°Ah, I forgot. I got so excited since this time Serika is coming to cheer me on.¡± Correction, I came to cheer Shelton on, and ¡®you¡¯ are just a by-product. ¡°*sigh* yeah, yeah.¡± ¡°Me too. I got excited that I got to play with nice opponents and that Serika is here.¡± Shelton actually got on with Enri this time huh. Truth be told, I am also excited. This is literally the first time ever I am watching a basketball game as I spent a lot of time in the hospital and on animes or mangas in my previous life. I also heard that Shelton and Enri are very good at it as they are both tall for their age. Well, it is information from their fans though I don¡¯t know if they are really that good. ¡°Come on, Serika. Can¡¯t you be more encouraging for us? Give a smile or at least call me brother Enri or something.¡± ¡°Hey, Shelton, Enri!! The coach is calling for you!¡± Just as Enri started whining for attention from me. They got called in for a briefing from the coach. ¡°Serika~¡± ¡°I guess we have to go now, huh. By the way, Serika, your seat is over there, next to Kana and Mina. Get along ok?¡± Wait¡­ why do I have to sit with Kana and that¡­ Mina? Isn¡¯t that place plagued with evil intent for me? ¡°Wait¡­¡± ¡°Let go, Shelton! I have to hear Serika call me brother and smile¡­¡± Enri who got pushed ahead by Shelton, struggled to turn back to me. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go. The coach is calling you know.¡± Enri give me another glance then gave up and started walking back. Hey, Shelton-kun, you can¡¯t just leave me here to be a human target¡­ Come back¡­ *sigh* no choice, I have to just sit there and watch the match, right? Let¡¯s just pretend the both of them is just air. ¡°Hi, Serika.¡± When I sat down, the first one to greet me was Kana. ¡°Um¡± In return, I nodded as a sign of greeting. It¡¯s okay, I don¡¯t usually talk much at school anyway. ¡°Didn¡¯t think you¡¯ll be here today.¡± The one who talked was Mina, Yamada Mina, Kana¡¯s younger cousin. Hearing her soft voice, I clenched my hands as it reminded me of a memory I tried to forget. Just like Kana, Mina has big bright brown eyes, but unlike Kana whose long hair is dyed reddish brown and slightly permed, her hair is the shoulder length bob hair. It burns me to admit that they are as beautiful as models but that is their only good points in my opinion. There aren¡¯t many people who I hate, but this Mina is one of them. This is not because she is Kana¡¯s cousin but because of what she did last year. Well, actually I hate both them cousins. They make me sick, making me realize that beautiful girls can be this two-faced and hateful. ¡°I¡¯m here for my brother and childhood friend. What are ¡®you¡¯ even here for?¡± My motto is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I don¡¯t talk much but I won¡¯t back down on those I hate. ¡°What? I got invited by Shelton, got a problem with that?¡± This the point I hate about Shelton. As a harem MC, he honestly thinks that girls are all good creatures, and he doesn¡¯t know about how it would hurt those around him with it. ¡°And I am also here to cheer on Enri and Shelton. Let¡¯s get along well okay?¡± This Kana is as fake as usual. Although her face is smiling, her eyes doesn¡¯t have even a hint of it. If I was to interpret it, they should be saying ¡®Why the h*ll did this disgusting girl come here? F*cking go back already.¡¯ I should just outright ignore them since the match is going to start soon anyway. Not long later the match started, I finally got to fully experience the thrill of a sports match. It was somehow very intense since the first round. They guys from East middle school were very good as they kept pressuring our team. The score was rapidly tied as no side had the advantage although both Shelton and Enri were amazing as they passed and scored. Ahh, they started pressuring Shelton from scoring the ball. Uuu, there is only a few minutes left before the game ends, and the score is tied. Just one more goal and we will win. Carried by the atmosphere, I shouted what I couldn¡¯t say earlier: ¡°Good luck, Shelton!!¡± Just as he turned to look at me I continued: ¡°You promised to win, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Enri, try harder. I won¡¯t cook you dinner if you lose!!¡± After hearing my shout, Shelton and Enri exchanged glances and smiled. Shelton moved very quickly towards the basket. Although, he instantly got blocked by several boys he quickly jumped. Just when I thought he was going to score a goal, I saw the ball was actually thrown backwards towards Enri who was ready to catch it. Enri started running towards the basket but then he was getting blocked by the same guys who blocked Shelton just now. At that moment, Shelton who had gotten out of the blockade blocked them just before they was able to get to Enri, enabling Enri to jump and scored the last winning point. *Tweet*Tweet* ¡°and the game is over!!! Congratulations to West Middle school! Woah! Such a nice finishing goal by Enri-sama and Shelton-sama!!¡± The manager of the club who has taken upon the role of announcer is talking nonstop due to the excitement. Is this just me or did that scene just now seems just like this morning when Enri stood behind Shelton? ¡°How was that Serika? Ready to call me ¡®brother Enri¡¯ again?¡± ¡°We really did it huh. Thanks to you we won, Serika.¡± ¡°Geez, if you were already going to win, don¡¯t make people all nervous.¡± ¡°If we didn¡¯t do that we wouldn¡¯t have heard what we wanted to hear from a certain someone right, Shelton?¡± Enri said with a smirk. ¡°Haha, it was Enri¡¯s idea, and Serika is quite stubborn after all.¡± Shelton joined in with that bright smile of his again. ¡°How was that, Shelton? That ¡®Good luck!¡¯ and ¡®Try harder!¡¯?¡± Uuu, I know Enri won¡¯t let this chance to tease me slip by. ¡°I have to say, the feel from it was not bad at all.¡± Waa, Shelton not you too¡­ ¡°Whatever, I did come here to cheer for you, didn¡¯t I? I at least have to ¡­cheer... for you...¡± I got really embarrassed after remembering what I said that my last words turned into only mummers. ¡°What did you say?¡± Enri acted ignorant as though he didn¡¯t hear it when I know he did. Well, at least I have to congratulate them properly. ¡°I said, Good job winning the match.¡± I gave out a full smile. I am happy that they won and I also am happy that I got to watch such a match for the first time. ¡°Serika~¡± Enri who saw me smile, suddenly started hugging me while Shelton was standing there, smiling back at me. Well, at least I had a lot of fun, today. Although, I got reincarnated in such a game world, I am spending each and every day having fun as Kourozawa Serika who has an ikeman childhood friend and a womanizer brother. So mama and papa in heaven, please don¡¯t worry about me. I had no way of knowing, that the fun I had then, would shortly be the last I would have in a long time, and that the events that would happen from now is so unpredictable. Again and again making me realize that this is not the same game world that I knew of. Chapter 3: Too Early ¡°Wha-!!¡± ¡°Where is this?!¡± ¡°Where are we?!!¡± ¡°This is-!!¡± Amidst all the shock and scared people of the group, there was me who was in a much greater turmoil than the rest of them. Yep, this is it. The Oh, so legendary other world summoning, and the reason I¡¯m in so much shock is that this development is absolutely too fast. Come on, has the game, [Grimoire Knights], finally got bugged up? Shelton and us are only fourteen years old, you know? F*ck*ng 14 years old. Isn¡¯t the summon supposed to happen two years from now? It¡¯s no big deal for the overly grown Shelton and Enri, but I¡¯m just your normal middle school girl, you know? Oh wait, wasn¡¯t the original Serika supposed to die about two months after the summoning? Does that mean ¡®I¡¯ have a death flag two months from now? Oh my goodness, I think I¡¯m gonna faint. At this rate, all my preparations so far is going to be wasted. The things I prepared in order to avoid the death flag like going to a dojo, changing Shelton, and so on, are all still incomplete yet. Even worse, there are extras who got summoned with us. With the exception of Chizu-senpai who coincidentally passed by, why does the other two have to be the ones I hate the most? ¡°Enri~ Where is this? I¡¯m scared.¡± Kana ¡°Shelton-kun, I think I hurt my ankle.¡±Mina *sigh* They are no one but the Yamada sisters. How did this happen? Now let¡¯s go back to three hours ago. Three hours ago After the match was over, Enri, who started hugging me, got pulled away by the club members who then lifted him up while shouting ¡®Hoorah!!¡¯ and went away to the coach, leaving only Shelton and me standing there. There was a brief silence, then I decided to break it with the thing on my mind. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you shoot just then?¡± Well, better ask now when Enri is not here. ¡°What? I was blocked, and Enri was in a better position to than me.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I eyed him suspiciously. ¡°Yes. Anyways, Enri is very excited this time, and he said he want to go to eat together after this.¡± Hmm, this smile again. ¡°Really? Are you going too? I thought you wanted to rest?¡± ¡°Hmm, this is also resting for me though.¡± ¡°Hey, Shelton! Come here!¡± Ah, he got called again. ¡°Crap, coming! Serika, can you wait for us at the back of the building? We¡¯ll be there in about an hour or two.¡± ¡°okay, I also plan to go to the library.¡± ¡°Okay, then see you.¡± ¡°Shel¡­ ¡° I quietly murmured. ¡°Sometimes... you don¡¯t have to be so considerate.¡± Just as he was about to turn his back, I whispered and without checking if he¡¯d heard or not, I turned my back and walked away to the library. Well, I¡¯m sure he did. He stopped a bit after all. I¡¯m sure he passed the ball to Enri on purpose. Enri is, how you say it, more competitive than he seems since he was little. He would have become a completely self-centered prideful boy if not for my hard work and the incident from five years ago. *sigh* The trait is still there even if he doesn¡¯t show it as much, and Shelton, who knows that, has often refrained himself, but I¡¯m totally different. I can¡¯t tolerate it as he is my important family in this life so I want him to grow up well. The same goes for Shelton too. I want my best friend to live well without any restraints or any complex or the like. Well, this is just my thoughts as an almost thirty plus years old woman though. One and a half hour ago Ah, it¡¯s already almost 7. The library should already be closing right about now. I got carried away reading the book about medical plants. Why I am reading this you ask? This is part of my preparations for when we get summoned to Edea. Though the name might be different, I found out that the appearance and property are the same as on Edea. This way I can freely use them well to make potions, and be an Alchemist. Yep, I want to be an alchemist. In the original story Serika had water attribute magic which was deemed as useless with only a bit of offense power and heal, so I¡¯m planning on surviving as an alchemist there. Oh, I got carried away again. I better text Enri to wait for me a bit as I still have to return a book to Chizu-senpai. ¡®Wait for me. I¡¯ll be there after 20 minutes¡¯ sent. I already called Chizu-senpai a while ago, she said to meet behind the main building, exactly where Enri and Shuu will be waiting at. ¡°Hey! Serika!¡± Just when I exited the library with the borrowed herbal book in hand, I got called out by a girl¡¯s voice. Hmm, those two girls again. What are they up to now? Calling me, I¡¯m busy you know? Well, let¡¯s just ignore them. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m calling you, Kurozawa Serika!!¡± The girls, Kana and Mina ran out of patience and walked to stand in my way. *sigh* ¡°You have any business with me?¡± I kinda have a bad feeling about this. ¡°Well, we do, duh? That¡¯s why we called out to you.¡± This Mina¡­ She acts like a good tempered kitten in front of boys and the others, her real temper is three words¡­ Rude as f**k! ¡°Hmm, actually we do have something to talk to you about.¡± This Kana is better, but still she is definitely a cunning fox. ¡°Can you follow us to the back of the building for a bit?¡± Here it is, the cliche go-and-get-bullied scenario. I really don¡¯t want to go but I am supposed to go there anyway, so¡­.I guess let¡¯s just play along. I do have confidence that I can get out of most situations unscathed. With Kana and Mina leading the way, we got to our destination in no time. Seems like Chizu-senpai isn¡¯t here yet. That¡¯s also good as I don¡¯t want her to get involved. ¡°So, what is it?¡± It is probably about that same old ¡®Shelton and Enri¡¯ business again. ¡°Just we got tired of enduring your acts.¡± Oh? My act? Which? ¡°Just transfer from here already, you b*tch.¡± Really an insect-full mouth you got there, Mina. ¡°Why?¡± I guess I really have high resistance against such foul words after hearing the same things again and again, as I don¡¯t even get angry at them anymore. ¡°Why? Because you are gross, a nuisance in everyone¡¯s eye here. Always acting all sweet in front of Shelton and Enri just because they consider you as family.¡± Oh, finally our Kana has revealed her tails. ¡°Get it yet? Gross Serika?¡± Mina, you know, you sound just like a lackey just then. Really, I wonder how I even fell for your friend-act back then. Perhaps I really was blind at that time. ¡°*sigh*....First, I will not transfer from here. Second, I¡¯m not considered as family by those two¡­ I am their family.¡± ¡°What- you bi-¡± Just as Mina was going to pounce on me with her palm, she got stopped by Kana. What is even more surprising was that the slap that was aiming for my face landed on Kana¡¯s face instead. Is this Kana perhaps an M? To think she would willingly slap her own face, albeit, indirectly. ¡°AAh!¡± Wait, wait, what are you shouting for? Isn¡¯t that your own work? ¡°Eh?! Kana? What are you doing?¡± Even Mina is shocked to have her slap land on the wrong person. ¡°I¡¯m sorry *sob* I¡¯m *sob*sorry¡­ Even though I know you don¡¯t like me, I love *sob* Enri so please let me stay by his side.¡± Eeh!? What is this 180-degree turn in attitude? Umm, wait, you lost me there, Kana, what language are you speaking in? How come I don¡¯t get what you are talking about at all? ¡°That¡¯s¡­right. You are his sister, but why are you so cruel? To think you would tell Kana to quit school because you want them to break up?¡± At first, Mina seem to be taken aback by Kana¡¯s attitude but soon she played along. Uh huh, I get it¡­ They are standing opposite of me so they definitely see who is coming while I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t even have to turn around to know that Shelton and Enri are walking towards here. ¡°Sorry, I don¡¯t get what you two are saying. Don¡¯t find me for something pathetic like this.¡± Giving them an apathetic look, I said and turn around to walk away. The best way to deal with a drama scheme like this is to ignore it completely. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I won¡¯t call you out again. Please don¡¯t stop me from loving Enri.¡± Urgh, the drama is still ongoing? ¡°What is going on here?¡± and so with great timing, the main heroes made their appearances. I would have pulled out a popcorn and watch this like a drama if I wasn¡¯t the villain involved in this. ¡°Serika?... Kana?¡± D*mn, Chizu-senpai is also here. She just has to come at such timing huh. ¡°Kana? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Enri asked when seeing Kana cry. ¡°*sob* it¡¯s nothing. *sob*¡± ¡°What do you mean nothing, Kana? Serika slapped you!!¡± Mina looks so happy following up on her cousin. *sigh* ¡°Wait, here use this handkerchief to wipe your face.¡± Shelton stated with his usual sweet voice, and handed Kana a handkerchief. ¡°Serika slapped Kana?¡± Chizu-senpai mumbled in a small voice as if confused about the situation. ¡°She was-¡± *Rumble* *Rumble* Just as Mina was spitting out non-existent details of the situation, the ground started to rumble strangely. *Flash* With a flash, a giant circle-like drawing appeared on the ground where we were all standing on. Wait a minute!!! I know this scene! More like I¡¯m too familiar with this circle. Isn¡¯t this the summoning circle that is supposed to appear two years in the future? *Vroom* The intricate lines and pictures on the two-overlapping magic circles started to rotate and spin around. In just a blink of an eye, we were floating from the ground. ¡°¡°Serika/hold on!!¡±¡± Both Shelton and Enri shouted at the same time and reached out to grab my hand. *P¡¯swish* Unfortunately, just as they were about to reach, the magic circle let out an extreme sucking force and with a strange feeling as if my mind is being ripped apart, I lost consciousness. *Back to present time* This is really such an absurd situation here. We are currently standing on a not so high platform which looks more like an altar with two stairways and decorated by two strange looking statues similar to those of the Greek¡¯s gods. The walls below the altar are pure white with intricate circle drawings and towering pillars. ¡°Oooh!! The summon was a success!¡± Just as our eyes was getting used to the scene around us. In surprise, we heard the voice of a man in a knight getup. Wait isn¡¯t that a real knight? ¡°Is that so? What a relief!¡± Just then the high voice of a girl was heard. ¡°Finally, We have succeeded at our third try!¡± Another voice of a girl was heard. ¡°It is all thanks to everyone¡¯s effort. Really, I¡¯m so grateful.¡± Yet another seemingly gentle and charming voice that can pull at one¡¯s heartstring. Although the language used doesn¡¯t seem to be the one we are familiar with, somehow we can understand it and even the tone of voice is properly conveyed. Of course, this is definitely due to the cliche translator function exclusive to the summoned that made us able to instantly understand the language. Anyway, when we turned to look,behind a big middle-aged looking veteran knight whose voice was the first one we heard, there were two incredibly beautiful girls wearing long baggy robes, and next to them was a princess-like girl wearing beautiful snow white dress plus a maid standing a little bit behind. The first who spoke was a red shoulder length haired girl, one could not help but look twice at her almost ¡®cool¡¯ features with her tall stature. Coupled with her amethyst eyes, she was without a doubt a cute boyish type. If memory serves me right, she should be Bertalia Kroh, a senior magician of the fire attribute. Next to her stood a bobbed haired cutie similar to a small animal and with lavender colored hair and big caramel colored eyes, her whole look exudes a gentle and clumsy kind of feel. Without a doubt, she is Prisella Mcgarden, the daughter of the prime minister of this country, and also a senior magician of the twin attribute of earth and wood. Why do I know them so well? How can I even forget them? They are the first capturable characters to choose from in the game . Isn¡¯t beautiful girls appearing, calling you a hero, and asking you to save the world with capturing hot girls as a by product, the usual clich¨¦ theme for galgames? ¡°Pardon my lack of courtesy just now. To you who have appeared, welcome to Edea.¡± The girl or should I say princess bowed for a bit as she turn to us and spread her hands to perform a perfect greeting posture. Her bearing was so graceful that she had all of us captivated for a moment. As expected of a princess, I suppose. ¡°Please excuse my interruption and speech, but is this not Earth?¡± The first one of us to regain their senses excluding me, and interrupted the princess was Shelton. He said to excuse his speech but he doesn¡¯t sound even a little bit rude. Uh huh, I forgot this guy¡¯s mother is a member of an English noble family. Really, such gold spoon children should just explode. When the princess¡¯ line of sight stop on Shelton, her eyes widen and then her face turns slightly pink. [Without missing a beat, her heartbeat quickens at the sight a charming silver eyed prince. Never before had she seen such a cool and handsome person other than her brothers¡­. It was love at first sight.] I could almost hear the non-existence voice of a narrator describing the scene occurring before my eyes. And so this was the start of my heart wrenching adventure in another world while trying to avoid my death flag. However, I should have known that things were not going as planned since then... Chapter 4: Status...where is my star?
