《243 Wanderers》 Chapter 1 I awoke with a start. Blinking the twinkling, swirling pattern of stars and colours out of my eyelids and took a deep breath. ¡° What happened. . . ¡± I muttered. Hearing my own voice confirmed that I was indeed awake. But I couldn¡¯t relax until I knew for sure. ¡° Is this a dream? ¡± I looked around the room, just a few moments ago I was sure I was sitting in the gym, attending the school entrance ceremony. But. . . right now, the wooden podium had been turned into a giant glass mural. The mural was about twenty meter in width, depicting six androgynous people. The background portrayed the grassy plains, lakes and mountains. It was a beautiful mural, an amazing mural. The wooden floor. . . had turned into a cold and hard and white floor. I assumed the whole room was made out of marble. The whole room was emitting a beautifulluster. The room was constructed by laying glossy white stones on top of one another, supported by huge pillars with delicate designs, and the ceiling was in a dome shape. The whole place naturally looked like a cathedral and had a very solemn atmosphere. I looked around and could only see my future classmates with the same dumbfounded expression as me. Apparently, all the people that were attending the entrance ceremony at that time were caught in this situation. And rather than the teacher, I found there were at least thirty figure with a white robe, that was embroidered with gold, and they had a staff right next to them. The tip of the staves spread out like a fan, and several pieces of rings and feathers hung on top of it; they were kneeling with both hands crossed in front of their chest as if they were praying. From among the white-robed group, a fragile looking old man around the age of 70 with an attire more luxurious compared to the rest of his friend stepped forward. He wore a 30 cm tall pointy wizard hat, that looked silly if I must comment. However, unlike the silly looking hat, that old man had a domineering aura around him, looking at the wrinkles on his face, as well as his sophisticated eyes. " Welcome to Exceed, the chosen one and his companion. We were expecting your arrival. I am the currently appointed archpriest of the Six, you may address me as Lambda. No need to exchange conventional greetings with me and let''s head to the banquet for now. " The old man spoke to us with a clear and calming voice that was fitting of his appearance. Maybe it was because our minds were still unable to keep up with reality or comprehend what was going on. But no one caused much disturbance as all the 243 first-year students were guided by the white-robed people to the banquet hall. We had passed several great halls that, if I had to say was bigger than your usual house. After walking through the endless corridor, we arrived.at the huge, oak door. Lambda raised his thin fist and knocked three times on the pair of an oaken door. The door swung open at once and this hall was just as gorgeous as the rest, no. . . this hall was better, even an amateur like me could understand. The marble walls were well decorated by the furniture, the murals, the decorative paintings, and the windows that reached high to the ceiling and the ceiling itself was too high to make out. Sure enough, everything here was the artisan¡¯s supreme masterpiece. Six long tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. Dozen variety of dishes were piled with food. I had never seen so many things to eat on one table: roasted, grilled, fried and boiled beef, chicken, pork chops, lamb chops and potatoes, sausages, bacon and steak, peas, vegetables, gravy, ketchup, blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, fruit tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, puddings and, the most fascinating of them all, the cartoon meat and rainbow coloured mushrooms. At the front of the hall was another long table whereseveral adults were sitting.The dozen of faces staring at us as if we were the newly arrived exotic animals at the zoo. And with amazing timing, Lambda started his explanationafter confirming that everyone had taken their sit. ¡°Ah. . . I¡¯m sure you are all confused. Then, let me explain the situation first, I ask everyone to listen to everything I had to say until the end. ¡± The words that came out of Lambda after that almost felt like he was some kind of actor rehearsing for his role in fantasy play. But to put it briefly, first, this world was called Exceed. After that, Exceed was more or less divided into two major power. Humans and Demons. The Humans ruled over the central continent and the Demons ruled over the southern and northern continent.While several other races lived quietly in the wilderness or assimilated with Humans and Demons. And the two major had been gone through a war for several centuries. The Demons weresuperior in powers compared to the Humans, butwhat Humans lack in power they made up with their numbers to matchthe power of each individual Demons possessed. Both sides had been engaged in a large-scale war over the past few decades, but something abnormal had been taking place recently. It was the coordinated attack of the Demons and the Magic Beasts.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Magic Beasts were believed to be existences that transformed from wild animals after absorbing magic substance into their body. It was unknown whether they could be classified as a living creature or not. However, each and every one of them could use powerful unique magic, these creatures are strong and ferocious. Until now, they were always relying on their instinct, and the people that can actually tame them are almost nonexistent. Even if they could be tamed, the tamer could only control one or two at most and it took a long process of time and training. But this rule was no longer valid. Now the Humansdidn''t have the advantage in numbers or in other words, the Human race was now facing a crisis. Perhaps''The Six'' had already noticed if this continued, the Humans would face extinction. And they summoned us to prevent this outcome.And they wanted us to defeat the Demons with the special skills only bestowed upon the people from Earth so that we could save this world. And following what Lambda said, a girlwith glossy black hair that reached her waist, white, unblemished skin,almond-shaped eyes, and a face that was so perfect that it would make anyone gulp. Stood from her chair and spoke with intense tone. "This is nonsense. In the end,you just want us to participate in a war. And what you are doing now is merely kidnapping! Just let us go back immediately!" However, the reply from Lambda instantly froze her. ¡°I understandyour feeling. However. . . It is impossible for you to return now.¡± Silence filled the halls. It was as if we ourselves had forgottenhow to move our tongue. Everyone only stared atLambda with a questioning expression. "What did you just say? If you can ''summon'' us, you should be able to send us back!?¡± Said the girl. ¡°As I said earlier, we, humans do not have the ability to use magic that interferes with another world. But, with the help and permission from ''TheSix''we could do that. moreover, each and every one of youarethe chosen ones, with the special skills only bestowed upon the people of your world. And once you have vanquished the demons, the path to your original world will be revealed.¡± ¡°T-that is. . .¡± Perhaps it was because of the girl action or because she spoke as if she didn''t believe at Lambda''s words. I could feel there was a hint of contempt behind that calm expression. Lambda himself was probably thinking how dare she questioned ''The Six'' words. . . or if I mustsay,his words. And like a domino, soon after, the students in the surrounding also started to make a ruckus. ¡°No way!? Is that the only way!?¡± "T-this must be a TV show prank, right!?" ¡°No! let me return!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t even joke about the war! What the hell!¡± ¡°What, what, what''s going on. . .¡± The students started to panic. Lambda and the others on the other side didn''t even have the slightest intention to open his mouth to calm them down. When everyone was still panicking, one guy stood up and slammed the table. At the same time, the students were astonished by thesound,and fixed their gaze on the said guy. When he confirmed that he had everyone¡¯s attention, he started to talk. ¡°Everyone, it is meaningless to make so much ruckus right now. I-I think it is a better decision to listen to them. It is a fact that the humans of this world are facing a crisis. Ignoring their pleas for help afterlistening to all of this, can you still call yourself a human? Moreover, as Lambda said, our best chance to go back is helping them to defeat the demon, isn''t that right? W-what I mean is I¡¯ll fight. We will save the people, and then we can all go home. Regardless of the world or everyone here, it just wrong to ignore another human!¡± He clenched his fist tightly as he made his declaration while pointlessly exposing his shiny teeth. At first, I thought there was no way a bunch of random students, who barely knew each other personality would listen to his words. But,his charismatic leadership finally took effect.The students who had given up all hope earlier gradually regained their calmness and vigour. They were looking at him with sparkling eyes, that was the expression one would reveal when they found hope in despair. ¡°Man, if you put it that way, I feel bad to ignore them." "And we all have special powers right? There''s no way I''m going to miss this opportunity!" ¡°You are not the only one here. . . I¡¯ll fight too.¡± ¡°U-um, I¡¯ll also try my best!¡± After that, the rest of the classmates also expressed their approval and went with the flow. But as the result, "What do you mean by fighting?!"Shouted the girl from before. The entire student bodyhad been splitting in half, one that wanted to participate in the war and one who didn''t want. Perhaps the one who wanted did not truly understand what it meant to go to war. Perhaps it was a sudden impulse, the means to escape from reality or perhaps it was due to their strong sense of justice. And while thinkingthese kindof things, I accidentally looking atLambdaand saw him expose a very satisfiedgrin on his face. I realized howLambda and the others were secretly observingboth of the charismatic boy and the protesting girl while explaining further circumstances. He prognosticated what kind of action heshould take. When he talked about the tragedy and the cruelty, he specifically emphasized the cruelty of the Demons. PerhapsLambda could already tell who had the most influence in this group. But, if there were the people I should be careful with. I would add everyone in the front podium as someone to be careful of in his head. I never experienced a war nor did Ihave the knowledge about it. . . but just how powerful was each individual demon? What was the war potential on the human side? How much was the enemy numbers? Would we get a prize? What about our insurance and safety? Wasn''t this building looking too good for a country in war? What was the deal with their glorious clothes and magnificent jewellery on the fingers? Was this world really at war? Such a thought kept resonated inside of my head and by the time I realized it, the meeting was over. Chapter 2 After some hours passed, it was clear for the student, regardless of what we wanted, we must learn the arts of battle. We were just an originally regular high school students from the peaceful Earth. It would be impossible to participate in the war all of a sudden. As we were leaving this magnificent building, what welcomed my vision was the sea of clouds stretched as far as my eyes could see, the clear blue sky, the brilliant reflection of the sun, and far in the distance, I could see something green, towering high to the sky. It seemed this building was located at the summit of some mountain, though. . . I didn''t find any difficulty in breathing that was often associated with high altitude. But what really bewitched me was six gigantic androgynous statues, three on each side, approximately 50 meters tall, all made from the white coloured polished stone, lining up at the front of this building main gate. In order to descend the mountain and go to the nearest town, Grurian Kingdom to receive our training, we walked until we arrived at a white circular pedestal surrounded by beautiful pillars that were made of the same material as the statues behind us. There was a huge magic circle carved on the ground at the centre of these pillars. And Lambda, who carried himself with pride urged us to go onto the magic circle. Although hesitant, the majority of the students gathered in the centre while looking around timidly. After we and the VIP guests had entered the circle, Lambda seemed to be chanting something. " Scalan, the one who governs star, the path of guidance for those whose lost, opens the path for the faithful and let this one, your humble servant to borrow your power. ''Heavenly Door'' " Seeing an old man like him saying words like that really made me wanted to laugh, but such thought was immediately gone from my head when the magic circle under my foot began to glint with a resplendent light. Not long later, we were standing at the bottom of high tower, located near the hilltop. From the window, I realized dazzling sea of clouds scenery had already changed into a big town, no, it was more like a nation rather than a town. The building that was standing at the centre seemed to be a huge castle and radially spreading surround it was the castle town. This was the Grurian Kingdom¡¯s capital city. It was at this moment I realized that magic or supernatural power truly existed in this world. Lambda''s ¡®chant¡¯ just now activated the magic circle that was engraved on the pedestal. And seeing ¡®magic¡¯ for the first time somehow made me and some of us thought just how cool whatever the thing Lambda just did, some might be sceptical and assuming this was a trick and perhaps others thought about the possibility of us returning home using the same said magic. Either way, each one of us was suppressing any feeling that we felt in our heart, and silently we took a step away from the tower. After all of us leaving the tower, some of the VIP guests left with the gorgeous looking carriage with disappointment in their face, some were nonchalantly walking and chatting with us, though what I meant by some was the charismatic boy and the protesting girl from before, the good-looking boy and girl and the one who looked strong. I personally felt unpleasant with their approach, they didn''t even try to hide their hidden agenda or their lustful gaze on their eyes. Though, it might be the best time to offer any kind of help. We were confused, afraid, unsure of what we should do, some of us even looked naive and innocent enough to fall to their sweet words. Then again, it might be just my wrong way of thinking. At least thanks to my work back on Earth, I was having a hard time for trusting someone. The person that I thought as the buyer might be the cops, the person that I thought as a friend might be selling me out for reducing his sentence, the supplier might be handing me a wrong amount of drug. But, having some connection with the big guy might not be a wrong move, but not now. As for right now, I only gave the most necessary response to everyone that talked to me; it was only one person though. And silently, I sneaked to the behind of the group. As we were guided to the palace on a straight path, the VIP guests bidding their farewell just before we arrived at the imperial palace. We walked through a corridor with decorations not inferior to the temple from before. Along the way, we had a brief encounter with people who dressed up in metal armour, the government officials, the servants, and all of them looking at us with the same respecting expression. At last, we reached in front of a huge and beautiful double red door, made from the metal-ish ingredient rather than wood or stone with an artistic carving of the Six. On both sides of the door, two soldiers stood at attention. They loudly declared our arrival. And without even waiting for a reply, they opened the door. Lambda just leisurely entered like it was the most natural thing to do with us following from the behind, though unlike him most of the students passed through the door with a face full of hesitation. After entering the doorway, there was a red carpet that extended all the way to the luxurious throne. A middle aged man with dignified and domineering aura stood in front of the throne and waited for us. The elegant woman beside him, I assumed was the queen. Next to queen was a teen beautiful young lady with blonde hair and blue eyes, presumably the princess. And another 20-year-old young man was next to the King. After that, there were approximately thirty people lined up on each side of the red carpet. On the left side were people adorned with military armor. On the right side were people who looked like government officials. Lamda directed us to stop and line up in front of the throne, while he proceeded to the King. After that, the King respectfully received Lambda''s hand that was extended, and lightly kissed it. At this moment, I was convinced that Lambda or the religious figure had a higher position compared to the royalty. After that, it was the self-introduction. The King¡¯s name was Leighton Nicolai L.A. De Grurian, the Queen was Lucienne. The prince was named Clayton, and the princess was called Lunara. After that, the prime minister, knight commander, and other people with high status also introduced themselves. As the representative from the student, the charismatic boy introduced himself as Edogawa Shishio. After this, we were called together for an evening meal or banquet. The same amount of food was lining up just as our lunch, the food indeed was delicious and another thing that I found, the prince¡¯s gaze seemed to be drawn towards the protesting girl. It didn''t take long for Prince Clayton to keep finding an opportunity to speak with the protesting girl, whose name was Kurihara Azusa, though... it might be because he was the prince that never got rejected or he was a dense man, but it was clear enough for me to notice Azusa didn''t have an interest toward him. And for our training duration, we would be provided with shelter, food, and clothing. We were also introduced to the military instructors, exclusively handpicked from the Knights, and Imperial Court Mages. At least this would allow us to develop friendships and teamwork for the war. After the evening meal, we were disbanded and each person was led to their own room. I was really amazed not just by how well they prepared 243 rooms, but also by the room, it was big and luxurious, the bed that had a canopy over it and the tableware itself might worth several hundred thousand yen. This. . . had been such a crazy and tiring day. After I leapt onto the bed as a fish leapt into the river, I felt as if my entire body was merging with the bed, my consciousness slowly drifted off, while I was half thinking all of this was just a crazy dream, and by the time I woke up I was either in the hospital, or I was just getting high or getting tied up in the chair with beaten face. But no. . . When I awoke rather than a wooden ceiling, I saw a marbled one. This wasn''t a dream, I, myself, after all, should know the best the difference between a dream and a reality. With a heavy groan, as if the gravity on the top of this comfortable bed had been multiplied by one hundred, I gathered my will to move and clean my body before heading to our first day of training. But rather than a standard cardio or warming up, we were given a 13 x 6 cm transparent plate, around the size of the smartphone. We looked at the plates curiously, before the Knight Commander, Jorgen Overbay personally started to explain. I personally found it unbelievable, they said they were having a war, and yet one of the big shot was personally training a bunch of children.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Though, the commander itself immediately answered my doubt. From the way he said it, entrusting the "Chosen Ones" to some ordinary instructor was out of the questions. I guessed he made himself a good point over there. "Alright, did everyone already get one? These plates are the Magic Item called the Status Plate. Just as the name implies, these plates will show you your status in numerical value. This is the most reliable identity card. Any questions before I continue?" Even though Jorgen had a stern and disciplined expression, from the way he spoke in a very carefree manner, it didn''t take long for the students to open up to him. "Well, we will be comrade starting from today, no need to call me Sir or Commander, just talk to me and the other knights as you talk to your friend." After that, Jorgen explained about how we needed to use our blood to register the ownership and use the plate, after that our status would show up and we would be able to see our statuses. As for how and why he only knew it had something to do with Mind Magic. And that was all, as the rest of the students nodded in understanding and marching forward to take a needle to pierce their finger. Seeing the amount of the line, I bit my own thumb and then smeared my blood on the plate rather than dripping it in. Soon after, the magic circle appeared, flickered with a faint radiance for a split second before it disappeared and slowly changed into the series of letters and numbers.
Karasuma Eiji 15 Year old Male
Affinity Time Level 1
Strength 15 Intelligence 15
Dexterity 18 Charisma 18
Constitution 19 Wisdom 13
Skills:
Fast Forward (O) Slow Motion (O) Language Comprehension (D)
Looking at my own status, I felt as if I had become a character in a game and thankfully it was more like traditional status rather than a complicated one. Not to mention the ability to instantly show our name and age? If Earth had something like this, I would bet the crime rate would drastically decline. Though. . . I couldn''t help but wondered if my status was high or low. "Has everyone see their status? May I explain now? First, take a look at ''Level''.You can think of level as a way to judge your potential, Level will increase when your other stats increased either by training or by killing Magical Beasts. Of course, the use of magic and magic items can also increase status. The max level for a human is 100. Or in other words, Level 100 signifies one has reached their full potential. No one has achieved level 100 though, but I believe you guys will be the one to achieve this Hahaha!" Said Jorgen. "Next, Let''s see the ''Affinity''. Simply put, that is your "talent", it is interlinked with the "skills" displayed at the bottom of your Status Plate. It is very rare for people to possess an affinity, one that posses an affinity only shows up one in hundred, and sometimes one in ten thousand on will possess two affinities, but I believe every one of you has at least one affinity." "And about skills, only the holder of the card can see the description of their skills. Skill is categorized into four types: Original (O) for the skill that always exists in your body and mind, Divine (D) for the skill that is given to you, Pact (P) is the skill that you get after making a certain oath, and Learning (L) is for the skill that you manually learn. And remember, no matter how many times you spend on Learning the said skill, if you don''t have the affinity, it can''t be used on battle." "Last is the status. Normally the average stats of an adult are around 8 when you are at level 1. Well, you guys should have higher than that! So enviable! Ah, and please report the contents on your status plate to me. This is so we can develop a training menu that fits every individual." Considering the amount of status that I had, I guessed I was two times stronger than the average adult? Huh. . . even though I could fight against three of four-person at the same time back on Earth. Silently, I took a look at my surrounding. Almost everyone¡¯s face was gleaming with radiance and breathing a sigh of relief after hearing Jorgen words. Well... Almost, as some of them were breaking out in cold sweat. After Jorgen stopped talking, Shishio was the first to step forward to report his status. And his status was. . .
