Prologue: The Old Guy Has a Chat with Ado

Having arrived at their inn in the fortified city of Slaiste, Zelos, Ado, Lisa, and Shakti finally had the chance to wind down for a bit.

While Lisa and Shakti went straight to their room to rest, the two men stayed at the tavern on the ground floor to share a drink.

If you’d asked them, they’d have said they were just updating one another on useful intel and other important matters of business. But, really, they just wanted time to vent about how they’d been ripped out of their old world and plopped not only into an unfamiliar new one, but into particularly inhospitable parts of that new world.

Ergo, the vibe was less like an impromptu war room and more like an offline meetup between gamers.

“Wait, so they just dropped you right in the middle of the Far-Flung Green Depths?!” Ado asked, incredulous. “I’m amazed you got out alive. I’ve heard that place is a death trap.”

“You three woke up in a basin near the Kingdom of Isalas, right?” Zelos asked, narrowing his eyes. “Must’ve been nice. Wish I’d woken up there. Then I wouldn’t have had to go through hell...”

“Hey! Don’t glare at me like that! It’s not my fault! Besides, you don’t know how hard it was to find food! Even when we finally stumbled onto a village, the people there didn’t have any food either. Heck, they were on the verge of starvation. Wouldn’t you say it’s easier to survive somewhere you can at least hunt for food?”

“Oh, sure, I could hunt. Just one small problem: My life was in danger, every second of every day! The monsters around here are nothing compared to what you’ll find in the Green Depths. Especially those apes...” Zelos zoned out for a moment, staring into the distance. “Still, it’s true I had no problem finding food. Maybe you’ve got a point.”

“Uh... Apes?”

As they continued downing ales, their catch-up chat turned into a competition: Who had been reincarnated in the worse spot?

One had been forced to survive in the harsh wilderness, where his only option had been to eat or be eaten. The other had found little more than a village in poverty, which he’d needed to revitalize just to get by. It was hard to say who’d gotten the short end of the stick.

But as they mulled over it some more, each came back around to feeling like they’d gotten the worse deal.

“Look,” Zelos said, “all you had to do was put in a smidge of elbow grease to solve some random village’s food shortage, and then the whole country started treating you like its savior! Must be nice, eh? Being treated like a champion of the people. Peh!”

“What the hell are you on about?!” Ado cried. “All you had to do was save some duke’s daughter, and the guy gave you everything you wanted! What kind of plot armor is that?! You’re like the protagonist out of a fantasy series! They built a house for you!”

“I’m not sure you get it. Day in, day out, I had nothing to eat but plain, unseasoned meat. I never had any idea when the next monster might attack me—and sure, there was food, but getting it wasn’t easy! I knew I’d die the moment I let my guard down too, so I never got a proper night of sleep. Heck, there wasn’t anywhere to sleep.”

“Yeah, and I had nothing but potatoes every fucking day! You get sick of that after long enough, you know?! We didn’t have any seasonings apart from salt either, and even that was scarce. I mean, they had rock salt too, but it had so many impurities that you couldn’t even use the stuff. Oh, and not to mention—before I’d even realized, Lisa and Shakti were treating me like the leader of the party, so I had to worry about making sure they didn’t starve either...”

“Oh, come on! I’m sure you could’ve come up with something. Besides, look at you, complaining about ‘only’ having salt! At least you had salt! I had nothing for flavor!”

“Well, okay, I guess you’ve got a po— Wait! No! You know what? You don’t have a point! So many people there were starving! Suffering! Sure, maybe it was easy enough to feed my party, but I couldn’t just abandon everyone else in the village, could I?!”

“Must’ve been nice having a party with you, huh? I was aaaaaallllll alone. And whenever I tried to sleep, I could hear monsters roaring and screeching all around me...”

Ultimately, both Zelos and Ado continued complaining about how unfair their situations had been until each one envied the other.

What was worse: only potatoes or only meat? Everything tasting like salt, or not having any seasoning at all? Dealing with food shortages, or surviving in the wilderness?

Arguing the matter had rapidly soured the atmosphere between the two men.

Eventually, the innkeeper decided their argument had gone on long enough.

“All right, lads,” he called out from behind the bar. “Wind it down. Your ale’ll taste like shit if yer glarin’ at each other the whole time ya drink it. Instead... Take a look at this!”

Then he abruptly pulled his apron up.

Zelos and Ado paused, confused. “I don’t have a problem with you suddenly showing us your abs, but, uh... How’s that supposed to help, exactly?”

“Hmph... Am I not shredded? Aren’t they beautiful? C’mon, what do ya have to say to this peak male physique?!”

The two knew he was trying to mediate, but they had no idea how showing off his abs was supposed to accomplish that.

Then, he suddenly placed two small plates of food in front of them.

“Here ya go—our special mekkala beans with protein powder garnish. This’ll hit the spot, I’m tellin’ ya.”

“Uh— Are you— Are you taking advantage of our argument to coax us into becoming muscleheads?” Ado asked.

“That aside,” Zelos said, “should we really be having that much protein while we’re drinking alcohol? That can’t be good for our health, can it?”

“Ya just gotta train yer body to work the alcohol outta yer system. Feels great—trust me!”

“All we’d feel is sick!” Zelos and Ado shouted.

Ale had a surprisingly high alcohol content in this world; it was probably something like fifteen percent alcohol. Regardless, exercising with any alcohol in your system was bad for your body, and Zelos and Ado thought they’d be destroying their own bodies if they tried.

Not that they had any plans to get into bodybuilding, alcohol or not.

“And— Hang on,” Ado said. “Does this inn seriously add protein powder to its food?”

“I didn’t see anything about that on the menu...” Zelos said.

Just then, a door behind the bar slammed loudly open, and a dwarf burst into the room. He clutched a knife in his hand and wore a look of fury on his face. He stormed up to the man at the bar, clearly mad at him.

“Oi! Beauville! Yer sneakin’ protein powder into my meals without askin’ again, ain’t you? Yer ruinin’ my food!”

“Oh, nonsense! Protein powder’s the best seasonin’ ya can get, and ya know it! And just think o’ all the potential it gives people!”

“I’ve had it up to here with you! Remember the last time you pulled this shit? Everyone stopped comin’ to the inn! Stop forcin’ your own weird tastes on the guests!”

This dwarf, who seemed to be the head chef, was clearly pissed about the other man—Beauville, apparently—messing with the food he cooked.

“Beats me why a guy who can’t even cook decided to run a tavern in the first place!” the dwarf shouted. “How about you just stand behind the bar and polish glasses, huh? Stop stickin’ your neck into my work!”

“Hmph! I’m quite the chef myself, I’ll have ya know! And that’s some big talk comin’ from the bastard who was lucky to have me take him in after he got fired from his last restaurant! You stop stickin’ yer own neck into how I run the place!”

“You think you can cook? Every darn dish o’ yers is seasoned with protein powder! And stop workin’ out in the kitchen! Yer sweat keeps flyin’ around the place and gettin’ on the ingredients. You expect me to serve food made with that stuff to guests?!”

“What was that?! My sweat ain’t dirty! It’s beautiful! Some nice fresh sweat, a good dash o’ protein—that’s the best seasonin’ money can buy!”

“Don’t give me that shit! If you don’t get yer act together ASAP, they’ll have this place shut down! You don’t have the first idea what it means to work in hospitality!”

“A mercenary needs their body to be at peak performance! So what’s wrong with helpin’ ’em train their muscles, huh? I’ve had it up to here with you!”

The ripped owner and the dwarven chef were really tearing into each other now.

“All right, step outside! Lemme beat some sense into yer empty head!” the dwarf finally said.

“Oh, you’re on! I’ll show ya just what these muscles o’ mine can do! Better brace yerself!” the owner replied, and the men left the inn and went outside.

Before long, Zelos and Ado—still seated at the bar—heard the sound of heavy, meaty blows from outside, as well as some of the worst verbal abuse you could imagine.

Worse, though, they couldn’t get one particular part of the men’s exchange out of their mind. They both had the same thought: Oh, god. Please tell me I heard that wrong...

There were certain horrifying truths out there that people were better off not knowing.

“Uh... Hey. Zelos?” Ado started. “They... Did they seriously say the owner does his muscle training in the kitchen?”

“That they did. Which means it may be more than the protein powder that makes the food here taste so weird,” Zelos replied. “It might be the owner’s, uh...”

Feeling a cold sweat on their brows, Zelos and Ado looked around at the other guests in the tavern.

Everyone else continued eating and drinking like nothing was wrong. But if what the owner and the chef had said was true, it would have terrifying implications. Terrifying food hygiene implications, to be precise.

Why wasn’t anyone else perturbed, then? Perhaps they were regulars who heard the same thing play out on a daily basis. But as first-time guests here, Zelos and Ado couldn’t help but feel queasy.

Figuring that at least he shouldn’t have to stay at this inn ever again, Zelos sighed, took out some bacon from his inventory, cut some thin slices with a knife, and laid them out on a couple of plates.

“Let’s just snack on this,” he said. “I don’t trust the food here.”

“Bacon, huh? What’s it made from?” Ado asked. “That sure was one big strip before you sliced it...”