Uhem, back to the story, as the princess seemed like she would not snap back anytime soon. The knight like person, urgh, I¡¯ll just call him Mr. Knight as I don¡¯t really recall him in the game. More like was there even a character like him in the game? ¡°*Cough* anyways, Yes, this is not your previous world. This is Edea. You have been summoned here, and this country is called [Esteral].¡± ¡°Uhem, sorry for my rude conduct. It was unsightly of me. Please let me introduce myself. I am Rosemarie von Esteral, this country¡¯s one and only princess, and also the one who have summoned you.¡± Rosemarie After hearing the cover up from Mr. Knight, the princess seemed to have snapped back from her daze, and go on starting to introduce herself while her sight was on mostly Shelton. Well, I already know you from the game though. Princess Rosemarie is the only princess of the king of Esteral out of his three children and also his second child. She has two other brothers, but somehow, they never really got any screen time in the game, I recall seeing them in the climax of Rosemarie capturing route but unfortunately, probably due to the laziness of the game makers, all that was shown about them were vague figures and two faceless characters. I was like ¡®Behold! The pitifulness of mob characters!¡¯, and quickly moved on. Alas, the GMs would never bother with designing, or even beautifying other unimportant male characters other than the rival and last boss. More like, why the hell did I play this game like mad then previous me!?? ¡°And this here is the captain of the royal knight order, Zell Veindus.¡± The captain give a simple nod at her introduction. ¡°This two here are the senior magicians who have made summoning you possible. Miss Prisella Macgarden, and miss Bertalia Kroh.¡± ¡°Wait a second! Don¡¯t go on speaking all you like! You said we were summoned, right? For what reason? Why so many of us, even dragging in Serika! And is there even a way home!?¡± All at once, Enri who has been quiet all this time exploded with questions and with overwhelming vigor towards the princess, resulting in the knight captain stepping up before the princess. ¡°I am sorry for my friend¡¯s disrespect, princess. I¡¯m sure he is just confused with the situation.¡± ¡°I understand. It¡¯s okay captain Zell, he is not a threat. As the hosts, we should not treat our guest so, and it is also a mistake on our part to have summoned too many people, urm Mister...¡± ¡°Shelton, Shelton Laker Ainsworth. This friend is Kurozawa Enri.¡± ¡°Shelton-sama, is it? And Enri-sama, what you want to know will be explained by the king so please would you follow me to meet the king?¡± Rosy, your pink cheek is betraying your poker face when you said Shelton¡¯s name just then you know. ¡°The king¡­¡± ¡°Calm down Enri. Let¡¯s follow her and let the king explain.¡± ¡°Are we going to meet the king?¡± ¡°I understand. Serika, are you are okay? You didn¡¯t hit anywhere when we got here right?¡± The first half of the sentence was directed at the princess while the second half was directed at me without his usual calm smile. Shelton seems anxious, not just about me but the whole situation. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I am okay. Let¡¯s just go meet the king.¡± I nodded to Shelton and Enri who is also looking towards me. *sigh* they really are overprotective, I am not so weak like when I was a child you know. Although one part of me feels annoyed at their protectiveness, another part of me is happy over the attention they give me. It has always been like this, even when I remembered my previous life, it was not like I, my personality, my past, all changed into ¡®her¡¯, I know and accept that I am Kurozawa Serika who cherishes both her big brother, and childhood friend. This is also the reason that I didn¡¯t decide to run away from Shelton, and Enri. Although, I did try to avoid being too overly close with them, even finding a separate apartment to move into when I turn 15. It is not like I can just throw away my ten-plus years of relationship with my ¡®family¡¯ due to some vague memories, the relationship of us three is not so shallow. I am not exaggerating to say that we can even exchange our lives for one another. Even now, my feelings are the same, just that I am always suppressing them. Our story from the start was us three, and somewhere inside me, has always hoping that it will continue to be the three of us. *sigh* in the end, I am a ball of contrast myself. Argh!! What am I doing being all emotional all of a sudden?? ¡°Well then this way please.¡± With the princess leading the way, we were led out with the magicians and knight captain in tow from the big room which seemed to be the summoning room. Passing through a long corridor decorated with old paintings which made us (except Shelton) amazed at the sight of the medieval castle. Only Shelton is in deep thought while following behind. Soon after passing who knows how many twist and turns around the winding corridor, we were led to a gigantic wooden door with the same circle like drawings around the edges. I am sure that is a defensive mechanism set up or something. What enters our eyes, as the huge door opens with a clack by the guards standing both sides of the door, was a big hall, bigger than the previous room, and a long red carpet with a throne at the end above some flight of stairs. Then the man sitting on the throne spoke. ¡°Welcome, heroes. We are the XI king of Esteral, Frankas Falmia di Esteral.¡± ¡°We greet the king.¡± As the king¡¯s words ended, everyone who entered the room went down on their knees, and following them Shelton did the same so we all followed to kneel. After all, Shelton seems to know how to behave in front of royalty. Really, I am quite curious what his maternal family is in terms of rank as I only know that they are an ancient family. From observing grandma Laura, I can¡¯t tell at all though, either the grace she has as the old head of a noble family or the status and power of the Ainsworth themselves. ¡°Rise.¡± ¡° We thank the king.¡± ¡°We have been informed of the mistakes of the summoning, and we are truthfully sorry by our uncouth behavior such that can be called as kidnapping.¡± As the king¡¯s words finished, there was murmur among the officials present in the hall as lines like ¡°Our king! To even personally apologize is¡­¡±, ¡°Absolutely, we are¡­¡±, and so on was heard. ¡°Silence!¡± ¡°As a king with the duty to protect his citizens, I am willing to bow down my head even if need be, so please Save us! O¡¯ great chosen heroes!¡± As soon as his words landed, the king stood up and bowed his head to us and then the princess, the magicians, the knight captain, and also the officials followed suit. ¡°Eh?¡± ¡°Wha-?¡± ¡°Wait-¡± ¡°This¡­¡± They were all seriously bowing their heads begging us. Really this is quite a sight, but I know what is coming- ¡°Please save us and kill the demon lord!!¡± and thus they simultaneously shouted. For a moment, we were all taken aback as we were stumped on how to react. ¡°Please raise your heads. Although we might not know what is going on, but at least you should explain to us what it is that is threatening you.¡± ¡°Yes, it is as you say.¡± The king raised his head and sat back down on his throne as he started to order the rest to rise and called the princess to stand near him, and finally spoke. ¡°Let me explain from the beginning. This world, Edea, has many different countries and races including humans, elves, and demons. Different from the weak humans, demons are strong. They are born with high magical capability and physical strength. As for this country, Esteral is one of the few human countries which was formed two thousand years ago. We humans, and demons have always been on bad terms due to the different Gods we believe in. While we believe in the God of light Vianna and God of judgement Sevor, the demons believe in the God of darkness Mergus and the God of destruction Ashurd.¡± ¡°Although there have been previous small conflicts here and there, the two races have not mingled with one another for a long time. We respect the existence of each other and the different Gods we follow.¡± Following after the king was the princess who had on a very serious face. This is the history of Edea that is also told in the game tutorial phase. I remember I¡¯d read this so many times that I can basically score with flying colors had it been in a test. ¡°Only until recently, the newly crowned king of the demons, Astroa, who is a cruel follower of the God of destruction, has declared war against the human race. This is why we decided to summon the hero, who has been foretold to be the savior since ancient times.¡± ¡°So, you are telling us that we are heroes, and to help you defeat the demons?¡± ¡°Yes, that is the case.¡± ¡°Are you kidding with us!? You are telling us to put our life on the line and fight ¡®your¡¯ battle for you? Moreover, against the enemy that are said to be stronger than humans!?¡± ¡°Enri, calm down.¡± ¡°How can I calm down!? How!? Isn¡¯t he just telling us to go and die!?¡± From Enri¡¯s shout, there was some kind of dark invisible pressure being let out from Enri which made the guards including the captain to take a defensive stance. Not just them was affected, even me and the rest was steadily getting pale form the dark pressure he was giving off, and it seems like the person himself wasn¡¯t even aware of it. ¡°I know how you feel Enri, but calm down, and let¡¯s talk this peacefully.¡± ¡°Calm? I am already calm enough, it is you who should stop listening to their bullshit!¡± His aura is getting more and more dense and is pressing us harder and harder. ¡°Enri!¡± As Shelton shouted, a light gold aura also seeped out from him as it started to suppress Enri¡¯s aura. The two of their auras clashed as one side is dark and overbearing while at the same time giving you a riling feeling, and the other is warm and gives one a gentle serene feeling. From the clash of their auras, I feel as if the air is getting thin and it was getting harder to breath. ¡°Knights! Protect the king and princess.¡± ¡°Berta! Prisella! Barrier-¡± ¡°Wait-¡± ¡°Just stop it, both of you!! Are you crazy!?¡± As I managed to pull out my voice to shout at them, they finally snapped back, and the clashing auras disappeared. Enri who was rampaging began to calm down after he saw mine and everyone faces were pale, and he seemed to have figured out what had happened. At the same time, Shelton was also looking at Enri started to revert back to his normal composure. As I thought, there is something wrong with him as he should not have easily lost his temper like that. ¡°¡­I¡­just now¡­sorry¡± As he heard me shout, Enri seemed confused while looking at his hand then turned towards me with a soft apology. ¡°I am sorry for the trouble we have caused.¡± Shelton said after he looked towards his hand just like Enri and gave a bow towards the king and the princess. ¡°No, it is us who are at fault. Knights relax, there is no danger here.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°My friend was just a little rash, I hope that your majesty can overlook his behavior. First, let us start from introducing ourselves. My name is Shelton Laker Ainsworth. Enri, your turn.¡± ¡°¡­I am Kurozazwa Enri. Sorry for just now.¡± ¡°Kurozawa Serika.¡± ¡°I¡¯m Yamada Kana.¡± ¡°My name is Takamiya Chizu.¡± ¡°Yamada Mina.¡± ¡°My first question is that is there a way for us to return home?¡± ¡°Well¡­that is¡­¡± ¡°Hmm, Prisella, you tell them as you are the most knowledgeable on the subject.¡± ¡°Yes, as of the magic of right now, there isn¡¯t any precise magic technology able to reverse the summon.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Let me put it into an easier way, we cannot send any of you back right now as the magic we have used to call you here is only based on the ancient records and it is only a one-way trip.¡± Just we were shocked at the harsh reality that we won¡¯t be able to go back, Prisella¡¯s confident voice was like a ray of light in the darkness. ¡°However, we are confident that, given enough time, we can come up with a reverse summon magic based on the same record, and will send you back.¡± As her voice, we turned silent, thinking about being able to go back while fearing the duration we needed to wait. Well, the ones thinking that are only the rest except me. What am I thinking about you ask? Actually, I am standing there quietly but my mind is in total panic. This is wrong! This is definitely wrong!! I mean there wasn¡¯t supposed to be this development at all! The 1st phase of the game or should I say tutorial phase was just the phase the party (Shelton, Enri, and Serika) was summoned, when they decided to kill the demon lord, the history and there wasn¡¯t supposed to be a way back at all! Don¡¯t tell me Prisella is bluffing? However, from the look on her face, she seems extremely confident, and it doesn¡¯t look like she is lying at all. ¡°Is it true that we can go back?¡± ¡°Yes, there is a high possibility that you can go back in maximum about 5 years as our research team is quite capable, you see.¡± ¡°Five years...¡± In other words, we have to somehow survive here for 5 years, and we will able to go back? 5 years can be said to be a not so long nor short period of time. Many things can happen, and can we even trust what the people here are telling us? *sigh* this is totally out of my expectations. ¡°My last question, if it is just as you¡¯ve said then we have no choice but to fight then?¡± ¡°No, we are not forcing you all to fight by yourself. We do have our own conscience. You all can choose not to fight, and we will also provide you with the necessary preparations for you to be able to survive here. For those who are willing to help us, we also won¡¯t let you shoulder all the risks. We know that this is our fight, and we will still stand and fight no matter the odds.¡± ¡°We really sincerely ask you to please lend us your power as I am sure you have felt it too.¡± ¡°Rosy-¡± ¡°I know I should not do this but please can you decide after checking your abilities out first? It is said that all the summoned will receive special powers so as to make up for the summon.¡± ¡°Powers¡­is it?¡± ¡°Come to think of it since a while ago¡­¡± ¡°You too?¡± ¡°yes, I also¡­¡± As the princess words finished, the group started to notice something inside them was strange. Of course, I don¡¯t feel anything though. ¡°Fine. We will decide after we check our powers.¡± ¡°Yes, Shana! Bring Vianna¡¯s stone fragments here!¡± The princess ordered the short haired maid who was standing behind her as the king can¡¯t help but give out a sigh looking at the actions of his daughter. Not long later, the maid called Shana was back with 6 palm-sized flat-surfaced stones and handed one of them to each of us. ¡°This is called Vianna¡¯s stone fragment. It is said to have Vianna¡¯s magic energy stored within and can be used to check one¡¯s status. All you have to do is concentrate the word status then it will be shown on the surface of the stone.¡± As soon as she said it, each of us closed our eyes while focusing on the stone. I also temporarily suppressed my thoughts can concentrated. ¡®Status¡¯ With a flicker a transparent window appeared in front of me. Name: Kurozawa Serika Age: 14 Level: 1 Title(s): Heroes¡¯ family (+Luck) Health: MP: Attribute: Water, l..e Skill(s): -Swordsmanship Lv. 2 -Martial Reflex Lv. 4 RANK: ¡°¡°Huh!? ¡±¡° The ones who said that is not just me but all 6 of us. ¡°What you can see is called the status. It is commonly categorized as stars with the lowest rank being a half-star and one star for all normal humans.¡± ¡°Um, what does a hollow mean? And the status is flickering a little.¡± Mine was exactly a hollow there at the RANK there, and the attribute part is shaking at the last part. What is going on or is it some kind of BUG? ¡°Mine is just fine though, the screen is just like a game¡¯s.¡± Enri who was looking at his status said while looking towards me pointing at the space in front of him. ¡°Perhaps¡­ your concentration is lacking, you should try again one more time.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I answered while concentrating on the word ¡®Status¡¯ once again. *Flicker* Name: Kurozawa Serika Age: 14 Level: 1 Title(s): Heroes¡¯ family (+Luck) Health: MP: Attribute: Water, life Skill(s): -Swordsmanship Lv. 2 -Martial Reflex Lv. 4 RANK: This time the attribute part shook a bit before turning into clear letters once again, it is written ¡®life¡¯ there. ¡°It is still a hollow though.¡± ¡°Eh? Mine is two stars though.¡± ¡°Hmm? My Rank is also two stars.¡± ¡°Mine is one and a half.¡± ¡°Mine too.¡± ¡°I also have 1 and a half.¡± ¡°Eh? Then it¡¯s only mine? What does this mean?¡± I have a bad feeling about this as I turned to the princess for answers. ¡°A hollow¡­ it can¡¯t be¡­¡± ¡°What is it exactly?¡± ¡°It means the lowest rank of all¡­ one with the slightest potential to grow strong.¡± Her words were like a striking thunder as I was shocked by it and only then was I completely sure that this was no longer the game world I was familiar with. There were too many things different from the game. Perhaps¡­ it was me or something else¡­it is similar but at the same time, different. Name: Shelton Laker (Shelton L. Ainsworth) Age: 14 Level: 1 Title(s): Vianna¡¯s hero Health: MP: Attribute: Light, Holy Skill(s): -Empower (Light, Holy) Lv. 0 -Aura (Holy) Lv. 0 -Focus (Light) Lv. 0 -Light Blade (Light, Holy) Lv. 0 - Swordsmanship Lv. 3 RANK: Name: Kurozawa Enri Age: 15 Level: 1 Title(s): Sevor¡¯s hero Health: MP: Attribute: Dark(Shadow), Holy Skill(s): -Bolster (Dark, Holy) Lv. 0 -Aura (Holy) Lv. 0 -Sixth Sense (Shadow) Lv. 0 -Severe (Shadow, Holy) Lv. 0 - Swordsmanship Lv. 4 RANK: Name: Takamiya Chizu Age: 15 Level: 1 Title(s): Summoned warrior Health: MP: Attribute: Earth Skill(s): -Martial Arts Lv. 5 -Strengthen (Earth) Lv. 0 RANK: Name: Yamada Kana Age: 15 Level: 1 Title(s): Summoned Healer Health: MP: Attribute: Light Skill(s): -Fast Chant Lv. 0 -Light Magic (Light) Lv. 0 -Heal Chain (Light) Lv.0 RANK: Name: Yamada Mina Age: 14 Level: 1 Title(s): Summoned Sorcerer Health: MP: Attribute: Wind, Fire Skill(s): -Fast Chant Lv. 0 -Fire Magic (Fire) Lv. 0 -Wind Magic (Wind) Lv.0 RANK: Chapter 5: Moving Emotions Chapter 5: Moving ¡°Again, take the basic stance and strike.¡± Zell ¡°Hah!¡± ¡°Too weak! Arms, Legs, stomach, all wrong!¡± Zell ¡°Hah!!¡± ¡°Hiyah!¡± Hearing the shouts from the other side of the field where Shelton and Enri are training, I can¡¯t help but sympathize with them. Captain Zell is really strict as always. Where and why we are here training? In fact, we are at one of the training grounds for knights inside the royal castle training in the hot afternoon sun. It¡¯s been about two weeks since we were summoned. Everything has been very hectic so far, and a lot of things happened. First, after finding out about our status and the ruckus about our ranks (with the people surprise and admiration of Shelton and Enri¡¯s never-seen-before starting rank of 2 stars, and the disappointment of my hollow rank) Shelton and Enri finally decided after a heated discussion between the six of us. It went like this. ¡°What do you guys think?¡± Shelton ¡°I don¡¯t really know.¡± Chizu ¡°I do feel some kind of power inside of myself but¡­¡± Kana ¡°Are you really asking that of a hollow rank, Shelton?¡± Me ¡°Ahaha, I am not asking you Serika, I am asking you Enri.¡± Shelton ¡°It¡¯s fine if I just fight, right?¡± Enri ¡°I mean they did make it clear that some of us have to fight so that we can go back home right?¡± Enri ¡°Yes, that and I think it¡¯s better to fight with them as they seem like they really need help.¡± Shelton ¡°Hah! You with your nice guy act. I bet you are just as hyped up to try out the new strength you feel as I do.¡± Enri ¡°As long as they take good care of us.¡± Mina ¡°So?¡± Both Enri and Shelton turned to look at me as if asking for a final opinion to which I raised an eyebrow. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Serika, we¡¯ll protect you.¡± ¡°Do as you like.¡± Me I had no choice but to give a sigh and relented. And with new found resolve, Shelton announced in front of the king. ¡°Alright, we have decided. we will help you fight off the demon lord.¡± Shelton ¡°Ooh, you have our thanks Shelton-dono. Having you by this country¡¯s side is our greatest blessing.¡± King With all the main discussion completed, we moved on to the details of the things provided for us when living inside the royal palace and what we¡¯ll need to do. To summarize:
  1. Basic necessities such as food, housing, clothes, and whatever else each of us needs will be provided with their utmost ability.
  2. Our freedom is not limited to just the castle, we can also go out to town albeit must be reported and with escorts.
  3. We are required to learn the most basic form of fighting until we¡¯re deemed able or strong enough to at least protect ourselves.
  4. Future activities might include monsters or demons¡¯ subjugation as well as exploration, so it is recommended that we try to become as strong as possible.
  5. Any further issues or questions can be answered by the princess as she will be our guardian during the times of our stay in the royal palace.
With this, most of the main issues were finished. I¡¯m surprised that it took almost half a day though all of it was done by Shelton with Enri requesting here and there with the king and many officials standing in the hall. Hmm? I did listen you know. Just that I got bored halfway through and I¡¯m sure I can just leave it to the two of them, especially Shelton. After everything was dealt with, the king had the princess take us to our rooms, and told us to rest properly or that our training starts tomorrow. Our rooms were in a different building west of the main building where we had an audience with the king. Although I said it¡¯s a different building, the distance between the two is not even that much as you can get back and forth in just ten minutes. Not to mention there was a big empty field just a little bit away from the building, and it seems that will be our training ground. First, we were led to the first room on the first floor which has been decided that it will be the princess¡¯s room. By the way, the princess decided to stay at the same building with us with the excuse that she¡¯d be able to answer all our calls and needs easier this way. Is it really alright for a country¡¯s princess to be so carelessly staying with strangers like this? Oh wait, Shelton is the hero anyway, I¡¯m sure it must be some kind of plot to get along with the heroes or something. Moving on, the room across from the princess¡¯s room seems to be given to me though it seems it¡¯s maybe the safest room or so with the princess¡¯s guards as that was probably what the baka duo thought as they just kept forcing me to stay there. The rest of the rooms got distributed and we were told to rest and our dinner will be sent to our rooms afterwards. After going into my room, I found that the room was pretty good, and it gives off a very peaceful feeling. A cream colored canopy bed, same colored curtains, a wooden table set that gives off a calming aura. There¡¯s also a closet, and inside was what seems to be many sets of different female clothing including underwear. I¡¯m sure this room is for a female, I¡¯m amazed that the staffs of the castle work so fast, even what seems to be underwear and even sanitary is prepared. As I tried out the mattress, I feel fatigue came crashing on me. Huu, with all the things that happened today, I¡¯m not surprised even if someone were to tell me I lost twenty years of my life. Everything was so different from the game. The summon, the issue of going back. So many changes happened. ¡®It could be because of me¡¯ or so the thought keeps popping up in my head but thinking back what I did probably didn¡¯t have that much of an effect. Shelton still became a dense harem maker, Enri is still showing qualities of a womanizer, and my status is still the useless type. I wonder will I really die two months from now? While thinking such thoughts, I feel my eyelids growing heavy and I drifted off to the dreamland without thinking of the countermeasure for my death flag. By the time I woke up, the sun has already set, and the sky was dyed in red-ish purple with two rising moons. The only difference between this world and earth¡¯s sky is that there are two moons in this world and there are only 360 days in a year which means there are only 30 days in a month. Everything else is the same including the hours, minutes, and second format. There was a knock on the door, and when I answered yes, a maid came in with a trail of food. Ah it seems it¡¯s time for dinner. After thanking the maid for the food and asking if the others had the same kind of treatment, the maid answered yes, I ate the food while asking small details like the schedules for tomorrow, and about the kingdom. Oh, I also asked her where the library is and whether there is a medical department or alchemy research center in the palace. From what I got from her, it seems there is a knight group in charge of alchemy here in the royal palace. I got surprised that it is a knight group instead of a magician guild but she said the alchemists there are mostly magicians but since they are employed directly by the king, there was a protest with the regulations so they ended up as a special knight group instead. I finished the meal satisfied, and while I was thinking of going to learn there by talking to the princess about it tomorrow. I heard another knock on the door. The ones who came were no one else but Enri and Shelton. Aren¡¯t you guys tired? I thought you said to rest?This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Urm, Serika, sorry for bothering you but I just felt a little uncomfortable and by the time I noticed I was already in front of your room.¡± Enri ¡°I came because I wanted to talk to you.¡± Shelton ¡°Oh, and here I found this flower near my window sill.¡± He said as he handed me a pink flower. Ah, I know this one. It¡¯s a wild flower called Sharla, and it can be used as a charm warding off bad luck or so it was said in one of the settings as Shelton¡¯s favorite flower. Don¡¯t tell me, has the event of him falling for this flower already happened!? ¡°Did you perhaps meet with the princess on the way here as well, Shelton?¡± ¡°yeah, she was looking over the balcony.¡± And so that¡¯s how it happened huh. A heartfelt talk under the moonlight and cool wind¡­ Shelton is such a damn romantic. ¡°Geez, have more awareness towards these things already Shelton. You should have given this to the princess, why did you bring it here instead?¡± ¡°Hmm, what do you mean? I just thought you¡¯d like it so I brought it to you, maybe you don¡¯t like it?¡± Shelton said while dropping his eyes looking at the flower. Uuuu, I totally did not see his imaginary ears and tail drooping down, I really didn¡¯t see a sad retriever when I look at him. ¡°i-it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t like it¡­¡± ¡°you like it then it¡¯s good.¡± Shelton went from an abandoned puppy to a lively Labrador with a melting smile in no time at all. Urgh, I can feel my heart beating so fast from his smile. Stop it already¡­ ¡°Serika~ don¡¯t ignore your brother, I¡¯m here to you know.¡± Enri got in between us and all of a sudden pulled me into a hug. ¡°what the hell are you doing?¡± Of course, my reaction is to push his face away, but inside I can¡¯t help but thank him for being here as a savior for my maiden heart from the silver-eyed evildoer Shelton. Wait silver eyed? It seems Shelton had removed his black lens already. ¡°Serika~you are so heartless, your brother went through a lot today so I need some healing~ ¡± though Enri¡¯s annoying level makes it all pretty much even. ¡°Go away, you siscon!