Edogawa Shishio 16 Year old Male
Affinity Spirit, Power, Elemental, Time, Space. Level 1
Strength 100 Intelligence 100
Dexterity 100 Charisma 100
Constitution 100 Wisdom 100
Skills:
Radiant Wings (O) Physical Resistance (O) Spear Technique (O) Shield Technique (O) Light Magic (O) All Elemental Resistance (O) High Speed Magic Regeneration (O) High Speed Life Regeneration (O) Haste (O) Air Step (O) Featherfall (O) Divine Spear (D) Divine Shield (D) Overdrive (D) Language Comprehension (D)
Huh. . . No wonder he seemed really confident and seeing Jorgen shocked expression, it was safe for me to assume his status was abnormal. "As expected! This. . . this guy is out of the norm! The skills, the status! You must be the strongest between the chosen ones!" After receiving the Jorgen''s words of praise, Shishio only scratched his head. After that, as the comparison, Jorgen level was 78. His average stats was somewhere between 350-400, and he was the army commander and one of the top-notch fighter in this world. "Hahaha! It seems this is only a matter of time before you completely replace me as the commander!" "Ahaha~" . . . Huh, somehow I started to wonder what was the average stats of the Demons. By the way, in the eye of the other students, Shishio had another plus, not only did he has a cheat-like stats, for some reason this guy also had the Charisma to make others follow him. Up until now, the lowest status that the students had was somewhere around 30-50, and that number itself was enough to make Jorgen smiling from ear to ear. Maybe he was happy to have received so many super powerful comrade-in-arms. And after several students had passed, another person managed to amaze Jorgen. It was Kurihara Azusa, though she didn''t seem that happy with her result.
Kurihara Azusa 15 Year old Female
Affinity Power, Spirit, Space. Level 1
Strength 94 Intelligence 71
Dexterity 79 Charisma 71
Constitution 88 Wisdom 70
Skills:
Sword Technique (O) Body Enhancement (O) Wolf Spirit (O) Flash Step (O) Telekinetic (O) Presence Perception (O) Magic Perception (O) Overdrive (D) Language Comprehension (D)
Maybe because she had a lower status rather than Shishio? Or because she had high status and she felt responsible to participate in the war? Speaking of which, by the way, things moving out, it seemed I was one of the weakest, if not the weakest one in the group huh. . . . Somehow I felt, no this certainly would be problematic. Although Jorgen might be smiling when he saw the one with the average 20 status, by the time they went back to the student group, some of them somehow started to consolidate if not pitying them. And some even already ignored them. I guessed. . . sticking with Shishio or Azusa was out of the question huh. And just as less than ten students, the average status dropped to less than 20. Though, I somehow relieved when I knew mine wasn''t the lowest. Jorgen¡¯s smiling expression suddenly froze when he checked the last kid. ¡°Did I see wrong?¡± He muttered and shook the Status Plate a few times. Following that, he rubbed his eyes and looking again to the Status Plate, then held it up to the light, and after staring at it for a while, he finally returned the plate to the said student with a very subtle expression. ¡°Ah... Yes..., You see¡­ Don''t worry about this! With the right training, I''m sure you can catch up with your friend!" Jorgen was tongue-tied when he said that to the boy. Though, the scrawny short boy only gave him a dry smile as he laughed weakly. And just as I thought we would finally start our training. "Oi, oi, Jorgen! C''mon! Tell us about Tadano stats! It''s not fair if he is the only one with mysterious stats!" Shouted a student with red long hair, from the way he talked, I assumed he knew this Tadano guy, maybe they went to the same Junior high? "Don''t tell us your stats is below average?!" Shouted the student with spiky brown hair. "Whaaat~? Can you even fight? Still useless just like before, eh?" Shouted the student with a low fade cut. I could already guess his stats were not very good from Jorgen¡¯s expression just now, but if they still wanted to hear it no matter what, I guessed their Intelligence must be over 9000 or they just really rotten to the core. I didn''t care about their history or if they were the type that liked to bully the weak, but. . . seeing not one, but three people that couldn''t even notice others clearly showed unhappy expression at their behaviour somehow really irritated me. And just as my guess. Shishio walked forward the students that were mocking Tadano, trying to become the mediator between them. However, just a moment before he got there, someone else let out a voice filled with anger. "You three! That''s enough! What''s wrong if he can''t fight?! Aren''t you guys are the weird one to suddenly decided to fight?!" Shouted Azusa. She tried to express her anger and frustration by lashing out at those three. And perhaps deep inside the trio brain, they remembered about the difference between their stats and Azusa stats, they slowly backed away after they clicked their tongue. And this time, Shishio walked to Tadano as he tried to cheer him up by patting his shoulders. "Don¡¯t mind worry about it! Let''s just do the training and I promise I''ll take us back to the Earth!" Said Shishio. One might be just lashing out, and the other might be just an act of worry, but thanks to those bullies, I wondered why Jorgen didn''t even try to stop their dispute. Chapter 3 Two weeks had passed since we arrived at Exceed. Most of the time, we were using our break time from training to check out the Royal Library. And what I meant by ''We'' was me and 19 others student who couldn''t reach the average status of 20. The reason why we were reading this book, was because after two weeks of training, the difference in power between one that had combat skill and high status and one who didn''t become apparent. Not to mention we still hadn''t managed to cast a single combat magic, and with the skills that were too useless to use at the real battle. we were forced by the Royal Magician to utilize the knowledge and wisdom to compensate for our lack of strength and magic by learning a new skill. And what was the deal of didn''t have combat skills? I would start by explaining the concept of magic in this world. For starters, there were six different types of magic in Exceed, each corresponding to one of the Six God. The God of Valor and War, Aethon, corresponding with Power magic. The magic that could change the properties of a creature or an object, whether it was increasing our sword slashing power or lowering enemy defence. The Goddess of Knowledge and Trickery, Dream, corresponding with Mind magic, either by projecting your mind or controlling the others mind. The Goddess of Nature and Creation, Tangarita, corresponding with Elemental magic by manipulating mana to produce fire or using to create magical barriers. The Goddess of Day and Night, Terminus, corresponding with Time magic, either by turning back the time to heal the wound or a glimpse to the future. The God of Star and Sky, Scalan, corresponding with Space magic. Starting from making an object moving at your command, allowing you to teleport to another location or creating a pocket dimension to store an object. The God of Life and Death, Mordicai, corresponding with Spirit magic, either by conjuring creatures or objects to our side, drain the life energy from another creature, or turning an enemy into a harmless creature. The process of utilizing magic in Exceed was by channelling magic power from one¡¯s body, weaving the mana strain from the air into a magic circle by means of an incantation, which would then activate the magic spells. There was no way to directly activate the spells with magic power, as one must construct the corresponding magic circles to cast the respective spells. Also, the more magic power that was used to weave mana into the magic circle would mean the increase in proportion to the incantation time, which would inevitably lead the magic circle itself to become larger and more complex. For example, the most standard Elemental magic, Fireball, would require a 10 cm wide magic circle, only to produce the fire alone. After that, we still needed to input more program and command on the magic circle such as its power, range, direction, launching speed, distance and the fireball durations, which would end up increasing the scale and the complexity of the magic circle. On the other hand, there were exceptions to these concepts. That was one¡¯s affinity. Basically, people with affinity meant that some people born in a unique body, mind, soul, and mana structured so they could leave out some formulas when using magic spells. For example, if I could cast fireball, I didn''t need to write the duration section of the magic circle. Instead, I could rely on my imagination to make up for the missing formula. I just needed to imagine or think the fire would last for 5 seconds while chanting the incantation. But I still needed to create the Elemental magic circle for producing the fire, then inputting Space magic circle to before I could launch it. On the other hand, I only needed the most basic incantation to cast Foretell, a time-based magic. At the same time, for someone who had an Elemental affinity, they only needed the most basic incantation to cast such spell. Though, they needed to create Time (The future) and Power (The eye) magic circle to cast Foretell. All in all, I needed around 10 seconds to create the most basic and weakest fireball, not too mention if I didn''t have enough concentration, the creation of magic circle would fail and my magic power would be gone for nothing, or in the worst case, the formula was wrong and the spell launched in the wrong direction or had the wrong power. Well, in short, a spell was not practical for real combat, especially if the person did not have an affinity. That was why one needed to repeatedly use and polish the said spell for numerous amount of time until they suddenly conquered the so-called wall and turned the spell into their Skill. Or in simple terms, it was a spell that you needed to chant before, but one day, you suddenly grasped the essence of the spell and improved your proficiency until you didn''t need to cast the incantation of the said spell anymore. Although, there were other ways to simplify this process even though one didn''t have the corresponding affinity or skill. It was by preparing the magic circle beforehand. Either by using a special kind of paper which could only be used one time and magic stone engravings which could be used multiple times. The first method had a wide versatility, but could only be used once and its strength would also decrease. The second could be used for several times and still retain its strength, but its spell couldn''t be changed, it cost a large amount of money, not to mention the failure chance when engraving the magic circle and the constant maintenance. Anyway, both of my skills, Fast Forward and Slow Motion were the skills that allowed me to fasten or slowed a non-living object (with the exception if the targeted living creature agreed and willing to receive my spell.) not bigger than my palm. For now, the only method that I could think off was using this to preserve food, blooming a flower (somehow this always succeed if I used it on the bud, though I couldn''t use it to rot the fully bloomed flower), or increasing the regeneration process on a small wound. Other than those three, I still hadn''t found a single way to use this. And this was the reason I got stuck in this library as I didn''t have any skill that I could use for combat. "Haaaah" I let out a sigh after reading the book about magic circle for quite some time before I threw it onto the table.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Bang!" ... yeah, the book itself was thick enough to create a sound that startled a librarian who just happened to pass by, causing the librarian to glare at me. "Be careful with that book!" The librarian continued to shout at me. I, myself could not help but lament at my fate, completely ignoring the librarian before letting out another deep sigh. I slowly took out my Status plate as I rested my cheek on my palm and lazily glanced at it.
Karasuma Eiji 15 Year old Male
Affinity Time Level 2
Strength 18 Intelligence 16
Dexterity 21 Charisma 22
Constitution 20 Wisdom 15
Skills:
Fast Forward (O) Slow Motion (O) Language Comprehension (D)
"Haaaah, this is bloody ridiculous," I complained to myself. "Whatever~ Oi! Anyone want to skip to the town with me?!" While shouting this, I peered through the library¡¯s window and gazed at the blue sky outside. "I''m going to count to 3! If someone wants to come, then walk to my sit." I shouted, completely ignoring the killing glare from the librarian. Though much to my surprise, Tadano stood from his seat and walked toward my direction. And another person, a shoulder-lengthdark red haired girl with half opened blue coloured eyes silently pulling my shirt. In the end,after recollecting all of the knowledge about the town I had painstakingly gathered in the past two weeks. I led these two out from this boring castle. Normally, there was no way the guards would let us out. ''Normally'' By using some cigarette as the bribe money, I managed to win the heart of two guards that usually guarded the west gate around this hour. Then again, it really surprised me when I heard cigarette was one of the expensive goods. For the money, I had 3 Silver coin and 36 Bronze coin or 480 unit after I managed to steal the leather pouch from some random street thief. Their value of things was a little different as10 days worth of decent meal had the same value as one goat and 50days worth of meal had the same value as a set of a chessboard. But approximately, each person needed somewhere around 20 unit each day to have a decent three times meal and lodging. Anyway, the listing of currency on Exceed was a total mess, 1 small bronze coin had 1 Value or unit, bronze coin valued 5 unit, large bronze was 10. After that multiplied the value by 5 and 2 until it reached large gold coin in 10,000 unit. From the large gold coin onward, it got multiplied by 10 until it reached 10,000,000 unit.
Value (Unit)
Small Bronze coin 1
Bronze Coin 5
Large Bronze Coin 10
Small Silver Coin 50
Silver Coin 100
Large Silver Coin 500
Small Gold Coin 1000
Gold Coin 5000
Large Gold Coin 10000
Small Platinum Coin 100000
Platinum Coin 1000000
Large Platinum Coin 10000000
I didn''t know the exact reason, but it seemed this weird monetary value was created so that normal people only used anything below silver coin as the daily transaction. . . .Speaking of transaction, I needed to treat those two huh. Well. . . this wasn''t my money either, so why not? There was indeed a lot of people, but it was still relatively empty for someone who had been living on Earth. After all, when compared to Tokyo¡¯s packed trains, thestreet of Grurian was a whole league empty. "Now that I think about it, even though this is my first time visiting an otherworld town, somehow it wasn''t as exciting as I thought it would be." Said Tadano. "Well, we did pass this street when we walked to the palace." "Ahaha. . ., at least the old buildings are a rare sight, but the lack of beastmen or elves somehow really disappoint me." "...You''re that type of guy huh. Ey, watch out girl." The crowd of people going to and fro wasn¡¯t that big, but the girl who hadn''t introduce herself was being too conspicuous. she would stop at a weird place as soon as something caught her eye, from the shady looking stand that clearly sold water rather than medicine, a food stall that sold rugby-ball sized eggs as the street snack, and a stall that sold normal looking hat. That conspicuous behaviour of her was almost felt like she was basically announcing that she knew nothing of the world. And thanks to her, some annoying people came. A man was walking along a course that was sure to hit her, and Imanaged to pull her arm just in time to get her out of the way. "Seriously, watch out for your surrounding." After pulling her away, I heard the man clicking his tongue as he fastening his steps. So he really was a pickpocket. Though, I wondered how much money he that he got today. Curiously, I opened the white cloth pouch that I took away from the man''s pocket. ...It was heavy, but most of the coin was small bronze coin and bronze coin. "...Karasuma... You''re really amazing." Said Tadano. "That so? This is pretty easy for me though." And just as I replied Tadano''s words, this time it was a man walking out from the alley. Clearly targeting the girl A. And once again, somehow I managed to pull her out of the way before they could collide. Because I pulled her out of the way, the man missed his timing and tumbled onto the ground. "Geez, There are people walking out from the alley. Just be careful or I''ll tie you with a rope." She only answered with a silent nod. Speaking of silent, wasn''t this the time that man screamed she broke my leg or something like that? "Gah!! My hand! It broke!" The man stood up and walked to our direction while holding his right hand. Classic, then again, I approached the man. "Ah! We''re sorry! Don''t worry about your hand! I might now look like one, but I know some first aid treatment, so, which hand is broken? The right one, right?" I lightly grabbed his right hand with my right hand. "No, no, just give me the money and I''ll go get a treatment all by myself!" Said the man. "Aw, sir, no need to be shy. Trust me, I''m professional at this." At the same time, I placed my left hand behind his elbow. Like this, I twisted his arm and broke his posture. The man was opening his mouth, ready to say something, but when he realized he was falling, he closed it again. Just before he completely fall, I pulled his shirt and stopped him, then I looked him in the eye and spoke. "It''s healed, right?" "Y-Yeah... Thanks for giving me the treatment." "No prob." I said with a smile. "But, please be careful for the next time." Just as the man instantly dashed away with satisfied face after managed to steal away my white pouch, I wondered what his expression would look like if he noticed I took his wallet when I pulled his shirt. After taking a peek at his wallet, I could see several silverish coins at the inside. "Huh, so. . . how about buying some snack before we go back?" Just a moment after I said that, Girl A happily pulled me to the nearby food vendor as Tadano strolling near us. All in all, even though I said ''some'' and ''snack'', somehow the amount of food that we brought already pilling up like a tower. . . heck, some food even completely mixed between one and another. And just as I was busy using Slow Motion to keep the food fresh and warm, Girl A still pulling my shirt while bringing her own share of snacks. "You¡¯re still planning to sightsee!?" I shouted. Then again, thanks to her,after protecting her from pickpocket, extortionist, con-artist and kidnappers. By the time we went back, we brought a mountain of food with 8 different pouches hidden on my shirt and an Idea of what I should do for my combat skills. Chapter 4 On the next morning. When I reached the training ground, there were already students there chatting happily while doing some independent training. It seemed like I had arrived earlier than expected. "Karasuma~ Thanks for yesterday snack!" Said girl student. "You should bring me the next time you sneak out!" Said boy student. In the end, the amount of snack that we brought was a little bit... No, definitely too much. Anyway, the other student seemed pretty happy with the little gift, even though they could order the royal chef to make any food they want. I guessed street food had their own kind of charm huh. But, facing against this many people really made me uncomfortable. It wasn''t like I was afraid they would report me to the knights, the problem was... "Oi! Karasuma!" Shouted someone from behind. A familiar sounding full of spirit shout, by the time I ignored his shout, a superhuman who was good in all kind of activity, whether it was combat, magical or academical. He had a fluffy light brown hair and gentle eyes, his height wasalmost 180 cm with a slender yet packed body. It was Shishio or everyone favourite hero. Yesterday, when I shared some snack with his group, I had this feeling I''d just made a big mistake, and yeah...Shishio was the type of person that would think an act of simple gesture meantsomeone was trying to befriend him. Should''ve thrown that food away rather thangave it to him. "What''s up with your face? Didn''t get enough sleep, eh? How about sparing with me? Your stats haven''t increased that much right?" I knew he didn''t mean bad by his words, I laughed bitterly as Itried to end the conversation with him. But somehow, he already retrieved two western style swordand threw one of it to me. Suddenly, I saw the unsheathed sword swept right in front of my face and I hurriedly took a step backwards as cold sweat fell from my forehead. "As expected, you can evade that huh, and your posture and stance seems better than the usual." Sometimes, he would come to the under 20 group, giving some advice and sparring with us. I knew he did this as an act of kindness to raise our morale, but, what was the point if he was holding back? I had seen him sparing with Jorgen before, and forgot about learning a thing or two from them. My eyes couldn''t even followtheir sword, even though swordsmanship wasn''t his strongest forte. "Yo, Tadano, what are you doing? Still pretending to be a knight?" Speaking of the strongest, here came the weakest person. "Hahaha! Dude, you don¡¯t have to say it out~¡± "What do you do in this place anyway? If it was me, I would have been too ashamed of myself!" The red-haired guy named Takatou andhis gang were laughing like a madman, was theresomething funny or my sense of joke was bad? "Tadano! How about joining with us?" Shouted Shishio. After Shishio saying his piece and stopping the trio for a second, though it was clearhe didn''t want to have a real fight with his own comrade. "Ah? Hey hey, Shishio, mind your own business will ya? This guy over here already made an appointment with us." "Yeah, we are willing to spend our precious time to help this incompetent fellow~." Even though the trio clearly missing some gear on their brain, they somehow noticed Shishio didn''t have the intention no... he couldn''t hurt other people. Status really played a big factor in this world, and yet Shishio never accidentally hurt his sparring partner. Shishio might have the charisma to lead, but charisma itself wasn''t enough to harmonize an entire group of 243 people. And thetrio non chalantly ignored Shishio as they broughtTadano to a secluded place shoulder to shoulder. Moreover, the classmates who noticed this scene also turned a blind eye to it. ¡°No... I amfine training alone, you can leave me by my lonesome self.