“Wyvern. I hunted seven of them in the Far-Flung Green Depths and had a bunch of leftover meat, so I turned it into ham, bacon, that kind of thing. It’s got a long shelf life too. I’ve got plenty left. Want some?”

“Wait, seriously? Yes! Please! I barely ever get to eat meat in Isalas. And isn’t wyvern meat the best you can get? I’ve always wanted to try some!”

Just like that, the two got back to business.

Of course, Ado neglected to mention the dangerous amulets he’d distributed as part of a secret military operation, while Zelos conveniently forgot the fact that he’d pilfered the air rider from an ancient ruin. Both had committed crimes they didn’t want anyone to know about.

So even as the pair chatted away and shared intel, they secretly harbored a shared sense of guilt.

“Huh. So you collected the parts to make your air rider from the Far-Flung Green Depths, did you?” Ado asked. “Maybe I should go and take a look there too.”

“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Zelos said. “That place is worse than any zone from Swords & Sorceries. Lisa and Shakti wouldn’t last one day there. They’d be monster food before sunset.”

“Jeez... That bad, huh? Anyway, I never thought Isa Lante would’ve been here in this world too.”

“It surprised me as well. But thanks to that, I’m confident now.”

“Confident about what? That whoever made the world of Swords & Sorceries based it on this world? But...why would they do that? Even if you’re right when you assume the Four Gods were summoning heroes to advance this world’s level of civilization, that doesn’t help us figure out what the gods from other worlds were trying to achieve.”

“What if they just wanted to toy with us humans?” Zelos posited. “They’re stuck overseeing their worlds for eons. I’m sure they have a lot of time to kill.”

“Maybe, yeah. Especially if they’re the sorts of gods who just sit back and watch. But... I don’t know. That’d make them just as lazy as the gods you see in light novels...”

Apparently, Ado was expecting some deeper reason behind it all, but Zelos wasn’t thinking about it too hard.

One reason for that was that he had a general understanding of the situation. But it was also just because gods were beyond human comprehension in the first place, and he didn’t think trying to analyze their thought processes would get him anywhere.

He was just happy the gods weren’t pulling the strings of the world to force them into some kind of twisted death game.

“Anyway,” Zelos said, “the problem is...”

“The problem’s the possibility that we’re technically transmigrators, not reincarnators, right?” Ado replied. “And if that’s the case, it means the gods from our world tricked the Four Gods. But why would they do that?”

“I can make a broad guess, at least. Like...maybe they were pissed that the Four Gods summoned all those heroes without permission?”

Why, indeed, had Earth’s gods lied to the Four Gods?

Based on what the resurrected Dark God had told Zelos, hero summoning threatened to eventually endanger other worlds and bring about the apocalypse. And yet, it had been discovered, the Four Gods had handed that power over to humans so that the humans could conduct summonings on their behalf.

From the perspective of the gods of neighboring realms, then, it would be like the Four Gods had set up an automatic network to kidnap people en masse from other gods’ jurisdictions.

Zelos suspected that the other worlds’ custodians might have felt the need to clean up after the Four Gods, whose antics had left them with so many unexplained disappearances in their own worlds. And if they did need to do so, what would that involve? Manipulating the events behind the summonings to conceal the truth? Manipulating time itself to rewrite history?

Plus, the Four Gods had been arbitrarily meddling in the other gods’ worlds without permission, so it made sense to think that even the most patient of gods could lose their tempers.

The only thing was, Zelos had gotten this information from the newly revived Dark God, which he couldn’t exactly tell Ado.

This secret was his ace up his sleeve, and he intended to lie low and play it when the time was right.

“How do you think someone could go about reviving the Dark God, Zelos?” Ado asked.

“H-Huh? The Dark God? That’s, erm... That’s a good question. Who knows? And why do you ask?”

“Because I think we’ll need the Dark God’s help if we want to take down the Four. They’re supposed to be agents acting on some other god’s behalf, right? Plus, I figured you would’ve already looked into it, Zelos.”

“I mean, I have, but... Don’t you think you’re overestimating me a bit? I just assumed the other gods are the ones planning to revive the Dark God and send it back to this world. I figure we’re only decoys to keep the Four Gods distracted.”

“Oh. So you haven’t gotten your hands on any parts of the Dark God, then? Damn. You know, I would’ve thought they’d at least give one of us some sort of lead to get started...”

“I do have some bits and pieces, actually, but... Well, they’re cursed, let me make that clear. They’re the sorts of things that’d give you horrifying debuffs just by having them in your possession. I’d rather not bring something so dangerous out into the world.”

“Wait, is that true? That does sound like too much for us to handle, then...”

If intel about the Dark God’s revival was leaked now, while its new body was still far from stable, someone would eliminate it in a flash. Zelos didn’t want to allow for even the slightest risk.

He wasn’t strong enough to stand up against the Four Gods by himself, after all. He had to play it safe. So he’d decided that—even if this was Ado he was talking to—he should avoid divulging any information on the topic. To deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies.

“I don’t even think all the Destroyers combined could purify those Dark God materials I’ve got,” Zelos said. “The amount of miasma emanating from them is just insane. I mean, I could take a bit out and show you here if you’d like, but... Well, people would die.”

“Eurgh! So it’s like some nuclear-level threat, then... Just how radioactive is that stuff?!”

“It even did a number on me when I took it out, you know? And I was only able to get back to normal after purifying myself again, and again, and again... Your average person would die a horrible death. So yeah, I think I should keep it sealed away.”

“Which means for now we should focus on Metis instead, huh? Do you think the Four will show up themselves?”

“No way. Not with how irresponsible they are. No matter how many humans die, I don’t think they’ll give a damn.”

“Yeah... You think so too, huh? Damn, they make me mad...”

“You can say that again.”

Zelos and Ado seemed to agree on that, at least. But the real question was whether their respective countries would too. Since Zelos wasn’t sure, he needed to blend the truth with a few lies to protect the Dark God. A little true information made him seem more credible and allowed him to remain vague about the Dark God’s revival.

“Anyway, I gotta say—this bacon’s amazing,” Ado said. “Like...whoa. It’s... It’s so good...”

“Why are you crying? You know, if you’d like, I can give you the rest of that chunk I was slicing from earlier. I have plenty more for myself.”

“R-Really?! Thank you, Zelos! You’re an angel! I’ll have amazing meat to last me a while!”

“You guys sure seem desperate for meat, huh?”

“Isalas doesn’t have much livestock. Sometimes rocs show up, but the meat’s not worth the hunt. They’re good for other materials, at least, but awful to eat... Funny, isn’t it?” Ado gave a weak laugh that turned into a quiet sob.

The sight of Ado stuffing bacon into his mouth while genuine tears ran down his face made tears start welling up in Zelos’s eyes too.

Their situations had been different, but each knew how rough it was to long for a more varied diet.

The only difference was that one had been limited to meat and the other to root vegetables; beyond that, they’d felt the same pain.

In fact, in Ado’s case, that pain had persisted to the present day.

Perhaps the food situation in the Kingdom of Isalas was worse than Zelos knew.

“A-All right. As a bonus, I’ll let you have some wyvern ham too,” Zelos said. “Give some of it to the other two as well.”

“Wh-What the hell even— This whole big thing is one leg? It’s all ham?! I— Shit, that’s heavy!”

“And it’s all yours. Eat to your heart’s content. I made sausages too, but I’d have to go back home to get those...”

“Jeez, man—how have you already adapted to this world so well?! You’re amazing! I’ll follow you for life!”

Today, Ado learned the most important thing in this world wasn’t some special skill; it was the ability to adapt to your environment.

Lisa and Shakti had the Cooking skill too, but their dishes didn’t taste like much. They had the skill at a high level, but they didn’t yet have the hands-on experience to put the skill to proper use in this new world.

An enormous smile came to Ado’s face as he cradled a ham the size of his own body in his arms.

Then, the next morning, Ado, Shakti, and Lisa were all crying tears of joy as they ate a meal Zelos had prepared on a portable stove.

“It’s sho good... Mmm... It’s the besht meat I’ve ever had... Sniff.”

“Ham... Scrambled eggs... Nice, fluffy bread... Who knew this world had such delicious food?”

“Finally... Finally, a proper meal... All the other meat I’ve eaten in this world has tasted horrible, but this is... Ehe... Heh... Mmmmmm...”

It was such an extreme reaction that Zelos couldn’t help but feel curious about what their meals had looked like up until now.

What was clear to him, at least, was that this world’s cuisine wasn’t the best match for Japanese people.

It had come as such a nasty shock for the young Japanese trio, with their modern palates, that they’d been reduced to tears.

Chapter 1: The Reincarnators Prepare to Defend Slaiste

“This is nothing like that meat we had in the countryside. That stuff smelled and tasted like blood...” Shakti said.

“That was probably because nobody drained the blood first, no?” Zelos said.

“The bread’s too hard,” Lisa said, “and the dried meat is too strong and way too tough to chew... It made my jaw sore!”

“Well, yes, I’m sure it did,” Zelos said. “But that’d just be because modern Japanese people have weak jaws.”

“Yeah, but even their grilled meat tastes weird,” Ado said, “and it doesn’t have any of that umami meat usually does. Do they not know how to age meat here?”