¡± and so our interaction is still the same as at home. I guess having the usual mood of conversation makes the three of us calm down or so I think that why the two of them came here. Rosemarie¡¯s POV As a country¡¯s princess, one would always have to act with one¡¯s status in mind. This was what my late mother, the previous queen of Esteral, taught me since I was a child. I am to never act spoilt nor to act too childish, that I am supposed to be a mature child, and that one day when I am sent off for a political marriage, I would not disgrace the name of Esteral. While other children were playing around in the garden, I was going through my rigorous training as a princess, locked up in the same buildings inside the royal palace. I never really thought about why I had to work so hard at my training. I don¡¯t love my trainings nor do I hate them as I thought they were my responsibilities as a princess. I have never envied the spoiling love my mother gave towards my brothers. At some point, what was left of me was just indifference, an indifferent doll that only knows my responsibilities. By the time my busy father, the king, and my brothers noticed my indifference, it was already too late. That was until the crimson night 3 years ago. At the time, in order to celebrate the coronation of the demon king Astroa, the demons deployed a suicide team and assaulted the capital of Esteral as well as a few other human countries. It was indeed a crimson night. Fires ablaze screams rampant, although the knights responded in time but the loss was evident. The death of the queen was announced the next day. Mother was at mine and my brother¡¯s sleeping quarters that day. She was there to read my little brother Elias a story book. Elias who was 9 years old at the time insisted we all sleep together, and then the demons attacked. I stood there watching as my mother stood in front of me as a shield. In my hazy line of vision, I saw the demon stabbed my mother in the chest before losing consciousness. By the time I came to, I was in my room, on my bed and father told me that mother died. By the time I noticed, I was crying, the first and probably last tears I¡¯ve ever shed. All my emotions flooded out. Why? Why am I crying? Was it because mother died? Was it due to sadness? Or was it relief? It seems it was always on my mind, the reason I tried so hard, the reason I closed off my world to indifference, it was because I was longing for mother¡¯s love and praise, I hated her yet I wanted her love. Just a ¡®You have done well¡¯ was enough. But now, I will never get the chance to hear it. I cried and screamed my feelings: ¡®Why? Why do you have to die, mother!? I haven¡¯t heard you say you love me yet. I haven¡¯t been spoilt yet. I haven¡¯t got anything I really wanted from you yet. Yet, yet¡­ why did you shield me!? Why!?¡¯ If you didn¡¯t love me you should have acted like you didn¡¯t until the end. Why did you give me hope, why did you have to make me hate myself even after your death!!?? Watching me cry and bursting all my emotions, all father did was hugged me and said sorry. ¡®Sorry for neglecting you.¡¯, ¡®Sorry for all those things you never get to do.¡¯ ¡®Sorry for only focusing on your brother.¡¯ ¡®Sorry for not telling you that we love you.¡¯ Father cried at the end of his sorry. ¡®It¡¯s all my fault. You can blame me. It was due to me that your mother was pressured to groom you to be the perfect princess. It was because I was incompetent that your mother became strict to you.¡¯ He continued: ¡®but one thing I am sure about. That is your mother loved you.¡¯ ¡®*sob* Uwwaaaah!!*sob*¡¯ Three years after that, I always did what I wanted to do, get what I wanted to have and loved. As if to compensate the hole that was left by mother. My father, knowing that granted whatever I requested. With my light aptitude, I became a priestess, I travelled around the country, and I became my dream job as a light maiden after pulling many tricks. I achieved the authority to partly command the temple forces. Yet, it was still empty. I really want someone who can fill it or perhaps I wanted love. Amidst all that, the threat of the demons was intensifying. Finally, father gave the order to perform the ancient hero summoning. Hoping that the hero would help us protect this country. I too put all my hopes in the hero. Even after all I have been through, I still love this country, the country where mother lived. Although the summoning failed a few times, it finally succeeded at last. Eh? There are five people too many, aren¡¯t there? Two boys and four girls. This is not mentioned in the ancient script though. For now, let¡¯s try to talk to them. As I was opening my mouth, my gazed stopped on one of the boys summoned. Black hair, black gentle eyes that is now showing anxiety, the well-proportioned nose, and lips that would show the brightest of smiles. I was captivated and I can hear my heart beating profusely. My line of sight was glued on him. His name is Shelton L. Ainsworth. I have imagined what would a hero be like countless times, but at this moment, I realized that the gentle hero of the goddess of light as described in the myths can be no one but him. I had to do all I can in order to make him stay and protect this country. Moreover, if possible I want him to love me. If it is him then I am sure¡­ However, I have to bear with it and move slowly, things should be done one step at a time. As I thought his smiles are as bright and gentle as the light of purification itself. His aura is also so gentle. However, his gentle smiles are not directed at me. Kurozawa Serika, was it? She seems to be his childhood friend but I can¡¯t help but feel like there is more to it. I have been observing him since the summon but when his eyes land on her, they seem to glow more with gentleness and perhaps affection. They were his brightest smiles. While thinking about that in my room, I decided to go outside for some fresh air. Then he came. He was holding a pink flower ¡®Sharla¡¯ renown for bringing good luck. My heart started beating and I was filled with nervousness. ¡°Princess.¡± His gentle voice was heard just a little bit above my head as I was pretending to look over the balcony. ¡°Ah, mister Shelton.¡± I turned my head towards him, and for a moment a was shocked. His hair as I recalled from before was black but now it became the color of the light, blonde. His black eyes now also changed to the brightest silver of the moons. ¡°your-hair, ah eyes¡­¡± ¡°Ah, sorry for surprising you but this morning I was wearing a wig and lens.¡± ¡°Wig? Lens?¡± I know about wigs but what are lens? ¡°You might not know it but this is my natural color you see. There were some circumstances that require me to change my colors.¡± ¡°I- I see. Amazing¡­ To think there was such amazing sorcery for changing your eye colors in Mr. Sheton¡¯s world.¡± ¡°Ahaha, it¡¯s not sorcery princess. It¡¯s called lens, contact lens.¡± *bathump* *bathump* His laughing face is making my heart beat so fast, and I can feel my face heating up. ¡°is that so?¡± I said as if to cover my embarrassment. ¡°Hmm, princess.¡± I became nervous as he stared at me and then my breath almost stopped when I felt his breath coming closer. I¡¯d already lowered my head down trying calm my beating heart by the time I noticed. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it is too stiff to keep calling me Mr. Shelton?¡± ¡°E-eh, I- I think it¡¯s most appropriate to call you that.¡± I said that while stuttering. ¡°That¡¯s too formal, since we are going to work together from here afterwards, why not use something else?¡± ¡°what? Sh-should I call you hero-sama?¡± ¡°Your hair is touching your eyes, princess.¡± He stretched his arms then gently tuck a clump of my hair which fell to around my eyes to my ears as if demanding that I say something he is satisfied with. ¡°then- Sh-She-Shelton..Shelton-san¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s more like it.¡± He finally leaned back and smiled towards me. It¡¯s good that it¡¯s dark right now otherwise he¡¯ll be able to see that my face is probably as red as a tomato right now. ¡°Well, then you should go to sleep now princess. It¡¯s pretty cold out here.¡± Satisfied he gave me another smile. ¡°Eh?¡± what about the flower he is holding? It might just be me over expecting things but I did think he was going to give that to me. ¡°hmm? Ah, I¡¯m going to visit Serika for a bit and give her this flower, so don¡¯t worry and go back to your room okay? Well, good night, Rosemarie.¡± Seems like he misunderstood my confusion as to where he is going. ¡°Good night.¡± He called me Rosemarie and I am supposed to be happy. I can¡¯t help but clench my fist when thinking about his previous words, so the flower was for her... ¡°Princess Rosemarie?¡± As I was standing there, my maid Shana who was hiding behind the curtains of the balcony showed herself. ¡°*Chuckle*It seems that they get along incredibly well as childhood friends, don¡¯t you think princess Rosemarie?¡± Shana ¡°My lovely little princess is jealous, aren¡¯t you? That your finally found prince is actually meant for someone else is just pitiful, right?¡± Shana ¡°What do you want Shana?¡± One can probably tell from the way she talks to me that Shana is actually no normal maid. She is my most confidant helper trained by a certain person and acts as my maid on the outside. ¡°Well~ Nothing actually, just that I feel that I should help our little Rosemarie here out a bit.¡± Shana ¡°you are getting bolder, Shana. You know you are still my maid, right?¡± ¡°Ufufu, yes, your majesty. I am aware that I am your ¡®personal¡¯ maid, and my mission is to help ¡®give¡¯ you what you want, isn¡¯t it just like that time with the high priest?¡± Shana ¡°Didn¡¯t I tell you not to bring that up again? Or have you forgotten your reason for existence?¡± ¡°*chuckles* Oh, how scary. I haven¡¯t forgotten yet, princess. It is just that I am asking for your acknowledgement for my ¡®helping¡¯ you in the near future.¡± Shana ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ufufufu, seems like I am allowed to move, aren¡¯t I?¡± Shana ¡°Just don¡¯t go too far.¡± After I finished saying that in a soft voice, I heard Shana¡¯s chuckle. I have long since vowed to always try to get what I want. I will never sower and wait for things to fall in my hands. I have decided to move by myself no matter what way it is, I will get what I want. So that one day, the hole will be filled¡­. Chapter 6: Summoned Days It¡¯s dark. It¡¯s very dark. Nothing is around me but infinite darkness. It¡¯s making me anxious, and scared. I tried my best to look around and find my way but my body felt so heavy as if bound by chains, as if I¡¯m in a swamp. Every movement was stiff and heavy. ¡°hahahaha, finally found you¡­.¡± As I was at my wits end, a very deep and creepy voice fragment resounded in the dark world. ¡°Who are you?¡± as soon as I found that I was able to move again, I asked towards the void and found my voice echoing back. ¡°¡­found you¡­.my little s**d¡± the voice resounded again, and out of nowhere, chains sprang up and bound my arms, legs, waist, head, and finally they started pulling me down then the last chain went through stabbing my chest where my heart is. I opened my eyes wide in horror as I see the blood wetting my shirt. ¡°Aaah!!¡± I screamed and sit up while my eyes sobered up and looked around. The cream-colored canopy was fluttering due to the wind coming through the opened window. The magic clock-like item was ticking on one side of the wall. The clock was pointing at the number 2 and I could see the faint silhouette of the moon through the window. All the sound I could hear was the sound of birds cawing and my own ragged breathing. By the time I noticed, my body was full of cold sweat. It took a while until my brain worked properly and I realized that it all was just a nightmare. Unconsciously, I put my hand on my chest and feel my heart thumping so hard that it could burst. The scene of the chains and voice kept flashing through my head. Already wide awake, I decided to get up and walked to the desk at the side of the bed, all the while telling myself that it was all just a dream, and that nothing was real. There was no dark space. No chains, and no voice, that it was only because of the anxiety of having been summoned here so suddenly. I took out a book hidden in the deepest part of the lower drawer where my school textbooks are kept, flipped a few pages, and came to a page that reads ¡®Death flag avoiding countermeasures- Kurozawa Serika¡¯ at the top of the page. Just reading the few first letters has an incredible effect of calming me down. Yep, after living in the palace of Esteral for some time, I have finally come up with my life-saving measures to get away from my(this) life-long worries. The plan is pretty simple. Here it goes: -Absorb the training during the first month like a sponge because it¡¯s a precious chance to get accustomed to the common sense of this world. -learn alchemy as soon as possible. -Get away from the roots of all evil, Shelton and Enri. -Either become an alchemist or an adventurer. For now, this is the most I can come up with due to the possibility of this going differently from the original story of . Spending time recalling all the vague memories of the game from my previous life, and by the time I noticed, it was already dawn and there was sunlight peeking into the room. Ah, it is already time for training. ¡°Yeah, just like that. Move not just your arms, but also your waist and shoulders.¡± I took a stance while holding a wooden short sword in one of my hands, and once again used it pry a blow from Shawn-san who was using a wooden sword. Due to the difference in weight and build if I were to use force against force, I¡¯ll definitely lose, so using the concept of soft against hard from when I was taught at the dojo, I was able to fight with Shawn-san by prying his blows and counter them with my own. Considering the length difference between a normal sword and a short sword, without a doubt, Shwan-san has a big advantage going against me but it was made up for with my speed and reflexes. Shawn-san once again parried my attack, and I had to quickly step back. As if he¡¯s been waiting for it, he followed up with strike which I was barely able to pry away but to my surprise he quickly followed up with another slash while I was still unsteady. ¡°You¡¯re fast Serika but your balance is bad.¡± He says as he stopped his sword right before my neck. ¡°haa, right. It¡¯s my lost.¡± I¡¯m already quite accustomed to using a short sword since I¡¯d long picked it as my weapon and trained in it in the dojo, but I just can¡¯t seem to keep my balance well in a fight, and this could be a very grave mistake especially in a fight where one wrong move can be the deciding factor between life and death. ¡°Still, you are improving pretty fast and you¡¯re already able to keep up with me in a spar. Pretty impressive.¡± Shawn-san says while lifting up his sword and smiled. It might be a very late introduction but the knight responsible for teaching me melee combat is Shawn Tousel, with slightly long purplish hair and droopy blue eyes, a knight from the alchemist division. He is also my alchemist teacher. Why? Huhuhu, I¡¯m the one who specially asked for his guidance after getting to know him back when I visited the alchemist division. Hmm¡­ It should be when I got to tour the lab of elite alchemists that I stumbled upon his lab with many different glass bottles, shelves upon shelves of books and last but not least, a very beautiful dagger hung on one side of the wall. As my eyes were gleaming admiring the craftsmanship of the dagger and mumbling the very wonders of daggers itself, that was when Shawn-san in his lab coat entered and heard my mumblings. As fellow dagger brethren we quickly got along and by the time we finished chatting the guide was nowhere to be seen. My throat was sore and without noticing Shawn-san ended up not being able to talk for a couple of days due to sore throat after all the excitement of meeting a like-minded fellow in both ¡®dagger-ry¡¯ and alchemy. ¡°Next should be alchemy training, right?¡± ¡°Yes, last time you were going to teach me how to make simple potion as well as certain antidotes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, but last time I told you to try brewing simple drinks with mana to bestow recovery effects, did you try it?¡± ¡°I did, but I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯ll work or not.¡± I reluctantly take out my pseudo lemonade-like drink which was made using a blue fruit in Edea called Krods, which is very similar to oranges, plus a common herb called Solte to give it a nice sour and sweet smell. However, different from the usual blue, the color turned a strange amethyst. It was probably due to the water as well as the process both of which was made by my mana. ¡°Hmm, what a strange color but what kind of drink is this? Considering that it was made using Krods, it should be quite bitter, right? let me try it.¡± Shawn-san took the bottle containing the pseudo lemonade from me and looked at it curiously before finally decided to pour himself a cup. ¡°¡­!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is it good? Or is it disgusting?¡± Honestly, I¡¯m not too confident about it. I was pretty excited when I was making it, but seeing the finished product totally sapped away my confidence of an accomplished home cook. Even Shelton and Enri were really looking forward to drinking it as I ended up making over four bottles but, alas, I really would cry if it actually tastes bad. ¡°¡­this flavor¡­the sour but sweet aftertaste, even the refreshing smell. Is it Moneta grass? Wait, no Moneta is only grown to the south of the continent of ice, but Moneta can also be transported here, with the appropriate price paid getting Moneta isn¡¯t really a problem. Moreover, there are plenty of adventures who harvest Moneta to sell to various merchants who then transport them to Esteral. Not to mention, the beast country to the west are also a great fan of them, so no matter how rare it might be here, acquiring them isn¡¯t totally impossible ¡­*mumble*¡­*mumble*¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Me: ¡°¡­¡± There he goes again, how can he even go off talking so fast like that. It¡¯s like he¡¯s competing in a rap show or something. ¡°Boo!!¡± ¡°!!¡± As I was considering whether I should interrupt Shawn-san on his little ¡®whether or not it is Moneta¡¯ conjuncture session, my waist was poked and my first reaction was to grab the other party¡¯s hand and went for a shoulder throw. *Thud* ¡°Ow!¡± ¡°Wawawa, Shelton-san are you okay?¡± Princess Rosemarie who was following Shelton quickly went to his side. ¡°Shelton? It¡¯s you?¡± ¡°Wait, how could Serika even acquire them if they aren¡¯t even grown here. Then it isn¡¯t Moneta grass but what is it then to have such effects in boosting both the taste and quality? Is it perhaps....¡± Shawn-san, still in his own dimension. ¡°I¡¯m okay, Rosemarie. Serika, you...should just train less.¡± Shelton looked at me as if in deep thought then said the last of his sentence as if speaking to himself. Train less? What do you mean to say in ¡®this¡¯ kind of situation, ¡®this¡¯ kind of world where I might drop dead at any moment I grow careless? I almost can¡¯t resist rebuking and roll my eyes at him when I felt something odd. ¡°Wait, how come you¡¯re here?¡± plus with your new entourage? Shelton is now with princess Rosemarie, Mina, and surprisingly Prisella is alsotagging along. (If you¡¯re wondering who Prisella is, she is one of the senior magicians who summoned us plus Shelton¡¯s future hare- no, girl comrade.) ¡°I was able to get Prisella to let me off early during today¡¯s magic lesson. By the way, how is your training, Serika?¡± Shelton turned to smile at Prisella who was walking over here then lowered his smile at the end of his sentence when his smiling eyes fell on the cup in Shawn-san¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯m asking about Enri, idiot. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be training together?¡± ¡°Ah, Enri-sama, Kana-sama, and Chizu-sama are still training under miss Bertalia¡¯s guidance. I decided to arrange them under miss Bertalia because I judged that she is the most suitable for teaching Enri-sama and them.¡± Princess Rosemarie quickly went on to explain as if afraid that I would blame her for separating them. Actually, I¡¯m incredibly thankful for her splitting them this way. This period of time is the time for them to spread the foundation for the relationship with all the capturable characters so I am planning to take hold of this chance in order to strengthen myself. Plus whenever one of the duo moved during this time, their entourage (excluding Chizu-senpai) would always be following them, so dealing with them both at the same time is so troublesome that I¡¯d rather join Shawn-san on his whatever-it-is-self-discussion. Imo, dealing with both at the same time is just pure mission impossible. ¡°I trust in your judgement princess. I think I am improving fast thanks to being under Prisella¡¯s guidance, right Prisella?¡± Shelton ¡°Not at all, Shelton-sama is learning this fast due to you being such a fast-learner.¡± Prisella who already walked over heard what Shelton said and corrected him with a big smile making her dimples show looking like a cute squirrel. Uuuu, so cute. I feel like I would also fall for her had I been a boy. ¡°Right, Shelton-san is really a genius. I have never seen anyone start using light magic so fast within the first weeks of learning the basics.¡± Rosemarie also joined on, singing praises of Shelton with eyes gleaming with admiration. ¡°Yep, as expected of him, isn¡¯t it? He¡¯s always been good at anything he does.¡± Mina who popped out of nowhere also started joining on praising him while pumping out her chest as if she was proud that she was the genius they were talking about. ¡°Ahaha, I¡¯m not such a genius, you know. It¡¯s just probably due to the blessing I received when I was summoned.¡± Shelton Looking at the scene, I rolled my eyes at them inside my mind. Shelton¡¯s nose must have grown as long as his sword right now from the overwhelming praises. Isn¡¯t it a given that he is a genuine cheat from the start? He ¡®is¡¯ the main character, duh? ¡°*sigh* so what did you come here for again? Shelton-¡®sama¡¯?¡± I stressed the last part over his name to express my irritation over the gallery exhibiting that I never wanted to see, and asked him to just get it over with. ¡°Ah, Serika, about the drink you were making so enthusiastically these few days, are you done making it yet?¡± His eyes are totally shining with anticipation while looking at the bottle in Shawn-san¡¯s hands. ¡°That¡¯s...it¡¯s, it¡¯s not ready yet!¡± I¡¯m not going to give it to you even though it is already done. Can¡¯t you feel the piercing gazes from your entourage?? I don¡¯t want to die early due to jealousy Shelton-sama T^T. ¡°Eeeh~ How come? Didn¡¯t you say it¡¯ll be done by today? And what¡¯s that Shawn-san is holding? Isn¡¯t that your lemonade?¡± Shelton That¡¯s why I said no. The gazes hurt!! ¡°It¡¯s not, definitely not! So, go away for now, it¡¯s time for my next training!¡± I quickly try to find my escape route which is taking Shawn-san¡¯s hand and pulling him, who was still mumbling stuff, away from the nuclear bomb that is known as Shelton. ¡°Ah, Serika, you must let me drink it before Enri ok?¡± By the end of his sentence, he was basically shouting towards me as I¡¯d already walked far away. ¡°Shawn-san, it¡¯s Solte grass I used in that drink.¡± After having gotten far enough awayfrom Shelton, I decided to drop a bomb to finish Shawn-san¡¯s self-discussion. ¡°Ah, exactly, so it was Solte, huh. I am such an idiot. So Solte can also be used in making energy drinks too. Hmm, that¡¯s possible.¡± Finally, discussion time ended, huh. ¡°Eh, where are we? How come I feel like I missed something?¡± ¡°No, not at all. You didn¡¯t miss anything Shawn-san. You¡¯re just imagining things. Shall we move on to our next training?¡± I¡¯m too tired to even talk about what happened. I just want to grow strong quickly, so stop bothering me, why don¡¯t you, Shelton-san? The result, after that day, Shelton and Enri kept coming over to me asking for the lemonade I made nonstop whenever their training was over or in between breaks. At night was even more annoying, from nice words to baits, and even by force, they tried to wrest over the remaining bottles of lemonade I kept in my room. I was super annoyed that I decided to ban them from coming over to my room at night to which they had been profusely trying to coax me into changing my mind. Just what is up with the lemonade? Are they going to die if they don¡¯t drink it or something? It¡¯s just a few bottles of failed energy drinks or is it that it¡¯s somehow turned into Yggsdrasil potion or something without me noticing? Moreover, with the way the girls are earnestly trying to give them their hand-made drinks every now and then, how would I have the guts to give them my failed ones? I don¡¯t want to become public enemy number 1 right now, you know? Intermission: A Certain Conversation Between Two Heroes ¡°*whew* Finally, I¡¯m done with training.¡± Sevor¡¯s hero later known as the Black Hero ¡°Oh, good work with your training.¡± Vianna¡¯s hero later known as the White Hero ¡°He~ your aura grew stronger again, didn¡¯t it?¡± The Black Hero said while squinting his eyes towards the boy in front of him to whom he¡¯s considered his rival since childhood. ¡°It¡¯s nothing new, same as yours, isn¡¯t it?¡± The White Hero smiled his usual bright smile which brings with it a kind of natural warmth to it. ¡°haha, it¡¯s just great this way. Don¡¯t let me surpass you, punk.¡± ¡°The day that happens is the day that rainbows have ten existing colors.¡± ¡°Good then, but where is Serika?¡± The Black Hero looked around for the usual small figure who would always be absent mindedly standing around somewhere when the three of them were together. It was amazing from how the tone of his voice totally changed just as the name of the girl came out of his mouth. ¡°She was here a moment ago but saying she had to go to the alchemy building to find Shawn-san, she quickly escaped.¡± For the first time in a while, the smile on the White Hero¡¯s face was slowly replaced by his eyes narrowing and brow furrowing. If this was seen by any of the girls around the hero, they would definitely be shocked dazed as the hero¡¯s expression now, matched with his handsome face, gives off a cold, serious expression that is totally opposite to his normal self but it was incredibly strange that he also gives off a hard to describe devilish warmth. ¡°Hooh, it¡¯s that knight Shawn again.¡± The Black Hero also frowned and mumbled in his low characteristic deep voice which is his normal tone used with others. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s that Shawn, the one training her.¡± The White Hero paused a bit before continuing: ¡°He¡¯s also the one who got to drink the lemonade she made.¡± ¡°hmph! What is he to drink something made by Serika before we did?¡± The Black Hero gave a snort. Ever since they were children, the two of them had always been close. Whatever she made would be given to him, and it was only later that Shelton appeared and it changed, but she would always give them first priority. He only accepted Shelton grudgingly due to Serika getting along with Shelton. (Although, Shelton punk himself is not so bad a friend.) A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. However, now to think she would give priority to another is such a stifling matter to swallow for him, and he¡¯s sure the guy next to him feels even more so. ¡°*nods* Even if he is her teacher. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s normal for Serika to not give it to us first.¡± The White hero also felt that it was strange. To him, Serika is a special existence. One might call his feelings for her those of a childhood friend. He admits it¡¯s true, she is his childhood friend, first friend, and they¡¯ve been friends since forever. However, he¡¯s been finding it more and more difficult to see through what she is thinking. It¡¯s not that their relationship is worsening but it¡¯s something else which he was unaware of. That was what making him feel so uncomfortable. ¡°So, are we still going to confirm it?¡± The Black Hero asks as if growling. They¡¯ve been trying to confirm something by persistently asking for the lemonade since a few days ago but with constant refusal from the person in question, what he sees is just a clear possibility that he wish would never happened. ¡°No, we should just stop now. It is pretty clear now.¡± The White hero answered as if sighing, not sure about what he is feeling. Whether it was the feeling of losing something important or having someone snatch something important away from him or just pure disappointment, he was not sure anymore. He has experienced this feeling many times and it was related to the same person every time. ¡°*sigh* so she really does like him.¡± The Black Hero deeply sighed. As much as he loves and is not willing to give his sister away. He cannot ignore her feelings. As much as something is precious, as much as one doesn¡¯t want it to be broken or tainted. ¡°In the future, if he is to hurt Serika¡°¡° I¡¯ll make him pay for it.