¡± Much to my surprise,Tadano tried to reject tactfully as he shoved Takatou''s arm from his shoulder. "Ha? We are going out of the way to train the useless you, and yet you were saying this to us? You are being unreasonable. You just need to remain silent and say ¡®thank you¡¯ afterwards. Just that sentence will be enough!" As Takatou said that, he hit Tadano in the back. "Urgh!" Tadano let out a groan as his face distorted in pain.Unlike Shishio, they were those type of people who would easily resort to violence. And whenthese type of person were suddenly granted such huge power, it was only natural for them to exploit it. As thus, Tadano who had no power to resist, could only clench his teeth and bear with it. Now, what would you do? How long were you planning to watch from afar, Jorgen? As I taking a peek at Jorgen, who had beenwatching this incident since the beginning. Shishio dashing toward them and pointing his sword right at Takatou''s face. "Then, I believe I should be enough as the sparring partner, right?" Said Shishio with a warm smile. "Oh my~ How scary~" Unlike the first day of our training, this time Takatou said that with confidence grin. Without a moment of notice,One of Takatou''s lackey, Daichi, used hishidden dagger to strikeShishio right on his face. If Shishio didn''t move backwards, I bet that attacks would be fatal. "Urgh! That''s cheating!" ¡°Whaaat~? C''mon, your status is three times my status, shouldn''t I get some kind of handicap? Burn my target, Fireball!" Takatou launched a fireball.Shishio who hadn''t recover from the previous attack desperatelyusing Divine Shield, he conjured a translucent golden shield on his free hand to block the fireball. However, as if it was already planned, Takatou''s last Lackey, Masarucast another spell. ¡°Stupify!¡± If I wasn''t wrong, Stupify was a spell that wouldrob a creature of rational thought. Shishio, who was under the barrage of fireballs, somehowletting off his Divine Shield. Even though Shishio''s status was all around 200, Takatou in his 70 and Masaru''s was 50, the main reason fortheir skill to be able to affect Shishio was because they were using Magic Item given by the Kingdom, otherwise, there was no way suchtheir attack would affect Shishio. No... In fact, even though with the help of Magic Item, their attack still didn''t have any effect. As Shisho at ease conjure another Divine Shield and blocking their attack. But his unwillingness to hurt his own allies madehim on the defensive position. ¡°Hey, hey! you are too weak. Can¡¯t you put in some effort?¡± Hearing their leader got underestimated, Shishio''s friendstarted preparing their weapon and spell, ready to help him anytime soon. "Don''t come!" Shouted Shishio. ...I see, he might be couldn''t hurt the trio, but he could deplete their magic power as their attack was ineffective. Not to mention, this way he had the chance to show the trio his dominance huh. But an angry shout suddenly came from the distance. "That''s enough!" When the Trio heard that shout, their faces revealed a dreaded expression and stopping their attack. It was only natural. The one who shouted was Jorgen. Huh. . .even I knew such an attack wouldn''t harm Shishio, but now he suddenly decided to stopthis fighting, interesting. At first, I thought he didn''t want to get involved with our problem, but that didn''t seem to be the case. "Can someone explain what is going on?" Shouted Jorgen, even though he already watched since the beginning.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "No, please do not misunderstand.This is just ordinary sparing." Said Takatou. "Save that for later. This already passes our morning routine." Shouted Jorgen. Was that really the reason he stopped this sparing? In the end, we spent the rest of thetraining as the usual. But, normally after the training ended, we would have free time till dinner time. However today, Jorgen held everybody back for an announcement.As we were wondering what was going on asJorgen had a different aura and used a deep voice to announce. ¡°From tomorrow onward, we will be conducting our practical training in Serene Catacomb. We will prepare all the necessary equipment, The purpose of this training so that you guys will havea real fighting experience. You will fight Magic Beasts outside the capital as a practice target. Get your spirits up! Have a good rest tonight! Dismiss!¡± He quickly conveyed the important announcement like this. Amongst the hustling and bustling of the students,I sat at the end as I looked up at the sky, maybe all of this happened because Shishio couldn''t deliver a serious hit back then. Either way... "We (under 20) still need to go to the library huh." *** Like the Magic Beast,land could also absorb Mana. And, in area with higher mana concentration such land would turn into Dungeon. Serene Catacomb was one of the dungeons. Serene Catacomb was a huge underground passageway that consisted of hundred floors, located underneath a small town called ''Fallford''. The lower we went, the stronger the Magic Beasts became. Even so, this dungeon was a very popular place for mercenaries and adventurers, whether newbie or veteran. It was because it was easy to judge the strength of the Magic Beasts in accordance with the listed floor. Not to mention, because of the constant exposure of higher mana concentration, the Magic Beasts in the dungeons also possessed higher quality Magic Stone in their body compared to the Magic Beasts in the wilderness, at the cost the Magic Beast in the dungeon usually several times stronger and unique than the same species in the wilderness. The Magic Stone was the core that provided power to the Magic Beast. The stronger the Magic Beast, the higher quality the core. These Magic Stones were used asa catalyst to make the magic item, such as Potion for healing or engraving the magic circle. As such, there was a very high demand for these Magic Stones; It was essential for both the armies and everyday life. Another way touse Magic Stone was to improve the efficiency of magic, for example, if I was using Time stone together with Time magic, the effectiveness of my spell/skill would increase depending by the quality of the stone. Unlike magic circle engraving, the magic stone used this way wouldn''t get depleted as long as one didn''t try to channel magic energy more than the Magic Stone capacity. And by the time I finished reading the layout of Fallford town, the map of Serene Catacomb, and the information about the Magic Beast on the said dungeon the moon already shone from the library window. With a big yawn coming out from my mouth, I decided to take a stroll. As I walked on the palace, I noticed several students startedalready had their own pair, sneaking out to each other room, sitting together near the pond, watching the moon from the veranda. ...I guessed it was normal for romance to bloom when we were living in the same roof. And between the blooming romance,Azusa was standing with Prince Clayton on her side, watching the moon from the castle window. Based on what I had heard from other students, she had cleared the entrance examinations with a record-breaking high score, that plus herexceptional beauty. However, despite her popularity, no one ever saw her smiled, living up to her nickname of ''Ice Queen''. In addition, due to the fact that she was constantly surrounded by an intense aura that made it hard for people to gather around her, just like a goddess, the few meters of space around her was a hallowed ground that was hard to sully. That and the fact the Princeitself was setting his eyes on her. Combining all of that fact alone was enough to make no one tried to approach her. As they were all content to just gaze upon her beauty and elegance from afar. Though... I felt really bad with Prince Clayton. They might be stood side by side, breathing the same air and watching the same stars and moon, but no matter how I looked at Azusa,her mind was completely not here. He would just make an idiotic expression every time he saw heror she responded to his conversation. It goes without saying that I obviously had nothing in common with Azusa, and in fact,we had never even spoken to each other before. Then again, she was the second strongest between the student right? and considering we needed to go to the dungeon, I believed it wasn''t that bad to help her. "Azusa~ can we speak for a moment?" I said nonchalantly. Of course, shedidn''t even bother to look at me. Prince Clayton himself clearly giving the ''get away from here you cockroach'' "Ah, forgive me, your highness. I didn''t mean to disturb your precious time, but I really need to talk to her, it''s pretty important." "Hmph, then just state your business." "Eh? Right here?" Damn... this prince is annoying "It''s important, right?" "W-well... if your highness says so... *Ahem* Erm... You see, Azusa, lately when I see someone, it''s as if space and time become the finest point imaginable as if time collapses into one tiny speck and explodes at light speed. It''s as if my universe begins and ends at the same time." With each embarrassing word flying out from my mouth, I forced my cheek to turn its colour into peach colour. It was clear enough for me the girl named Azusa was sighed inwardly, as the prince named Clayton was looking at me with a pitying gaze. "I could run forever, search forever, but in the end, every path leads right back to your expression and soul. I love you, always." "Ah... forgive me." Said Azusa. "You hear that kid? Now go-." Said Clayton. "Prince Clayton, I love you!!" I shouted as loud as I could. Clayton''s face was so out of character, he just stared at meopenmouthed. His brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that he was shocked. He closed his mouth, then letting his jaw dropped, then looked at his toes before glancing back up to catch my eyes. "I think I''ll go now," was all he could say. "Wait! What about your answer?!" WhenI said that, he hadalready turned around and left. On the other side, Azusa was putting her hand on her mouth before she fell silent, almost as if she was thinking deeply about something. Then the noise that burst forth under her hand was like a cross between a snort and a drunken laugh, Azusa never knowing when to breathe between the giggles. I couldn''t say she had the most musical of laughter, in fact, I myself was trying to remember how to breathe, unable to speak, totally stunned as her laughter bounced around inside my skull. "Oh... mai... gawd... sowwy... his face... ouch... my stomach..." I felt like I was watching a million domino falling down. One by one, the rumour and her calm image crumbling to dust with each snort she made. "Erm... just fyi, I didn''t mean that. Anyway, if you''re planning to take a look at the moon, the west tower should give a better view." "Yesh... Ai know... it''s just... *snort* puhlease don''t go yet..." "...Don''t worry, I won''t tell anyone." "*Snort* ... thanks... but... just dohnt goh yet..." I spent almost 5 minutes awkwardly watching herfinishing her laugh. " *Ahem*... Sorry for you to see that." She said with slightly pink cheeks. "...Yeah, somehow I also feel sorry for myself to see that." I said. "Anyway, is there something important? I need to go somewhere." "Yes, about that,I heard from my friend you occasionally sneaking out to the town, right? Can I come with you?" "I go with another person though... well, if you don''t mind then just wait for us near the pond at 9. And I won''t wait for you, so don''t be late." "Pond at 9, right? By the way, can I bring my friend?" "Eh, feel free." *** Theflowerbed lined the perfect lawn in the palace garden. In the centre there was a pond as large as a small lake with flowering lily pads and a wooden bridge that crossed the middle so one could look down at therainbow coloured fish. Tadano was walking on my side as if he was a cyborg. And when I told Tadano that Azusa would join us,he instantly froze for a moment and hastily proceeded towards the door. After fetching the key and opening the door,he already wore what I assumed as the best clothes. "No way..." When Tadano presented with such a scene of two high school girl, waiting under the moonlight in their school uniform, he quickly pulled himself together and tried not to stare atthem too much. "Are we bothering you two?" Said Azusa. "Ah~ No, it¡¯s nothing. Er... please take care of us!" Said Tadano. I myself failed to comprehend what he meant by that, then again, the thing that really surprised me was. "Hey! So what are we doing tonight!? What kind of things are we going to do!? Something... something adventurous, right!? Or maybe something dangerous? Or we should have a meal first? Sweets from the other world!? A full course of other world food!? What should we do!? We are free to do whatever we want, right!?" "...Huh?" Tadano only tilted his head as he stared with a dumbfounded face. "...Kurihara-san? is this really you!?" The cool beauty image she possessed until just earlier disappeared like acastle sand being swept by a wave and only an innocent high school girl was left behind. Even though I had tried to keep her cool image, in the end, it seemed she didn''t even bother to do so. "Yes, it¡¯s me!! I''m Kurihara Azusa, nice to meet you, er...Tadano, right?!" "She calls my name?!" Said Tadano, then again, he dumbfoundedly stared at me, the words from his eyes if I translated it. ''It is far too different from her usual behaviour. Just what has happened to make her this way?'' ''Duh, I''m not Sherlock Holmes.'' I replied his gaze with mine, though I had some idea why she suddenly removing her mask. "Ah... speaking of which, I haven''t told Tadano about this side of yours... you know since you''re asking me to not to tell anyone." "¡­¡­¡­..Haah!?" She stopped for a while, cleared her throat, and giving us a warm smile. "Ahem... then, pleasetake care of us, Eiji." "...You are an idiot, you know that?" Hearing this, Azusa crouched down and held her head. "I mean... how could you no to tell anything to him?! That''s what people usually do first, right?!" "Eh, ah... don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to tell anyone." Said Tadano. "You mean it, right!? Then it¡¯s a promise, okay? If you break it, I''ll make you swallow the biggest magic stone on this world!" Somehow I thought she might actually make Tadano did that. "I understand. I definitely won¡¯t tell anyone." "Alright then, let¡¯s pinky swear." Saying thatAzusa held up her little finger. While Tadano hesitated to touch the skin of a member of the opposite sex who was literarilyin a whole anotherlevel than him.Azusa apparently did not care about that at all and grabbed his hand and entwined her finger around his. Somehow I could hear his heartbeat sped up at the feeling of that cool skin. "...Alright! Now, I suppose it is time for me to enjoy this world to its fullest!" She faced forward and started walking away boldly. "Ah, that''s the wrong direction, we will sneak out from the east gate tonight." As I said that, she turned around with reddened cheek. "Anyway... Girl A, don''t walk alone all by yourself." She replied with a nod. Chapter 5 Even though it was the night time, there were many people entering and leaving the city. They were dressed in a wide variety of clothes, from travel clothing to armour. Some were carrying heavy luggage, and a few people were using horse-drawn wagons to move around. There were many street stalls that were constructed in a simple fashion, and the owners were loudly announcing their wares which consisted of seafood that had been skewered and roasted or made into a soup. And the amount of thief and criminal was also increasing. We barely left one district and yet, 12 criminal had already lost their pouches and wallets. "I-I have no idea that Eiji is a thief." Said Azusa. "Yeah... at first I don''t believe it either." Said Tadano. Girl A silently nodded beside them. "...For your information, I use their money to treat you guys. And it''s not like I took money from innocent people." I said. "But they took the money from the innocent." Said Azusa. Girl A nodded in agreement. "So? It''s not like the innocent can take their money back, right?" Girl A shook her head against my remark. "E..er... I can''t say that''s wrong, but I can say it is right either." Said Tadano with a somewhat complicated face. Girl A tilting her head as she was trying to think about whether or not it was wrong. Azusa gave warm smile upon seeing Girl A''s reaction. She was really different from her usual self since she was usually giving this ''don''t come near me and don''t talk to me'' aura. It could even be said that this was her original personality. It probably just meant that she had been putting on such a strong mask all this time. We walked along a street that was lined with buildings on both sides and stopped in front of one that had a red roof and shabby wooden double door. The words ''Mermaid Kiss Inn'' was written on the signboard. "I-inn?! E-eiji! what are you thinking?!" Shouted Azusa. Girl A''s face turned red when she saw the sign. "...You said you wanted to eat, don''t you? This inn has great food and unlike its outer appearance, it is pretty clean on the inside. I like this place, well, I only visit this place one time though." After I pushed through the double doors and walked inside, we found ourselves in a spacious room with a number of tables and chairs lined up. There were already a number of red-faced patrons who were drinking from ceramic vessels for wine and wooden pitcher for beer or ale. There was a bar along the far side of the room where a single man whom the local called as Master; stood while polishing a glass. The shelves behind him were tightly packed with bottles of alcoholic beverages. "Welcome to Mermaid Kiss." Seeing the man at the bar smiling and stopping his work to greet us, the nearby customers also looked into our direction and started whispering amongst themselves, if not got flustered and returned to drinking when their eyes met Azusa and Girl A''s eyes. When we approached the bar. "Four Smoothie Spirits, please. And I take Grilled Moa." Thought, just as I said that one particular person behind me showed an unpleasant look. "Whaaat~? We''re not going to order an alcohol?" "I take Jack-O-Lantern, please." Said Tadano. "...Have you ever drink one?" "Nope~ this is my first time. I never touch one at lunch or dinner too." Girl A silently pointing toward Princess Pudding. "...Then don''t. I don''t want to nurse a drunk person." "Hey, hey mister! Change one of the smoothies to the weakest alcohol that you have! And I''ll take Leaf Ray Salad." Said Azusa as she completely ignored my heed. After placing our order, both of me and Tadano sat down across from Girl A and Azusa at an open table and starting the small talk while waiting for our food. "Eh~ and here I thought you two are some kind of best friend or childhood friend." Said Azusa. "E...er... no, ahaha." Said Tadano. "Since our room is located at each other, and Eiji is just too lazy to invite someone else, I guess that''s why he''s kinda stuck with a person like me." "Yeah, that and the fact we are under 20." Meanwhile, Girl A curiously looking at us while sometimes fidgeting around.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. "Then again, friend or not, shouldn''t you help Tadano this afternoon?!" Said Azusa. "How? I''ll die if I fight the three of them at the same time you know." "A-ahaha... he has a point." Said Tadano. "...And why didn''t you help him?" "E-er... please don''t... it is embarrassing enough for me." Said Tadano. "Don''t worry, I won''t do that, for starters I don''t like violence. But it really surprises me to hear Eiji isn''t the type to charge while shouting." Said Azusa. "Eh, I bet that will be Shishio. Anyway, I might look rough on the outside, but my inside is as soft as hello kitty." Girl A looking back and fro between Azusa and us. "Er...shouldn''t you say sorry to hello kitty fans?!" Said Tadano. "Yeah, right." Said Azusa as she rolled her eyes. "More likebakeneko rather than that." Azusa brushed her long hair back with her fingers and smiled suggestively. During this time, the Master brought over our drinks and I paid him. Girl A picked up the ceramic cup andtilted her head while looking at the contents. The cup was cold, and the contents itself was a concoction madefrom bananas and Cloud Berries, then freezing them with Elemental (ice) Magic Stone, then mashing and mixing the fruit into a slush-like consistency and adding milk and honey. Girl A took a sip and opened her eyes wide. "T-this is delicious! drinking something like this really makes me feel that I am in a foreign land!" Said Tadano. "Rather than a foreign land, we are in a foreign world, though." Meanwhile, Azusa was silently looking at alight yellow coloured liquid made from fermented Popota buzzing on the old wooden glass. She took a sip and as the sour and vile taste slipped intoher mouth, her expression itself clearly showed she was displeased by the taste. "...Can I order another drink?" Said Azusa. "Using my ''Dirty money''? Sure, feel free." "There''s no need to be nitpicky... you know?" Said Azusa. As she said that her gazes locked to Girl A Smoothie Spirit. With a face full of hesitation, Girl A offering her drink to Azusa, and after taking a sip from Frozen Smoothie. Azusa''s eyes turned starry. "Let''s change our drink!" She said. I stared into Girl A''s bright blue eyes burning with anger, and my heart fell silent. As if having a local earthquake, Girl A''s body shook astears started accumulating on her eyes. "...Just take mine." As soon as I said that, her gloomy atmosphere suddenly turned into a rainbow. "By the way, Tadano, do you know why you''re getting pick by the Trio?" Said Azusa from out of the blue. "E-eh? ...I don''t know though. They have been doing this since in our middle school. Ahaha... I guess I must be getting on their nerves." Said Tadano as he scratched his head while weakly laughed. "So there is no reason?" Azusa nodded as if she was convinced. "...I personally think you don''t need a reason to bully someone." "Hm~ that may be true. Speaking of middle school, it almost felt like a forever, right? even though it hasn''t been three weeks since we arrived at Exceed." Said Azusa as she shook her cup. At her side, Girl A resting her cheek on her right palm as she was listening to our conversation. And our conversation getting cut off when Master brought our food. Mine was a thick and soft Moa tenderloin grilled over an open flame without any sauce, seasoning or gravy. ...Though, I forgot to tell them about this inn restaurant quirk. ...Almost every food in this restaurant was made from the Magic Beasts ingredient. In front of Tadano was an ogre pumpkin carved into a grinning face and boiled in a sweet sauce. Though, it was actually a head of Pyro Jack boiled in a sweet sauce. Girl A got this brown cake-like sweet formed to resemble the notorious monster, Pudding. ...Actually, if I wasn''t wrong they just cleaned and boiled Pudding meat before they added the additional flavour. As for Azusa...A salad made with the still-twitching leaves of a Leaf Ray and garnished with a drizzle of fragrant olive oil. "...Why it is twitching?" She said as she twitched her eyes. "I wonder... I already said this is my second time to eat at this place, you know?" Of course, I only told the truth after they finished their meal. *** Very late at night, when we already went back to the palace and headed