“Oh, yeah, that one’s a fair point,” Zelos said. “I go out to eat sometimes, and there’s a massive gap between good restaurants and bad ones. I get you.”

Ado’s party was in high spirits as they enjoyed their first proper meal in a long while. They’d been a particularly severe case of foreigners who’d discovered none of the local cuisine matched their palate.

It wasn’t too bad if that happened to you on a weekend trip, but putting up with it for years was hell. In addition, this wasn’t just another country but another world—not to mention a world where cuisine was severely underdeveloped and hygiene standards were sloppy.

Food poisoning was frequent, and managing or improving food quality cost money. Making actual progress on that front would require a major nationwide project.

And while nobles managed their own territories, practically none of them pursued those kinds of projects. They weren’t even well-informed about that kind of thing themselves, so even if they scraped together their inadequate knowledge and information as best they could, they’d likely fail.

Then you had Duke Delthasis, a man who’d started small—slowly and steadily accumulating results and experience—and then used that to succeed at large-scale projects. He was willing to invest a lot of money if he found a good opportunity and made himself a tidy profit by doing so.

In turn, the territories of nobles in business partnerships with him had developed quite well in their own way.

And the fortified city of Slaiste was one such territory.

“So, yes, that being the case,” Zelos said after explaining the above to Ado’s party, “the place where I live has decent enough food culture, relatively speaking.”

“Damn. You’re making me wanna move here...” Ado said. “I mean, Yui’s in Solistia too, so how about I just—”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Shakti cried. “Isalas and Solistia are allies now anyway, so surely Isalas wouldn’t mind if we stepped back from our duties and immigrated to Solistia, right?!”

“Tasty food, a good economy, decent leadership...” Lisa mumbled. “And it’d be nice to work as a mage...”

“I thought Isalas had been treating you three as state guests?” Zelos said. “And I’m guessing by now you’d know a lot of stuff that they wouldn’t want other countries knowing about, am I right? So isn’t there a chance they’d send assassins after you if you left?”

Ado, Shakti, and Lisa looked at Zelos with open mouths. “Wha—?!”

Ado had gotten up to all sorts of covert business for Isalas’s military, and he’d been given a position as adviser to the royal family, albeit only on a provisional basis. Lisa and Shakti, meanwhile, had helped distribute magic potions within the country.

Even if their contributions had only been small in the grand scheme of things, Isalas wouldn’t want to let go of talents like them easily. The nation’s leaders might even decide to kill them off rather than let another country poach them.

And that was before considering that the king of Isalas was a coward who had become overly reliant on Ado.

“I can see it now—that damn king clinging to me with tears in his eyes, begging me to stay...” Ado said.

“Now that you mention it,” Lisa said, “I’ve been teaching people in Isalas things like how to grow medicinal herbs. They’ve been paying me as a researcher.”

“And I’ve worked on all sorts of things,” Shakti said. “Cold-resistant clothes, quality of life improvements... Oh, and ice houses for storing food. Quite a bit, now that I think about it.”

“I worked as a private tutor for a bit when I got here,” Zelos said. “But now I just take it easy freelancing. A bit of farmwork, a bit of part-time construction work, the odd mercenary job; that sort of thing. It’s pretty laid-back, honestly.”

“N-No fair...” the other three responded in unison.

“You should’ve told them right off the bat you had no intent of working for the state. That’s the very first thing I did,” Zelos said.

Ado and his party were all, in one way or another, mages and advisers who worked on commission for Isalas’s royal family. They’d been given enough authority to even meddle in military affairs, depending on the circumstances.

In this world, where civilization had regressed, having cheat-like abilities from Swords & Sorceries would make anyone valuable enough that no country would want to let them go. Unless they trained brilliant apprentices to take their place, a nation would probably do whatever it took to keep them there.

“So Zelos, how do you know that high-ranking captain from the Order of Knights?” Ado asked.

“Oh, we just got hired as guards together, that’s all,” Zelos replied. “We worked together to keep my pupils safe on a trip into the Far-Flung Green Depths.”

“But the guy that hires you for this stuff is a duke, right?” Ado asked. “I can’t imagine he’d be willing to let you go...”

“He’s the type to give people a big enough reward that they wouldn’t want to turn against him. He gets to keep using them that way. He’s not the sort who’d coerce people into working for him. The man’s all business.”

“He sounds pretty understanding, in his own way,” Shakti commented. “But he also sounds like a scary person to have as an enemy.”

“I was thinking the same,” Lisa said. “He’d be harder to get a read on than the sorts who use force to keep people by their side.”

“He may be a duke, but he’s more of a shrewd businessman at heart,” Zelos said. “And seeing as we’re already on good enough terms to use each other for our mutual benefit, there’s zero chance of him trying to pull anything stupid. If there is some emergency where he needs me for something beyond business, he’ll just be straightforward about it.”

Zelos knew that Delthasis would only bow his head and ask for a favor when it was absolutely necessary. That he had yet to do so showed that he saw Zelos as a business partner. And their dealings so far had left Zelos with more money than he knew what to do with.

The duke rewarded people in proportion to the profits they brought him.

“You really are something, huh, Zelos?” Ado said. “I’m impressed you’re cutting deals with such a big-shot.”

“Well, I was constantly flying around the globe forming agreements and stuff back during the GFC. Whenever I got back to the office, the workload was just hell... Thinking back to it, that place was basically a black company.”

“If you were making deals like that, you must’ve been pretty high up, right?” Lisa said. “And you still got taken advantage of?”

“Lisa, Lisa, Lisa...” Zelos chuckled. “I might have called it a black company, but I didn’t mean it had an abusive work environment. The deadlines for developing and delivering software were a different story. Crunch time could be its own level of hell. All-nighter after all-nighter...”

“Why didn’t you lodge a complaint? Ask them to change it?” Lisa asked. “How did you even keep working at a place like that?”

“From time to time, Lisa, when you’re out in the real world, you will get handed unreasonable work. I had this rotten manager, right? And he’d send us overseas on business trips at the worst possible times. He’d rubber-stamp things without considering how hard it’d make our jobs, and he’d do it without ever asking for our input!”

“Damn, that workplace sounds rough,” the other three all said. “ Businessmen sure are something...”

Despite everything, the job had been rewarding, so Zelos had kept it up until his sister committed a crime that had gotten him fired. He’d even been considered a future executive before the incident.

And now, he was living a laid-back, casual life. It was a stark contrast from his old lifestyle.

Of course, no matter which world you were in, wealth attracted vultures. He’d taken countermeasures to fend them off, both here and at his old company, but now that he’d ended up in another world, all his efforts from back then had been for nothing.

After talking about their old lives long enough, the four arrived at the mercenaries’ guild, where a provisional emergency headquarters had been set up.

They’d figured this place was their best bet to get a handle on the city’s situation.

“Now,” Zelos said, “I wonder if Aleph’s here...”

As Ado’s party and Zelos approached, they saw Aleph, the elderly guild master Donsark, and a well-dressed nobleman.

“How are things looking, Aleph?” Zelos called out.

“Oh, Mr. Zelos! Frankly, not good,” Aleph replied. “The monsters’ numbers are still increasing, and fighting’s already begun at the north gate.”

“Well, that was quick. Given how slowly the givleon was approaching, I thought it’d take about a week. I suppose it must’ve driven other monsters well ahead of it.”

“Exactly. Fortunately, we’ve been having success with a strategy that students from the Istol Academy of Magic provided. Essentially, it entails casting wide-area magic to defeat one wave of monsters, then using the fresh corpses to temporarily keep the next wave at bay.”

“A strategy from the Istol Academy of Magic, eh?”

“I have it here, if you’d like a look.”

Aleph handed Zelos a document titled Fortified City Defense Strategy #7: Don’t have any monster bait? Just kill a bunch of monsters and BOOM, you’re set!

At the crux of the strategy was the fact that stampeding monsters traveled relentlessly, meaning they didn’t stop to eat or drink. If you could defeat the first wave of starving monsters using wide-area magic, the subsequent wave would sate their hunger on their predecessors’ corpses. Moreover, those monsters would form a wall of flesh while they ate, preventing the waves behind them from advancing.

As Zelos read over the document, he found it pretty comprehensive. The name felt very haphazard, though.

The strategy required a certain number of mages, but thanks to the recent restructuring of the Order of Mages, there were now enough mages in Slaiste to form a troop. It was lucky timing.

“We put this plan into action around early dawn,” Aleph said, “and it’s worked surprisingly well. However, there have been more blattellas and king-class cockroaches than we expected.”

“So some of those have already made their way here, have they?” Zelos asked.

“They have, yes,” Aleph replied. “Which has left the mages without any time to recuperate. They’re getting hammered out there.”

“And there’s another problem,” old Donsark said.

Zelos didn’t know the name of the pale-faced nobleman next to the guild master, but he put that aside for now. “What is it?”

“Well, you see... The mages are gaining a considerable number of levels. We’ll soon need to rotate them out of the front line.”

“Oh. Now I get it.”

Knights and mages were generally low-level. And if such a mage got pulled into a large-scale battle and killed a considerable number of monsters, they would obviously level up. Many sequential level-ups put a significant burden on mages, however, so they’d need to withdraw from the battle until their bodies recovered.