¡±¡± Both Heroes said at the same time with ice cold determination in their eyes. And so that is how an unbelievable misunderstanding by the two heroes ended up. At that moment, none of them noticed the turning point that would happen due to the result of their actions. Chapter 7: Its Time Chapter 7: It''s Time It has been three weeks after we¡¯ve been summoned to the continent of Edea, and at the moment, we are staying at the royal palace of Esteral, one of the few human-led Kingdom on Edea. During the past three weeks, we have received thorough training in order to gain the necessary skills in order to survive in this world for the next five years when we¡¯ll be able to return to our original world. Our training includes close combat, magic, common knowledge (survival skills, history, monster encyclopedia and so on), alchemy, etc. Due to each of our special attributes, it had been decided that all six of us would be divided into different teams to train. Shelton and Mina, due to their similar attribute, have been allocated to train under the guidance of princess Rosemarie and the senior magician Prisella Mcgarden while Enri, Chizu-senpai, and Kana have been allocated to train under the knight captain of the second division and the senior magician Bertalia Kroh. As for me, I have especially asked to train under one of the elite knight slash alchemist of the special division, Shawn Tousel. As I have been trying my hardest in every one of my training so far, I can feel myself getting stronger day by day (although my starting stats were so low). However, as ironic as it is, I¡¯m still the weakest among the six who have been summoned. Excluding Shelton, who is basically a cheat spec due to being the protagonist, and Enri who counts as the mini final boss, even Kana, who is a healer, is stronger than me. I can¡¯t help but feel irritated every time I feel the mocking and snorting looks from those in the castle. They were similar to the eyes back at school on earth. Is it my fault that my starting stats were low? It was you people who summoned me, but after having found out that my starting rank was hollow, it didn¡¯t take long at all before the staffs at the castle started to neglect me. The meals were no longer as nice as before, the maids assigned to look after me also disappeared sometime last week. Not to mention the usual cold ill-fitted gazes I usually felt from the girls around Shelton and Enri who kept bothering me from time to time after I gave them the completed lemonade which I made with Shawn-san (to make up for the previous failed one, I gave them both two iced cold bottles to drink after their respective training). As a result, the gazes every time I¡¯m with the baka duo, who got even more popular even with the castle staffs plus nobles (most of whom are female), started to get worse. *Sigh* This is just a f**king repeat like when we were in school. One by one, the maids and staffs who I got along with at first started distancing themselves from me. It was only a few days ago when I found out why. They were being bullied by others for being near me, for being near me who was hording the duo all for myself. At the time, I was accidentally trying to find the maid who was first assigned to me to get back my dagger which I left for her to polish, and that was when I coincidentally saw the said maid being surrounded. ¡®I¡¯m not pretending to be a good girl. I¡¯m sorry if I looked that way as I serve that girl, but never once had I considered her my friend.¡¯ I closed my eyes and leaned on the wall behind me after I saw her ice-cold eyes. I should have known. From the start, I should have known that this would happen. I was unable to sleep that night. The words she said continued to sound in my ears, each time making my heart, which should have already gone numb over such occurrences since a long time ago, hurt like a needle has pierced through, and thememories of our interactions so far surfaced in my head. Even making old memories over Mina¡¯s incident about a year ago resurface. ¡®Hi, I¡¯m called Mina. A pleasure to meet you.¡¯ ¡®You look so lonely. Can I sit next to you?¡¯ ¡®hahaha, it¡¯s not funny that I alone tripped. Don¡¯t make fun of me.¡¯ The klutzy smile of hers was so dazzling that I¡¯d forgotten the loneliness from not having a friend all this time. I was happy, and thought that I too finally had someone who I could call my best friend, and happily introduced her to Shelton and Enri. The original group of three had become four, and by the time I knew it, I had accepted Kana too as Enri¡¯s girlfriend. It was such an ideal group, and everyone got along or that was what I thought. ¡®Shelton, Serika said she can¡¯t make it, her stomach hurt.¡¯ ¡®Let¡¯s go ahead first. Serika isn¡¯t coming, she got cleaning to do this week.¡¯ Until, it all fell apart... ¡®Always...always, why is it always you?!¡¯ ¡®Just what is good about you? Just because you grew up together, it¡¯s always been related to you.¡¯ ¡®what am I talking about? *snort* stop acting ignorant like a goody two shoes. You know what I¡¯m talking about, don¡¯t you?¡¯ ¡®Friends? Best friends? Don¡¯t f**ck yourself. We were never friends!¡± I opened my heavy eyes. Realizing that I had the dream again, I moved the back of my hands over my eyes. They were wet. *sigh* I guess I still haven¡¯t gotten over it. I hated them so do I hate Shelton and Enri. They never noticed, the reason I don¡¯t talk that much anymore, why I wore a scarf, why I avoided the two cousins, why I told them I¡¯d never accept the cousins as friends again. As much as I hated both of them, they are still my only family. Unlike my previous life, I had no one now but them. I know best myself that I should have left them alone since some time ago, but I¡¯m reluctant. I was reluctant, until it happened. ¡°Capture her!¡± A group of armored knights stormed into my room when I was practicing making a face changing magic potion which Shawn-san taught me two days ago. The person himself said he was busy with some mission and gave me an assignment to finish before he comes back. ¡°What-!?¡± Surprised, I dropped the glass bottle I was holding in my hands. ¡°You two, get her!¡± One of the knight who seemed to be the leader shouted. Then two knights stepped in and one knight grabbed my left wrist while the other one took out his sword from the sheathe at his waist. From his stance and gaze, I felt killing intent and instinctively, I quickly took out my short sword hidden on my thigh and swung it towards the hand holding my left wrist, and jumped back, distancing myself. Ignoring them scream of pain of the knight who got his wrist slashed by my short sword, I shifted my focus to the other knight who was pointing his sword at me. ¡°You better surrender, little lass.¡± The knight said and licked his lips while eying my body up and down giving me the shivers as if something disgusting was crawling on it. ¡°Tell me what is going on? You can¡¯t be attacking me without a reason, right?¡± I turned to look at the knight at the back who seemed to be the leader. ¡°Humph! Of course, we have.¡± Pausing a bit, he continued after pulling a paper androlled it out before me: ¡°Kurozawa Serika, you have been suspected for the attempted assassination of royalty, and is to be arrested immediately.¡± I frowned upon hearing what he said. This was not completely unexpected. I can roughly guess what is happening. It seems like someone had finally ran out of patience and decided to make their move. The fact that they came here to arrest me must be because they have made enough preparations and the person must find me to be a thorn in their eyes. Of course, knowing about it and not feeling angry was two entirely different matters. However, with the force of five knights, I have not a high chance of winning. Though with a few tricks, five of them is nowhere near enough to beat me. I didn¡¯t waste my time training all this time, you know. Although, my aura (aura is the embodiment of one¡¯s current rank) is a bit weak, fighting strength cannot be judged by just aura alone-is what Shawn-san said. After all, I have alchemy on my side. Nevertheless, considering this is inside the castle, even if I beat the five of them, I have an impossible chance of breaking out. Without any choice, I obediently let them take me somewhere while I wracked my brain about how to get out of this situation. The knights then brought me to a room on the ground floor of the same building. After a few knocks, I was brought into the room. ¡°Prisella-sama the criminal has been brought here.¡± The leader bowed his head then pushed me to in front of him. ¡°Good work, Poulan. Now leave her. You can go and guard the door since we¡¯re going to personally interrogate her.¡± replied Prisella. ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡± The leader who was called Poulan saluted Prisella then went out without forgetting to close the door. Only after he left did I get a chance to look around the room. Although it¡¯s in the same building, I never got a chance to come to this room since I heard it is forofficial business like a formal meeting with the king or so. The room was luxuriously furnished with a big table and fluffy sofas surrounding it with a bookshelf just a bit away to the right. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Well, well, please do sit first. It is not good manners to talk while standing.¡± Hearing Prisella talk like that, I became increasingly sure that the matter now is definitely related to her, and is done with a goal in mind. While guessing what she would want to do and looking at her cautiously, I still sat down on one of the chairs at a corner of the room. ¡°Would you like some tea?¡± ¡°Cut to the chase, what do you want to do by framing me and bringing me here?¡± ¡°Now, don¡¯t be so hasty. There is still another person yet to arrive.¡± Prisella calmly poured me and herself some tea and patiently lifted her cup to have a sip. ¡°Is it princess Rosemarie?¡± Prisella showed no reactions whatsoever, and her face was still as calm as if the usual flustered appearance was nothing but an illusion. *knock*knock* ¡°She¡¯s here. Come in.¡± As soon as she heard the knock, Prisella lifted her head and gave permission. ¡°Ara, it seems like I¡¯m a bit late, aren¡¯t I?¡± Contrary to my expectations, the one who came was not Rosemarie but her maid who I saw on the day we were summoned. If memory serves me right, her name should be Shana or something. ¡°So, you¡¯re aware you¡¯re late.¡± Prisella narrowed her eyes at Shana who displayed an extremely carefree attitude as she sat down and poured herself a cup of tea as ifthis all did not concern her at all. ¡°Ufufufu, I got held by something difficult to achieve you see, and maybe some loose ends.¡± ¡°Well, then let¡¯s start, shall we?¡± ¡°About time, what am I arrested for? I don¡¯t remember doing anything though.¡± ¡°Kurozawa Serika, as written in the arrest warrant, you have been convicted of assassination of royalty, specifically, Rosemarie. Do you acknowledge your crime?¡± Prisella put down her tea cup and looked coldly towards me while spouting nonsense that I had trouble understanding. ¡°What? What did you say I did?¡± ¡°Assassinaton of royalty, more specifically you are convicted of being a major accomplice.¡± ¡°What the F¡ªck are you spurting? I did what?¡± ¡°ufufufu, honey, don¡¯t act ignorant. One of the maid saw you put a little something into Rosemarie¡¯s drink, and that something turned out to be poison.¡± The answer to my question to Prisella was instead spoken by Shana who then stood up and walked towards me. ¡°*laugh* how funny, I don¡¯t even remember seeing any of Rosemarie¡¯s drinks before, so how can I even put anything in it?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lie, Kurozawa Serika. We have both witness and evidence. Even your personal maid has testified that you were the one who added the poison.¡± Personal maid...so it was her. ¡°Even still, I refuse to acknowledge the crime, my personal maid has already stopped serving me since last week so her testimony is invalid.¡± By the end of the sentence, I was already gritting my teeth trying to calm my anger from bursting out. I can even feel my eyes becoming hot at this point. Not only did she hurt me with those words, to think she betrayed me in the worst possible way. As I thought, friends...were never meant for someone like me. ¡°Honey, you don¡¯t have to deny it so hard anymore, we already know why you did it, and if you¡¯re thinking of stalling for time until your childhood sweethearts come, don¡¯t even bother.¡± Shana gave a low chuckle then continued: ¡°They seem to have been held by something important.¡± ¡°You really know why I did it? Then tell me why I did such a thing.¡± I suddenly have a bad feeling growing in my heart as if I should not hear the reason. ¡°For your lover Shawn Tousel. That is why you put poison in the princess¡¯s drink.¡± ¡°!!¡± How the f¡ªck did Shawn-san come up at this point? Wait... Shawn-san left urgently on a mission he said was directly ordered from his captain. He did say that it was strange to have a mission assigned when he was already doing one training me. It has already been three days and I haven¡¯t heard anything about him since he left. ¡°What did you do to him!?¡± I finally felt a string snapping inside my mind. It is okay if you frame me, hurt me, scold me since I¡¯d long gotten used to it, but not to Shawn-san. He is just an innocent person not related to any of this at all. Just thethought of him getting hurt or framed due to getting involved with me makes my stomach churn. ¡°Not much really, just that he was arrested due to treason and colluding with the demons is all.¡± Treason...Towards Prisella who said that as if reporting a trivial matter, hatred on top of anger as well as self-blame wells up in me. I¡¯m sorry Shawn-san, it is all because of me. ¡°You dare! How could you do that to him!?¡± Not to mention being innocent, Shawn-san is also an elite alchemist working directly under the king, they can¡¯t just frame him as they like, right? ¡°Answer me! Say something!¡± As no one answered, in a fit of anger I jumped in towards Prisella, hoping to hear her say that Shawn-san was still ok or just injured or missing. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that to Shawn-san. He¡¯s not wrong!¡± As I got in front of her, I can feel my wrist getting caught. ¡°Enough, stop it Serika!!¡± In my anger, I can hear a familiar voice. Turning my head, the one who spoke and held my wrist was Enri. I can¡¯t help but feel a sense of security after seeing him. If Enri is here then maybe, just maybe, I can still save Shawn-san. ¡°Enri, you are here. Quick, get Prisella to tell me where Shawn-san is.¡± I was getting more and more frantic as I looked pleadingly towards Enri. ¡°Serika!¡± With a loud shout, I finally feel Enri¡¯s strange look and actions... as if he¡¯d already known everything. ¡°what, Enri, you¡¯ll help me, won¡¯t you? A life is at stake here!¡± I was starting to become desperate under Enri¡¯s cold gaze which I¡¯ve never seen before. However, all that I received from him was a cold, irritated, disbelieving gaze. I feel very uncomfortable under that gaze. Right, it¡¯s all due to Prisella, Rosemarie and them. It must be them. ¡°Serika, stop it! It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s just that you were fooled.¡± Hearing his words, I was taken by disbelief then anger again rises up. ¡°It¡¯s you, isn¡¯t it? You framed him!¡± I once again shouted at Prisella. ¡°Enough is enough!!¡± *Slap* A slapping sound reverberated throughout the room. I can feel my left cheek burnwith pain. I put my hand on my left cheek and looked towards Enri in disbelief. The one who slapped me was no one else but Enri, who at this point, also looked shocked at what he just did. ¡°I, I...¡± Hanging my head down, I can feel my sanity coming back. That one slap brought me back, and I realized, just how stupid I¡¯ve been. What use was it to loudly scream for innocence? For help to come from those who mean me harm? For the trust and faith from those who never noticed my plight? Just what have I been doing so far? It was both funny and stupid. A while after that, I was back in my room, sitting on my bed. I don¡¯t clearly remember what happened afterwards, I vaguely remember Enri apologizing for me to Prisella and them, and to forgive me since I was momentarily brainwashed or something. Then I only said one thing, ¡®I¡¯m going back to my room.¡¯ And here I am. Sitting on the bed with my back against the head of it, I can feel the room getting cold. The floor was still ridden with the broken pieces of glass and woods from the commotion with the knights, but I don¡¯t feel like cleaning it at all. The pain from the slap was no longer there, but the experience itself was still perfectly clear in my mind. It¡¯s so funny, everything is so f¡ªking funny that I can¡¯t help but want to laugh. How stupid have I been? Stubbornly holding onto what is nothing but an illusion that I know was never there to begin with. What ¡®story of three of us¡¯? What ¡®start and end with 3 of us¡¯? It has always been like this hasn¡¯t it? ¡®They¡¯ have never really understood and trusted me. It was only me who stupidly thought I was most clear on what kind of person they are; however, I can¡¯t be any more wrong. That¡¯s why, it¡¯s funny. ¡°haha...hahahaha...ha...*sob*...ha...*sob*¡± My originally shelf-pitying laugh turned into uncontrolled sobs and tears continuously poured out. It hurts. It hurts so much. Even more so than when I know that the maid betrayed me, even more so when I know that the most important person and my only family doesn¡¯t believe in me and believes I¡¯m a treacherous person who would easily poison others. I got it already. It¡¯s already time I grow up. Since it hurts, it means it¡¯s time to stop persistently clinging on. I¡¯ve already paid enough as a price, even dragging down Shawn-san. The price I paid should already be enough. Enough to finally leave everything behind, and start anew... Chapter 8: Leaving The next morning, I woke up early and went on my way to the west side of the building we were staying at. The west side are pseudo offices for the various officials above Viscount rank, sort of like a preparation room before going to morning court. Although I was a bit lost at first amidst the never ending winding corridors, I was still able to find my way to my destination after receiving directions from a maid who reluctantly told me the way. I had to ask many many maids just to be able to get here that I feel tired already. And so, here I am standing in front of a silver-framed wooden door on which various engravings were present at the edges. From the first few vines like patterns, I can tell that a magic for fortifying the toughness, fire resistance, and even safety measures like lock magic were casted on the seemingly luxurious door. Although, I said luxurious, these types of engravings are still quite common in Esteral especially in the aristocratic circle where you can find them on almost any slightly important room. Because it is not that hard to get them engraved as even your average first star magician can do that but only those with sufficient alchemy knowledge can bring these engravings to their greatest potential. For example, there exists a series of professions evolved from alchemists including enchanter, potion master, magic smiths, and so on. I felt slightly proud of myself for choosing to learn alchemy and being able to recognize such engravings albeit some on the door are still too complex for me to understand. Well, it¡¯s as expected, it is the room of the person in the position just a tad bit lower than royalty afterall. Being reminded again about the person I''m about to face makes me feel like butterflies are moving around in my stomach and I nervously fix my scarf in place for the Nth time. *sigh* Toughen up Serika! This step is what you decided on! No matter what, you can¡¯t just back down now! Yosh, let¡¯s bring it on! Steeling myself yet again, I knocked on the door, and pushed it open after confirming the permission from the room. ¡°Excuse me.¡± ¡°Hmm? This is a surprise, you are the person I least expected to come see me.¡± The person who had been dealing with the mountain of documents on the table lifted his head and uttered in surprise. ¡°Well, well, if memory serves me right, you are Kurozawa Serika, correct?¡± The person with lavender colored hair and cream colored eyes adjusted his glasses and put down the feathered pen he¡¯d been using to write. ¡°Yes, sir. That is my name.¡± ¡°I can more or less guess the reason you have come to see me, the prime minister, but first thing first, do sit down, and would you like some tea?¡± The prime minister said as he put his hands together on the table and gave a look to his aide to signal him to make tea. That is correct, the person I came to see was no one else but the prime minister of Esteral and Prisella¡¯s father, the Duke of Mcgarden, Cross Mcgarden. ¡°I¡¯d love to but I would like to finish what I came for as soon as possible, so I¡¯ll be humbly declining your offer.¡± With the minimal courtesy I learned during these few weeks, I refused his offer for tea with my guards up at 150% more than normal. Heck, there¡¯s no way I¡¯d be able to be all friendly with a person so excellent in politics that he¡¯s able to securely sit on the prime minister position for so long, and I¡¯d laughmy ass off if anyone told me he doesn¡¯t have a hand in the things that happened yesterday. He ¡®is¡¯ Prisella¡¯s father, and the prime minister after all. ¡°As you please. Vincent, I want green tea.¡± Then he gave his aide a meaningful look to which it was well understood as the aide, Vincent, nodded and quietly went out of the room. ¡°Now then, what business might Ms. Kurozawa have with me?¡± As he said that his prime minister aura naturally flooded out like a tide making me incomparably tense that my back unconsciously straightened. ¡°Then I won¡¯t hold back anymore. Grant me three requests, and I will swallow what happened yesterday and will not bring it up again.¡± I bravely kept looking directly at his eyes without avoiding eye contact, showing how serious I am. ¡°Oh, I see. Let¡¯s not waste time then. First things first, I admit what happened yesterday was within my authority and we are perfectly clear with what happened.¡±Just as I was planning to counter what he said, he continued. ¡°Nothing will likely change our conclusion over the case but as a person in position of power it''s natural that I should at least hear you out, is this what you think?¡± ¡°Err, yes¡± I was pressured with his clear cut declarations that I stammered my answer out while my brain worked on how to continue. ¡°So, miss Kurosawa, what might those requests of yours be?¡± Those eyes showed his intentions clearly as if they were saying any unreasonable requests will be rejected immediately. Facing such pressure, I can feel myself turning calm. That¡¯s right. This is what you should do. Only when you stay calm would your requests be granted, Serika. ¡°First, grant me permission to leave the castle. Second, give me the resources required to survive in the city.¡± ¡°Hmm, interesting requests, and the third?¡± ¡°The third, I will tell you after you agree.¡±. Perhaps it was due to my tendency to adapt quickly or my resolve to leave the current situation that by the end of my sentence, I can feel the nervousness fading gradually and I began to get serious while confronting the person before me. ¡°Pardon me, miss Serika, but are you sure of this? or if you are doing this purely out of impulse, then I suggest that you go back and train instead.¡± ¡°No, sir. I¡¯m doing this not on impulse but for my future.¡± Perhaps he saw the seriousness in my eyes that he straightened his back and looked directly at my eyes. ¡°What if I do not agree to your requests? Actually, you don¡¯t have any grounds at all to request anything of me, don¡¯t you think? Do try to convince me despite the requests from you, the one suspected of assassinating royalties?¡± When Prisella said it, I felt nothing but anger, but when the prime minister says it, how come I feel so ridiculously ironic. ¡°*chuckles* suspect, is it? Simple. It is something that also benefits you, and is something you can¡¯t refuse.¡± ¡°Hoo~ and why is that?¡± ¡°First, you and me clearly know that what happened was the dirty works of your daughter. I might not able to refute it now but you know I¡¯m an otherworlder right? There are more than one ways that I can use from my own world which you¡¯d have never imagined to clear my name. ¡®If¡¯ I decide to put my all into it, that is. Then once the truth comes out, what do you think my brother and Shelton will think of your daughter and the rest of Esteral who planned such a thing to frame me, their only family in this world? Would they still continue to be friendly and strive to save you or be angry enough to turn their backs on you?¡± If you guys think I¡¯m a soft persimmon then I¡¯m sorry to disappoint you but I¡¯m not. I know the cards in my hands fully, and the points about investigating was, of course, a complete lie. I know that these people will definitely clean up after themselves perfectly, and to dig into it is just too troublesome but they don¡¯t know that. Just the trait of being an otherworlder has a degree of intimidation already, so why not use just that. As for Enri and Shelton, who cares about them right now when I have so much trouble protecting my own skin? There¡¯s already no turning back. ¡°Can I take this as a threat?¡± By the end of his question, I can feel a deadly aura around him as he lowers his eyes. What a terrifying calmness, like father like daughter I guess. ¡°Of course not. I¡¯m offering you a deal that is good for both sides. I¡¯m sure you upper nobles see me as much of a nuisance as your daughter and the others do. A variable that is threatening enough that can turn the heroes against you with so much as a few phrases, am I not? You definitely cannot let that happen, so that¡¯s why your best move is to slowly weaken my ties with the heroes so that one day you can finally throw away this useless chess piece without any consequences, isn¡¯t that so?¡± A bit time consuming and round-about move, but definitely an effective one. ¡°Since it is so, then this request is like a pie falling from the sky for you. You don¡¯t have to spend even a tiny bit of effort nor risk ruining your relationship with Shelton and Enri, and you can get me out of your sight.¡± ¡°Hence, my third request: keep my location and every move a secret from those two heroes you summoned.¡± By the end of my sentence, the person in front lifted his eyebrow as if surprised that I¡¯d throw away my only insurance card of surviving in this world. ¡°I don¡¯t care one bit what plans you have for them but I want out from all of it. So that¡¯s why your best choice is to agree to my requests. You can¡¯t risk losing the support of the two heroes right now, can you?¡± With this, all of my cards are thrown into the game, all there¡¯s left is to wait for the ¡®okay¡¯ then I¡¯m set. After receiving permission, a bag of coins and a short sword was given to me. The first was securely strapped to the belt on my waist while the later on my back. I strapped the sword so that it''s tilted a little to the right so that I can easily reach it with my right hand. Then I once again check all my belongings. A leather belt hangs on my waist, and on it were a bag of coins, knives slots, and a small space bag hanging on the line of my right pelvis. The bag is the same one as ¡®that¡¯ kind of bag (where the space inside is a different dimension, those kinds of bags), and it stores miscellaneous stuffs like potions, alchemy ingredients, food and even my belongings of the previous world such as my phone, school bag, and uniform. This space bag wasn¡¯t given to me by the prime minister (as if that stingy old fox would give away something this good), but by Shawn-san who told me it was a keepsake from his master, and giving it to me after he, at some point, recognized me as his student. I reached my hand again to stroke at the space bag feeling a little choked with emotions. I¡¯m really sorry, Shawn-san. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll find you no matter where you are or whether you are dead or alive, so that I can make it up to you for dragging you down. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Having finished checking all my equipment and luggage, I got out of my room andgave my thanks to Mr. Vincent who came with the bag of gold coins and info of where I can get out of the castle unnoticed as well as the fake ID I¡¯ll be living as from now. Here is what is states: Name: Rika Kursa Race: Human Title: Minor noble Level: 06 Occupation: N/A Ability: Alchemy(Beginner) Rank: N/A ¡®Rika Kursa¡¯ is it? Derived from my original name right? Well isn¡¯t this pretty obvious? That old fox sure did a lazy job. ¡°A pretty good name isn¡¯t it? Considering only those descended from nobles have surnames, you are supposed to be a distant relative of a territory-less viscount Kursa, alright? Make sure you don¡¯t blow your cover.¡± Mr. Vincent said that with a proud look that I somehow don¡¯t know how to break it to him of what a lousy job he did at making it. ¡°Err, um, thanks.