back to our own room, nobody noticed someone was missing for the whole night. "So~ how about tonight is very fun, right Princess Lunara?" Said Azusa. Taking the red wig off from her head, showing the brilliant golden hair. "Yess, this is so much fun! I¡¯ve never been going out at night like this! So this is what it feels like to be a normal girl!" "I know, right? I myself couldn''t wonder if this is what it feels like to visit an amusement park." Said Azusa. "I feel like I¡¯ll end up smiling like a fool if I don¡¯t keep myself in check, you know." *** (...Where am I?) A pitch black world. I cowered in the darkness. Out of the empty nothing came the high, clear echo of a drop of water striking the surface of a calm pool. A cave, I imagined at first, except that I knew I was not in a cave. The darkness was too wide, too far and too deep. A crimson light blossomed in the distance. The flame flickered and twisted, shifted in shape and form. I couldn¡¯t tear my gaze away from the flame. Without a single doubt, I knew I must reach the flame. With every muscle that I used, I felt like something was tearing limb from limb and gnaw on my bones. ButI must move. The blood rushed in my veins, roared like the ocean in my ears. The flame was gone and before me was a girl, wearing a white dirty dress that was a little too big for her body. Her shoulder lengthed messy hair was white on the topand gradually turned red as it reached her shoulder. Her eyes were red, her teeth were sharp, almost felt like she wasn''t a human. Her complexion was that of a person who had witnessed a miracle she had given up on long ago. She didn''t shed any tears of joy or relief and only gave a wide smile. "Dryhg oui vun gaabehk ouin bnuseca... dryhg oui vun hud mayjehk sa ymuha..." The girl embraced me while spilling out the words of a foreign land. Even with the Language Comprehension, I still couldn''t understand any of the words she said. But Iknew what she was saying. Thank you for keeping your promise... thank you for not leaving me alone... In a land without light nor shadow, I heard nothing. Only the sound of a drop of water breaking the quiet surface of a pond. I felt nothing. Only the blood rushed in my veins, roared like the ocean in my chest. I tasted nothing. Only the bittersweet feeling on my mouth. I smelled nothing. Only nostalgia pierced in my nose. I saw nothing. Only her smiling face with her stupidest grin. When I awoke. I remembered nothing. Chapter 6 Right now, we gathered in front of the entrance to the Serene Catacomb. I had imagined a dark gloomy and dirty entrance, but instead, I found something that looked like a museum. It even had a reception desk at the side of the entrance and a big wooden board located near it, pinned down by hundreds of job requests and party member recruitment. The venue beside the entrance was a place where the materials were traded. The treasures obtained by the adventurers would be exchanged for money there. Rows of uniformed woman with a beautiful smile were inspecting the people who entered and left the dungeon. From the look, their work was to inspect the Status Plate and record the number of people who entered and left the catacomb to accurately pinpoint the death ratio, with the war ravaging, this was the method they adopted to avoid more unnecessary casualties. And it seemed we needed to pay a small amount of money to enter the catacomb, I guessed this also acted as the bookkeeping. Rather than a dangerous place, this catacomb almost felt like a tourist spot. On the plaza near the entrance, there were many stalls lined up. All the shop owners were trying to promote their goods such as weapons, snake oils, potions, foods, healing services and rental muscles. It was like a grim festival. Then again, I guessed this place was a popular area to earn money because many people gathered here. Of course, the dungeon¡¯s back alleys also seemed to attract criminal activities. While we were following behind Jorgen like ducklings following their mother. It was decided we would have two shift and split into 24 groups after combining two of the highest and the lower rank students. With two knights accompanying each group. The inside of the Catacomb was totally different to the bustling of the outside, though it wasn''t a claustrophobic place filled with skeleton or human remains like I thought it would be. The entrance was narrow, with only 5-6 meter in width and yet it was emitting a dim light, it was possible to see to some extent even without any illumination magic or torches. It seemed because of low-level Magic Stones, or in this case, Magic Shards were buried in the Catacomb walls; and from the information that I read, no matter how much Grurian country had been excavating these Magic Stones as the alternative lamp, the Catacomb always replenished the stock after some amount of time. We organized into ranks and pressed forward. For a while, nothing noteworthy happened until we advanced into a more wide area and arrived at a certain hall. This hall was dome shaped and the ceiling looked to be around 7-8 meter high. Then, in front of us, the path split into three directions. The left path was the longest and the least dangerous of them all, the right path itself almost more like a passageway, it was the narrowest path but also the shortest one, the middle one was the biggest and the most direct path. All of these paths would be interconnected at the end of this floor. "Okay, Everyone! Once we are splitting up, follow the instructions you received before doing anything! and don''t act reckless!" Shouted Jorgen. "We''ll meet at the end of this floor!" 121 students and 48 knights. 4 groups on each path. 10 students with 2 knights for each group, and I somehow still ended up with Azusa, the two face queen. The rest of our group starting from the second strongest to the weakest were Namba Kenji the muscular boy. Shiraishi Eri the blond-haired delinquent looking girl. Kozue Kabuto the emo boy. Narisawa Momo the energetic loli. Sugiyama Ieyasu the boy with a feminine face. Uchiha Emika the always shaking girl. Sukukaze Jo the plumptious boy. Me and Yasumi Chikage the glasses girl. And as we got the left path, we were separating ourselves from the other three. It looked like the knights would only help us if things got dangerous. As for the path searching. "After this, we go left." Thanks for my experience on Earth, reading the blueprint of the house, remembering the police patrol area and the alleyway, our group didn''t have that much difficulty of directing our way to the next floor entrance. Of course, I didn''t tell anything to the other group. After all, it was their own fault for not learning the layout. Then, in front of us, I could see several faint moving light flickering from a few meters away. "Prepare yourself! The lights in front of us are the Magic Beasts called Kobold. Their movement is quick, but they are not very strong-" "So they are weak, right? Let me take this one!" Shouted Namba Kenji. I didn''t even finish telling him what to do, and yet the boy with very spiky brownish-black hair combed backwards and is very spiky already charged toward the Kobold while completely ignored ''Their movement is quick.'' part. Then again, he didn''t even question whether or not my information was a correct one. His bulky figure disappeared into the shadows and soon, the flickering flames were dancing around, and after one flame was flying to the wall. "Er, guys!! I Need back up!" "...Idiot." I said after letting out a deep sigh. "Anyway, Kobold is not particularly intelligent and are notoriously cowardly, they usually keep their distance if they got outnumbered. Oh, supposedly the one with the candle on their head can use fire magic. And be careful with their tail and they are famous with their stinky body." After I said that we ran to the front and found the Kobolds were whipping circling around Kenji. Their outward appearance looked very similar to a naked mole rat, but they were bipedal Magic Beasts, four feet tall at best and had a muscular upper body. As if to show off their six packs and chest muscle, those parts were not covered by hair. When Azusa and the rest of the girls, who was in our party, saw the enemy, their face stiffened up. Well... I supposedthey did gave a creepy feeling. Following us, the knights immediately intercepted the Kobold and helping Kenji. Jo the chubby boy had Power affinity and specialized in hardening his body and increasing his muscle mass. And even though he was supposed to be the vanguard. He stiffened up as he was unsure of what he needed to do. "JO! You better move your ass to the front and use your shield to protect us!!" I shouted in annoyment. On reflexes, Jo immediately raising his shield to cover his face and body and hardening his skin to further increased his defence. Kabuto with his Space and Elemental (fire and wind) affinity and slick hair that covered his right eye. "Swirling flame-" They way he chanted clearly showed he was unmotivated. I immediately covered his mouth with my hand. "...Don''t use fire in a closed space." Urgh... they didn''t have enough real-life fighting experience huh, well, I guessed sparing with your friend and facing against a couple dozen of real-life enemies at once was different. And here I thought I didn''t need to do anything. I took out a purple coloured liquid from my waist bag and started drinking it. This was a potion called Potion of Dexterity. The one in the Palace could increase my Dexterity by 49 points, but this one was made by me, and the best I could do was 12 points. Indeed, this was the so-called alchemy, and except for the medicine, this world didn''t seem to develop this study.Even though Alchemical Potion had a greater effect rather than the prepared Magic, too bad that most of the Alchemical Potion duration was less than a minute before our body started rejecting its effect. But what happened if one could slow the rejecting process? And this was what I thought after using Slow Motion to keep the food temperature stable. And somehow I couldn''t use this method with the prepared Magic. Either way, Potion of Dexterity duration was 15 seconds, but if I used Slow Motion on the potion just after it entered my throat, I could increase the duration up to 4 minutes. Next was Potion of Strength to increase my Str by 12 and Werewolf Concoction to make sure I wouldn''t get tired by running, sprinting and jumping for one minute, or in my case 16 minutes. Then again, three potions at once were the best I could do. My body started burning up, my face turned pale, and purple veins showing up on my face. With a pair of a black dagger on my hand, I forward and trying to intercept the Kobold that was charging toward us. Much to my surprise, it seemed Azusa, Ieyasu and Eri somehow managed to get a hold at their wit and started fighting back. Meanwhile, Kabuto and Emika also started to chant. This time Kabuto used wind elemental magic ''Aero Slash'' to cut the Kobolds from afar. At the same time, Emika seemed to chant something... in a very low voice. But If I wasn''t wrong, her speciality was Power affinityby buffing the others party members. Azusa wielded her long giant sword with unfathomable speed. She quickly made short work of the few enemies. Her sword was one of the Magic Item that was given to her, the Diffusal Sword. It was powered by Power Magic Stone, and its function was reducing magic from any enemies that got cut by it, and it also automatically strengthened its wielder. Meanwhile, my black daggers ability was it couldn''t get rusty by using Time Magic Stone to stop the oxidation process.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Ieyasu''s affinity was Soul. He extended his hand in front of him and closed his eyes. Before long, particles of light appeared in mid-air, gathered together, and took on a shape. It was a bow. Moreover, it was not a compound bow, but instead looked more like a bow that was used in Japan, or Yumi Bow. However, it did not come with any arrows. He had taken a stance with the bow in his left hand and as soon as he opened his eyes. He then placed the fingers of his right hand on the bowstring as if he was holding an invisible arrow, and slowly drew the string back. Immediately after he did that, an arrow surrounded by a dazzling light appeared in his hand. An instant later, an arrow cut through the air as it flew straight towards one of the Kobolds and pierced its body as if it was getting sucked inside. Then it exploded along with a loud sound. The remaining fragments of its bodyscattered to the ground and the floor. Eri affinity was Space and Power, unlike her naughty appearance and outfit, she useda pair of axes as her equipment. These were also Magic Items, they could deliver shock-waves through space, and the power was definitely not lacking in any way.She took an imposing stance and did not let any enemy get past her with beautifulchops and smashes.Even though she had slenderfigure... she definitely played the role of a berserker. I changed the position of my daggers from facing backwards to facing forward. And starting stabbing the Kobolds right under their neck. This was the first time I ever used Alchemical Potions in the real battle, butthe lightness of my body, and the sudden increase of my movementreally helped a lot. And while we were pushing back the number of the Kobold to make a clear path for Kenji and the knights, a chant resounded. "Swirling Maelstrom Howling Across the Sky,Wiped Away My Enemies ''Tornado'' " Kabuto and Emika simultaneously launched theone-meter radius spiralling tornado forward, which engulfed the Kobolds. The Kobolds let out a death cry as thewinds shredded them to pieces. By the time they noticed, all theKobold were wiped out. "It seems the enemies on the firstfloor are too weak for the chosen one''s party." Said one of the knights with a complicated smile. "Anyway, good job on your performance this time, and don¡¯t forget to retrieve the Magic Stone." Said the other knight. I didn''t know what kind of face that I made, but after successfully subduing Magic Beasts for the first time, it was unavoidable forour faces broke out into different kind of emotion, some were smiling, some were looking gloom, some were disgusted by the blood and meat, some were feeling down. I might be smiling, but there was one thing I remembered. I only shrugged my shoulder when I saw Azusa''s pale face as she taking a look at her bloodied hands. "Hahaha! good job, good job! Next time you guys should leave some for me!" Said Jo as he hit my back. ...This person might look weak, but his strength definitely far higher than mine. "Ah...feel free to take the next enemy." I replied with a serious tone as I didn''t know whether or not he was joking or serious when he said that. Jo stopped for a moment and laughed bitterly at my remark. "A-ahaha... C''mon, we''re a teammate, right? Shouldn''t we help each other out? Anyway, you don''t mean it, right?" Anyway, I used Fast Forward to let out the rest of Alchemical Potion on my body. Another downside from Alchemical Potion was its resting time. It varied between each potion, but the shortest one would be 5 minutes. In the simplest way, if normal people drunk Potion of Dexterity, the effectiveness only lasted for 15 seconds, but the substance itself would last for 5 minutes. That meant for the next 5 minutes, he could only drink another one or two potions. And the resting time itself stacked between one potionand the other. In my case, Potion of Dexterity and Strength each had 5 minutes resting time, and WerewolfConcoction had20 minutes. All in all, I needed to castconcentrate while simultaneously using Fast Forward across my whole foraround 2-3 minutes before my current resting time was gone from my body. Though... "Are you alright?! You must still be unwell, right?!" Shouted Momo, the energetic girl with 140 cm height, with shoulder-length dark brown hair with a fair skin with a light complexion and an obvious delicate under-developed figure. Her affinity was Time. Though... because of her supportive skill, it seemed she couldn''t reduce the adrenaline that she got from the previous battle. "You want me to fully heal you, yes?! You do, don''t you?!" She shouted even though I hadn''t said anything. "Eh, don''t mind me. I''m fine." "No, no, no, no need to be shy! Now then ''Life''s refreshing breeze... Blow in energy and Restore the wound ''Heal''!" Warm and soothing ball of light floating around at my body, it was almost felt like I was sleeping under the bask of sun. "How is it? *gasped* Oh no!! You''re still pale!! You must need some more, then... ''Heal''!!" "No, this is the after effect-" "Heal!" "I''m not injured..." "Heal! Heal! Heal!" "...Just treat Kenji first." "Heeeeeal!!" As the ball of lights was covering my whole face, I decided it was useless to talk to her. And for the whole 3 minutes, she used all of her Magic Power to heal the (not) injured me. "H-how was it? Are you.... feel better now?" Asked Momo as with ragged breathing as sweats fell down from her forehead. And before I was able to say anything, she let the gravity pushing her body to the floor with a somewhat satisfied face and was letting out some weird ''Uhnnnnnnn'' noises from her mouth. And if I wasn''t wrong... she must be out of Magic Power. .... "Wait, what about me?!" Said Kenji with a face full of bruises. Anyhow, after waiting for Momo to replenish her Magic Power and healing Kenji''s face. We started walkingforward and found no particular problems,we took turns in battles, and made our way to theentrance to the next floor smoothly. Eventually, we decided to continue until we arrived on the 10th floor, which is the mark of aprofessional adventurer. Since the weakest of usstill had more power than the usual person, we easily broke through to the 10th level, even if we did not have much battle experience. And maybe because we still had much time. "Alright, alright. you guys. From this point on, not only will there be other types of Magic Beasts, but they will work together to attack us. Do not get careless just because it had been easy so far! The training for today will end after we clear the 15thfloor! Get fired up!" Said Jorgen. However, starting from 10th floor onward, traps were the scariest feature of this Catacomb. In some instances, the traps were lethal. There are some Magic Item or Spell to detect traps by perceiving the flow of magic. As most traps in the dungeons created by magic. However, why did we need that if we had the information and the experience? As our group quickly breezed through the floors, some others group somewhat started to follow us. However, Jorgen strongly admonished them; as the purpose of today training wasto accumulate as much experience as we could. Speaking of which... my role somewhat completely changed from the pathfinder, to fighter and ambusher, to group leader, to porter, to observer, and at last to trap searcher. Right now, considering I didn''t have any Alchemical Potion left, most of the time I stood on the back while occasionally protecting the spellcaster. And there was one big problem that Azusa noticed, and somehow she consulted to me. Walking alone at the back was Chikage, the glasses girl. Up to this point,she had not done anything in particular. No... she did do something, but others could do it better than her. Her affinity was Mind and she only had one skill, Charm. Her skill itself couldn''t be directly used in battle. Not to mention the limitation on her skill. Anyway, Charm allowed her to makes the targeted creature regarded her as its trusted friend and ally. But if the creature was currently being threatened or attacked byany of us, it would cancel itself. And charm didn''t enable her to control the target creature. It only perceivedher words and actions in the most favourable way to convince the target to do anything it wouldn''t ordinarily do. And the target never obeyed suicidal or obviously harmful orders. To be honest,I did not expect anything from her in the beginning. However, since the battle was well-off, and I started to become less useful, I startedpaying a little attention. "What about your ''I hate violence'' policy?" "Considering our situation, it can''t be helped, anyway... watching her somehow make me feel bad. So can you do something or not?" With a deep sigh and thinking for a while. For now, we''d just given her the weakened Magic Beast. That was all she did. Basically, there was no chance for her to get involved in the group battle, she just stood behind the cover provided byus. Again, the last remaining weakened Magic Beast was thrown to Chikage by us. When it approached,Chikage pierced it with her sword and as its abdomen was skewered by the sharp sword, she let out a sigh. It wasn''t like I couldn''t sympathize with her either... but she should''ve known since we were basically surrounded byso many strong people,too strong until our all-out effort was useless. She should''ve gathered some other knowledge to make herself useful rather than forcing herself to learn as many spell or train as hard as she could. As we stopped for a short rest, since Chikage did not have anythingto do or talk, she sat slightly afar from the rest of the group. Sometimes, she occasionally looked to the guy, including me and trapped in her own imagination before giving off a creepy laugh. It was not the first time today that I felther gaze. Since the morning I had felt someone staring. When I tried to locate the stare, this feeling would disappear. This had happened repeatedly since the morning, and just a few moments ago I noticed it was Chikage... not to mention from her expression alone, I bet she was thinking something indecent. (...Trap, eh.) We continued to explore the 15th floor. Each floor of starting from the 10th floor was almost as big as the city itself. Heck, even though I had studied the map beforehand, I still needed to take a couple of minutes to figure out our current location. Anyway, currently, up to forty-ninefloor had been mapped properly, so it was not that easy to get lost. There was also little concern that they would get caught in traps. Ah, speaking of traps. Currently,I was watching Chikage giving suggestion to a humanoid creature with long, sharp teeth, andhad pallid flesh that was stretched tightly over its starved frame called ghoul. The suggestion was simple. ''Walk forward.'' Just as the ghoul walked to the said direction, it fell to a pitfall on the ground andgetting pierced by the iron stake. "I-I did it! I really did it! look, I managed to defeat it!" Chikage jumped for joy, and then rushed over tome and hugged me tightly. Considering she was the only one that hadn''t been bathed by blood, her sweet smell and somewhat the bouncy soft sensation caused my heart rate to skyrocket. Well, considering she didn''t know the location of the trap, and as long as she didn''t have the intention to do so, I guessed this tactic could be used for several dozen of times. ...And I hoped she wouldn''t give the guys her creepy laugh. In the end, we arrived at the end of the 15th floor and got teleported back to the entrance. Switching with the 2nd shift groups as we were heading to the inn to clean our body and got some rest.