Worse, each time a mage fainted, the remaining mages had to pick up the slack—meaning the problem compounded.

And it would take time for those who’d fainted to return to battle. That much was unavoidable.

“Okay, well... In that case, I suppose we’ll join the fray ourselves,” Zelos said. “I am here on a request from the former duke Creston, after all. Oh, speaking of which—it’s a bit late, but here’s my letter of introduction.”

“Ah, let’s see... What?! An S-rank mage?!”

“I’d describe myself as a former mage and current farmer, but that’s besides the point. Anyway—the north gate, yes? I was thinking about heading there now to help out.”

Zelos’s ducal letter of introduction said he was permitted to contribute however he saw fit, which meant he didn’t have to take orders from the knights.

And clearly, running into an S-rank mage had stunned the nobleman next to Donsark.

“To think the former duke would send such a powerful man to aid us...” He put his hands together in gratitude, almost as if he were praying. “You have my sincerest gratitude, Duke Creston...”

Since Creston wasn’t present, however, the gesture made him look kind of crazy.

“And who’s this?” Zelos asked.

“This is Baron Nouhon,” Donsark said. “He’s the man in charge around here.”

“Ah, thanks. Anyway—point is, I should probably help thin out the monsters’ numbers. Just while I can—I’ll need to move on to bigger game soon enough. Namely, the great givleon.”

“Oh—by the way, please fill out a form at the reception desk. It’ll help us to allocate your reward.”

“Got it. Well, then, Ado—it’s go time! Let’s give them a show, eh?”

Zelos’s oddly energetic demeanor made Ado, who’d been watching the exchange from behind, shiver.

“Erm... Zelos?” Ado asked. “How hard should we go? If we overdo it, we could accidentally terraform the entire region...”

“As hard as it takes. We need to obliterate this wave before the main swarm gets here. Don’t hold back. This is just the beginning, so let’s get it done.”

“Whoa, you’re smiling like a maniac. Has the stress finally made you snap?”

“In this kind of situation, we don’t need to worry about landscaping. Besides, the ground’ll be so covered in monsters that our spells won’t even hit solid earth!”

Ado hadn’t realized it, but their reunion in Slaiste had made Zelos feel like he was back in Swords & Sorceries again.

The commonsense Zelos—the rational man who tried his best to limit collateral damage—had been replaced by Zelos the Destroyer.

And when Zelos got like that, no one could stop him.

The curtain was about to fall on the monsters’ time in this world.

Chapter 2: The Old Guy Leaps into Battle

A stampede was effectively a natural disaster caused by wild animals or monsters.

One could occur after the population of a species became too large, or after a large creature that ruled over a certain territory disappeared.

Beyond that, there were special cases when a dungeon could trigger one by ejecting monsters. But regardless of how they started, stampedes saw a flood of monsters engulf the land. As parts of the swarm broke off into multiple directions, monsters covered a wider and wider area.

At a glance, the situation unfolding in Marquess Ribalt’s lands, which included the city of Slaiste, looked like a typical stampede. On closer inspection, however, it was obvious that there was something unnatural about the behavior of the great givleon driving this particular swarm.

“I thought those things only traveled in straight lines!” Ado said. “Given where it came from, it should’ve just kept barreling through Metis, right? Hey, Zelos—what do you think?”

“Mmm... Yeah, that’s the part I’m not sure about. It makes me think... On my way here, I spotted a village completely surrounded by monsters. For some reason, though, none of them were attacking the village. It was like they were avoiding the place completely. So most likely—”

“You think someone was using warding fragrance?” Ado asked. “But don’t the ingredients cost a fortune?”

“Great minds think alike, eh? Exactly. It’s not like nowhere can afford it, but a little village like that? No way. You’d need a much bigger economy to afford warding fragrance.”

“So a country, then... Wait. Is this Metis’s doing?!”

“Yeah, that’s really the only answer that comes to mind. Plus, it seemed pretty clear that monsters got to the village quicker than they got to Slaiste, so the only explanation is that someone lured them there to cut the village off from the rest of the territory.”

The Holy Land of Metis had plenty of motives to try and sabotage the Magic Kingdom of Solistia. Priests and mages were on bad terms, and it was only natural that that animosity extended to the governments of those respective groups.

Using warding fragrance and felscent in conjunction, someone could certainly lure a colossal monster—like, say, a great givleon—into an enemy nation. And if they kept their plan under wraps, they could claim the stampede was a “miracle delivered by the gods to mete out divine retribution against the heretics.”

However, you could distinguish warding fragrance and felscent by their smells, which lingered for some time as long as it didn’t rain.

In other words, this sort of plot could be discovered, which would make it blow up in the perpetrator’s face. It was a massive risk, an ill-considered plan, given how many ways that it could go wrong.

“Hmm. I wonder if some miscreants from Metis isolated that village to get up to no good?” Zelos mused.

“Couldn’t the perpetrators just be using it as a place to hide?” Ado asked. “I mean, wouldn’t they want somewhere to stay out of the stampede’s way?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s a possibility too. Let’s go take a look later.”

After Zelos and Ado’s party finished climbing the cobblestone stairs, they reached the top of the city’s twenty-five-meter-high outer wall. From their vantage point, they looked down on a massive swarm of monsters, carnivores and cockroaches alike devouring the corpses of the fallen.

Only a tiny proportion of the cockroaches had arrived so far. Even if you included the ones that’d starved to death, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

While the monsters were all lower-level and not particularly strong, the sheer number of them made them overwhelming. And this seemed to just be an advance group; the much larger main swarm had yet to arrive.

After Zelos explained this to the others, he said, “I suppose it’s also possible that this group was so desperate for food that it ran ahead of the swarm.”

Lisa scrunched up her nose at the smell. “Ew! I never thought a raid could be this disgusting...”

“The stench of blood is just...” Shakti gagged a little. “It stinks...”

“I mean, this is reality,” Ado said. “Life’s not a game. If you defeat a monster here, its body doesn’t just despawn.”

“Come to think of it, you’re right. Defending the city will mean taking out a lot of monsters,” Zelos said. “Which, of course, means a lot of blood will be spilled. Even if it isn’t human blood, the smell’s still nauseating...”

The stench of blood filled the air like it was actively trying to make them puke.

The scarce remaining woodland around the city teemed with monsters, many of which were killing each other in a desperate attempt to sate their hunger.

What was more, the defenders were peppering the clustered monsters with magic, making the scene even more gruesome. It would’ve been a big ask for anyone to have kept their nerve here.

It was a harsh reminder of what a real battlefield was like.

Yet despite the grisly spectacle, the members of the unit sent by the Order of Mages were grinning from ear to ear.

“Hee hee heeeeee! Yeah! That’s right, monster scum! Get some!”

“Keep the level-ups coming! More! I want more! Ah hah hah hah!”

“Heh... Heh heh... Yesh... BURN! ♪ Ah ha ha!”

Zelos, Ado, Shakti, and Lisa exchanged a silent look.

At a glance, it looked like the mages had gone mad. But when Zelos and the others saw one of the mages down a small bottle in a single gulp, they realized these mages were drunk.

“Hey, Zelos...” Ado said. “Those guys are drunk, aren’t they?”

“Yup. Absolutely plastered,” Zelos replied. “I bet they’ve been drinking mana liqueur potions. Those technically have alcohol in them.”

“So...they’re getting drunk on the battlefield?” Lisa asked. “Is that okay? Can they even do their jobs like that?”

“They are still recovery potions, mind you,” Shakti said. “And they shouldn’t be strong enough to get people that dru— Oh, that’s a lot of empty bottles on the ground. Are they going to be all right, drinking that much?”

The sheer number of potion bottles littered across the ramparts indicated that these mages hadn’t been drinking in moderation. If someone kept drinking more and more, even compounds with a low content would make alcohol gradually build up in the imbiber’s body. Simply put, the potions hadn’t been designed to be chugged one after the other by mages trying to fend off a stampede.

In fact, Zelos and company were now worried that the Order mages had drunk so much that it could be harmful.

“Pfft! Where’re you aiming, huuuuh? Can’t aim for shit! ♪”

“Shaddap! Just you watch! I’m gonna get so many with this next one, you’re gonna, uh... Yeah! Earth Glaive!”

“Huh? Why are— Why are there three of you now? You got identical brothers?”

Zelos felt a hint of concern. Does their commander not have any restrictions on how many potions they hand out on the battlefield? Everyone’s sloshed. Is this city going to make it?

Ado’s party all had their heads in their hands too. They were probably thinking the same thing.

The items they’d treated as convenient tools in Swords & Sorceries seemed to have a range of issues when translated to reality. It looked like people would have to put warning labels on liqueur potions if they were going to be taken in battle like this.

The knights on the wall watched awkwardly—including Aleph, who was carrying bolts for the ballistae.

“Would you be able to join the fray soon, Mr. Zelos?” he called out. “These mages don’t have much firepower. Not to mention, I’m sure you can see the state they’re in...”

When Aleph had said that the mages were getting “hammered,” they hadn’t known this was what he’d meant. At this rate, they’d just be getting in the way.

Plus, if anyone tried to remove them from the front without being delicate, the mages might try to pick a fight with them.

Drunkards could be violent like that.