¡± *sighs* I¡¯ll let someone else break his bubble. ¡°Another thing is that I have put the Rank and Occupation on privacy. You can change that if you just focus and chant ¡®Change¡¯ in your mind just like when you are checking your status.¡± Oh, let¡¯s try it out. ¡®Change¡¯ Name: Rika Kursa Race: Human Title: Minor noble Level: 06 Occupation: Alchemist Ability: Alchemy(Beginner) Rank: N/A ¡°Of course this is the case only for special IDs such as this one that comes with changeable information as anything but the name and race can be changed. Normal IDs can only be altered by specific agents stationed throughout the country after having shown proper evidence, so you should keep that in mind. Moreover, this is different from status which can measure the changes of a person¡¯s ability directly, so it is recommended to update regularly especially if you plan to be an adventurer as it can contribute to your adventurer rank-ups.¡± Mr. Vincent explained patiently about the new ID to which I am very grateful for. Although the father-daughter pair was hateful, they have a good eye for subordinates, Mr. Vincent is an excellent person who is also very kind. ¡°I understand. Thank you very much for your advice.¡± ¡°Now you just need to go through this side of the green house and there will be a small corridor with a small gate at the end. I¡¯ve already moved the guards away. You have only 30 minutes before the next guards take over so good luck.¡± He finished and bowed towards me to which I bowed a bit in return as thanks. ¡°Well then I¡¯ll be excusing myself.¡± I started walking through the greenhouse while marveling at the various plants and flowers. While I was looking at them, I thought of the baka duo. Thought of how Enri always loved to compete, how he¡¯d always stand in front of me and Shelton when we were kids, how we hugged and cried after the death of our parents, how he¡¯d fawn over me all the time, and how Shelton used to be a cry baby when he was a kid, how we became friends, how he¡¯d learn to stand in front of me instead of the other way around without me noticing, how he¡¯d quietly moved next to our house again and again no matter what happened to me and Enri, and finally of how the three of us used to be so used to each others¡¯ company. Even as I thought of these things, I never stopped my steps. It¡¯s not like we¡¯d never meet again, right? However, for now, it is best that we don¡¯t meet. Until, my death flag is resolved, I hope I won¡¯t see them. ¡°Serika!¡± How funny. I thought I heard Enri¡¯s voice just now. I guess I already started to miss- ¡°Wait up, Serika!!¡± Wait, that¡¯s not my imagination. As I turned around while thinking that, I saw Enri¡¯s anxious face running towards me. ¡°Just what are you doing?!¡± Finally caught up with me, Enri stopped about two steps away from me and angrily shouted. ¡°¡­¡± Looking at my brother¡¯s angry face, I once again let out a sigh after going quiet for a moment thinking of what I should do so that I can get out of here as soon as possible. ¡°What, you say. It¡¯s as you see. I¡¯m leaving.¡± ¡°Leaving? Just where the h*ll are you going? To that d*mned Shawn guy?¡± Seeing me refuse to answer, Enri turned even more angry. ¡°Serika, that guy was just using you, he¡¯s lying to you all this time! You mustn¡¯t believe what he told you.¡± ¡°Prisella and them found all the evidence of his betrayal. It was just a moment of confusion that you did it right? The princess already forgave you.¡± By the end of his last sentence, I snapped. ¡°Tsk. I did it? Enri, you are the one who don¡¯t know anything!¡± ¡°Since you don¡¯t know anything then let me ask you. Will you believe if I said that I didn¡¯t do it?¡± By the end of the sentence, I can see the confusion in Enri¡¯s eyes and that gave me joy as well as¡­hope. ¡°As expected, you are angry right? About last night?¡± Just who am I kidding. Fine, just let it go: ¡°That¡¯s enough already. I have already decided to leave, so the reason no longer matters.¡± ¡°Alright, Serika, I know it was my fault last night so- ¡°Stop it Enri, no matter what you say, I¡¯m still leaving.¡± ¡°You decided, huh. I got it but as your brother, I can¡¯t just let my sister go the wrong path without stopping her. You are my precious little sister so I never thought that I¡¯d one day be forced to stop you from doing what you decided to do instead of supporting it. Please, Serika just turn back, I, we can¡¯t lose you.¡± For a second, I was shaken, but I forcefully resisted it thinking of the future events. Only by leaving will I be able to survive, so that I can perhaps have a chance to see you guys again. I have no choice but to leave. ¡°Sorry, brother.¡± With that I reached for the sword on my back. Seeing my do that Enri slowly did the same with the swords on his waist but I can see determination in his eyes and perhaps¡­ sadness. I feel very guilty that I almost can¡¯t make myself look directly at his eyes. Although I tried to act cold on the surface but I¡¯m still a normal girl who never lived independently from her family and one who loved her family deeply at that, I really feel bad for Enri. Still, without a word I turned and dashed for the gate way outside of the castle prompting Enri to jump and stand between me and the exit. With this I have no choice but to fight him, huh. *exhales* The sound of me exhaling was still ringing in my ears when I moved my sword quickly for a strike towards his right wrist. As if expecting it he stopped my sword by flipping his sword at a weird angle. Seriously what a freakish reflex, but he¡¯s still slower than me. Taking my sword back, I started to slash at different places to get a feel for his skills with the sword, and I can feel his strength overpowering me as well as his Aura which is the same devilish one at the day we were summoned. Making use of the rebound of his counter, I jumped back. Really, he¡¯s strong, very strong especially his overpowering Aura. Just go to h*ll already f**king cheats. Frustrated, I reached for my belt and took out a bottle and a pill, and put them in my mouth. Enri perhaps knowing that they were some kind of doping potions turned on the offensive and jumped at me. The strength of his strikes turns stronger and faster. Tsk, it still takes sometime for the pills to take effect, Serika, you have to endure. ¡°Serika, just give up. You know, you can¡¯t beat me even with your potions. Just stay, and we¡¯ll go through everything together. Just as before.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± As soon as I felt the pill taking effect, I dropped the bottle I have been biting in my mouth. *crash* *flash* After the bottle broke on the ground, a circular vine like patterns appeared on the ground and it flashed letting out a blue colored smoke. This was an alchemist encryption, which I set up by moving my legs in particular directions as I was attacking Enri. According to Shawn-san who taught me this: ¡°Serika, you are still very weak, so this encryption that functions partly like a formation is for emergency use especially when you want to escape. The smoke has a sleep-inducing effect that will last about an hour, but only use it in emergency because it has a large area of effect and consumes a lot of mana. I do hope that you will not have to use this until you get stronger but this is a precaution for when anything happens.¡± Or so he said. I would never thought I had to use this so soon on Enri no less. Enri was probably thinking that I was drinking a strength or speed enhancing potion but actually I was only pretending to drink it but my real goal was the encryption on the ground, and I was only waiting for the antidote which were the pills I swallowed to take effect. ¡°Cough, cough, Shit. Serika, where are you?¡± Having found me amidst the smoke, I can hear him dropping the sword he was holding and walked towards me with wobbly steps. Seems like the smoke is showing its effect: ¡°Cough, please¡­stay¡­with¡­me¡­Seri¡­¡± By the end of his sentence, he fell asleep and almost fell face first to the ground had I not been in front of him. ¡°Idiot brother, you are always so careless.¡± *sigh* I better get going when the smoke still have some effect and get as far away from here as possible. ¡°See you later, idiot brother.¡± Chapter 9: A Brothers Monologue #1 GR Chapter 9 #This chapter is written in Enri¡¯s point of view March, Four years old I¡¯m excited. If you ask why I¡¯m so excited today, it¡¯s because today is my third, no fourth birthday. I couldn¡¯t sleep well last night so I went to mommy and daddy¡¯s room at night to share my feelings with them. Even when I got scolded by mommy for waking them up at midnight (by the way when is midnight again?) Anyway, I¡¯m really looking forward to this day because it¡¯s my birthday. Birthday means parties, oh and birthday means presents. I hope I get that new limited edition fighting robot that just came out, but the transformable helicopter toy that can fly is good too. Mommy is stingy so she probably won¡¯t buy them for me but daddy is better. I love daddy the most. As expected, daddy is the best: he told me he has a surprise for me today. Uhehehe, I¡¯m so excited that I can¡¯t help but run around the house. I can¡¯t wait for afternoon to come. Daddy, come back quick. Oh, looks like daddy is back. What is this? Just what is this? ¡°Now come and meet your sister, Enri. ¡° In front of me and clinging to daddy¡¯s leg is a little chibi who he just called my sister. Facing my stare, the girl shrank back to hide behind daddy¡¯s legs. Hey! Just whose daddy¡¯s legs are you hanging on to so closely! That¡¯s my daddy right there! ¡°Enri, be nice and stop glaring at your sister Seri-chan, kay?¡± Mommy looked over and pulled the two of us to face each other. ¡°Now, try to get along, ok?¡± The chibi looked at me timidly and then softly murmured something. ¡°nise¡­meek¡­chu¡­nii-cha¡± What did she say? I can¡¯t even understand what this chibi is saying. This is just terrible. ¡°Now now, Enri you should greet her back, shouldn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°NO! No way!¡± ¡°Enri, that is no way to treat your little sister.¡± What? Did daddy just scold me for this chibi? As expected, this chibi is no good thing. She must be here to steal my place away. Anyhow, I¡¯ve never heard anything about having a sister. I heard from the fat kid across the block that sisters are bad creatures there to steal our parents affection. ¡° Liar! I have no sister! She is just an eyesore here to steal daddy from me! *humph*¡± I shouted and then looked towards the chibi: ¡°I hate you!¡± before running away to my room. ¡°Uh, *sob* Uwaa!¡± I can hear the chibi burst into tears behind me. ¡°Enri! That is not what you should say to his sister! Come back here and apologize, right now!¡± Even daddy shouted to me. ¡°Now, now Seri-chan don¡¯t cry okay? Mommy is sure your brother doesn¡¯t mean that.¡± June, Four years old It¡¯s been 3 months since my fourth birthday. Unfortunately, I have apparently gained a baby sister who I still am reluctant to accept. I mean, I never heard anything about having one since growing up till now(wait, did I?) and what does mommy mean by the chibi has been at the hospital all this time? Is she or is she not born from mommy and daddy? Other kids in the neighborhood have siblings since they were born but¡­ I just don¡¯t understand. Moreover, it¡¯s getting really, rea¡ªlly annoying with this chibi. She is starting to follow me everywhere. She is so stupid, even till now she is still so timid. If it wasn¡¯t for mommy forcing me to take her to play with me, I will just abandon her to run everywhere with the boys in a jiffy. ¡°Hurry up and walk faster, will you?¡± The guys are probably in the park playing already. I sped up while thinking of wanting to play with them. ¡°um, wait por me. Ni-cha.¡± The chibi softly murmured. Urgh! This is annoying! ¡°You know where the park is right? I¡¯m going first.¡± Who cares? It¡¯s not like this is the first time she is going there anyway. ¡°Ah, Enri is here!¡± By the time I arrived at the park, all the boys were already there. ¡°Oi! Over here!¡± Amid the group was a fat boy wearing a yellow cap on his head. He¡¯s the leader of the group since he is one of the oldest in this neighborhood. ¡°Hey, did you bring it?¡± The fatty asked me as soon as I got to them. ¡°Of course, I promised didn¡¯t I?¡± I said as took out the plastic Ranger set from my backpack. ¡°Wow! This is the premium set that were only available to a small circle of people! So cool!¡± ¡°How awesome! How did you get this, huh Enri?¡± As soon as I took it out, gasps and sounds of marvel rang out from the boys. ¡°What do you mean how? Of course, my daddy got it for me.¡± I proudly claimed, and started to brag. Actually, this was given to me as my birthday present but it comes with a very unpleasant condition. ¡°Um, Ni-chan¡­¡± the so called unpleasant condition has arrived. ¡°Yeah, just go play on your own or something- so where was I?¡±I inwardly clicked my tongue. That said condition was to accept the chibi. ¡°You said the blue one is able to transform!¡± One of the boys said while touching and pulling on one of the robots. By the time, I noticed it was already evening, and it was time to go home for dinner. I said goodbye to the boys and turned to find the troublesome chibi playing on the sand at a corner. A few girls was trying to talk to her but she just timidly said something back once a while. I¡¯m sure what she said was so soft that they can hardly catch it. I continued to look at her in a daze as I tried to recall what mommy said for me to buy for her at the convenience store on the way back. Suddenly, the chibi got up and ran to one of the boys who was walking out of the park. Looking closely it was actually the fatty who she stopped by pulling on the hem of his shirt. Feeling like something is happening, I quickly ran to them. ¡°Give¡­gib¡­ it bach¡­¡± The chibi softly said as she looked at fatty. ¡°huh? What?¡± Fatty turned his head after feeling a tug at his shirt. ¡° ¡­ rechurn¡­ to Ni-chan¡± ¡° Huh? What did you say?¡± He loudly replied. ¡°Give¡­ please¡­gib ¡­back.¡± The chibi still stubbornly held on to the hem and demanded. Hearing what she said, I remembered something and rummaged around my bag counting the number of robot toys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5- 11, ah, it¡¯s one short. ¡°Give what back?¡± Fatty said while his eyes were moving from place to place. ¡°Ro-roboc¡­Ni-cha¡¯s¡± ¡°What robot? What¡¯s it to do with me?¡± Fatty said as he pushed the chibi away from him. The Chibi, with how small she was, almost fell on her butt with his push. Seeing her like that, I felt like a nerve of mine was tucked and I quickly went to stand next to her. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I held the chibi¡¯s hand and confronted the fatty. ¡°Enri, your sister is strange. She is spouting gibberish and persistently holding onto my shirt.¡± The fatty quickly explained. Hah! As if I¡¯d buy that, bullying other people¡¯s sister and trying to get away with it? Dream on! ¡°Really?¡± I looked down at the chibi whose eyes were already wet and tears almost falling down. I think she is either starting to get scared or hurting from the push. ¡°he..chook¡­ur¡­ roboc¡­so¡­ I¡­ wan¡­ bach.¡± She tried hard to hold it in until her cheeks were red and finally finished her words very slowly. For the first time ever, I felt like her current face is adorable making me want to tease her. ¡°Is that why you pulled his shirt?¡± Even though I already know she is not at fault, I can¡¯t help but to tease her to force her to answer. The chibi didn¡¯t disappoint and nodded her head making her already round and pouty face even rounder. ¡°She is lying! I don¡¯t know anything¡± the fatty still denied. ¡°Okay, I got it but just to be sure. Can I check you bag since one robot is indeed missing?¡± ¡°No way. Why should I? Just because she said so? She is so strange.¡± ¡°She is just timid not strange and she is my sister, so what she says is what I believe. So let me check your bag.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°You-¡° Feeling a tug at my shirt, I looked down to see the chibi saying: ¡°His poget¡­in¡­his poket¡± ¡°Then what is that in your pocket? Quickly return it or I¡¯ll do it the hard way!¡± ¡°So, so what if I took it? Here, have it back. I just wanted to take it back home to play with for a day!¡± Fatty finally took the robot out and threw it back to us. ¡°Just a dumb robot and you guys acted like I stole your money! Stupid siblings!¡± Looking at him coldly, I took the robot and put it back into my bag. ¡°Don¡¯t mind what he said. Let¡¯s go home.¡± ¡°Um.¡± I held her hand again and walked out of the park. For once, I feel like having this chibi as a sister is probably not such a bad thing. On the way home, we went into one of the convenience stores and bought eggs and some milk for mommy. Just outside the store, I heard the sounds of an ice-cream truck. I looked around excitedly for the truck and as expected, it was parked across the street at the corner just a bit away from here. ¡°Come, let¡¯s go get some ice-cream.¡± I told the chibi as I quickly turn to run to the truck while holding her hands. ¡°Waich¡­ *gasps* don¡­*gasps* run.¡± ¡°Almost there so come on. Just a bit more.¡± I didn¡¯t turn to look at her and pulled her along. Suddenly, I feel my hand go loose and empty. The hand I was holding onto was gone. The chibi probably let go as she couldn¡¯t keep up huh. I guess I¡¯ll just go get an ice-cream first and buy one for her too. ¡°Ooh!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?!¡± Hearing the commotion from behind, I reluctantly turned around. What I saw made my feet stop right in their tracks, and I can feel my heart going cold. The chibi was laying there on the ground, motionless, and people were surrounding her. ¡°She just fell when running and fainted!¡± An old lady who saw what happened explained. ¡°Oh dear, what do we do?¡± Another said. ¡°We should call the ambulance! Quick someone call one!¡± A slightly knowledgeable passerby shouted. I quickly arrived by her side and pulled her while calling: ¡°Hey! Chibi! Hey! Wake up! Why are you sleeping here? Oi, Serika!¡± Seeing her pale white face and closed eyes, I panicked and the name I beratedly refused to say all this time subconsciously blurted out of my mouth. ¡°You, little boy! Are you her brother?¡± The man who asked to call an ambulance shouted. ¡°Yes I am.¡± I answered, muddled as I continued to shake the chibi up. ¡°Then can you call your parents? Do you remember their contact number?¡± Contact number? Oh! ¡°I do!¡± ¡°Then here, quickly call them!¡± I received his phone with shaking hands and dialed the number daddy had me remember in case of accidents. Very quickly, mommy and daddy came and in a rush we all rode the ambulance and entered the hospital. Amidst the hustle and bustle with the adults speaking incomprehensible terms and notions, I felt like the time stopped as I watched doctors and nurses push the stretcher the chibi was lying on to what they called an operation room. A doctor told us not to go in and to wait outside. Mommy was crying quietly as she sat there and daddy was comforting her. Why is mommy crying? What is wrong with chibi? What is going to happen to her? ¡°*Sob*... what are we gonna do? *sob* my poor child *sob* Oh God, please save my child *sob* she is only three. *sob*Oh, my pitiful child...¡± ¡°Mommy¡­daddy... Chib- no, Serika, is she going to be ok?¡± By the time I noticed, my voice was shaking and my eyes felt wet. Was I crying? Hearing my quivering voice, both of them turned to me. ¡°*sob* Enri, how come *sob* you didn¡¯t look after her properly!? Oh, even if you didn¡¯t like her. At least, she is your biological sister! *sob*.¡± Mommy shouted at me angrily. I cowered as I have never seen mommy so angry, so scary. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°I- I didn¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ Uwaah!¡± why is this happening? Is it really my fault? I don¡¯t know anymore. All of this was so confusing. I cried as I ran away from them. ¡°Enri! Honey, calm down. It¡¯s not his fault, honey.¡± I heard daddy tried to calm mommy down into sitting back on her chair as I was running away. I didn¡¯t know how long I¡¯ve been running. I just knew that I was crying as I sat in the gap of a row of vending machines. ¡°Well, well, there really is a crying boy here.¡± Hearing the foreign voice, I looked up to see a body full of white, a female nurse bending down to match my eyesight. ¡°None of your business! Go away!¡± ¡°Oh, what a rude boy you are. Here. ¡± The nurse looked unfazed with my outburst as she even handed me a cold wet tissue. I bet my face now is a wreck filled with tears and snot. I again raised my head to see a kind smiling face looking down at me. Somehow, I felt my rowling emotions start to calm down for a bit. Slowly reaching out my hand to the tissue on her hand. Suddenly, she grabbed my hand and pulled me up. ¡°Now, that is no place to sit. Let¡¯s sit properly somewhere and talk. Is that okay, little darling?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a little darling!¡± I retorted but I still let her pull me to sit on a nearby bench. ¡°Yes, yes. Let¡¯s drink some milk and calm down for a bit, shall we?¡± The nurse sat me down and went to get milk from one of the vending machines. We spent the next fifteen minutes or so drinking our milks in silence. I can feel the milk doing a good job calming me down. ¡°So, what¡¯s your name?¡± Suddenly, the nurse asked as if to break the silence. ¡°Kurosawa Enri¡± I softly answered. I don¡¯t know whether it was the milk or the calming atmosphere around the nurse, but I feel like it was okay to talk to this adult. ¡°Kurosawa, huh? I figured since I heard she fainted but¡­ I see.¡± Hearing the nurse mummering something softly, I turned to look at her in surprise. ¡°You know me?¡± ¡°No, no, not you, but your parents are rather common faces here, you know?¡± The nurse smiled and explained. ¡°Common faces? Are they sick?¡± ¡°No, they are not sick.¡± The nurse quickly denied, and then she stared at my face for a while: ¡°Hmm, Enri-kun. What do you think about your sister, Serika-chan?¡± ¡°The chibi? I, I don¡¯t know. At first, I don¡¯t like her. She is too timid and annoying. She can¡¯t do anything at all.¡± ¡°...I sometimes wondered, if she really was my sister.¡± Speaking till this point, my voice went softer and softer until they almost sound like a whisper. ¡°I see.¡± Instead of scolding me for thinking this way, the nurse softly said and then fell into thought for a moment. Very quickly, she stood up and again bent down to match my sight as she extended one hand towards me: ¡°Come on, I¡¯ll take you to a place that can help you understand.¡± What does she mean? Where? How come this situation is just like one which daddy told me to never follow strangers when they ask you to follow them to a fun place? Perhaps sensing my suspicious look, the nurse stiffly scratched her head, and finally said: ¡°I¡¯m a legitimate nurse of this hospital, Takumi Rei. I¡¯m also a close friend of your father Asuma-san, don¡¯t you foolish boy remember my name from your father?¡± Trying to recall the name, I truly did feel like it rang a bell. Reluctantly, I reached out to her extended hand, and followed her. We walked past a very busy ward and into a another place that seemed to be less busy inside the hospital. As we stepped into the ward, I noticed the liveliness of the place. There were many children. Some are barely standing, some about Serika¡¯s age, some my age, and some even older. They were all wearing white hospital clothes, and they were all rowdily playing together, crowding around the nurses with some looking over having found me. Their eyes were glittering with curiosity. A few even wanted to come over but was held back by the ones close to them. I don¡¯t know why but I felt uncomfortable. Something inside me was reacting, finding something similar between the kids here and a certain chibi. I thought this was the place the nurse was talking about but it seems it wasn¡¯t. We continued to go further into the building. As we went further, I start to notice the atmosphere changing from being lively and warm to becoming more quiet, more cold. Finally, the nurse stopped before a half-opened door to a slightly bigger room. I curiously looked into the room. There were six beds inside the room with three on each side of the room, and two of six were empty. One of the empty bed was the one on the corner on the right side while the other was on the left side and the furthest from the door. The right side near the door was a bed with had a boy sleeping on it. Next to it was one with a boy with glasses lying on it reading a manga. On the other side, was one with a girl sitting up. The second of the occupied bed on this side, which was where a nurse was saying something, seemed to belong to a girl sitting on a wheelchair. The last bed near the window was empty. ¡°Momo-chan, it¡¯s time for your medicine.¡± I noticed one of the nurse inside speaking to the girl sitting on the wheelchair who was arranging a flower vase. The girl who looked about Serika or my age uninterestedly looked towards the nurse, then turned back to her flowers: ¡°Not taking it.¡± The nurse tried hard to persuade the girl: ¡°How come? Don¡¯t you want to get better? You won¡¯t get better if you don¡¯t take your medicine, you know?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point? I¡¯m not going to get better anytime soon anyways.¡± The girl insisted loudly. Her loud voice seemed to have caught the others attention. All the other patients, except the boy who was sleeping, looked at her for a moment then returned their attention to whatever they were doing again as if it was only normal. The nurse continued trying to persuade the girl. ¡°These children have been staying here since they were born.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but lift my head up when I heard what the nurse aunty¡¯s words. Aunty nurse¡¯s face was one of sadness. Turning my head to look again at the room, I asked: ¡°Why?¡± She answered: ¡°They are sick.¡± ¡°Sick? But they seem fine?¡± With how energetically the girl inside was arguing with the nurse, I found it hard to believe that she was sick. ¡°You see that girl on the wheelchair? Her name is Momo-chan. She is born with a weak lower body. Umm, how do I explain?¡± Aunty nurse stopped speaking for a moment then continued: ¡°Momo-chan, despite being already four, can hardly walk and not to mention run.¡± Is that why she is sitting on a wheelchair? ¡°That girl sitting up is Sae-chan. She is three this year but she is mute. Even now she can talk clearly.¡± ¡°That boy there sleeping is Rin-chan. He is born with a weak body that requires constant nutrition supplement. Simply meaning, he can¡¯t survive without medicine and constant care.¡± ¡°And that other boy is Kotarou-chan. He is born with a hereditary disease. In other words, he will be staying here for many years to come.¡± ¡°Finally, do you see that bed near the window? That was your sister¡¯s, Serika-chan¡¯s bed. Serika-chan had a faulty heart. She had been staying here ever since she was born.¡± Feeling confused, I asked: ¡°Why do they have to stay here?¡± Why aren¡¯t they the same as me? I can walk, speak, eat anything I want, and can run as far as I want. The nurse then pulled me to a corner of the hallway, away from the door. She squatted down and put both her hands on my shoulders, matching our line of sight. ¡°They are different-no they are special.¡± Seeing me tilting my head, she continued: ¡°Just as what happens to a fish that is out of water, they won¡¯t live if they are not taken care of properly. Enri-kun is healthy, so you can do all of the things they can¡¯t, right?¡± ¡°That in itself is a privilege, Enri-kun. It isn¡¯t that your sister Serika-chan is useless, it is that she is just special. As for whether she is your biological little sister, I will full-heartedly assure you, she is born from your parents just a year after you were born.¡± Everything after that was vague in my memory, I somehow find myself already standing in front of mommy and daddy again. ¡°Thank you so very much, Rei, for bringing Enri back.¡± Daddy was thanking aunty nurse as he took my hands into his. ¡°*sigh* Thank god you¡¯re okay.¡± Once again hearing daddy¡¯s warm voice, I feel like crying. ¡°I-¡± Just as I was choking on my words of apology, my body was suddenly taken into a sudden familiar embrace. ¡°Oh, Enri, my son. Where have you been? Mommy was so worried.¡± I can feel the warmth of mommy¡¯s hug, making me choke even more on my emotions. Feeling like I had to apologize, I started to wriggle. ¡°Are you still angry? Mommy is so sorry! Mommy shouldn¡¯t have blamed you!¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that. Enri is not angry. Enri is- Enri is sorry *sob* Enri is sorry because I didn¡¯t look after Serika properly. Enri didn¡¯t listen to mommy¡¯s word *sob* not to run around with my sister Uwaa!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, darling. It¡¯s okay. Mommy doesn¡¯t blame Enri. Don¡¯t cry.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. It¡¯s not both of your fault, okay?¡± Daddy embraced us lovingly from behind. ¡°Besides, your sister is fine now.¡± Daddy broke into a relieved smile: ¡°Why don¡¯t we go see her now?¡± ¡°No, that is not allowed.¡± Aunty nurse who has been quietly looking at us wiped the waters around the rim of her eyes as she sternly proclaimed. ¡°Why?¡± Daddy who was usually composed, totally looked like an aggrieved damsel right now. ¡°She just finished her surgery and needs rest, so visiting is definitely out of the question.¡± Aunty nurse said while giving daddy a look as if asking whether he was an idiot. ¡°Right, right. I was too happy, I forgot. Hahaha.¡± Daddy awkwardly laughed only to receive an elbow from mommy. A week later, I was finally allowed to go see the chibi again. I was kind of nervous as I stood outside the door to her room. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Daddy who was holding my hand asked. ¡°Daddy, what if the chibi, Serika, hates me now?¡± I¡¯ve been worrying about this over the previous week I didn¡¯t get to see her. Surprisingly, It¡¯s been very lonely this past week. I used to feel so annoyed at the tail following me known as Serika, but when she is not there, I felt as if there was a hole in my lifestyle. I sometimes even turned around and found myself unconsciously talking to the empty air behind me. She was annoying but I missed her. I admit I really misses her. ¡°Ahaha, so that is what you have been troubled over since yesterday?¡± Daddy laughed until his eyes turned into curved lines. ¡°But- but, I did treated her badly.¡± I softly explained my quilty conscience. ¡°If it¡¯s that, then you don¡¯t have to worry, Enri.¡± Daddy stopped laughing then crouched down and put his hands on my soldiers to match our line of sight. ¡°Your sister, Serika-chan, will never hate her brother no matter what.¡± Seeing my confused expression, daddy continued: ¡°You are her one and only dear brother after all. You didn¡¯t see her expression everytime we told her about you. It was the brightest expressions she has ever shown in all the three years she has stayed here.¡± ¡°To Serika-chan, you are the person she loves and looks up to the most.¡± Feeling a bit reassured from daddy¡¯s words, I took my first steps into her room. Feeling the presence of visitors, the Chibi, no Serika- no, my little sister quickly lifted her head. That pale face quickly broke into a very, very happy smile, blowing all my worries way: ¡°Onii-cha!¡± Ah, so this cute girl is really my sister huh. My cute, cute but weak little baby sister, Kurosawa Serika. I feel another kind of happiness thinking of the days ahead of us. Chapter 10: A Brothers Monologue #2 GR Chapter 10: A Brother''s Monologue #2 This chapter is in Enri¡¯s point of view. June, Seven years old. ¡°Ooi! Where did he go?¡± In the neighborhood park which kids consider their playground, a group of boys among whom the oldest was around twelve years old, can be seen to be running around the park as if searching for something. The oldest was the fat kid with a yellow shirt shouted. ¡°He clearly ran towards here just now!¡± A boy standing near the fat kid replied. ¡°Yeah, I also saw it!¡± Another boy who seemed younger than the rest of the group reported to the fat kid. ¡°I know! Find that foreign kid!¡± The fat kid who seemed to be the leader of the group shouted his orders for the others to search around the park. ¡°Oi, fatty what''s up?¡± Watching the charade from under a tree as I was reading a book, I was curious from all the commotion. ¡°Oh, look who''s here. Isn''t this my bro Enri?¡± The fat kid looked over and found it was me as he reluctantly came over. ¡°What? You aren''t happy to see me eh?¡± The fatty flinched as he saw me lowering my eyes at him. ¡°No. Absolutely not. Ahaha!¡± The fatty acted as if he was in front of his angry mother. He spoke very politely and didn''t dare to be domineering like in front of his companions just now. Of course, his current attitude is what I personally ¡®trained¡¯ him. After that day when he took my things and almost pushed Serika down, I was actually blacklisted and ostracized in his group. Among all the things he could do, he chose the most stupid option, so in retaliation, I challenged him everyday over every little thing. Of course, I beat him in everything no matter what he proposed to do and group fights were no exception. Ha! Serves him right to get beaten! ¡°So what''s up?¡± I asked while sweeping a glance towards all the kids who were searching around from place to place. ¡°hmph, you see. There is this new foreigner kid who bumped into me. I asked him to apologize but he just pushed me and ran away. My guys saw him coming here, so we''re looking for him.¡± ¡°Foreign kid?¡± ¡°Yep. That punk¡¯s face looks similar to us but he''s got blonde hair and silver eyes, like a white kid. He''s got guts messing with me.¡± Oh, that is quite rare indeed. You don''t get to see a mixed easily these days, not to mention in this neighborhood since most of them are stars or famous people. ¡°Did you see him?¡± ¡°No and I don''t care. Just quiet down and don''t bother me.¡± White kid or not, who cares. I''m not that bored. Moreover, I still haven''t finished reading this book yet. ¡°Yes, of course.¡± After ordering the fatty, I was going to go back to reading my book but I remembered and looked around to check for a certain person. She should normally be playing around in the sand and the swings but¡­ hmm? She is nowhere to be seen? Ugh, this is weird. Today is a Sunday so we decided to come and play in the park like we usually do on Wednesdays, and Fridays. Serika actually didn¡¯t want to come since she wanted to watch the new cartoon but the TV accidentally broke down. Mom had to pacify her so long just to get her to come here. What should I do? As a good brother, I¡¯m supposed to go find her but I¡¯m at the climax of this book at the moment. What a dilemma. In the end, the climax was more enticing, and I ended up forgetting about finding Serika only to look around in panic later. Fortunately, I found her near some bush near the trail going into the trees further back of the park. I asked her where she¡¯s been but all I got back from her was a mischievous smile and the answer that it was a secret. Look at this girl.... Two weeks later, Hmm, Hmmmm, Strange. Something is fishy with my sister recently. Before, she was quite reluctant about going to the park during the week. However, she is suspiciously eager recently. Not to mention her mysterious secret outings which are getting more and more frequent. I once interrogated her but she was as stubborn as a piece of wood and refused to say a word. *sigh*is this what others call a rebellious phase? Isn''t this too early? Back to the present, I after taking all things into consideration, am now stalki- following my sister while slowly crouching on the ground with the nearby bushes as cover. In front of me was Serika who was standing there while looking around as if she''s waiting for someone. Suddenly, there was a sound coming from a nearby bush just as I was planning to reveal myself. Serika seems to notice it too as she turned to the sound. ¡°Ahh!¡± Before I could react, there was a shadow behind her and she screamed. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Serika is in trouble! Without looking clearly, my body rushed out on its own. The next moment I threw my body towards the assailant. ¡°Ow!¡± A pained voice sounded as both of us tumbled to the ground. Of course, it hurts for me too but at least I got a body cushion below me so my pain is definitely less. ¡°What are you doing to Serika?¡± As soon as I regained my balance, I quickly grabbed the opponent''s collar and readied my fist for a punch to the face. Surprisingly, the body under me was around the same size as me, if not just a tad bit smaller. ¡°Ni-chan, Stop!¡± My fist was just a few centimeters away from his face by the time Serika shouted. Only then did I get to have a good look at the one being pinned on the ground. Blond hair, silver eyes, and a beautiful face that could be mistaken as a girl. Isn''t this guy a half? Speaking of which, there have been rumours of a half hanging around the neighborhood for a while now. It''s this guy isn''t it? ¡°Ugh¡­¡± The mentioned boy let out a pained groan while I was in thought. ¡°Ni-chan, can you please get up first? You are hurting Shell!¡± Glancing at Serika''s face and the boy''s face, I slowly got up while not forgetting to send a glare at that girly boy''s direction. ¡°What were you trying to do to her?¡± I don''t know why but I just feel irritated looking at the guy''s face. What kind of boy looks so feminine? Not to mention his voice is soft just like a girl. ¡°I- I was planning to scare her...a bit.¡± the boy flinched at my voice and timidly answered. I unconsciously clicked my tongue at his meek attitude, and unsurprisingly, the boy flinched again until his eyes were getting misty. ¡°Ni-chan, no bullying Shell!¡± Serika who helped the guy up quickly pulled him behind her as if she was a hen protecting her chicks. I got more and more irritated at the sight. It was my first time meeting a boy who was so weak that he needed a girl (my baby sister who is even weaker than him) to protect him. This was the first meeting between me and Shelton who was the same age as Serika. I found out later that the two of them has been secretly meeting to play together recently. They agreed to keep it a secret due to the irritatingly timid Shelton being afraid of the fat kid''s gang. Even more annoying is that Shelton was apparently a child of our parents¡¯ good friend, and he will be living in the neighborhood from now on. Instead of being happy for getting a new playmate like Serika, I was annoyed at the appearance of an eyesore popping in my life. I didn''t have the best impression of him. In my eyes, he was too timid and weak. He would get bullied all the time for being different from the rest. With him like that, Serika too would sometimes get in trouble with others to protect him, and most of the times I ended up as the one helping them out. This went on for over six months until one time, Serika got injured when they got surrounded when I wasn''t there. She had to rest at the hospital for a whole week. This was the last drive to my irritation, so I dragged Shelton away to teach him a lesson. I remembered telling him to not be around Serika and us anymore if he keeps on being such a wimp. I vented my feelings on him and gave him a good lesson. He disappeared for awhile, and appeared again as our neighbour. I secretly warned him again but by then he seems to have changed. There was an indescribable light in his previously cowardly eyes. From those eyes, I can feel another type of annoyance as well as excitement. Annoyed due to him being close to Serika, and excitement due to having found someone I can compete with without holding back. September, ten years old Time flew by in the blink of an eye, I am already ten this year. Recently I have a worry and it''s that I''m having this jittery feeling whenever I''m around a certain girl in school. The girl was called Hana. At first, it wasn''t as bad. I just thought that she was cute like a timid animal and somehow reminded me of Serika when she was little. She was shy, small, delicate, and would look very cute when she smiled as her dimples would show. She didn''t seems to have that many friends. Overall, she gave out a clumsy vibe that makes me not want to let her out of my sight. *cough* The reason I know her this well is because my eyes keep on following her unconsciously, and it''s not that I am a stalker. Yep, definitely not. Another good news is that Serika has grown to be very healthy. She is nine now and from what the doctor said, the fact that her heart''s grown akin to a normal person''s and self-repaired the damaged part is nothing sort of a miracle. Serika is very healthy and athletic now. Partly due to her interest in Kendo, me and Shelton has chosen to be in the club so that she will be able to see the sport up close. We are now the aces of our school''s Kendo club. In fact, I found that I was quite talented in it, and I was even nominated by the coach to register in the Child Kendo tournament (Shelton refused due to family reasons). I wasn''t planning to participate but I got an unexpected motivation from a conversation I coincidentally overheard. ¡°Ne, Hana-chan. I heard Enri-senpai is going to be participate in the Kendo tournament. What do you think?¡± A girl whose name I can''t remember poked at Hana. ¡°What? Is that so?¡± Hana who was washing her hands in the sink half-heartedly replied. ¡°What do you think about Enri? I think he''s really cool.¡± ¡°Un, I also think he is kind of cool¡­¡± Hana softly replied while her cheeks turned pink. I can feel my heart beating faster from her words in return as I waited for her next words. ¡°Especially when he is practicing Kendo, his posture and sweat filled form is so handsome, isn''t he?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡± Hana shyly agreed. ¡°I think he''ll definitely be the champion if he participates in the tournament.¡± Hana shyly nodded as a reply. Then they left the sink. After that, I agreed with the coach and told my parents that I am going to aim for the championship. I also had Shelton spar with me when he was free with Serika cheering for us on the side. On the day of the tournament, all of the family was there to cheer for me except Shelton who had to go back to UK to pay his yearly visit to his mother. Of course, I won the matches in a breeze. However, there was this guy a few years older than me who was so desperate to win that he even played low tactics. In the end, I beat him fair and square that he had no choice but to admit defeat. The second day of the tournament which was the finals was also smooth though mom and dad was busy with work and weren''t able to come see me. At least Serika and Hana were there. In order to not disappoint, I spontaneously won every single match and got the championship. I celebrated a lot with the club members and the coach while Serika said she was going to wait for our parents to come pick us up. At that time, a boy suddenly called out to me saying that a girl called Hana wanted to see me in the park near the school. My heart beated really fast when the familiar name came up. I kind of want to see and talk to her, so I went there immediately after telling Serika I had to go somewhere for a bit. My expectations were broken as soon as I saw Hana standing there behind a group of boys who looked to be delinquents. The head of the group was someone I just met and beat the day before. He was the desperate guy. Obviously, the boy came for his grudge about me beating him yesterday. However, what caught me by surprise was the fact that he was Hana¡¯s big brother. He somehow found out about my crush on Hana and asked her to help draw me out. For a moment, I felt betrayed and hurt when my eyes met with Hana¡¯s panicky eyes. She knew, huh. She knew and still helped him. I can feel my heart hurting even more than the pain inflicted by the boys hitting me. Feeling somewhat funny at my stupid self, I laughed while enduring the hits. How stupid I was. But thankfully I can still feel the pain on my body. I left my actions to my instincts and finally fought back. A very simple rule of mine: ¡°They hit you hard. You hit them harder.¡± I lost track of time and I couldn¡¯t even feel my hands anymore. All I remembered was dodging, punching, kicking, and even headbutting. By the time I came to, everyone was laying on the ground groaning in pain. My fist was bleeding. My face was so bruised that I knew I looked like a pig head even without checking in a mirror. It¡¯s only in Animes that someone can still look unscathed after a fight like this. I may be young but I know at least this much. I turned to the sound of a whimper. It was from Hana. She had a terrified look on her face as her eyes met with mine. Her eyes were visibly turning misty as I kept staring at her. Then she fell on her butt as I stepped towards her. ¡°Don¡¯t ever talk to me again.¡± I softly said near her ears. She cried while trying to stand back up and finally took to her heels running away from the place. I stood there looking up at the sky when I felt a few drops of rain falling on my head. Ah, it¡¯s raining. Feeling exhausted beyond words, I just stood there unwilling to move a muscle letting the rain wash my face. Suddenly, a bad premonition washed over me. Despite being so tired just a moment ago, my feet once again burst with energy allowing me to run to the entrance of the park. What I saw from afar was something I would never ever forget in my entire life. Hana was crouching down on the road as a cargo truck who was driving fast approached her. In that split second, the driver turned his wheels avoiding her by a hair''s breadth. I haven¡¯t even got the chance to let out a relieved breath when I noticed a car in the direction the truck was veering off to. As if it was replayed in slow motion, the moment felt like an eternity. No matter how fast I ran, it was impossible for me to reach it. There was a loud crash followed by the sound of grating metals. I can feel my heart breaking into pieces and my world falling apart. It was because I recognized the car which was hit by the truck. I also saw the people inside of it. They were people I¡¯d recognize even from a hundred meters. They were my parents and Serika. Chapter 11: A Brothers Monologue #3 GR Chapter 11: A Brother¡¯s Monologue #3 A/N: This is the last of Enri¡¯s monologue. Be warned that this might be depressing to read. Next up will be back to the normal storyline and in Serika¡¯s POV. October, ten years old It has been a month since the accident. I don¡¯t remember much what happened after that. The blow I received was too much to bear. My parents are gone now. The only saving grace was that Serika is still alive and recovering quickly. The funeral was uneventful. People who claimed to be relatives came and went. They all talked about the inheritance, us being orphaned, needing guardians and so on. I was sitting in a corner hanging my head letting the lady who claimed to be some social charity or society something member take care of all the work. I didn''t cry in front of them though. Why would I cry in front of strangers? During the past month, I was basically living inside the hospital accompanying Serika in her room. I lost track of how much we cried hugging each other. I stayed with her partly due to grief, and also partly due to stopping myself from the stupid thought of going to where my parents are to ask for forgiveness. Honestly, it took me great effort to not jump into the river on the way home but after Serika popped on my mind, those thoughts gradually disappeared. She only had me now, I couldn¡¯t bear to leave her in this world alone. Shelton also came to visit us in the hospital frequently. Either due to feeling sad or going with the mood of the two of us, he also cried with us most of the time. November, ten years old Serika has been discharged from the hospital. We have been told that a distant aunt and her family will be taking us into their family, and to be nice. The family was a family of three: our aunt, her husband, and their daughter. The couple was over 40 years old, and wanted us as siblings for their only daughter. It took us two month before we warmed up a bit to them. By then, Shelton miraculously became our neighbor again. January, eleven years old We have been living with our distant aunt for two months now. I can say that they treated us neither too warm nor too cold. However, a conversation I accidentally heard broke my image of them. They said they would let Serika marry after high school. They said they would let me stop studying after high school. They said our inheritance money would be used to fund their daughter¡¯s university and their restaurant. Anger was what I felt, not only for myself but for Serika¡¯s sake. My sister is good at studying so she ought to be a brilliant college student. I don¡¯t mind working to support her but to think she will force her to marry is too much. I took Serika away from the house without hesitation. We went to a center for orphans and told authorities the truth. Later on, we were yet again taken into another relative¡¯s family. Another strange thing is that somehow Shelton became our neighbor again in this new family. If I hadn¡¯t known him better, I¡¯d say he¡¯s gotten addicted to playing neighbor with us. Truth is I could guess that it was his form of support for us. The family treated us warmly. In fact, they treated us so well that they reminded me of my parents. The very image of them reminded me of my parents as well as the images of the crash scene replaying in my mind. I was once again tormented by guilt despite the warm environment. If only I hadn¡¯t went out to meet that girl. If only I hadn¡¯t scared her away. If only I hadn''t loved. Regret came too late. I acted fine on the outside as guilt and grief continued to eat away my mind on the inside. It hurt so much seeing Serika happy with the new family. Finally, I decided to run away in May. May, eleven years old It was Friday night. I was told that our new parents would be late coming home tonight. After confirming that Serika was asleep in her room, I carefully picked up my backpack which was prepared stealthily since last week, and the letter informing them on my leaving which is to be put on the living room table. I once again looked around the living room as I finished tying my shoelaces. This place will be twice as homely to my sister if I wasn¡¯t here. With my resolve, I turned around to leave the house. Two hours later, I was sitting dazedly on the bus. It was already 11:30 at night. To be honest, I have no idea where I should go. I suddenly thought of the park where we usually played as I saw the familiar scenery outside the window. I let the uncle driver stop the bus saying that I saw my parents. He let me out after warning me to be careful. The park was deserted with no shadow in sight. Except for the occasional night breeze, and the rustling of the leaves from the trees and bushes, it was very quiet. Memories continued to pop up in my mind as I walked to the swing. Memories which should have been beautiful and joyous turned into sad and nostalgic ones. I don¡¯t know if it would have been different without the accident. I can¡¯t believe that this many things changed in just one year. What would have happened if dad and mom were still here? Would they scold me if I didn¡¯t look after Serika properly? Would they praise me and Serika for doing great in school? Would they be proud of me winning tournaments? Would they take us on family trips to the hot springs or the beach again? More and more thoughts welled up, and tears uncontrollably fell from my eyes as I hang my head down while sitting on the swing. As the night breeze blew on my face, I felt it cool my tears. I was too absorbed in my thoughts that I was unaware of the sound of footsteps until I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. I looked up to see the crying face of the most important person to me right now, my sister, Serika. In my shock, I widened my eyes and wasn¡¯t able to let out a sound at all. Serika glared at me silently as tears continued to fall from her eyes. We looked at each other for a while as my eyes moved from her crying face to the back on her shoulders. My shock grew the more I observed her. ¡°Wha- Just what are you doing here, Serika?¡± My voice was shaking from all the crying.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Nii-chan, you big big idiot!!¡± It seems my question was her trigger as Serika shouted then jumped on me. I was surprised by her pounce and fell off the swing with her on my body. I unconsciously cushioned her body with mine at the fall. This almost became second instinct to me now as I was taught since little to always protect my weak baby sister. ¡°What the- Are you okay?!¡± I sat my upper body up and checked her for any injury, but she suddenly hugged me fiercely. ¡°Idiot Nii-chan, just why did you leave without telling me?¡± Serika¡¯s voice sounded near my ears. I can feel her little body quivering as she hugged my neck. I instantly regret leaving her behind. ¡°I- ¡° I found myself stammering to answer her. ¡°I thought that if I acted happy in the new family, Nii-chan would also be cheered up, but Nii-chan still cried and even left me like mommy and daddy!¡± By the end of her sentence, Serika burst into uncontrollable tears. I felt as if countless sharp shards was poking my heart seeing her like this. ¡°Is it because mommy died because of protecting Serika that- that Nii-chan, Nii-chan doesn¡¯t want me anymore?¡± Huh? What? It took me a while to figure out what she meant. She must be talking about how mom was protecting her when the accident happened. I also faintly heard about it. It seemed like because mom shielded Serika that a shard of glass pierced her neck leading to her death. I don¡¯t blame her though. Mom used her very own life to exchange for Serika¡¯s. ¡°It is Serika¡¯s fault, isn¡¯t it?¡± Suddenly, it dawned on me. Just like me. Serika too was blaming herself. No, even more so than me. Different from me who was a bystander to the accident at the time. Serika watched as mom was pierced protecting her. Coupled with what she heard from the adults at the hospital, she must have thought that it was her fault. Despite that, she tried to be cheerful in hopes of making me happy and warming me to the new family. How strong can she be? I thought it was me who was always looking after her, but in fact, it was the other way around isn¡¯t it? ¡°No, no, it isn¡¯t Serika¡¯s fault.¡± I firmed my voice telling myself to comfort her properly. ¡°Really?¡± She looked up at me with her voice still shaking. ¡°Yes, really.¡± I answered her seriously as I used my right hand to lightly pat her back to soothe her. ¡°Then, then why did you leave?¡± I racked my head at how to answer her and whether to tell the truth. ¡°I just, just they reminded me of mom and dad too much.¡± I decided to tell her the truth: ¡±I feel sad seeing you so happy with them.¡± Now that I heard my reasons myself, I felt as if I was the pettiest kid on the planet. *sigh* how pitiful, Enri. ¡°It¡¯s not because of Serika?¡± Her eyes shone with pleasant surprise at the reason then, ¡°They also remind Serika of mommy and daddy but Serika thought that Nii-chan would be happy if Serika acted happy so¡­¡± She continued softly as she hanged her small head again. Huh? Then it was a misunderstanding then? ¡°Don¡¯t leave Serika again, okay? Nii-chan?¡± As I was lost in thought for the Nth time, Serika once again lifted her head and implored with upturned eyes. ¡°Sure, Nii-chan promise.¡± We held out our pinkies for the promise that we thought would last our whole lives. After that episode of heart to heart, we decided not to return to the house. We adventured outside for two weeks with the inheritance money I stole before I ran away from the house. We went to many places: the beach, the hot spring, and the library. It was only when Shelton came looking for us with a familiar woman that we finally settled down. The person was Aunt Rei who was the nurse from the hospital back then. She offered to adopt us in place of the previous couple. I accepted, and by the end of the year, that guy Shelton was once again our permanent neighbor living with his two grandmas who also looked after us in the following years. Serika, perhaps due to experiencing so many things, changed a lot. She turned less cheerful, less girly, and more mature. She would do house chores without being asked. Not to mention, she stopped sweetly calling me Nii-chan. As if our roles were swapped, she would look after me all the time. I felt somehow guilty so I often tried to force out girly reactions from her not caring whether she got angry. Perhaps that too became a habit, and by the time I noticed, I was teasing her all the time. I have somehow become what people call a ¡®siscon¡¯. I don¡¯t particularly mind though because I love my little sister. She means everything to me, and I¡¯d listen to everything she says. She seemed to not have many friends though. Well, I admit that it was partly due to me (and Shelton) ¡®filtering¡¯ the people around her. She later introduced a girl named Mina to us as her best friend, and I was happy to see her with a good friend. Then she started hinting that Mina¡¯s cousin, Kana was a good girl to date, so I asked her out as per her request and partly due to being tired of finding a reason to reject the endless confessions. I am amazed at the fact that Shelton who was even more popular than me (according to Serika) was able to manage the girls so well. More than romantic feelings, Kana felt more like a means to me though she is closer than a friend. We continued our lives with the usual teasings and fights between me and Serika. Oh and Serika found her new found passion in scarves and martial arts (how ungirly, and of course, we accompanied her). She also got into a big fight with Mina and Kana which I¡¯m sure is due to a misunderstanding. That was how we got into our second year and third years of middle school respectively until a certain supernatural incident occurred. We were summoned to another world known as ¡°Edea¡±. It was a fantastical world with skills and statuses. I kept the fact that I heard a voice in my head as I was being summoned a secret. The voice told me three things: ¡®Welcome, Thou, Sevora¡¯s apostle.