Karasuma Eiji 15 Year old Male
Affinity Time Level 6
Strength 38 Intelligence 52
Dexterity 46 Charisma 42
Constitution 32 Wisdom 51
Skills:
Fast Forward (O) Slow Motion (O) Language Comprehension (D)
Chapter 7 Dusk came to bring up the moonlight, to the time of reflection upon the day passed and awaiting the day to be renewed by the light of the sun. It was at the night like this I remembered about my mentors'' words. ''You don''t need to be the strongest or the fastest or the smartest or the richest or the most skilled. You just need to be the most prepared one.'' And that was what I did. After I bought the necessary supplies from the business district, I was sitting alone in my room, concocting the majority of the alchemical mixtures such as herbs, Magic Beasts liver, fangs, pelts, bones, and Magic Dust. If I had to say, creating the Alchemical Potions almost felt like as mixing cocktails; plus the weird ingredients. Huh, who would''ve known that the skill my mentors forced me to learn would be useful, and all this time I thought they forced me so I could be their personal bartender. By the way, even when I was using 16x Fast Forward, I still needed 1 or 2 hours of boiling time to create one Alchemical Potion. Speaking of which, I''d been doing this for about 4 hours straight after I went back to the inn. With 4 different 20x20 stone plate that had been imbued by Elemental Magic Stone (Fire), I had created 3 Potions of Dexterity, 3 Potions of Strength, 2 Potions of Intelligence, 1 Werewolf Concoction, and 2 Minor Healing Potions. Then again, this wasn''t enough. Today, my status might be increased by tons, but it was clearI didn''t have enough power to fight someone stronger than me, I still needed another attacking method. The only method I could do for now was using poisons, I did find some poisons ingredient when I was buying other supplies. Anyway, without hesitation, I started forcing myself to remember the poisons that I could make with the available ingredients. First, I was boiling the water herb in clear water for about 15 minutes until the water turned blue. After the water turned blue, add a pinch ofsleeping weed while slowly stirring it with Virgin''s Anguish stem until the Essence completely dissolved. Then poured the water onto the sterilized empty glass vial while adding Power and Mind Magic Dust while slowly stirring the vial until it turned blue-violetish. Voila, this blue and violet liquid wouldlul mortal creatures into a deep slumber. The shortest duration should be 10 minutes and any creatureswith Constitution lower than 32 should''ve instantly got affected by this. The creature with Constitution 32 or more should''ve still gotten affected by this poison, though it was depended on their body and mental condition. Anyway, there weren''t that many reagent and material vendors that sold poisons ingredient, especially the Essence of Pain. Maybe tonight I shouldlook it up at the black market, after all, each town always hadone or twoshady vendors. "Yeah... let''s surveyed the place right now." And just as I stood and wore my cloak. "Eiji!" Azusa wasopening the doorwith a bang. She barely blinked, just picking up her breath, her hair was messy and her face was as white as the cloud. No longer was she the calm beautiful girl, it was as she got trapped with someworries on her face. *** The moonlight had replaced the dusk, to the time the starswelcomed us above our heads. My mentors once said. "You don''t need to be the strongest or the fastest or the smartest or the richest or the most skilled. You just need to be the most prepared one." The most prepared, not only by making the plan, selecting the tools, learning the targets or preparing the escape path. But also prepared mentally, one of it was always preparing for the worst. Somewhere in the distance, a scream could be heard. In the room illuminated by the moonlight, westood there and saw the second shift. ¡°Let me go! They''re still in there! I promised! I said I will protect them! Let me go!¡± Towards Shishio who looked as pale as a ghost with blood covering his shiny armour and face. His friends and the knights desperately held him back. But, the difference between his strength and theirs was crystal clear. He kept struggling as they continued to restrain him. If he didn''t stop, he might injure himself, if not, injuring the others. Nevertheless, they could not just let him go. If they released him, he would definitely run back to the Catacomb. He did not have a shadow of his usual brightness, looking completely frantic. No, it might be more appropriate to say that he had a pained expression. Besides me, Azusa had this horrified expression, she didn''t even bother to keep her calm and cold mask. No, not only her, even the others such as Momo, the super happy looking energetic loli and Kabuto, the super unmotivated emo boy had the same expression as Azusa. I guessed that was normal... I didn''t know what happen, but considering the amount of the wounded students and the knights, some only had scrapes on their body, others were losing a limb, if not another fatal injury. Not to mention, several bodies were lying still under the white blankets. ...Considering the height and the body width, I assumed two students were falling to their demise. And by what Shishio said before, some of the students must be still in the Catacomb. Maybe because the others couldn''t understandhis current feelings or still shocked, they could not find the right words to say.If the others said too much, he would only talk back and then exert himself even more. They did not know what to do as they just stood around, unable to speak "Are you also trying to die? It¡¯s already too late for them! Calm down! You¡¯ll hurt yourself!" Jorgen tried his best to show Shishio how worried he was. However, this was not the right place and time to say something like this to the already confused Shishio. "What do you mean by that?!They are not dead yet! I have to go, they surely seeking for help!" No matter I looked at the situation, it was already hopeless for ''them''. However, theguy in front of me did not have the composure to accept this reality. At that moment, I coated a needle with the sleeping poisons walked over and wordlesslypierced the back of Shishio¡¯s neck. He jerked for a moment before he lost consciousness.His friends held the wearyShishio and looking at me, wondering what I''d done. But before they were able to complain, I already explained what happened to them. "Since you guys couldn¡¯t stop him,I had to do it. You guys understand that, right? We don¡¯t have much time. Before hisshout starts to affect everyone¡¯s spirit, or before he has a mental breakdown, I did the necessary thing to stop him... And this is sleeping poisons, don''t worry, he should wake up in 10 minutes or sooner. Now just take him as far as you guys could." Lifting Shishio up, one of them seized the opportunity to stop and saying his gratitude to me. Seeing the person fellow classmate died in front of their eyes, clearly had left a deep impression in allours minds. Everyone had a blank expression as they looked towards the white blankets, they had blank expression but their face clearly showed another emotion. Some had a pale face, almost felt like they were seeing a ghost. Some were crying for as loud as they could, some were holding back their cry. Some were trying to hold back their relieved expression, relieved they weren''t the one that died. Some were shaking in fear, worrying if they would be the next. Some were putting up their brave face, trying to console their loved ones. The locals were looking at us with disgust, they stare alone clearly showed death was an everyday occurence in this world. Some were trying to show their sympathy, even though the one who died, injured or missing wasn''t their friend. There were even some who shouted "I¡¯ve had enough of this already!" and slumped on the ground. Yeah... The group needed a leader right now. And certainly, it wasn''t me. I had observed and counted, even when Tadano, whom others would say as my friend wasn''t here. I still couldn''t bring myself to mourn for him.I only met him less than three weeks, and I didn''t talk much to him either. Still, Iwas making sure to show my sadness, no... I might be felt a little sad, but that was all. From the start, I''d prepared myself to face the casualty, either someone else or mine. And this was my self-defence method. This way, whenever someone betrayed me, getting caught or died, I still could make the beneficial judgment for me. And I knew what I needed to say, but I also knew words from my mouth wouldn''t reach their heart. No... it might reach them, but definitely not for the long term. "All of the healer! Don¡¯t just stand there! Make yourself useful! They won¡¯t be able to getstay alive if you start relaxing here! Try totreat the critical one first!"This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Indeed some nearby adventurers had already treated them, but we were the cheat ones, right? And this wasn''t the morale-raising speech.I glanced at Azusa, hoping she would be the one to raise their morale, but in the end, only the healer that managed to get their self together. Clearly, they wanted the time to process everything, but a few with healing skills or knowing healing magic staggeredly stood up, they moved very sluggishly but eventually, managed to treat everyone. We went back to the inn. But the way to the inn was long. It wasn''t darkbut I could not see anything on their expression as they continued to walk forward. Clearly, the long and gloomy atmosphere somehow made me felt weary. The moment we arrived at the inn. Sighs of relief escaped from the students in succession. There were a few that once again burst into tears and others who were embracing each other. Some of us still had dark looks on our faces, especially the 2nd shift groups. We had obviously not even spent one day in this town, andmost of them must feel like it had been a long time since wearrived here. Somehow, I only sighed. (Yeah... let''s sort my mind first.) Before me was Azusa. She only slouched on thenearby chair after passing through the door,with her head facing downward. "Azusa." I tried to call to her, but she didn''t respond. Heck, somehow I was surprised by the fact she could reach this inn without getting any help. "Azusa." Once again I muttered in a low tone as my hand gently pat her back. "O-oh...sorry, what?" Azusa askedme that while looking around at her surroundings as if she''d just realized she was sitting in the inn. Despite that, there was nosign of relief on her voice. With each stroke on her back, I could feel her warmness, the vibration from her heartbeat, and the sticky shirt after getting drenched by her own sweats. After waiting until her situation somewhat settled down. "Can you do me a favour?" Azusa had been looking downwards until now, but she suddenly raised her head andsilently nodded with a serious expression. "Can you make the list of the injured, the dead and the missing person? Just a simple one is fine." There were probably a lot of things that shecouldn''t digest, but in some case, it was better for someone to keep their mind busy at a time like this. Not to mention she seemed adept at this kind of task. Maybe it was because I suddenly asked that, she could only reply by asking "For what?" in return. "Duh... The damage report." I said. Standing up and messing with her hair. "Anyway, I need to go to somewhere. And if this too much then don''t force yourself." I said while walking away. It certainly didn¡¯t look like that was the case, but if I consoled her any further, she seemed would abandon the task. Stealthily I began to approach the knight group. I knew Jorgen and most of the knight were waiting on the outside, near the door entrance, leaving only 2 knights to watch us.No matter how I looked at it, my first suspicion was the knight. It just didn''t make any sense for the commander to not give us any morale boost, considering our situation back then. I walked, intently listened to the sound from the outside, and it was faint but I could I heard Jorgen familiar voice. I leaned on the adjacent wall, leaning on the wall while lighting my cigarette to avoid the suspicion from the other 2 knights while eavesdropping to their conversation. From what I could hear, they discovered a new trap... no, the new trap suddenly appeared on the 15th floor as we, the 1st shift and they themselves already checked the whole area. The trap was summoning several ranks A monsters, and it was thanks to Shishio, and if I didn''t hear wrong... Tadano that they could make it to the outside. (Huh... I wonder what he did.) Although thetrap had been disarmed, they didn¡¯t know if the trap was still active, hence they needed to report it. "And maybe I am being too hard with these children." Said Jorgen. "But... commander, that''s our order." Said one of the knight. "I know. As a commander there''s no way I can disobey the order, but what kind of commander am I if I can''t leadmy own soldier, especially them... this isn''t their war and yet they''re still trying to help us." Said Jorgen. Their conversation went on for about a few minutes before they decided to step into the inn.But, after hearing their conversation, it seemed they were having a hard time. Either by reporting the casualties and preventing their sadness from showing. There were several points that I got regarding the knights. First, they were good, none of them stating the name or the rank. But it was clear that someone higher than the commander itself was commanding him to not do any unnecessary action. King? The prince? or the Archbishop? Second, The whole purpose of this training was readying us to become a soldier.I couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh when I thought about it. If they bothered to invest this much on us, I worried they didn''t want us to go back to the Earth. Third... the whole new trap thing was stink. I didn''t know how dungeon traps worked in this world, but one thing for sure, If it wasn''t there when we arrived, then most likely someone was setting it after we left? But who? And the way they set the trap... It was almost felt like the setter knew our path? . ..If I was a demon race spy or assassin, I definitely went after the weakest one... no, that wasn''t right. Unlike Earth, in this Exceed, status was everything, and there was definitely a need to kill Shishio before his status skyrocketed. Then, the culprit set it because they knew Shishio was there was the correct answer. So the setter knew our path? But who and how? A Spy? Yeah... somehow... there must be a spy that gave our information away. And it was useless to think about this right now, there was not enough information for me to make the assumption either. In the end, after a brief meeting from Jorgen, thestudent dejectedly returned to their rooms. There were a few students who were discussing at the lounge, but the majority of them had already fallen into a deep sleep. As for me, other than feeling suspicious... and I really had nothing else to say. Once again, Itook a moment to make several potions. However, the weariness and the suspiciousness finally had gotten to me. In order to let my tired body and brain rest for a while, I decided to sleep earlier.However, whenI was about to doze off, I heard someone knocked on my door. For me who frequently pulled all nighters in Japan, it was still early, but it was already very late for Exceed. I reached out for my daggers and took my potion pouch, just in case if somehow the said spy was noticing what I did. However, I eased up after hearing the voice. "Eiji..., are you still awake? It¡¯s me, Azusa... Can I bother you for a moment?¡± Seriously?I froze for a moment and cautiously proceeded towards the door, with daggers on my hand. She might be the spy, or the spy itself was noticing I was talking to her. But after fetching the key and opening the door, Azusa stood there with ablue-sky negligee on. She was wearing an unbuttoned sweater over the negligee. When presented with such a scene,I unexpectedly switched off my cautious mode. There was no hostility and she didn''t seem to be a fake one either. Though it was hard for me to not say her current appearance was stimulating. "What do you want?" "The report?" "Ah... right, thanks. I almost forget about this." And just when I was about closing the door, under her slender arm and snow white skin, she heldit back. "....In case you don''t know, if someone is closing the door right in front of your face, that means he doesn''t want anyone to bother him." I said as I tried to push the door, tried hard enough to make my muscle popping out. "I just...need someone to talk. Am I bothering you after all?" "Yes." But by the time I replied, she already opened the door and invited herself into my room without any precaution. She sat on the chair near the window. But after I was sure she didn''t mean any hostility,I prepared the tea while still being slightly annoyed. "So, what do you want to talk about?" Tomy question,she only replied by hugging me from the back as I put the tea bag into the cup. She circled her hand around my body, from the vibration of her arm and the warm wet feeling on my back, I knew she was crying. "....If you turn your body, I''ll break your bone." I felt a chill run down my spine when Iheard Azusa said that in a low voice. In the end, we stayed in this position for a while until Azusa started to speak. "I envy you." "...Why?" "You... you are strong... back in the dungeon... even though you are weak... you aren''t afraid to fight monster... you aren''t afraid to get hurt... you don''t show any hesitation on your decision... just how? how? also back then... you don''t falter... you''re not afraid... how? how can you be so calm? how can you do that?" "I... I don''t think I can do this anymore. They''re not even died in the war... why can we have a normal high school life? ...Just a few weeks ago... we''re still living the normal life... two days ago... we''re still joking at the cafe... eating mysterious food.... and right now... Tada-dano is...." Even though I couldn''t see her face, I knew what kind of expression she''d made right now. As I poured the hot water onto the cup, her emotions swirled as streaks of warm water burned her cheeks. For each newdrops of water fell to the cup, a hot trail of agony shown as barearms shook in each rake of emotion through her frame. As I was stirring it the tea slowly mixing with the water... slowly but sure it turned black. At the same timeshe wasn''t only showing her sadness, but also regret, shame and anger burned just under her skin and a deep emptiness filled her heart as the sentiments mixed over and boiled past the seams she could no longer hold together. "Why? Why? Why? Why us? What should I do? What should we do? Why he needs to die?" Cried Azusa. "What happens if I am the next one? I don''t want to die, I don''t want to get hurt, I don''t want to kill. I just wanted us to have some foods together... sneaking out from the palace... I was ordering a beer... where does it go wrong? This morning... I thought you will ask us to go to the town again... seeing another place, together... the three of us... but where does it go wrong? I-I''m not prepared for this kind of life." ...My mentors always said to be the most prepared... but in the end, one of them was crying like a baby when she was about to die... In the end, no matter how much someone preparing themselves, no one would know the exact outcome. But there was another thing that one of my mentors always said. "Let it all out, the harder you cry, the better you''ll feel. And you''ll be able to forget... whatever is making you sad." After she heard this, on her next cry there was a rawness, like the pain was still an open wound. She would clasp onto anything for support, anything, a table or the back of a chair, and this time it was me. Her sobs were stifled at first as she attempted to hold her grief, then overcome by the wave of her emotions she would break down entirely, all her masks washed away in those salty tears.Minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling her again into howls of misery. When she, at last, let me turned my body to her face, she had the kind of face as I imagined. It was a picture of grief, loss, devastation. It was the face of one who hadknown suffering for the first time and didn''t know if she could do it again. On that night, the moonlight shone my room, a diffuse glow, lighting themood from pitch black to charcoal grey. She slept on my lap, her hands tightly clenching my shirt as her tears dried out, completely soaked into my pants. Chapter 8 On the next morning, for the first time after we arrived at Exceed, we had our day off. Some of us were spending their time lamenting on the dead, more precisely 4 dead students, some were feeling sorry for themselves. Others were in a high motivation to keep their mind busy, either by strolling at the town or searching for the other 3 missing students: Tadano, Kaiba and Haru. After hearing the details, although varied from one person to the another but it seemed after they almost arrived at the safe room, more precisely, on the sector 15-J, the area with a huge bridge made of stone. It was about a hundred metres in length. The width of the bridge was about ten meter, it didn''t have handrails and the edge was rounded. The ceiling on that area was higher than the others, about twenty meters tall. And supposedly, there was another floor below them, but there was no sign of life underneath the bridge, there was only a bottomless abyss, almost felt like everything under the bridge got cut off into another dimension. If one fell, there would be nothing to grab on to, and one would probably feel like falling into the hell. Three groups were accidentally meeting right in the middle of the bridge. On both sides of the bridge, they could see a door that led to the safe room. After confirming it, they walked toward the said room with a happy expression. However, everything changed when in the blink of an eye, several magic circles spread throughout the whole room, and it gradually became brighter and merrier. Magic Beasts emerged from the numerous magic circles that appeared on both sides of the bridge. On their front, a large amount of armoured skeleton stood in a battle-ready pose, their weapon held high as cold blue light shone in their eye sockets. On the other side, two Magic Beast appeared on one side of the passage, what at first appeared to be a simple huge uninteresting skeleton suddenly turned out to be a Lich, a gaunt and ghoulish figure with skin inscribed with faintly glowing runes. The other one was Banshee, a beautiful, ghostly woman glided through the air, her long hair flowing around a face knotted into a mask of rage. And the rest was they were trying to save themselves, and somehow, Shishio and Tadano were playing a big part in their escape plan. Then again, I wasn''t interested in their escape stories. But to tell the truth... there was a high chance for one of the missing person to be the spy. Starting from Tadano, I believed he there was a high chance he wasn''t the spy. First of all, we were spending most of our time