“Say, Aleph...” Zelos said. “Wouldn’t you usually avoid liqueur potions for situations like this? Just look at these guys. They’re all off their rockers.”

“I never would’ve thought the potions they’d send would be liqueur-based,” Aleph replied. “Apparently, they’d had some regular recovery potions near their expiry date, and they used those first, but then when those ran out... Well, I didn’t expect to be dealing with this.”

“They didn’t even send a useful variety of potions! Why were they virtually all mana potions? I mean, basically everything in that box is a mana potion, right?”

“Take it up with the baron,” Aleph replied. “These mages were already like this when we got here.”

The men among the mages started half singing, half chanting together: “Come to the battlefield; the battlefield’s great, HEY! Even if the ladies ’ere are all second-rate!”

“What was that?!” the women shouted. “Are you trying to start a fight?! Well, you’ve got one! If you wanna die, come get it!”

Somehow, the men’s song sounded like a sea shanty.

It didn’t take long for an all-out brawl to break out between the drunk men and women.

“That song they’re singing reminds me of an old ad for sake or a hot spring resort or something,” Shakti said.

“Who knows—maybe the alcohol’s made them too stubborn to die. But are they going to be of any use in this fight?” Lisa asked.

“Have you all forgotten the battle going on right now?” Zelos sighed. “But, yes... I think they need to put a warning label on mana liqueur potions. Something warning people not to drink too many.”

The reincarnators were so exasperated that none of them knew what to say. The men and women were beating each other up now, though the women had the upper hand.

It made for one hectic battlefield.

Perhaps they should’ve just been grateful that none of the drunks had decided to strip and dance naked.

Ado gave Zelos a look. “I say we give ’em a show, Zelos. Something that’ll help ’em sober up. What sort of magic should we use, though?”

“Anything explosive would cause too much damage, so how about we freeze the monsters with ice magic?” Zelos replied. “We can use fire for the cleanup after.”

“Got it. Well, then...”

They cast the same freezing spell simultaneously: “Cocytus!”

Cocytus was typically regular area magic, but in the hands of such overpowered mages, it became a whole other beast. Ice fanned out from the base of the wall, freezing the soil and then the monsters. When they shattered a moment later, the moisture in the air turned to diamond dust, painting the world white as far as the eye could see.

“Oh? Looks like some of them survived,” Zelos said.

“I hope the smell doesn’t get worse once they thaw,” Ado muttered. “We might’ve broken them up into tiny fragments, but those pieces are still technically meat...”

The monsters had no sense of camaraderie. They continued to advance, driven by instinct.

Afraid of neither the frozen ground nor the frostbite assailing their bodies, they charged across the ice.

The monsters’ fear of the great givleon was so elemental that it’d made them act on pure impulse, unable to do anything but stampede.

It was like when humans began to riot and rampage through the streets with no care for right or wrong.

“Lisa, Shakti—you guys help out too,” Ado requested. “If it’s just me and Zelos, we’ll run out of mana before the job’s done. And at our level, it takes a long time to recover mana.”

“Oh, fine. We’ll help,” Shakti said. “Ice Glaive!”

“I still think you two could get it done just fine... But whatever,” Lisa said. “Earth Glaive!”

Spears of earth and ice impaled the frantic monsters, killing them before they could reach the city’s wall. This might have actually been a crueler death than whatever Zelos and Ado had concocted.

“At least this lets us save our arrows, I suppose...” Aleph said, sighing. “But if I make it through this alive, the cleanup’s going to be horrible.”

“We could spare you the trouble,” Zelos said, “but if we did that, the terrain would be unrecognizable after we’re done. Ah, one moment—Blizzard!”

By joining the fray, Zelos and the others had turned the balance of battle in the defenders’ favor. It seemed like now that Aleph had a moment to breathe, he was worrying about the mess they’d have to deal with after.

Materials obtained from monster bodies were precious sources of income, but an oversupply could cause a price crash. Finding the right balance was difficult.

“Ha ha ha ha! Look at that! The monsters are like garbage!” Ado shouted.

“Do you really think this is the time to be quoting the villain from Laputa?” Shakti sighed. “It’s not just a joke right now. You actually are slaughtering them all without a fight...”

“She’s right!” Lisa agreed. “It’s kinda inappropriate, don’t you think? The monsters are living beings too, and you’re massacring them. I’m not sure it’s right to gloat about toying with other creatures’ lives like that...”

“S-Sorry. But, I mean... I couldn’t help myself! I had to say it! It was the perfect opportunity! Besides, if these monsters get through, the city will have hell to pay. And no matter how many of these things we kill, they just keep coming!”

As they advanced, the monsters covered the land in a thick carpet. Every time the defenders’ magic blew a hole in the swarm’s ranks, more monsters flooded in to fill it. The monsters weren’t actually endless, but there were so many that the defenders had no time to rest.

Under these circumstances, the most efficient approach was to take the monsters down with magic, allowing the defenders to preserve as many arrows and other consumables as possible.

This wasn’t like a battle between humans. The monsters had no strategy whatsoever; they simply charged in a straight line, which meant the old ways of mage combat were still effective here.

“Ah. Here come the givlees,” Zelos mused.

“What?!” the others cried.

A fleet of black shapes had flown into view, filling the skyline. They were the epitome of gluttony, and they were now rapidly approaching the fortified city of Slaiste. As they drew closer, without any hint of slowing down, they produced the characteristic whir of beating wings. It was like one big kamikaze plane surging toward a battleship.

“I say we lay a trap,” Ado said. “Flare Mine.”

“Oh? Well, I can’t let you have all the fun...” Zelos said. “Burst Mine!”

Flare Mine and Burst Mine were spells that attached to the caster’s chosen location, in the air or on the ground, and activated when an enemy came near. They were essentially traps, which mages often used in ambushes.

Magic formula improvements had made it possible to sustain the sigil in the air for a while without it immediately dissipating back into mana.

Casters of these spells had to use air magic to keep the traps in place. After all, they wouldn’t do any good if the wind blew them out of the enemy’s path.

Cast them from somewhere with a good view of the battlefield, and they were a potent way to burn grouped-up enemies in a surprise inferno.

KA-B-B-B-BOOOOOOM!

A chain of explosions echoed throughout the plain.

The detonation instantly swallowed the front of the approaching swarm of flying cockroaches.

A moment later, the next wave of cockroaches plunged straight into the lingering explosions and heat. They dropped to the ground, their bodies burning.

Cockroach wings were weak against fire, so midair explosive traps created the perfect roach hunting ground.

“There are this many of them?!” Shakti said in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me! There’s no way we’d be able to deal with all of these alone!”

“Yeah.” Lisa nodded. “Unlike Zelos and Ado, we don’t have cheat powers...”

“The defenders on the ground aren’t gonna have enough manpower, huh?” Ado asked.

“Mmm... You’re right,” Zelos agreed, glancing at the unit from the Order of Mages. “Who knows what they’re doing...”

The mages from the Order watched, flabbergasted, mouths wide open.

Until now, these mages had believed they were the cream of the crop—but witnessing Zelos and Ado’s magic had just shattered that notion. You could hardly blame them, though. This was their first time seeing mages so much better than themselves.

Apparently, seeing such a disparity between their strengths had been enough of a shock to sober them right up.

“N-No way... What even is that?!”

“Why would mages of their caliber work as mercenaries? Even court mages aren’t that strong!”

“If there are unknown mages like that out there, then what’s all of our hard work been for?”

Most people in the Order of Mages were either nobles or came from wealthy merchant families.

The majority here had, of course, reached their positions by securing apprenticeships with renowned mages, but their résumés were all fairly banal.

Until now, the prestige of their nobility or wealth had made them look down on mages who’d climbed the ranks through hard work and grit. Everyone else had just thought the wealthy mages’ were boldly proclaiming their own narrow-mindedness.

If word spread that other mages had grown this strong without studying under the “right” people, then folks might begin viewing the ideal mage as one came by their powerful magic by virtue of their personal talents alone. And that would leave the wealthy mages, who relied on their privilege, with nowhere to belong.

Watching these unknown newcomers made these mages from the Order feel like they were being driven to the edge of a cliff.

Not that any of that was the reincarnators’ fault.

“I think it’s time to get serious,” Zelos said.

“Oh? You getting into the swing of things now?” Ado said.

“More like getting sick of looking at these disgusting monsters. I figure it’s best if we just burn them all to a crisp and be done with it.”

“No argument here. There’s still the great givleon to deal with, so crushing the fodder now’ll make things easier for us later.”

Zelos and Ado each drew a knife from their hip.

These were special knives that allowed their wielders to precast spells.

So when Zelos and Ado—who’d made the knives themselves—released the magic they’d stored, they unleashed all the spells at once, without any need for incantations.

“Release mana! Activate all precast formulas!” they shouted.

“Homing Flare Burst, times seven! Homing Fire Lance, times ten!”

“Graviton Burst, times three! Gigaexplode, times four!”

A barrage of spells rained down upon the encroaching cockroach swarm.

“Take that!” they cried.

The ensuing gravitational collapse and searing heat of the explosions engulfed the monsters that had avoided taking a direct hit.