¡¯ ¡®Thou shalt be blessed with thee¡¯s last hope.¡¯ ¡®Shalt thou not regret in thou¡¯s judgements.¡¯ At first, I found it ridiculous that we were asked to do such dangerous things such as fighting the demon lord. What the f***k**g rights do they have to order us around after kidnapping us? I unconsciously released some sort of power with my rage only to be stopped by Shelton with a similar kind of power. I felt uncomfortable knowing I almost hurt Serika. Moreover, that guy Shelton also seemed to have received some sort of power. Unbeknownst to me, a sense of competition welled up. After some discussion, I was wavering. My mind was telling me to refuse but there was this confidence from the new found power. Furthermore, the fact that Serika¡¯s stats is too weak made me felt like letting her stay in the castle is infinitely safer than making her travel the unknown world. The promise of return in five years also played a part in making me agree. I am sure Shelton thought the same as me. After we declared our decision, we were then let to settle in the castle. I was taught shadow magic, swordsmanship, and general classes (history, monsters encyclopedia, culture, geographical datas, and so on). Shelton, with the addition of light magic, shared the general classes, and swordsmanship with me as well as Chizu.Mina shared the light magic class with Shelton while Kana was with me and Chili. All of us also got elemental magic classes including Serika. Only later on, Serika got a man named Shawn Tousel to be her exclusive teacher. He was responsible for teaching her everything she needed to learn as well as alchemy. Shelton did a background check on him of course (I am not so sure how he got such detailed information but this punk is exceptional). Aside from the fact that he came from a fallen noble family and used to be an adventurer, everything else seemed to be normal. I would be lying if I said I wasn''t jealous when I found out that Serika (might) like him. The feeling of watching your precious baby(sister) growing up only to be stolen by others is indescribable. Weeks pass as we continued to grow stronger until one day, news of Rosemarie being poisoned spread to me. The one who told me was the captain of the 2nd knight order, Cornell-san. He was clear about what happened as his team was assigned to investigate what happened. Being skeptical about everything, I tagged along with them in their investigation. I was later shocked about what I learned. From the evidence in the culprit''s room such as summoning circles to communicating agents, eyewitnesses to the testimony of the personal maid. Everything pointed to the fact that it was Serika who did it. She was supposedly fooled into putting poison inside Rosemarie''s drinks thinking it was some sort of medication. One part of me refused to believe it, and to believe in Serika. Another part of me accepted that Serika might have done it due to a moment''s of blindness due to love. I was in turmoil internally as I was led to Prisella''s office by Rosemarie''s maid. As soon as I saw how Serika was acting inside, I was convinced. Serika did love that treacherous guy. Feelings of disappointment, and rage went over my head, and I did something I regretted as soon as I snapped out of it. Yes, I slapped Serika. I felt as if my heart was clenched seeing her disheartened expression. I felt guilty so I didn''t stop her when she went back to her room. I knew it wasn''t her fault for doing what she did. She was fooled into doing it. I told myself to apologize to her and have a heart to heart with her once things have settled down a bit. The next day, I once again found time after my training to look for Serika to apologize. Oh, I don''t know why but I haven''t seen Shelton since yesterday''s event. Things wouldn''t have been so troublesome if he was here. It''s times like this that I felt like Shelton isn''t as much of an eyesore. As I made my way to Serika''s room, I saw a familiar silhouette walking to the small greenhouse with an unfamiliar man with long green hair. It was pretty far but I''d recognize that backside anywhere. I ran after her without a second thought. I was a bit out of breath from running too fast, but as I got closer I saw how Serika was dressed that an unpleasant premonition welled up. It seemed she was trying to leave the castle. I tried to ask why she was leaving, and as I thought she was angry. I did what I thought to do and properly apologized. However, she was bent on leaving nonetheless. With no other choice, I chose to stop her by force while enduring the sadness. To think Serika was willing to abandon me for that Shawn guy. To my surprise and unease, I fell into her trap and felt increasing drowsiness attacking me. In the midst of the smoke, I desperately walked towards her not caring about having dropped my sword. I felt like things would not be the same between us anymore were I to let her leave right now. ¡®Please¡­ Don''t leave¡­¡¯ ¡®I beg you¡­¡¯ I opened mouth but barely any sound came out of it. My vision went dark as I faintly felt a pair of warm arms caught me as I fell down. Chapter 12: Destination GR Chapter 12: Destination IT has been almost three weeks since the summon. Many things have happened and I felt like I have changed either for better or worse. Instead of being summoned in our first year of high school, we were summoned to Edea in our second year of middle school, not to mention the Yamada cousins and Chizu-senpai are also here with us. I wonder if this is really the game world ¡°Grimoire Knights¡±, things are different yet similar. Same because both Shelton and Enri still have their own set of female followers. Different because we can return to our world in 5 years time, and because I am now leaving them to find my tutor Shawn who were falsely accused because of me and to avoid my death flag. *sigh* Even if I wanted to find him, I have practically no clue at all. He didn¡¯t tell me where he was going for his sudden mission and I don¡¯t know anyone who might know anything about it. Considering almost every acquaintance I knew in the castle are in cohorts to chase me away, I think it is wiser to not seek them for help. In this foreign world, all I have is my knowledge from the game I used to play. Even with this knowledge, I am painfully aware that I am weak. I may have been trained for almost a month but it was a very hasty effort. I think I am only a bit stronger than this world¡¯s normal adult man, and all I can count on is my mediocre water magic as well as my intermediate alchemy. THAT is why my goal now is to get stronger! I will get as strong as any decent B-rank adventurer, and open my own alchemist shop! This is my best option to live my life peacefully in the next five years unless some other unnecessary variables pop up. After I have opened my shop and secured a stable livelihood, I will try to find out more about Shawn-san¡¯s case. Now that I got everything set out in my mind, let me explain my current situation. Presently, I am walking inside the West main street of the capital¡¯s middle district with a getup of this world¡¯s normal amateur adventurer: a leather armored top above my khaki cotton shirt, a sword strap on my back holding my short sword, a waist belt with knife holes and a space bag on my back waist, long fitted black pants, and a leather military-like boots. Adding a long cloak with a hood, I can now easily blend in the crowd with my now potion-dyed-chocolate brown hair and caramel eyes. In this human-led Esteral, people usually have very colorful hair and eyes colors. As in most fantasy worlds, black hair and eyes is like super duper rare in this world¡¯s culture. Some abhor them as taboo child, some worship them as the chosen ones though it is more known that other worlders¡¯ aka heroes usually have them. Long story short, you would stand out like a sore thumb if you are a blackie. I definitely doesn''t want that, so I''m just gonna stay as low key as possible. Ahem, moving on about my present situation, I have been wandering around this middle district for over two hours now. Going into as many different shops and inns as possible. I know I might be overly paranoid but I am trying to confuse anyone who might be following me just in case. *sigh* I''m tired. This is stupid. I''m starting to feel stupid after all this running around. Turning around another mid-sized alley, I spotted a small inn with a slightly rundown sign saying ¡°Cyclops Pops¡±. Considering it is almost 5 pm right now (in this world''s time), I hesitated a bit before deciding to step in for a room to spend the night. ¡°Welcome to the Cyclops!¡± I was immediately greeted by a waitress wearing an apron and holding a tray. I was slightly taken aback with the very rowdy sight of over ten tables packed with people around the place with a bar like counter in the right corner in front of what seemed to be a kitchen. Wow, I never would have guessed from the small entrance that this inn was so popular. ¡°Excuse me, how may I help you?¡± The same waitress who welcomed me asked with a smile, shaking me from my daze. I turned my head to find a slightly tall girl with moss colored hair and eyes. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Ah, I would like a room for two nights and meals, please.¡± ¡°Oh, that will be thirty coppers, but only two meals will be provided since we have a different menu for dinners, so you will have to separately pay for your dinners.¡± The girl then led me to a table further in the rowdy hall to take out a key for the room. ¡°Sure but...umm¡­ would you happen to have a place where I can wash up?¡± After all that walking around, I feel so sweaty that I desperately need a shower to relax my tense body. ¡°There is a bathroom on the first floor, but you would have to get the water by yourself from the well in the backyard.¡± The girl gave me a knowing look and smiled after looking at me up and down. I guess I do look a bit messy just like a rookie adventurer who had just got them back from a mission. ¡°That''s great. Here¡± Giving her an embarrassed smile, I rummaged around my waist bag for the coppers and handed them to her. ¡°Oh, payment accepted. Again welcome to the Cyclops inn, I''m Riley by the way. I hope you have a nice stay here.¡± The girl gave me another friendly smile after telling me where my room was. ¡°Nice to meet you, Riley.¡± ¡°Me too. You''re new here, right?¡± The waitress asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± I gave her a nod. ¡°I knew it! I''d know if a cutie like you moved here.¡± Riley jokingly winked, earning a raised eyebrow from me. Wait, wait...Did she just flirt with me? ¡°Ooi, guys check it out! Riley''s flirting again!¡± A man who seemed to be observing our conversation shouted. ¡°Hahaha, Riley''s at it again?¡± Another echoed. ¡°D*mn Riley, you won''t even let a kid off the hook eh?¡± ¡°Shut up! Mind your own business! A girl is even cuter when unripe ya know!¡± The subject of their boo-ing responded while I slowly took a few steps away with cold sweat flowing down my back and a few terms keep popping up on my mind such as **mo, **do., and so on. For my safety, I think I should just skip dinner and escape to my room as soon as possible. ¡°What do you mean unripe is better? Obviously, a ripe one with curves is the best.¡± ¡°Huh?! Wrong, an unripe one with minimum curves is infinitely better!¡± Somehow, I feel this conversation is getting weirder and weirder by the minute as the men including Riley broke into a heated fight about ripe and unripe whatever it is that I don''t want to explain. I was already about half way stealthily reaching the stairs when I suddenly jumped backwards on instinct. Before¡­ *Booom* *Crashhh* A resounding boom resounded and the kitchen wall exploded blowing away a few men who was eating on the counter. ¡°Rileyyy!!!¡± A horrifying howl resounded from the shadow as the dust faded showing the silhouette of a giant of a man. ¡°I said the order is ready, you Dimwit!!¡± The giant man wearing an eye patch growled, and I felt the illusion as if the building itself is collapsing just by his shout. ¡°O-Oh, B-Boss¡­¡± I creakingly turned my head to see a completely pale Riley and the guys who was arguing with her sweating a river of cold sweat while fixing their posture sitting as upright as a noble lady while some others who were eating clicked their tongue and went to help the few who got blown away. ¡°*Tsk*, I told ya not to sit on the counter, didn''t I? These sh*tty new chicks.¡± ¡°You just had to make me break this wall again, Riley!¡± The giant glared everyone around the room as his eyes finally fell on me. *Gulp* I suddenly regretted stepping in the door so much that I wished I could turn back time and the fact that I couldn''t made me automatically break into curse words in my mind. F**ck! What kind of sh*tty inn did I get myself into now? AFTer the surprise of a lifetime yesterday in the form of the Cyclops inn''s welcome, I, against all odds, spent the night peacefully and slept like a log. As intimidating as the boss of the inn might look, Carlos-san was actually very nice. Last night, he scolded Riley a lot for scaring me, and even gifted me a free dinner. Well, the man sure has one hell of a presence though. A glare from him almost made my soul fly out of my body. I instantly found out why the inn is dubbed the Cyclops inn. Well, Riley apologized profusely that she was only messing with me after the scolding from Carlos-san. I found out later though through the regulars there that Riley was serious when she admitted her preference. *sweat* No way right? Haha...ha*cold sweat* Anyway, I got a lot of help from them as I asked recommendations for shops selling travelling necessities. I got a lot of bargain prices due to that. Now that I have everything I need, tomorrow I will set off to my next destination, Ar?hi, the town of beginning. The town where I can get one of the hidden piece ¡°The G.E.M¡±. Chapter 13: Magic and Musings #Unedited ON the morning of the third day, I opened my eyes to the melancholy of the sky turning dawn. I''m usually not an early riser, but I often like to appreciate the skyline at this exact time when I do get up early. The sky turns grayish blue as if the moon is sad to say goodbye followed by the exhilarating feeling as the rays of the sun burst out into a myriad of orange, red, and even purple. I kept staring at the sky for a few more minutes before moving on to get ready to leave the inn. ¡°Els Aqua¡± Chanting a water magic to create a ball of water, I played around with it by stretching it into different shapes and animals. No matter how many times I use magic, I simply can¡¯t get over this amazing phenomenon since there is no magic on Earth, only science. Getting tired of playing with the ball of water, I heated it up a bit using life magic then used it to wash my face and took out my makeshift toothbrush ( more like a wooden brush stick) to brush my teeth with my self-made toothpaste while my mind wanders off to the magic lesson I had in the castle. From what I learned both from the galgame and the lesson, magic is thought to be something that is passed on and gifted from the ancient gods. One has to have mana to be able to use it. While the mana capacity is different from person to person, that in itself is not the distinguishing factor which can help one master magic. It is the type of magic that one is born with. Magic can categorized into about 5 types: elemental, unique, holy, fusion, and aura. While elemental magic such as earth, wood, water, fire, and wind are the most common magic most living beings are born with, there are also rarer cases of unique magics such as void, shadow, life, space, and so on. Of course, the category of magic is definitely incomplete if Holy magic is not included in the equation considering this world has quite a number of gods. If memory serves me right, Enri should be the god of Judgement, Sevora¡¯s hero while Shelton should be the goddess of light, Vianna¡¯s hero. There is also the god of darkness Margus, the god of destruction Ashurd, the goddess of war Noelle, and the great god of creation whose name doesn¡¯t come to mind at all at the moment. While the aura type of magic is usually something like martial arts magic or bodily arts, fusion magic is much more complicated. It literally means the fusion of more than one magic, but since this type is so diverse, it is very difficult to quantify the actual concept and bounds of this type of magic. The most simple example is the spell Astrid Burst or fire hurricane. It is a fusion spell of two elemental magic: fire and wind where one first creates a tornado then add fire into it steadily in order to create a fierce fire storm. Although this might sound easy theoretically but in actual practice, it is incredibly hard to control since both fire and wind is part of the most rampant parts of nature. Hence, only senior mages are able to use fusion magic. However, this example is only in the case of fusing elemental magic. What if it''s the fusion of unique magic for example, that is why I said that it is very complex. Who is to say that someday a truly terrifying fusion spell wouldn''t just come flying at your house and obliterate everything into dust? You probably wouldn''t even know what (magic) killed you. *shudders* Sh*t, what am I doing frightening myself so early in the morning? *Uhem* Now back to myself, as you might have known, my attributes are water and life magic. While life magic is incredibly useful in everyday life and I''m very thankful for it, water magic is thought to be more mediocre due to its suppleness and not so cool attacking power. No doubt that it''s due to this mindset that makes people oblivious to its potential. I swear there are only a handful of powerful advanced water magic spells developed so far, making me extremely frustrated with this fact. So, that leaves me no choice but to be creative and make my own spells. Well, I have actually managed to do just that. Using the principles used in alchemy(which is equivalent value exchange) and transmutation, I created a few new practical spells that might not seem as flashy as others but quite deadly in its own rights. I also can shorten my chant after fiddling with things here and there. It was super fun experimenting magic with Shawn-san, and getting compliments for being creative. Shawn-san is very good at teaching me. His classes was fun, and rewarding at the same time. Oh, I really wish he was here with me, so that we can research more on water magic. I''m getting emotional again, geez.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Anyways, by the time I stopped letting my mind wander to ridiculous topics, I had already finished packing my luggage for the journey. I went down the stairs to find Riley and the boss, Carlos-san busily running around preparing the place for the morning rush. A second glance around, I found a few people already here and there on some tables. ¡°Good morning, Rika-chan!¡± ¡°Morning¡± I returned Riley''s greeting with a smile. ¡°Oh, look who''s up? Mornin¡¯ Lil Rika.¡± Carlos-san said as he stepped in from the kitchen while holding a spatula. I almost burst out laughing due to how contradicting he looked with an apron on. Fortunately, I was able to suppress my laugh or otherwise the spatula he''s holding would be the weapon of my murder. ¡°Morning, Boss¡± I greeted back as he gave a nod in return before going back into the kitchen. If you''re wondering why I am calling Carlos-san boss, it is because it''s what the people around here call him. It shows the respect that people have towards him. From what I''ve heard, Carlos-san used to be some underworld big shot but he''s retired a long time ago. Now, he is just the kind and caring big bear that looks after everyone in the neighborhood while running this inn. Another thing I was wondering about was that considered how busy it is here, it was weird to have only two people running things, so I asked. The answer I got from Riley¡¯s never ending grumbling was that there are actually 2 more staffs, but the both of them have been on a couple¡¯s vacation for a while now. The husband whose job was to look after the barn at the backyard, was called Hein while the wife who was the main chef was called Ronette. Apparently, due to their being on vacation, Carlos-san had to step in as the chef. I have no doubt that there will probably be hell for them to pay when they come back after adventuring pass their allotted vacation from yours truly, Carlos-san. I heard in passing that Carlos-san has taken out his old 3 in 1 torturing package aeons ago to polish in anticipation of their return. R. I. P, a couple I haven''t known yet but somehow think they deserve it. ¡°Oh right, you are leaving today?¡± Riley asked while wiping one of the tables. I took a random seat on the counter bar before looking up to answer her: ¡°Yep, I''m going to travel around for a bit. This is only my first stop after all.¡± ¡°Aww, that''s a shame. I would have liked it if you stayed here permanently. We can be neighbours, be best friends, be more than that, and probably be able to ogle at the summoned heroes together.¡± Riley whined. I stiffened at the part when she said -more than best friends- *sweatdrop* I am not going to ask about this. Nope. It is the last part though that irked me. ¡°One set of breakfast please, Boss¡± finished placing my order, I quickly turned to ask Riley: ¡°Summoned heroes?¡± ¡°That interests you doesn''t it? So why don''t you just stay?¡± Riley gave a mischievous smile and sat down on the chair next to me. ¡°As much as I''d like, but I still have some travelling to do in order to get the things I want.¡± To which, I gave an instant rejection. Well, I definitely won''t stay here for long since I don''t want the baka Duo to find out where I am. I hope the prime minister kept his side of the deal, but there is this nagging feeling that I have to leave here today. I would rather believe in this guy feeling since it has hardly been wrong so far. ¡°Instant reply, huh. But Rika-chan-¡± She was going to start grumbling again only to have Carlos-san interrupt: ¡°Stop it, Riley. You should know not to act so nosy. Can''t you see that Lil'' Rika has already decided?¡± ¡°Boss! Come on.¡± Riley pouted to her boss scolding. ¡°Well, don''t mind what Riley is saying. You young un''s should go for your dreams while you still have it. Go, fight, and fail for it. That''s life for ya.¡± Carlos-san said with a small smile as he leaned on the counter from the big opening in the kitchen. ¡°Uuu, Boss¡­To finally be able to say that properly with a smile, I''m so proud of you¡­¡± Riley exaggeratedly shed a few tears as she teased Carlos-san in the background. The man instead just gave a deadpanned glare in her direction shutting her up instantly before continuing to talk to me. ¡°Um, what do you mean by heroes?¡±I am very curious about how she knows about it. I think the royal castle haven''t officially announced the summoning having succeeded just yet, so how did she find out? Did I miss something when I walked around gathering necessities? ¡°Oh, there is a rumour going around about that with the demon invasion and all.¡± Oh, so it was through rumours. Someone working in the castle must have let something slip. ¡°Anyways, I know you will be going to the D-clusters eventually so here.¡± Carlos-san, handed me a white envelope. Not understanding what he intended, I tilted my head as to let him explain. ¡°If you really get there sometimes in the future, do give this to one of the adventurers there. His name is Darret. He should be active there as an adventurer. I think he will give you helpful advices as one.¡± Carlos-san further rummaged around a cupboard before throwing me a coin sack to which I confusedly caught. ¡°D-clusters are the series of dungeons to the west of the country, you know where it is right? So what I''m saying is that I am giving you a quest, and that *he pointed to the coin sack* is my advance payment to you.¡± The man crossed his arms on his chest as he looked at me quietly after he finished. It took me a while to process what he was saying. ¡°Bu- but Carlos-san, the payment inside is too much. I''m not even sure when I''ll get there.¡± ¡°Take it. You''re Lil'' Rika, after all.¡± He then turned back to cooking again leaving my hand extended with the money pouch. ¡°Rika-chan, just take it. Boss is just looking out for you.¡± Riley who was looking on at the sidelines smiled and suggested. ¡°But still-¡± She again interrupted me: ¡°Just take it, come on. Boss is especially looking after you partly since you''re so young and besides you have potential. After all, you''re able to accurately dodge Boss¡¯ wall-slamming blow on instinct, so take it as him investing in a future errand girl.¡± Riley finished with a playful wink then stood up to continue back to work leaving me in a daze. It has been a hell of a ride in this inn but the people here are so nice. It has been very fun talking to them. It was great seeing the liveliness of the people of this world. They seem to be so full of energy and living life to their really best unlike from earth where this sense of living is quite dulled. Unknowingly, a smile creeps up on my face as I ate my breakfast happily. I take back what I said. I don''t regret stepping into this inn after all. Chapter 14: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (1) GR Chapter 14: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (1) #Unedited ¡°Thank you so much for your help so far, Riley. Boss¡± I once again bowed in gratitude towards the people of [Cyclops Pops] inn. The both of them came to see me off in front of the inn and waved back as I finally turned around while slinging my bag full of travelling necessities over my shoulders. I walked towards the north gate through which I will be exiting the capital. I have already mentioned once that my next destination is going to be a small town to the northwest of Esteral, Archi, the town of the beginning. Archi got this nickname due to being the town where the first ever dungeon of the D-cluster was discovered. Though after more dungeons of the D-cluster were discovered, the town gradually lost popularity to other settle light cities like IIlos and Vallas. Nowadays, you could say that it is no more than a slightly bigger rural village at the edge of the Bichet mountain range, and the D-cluster. My reason for going there is not for the dungeons though. What I want is the hidden piece ¡°the G.E.M¡± or the Gift of En Mort. It was supposed to be something that Shelton would discover on one of his many commissions. If memory serves me right, G.E.M is a very useful growing item with many uses and have helped Shelton on many occasions. I don¡¯t really remember the details of its description clearly but it should be something along the line of being a little wish cloud (in a sense). This item is very mysterious as its effects differ every time it was shown in the story. In fact, it ranks as one of the top 5 most mysterious items in the unofficial [Grimoire Knights]¡¯ player ranking. This is a hidden piece that is too good to leave out. Hence, I chose Archi as the place to lay low and bid my strength; at least until the two month death flag passes. Back to reality, I was almost at the north gate. I started looking around for the person I made a prior arrangement with. Spotting a small cargo driven carriage with a pair of strong brown horses with scales on their upper body, I quickly made my way there. The man who was going over the stocks on the carriage turned towards my direction as he sensed someone having come over. ¡°If it isn¡¯t the little lass from yesterday. You got here right on time kid.