in the library, not to mention the bullies knew him from before we got teleported. Then again, maybe because of the bully itself he decided to betray us. As for Kaiba, a boy with brown hair, sharp gaze and foul mouth. I didn''t know much about him, in fact, I never heard of his name until now. But from the gathered data, it seemed he had some friends back on earth, so it unlikely for him to be the spy from Exceed. Though, his affinity was Space and Soul, the perfect combination for using summoning magic. Last was Haru. She had chin-length curly light auburn hair and brown eyes. She had a height around 160cm or less.Others said she was generally very shy and reserved.Almost viewed as eccentric due to her tendency to keep to herself and avoided contact with others as much as possible. Her affinity was Power and Mind. With a deep long sigh, after spreading it this way, the three of them had the equalchance to be the spy. Either it was revenge, circumstantial power, and lack of alibi. But if I had to say, the most suspicious one would be Haru. Or this was all just a simple accident, either way, once I saw the crime scene, I should''ve gathered more information. In the end, I and several other students, knights and some help fromthe adventurers, were heading to the crime scene. *** Cracks appeared on the bridge, almost felt like this bridge would crumble anytime soon. Near the entrance of the safe room, a big hole was created on the bridge and several holes on the wall. The soil near the hole was soft, but the hole itself was rough, almost felt like it was crumbling because it couldn''t sustain the weight. Meanwhile, the holes on the wall were a perfect, smooth and clean circle. ...I guessed I knew what was happening. Most likely, the only one who had enough talent and firepower to create that many perfect holes were Shishio. In the meantime, Tadano affinity was Power, and his skill was Mineral Refining, either by increasing the density of mineral or decreasing the density. And most likely, he created a hole to trap one of the Magic Beasts away, but somehow he and maybe with the other two were getting stuck in the aftermath. "A bad luck? No..." I muttered all by myself. I was curious about the small black spot near the corner of the hole, quite ordinary and small, not even bigger than my thumb. With a smaller below the section and a larger one on the side, almost making a cone shape. If there was enough fire to leave a permanent mark on the stone, most likely it would be a strong spell. But why wouldn''t such a strong spell only leave a small burn mark? I took some steps near the hole just to observe thedirection of the burn mark and look another black spot.I couldn''t find something similar. "I see..." Despite his efforts, there was no way Tadano could create a hole this big, he just simply didn''t have enough firepower to do that. The most likely scenario: he was using Mineral Refining to weaken the bridge, planning to make it weak enough so that the Lich couldn''t chase after them. But apparently, someone was misfiring their attack in panic. And the attack itself had enough firepower to destroy the bridge. Considering the angle and the holes on the wall, Shishio most likely fought on the air. So he was out of the question. And compared to the one at my back, there wasn''t any other burn spot, chipped stone, or any sign of other attacks near the hole. "Ah, I think I get it." I spoke to myself. After he weakening the ground, most likely just before he wanted to escape, a big strong spell was landed onhis location. With the already cracked bridge, and the point of attack as the epicentre, terrifying cracks began to spread further, and finally... the bridge collapsed. The Lich must have desperately usedanything to get away from that spot, however, its action was worsening the bridge. And in the end, theLich fell into the bottomless abyss, along with Tadano and most likely bringing the other two with it. As I thought before, there was a high chance this happened because someone accidentallyfiring their spells toward this place. But this didn''t close the possibility of someone intentionally did this either. (Ah... if that is the case, so someone in the student''s group or the knight''s group is the culprit? most likely, he/she thinks the plan won''t work and decided to use the slightest opportunity to end this battle, including sacrificing the others.) I wouldn''t say the culprit did the wrong thing. In my honest opinion, if I was in their position, I would''ve done the same thing. After spending some time, the investigation was finished and the feeling of anxiousness arose. One of the adventurers, whom well known as the most famous treasure hunter,couldn''t find any trace of trap or someone was setting the traps.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Either way,in my conclusion: The culprit who launched the spell, and the one who summoned the magic beasts were two different people. In the end, we left the Catacomb after reinforcing the bridge with magic and another foundation. When we returned back to the inn, I discovered an old man with glamorous robe,sitting at a desk and drinking the tea. "Archbishop Lambda!" Shouted the knights as they gave him a salute. "What makes milord coming to this city?" Asked the 2nd person in command. Lambda''s face moved a little too slowly. "Ah... I''ve heard about the news. It is such a shame, losing 4 chosen ones and the other great knights. I thought I must be the one who prepared their funeral prayer and ceremony." A grin spread over Lambda''s face, wide and open, showing his over-whitened teeth. At that moment his motives were laid bare; he wasn''t doing this out of concern or regret. As he continued to speak, I could feel the room temperature fell with each cold words coming out from his mouth. (Watch this, only Archbishop could give the funeral for the fallen chosen ones. I will make this the greatest funeral ever.) If this was a manga, I bet such a dialogue box would appear on the top of his head. "We will gladly accept that. But, forgive me, Milord, rather than a funeral. But for now, I believe we need to search for the other missing person." "Don''t worry, this wouldn''t take long." Said Lambda. "And just take a look at them. What they need right now is a way to let their grief off, the assurance that the fallen ones would be accepted by Them." On the very next day. Everything should be as grey and foggy as my emotions, it should be cold and damp with silent air. But today wasn''t the day. The sun shone brilliantly and the virescent colour of the spring day under its glare was offensively bright and cheerful. It was as if the gods conspired to show how the world would go on without them. Even though the official mourning hadn''t yet begun and already I was tired of it. The funeral service was slower than a country bus, taking just as many detours. If this was the way they did a funeralin Exceed, I rather had my body getting eaten by a rat. This funeral was the very definitive of thingfor the blue blood. The singer and choir sang an unfamiliar hymn to sing, they might be good, but the song clearly wasn''t for us. Whoever arranged this funeraljust wanted this to be grandiose. The nobles didn''t care, sentimentality was a luxury they knew to ignore. They sippedthe wine and lost in thoughts of how splendid the flowers and casket would be. "Indeed... this is sad, how many lives would''ve gone because of the demons?..." Lamda''s speech was almost as long as 10 headmaster doing the same speech over and over again. "Is there someone who wanted to bid their last farewell?" Said Lambda as soon as he thought he already satisfying the guest. "I do." I''dalways seen Shishio ruffled, but today was the exception. His voice had a husky drawl and every step he took was in slow motion compared to almost anyone else I knew, by halfway through he was swaying on his feet. But his face was as passive as it would be. That wasn''t the way Shishio was, born full of spirit, now calm. After some hesitation on the top of the podium, he took a deep breath and started to speak. "I remember Rei''s grin when she saw not just the furniture and kitchenware and pictures on the palace. I remember how Ishida made a smile when he was talking about the Doraemon-shaped stain on the inn''s bathroom wall. I remember how Megumi''s looked when she was eating the food for the first time, and no matter how many times she ate it, she always had the same satisfied expression. I remember Hanamichi''s proud face when he, for the first time wore his black robe. His robe, still hanging behind a door because no one could bear to throw it out." With each breeze of wind, he shouted the name of the fallen ones, the name whom his heart still ached for. "And that''s why... I couldn''t imagine how we could continue in their absence." Struggling to hold back the grief, tears flow steadily, silently down on hisimmobile face, his soul unwilling to acknowledge the finality of their death. "But, I believe their spirit,their many ghosts, might stealthily helping us." He said. For the first time in a while, he raised his head and gritted his teeth. "And that''s why... that''s why I promise to get strong! I''ll end this war, once and for all! And I''ll bring everybody back! Even if I must drag your body with me!" Amazement didn''t quite cover it. The smile and the clap the nobles showed on the outside couldn''t adequatelyhide what they feel inside; A hero, a perfect soldier had been born. *** Azusa''s hand cracked acrossShishio''s face, snapping it back with the force of her blow and causing his head to reel sickeningly as he staggered backwards until he slammed into the wall behind him.It had been an open-handed smack and it had left a red welt behind. "...Are you a fool?" Said Azusa. "Do you know what you''ve just done?!" Her words packed the real punch. It was Carefully spoken, without drama, her words had an air of finality to him. "Yes, I do." But no matter how hard she railed against him, nothing would change Shishio''s mind. Indeed, what Shishio meant back then was a declaration of war. Rather than a duty, now the whole thing with the Demon race was a personal matter to him. The real problem was... there were many of us who didn''t want to do this anymore. But Shishio''s words clearly blocked their way to get out of this war. On the other side, there were many of us who believed Shishio did the right thing, and the only way to get back was by winning the war. "Then, for those who don''t want this, feel free to wait at this inn. I will not force you to join me. But, just trust me, once the war is over, I''ll bring everyone back to the Earth." Said Shishio. When Shishio opened his mouth,Azusa''s eyes were narrowed, rigid, cold, hard. "That isn''t the case you fool! Do you realize now people will put their hope on us?" ...I wondered how people said Azusa was an Ice Queen, if i had to say, she was the Flame Queen. "Then you don''t need to fulfil their hope, we alone are enough." Said Shishio. The could stand with hard staring eyes that never blinked all night long. They could squabble over anything right now. Exhaling a deep breath... to tell the truth, I didn''t care about what they wanted, today was very tiring, the nobles, the whole ceremony, putting up with their emotion, cautiously looking for the spy, gathering the information. Raising my hand. "...I think Shishio is right." Some were looking at with questioning gaze, but some were looking at me with a serious look. Hearing this, Azusa faced me with her reddening face. "There''s no way killing is the right answer!" Said Azusa. "I don''t like that idea either, but we have to do this! And I have prepared myself for the consequence." Said Shishio. "...But, if we don''t listen to them, we will be homeless, you know?" My comment was so wrong and so out of place, so far, they just stared at me with open mouth. Their brain formulated no thoughts other than to register that they were confused. "What? Are you guys never thought about it? Who do you think pay for this inn? Your weapons? Your food? Duh, it was the kingdom. We have all of this because they think we will help them finish their war." Azusa was raising her eyebrow. This was unexpected. This was way too unexpected. Such a thought clearly showed on her face. She gazed intently at my face without intending to. And just as she opened her mouth. "For those who don''t want to take a part in a war, how do you think you will live? Do you even know how money works in this world? Heck... in fact, do any of you have money?" "And for those who want to do war, especially you, Shishio, how do you so sure the Demon race is the one who did that? Because of what Lambda said? Even if that''s true, do you know just how powerful is the enemy? What¡¯s the war potential on the human side? Don''t tell me you''re planning to join a war without knowing whether or not we can win?" I never actually cared about what people thought of me, whether it was positive or negative. And this time I didn''t care if they didn''t listen at all... What I and we, needed right now was less shouting and more resting. "...Listen, I have a proposal. It might be not perfect, but I''ll tell you after we get some rest." *** I¡¯d seen nothing but the empty darkness, heard nothing but the falling water. I stood in the pitch black, desperate to run away, run anywhere, but was frozen in place until I saw the light... and heard a song. "Gaab uh pmehgehk aoac~ Ys E nasaspanat po fryd, po frus~?" (Keep on blinking eyes~ Am I remembered by what, by whom~?) "Rss? Yr! Ed''c oui! Tet oui rayn so cehkehk?" (Hmm? Ah! It''s you! Did you hear my singing?) I never had a hard time to readsomeone expression, but the young-looking girl expression indicated that she was in an extreme happiness. Not because I saw or read her expression, but I''d just knownher emotion... and she seemed to know me? "E''s cu aqledat dryd oui yna lusehk cu cuuh! Cu, tu oui fyhhy mecdah du so cuhk? Iss... Pid hud zicd oad! So vimm cuhk lyh pa raynt mydan! Pid Ev oui cdemm fyhd du mecdah... E femm cehk ouin vyjuineda cuhk!" (I''m so excited thatyou are coming so soon! So, do you wanna listen to my song? Umm... But not just yet!My full song can be heard later! But If you still want to listen... I will sing yourfavourite song!) The girl tenderly clung to me with a smile. I could feelher body temperature and the beat from her heartbeat seemed strangely realistic. No... the beat and warmth I felt from the girl in front of me telling me that this wasn''t a dream. Chapter 9 "...Listen, I have a proposal." Three weeks had passed since I said that, and now I was on the 25th floor. As I swung against the Sarcophagus'' attacking shadow arms, I closed in on it. The Sarcophagus was swarthy with a girth of over 2 meters wide, and a height of over 5 meters coffin. Bulges and crevices could be seen here and there on its body, exuding an eerie aura. The simple prominent face, with red, menacing eyes were attached on its ''forehead''. White, sharp fangs created a devilish smile and magical inscription patterns veiled the coffin. And every time it opened its coffin, lifeless mummies were swarming out. Wrapped from head to toe in ancient strips of mouldering linen, and some mummies had magical texts in their linen wrappings, Judging by the way they glared in my direction, it was definitely not friendly. However, the same held true for me as well. I was here to defeat it. They were an undead-type Magical Beast, both of the Sarcophagus and the Mummies were able to restore its body by growing its own body. I killed the slow mummy one after another by coating my dagger with Healing Potion and slashing at their body, while sometimes throwing the Healing Potion flasks to them. Yes... Healing Potion was giving damage to every undead creature in Exceed. But, even if I had an information advantage and was currently in favour, I still couldn¡¯t let my guard down. This wasn''t a normal situation. Emika wouldn''t support us with her magic, Kabuto wouldn''t chip the Sarcophagus, and Ieyasu wouldn''t snipe and protect us from the oncoming mummies. Azusa and the rest wouldn''t single-handedly destroy the Sarcophagus. I was alone... no, I needed to do this alone. On top of the Sarcophagus'' head, was able the shadow magic, Shadow Arm, making it annoyingly tough to close in at the Sarcophagus. Not to mention the mummies endless army, and for some who had inscription... they could use Despair. Despair was an Mind-affecting fear magic, it was a magic specialized for the undead. If one didn''t have Wisdom higher than 32, they would be paralyzed by fear whenever they saw the mummy''s eyes. Mine was definitely higher than that, but if I didn''t keep my emotion in check or get careless, it would still affect me. I continued fighting while avoiding their eyes for some time until the Sarcophagus suddenly let out an incomprehensible scream. Then suddenly, the Sarcophagus did something different. It slightly opened its casket and the Sarcophagus'' shadowy arms appeared a pitch black shadowy blade, it raised the swords about its head and swung them towards me. Under ordinary circumstances, it was a blow that should have cleaved my body in two while creating a spray of blood. However, when the tip of the shadow sword was close to making contact with my head, a sharp sound rang out and sparks flew. The blade was stopped mid-swing, as though it had been blocked by my daggers. The Sarcophagus groaned several times as if it was dissatisfied and tried to force its way through, but there was no way brute force would work. "It¡¯s useless. Such attacks won¡¯t work on me." I monologued with confidence and stretched my right arm outwards, while my left hand was reaching my pouch. Right now, I was under the effect of Foresight, this spell would let me saw in advance where the enemy would attack me for the next 5 minutes. From my left hand, I took a flask filled with grey powder and throwing it against the floor. Normally, it would only create a 10-metres-radius blinding burst of light. But if I used it on the creature that was sensitive to the light, such as the mummy and the Sarcophagus'' shadow arms. "UoOO!" They let out a scream as the mummy got stopped and the Sarcophagus'' shadow arms temporarily dissipated. "Ye almighty weapon that destroys everything through all of creation, appears in front of me-- Sand of Time!" As soon as I said that, sands appeared in mid-air, swirling near my right hand, and burst forward. Sand of Time would temporarily age the target, immediately advancing it to the next few years. And normally, this spell couldn''t kill any living creature. But the one in front of me wasn''t a living creature. Maybe because it was only a sand, the Sarcophagus didn''t even bother to avoid it and focus on growing another pair of arms, but when the sands touched the sarcophagus'' casket and the creatures inside it. A cry of agony rang out. The Sarcophagus'' stopped moving its shadowy hands as the part that got touched by the sand, in the blink of an eye, became sands. I dashed forward, pointing my right arm towards the Sarcophagus and once again, cast the Sand of Time with a yell. The Sarcophagus reflexively tried to defend against the sand by closing its casket down and seal it with its shadow arms. But it was too late, its arms didn''t have enough time to regenerate. Another burst of sands burst forward, and this time, some of the sands managed to slip in before the Sarcophagus completely closed its casket. Immediately after that, the Sarcophagus was twitching for a while, before it completely stopped moving and then slowly collapsed to the ground. Simultaneously, the mummies surrounding me also fell to their knees and disappeared to the dust, leaving only their wrapping behind. After confirming that with a glance and ensuring everything was ok, I used fast forward to destroy the rest of the Alchemical Potion on my body and restoring my stamina. Well, the truth was I didn''t need to do this after every battle, but just in case something happened. In any case, I reached into the Sarcophagus'' body and took the treasures from the inside. The mummies wrapping itself could be used for Magic Paper material.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. But that wasn''t the reason I came today. In front of me was this floor Safe Room. It had the same look like the other safe room, square with a teleportation magic circle that would teleport us back to the entrance. With the only difference was the mark on the wall. Series of tally marks were etched onto the walls. And as I made another Tally Marks, made me the 139th person from the student group to arrive here. 3 weeks ago, I proposed the plan to create a sub-team. Basically, whether or not they wanted to join in the war, they must help the others, in any mean necessary. And what started only as the War group and the Support group had been developed into several divisions. The first of all was the War group. Their Job mainly joining in the war. And they had four divisions. Conquest group, for participating in the war. Liberation group, for liberating the area that had been captured by the Demons or Exterminating the Demons and Magic Beast in the human zone. Defend group, for the countermeasure against the Demons attack, mainly acted as back-up for another group. Searching group, for searching the 3 missing people, mainly acted in the Catacomb, also acted as the funding group. The Support group, their job mainly providing the support for the War group by any meant, also acted by searching the way back to the Earth. Also had four divisions. Convoy group, mainly going to another country and asking for more backup and cooperation in the war, also responsible by making sure no one was using the Chosen One''s status for their own convenience. School group, basically they just went to the Magic School for searching the way back to the Earth. Research group, the same as the School group in a more individual way, also acted by making several tools to help the other groups. Funding group, basically looking for a way to make money. Either by making a store in the merchant city, gathering the ingredient in the Dungeon and doing Adventurers job. This might seemed unnecessary, considering we''d the country back-up, but with this group, we would have spare money for our own. The last, Information group. Basically searching for the information about anything. In the simplest way, a Spy. Consisted of only six people. Four of them would be searching for information by any meant necessary, they moved individually while gathering the information. While the other two would be the one to sort and relay the information to the other groups. This one was my Idea. In any case, I looked to the wall... and only gave a wry sigh when I saw the tally result. From 243 students, we only had 236 left, 3 among us was losing a limb on an eye. Anyway, this time I etched a new mark on the Informant group, making me the 3rd person in this group.
War Support Information
Conquest (36 / 75 people.) Convoy (9 / 15 People.) Relay (1 / 2 People.)
Liberation (11 / 30 people.) School (25 / 25 People.)
Defend. (24 / 30 people.) Research (4 / 20 People.) Informant (3/4)
Search (6 / 10 people.) Funding (20 / 25 People.)