Ado peppered the front of the swarm to throw it into chaos, while Zelos sealed off the monsters’ escape route at the back to ensure their annihilation. They’d cultivated this one-two punch over many gaming sessions, which they used now to destroy the legion of flying cockroach monsters.

The spectacle was, in a word, overwhelming. This was no longer a battle but an emotionless, efficient pest extermination.

“You two are way too strong...” Shakti murmured. “All we could’ve done was chip away at the monsters on the ground...”

“Is there even a point to us being here?” Lisa said. “Couldn’t you two just finish the whole battle without breaking a sweat?”

“Pfft. I mean, we could—if you didn’t mind us turning the countryside into one big crater,” Ado said. “Which I’d rather not do.”

“When you’re too strong for your own good, you can hurt yourself if you mismanage your power,” Zelos said. “Besides, if we took out every last monster ourselves, we’d deprive these mages of the opportunity to grow.”

The two of them were effectively confirming that, yes, they’d have no trouble at all taking on this entire stampede themselves.

And the way things were going made it abundantly clear they weren’t just being overconfident.

The Order mages, who’d pounded liqueur potions until they were sloshed without achieving anywhere near this much, had well and truly lost face.

“Looks like there are far fewer monsters on the ground now too. I’d say it’s our turn...” Aleph muttered. “To all defenders! It’s time to finish off the monsters that are left—Squad Three first, then everyone else in battle order! We need to take out as many monsters as possible, while we have the chance!”

Those under his command sprang into action.

Knights and mercenaries gathered directly under the gate.

“So you’re having the Order of Knights head out there first, eh?” Zelos said. “I’m sure the mercenaries are itching to fight by now too.”

“This is the pivotal moment,” Aleph said. “But don’t worry. I’ll get the mercenaries out there to secure the bodies. We’ll need food if this turns into a prolonged siege.”

“A prolonged— Wait, you intend to eat these things?!” Ado asked.

“People eat monsters all the time, even outside of emergencies,” Zelos reminded him. “Giant boars and gianthorns, for example. And if you drain the blood properly, they can even be tasty. Plus, the mercenaries can make some extra money by harvesting the horns, furs, and so on. They’d be more than eager to do the work, I’d wager.”

Despite its name, the stampede occurred in waves rather than one continuous flood. It wasn’t an organized army with a leader, so a stampede could break up naturally if enough monsters split off from the main swarm. The issue with this stampede, however, was that a great givleon was driving the monsters; so long as it remained alive, the stampede would continue wreaking havoc.

That was why it was essential for the defenders to thin out the monster swarm and buy as much time as possible, while they had the chance.

Protecting the city and its people was a matter of duty for the knights. But for the mercenaries, it was a matter of livelihood, so those in charge had to find opportunities to send the mercenaries out on missions. After all, they hadn’t shown up uninvited; the city had requested their help for defense. At the very least, the city had to give them enough work to let them pay for their lodging while they were here.

It was crucial, then, to give the mercenaries those opportunities, so anyone who wanted to cut it as a leader in the Order of Knights needed to have a good eye for them.

“Let’s get out there, lads!” one mercenary shouted. “Time to make some dough!”

The mercenaries roared and cheered in response.

Like most fortified cities, Slaiste had two gates at each entrance.

Between the inner gate and outer gate was a courtyard typically used for inspections and the like. A lance unit stood in phalanx formation in the courtyard, with mercenaries waiting behind them, eager for their time to shine.

As the gate slowly opened, the lance unit held their long lances toward the approaching monsters and charged.

The Order of Mages, still atop the wall, helped deal with monsters coming from the knights’ sides. And once they’d opened space in the ranks, the mercenaries rushed in to fill it.

The tables had turned.

“Ooh,” Zelos whistled. “Looks like this’ll be a cinch.”

“Things are looking good,” Aleph replied. “None of these monsters are as formidable as anything we see in the Far-Flung Green Depths, so I think we’ll have an easy enough time routing the monsters around the city’s entrance.”

“The way you phrased that... Don’t tell me, Aleph... Have you gone back into the Green Depths to train since the last time we met?”

“Yes. If we can’t defeat the monsters in the Depths, what hope will we have of defending our country? We’ve also started an efficient training program based on our experiences there. There are still improvements to be made, mind you.”

It sounded like Aleph had turned into a drill sergeant from hell in the short time since Zelos had last seen him.

Zelos never would’ve expected the knights who survived that death trap with him to go back willingly for training.

But that did explain why the knights seemed so much stronger and well organized now. Their training had clearly beaten them into model soldiers.

Aleph nodded as he watched the knights at work, clearly satisfied with their growth.

“Ooh. They’re changing up their formation now,” Ado remarked.

“That’s an arrow formation, isn’t it? It was common in the Sengoku era,” Shakti said.

“Wait—Shakti, how do you even know that?” Lisa asked.

Ado and the others were right: The knights were switching up their formation to suit whatever situation they found themselves in.

The knights split into three groups and moved into a formation resembling an arrow.

“Prepare for lance charge!” a commander shouted.

All at once, the knights cast the same spell: “Sonic Boost!”

Sonic Boost was an air-based buff. It combined Physical Boost with air magic, fortifying the caster’s body and speeding them up—which allowed for some impressive charges. It could only be used once in a fight, but it turned the fully armored, lance-and-shield-bearing heavy knights into lightning-quick bullets.

The force of their attack made the term “lance charge” seem woefully inadequate as a description.

The knights barreled right into the swarm, trampling monsters and sending them flying.

Ado stood with his mouth open. “I’m reminded again of how scary a fantasy world can be. Humans just have superpowers here...”

“I know, right?” Shakti said. “There’s no limit to how strong someone can get here if they level up enough. People can even fight huge, terrifying monsters. It’s all just insane.”

“Yeah, but, like, the most ‘insane’ ones here are us, right?” Lisa said. “We’re strong without having trained at all.”

“Perhaps,” Zelos chimed in, “but those huge monsters will still be a big threat to anyone not of a high enough level. So it evens out. Heck, even with my Zenith Breaker I wouldn’t have an easy time taking down a behemoth or a dragon ruler. There are still certain rules about the relative strengths of different species.”

“I note that you said you ‘wouldn’t have an easy time’—not that you’d actually lose,” Shakti pointed out. “Oh, and speaking of ‘insane people’... Look. It’s like he’s having the time of his life right now.”

When the others looked where Shakti was pointing, they saw a group of mercenaries surrounded by monsters, engaged in ferocious battle.

But one mercenary in the group was slaughtering monsters like it wasn’t even a contest.

“W-Wait. Is that weapon—” Ado stammered.

“Oh, yes. I thought it looked familiar,” Zelos said. “Pretty sure that’s one of Gantetsu’s pile bunkers.”

A burly giant of a warrior was engaging in a head-on slugfest with a weapon that looked like something between an enormous shield and a gauntlet. An enormous pile was fitted to the shield, and whenever the man punched, it fired with a thunderous roar, skewering a hole right through the monster.

“Oh. Actually—you know what? I recognize this guy,” Shakti said.

“Me too...” Lisa said. “Isn’t— Isn’t this that guy from Talk no Jutsu Pro Wrestling?”

“Yeah. That’s Bomber Naito, isn’t it?” Ado said. “Who knew he played Swords & Sorceries too?!”

“He sure did,” Zelos said. “His character’s name was...‘Masked Renaissance,’ if I remember correctly? He was a half naked knight—he wore plate armor, but he kept his chest bare and fought with his fists. His nickname was ‘the Berserker.’ He hired me and Gantetsu to craft him a weapon one time. We had to go all over the place to find the right materials.”

“If he’s a knight, then why does he fight with a pile bunker instead of a sword?!” Ado’s party cried in unison.

“Punching things is just more his style, apparently. And I hear he’s really mastered his hand-to-hand combat skills! The moment he saw that pile bunker—it’s called Buster Gungnir, by the way—he fell in love with it. He even did a little dance.”

“Well, I guess he was a wrestler. Makes sense he’d specialize in hand-to-hand combat...” Ado said.

Zelos had contributed to the pile bunker’s creation too, but Gantetsu, the Blue Destroyer, had done the bulk of the work. Gantetsu had been famous for his incredibly troublesome taste in weapons.

“H-Hang on,” Ado said. “I just realized—you said Gantetsu made that thing? It’s not gonna self-destruct, is it?”

“There’s no self-destruct feature on that one, unfortunately. I think Gantetsu said something about there not being space for it.”

“Then Bomber Naito’s a lucky man, huh? I swear, Gantetsu lived for self-destruct features...”

“He spent ages trying to fit a self-destruct feature to that thing. But eventually, he realized it was impossible, and he gave up. I still remember watching him bawl his eyes out. Ah, those were the days...”

Zelos’s recollection gave Ado some relief, but only for a moment.

After all, there was no way one of the Destroyers would’ve made a proper, decent weapon. Ado quickly realized that the Buster Gungnir had to have some crazy drawback to it.

You could never trust the Destroyers about this kind of thing.

“Zelos... Does that weapon have some other side effect?”

“Oh, Ado. Such a scary look in your eyes... But if you must know, it’s enchanted to give Improved Physical Abilities and Ultimate Magic Resistance. In a fight, it tacks on Improved Combat Prowess, Improved Morale, and Mad Warrior. Ted helped out with all that, by the way.”