¡± The slightly hunched middle-aged man said as soon as he recognized it was me. ¡°Good morning, Mr. Boon.¡± This man is none other than the merchant, Boon Vedas. A normal travelling merchant who was recommended to me by none other than Carlos-san. He seems to be a regular at the Cyclops, and he was the one I was pointed to as soon as I said I was travelling Northwest. Well, he does seem like a pretty trustworthy merchant, so I decided to arrange to hitch a ride with him along the way on his carriage. With fifty coppers, I¡¯d get a ride on his carriage until a village a little away from Archi. Plus I don¡¯t have to spend money uselessly to buy my own horse. It is more cost effective in my judgement since I would have to feed and look after my horse had I bought one. Not to mention the fact that I¡¯d have to camp out alone in the wild at night where monsters run rampant is so unappealing. I would rather bet my journey on hitching a ride with Mr. Boon although the journey might take a little longer than four days. Mr. Boon also hired some adventurers who would act as escorts, so I will get a chance to see them in action which will definitely be good for future reference. ¡°Just letting you know, kid. We''re setting off in a bit, so get yourself on that carriage at the back over there.¡± He said after receiving the pay from me, pointing to a slightly old carriage behind the cargo. It didn''t take long before we set off with the clicking clacking of the horse''s hooves. I thought it''d be stricter when going out of the capital but it was surprisingly easy. One of the guards just had a look into the carriage to confirm the passengers and that was it. I am not surprised since this royal capital will be broken into from the inside at around the third phase of the story. Wait, I haven''t talked about the original Galgame''s story plot much, have I? starts when Shelton, Enri, and Serika was suddenly summoned to Edea in their first year and second year of high school respectively. The story plot is pretty simple. If you have played other RPGs then you would probably be familiar with the something like the main plot or main scenario. follows the same framework of an RPG but with the extra function of choosing love interests along with the progression of the main plot. There are a variety of choices available and side stories that go with the characters chosen. You can even choose to play as either Shelton, Enri, or other female characters in some of the scenarios. Back to the main plot, can be divided into the following phases: 1st is tutorial, 2nd is the bandit arc, 3rd is the dungeon arc, 4th is the Laister arc, 5th is the Grimoire scramble arc, 6th is the Fairy¡¯s test arc, 7th is the Confrontation arc, 8th is the civil war arc, 9th is the Abyss arc, 10th is The Great War arc, and the last arc 11th is the Grand Finale. There was also a rumour of another epilogue or side story that was never really released, at least not when I was still alive. If I had to rank the length of the main plot of the game, I¡¯d say that it is around the middle among other games I had played with my game otaku bff. The timeline right now is probably the latter half of the tutorial arc, and my eventual destruction flag should happen around the mid to end of the 2nd arc, the Bandits arc. FYI, my memories of the game itself is fuzzy. It should already be a miracle that I remembered all of the general arc and events of the main plot. I mean would you remember all details of the plot of one of many games you played? Though I did say it was my favorite, it was like one of my 10+ favorite games. Even now, I keep the notebook with the game related stuff on hand in case something pops up on my mind. Every detail is important after all, I never know since something useful might resurface. Taking my mind off the original game¡¯s plot before I complicate myself to insanity, my eyes wander to the scenery on the side of cobble stoned road the caravan is travelling on. It was already time for dinner before I know it. The pristine sight of bushes, trees, and rocks here and there in the late afternoon sun once again reminded me that it is a different world. You wouldn¡¯t easily find such wilderness with all the development on Earth. The carriages rolled to a stop at a slightly open clearing with a number of rocks. The place seemed to be a regular stop for the group as evidence of camps such as sticks and stacked rocks were still present. ¡°Oi, Get off, folks! We¡¯re camping here tonight.¡± Mr. Boon shouted as the three members of the adventurer party got off their horses and moved to set up camp. Oh, speaking of the adventurers, I never got to introduce them, have I? Apparently, they are called the , a D rank party with two D rank and one E rank member. The D rankers are the swordsman Rick and May who seemed to be a mage since she is carrying a staff. The last member is a slightly younger Don who I¡¯m guessing is a rogue? I don¡¯t see him carrying any sword or dagger or maybe he hid them, I¡¯m not quite sure. The journey was very peaceful so far with no monsters attacking the group. I guess it is somehow kind of strange since at the least you would see some low class monsters like slimes and horned beasts around but there seems to nothing so far. I¡¯m guessing that is why the group seems tense and on guard. Well, I¡¯m also affected by the atmosphere. My previous thoughts of a light-hearted journey and seeking adventuring advices is totally gone now. It¡¯s only typical that something bad would definitely happen in these situations. I stepped down to the camping site with a bad premonition. Sh*t! D*mn it! I jinxed myself!! Recalling what happened, frustration boils in my system. I should have known something was gonna happen. The first hour of camping and preparing dinner was fine despite the tense atmosphere. Then the three adventurers started panicking and shouting something about bandits, lots of them. I looked to the other side of the road, trying to confirm the signs that over twenty rugged looking bandits was really hiding. If so then they were probably the reason there weren¡¯t any ordinary monsters around. They must have been cleared out. The group came together to discuss as for what to do. ¡°Is it true that there are bandits?¡± Mr. Boon asked. ¡°Yes, I spotted them when I was scouting the area.¡± The youngest of the three adventurers responded.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Sh*t! Those f*ckers are everywhere right now! How are we merchants supposed to live like this!?¡± Mr. Boon couldn''t help burst out cursing for his bad luck. Well, it''s only natural with so many refugees around the country. After the demon king had been crowned, the demons suddenly invaded and many countries were unprepared. The price of which was the fall of the Great Empire, the superpower of the continent, and the place of convergence of all races. Only after the fall, did the remaining human countries realized the situation and banded together to fight against the demons. However, humans were alone and weak. The other races except the Beastmen of the Beast country were nowhere to be found after they were put off by the arrogance of the humans who used to rule the continent. Surprisingly, the demons army stopped attacking since last year. The reason is unclear but it seemed as if there might be some inner disputes in the demon country. Some also said that the demons are waiting for a chance. The chance to completely take over everything. Although the main army ceased moving, skirmishes were still present. As towns and villages continues to be destroyed, refugees flooded everywhere. It is unavoidable that some had to choose to be a criminal to stay alive. I understood their situation. I knew but it is not my place to do something about it. In the end, I am just as selfish as anyone else. I am leaving everything to the baka duo. ¡°Alright, let''s do it!¡± Wait, what did I miss? It seemed that the group and Mr. Boon decided to negotiate with the bandits by offering one third of Mr. Boon¡¯s cargo. ¡° *sigh* It is a good thing I prepared extra goods in case something like this happen.¡± ¡°Things like this happens a lot? Isn¡¯t it just a little away from the royal capital?¡± I couldn¡¯t help asking Mr. Boon as I overheard his whisper when helping move one third of the goods to one of the carriages. It was the one that would be given to the bandits later. ¡°Not until recently, and I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d meet one so early. War times like this, the only ones to suffer are the common people. Those d*mn noble knights and upper crusts just sit back and watch, too afraid to do anything about it fretting a non-existent demon attack on the capital.¡± ¡°This country is just a shadow of what it once was *Tsk* *tsk*¡± Mr. Boon clicked his tongue as he finished setting the carriage just on time as the bushes to the front and sides of the camp rustled. ¡°They¡¯re here. Get yourself ready lassie!¡± Our group of five people got together in a line, on guard, as the bushes reveal a lot of fifteen armed men in rag tags clothes. ¡°Well, well what do we have here?¡± The line of men made way as the leader revealed himself. The so called leader was a bearded middle-aged man with a medium built physique. Although he was armed with better weapons (a sword) and armor, he looked more like a normal village guard than an expert bandit. The others wasn¡¯t that heavily armed either, looks like they were former villagers who had just started robbing people. ¡°You know the rules, don¡¯t you? Leave all your belongings and beat it!¡± Despite his not so intimidating threat, the lines that came out was so cliche that I felt almost embarrassed for him. ¡°What? All of it? You might as well kill this old bones right here and now!¡± Mr. Boon courageously shouted back unfazed. An inkling of admiration bubbles up in me, Mr. Boon is ¡­.so MAN! ¡°Hmph! I don¡¯t care for your puny old life. I just want my goods or otherwise everyone dies!¡± The leader looked at each of us before pulling out his sword and the three adventurers pulled out their weapons, oh and so did I. It was tense enough as if a battle could start any moment. ¡°Wait! Half¡± Mr. Boon knowing that giving only one third would not work due to the number of bandits finally opened his mouth again. I turned to look at him to see him letting out another sigh. ¡°Look, we¡¯re all just trying to make a living here, so just take half of the goods and let us through.¡± This time his voice gradually turned louder and clearly stated his conditions. The leader looked to be contemplating about it. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t want people from Cyclops going after your head, would ya?¡± The glare of Mr. Boon grew fierce as he gave a final ultimatum. The threat seemed to be successful as the leader was about to nod his head when one of the bandits whispered something into his ears. I didn¡¯t know that the people at the Cyclops in was so influential as even bandits seemed to be afraid of them? ¡°Hmm? Oh, fine.¡± The leader nodded his head to his subordinate as he turned to us again. ¡°Hmph! Alright, but on one condition.¡± He paused as his eyes fell on me to which I shivered due to the bad feeling I had. ¡°Leave that little girl to us.¡± ¡°Wait? Wha-¡± This was all that came out from my mouth as shock overcame me. ¡°Why are you asking for her?¡± Rick asked after being quiet all along. ¡°Are you planning on selling her as a slave?¡± The other young adventurer, Don said, reminding me of the terrifying possibility. ¡°She is just a child. Don¡¯t you have any conscience?¡± May shouted. ¡°What I want her for is none of your d*mn business!¡± The leader suddenly ran forward and exchanged striked the unprepared leader of the three. Rick-san got his sword blown away in a strike and was slashed on the chest. ¡°I will only say this once leave her and the goods or die!¡± The bandit leader¡¯s shout reverberated in the place making all of us go pale especially me. Afterall, it is obvious how strong the leader is as he beat our swordsman so easily. I looked pleadingly to Mr. Boon to which he averted my gaze. I was once again despairing as the rest of the party did the same. Finally Mr. Boon turned to me as he softly said to me: ¡°Look kid, I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t want to do this and I am sure that d*mn Carlos would kill me if he knows.¡± His words dashed my hope. He paused meeting eyes with the rest of the group then the other two members, Don and May-san also came to convince me, coincidentally blocking my body from the bandits¡¯ view. ¡°Please, I¡¯m sorry too.¡± The female mage said heart-brokenly as she stealthily handed me something that looked like an orb. Recognizing what it was, I suddenly got a clue as to what they wanted me to do. ¡°I can only hope they won¡¯t do anything bad to you.¡± Mr. Boon also handed me a small paper which I quickly hid under my belt. ¡°Rika-chan, I am so so sorry.¡± Don-san was the last one to bow in apology as he didn¡¯t forget to slip a little something into my hands. ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± I said as I nodded. Don¡¯t worry guys, I got your message. I will try my utmost best to escape by myself. I intently stared back hoping to convey my words. Still, they looked and nodded at me with worry and sorry in their eyes. After that, I walked to the bandits as one of the gagged and tied ropes around my arms. It wasn¡¯t long before we started walking to who knows where into the forest. I looked around not saying anything as I overheard their conversation. ¡°Haha! Another success! We should definitely celebrate when we get back!¡± One of them said loudly. ¡°D*mn right! We should! Those guys were such cowards!¡±Another agreed. ¡°Oh right, why does Boss want this kid anyways?¡± ¡°How stupid are you? Don¡¯t you remember the deal boss made to that merchant f**ker?¡± ¡°The deal with that skinny kid that ran away...Oh, I get it! She is going to be the replacement.¡± He slapped his hand as if found the answer. ¡°Yeah, I know we don¡¯t usually do this but that merchant guy is freaking scary. We have to hand someone in or otherwise¡­¡± The other bandit moved his thumb around his neck making a throat slitting gesture scaring his bandit friend into cold sweat. I see now. These bandits wanted me because they planned on using me as a replacement. I can¡¯t help but internally curse. For the love of g*d, I just had to be here and kidnapped as a slave for that f**king whatever scary merchant! There is no way I am giving up without a fight! I got ready as I pretended to trip while dropping the orb that was given by May-san. A cracking sound was heard as heavy dark smoke was released from said orb. ¡°What the-?¡± ¡°Shit, it¡¯s a smoke bomb!¡± I turned around and zoomed in on my targeted bandit amidst the chaos of the dark smoke, the bandit who was carrying my things. I gave a high kick to his head, instantly knocking him out. I only managed to grab my sword and waist bag before I took out a Monsters¡¯ Bane potion out from the space bag. As soon as I threw it into the ground, I bolted in the opposite direction of the forest. I never turned or looked back. I ran and ran as my life depended on it, ignoring every scrape, cut and bruise on my body made by the branches and vines of the forest. At first, there were footsteps chasing after me, so I tried running in zig zag directions dropping one more Monsters¡¯ Bane 100 meters into my run. FYI, Monsters¡¯ Bane (I learned its recipe from Shawn-san), despite its fancy name, is just a simple potion that releases a fragrance that attracts monsters from a circumference of 200 meters to it. I hoped with all my might that the monsters attracted can distract the bandits long enough to let me get away. I didn¡¯t know how long I ran but just that my body is starting to feel tired. My legs creaked, and every step I take is labored. My lungs are tired due to repeatedly refreshing the oxygen to fuel my running. My pumping heart hurts after all the adrenaline ran out. To make it worse, I regret throwing the last Monsters¡¯ Bane. Now the whole forest is filled with the sounds of monsters¡¯ howling. I was like sh*t, I screwed myself up. I remembered being warned by Shawn-san that my potions are a bit special, and more effective than others, and to be careful using them or experiment properly before using them in a fight. I didn¡¯t know my Monsters¡¯ Bane was so freaking effective so I threw two of them. I digged my own grave, f*ck! *Bam* I tripped over face first by a tree root as I was distracted recollecting what happened. The feeling of eating dirt is not pleasant by any means and do not try it at home. I tried to push my body up and felt like fainting from my fatigue. My best effort only let me sit up from the ground. Hearing roars once again bring shivers to my spine. I guess running is no longer an option with how my body is right now (not to mention, I lost one of my shoes during my run). I thank the gods (I am not a religious person by any means) when I realized that I miraculously still have my sword and space bag with me. I have to find a safe place to spend the night or else, I would be a night snack to the monsters here. I once again thank the gods I don¡¯t usually believe in as my eyes spotted a huge hollowed trunk of a dead tree nearby. I excitedly crawled towards the forest¡¯s definition of a motel. The hole of the trunk is just big enough for my small body, and for once in my life, I am thankful of my small body. I didn¡¯t forget to pull out some monster repelling grass from my space bag before I slept as the fatigue hit me in full force. ¡°Aaaah!¡± To only wake up later face to face with a closed up surprised face of a little girl. Chapter 15: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (2) GR Chapter 15: Meeting the Girl with no Voice (2) ¡°Aaaah!¡± To only wake up later in the next morning face to face with a closed up surprised face of a little girl. The said girl scurried away from me due to my scream. As for me, I hit my head with the trunk above me due to suddenly sitting up. Oww, it hurts. I¡¯d forgotten that I slept in a dead tree trunk last night. I guess I wasn¡¯t the only one taking this as a motel last night. I slowly turned my head to the girl who gave me a big morning fright. I couldn¡¯t see that clearly due to how dark it is in the trunk but I could make out that the other party is a little girl with long messy hair. Ah, I met eyes with her. The girl quickly looked away from my eyes. From the brief eye contact, I was fascinated by her eyes. They were clear and bright despite the fear and anxiety present. They somehow reminded me of something. A faint sense of familiarity. I quickly shook away the thought as now was not the time. The girl further backed away as she felt my stare. Perhaps, she thought I would do something to her? Excuse me, sissy. I am also a little girl alright? What and why could I possibly want to hurt you? Holding in an eye roll, I temporarily ignored the girl as I slowly peeked outside. Okay, the coast is clear. I slowly crawled out of the trunk after confirming that it was safe outside. Feeling the morning sunlight, I stretched my super stiff body. Yep, I now know what it feels like to sleep on hard surfaces. Thank you very much, Mr. tree trunk. I will not forget your favor of teaching me and covering me for the night. I heard faint sounds behind me so I turned around to see that the little girl have also crawled out. Finally, I can clearly see her appearance. The girl was a head shorter than me with a head full of navy hair and same colored pupils. I think she is at least two years younger than me from how petite she is. Her waist long hair was a mess and she was wearing a ragged robe like shirt. I think I figured out who she is. She should be the one the bandits were talking about last night. The escaped little girl. I never thought she¡¯d still be here. I mean it isn¡¯t even that far off from where the bandits are. Should I say she is lucky that she hasn¡¯t been found or that the bandits are so stupid to have not found her? Either way, it is not of my business to care for such things. I quickly bring my thoughts into what my next steps should be. It seems like I underestimated this world¡¯s ferocity. My naive thoughts of having a safe adventure just slapped me hard in the face. Now, I have to travel on my own and in the wild no less. *sigh* I guess brooding over what happened isn¡¯t going to take me anywhere. I briefly looked over what I have on me and quickly analysed what I needed to survive. Weapon, checked: my sword and a dagger. Food, checked: I still have dried rations that would last around three days. Wate, checked: I can create enough for drinking at anytime. It is a miracle that I still have my space bag, thank goodness. *Growl* I thought it was my stomach that was speaking up since I technically skipped dinner yesterday, but then I realized the sound was coming from near me instead. I turned to look at the little girl to see her red face as she clutched her stomach. *growl* Ah, this time it really is my stomach churning. The girl looked at me in the same pose as her clutching my stomach. I felt the atmosphere turning awkward. I broke the awkward atmosphere as I sat down on a rock nearby and created a small ball of water to wash my face and mouth all the while as mine and the girl¡¯s stomach went into a competition of who is growling louder. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Alright, alright, let me wash my mouth first would ya. Habit says that eating before brushing your teeth is unhealthy. I know that brushing my teeth in such a situation is unrealistic but at least I want to wash my mouth. I quickly took out a piece of bread from my bag. As I was going to chomp on it, I heard a long and persistent growl from the side. I can feel the little girl¡¯s eyes staring intently at the bread. A heated debate broke out inside my mind. The angel Serika was in tears telling me to share food with the pitiful girl. The devil Serika is telling me to be selfish and ignore her. The intellectual Serika is analysing pros and cons of sharing the food. The lazy Serika is looking at me with sleepy eyes. Another look into the girl¡¯s clear eyes had me defeated and giving in to the angelic side. I slowly took out another bread and held it out in front of me. ¡°Here.¡± I defeatedly call her over. ¡°Here. Aren¡¯t you hungry?¡± I once again said as she didn¡¯t move from her spot. Feeling a little irritated at her slowness, I said for the third time. ¡°If you don¡¯t want it, I will just take it back right now.¡± Finally, the girl fiercely shook her head and moved. The little girl timidly walked over as I continued to held my hand out to her. As if she decided that I didn¡¯t have any ill intentions, her actions quickened and she ate the bread after sitting down next to me. We both quickly finished our bread and I made another water ball to drink from. The girl looked guarded again seeing me use magic but then her parched throat had her looking at me with imploring eyes once again. I sighed as I created another water ball for her. I took my mind of the little girl as I rummaged around my bag to find the piece of paper that was given to me by Mr. Boon. As I unfolded it, I found that it was a map. A detailed map of the northwest region of Esteral. I can tell that it was one that was drawn by the old man himself from the routes marked and the messy unskillful lines. I felt slightly moved. This should be a trade secret for a merchant. The routes of transportation that was put together from years of experience such as this map can also be counted as a merchant¡¯s legacy for his later generations. No merchant would be willing to sell this easily, not to mention giving it away to outsiders. I felt his sincere hope and support for me once again. I should be able to get to Archi safely with this map. However, for now, I should get out of this forest, and I should travel North as it was stated that the nearest village is in the north of this forest. I could restack travelling necessities again once I reach it. I finished my preparations for departure as I got up. I walked away without speaking a word to the little girl despite feeling her panic as she saw me leaving. I didn¡¯t turn to look though. I know that I shouldn¡¯t because once I did, I will have to take her with me. I have to learn to harden my heart. I already have enough trouble looking after myself. I couldn¡¯t possibly take on another burden. I already made up my mind that I was a selfish person. I walked and walked, stopping every once in a while picking up some wild herbs around or hiding when feeling the presence of wild monsters. It is a good thing that I came across of such wild monsters because it means that I have already passed the territory of the bandits. My joy dampened as I felt a small presence following behind me. I know without looking that the little girl was following me. I honestly don¡¯t know what to do right now. I tried acting tough speeding up a little cruelly thinking to leave her unable to catch up but then I eventually soften when I saw her running in panic after me. I once again stopped to pick up a wild edible mushroom that could be eaten for lunch, feeling thankful that I didn¡¯t slack off when Shawn-san taught me about wild plants and their uses in alchemy class. I saw the girl¡¯s eyes shining as she watched me carefully pull it out from the ground. She then walked to another batch of the mushroom grown nearby. I feel my heart soften again at the sight. I mean, I never had a little sister before but seeing her slowly following and imitating me made a small feeling bubble up. I only had big idiot brothers during my two lifetimes, I mean boys will always be boys. As my mind wanders to Enri and my previous life big brother, I suddenly heard a rustling sound from where the little girl was. It was a snake. One that was directly in front of the little girl who had stiffened due to fear. Shit, I let my guard down. I forgot that there are usually wild monsters and animals around wild herbs. I started racking my mind as for what to do in this situation. How to deal with snakes again? ¡°Don¡¯t move. Just stay there.¡± I told the little girl, and decided to take a gamble as I slowly walked toward another patch of mushroom near the snake. Usually animals that stay near wild herbs especially care about the herbs, so what if I deliberately try to pick out one right in front of it? The snake quickly noticed what I was about to do as it turned and hissed at me instead of the girl. Bingo! It was a success. Just into my joy, I was caught off guard as the snake suddenly pounced at me baring its fangs. I stumbled back clumsily as I barely dodged its bite. Whew, I almost got bitten. I stood up taking out my short sword as the snake stood its head up and hissed at me with its forked tongue and reptilian eyes. *Gulp* This is scary. This is my first time facing a snake, a cold blooded creature that is famous for its venom filled bite. I silently cursed the various documentary that says snakes would not attack unless in fear. Right now, it was the one that attacked me okay? I hate snakes. I bit my lips as I braced myself as it once again shot out towards me with a flip of its tail. I swiped at it with my sword but only felt a blunt resistance as my sword hit its scaled body. What F*cking type of snake isn¡¯t cut by a sword!? I once again experience the difference of this world¡¯s ferocity, even your normal snake is this tough. The snake abruptly twisted its body to once again aim for a bite right at my face. My arms moved in panic as I blocked its bite at the last minute. I can clearly see its fangs that was blocked by my sword as the snake¡¯s mouth opened widely. I quickly flipped my sword and used its blade to cut the mouth of the snake. The snake was cut into two with little resistance this time since I cut it from the soft inside of its mouth. I wobbly put my short sword back in its sheath as I finally noticed my body trembling. Whew, that was close. I turned to the girl to only feel an impact as my body was suddenly hugged. The little girl had ran to me and tackled me in a hug. I felt her body trembling and my shirt getting wet without hearing her utter a sound. ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay now. I¡¯m alright.¡± I softly murmured as my hand softly patted the girl¡¯s back. I don¡¯t think I can just leave her alone after all. Not only is she hopeless in this kind of forest, and would die if left alone. I figured why I have not heard a single sound from the girl. She was mute. I also found out why I felt familiarity with her eyes, it was the eyes of a girl who has realized her hopeless reality and was on the verge of giving up on life, the exact same eyes I once had in my previous life.