At least in this way, anyone could choose their side. If you were slow, then you couldn''t complain. If you wanted to get into the division you wanted to be, then try harder. As for why we needed to mark this in the floor 25th, It was to make sure everyone could take care of themselves. An average party of 5 C rank adventurers were needed to pass this floor, and if we could do this all by ourselves, that meant we were much stronger compared to some of the best people in this world. Of course, everything wasn''t as smooth as we were planned. Especially from their side. On the very first day, we proposed this plan. *** "Your... own division you said?" Said Jorgen. "Yes, and don''t worry about the equipment and the tax, we would pay it once we had the money." "That... would be troublesome... and I believe I don''t have the liberty to give you guys the right." Said Jorgen. "Do I look care? As far as I know half of us are even stronger than you. Give me one good reason to listen to listen to your opinion? Anyway, we''re doing this, whether you like it or not. But for the sake of cutting unnecessary conflict, how about letting us meet the person in charge?" Just like this, Jorgen immediately went back to the Kingdom and the very next day, we, and what I meant by we was me, Azusa, Shishio and Chikage had an audience with King Leighton Nicolai L.A. De Grurian. "It¡¯s been a while since we met, aren¡¯t we? I¡¯m glad because there is no further causality after the last one." "Well, it¡¯s somewhat safe, for now..." "Hmm.. what do you mean by that, Mister...?" He spoke by using small voice as he was trying to hold his surprisement. And it seemed he had forgotten about me, well... I guessed that was normal, considering I never talked to him at the palace. "It''s Eiji. For starters, I wanted to apologize, but I believe there is a traitor, either in your rank or between us." The other three totally stunned as the word ''traitor'' bounced around inside their skull. Couldn''t help it, after all, I never mention anything about a traitor. "Traitor, you say? You have made a serious accusation over there boy. And what''s your proof?" "There isn''t any definitive proof. But you can say it is my instinct." "Instinct, you say? And is that the reason you wanted to make your own division? Hm... I think I know what you wanted, but deciding selfishly without definitive proof, that''s a serious crime, you know?" It seemed the king already connected the dot. Indeed, if there was a spy, the little your organization the easier it was to find them. Not to mention, by splitting the cheese, the rat would have a hard time to gather a necessary information. "Yes, I''m well aware of that. But there is no problem to prepare an umbrella before the rain, right? I personally believe it will be better to suspect one or two people rather than none." I believed, even if the King didn¡¯t want it, but judging from his character and his upbringing, this would probably be ok. After all, I bet he was the one that ordered the knights and the rest to train us into a soldier. And if that was what he wanted, this request wasn''t unreasonable. I gave him the paper, and it was about the rough plan. "Moreover, if you don''t like our idea, then we''ll return our equipment and repay the food, alongside with the longing. I believe we don''t need a lot of time to gather that amount of money." After all, if the King rejected our proposal, we could go to the Archbishop. If not, we could go to another country, I meant, what kind of sane leader would let go 236 cheats like characters?. "Not to mention, if this plan goes well, the other''s country might also give more support. I don''t see any minus in our proposal, if, your objection is fighting against the Demons." Or is there another hidden agenda? such as, monopolizing the chosen ones to become the greatest country after the war is over? ... That was what I wanted to say if he still rejected our offer. And if he got offended by my words, then it was worthless to speak further with this person and that was why I brought Chikage with us. As far as I knew, her Charm was undetected, almost untraceable if I must say. "Oh, and don''t worry about the taxes, we will pay it as per normal citizen. And we won''t join at political that''s unrelated to us and the war. In fact, we''ve created a whole division to help the war victim, you can think it as the free gift and the free donation." I said. The king was crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a few seconds. "...I confirm the arrangement. And I¡¯ll issue the instruction immediately, I can even prepare the building for your base of operation." "No, it¡¯s fine." "Then, do you even have enough money to buy the land and the building? Just think this as our gift." "To tell the truth, we have prepared the place, it might haven''t habitable yet. Since the roof went bad, as for money, as I said, we could gather that in the blink of an eye. Not to mention, we don''t want the spy, if it from your side, to put some kind of eavesdropping magic on our base camp." "Then, there is no problem. But since I know several buildings will be disposed of eventually, please suit yourself. I¡¯m going to circulate a non-intervention order from this side, but don''t forget to send someone if you''re interested in one of this building." The conversation was rough... after all, he was indeed a real King. But, in the end, King Leighton was managed to sweeten his deal. As the conclusion, King Leighton gave us several private lists about the estate, big enough to handle 300 people. And our basecamp must be in his territories and must be reachable. Then, for every base we would make outside of our main base, whether it was inside of the country or another country, we must report it directly to King Leighton. Chapter 10 As I used the teleportation circle, I arrived at the designated area near the dungeon entrance. Two people, Kabuto and Emika welcomed me. This was a temporary countermeasure, considering we hadn''t know whether or not the spy still with us. For the long term, we might use some help from the guild receptionist, or maybe the others adventurers and vendors in this place. ".....So? Did you succeed?" Asked Kabuto. "Of course duh, it was easy." "....Easy? Haha... I see... of course that''s easy... if Eiji himself said it is easy... then I must be a ballpoint that runs out of ink... haha... useless... even if I weren''t around... it wouldn''t make any effect, right?" Somehow, It was surprisingly tiring and amusing when I was speaking with Kabuto, he wasn''t a badman. But he was completely spiritless, one wrong word and his motivation would be gone as fast as snow falling on a hot plate. "Um... congrats!" Said Emika. No... she was mostlikely shouting, shouting in a very low volume. Anyway, no other studentwent in when I was on the inside. We left the entrance behind,we walked along the street for a while and finally met Azusa.She looked with her sharp gaze, and fixed her eyes on at our direction. After that, she started walking towards us without a hint of hesitation. "Oh... captain, do you want to eat with us?" Asked Kabuto. However, Azusa just looked at him, "Sorry, but Ihave no time, and can I borrow him?¡± And cut him down with a single sentence. In addition, Kabuto held his chest as if he had been pierced through by her frosty glare. "I-I know, right!? There¡¯s no way you would have anytime with a piece of trash like me! Aah, a worthless man like me want to eat at the same table as you to everyone else is pretty brazen, right?" I somehow started to wonder if his heart always collapsed no matter what others side. Even though we were practically eating at the same table today. "Eh!? Ah, umm, sure, I don¡¯t mind." Said Emiko. Hearing Emiko¡¯s answer,Azusa grabbed my hand, turned around and walked out boldly... without even waiting for my own confirmation! "Umm... You know, Kabuto. Do you think Azusa is dating with Eiji?" "Why wouldyou ask for my opinion... I''m really just a useless person, after all...haha..." "E-em... sorry, I guess?" Thanks to my eavesdropping training, somehow... I still could hear their conversation under the sea of noises. And it looked like the otherstudents were already convinced that we were lovers. I realized some looked at him with eyes alight with curiosity or jealousy. I couldn¡¯t blame them though.After all, the Ice Queen had never spoken to anyone of her own volition, after all. She took me through the dark and shabby alley, until we arrived at the place with the signboard that had a picture of a green snake drawn on it. After opening the door and going inside, we saw a tall and slender man sitting at a desk and counting the money. "THAT GODDAMN SHISHIO!! GOSH! HOW CAN BE THERE IS SOMEONE AS STUPID AS HIM?!" We just barely entered the pub, and one second later, she already exploded. Yeah... on the past three weeks, almost twice every day she took me to the place like this just to explode. And in her case... it was an explosion first and then the reason. To tell the truth, she and Shishio weren''t that different. "Hm? What¡¯s wrong? You look really tired." Asked Azusa for a moment as she stopped yelling. "...I went through hellthe moment you decided tolash out to me in a place like this, without taking a seat or ordering a drink, you know?" She might not aware but lately, we''d been banned on several places like this. And that one time when I bought the poison supply. "Ah... you''re the guy that got shouted at the bar last night, aren''t you?" Said the poison seller. "Hm? Did I do something bad? I assumed that the place like this would be the most convenient place to shout." "No, that is¡­ Azusa, you should be more aware of your surrounding¡­ Never mind." I decided to stop there because it would take a long time to explain. She probably didn¡¯t even know how the other man saw us. In any case,we took a seat after confirming the quiet place without many people nearby. We both satfacing each other. "Anyway... before you lashed out, I''m going to order some drink and food. What do you want?" "Same as you or anything tasty." She said. Despite the awkwardness of her shouting, the bar went silent. The surrounding men were speaking in a low voice as I walked to order some food, and what reached my ear was something just about me getting dumped or I was her servant. I didn''t mind being lover getting dumped... but why servant? "Surprise me please, two portion." I said as I gave the man one silver coin. Seeing the silverish coin, the old man only nodded with a big grin, showing off his only tooth left. " Don''t worry about this. Ah by the way Kiddo. She¡¯s certainly quite beautiful. Is she your lover?" "No." I affirmed his guess without any hesitation. "Then, you''re her servant? You don''t look like one though. Ah, her sex slave?" "Out of respect on your last tooth, I''ll pretend I don''t hear that." "Gahaha! Then she''s no one right? So that''s fine, right?" The old man said as he pointed his finger toward our table. Somehow, three men already sitting there, trying to make a move on her. One of them was wearing expensive looking clothes with lion insignia, the others two was almost looked like his bodyguard. If this Earth... this would be a crime, but if I wasn''t wrong, in this world as long as a girl had their first, society would accept her as the woman. At first, I decided to ignore it, considering it was Azusa, the 2nd strongest person in our group. But... most likely because she was Azusa... the 2nd strongest in our group, with Strength already reached 800... wouldn''t it be a problem if she accidentally slapped them? *Sigh* "C''mon, the lady with black hair.Just tell us your name, don''t you feel lonely? I don''t mind accompanying you." Said the most likely rich man. "She''s with me." I said from the bar desk. "Ha? Shut up, you commoner! Right now,Lord Mark is speaking, don¡¯t interrupt!" Scolded the man that looked like his servant. The one tooth old man behind me, immediately pulling my shirt and shaking his head. "Don''t. it''s better to search for another one." While nodding to the Oldman that tried to stop me, I observed that the man in the middle most likely holding his pouch on his back pocket. Nevertheless, the natural red haired man that talked to Azusa clearly showed elegance good-looking nobles, and it probably wouldn''t different with other nobles. The man with red hair displayed a calm pose, but the two furious servants at the back were despising me completely.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Excuse me, but who are you?" "Ha! You bastard! It¡¯s rude not to know who is Lord Mark." Shouted Servant B. "Calm down. My name is Mark DeGrace. I am the second son of proud DeGrace family who will become respected noble eventually." The man who introduced himself as Mark bowed gracefully. Hmmm, unlike his servants, this man seemed to esteem politeness. "So... how much?" Said Mark as he took his embroideredpouch from his pants pocket. "Hm?" I said as I tilted my neck... not like I didn''t realize where this would be going though. "She''s with you, right? So how much do I need to pay you so you''ll leave her? No, how much do I need so you leave this bar? To think you have the same black hair as her... disgusting. Seeing someone has the same hair colour as her brilliant obsidian hair, ah... you, woman, you are very beautiful. Would you like to become my attendant?" He...was beyond creepy. "Oi! You!Lord Mark is giving a direct deal to a commoner! What''s your answer?" Said Servant A. Before the servants finished speaking, Ireplied on the spot by splendid business-like smile. "Nah... I''ll pass, I might not look like it, but I''m a pretty successful artist (Con artist and escape artist), you know." "Deciding in spur of moment¡­ As expected from the foolish commner." Said Servant B. ...He kept calling me ''commoner'' but wasn''t he just a servant? "Hahaha! you guys, calm down. You said you are an artist right? Then how about working at my household? That way you can see her every day, right? And you don''t need to worry about getting hungry again." I''d been wondering for a while, but why didn''t he ask Azusa''s opinion? And somehow she didn''t mind or bother by this incident either. And just when we made the rule about not to use our chosen one''s status. ...Not to mention, it would be a bad news if the chosen ones were hitting noble first, weren''t we? "Hah, what''s up with that silence, commoner? getting tempted by Lord Mark offer?Don''t tell me he''s your lover, eh woman? I can give you a far better life than this." Said Lord Mark. ...Did he just mentioned his self as ''Lord Mark''?! Anyway, this should give me enough reason. "Ah, yes, she''s my lover. So can you just give up? no matter what you said, I''ll refuse." "Wha- Come on, you¡¯re supposed to deny that!!" From out of nowhere, Azusa decided to speak. I tried to give her an eye signal, but she completely ignored me. "Er..., we are, aren''t we? Don''t tell me youlike that freak?" "T-That¡¯s not what I mean, and besides, are you really okay with someone like me!?" "Duh..." ........ A heavy silence settled over us, thicker than the uneasy tension in the atmosphere. Unsettled eyes glanced unceremoniously around and tried to avoid catching other glances that passed by. Some shifted uncomfortably in their seat and others grasped their sweaty, nervous hands under the tables, and even others shuffled their feet against the cobbles of the bar floor, awkwardly tracing the outlines of each brick while judging whispers swirled in the air around the small space. And the one who broke the silence. "Er... Kiddo, your food will be cold if this goes on." Maybe because the old man worried about me, or maybe because the old man didn''t want any fight in his falling anytime soon bar, or maybe he just couldn''t read the mood. But he put a big plate of food onto the bar table, filled with boiled crayfish, I guessed he really gave me what I ordered. "Oi! Don''t you dare ignore us!" Said Servant A, though this time he walked into my direction, and raising planning to unsheathe his swords. Veins appeared on the forehead of the man who asked him. Anyhow, even if they were angry, it was too much for them to be this menacing because someone ignoring them. Then again, maybe because I hadn''t change my expression made them saw me as nothing but an impudent fellow. I wasn''t crazy enough to think it was my fault. But I guessed I needed another countermeasure for the next problem like this huh. With his eyes opened wide, the man who was swinging his sword at me,now was kissing the ground, accompanied by a loud sound. With dumbfounded expressions, Mark, Servant B and the others moved their gaze from the blown man tome, who was gripping the tail of the red, boiled crayfish with a pose of someone grabbing a twin dagger. Somehow, I felt the eyes of the dead cracked crayfish were somehow shining. "Wh-, wh-." Servant B was flustered. After all, I did not want to get involved with noble since it would become various problems later when thenoble of this houseaware we (the chosen ones) were the one who beat them. But,there was no way they could report me if I used crayfishes to smack someone with a sword, right? Taking another pair of newly boiled crayfish, I glanced at Mark and his servant. Needless to say, having received a pressure he never felt before, the man of Sea-dweller tribe thrust his rapier while shouting as he panicked from seeing his friend getting beaten down by a crayfish. "..." I wondered how much Mark paid them. I meant, it had been a while since I fought against the fellow human, but man, I guessed we were the real cheat, or this one was weak? I could see in his eyes, this was an attack that satisfied him his whole life. However, the sure-kill attack pierced thecrayfish on my left hand and was easily stopped. "Eh? What? H-How¡­" When I swung the crayfish on my left hand, the man was clearly at a loss on his word after seeing the unbelievable spectacle, and thushis rapier was easily snatched. The swinging momentum made the rapier flew out from the crayfish body, getting stuck to the ceiling. "Sorry, I''ll pay!" I once again swung the crayfish on my right hand.Directly hitting the face of the servant whose rapier was taken and thrown away. He groaned as the blood gushed out from his bleeding nose and had cramped cheek because of the almost straight from the comics scene of the red boiled crayfish hitting his face. Taking another crayfish with my left hand, I swung the crayfish to the top of his head, and he waskneeling on the ground just like the man earlier. "Now then, I actually don¡¯t want to fight against the noble. As such, why don¡¯tyou just leave this place? However, indeed I can¡¯t stay silent if someone tries to hurt my companion... especially by the crayfish." Throwing the crayfishes from my one hand, which had broken down, and raising my hands as a sign of peace. However,Mark didn¡¯t seem to accept my proposal. Maybe it was becausehis pride seemed to have been damaged by me. "Y-you! H-how about working with me?! If you don''t want, you must be a demon, aren''t you?! Don¡¯t move you demon! I will make sure to hand you over to the Kingdom. Your safety isn¡¯t guaranteed though." I... clearly at a loss for words, I had met numerous amount of stupid and arrogant people back on Earth, but he was the stupidest one I''d ever met. And was that the best threat he could think off? "Oh, I don''t mind. But what happens if I''m not a demon? That''s a serious accusation, you know? Well, not like you''ll care about the truth. But what will you tell to them? A demon beat you with crayfish? Well, feel free to do that Mr noble, let''s see how others will look at you for the rest of your life." "In fact, that lion insignia, that''s your house symbol, right? What is it... ah, right, DeGrace? Does it depress you, Mr DeGrace, to realize the lion is getting beaten by a crayfish?" I stopped for a while, shaking my head around to show Mark how the others reaction. They all shaking, biting their own lips,a vain attempt to keep their laugh at bay. "Aw~ does Mr Lion want to cry? How about you telling your papa lion about how the crayfish humiliate your house?" "U-ugh! Y-you''re going to pay for this!!" And there he went, running away leaving his servants behind. While I was wonderingwhat kind of face Mark would make if he knew we were the chosen ones. What followed was a high cold cackle, piercing the silent air, rippled across the otherwise silent room. "HAHAHA!! If only I can see this every day!!" Said the one-eyed muscular man. "Hah! His face is even uglier than my wife!" Said the middle-aged thin man. "Gahaha!! Kiddo!! Feel free to order anything that you want! It''s on the house!!" Said the one tooth old man. Though, I immediately went toward Azusa. "Azu-." Azura staggered back two or three steps from her chair as if she was shocked by my words. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me gather my thought first." She said as she was taking a deep breath. "Erm... so now what? Are we going to do Night-time play?" "Err...Sorry. That''s only an act, but I didn¡¯t expect you to take it so seriously. Maybe I should play it differently." "E-Eh!? I-I wasn¡¯t taking it seriously at all! Not one bit! Whatever gave you that idea!? I was definitely not thinking about anything of the sort!! Hahaha! Of course, I know that was an act!" She broke out in a cold sweat while talking continuously. "Speaking of which, why don''t you just decline him?" I asked in a low voice. "We are in a different world, after all. What¡¯s wrong living a little dangerously? And that was the first time someone is hitting on me. I''m just curious, you know?" Well... couldn''t blame her, I meant everyone must be curious by that kind of situation. "So... what is this ¡®night-time play¡¯? Come on, tell me." Azusa thought that she had successfully put that topic to rest, but I continued to ask that while fully knowing the meaning of that. "You don¡¯t need to worry about it. It is something that is completely unrelated to you." "We don¡¯t know that for sure, right? You never know, there might be a time when I have to play that with you." "T-That¡¯s not going to happen!" Azusa answered in a shrill voice while I secretly thinking that it would be nice if such a thing were to happen. "...You¡¯re right. Having someone like me as yourlover would just be troublesome for you." "Eh!? N-No, I didn¡¯t mean it that way, and it certainly makes me happy when you say that, n-no! I mean everyone will happy if the opposite gender said that right? but..." "Azusa... there are some very nasty men who will say things like that to mislead women, so be careful." "...Ah, okay." I felt like an executioner watching a girl being swallowed by a snake, she dropped her head and slouched her shoulder as she seemed to get smaller with every second passed. "Good." Hearing her reply,I smiled and patted her head. I could not help but think that I wasmaking her danced in my palm. And, having these kinds of interactions with this kind of girl who had been a faraway existence to me until only recently felt both fresh and amusing. Chapter 11 Several days after Iarrived on the 25th floor. Having woken up bright and early,I wascounting the stock of my potion, separating them from the poisons, and sorting the raw ingredients. After that, I cautiously putting them into the backpack and separating some on the waist pocket and hidden pocket. Other than that I also put 2 Magic Stove, a Magic lamp, 10 days of ration, civilian clothes, and alchemy and magic books. Strapped a bedroll, a mess kit,25m rope, and crowbar to the outside of the backpack. On the outer pocket, I put 10-meter roll of wire string, a map, and a disguise kit. On my waist, I put a bell, a small file, a set of lock picks, a small mirror mounted on a metal handle, a set of narrow-bladed scissors, and a pair of pliers into a leather case. Strapped on my leather vest and hidden under my cloak were several throwing knives. "Yep, this should do it." This was not a day where I could get careless. Today was the day when I would set out on an escort mission destined for the Thiban, acity that located in the west Grurian. This escort mission would take methrough several small towns. My reason for taking this mission was, of course, because it aligned with my goals. My objective was to discover an information about the current war condition, and the best way to do that was by learning it from the outcast. Outcast usually wouldn''t care about the country they lived in or anything like that. But one thing they would really care about was money. Either way, the first stop along that path required thatI first reached the city of Thiban, and passing through the Empty Tropics, a jungle, that according to the rumour, was the place where most famous bandit group live. In my opinion, they alone should outstrip Grurian in obtaining intel. Speaking of which, even though the most famous bandit group was living near Thiban, Thiban was a highly developed city with regards to both trade and intel, second only after the capital itself. I wanted to get a grasp on the workings, names and circles of the nobles and criminals, and so I¡¯d planned to spend some time in Thiban gathering resources before making way to my final destination in Cadanod, Grurian western peninsula and continued moving to Coral Cove, the island of pirates. And why did this for free if I could make money on the way? For this purpose, I had attached myself to a business caravan which was thoroughly acquainted with the area and the journey. I¡¯d been on the constant lookout for suchmission at the adventurer guild, when finally this opportunity had presented itself the day before. Because the competition was fierce, I¡¯d originally assumed that it would have taken quite some time to successfully getting accepted on such mission. However, it had only been three or four days, quite a bit earlier than my projections. When it came to this, it had to be said that my affinity with Time, or especially healing spell and potion played a large role. By the time I had made my way to the reception window, the caravan had already met its requirements for bodyguards. However, the leader of the caravan had said that when it came to magician wielding healing spell, the more the merrier, and welcomed me. And given that my guild record was quite good, and the fact that I had stayed for some amount of time in this town. It was possible that the caravan leader knew I was one of the chosen ones, or in a sense, one with high status. Anyway, my plans for the day were already set. Today, I would leave this town. Right then. Let¡¯s head back, Suimei thought to himself, hiding his mercury blade once more on his person. On the way out from the inn, I accidentally bumped into someone head first going around a corner. "Ops, sorry." For a brief moment, I saw stars. Shaking slightly from the impact,I guessed I was already letting accustomised in this inn, accustomised enough to let my guard down, and as I apologized for my inattentiveness. The person I had crashed into was a fellow student, as well as someone who had been hanging out with me for the last few days, Azusa.Fortunately, no one was hurt. She already dressed in a blue dress under her armour, all of her armour was the kind that just protectedthe chest, elbows, lower back, and a part of the legs, but I thought that should be more than enough for someone like her. Azusa herself seemed to have finally realized how I looked. "Oh... are you leaving today?" She asked in a low voice. "Yep." "I see... I guess I picked the wrong time for my meeting, huh." She said with a wry smile. "Then again, you should''ve told me if you''re going today." "Eh, can''t do that. Eri herself didn''t tell anyone either, right?"Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Eri, the delinquent looking girl wasthe first one that took Information job before me, the other one was Daichi, one of the bully trio, and the third one was me. "I guess that''s true... but geez, I wonder why you guys want to take this job." "I guess the freedom? We are in a different world, after all. What¡¯s wrong living with more freedom, right?" Azusa only exhaled a deep sigh when she heard this. "...Seriously, people like you." So... this will be the last time I see you then?" "...Please don''t jinx it." I said. "Anyway, shouldn''t you go to your meeting?" Hearing this, she simply gasped, frozen in surprise. "Ah, um... yes, I am. How about you? aren''t you in hurry?" "...Want to eat breakfast together?" The other party, Azusa, only weakly nodded. As the sun began to rise, the delicious aroma of supper wafted out from the dining room. Some people had already started to drink, so from to time, people making merry could be heard. We walked quietly under that merry atmosphere until eventually, our food came. "No matter how many times I look at it, it really amazing, right? for people in this world already drinking in the morning." Said Azusa. "Aren''t they had been drinking from last night?" "Are they?!" Azusa, completely dumbfounded, she simply gasped as she looked around before finally muttering to herself. "Urgh... howcan you remember them? even I can''t remember a single soul in this room." "Coz I''m smart?" I said smugly. "The other reason is the floor near their table. If you look at it carefully, the floor near their table is dirtier compared to the rest of the floor, right? That means these guys haven''t moved from there since last night." Azusa rested her chin on her palms as I explained. "As I expected, you''re really amazing." The moment she saidthat the waitress served us with our of food. Eggs, ham, and fried potatoes for me. And a tureen of local fruit sat in ice to keep it chilled for her. There was an elegant glass of orange juice as our drink. As I dig in on my food, Azusa only used her fork to play with her food before letting out a deep breath. "...I guess we can''t eat together in a long time huh." "Yep, then again, we might meet in the other city, right?" "I guess that''s true." She said then let out a weak laugh. "Still... I can''t believe it is almost two month since we arrive in Exceed." "Hm... time sure fly fast if we don''t need to study, right? Anyway, what''s up? Starting to feel homesick?" "Ahaha... rather than homesick, somehow I feel more happyand worried right now." I tilted my head to one side when I heard that, and Azusa explained. "You see, back on Earth my father always told me to always behave like an elegant and cool-headed lady as befitting a woman from my family. So when I¡¯m at home and school, I have to pretend to be the perfect honours student-good kid act, so I can¡¯t speak to other people casually like this. When I was striving to keep my emotions from rising to the surface, I naturally started to limit the use of my facial muscles as much as possible. Due to that, I seem to have ended up with an expressionless face that makes it hard for other people to approach me. So I was always alone." ¡°Huh... Was that also the reason why you would occasionally glare at people?¡± "I didn¡¯t mean to do that. But as I kept telling myself that I had to deal with people in a level-headed manner, I somehow ended up with that kind of expression." Azusa wasresting herchin on her palm in regret. "Hey, do you think the other students hate me? Are people avoiding me because they think I¡¯m scary?" "Eh, I don¡¯t think that is the case." If anything, most of the student just felt she was someone on another level, well, I guessed I was one of them. Not to mention that behaviour and glare of hers were causing some student to become her fan. But I decided to not talk about that. "Is that so? but when we came to this place, I think I could be able to start over. I can go on adventures and make friends, just like I always wanted. But then I realized something. Every time the other student was talking to me, they always looked at me as I''m a dependable person." Saying that, she closed her eyes for a moment. "But that isn''t true, you know that right? I''m far for dependable. I¡¯m more or less used to it now, but there are still times when I feel really stressed and lonely. And no one that I am really close enough to know about my problem." Seeing a drop of water fell from her eyes,I could only smile bitterly. "That''s why... when I saw you preparing to leave, the reality strikes me. I mean... what happens if you''re not coming back? What happens if you ended up like Tadano? I mean... as far as I live, you two are the one who knows about my real self." "Eh? What about the princess?" .... Azusa simply stopped her tears, gasped as wide as she could, completely frozen in surprise. "What? You don''t consider her as a friend?" "N-no... she is a friend. I mean... our situation is kinda similar, so I guess we could sympathize with each other... but! Leaving that aside! How do you know she is Princess Lunara?!" "Eh... I never saw her training with us, and speaking by the way she acted and her blue eyes, there was a high chance she was someone that never stepped out of her home, and considering our location and timing, most likely she is the princess. And that reason she never spoke is because she was afraid we recognized her voice, right?" And Azusa just laughed. It might be a sound shewouldn''t make ina while and it was a sound she would waitto hear. "A-amazing... geez... and just the time when the mood gets gloomy. You really can''t read the mood, aren''t you?" "Hm~ I wonder.And beside her, you also have the others, right?" I said as I wiped her tears. She fell silent as I did this And...It was really awkward to wipe someone tears after she''d just laughed. "Ummm... that''s right! I guess getting summoned to this place also give me something positive." Azusa held up her fist and said energetically. "Alright! Enough with the gloomy mood! Igoing to work hard starting today!" (...Wait, she isn''t working hard all this time?!) "Eiji! Don''t you dare die without my permission!" Azusa said with a strong conviction. "...As if I can do that. Anyway, please stop with a jinx." It was, however, almost the time for our own business, and with all others lost in dreamland,we were leaving the building as I secretly left something to her. Then again... to tell the truth, on our conversation I wanted to give her my notebook. An ultimate notebook filled with every student''s power and weakness. Then again, just before I wanted to give it to her, I remembered about there was a chance the spy was the one among us, including Azusa. She might say I was her friend, and I might be thinking like that. But in the end, it was still too early for me to trust someone, even my own ''friend''. Chapter 12 At the side of the long road leading away from the city was the meeting place for the caravan escorts. Before reaching the rendezvous point, however, some unknown feeling urged me to turn around, looking at the soaring city walls. This was probably my last time looking at this city, which had become our base camp for the last one month. The entire city was encircled by a massive defensive structure, it looked to have been built using a kind of grey brick, likely the same type of primitive concrete that Ancient Rome had used to build the many city walls. An integral part of the defensive function of the structure, the top of the wall was arrayed with battlements featuring both merlons for defending against enemy archers as well as crenels for defending archers to fire their own arrows through. It looked like the people of this world relied on such fortifications to defend against external threats to the city; Both human and magic beast alike. Although it looked impressive enough, considering the vital role it played in defence, I had to say it didn¡¯t seem that reliable. Increasing its size would do nothing; its fundamental flaw was its fragility. (Anyway, worrying about this is meaningless) I thought as I turned back. The city''s defensive capability wasn''t my concern, after all. Spending any more time pondering the city''s defence was a pointless endeavour. ...Or I might just worried about the others. In the end, I continued to walk until I saw an empty space before me, where people had already begun to gather. Standing there were a number of people dressed in rather fine clothing as well as roughly twenty who were armed. In total, there were some dozens of people as well as a handful of wagons. It had already reached the scale where it could be considered a small, mobile village. Caravans. In Earth, similar things had existed. Dealers and smugglers would join together to protect themselves and their goods when passing through the dangerous spots, hiding from authority or local crime lord. Though, in this case, we couldn''t bribe the magic beasts to let us pass. Anyway, if I was leaving the small difference aside, the caravan leader was typically a merchant responsible for transporting goods between cities, who engaged in this business as a livelihood. Other members of the caravan included those who joined his banner as well as unaffiliated merchants who joined for the journey. At least with respect to the transportation and cargo appearance, there wasn¡¯t really anything that stood out as being different. However, if I needed to spot the particular difference it was the guards. As far as I could see, my eyes revealed only armoured warriors and mages, one of them was a female swordswoman, who somehow, wearing bikini-armour. It only had thin metal straps and it was barely covering her breasts. What¡¯s more, the part on the bottom was made with a risque angle that only covered the important bits. Ahem... it seemed like I got distracted. It seemed like the Knights would only move if it was the nation matter, or if it had something to do with public order inside the wall or war. And considering we''d been moving around with a numerous amount of knights, as such, even though the adventurers this time was numbered more than 20, I felt that this wasn''t enough. Though, if this was Earth, I would say this was quite a substantial force. As a side note, I heard the lowest ranked noble alone would only move if he had minimum 10 knights. The sheer difference between the nobles and the commoners was a testament to the differences between the aristocrat and normal people. Not only was the level of discrimination in this world considerably high, but many dangers were also present that were not to be found in Earth. In Exceed, without suitable martial force, travel between cities and kingdoms would be impossible. I guessed that was the reason people started doing job as adventurers and mercenaries. Anyhow, I''d already considered the circumstances, travelling between cities in this world including of following bonuses such as the paved road, unavailability of water source or lodgings, and monster attack. I bet there was no tourism business in this world. (Now I starting to wonder if this world has insurance or retirement fund.) Oh, by the way, teleportation magic was incredibly rare and limited in this world. So even though Lambda didn''t seem like it, his level must be quite high. While thinking about the list of potential business. I made my way toward a particular merchant who was dressed in two-tone dark blue and black jacket with attached contrasting black sleeves, hat, pants & belt sash. From the description I''d been given at the guild when accepting the request, this appeared to be the man who had assigned the mission. "Can I help you?" Asked the merchant. "Oh, I''m one of the adventurers from the adventurer¡¯s guild. I¡¯m here to present myself as one of the escorts for this caravan. My name is Karasuma Eiji,thanks for letting me working under your banner." The man first saw my business-like introduction with a look of suspicion, but his expression changed as I showed him my status plate.
Karasuma Eiji 15 Year old Male
Affinity Time Level 11
Strength 73 Intelligence 92
Dexterity 81 Charisma 97
Constitution 72 Wisdom 101
Skills:
Fast Forward (O) Slow Motion (O) Foretell (L) Book Chronicle (L) Language Comprehension (D)
"Oh, It''s a pleasure to know someone as strong as you join us. I¡¯m Duncan, the one who¡¯s organized this journey. You''re the who knowshealing spellsand medicine I presume? Thank you for accepting my request." I took the outstretched hand in a handshake, signalling the start of our business. Then again, he didn''t even bother to check whether or not I could use a healing spell. Maybe status plate really meant everything in this world huh.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Suddenly, however, Duncan looked at me while rubbing his cheek. "For a young one with high-status, you seem to know about manner and politeness huh¡± "Oh? why''s that? but thank you, I still need a lot to learn about that matter though." I replied with an unfeigned smile. Then again, considering I got surrounded by cheat like people, there was no way I could think myself as high-status one. "Mm-hmm. Yeah, no matter how I look at it, I can¡¯t see you as a cheeky brat." To tell the truth, Duncan might mean students from the Earth. That wascertainly howI truly felt after seeing some of them thought they were better than the people of this world. My impression at them? I actually didn''t care as long as they did their job. And couldn''t blame them either, considering greed and pride was one of the human nature. "Haha. I¡¯m not actually that fond with them, either." But for the sake of making him happy. "Well, if I have to be honest with you, it seems we have something in common. Any time I have to interact with those types, they always give off the feeling that they¡¯re superior to me." Duncan''s face clearly showed he was remembering something annoying. "I have to say it might be true." My words marked the end ofour conversation and Duncan returned to join the other merchants. He definitely had other matters to take care of, and definitely a man who talked a lot. Well, we were about to set out, after all. It was natural that he would be busy at this time as the one in charge of the caravan. Some minutes after I arrived, the caravan set off without delay. My journey was off to a good start. If the rest of the trip could continue without any unwanted problems, that would be fantastic. What was left to us now was to make our way to Thiban while keeping an eye on the caravan. When it came to how far we had to travel, I had already investigated the matter thoroughly beforehand. Travelling time between Fallford and Thuban was somewhere around 3 or 4 day trip, depending on the weather and the encounter rate with Magic Beast, we might arrive slightly later. If I had to say, comparing to the proximity and the technology, the time it took to travel between these cities could still be seen as relatively short. For the trip, we were splitting into the three-man party on each side, and one man for the rear and the front. I, myself had been positioned at the left end of the caravan;My companion for the rest of my journey would be the bikini swordswomen and an old wizard. Those who had more trust such as veterans adventurers and mercenaries, led the way and protecting our back, while I and the others were responsible for keeping watch over the cargo. In the end, even though someone had high status, I guessed experience and fame still played an important part in leading the team. At leastour safety still seen as the priority, we''d been informed that if something was to occur, we needed to prioritize the safety of human lives over the cargo itself. As the trip first began,we were mostly kept to ourselves, keeping an eye on the wagons, horses, and our surroundings, until the bikini swordswomen broke the silence. Accompanied by the gentle sounds of the horses'' hooves against the road, the turning and creaking of the wagon wheels, and the gentle breeze blowing across the grass, the three of us chatted with one another. Slowly but surely, however, because their ages were so close as well as the fact that they were colleagues engaged in the same task, the conversation between us gradually grew warmer... or brutal, depending on how others perceiving it. "And that''s how I get the title Ogre Slayer." Said the Bikini swordswomen; Mathilda. If I wasn''t wrong, ogre was a giant humanoid creature, they were mostly a subhuman race rather than a magic beast, but to hear her telling this kind of killing story with a smug face, I just assumed the human didn''t consider other humanoid race as people. "Mm-hmm." I only nodded at her story...To tell the truth, I still not sure whether or not I should praise her or look at her with a disgust. "...That''s all? We''re talking about the ogre, you know?" Said Mathilda. ...Maybe myreaction was a little bit too weak;Weak enough to annoy her pride. Well... considering I never seen or met an ogre before, I didn''t knowwhat to expect. The best information that I knew about ogre was it was big and humanoid. "Ah, sorry. I''mstill imagining about how did you defeat the ogre." "Hahaha! You don''t need to imagine it! It wasn¡¯t like I did it on my own, you know? But if you''re curious, of course, I split them with one slash!" There wasno sign on modesty in her word and she said it with a casual tone. Nevertheless, if what she said was true, then she must be a rather incredible person. During this time, wewalked on the stone road through near the forest. "And the Goddess Terminus?" Said the old wizard, Irijahr. ...Somehow, he was asking about the Six from out of the blue. "Ah, she is the master of day and night, the one who controls the sun to rise at the dawn, and the moon to rise at the dusk." "Hmph... someone really did his study huh." Rather than a jealous tone in his grumpy face, I could say this was the way he praised someone. As they walked,Irijahr himself explained the doctrine of the Six temples. We¡¯d a short discussion about the church, and it seemed, it was rare for someone who had an affinity to learn about the other gods, except the one that corresponded to their ability. Comparing to what I''d heard from Lamda and the priests, Irijahr explanation was somewhat more methodical. "And that''s why channelling the magic power is almost equivalent to borrowing the god power, while weaving the mana strains is equivalent to requesting the permission to use their power." At some unknown point to me, it seemed she had raised a point of interest toward me, and right before I responded to Irijahr''s words, she suddenly moving her face in front of mine, almost felt like she wanted to kiss me. "Hmm..." Mathilda pondered as she looked at me. "Is something wrong?" "No, it¡¯s just weird... from what you¡¯ve said, you don''t know about ogre but know a lot about magic and gods. Are you perhaps... a runaway noble?" Said Mathilda. "Well... rather than a noble, I would say he is a runaway acolyte." Said Irijahr. And somehow the direction of the conversation changed to how I was a noble, running away from my house to looking for my long-lost loved ones. Or I was an acolyte, under the secret mission from the temple to deliver a sacred magic item. Either way, there was nothing special happened on the first day. Our journey had gone off without a hitch. We had encountered neither bandits or Magic Beasts, and even inclement weather, which could slow our pace drastically had not occurred. Instead, we''d simply continued along our way, staying at small post stations along the road. If there was anything to be unhappy about, it was only the small portion sizes for meals. This, however, was obviously something I had been aware of before even setting out, and so it wasn¡¯t really worth mentioning. From what I¡¯d heard from the merchants in the caravan, if we were going at this pace, we would arrive for less than three days. And with the sheer number of people, keeping a watch at night wasn''t a bothersome problem either. Though, on the second day, when we were circling around a large basin, one of the carriage''s wheels suddenly broke. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the carriage just suddenly shook fiercely when the wheels broke. Continuing would be dangerous, so we had to spend the rest of our day repairing the carriage. While we were resting, the wind was blowing westward. The gentle, refreshing breeze blew past my body, bringing with it the air of this other world. Mild and untouched by pollution, the thought of didn''t need to follow anyone rule or order really set my heart at ease. The weather seemed to be giving its blessing, wishing us a smooth and uneventful trip, an atmosphere without the least hint of danger. At a time like this, I really felt this was far better than living a luxurious life with an ankle monitor. When suddenly... "¡­?" Did I just hear a shout? While the sound hadn¡¯t come from that far off, it hadn¡¯t been that close either. Before long, I heard the sound of footsteps and saw a robed young girl ran toward us.The look on her face was undeniably severe, perhaps owing to the ominous circumstances. "De-demon! ...It''s the demon!!"