“Oh... Dead Ted, huh?” Ado said. “So that’s why Bomber Naito’s fighting like such a madman...”

“Wait—that just sounds like his gear’s cursed, doesn’t it?!” Shakti cried.

“It sounds like his body’s constantly pushing him to keep fighting. All alone, always looking for more enemies... It’ll get him killed sooner or later, at this rate,” Lisa said.

Dead Ted, the Green Destroyer, was an eccentric with a great fondness for cursed items. He’d preach to anyone who’d listen about how cursed equipment was a core staple of any fantasy setting. It was impossible to count how many players had run into misfortune as a result of the equipment he made.

And depending on its level, the Mad Warrior skill this equipment gave could be enough to bring its wielder to ruin.

“We have to hurry up and take that thing off him, or he’ll die!” Lisa shouted.

“I don’t think that’s a wise idea,” Zelos warned. “If we try to pry that thing off him by force, he’ll just become prey to it. I do remember hearing the Mad Warrior skill on that thing being pretty high-level.”

“How high, exactly?” Ado asked. “Just how badly is that thing messing with his mind?”

“Who knows?” Zelos shrugged. “I don’t remember in that much detail, as you may expect. Besides, around the time I was working on that, I was also helping Kanon gather potion ingredients. Ingredients she ended up using to make some biohazard that left my memory a little hazy... No idea what she did with that stuff.”

Gear made by deranged players like the Destroyers was always going to cause problems, if not outright danger. None of the Destroyers had much common sense.

In the end, the former Swords & Sorceries player—whipped into a frenzy by his cursed gear—continued to fight until he’d annihilated every enemy and stained the earth red with blood.

Just like that, Bomber Naito’s reputation as “the Berserker” was etched into this world as well.

As the sun set for another day over the fortified city of Slaiste—and the mountain of corpses just outside—the Berserker released a guttural roar of victory.

Chapter 3: The Old Guy Does Something Extremely Wicked

The cockroach monsters, kin of the great givleon, were starving.

They’d been scouring the land in search of prey, but many had died along the way.

The survivors had staved off starvation by eating their dead kin, but it wasn’t enough. More continued to starve to death, leaving the swarm smaller with every passing day.

Most of the cockroaches died without ever reaching maturity, leaving nothing behind but a body for others to eat.

If these monsters had been humans, this would’ve been a horrifyingly grotesque sight.

But the world had been like this since antiquity. The strong had learned to eat the weak if they wanted to survive. Survival and propagation were written into their DNA.

Female givlees laid their eggs inside the bodies of male individuals, with those eggs then hatching to increase the species’ numbers as they traveled. The newborn individuals would proceed to eat the male from inside until, eventually, they’d matured to the point where they could lay their own eggs.

While these creatures didn’t usually form colonies, the appearance of a particularly evolved specimen could compel them to. But the larger that colony grew, the more food it would require. Eventually, the swarm could strip a massive virgin forest bare in the blink of an eye—and it still would not be satiated.

And when that happened, the creatures would begin a great migration to find more food and leave behind offspring.

That alone was threatening enough, but what made this swarm worse was that it was driven by a creature known as a great givleon. As it devoured its kin to sate its hunger, it had sensed that it was rapidly gaining power.

It understood intuitively that the time was approaching for it to transform into something else.

It had no idea, however, that there was a major pitfall in that transformation.

A creature did not naturally accumulate exponential amounts of mana.

Rapid level-ups brought with them a terrible feeling of fatigue, which could even lead to a coma. Any creature that leveled up like that needed to rest its body to stabilize its mana.

But the great givleon didn’t have the level of intelligence needed to understand that something wrong was happening to its body.

And so, right to the end, the great givleon remained unaware that a third party had interfered.

* * *

The morning after the big battle at Slaiste’s north gate, the fighting resumed.

The defenders returned to their standoff against the swarm of monsters. The swarm wasn’t as strong as it had been yesterday, though, so the knights and mercenaries were managing to fend it off without outside help.

While the mages from the Order had been taking turns rotating on and off the battlefield since yesterday, they’d stretched themselves thin in an attempt to always keep some mages present, so they were quite a bit more exhausted than the knights.

This was the mages’ first experience with such large-scale combat. Unaccustomed to this sort of siege defense, they’d fired off unnecessary spells rather than conserving their mana. Plus, the mana liqueur potions had energized them, putting more wear and tear on their bodies.

If this had been a war between humans, the city probably would’ve been much better prepared. But a monster stampede was an unpredictable natural phenomenon, so it was like trying to fend off an earthquake or hurricane.

The city had made some preparations, for what it was worth, but it was still clear it didn’t have enough resources to endure a prolonged siege like this.

Ultimately, the defenders had to do the best with what resources were available, but that could only go so far. If the city remained cut off from the world for days on end, the citizens would eventually run low on food. The only way to break the blockade was to eliminate the cause of the stampede: the great givleon. But anyone trying to do so also had to contend with the other monsters along the way.

They needed to act fast, though. The great givleon would cause untold devastation if it reached the city.

“Anyways, Ado,” Zelos said, having just explained all that to the young man. “I think it’s about time we go to take out the cockroaches’ big boss.”

“Uh, Zelos... Isn’t this a bit sudden?” Ado said. “I know we’ve already talked about defeating the ringleader, but are you sure we’ve got the firepower for that?”

“If we believe we can, we’ll be able to do it. Besides, if we don’t deal with it ASAP, it’ll turn into a demon lord. Now that’d be a disaster.”

“Wouldn’t you still be able to take out a demon lord all by yourself? Unlike you, I’ve only just unlocked Zenith Breaker recently, so there’s a level gap between us, y’know...”

“I’d rather not find out. I just want you to give me a bit of backup. I’ll do the heavy lifting to kill it before it evolves.”

“I don’t know if I can trust you. It sounds like I’m going to get a lot more than I bargained for...”

It was never wise to trust a Destroyer who asked you to “just help out a bit.”

Back in Swords & Sorceries, Ado had gotten fooled by that phrase and ended up on death’s door too many times to count.

It was strange, in fact, that he hadn’t actually died any of those times. But he’d ended up in situation after situation that had left him convinced, Okay, this time I’m dead for sure.

Zelos actually hadn’t been as bad as the other Destroyers with this. The time Ado had gone to help out Kemo Luvyune had been the worst.

The terror Ado had felt that time was too intense to put into words. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d screamed, “Please, just kill me already!”

“Say, Ado...” Zelos said, “I don’t suppose you’d want to try riding my air rider?”

“Wh-What did you just say?”

“You heard me. The air rider. One of those things we could never get our hands on back in Swords & Sorceries. Or are you not interested?”

“Ngh... What are you, the devil on my shoulder? I do wanna ride it, though. I want to so bad. I’d happily go to hell for the chance to ride one of those things.”

“Mm-hmm. So I’ll propose again, Ado: What do you say we strike while the iron’s hot? Get it all done right now?”

Just like that, Ado gave in to sweet temptation.

He too had been a hardcore gamer—so when Zelos dangled this scrumptious-looking bait right in front of his face, he couldn’t help but take it hook, line, and sinker.

“Wow. He fell for that so easily,” Lisa remarked.

“Zelos really gets how Ado’s mind works, doesn’t he?” Shakti said. “It’s like Mephistopheles tempting Faust. I mean, at heart, Ado’s just a little boy with big dreams...”

“If Zelos knows that, and he’s using it to trick him... Doesn’t that make Zelos, like, some evil villain?”

“He’s not a villain. He’s just negotiating, really, and presenting his offer as effectively as he can. If Ado was really against it, he could have still said no. He should have that much common sense, at least.”

“Um... Is it just me, or do you keep talking about Ado like he’s a child?”

“Part of it is that he’s childish, yes. But it’s also just that Zelos is more of an adult. The kind of adult who uses his life experience to help him manipulate people, mind you...”

Ado was a modern-day college student who’d ended up in a shotgun marriage, while Zelos was a former salaryman with leagues of leadership experience in business. Ado was simply outclassed.

Sure, Ado’s tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve was a factor too, but it made sense to describe Zelos as demonic for what he’d done. After all, he used Ado’s weakness against him.

To put it more nicely, Zelos was good at calculating deals that considered both his own interests and the interests of the other party. Those deals just happened to be a bit lopsided.

“He’s managed to trick Ado, of all people...” Lisa said.

“Oh, Ado isn’t being tricked,” Shakti replied. “He and Zelos just have different priorities. And Zelos is using that to manipulate the situation in his favor.”

“The way you describe it isn’t helping his case. That still sounds exactly like something the devil would do. I’d say it’s devious, at the very least...”

“That’s just how business works, you know? I’m not sure what Zelos is getting out of this deal, but I at least know Ado’s getting the whereabouts of his fiancée, as well as the chance to try out an air rider. In other words, Zelos is giving Ado a little bit of something he needs and a little bit of something he wants to maximize his chances of getting Ado’s help. Besides, Ado can determine the value of those things however he’d like. And if Ado agreed on the spot without considering that, it just means he did a bad job of negotiating. That’s all it is.”

“Was that even a ‘negotiation’? Anyway, the fact you can tell all that means you must be pretty businesslike yourself, Shakti.”

“I was trying to become a lawyer, remember. I have a habit of looking at things objectively. Zelos is a tough nut to crack, though. I can never tell what he’s thinking.”

By limiting the information he gave away for free, then offering something extra to sweeten the deal, Zelos had stacked the cards in his favor. Ado had proceeded to fall for it all too easily.

And the fact that Zelos didn’t even think much of what he was doing made him all the more scary.

Ado had been destined to lose from the moment he failed to notice Zelos’s plan.

After all, Ado hadn’t even realized it was a negotiation.

“Adults can be so underhanded, can’t they?” Lisa sighed.

“‘Underhanded’?” Shakti repeated. “I’d say being able to act like that when the situation calls for it just makes him ‘rational,’ not ‘underhanded.’ If he pulls something crazy, and we fall for it, that’s on us.”

Whatever you called it, it was too late for Ado to turn back now. He’d given in to his desires and agreed to help take down the givleon.

As Ado gazed at the air rider, his eyes lit up, and a huge smile came to his face. In turn, Zelos watched Ado—with a smile on his face that was decidedly more ill-natured.

It resembled the smile of the devil himself.

* * *

Both over Level 1,000, the two mages were powerful enough to take on an entire country.

Zelos was a Great Sage, specifically, while Ado was a Sage. Both were so extraordinary that there would’ve been quite a commotion if society had learned of their existence, let alone what they were capable of. There was no way people could shrug off the existence of people like them.

The men weren’t even fully aware of how anomalous they were.

Currently, they were strolling through the plains beyond the northern gate of Slaiste.

“Urgh...” Ado groaned. “It still reeks of blood...”

“The battle happened yesterday,” Zelos replied. “You can’t expect the smell to dissipate that fast. Looks like they burned the monster corpses, but I imagine the stench will stick around for a while.”

“It’s just so different from when we were playing the game. It never got this bad back then. Not even in raids.”

“Well, yes. Corpses don’t just despawn here. This is reality.”

The two of them passed heaps of cockroach monsters feasting on the charred remains of dead monsters.

However, there were far fewer monsters around compared to the attack yesterday.

“Seeing cockroaches more than a meter long still grosses me out, y’know?” Ado said.

“Mm-hmm. They’re disgusting when they’re small, but somehow the bigger ones are even more disgusting. I wonder why we hate them so much. I don’t have that visceral reaction to huge praying mantises or rhinoceros beetles. It’s just cockroaches...”

“Right? It’s weird, since they’re all insects... I don’t get why cockroaches are the only ones we can’t handle.”

The human mind was a strange thing. The average person was perfectly fine touching butterflies or rhinoceros beetles, but felt intense revulsion toward moths or cockroaches. Apparently, looks counted for something.

“Well,” Zelos said, “I suppose there are people out there who can’t stand butterflies either.”

“There was that brand of school notebooks that changed its cover art from insects to plants back on Earth. Apparently, the insects grossed out too many people.”

“Ah, yes. But there are plenty of creepy plants out there too. The corpse flower, for example. Or the Venus flytrap.”

“What about the caterpillar fungus?”

“That’s technically a fungus, not a plant. It’s in the name. I hear it’s valued in traditional Chinese medicine, actually. Couldn’t tell you whether it’s actually of any use, mind you...”

“Same thing with seahorses, right? And yeah, hard to imagine they do anything...”

All sorts of exotic ingredients existed that were used in traditional Chinese medicine or gourmet cuisine, but their utility was dubious. Some people even ate things like slime molds, believing they would grant them eternal youth. Some of these things were driven by culture and tradition. But when you lived in an era without a scientific method, people naturally used all sorts of plants and other substances without any evidence whatsoever of their efficacy.

“What about in a fantasy world, though?” Ado asked. “Maybe they’d have some kinda effect here?”

“Hmm... Interesting point. There is a type of mushroom here called the ‘parasite mush.’ It’s sort of like the caterpillar fungus, and it’s used in body-strengthening potions.”

“I wonder if it’d still work if you used it like you would in traditional Chinese medicine, then?”

“For what it’s worth, there’s an equivalent branch of medicine in this world. Its practitioners value the parasite mush for similar effects. I saw an apothecary selling some at a hefty price.”

“Ah. Isalas doesn’t have any shops like that, so I never got to look into that kinda thing. Even low-grade potions there cost twice what they do in Solistia...”

“You know, everything I hear about that place only makes it sound poorer. How bad have things gotten over there? If resources are so scarce, the country’s economy must be in dire straits, right?”

“Yeah, ‘dire straits’ is spot-on. Poor people shoplift like it’s nothing, and the unemployment rate is insane. Half of them probably would’ve starved to death without the poltas.”

“Poltas were... Ah. Yes. Those rock potatoes.”

Isalas had started treating Ado’s party like heroes because they’d improved the food situation in the village they’d stumbled across.

By teaching the impoverished villagers that poltas—potato-like vegetables—were edible, they’d guaranteed the people a precious source of protein, improving the food supply nationwide.

Unlike potatoes, poltas weren’t seasonal; they reproduced year-round from seed tubers that grew near the plant’s roots.

“About those ‘poltas,’ by the way...” Zelos said. “You do know you can boil them to get sugar, right? It’s cold in the mountains, so I imagine they’d produce sugar to protect against freezing. Plants are crafty like that.”

“Wait, what? I’ve never heard that before. Seriously?”

“Well, from memory, it wouldn’t be much sugar, but it’d be good quality. Oh, and the big leaves could be used to make paper—they’re actually the perfect material for making magic paper. Tubers are just about the ideal plants, from what I remember. Not one part of them has to go to waste.”

“Uh... Zelos? How do you even know all this stuff?”

“From Swords & Sorceries II—the game’s second big patch. The developers handicapped high-level players by making them start in this little village high up in the mountains. I remember it now—we had to mass-produce sugar and paper and sell them to get enough capital to start out. Ah, that brings me back...”

“Hang on—has there been a proper adviser around for this stuff all this time? Someone who actually knows what they’re doing?! H-Hey, Zelos—could you come to Isalas with me? Things look like they’re gonna be real dicey there for a while! They could really use your advice!”

“Mmm? But it’s cold up in the mountains... Besides, they’ll be raking in money from mining projects soon enough. Won’t they be fine without me?”

Zelos really didn’t want to go somewhere with such cold, thin air. He looked quite reluctant, as if saying, I lucked into getting my own house here—why should I have to leave it behind and go to some other country just because its people are poor?!

He’d help fundraise, but he had zero intention of actually going there—even if that made him a hypocrite.

Ado had been naive to expect any sort of volunteer spirit out of Zelos.

“Besides,” Zelos said, “I’m not sure they should expect you to help with every single problem just because you’re a Sage. Can’t they at least try to solve things themselves first?”

“I mean, sure, I get what you mean, but the people of Isalas are pretty desperate...”

But even Ado thought there was no way he could help the Kingdom of Isalas more than he already had.

Things were okay at the moment, but there was still the risk that the war hawks could start plotting down the road. He wanted to boost the moderate faction’s influence before that could happen.

“I’m still not sure,” Zelos said. “Didn’t Isalas invade this place before it was called Solistia? Isalas was a military dictatorship back then, wasn’t it? With the military leaders throwing their weight around all like, ‘Oh, we don’t have any land? Fine! We’ll just take it by force!’”

Ado winced. “O-Okay! Well, uh, maybe Isalas is a bit like that, even now, but...there are decent people there too, you know?”

“I don’t even know whether I should trust you on that. A while back, I put some big pillars in the river to agitate the current. Can you tell me with a straight face that Isalas hadn’t been planning to invade before I put those there? I’m not even going to mention the fact that someone tried to kill me while I was at it...”

“Oh... Uh... S-So you’re the one behind those pillars... The generals from the war hawk faction were so damn mad about that. They didn’t hide it either. They got so worked up they started stamping their feet.”

Zelos gave a brief look of surprise, then sighed. “Erm, Ado... I don’t think telling me that kind of intel is smart. Loose lips sink ships. Doesn’t matter now, I guess; I can’t imagine a certain Solistian duke hasn’t already taken countermeasures.”

Delthasis was practically a cheat-level duke, able to wring sensitive information from secret organizations without anyone the wiser. And given the extent of his intel network, Zelos figured the man wouldn’t have had any trouble obtaining secrets from foreign militaries.

What most interested Zelos, though, was Ado’s momentary evasiveness.

“Well, anyway...” Zelos said. “How about we get going?”

Zelos took his Sidewinder—the refurbished air rider—from out of his inventory, promptly signaling that the time for small talk was over.

Its design—something like a futuristic motor scooter—stood out like a sore thumb in this fantasy world.

And fortunately, it seemed able to fit two people.

Ado’s eyes lit up with childlike wonder. “A-An air rider...” he murmured. “These things were legendary. Every hardcore player dreamed of getting one. Never would’ve thought I’d get to ride on one...”

“Heh... Say, kid. Wanna take it for a spin? Sit up front?”

“What?! S-Seriously?! Like, for real?! You’re not just messing with me?!”

“Mm-hmm. We’re old buds, the two of us, aren’t we?” Zelos said, cajoling Ado like some shady con man. “Would I ever steer you wrong? By my calculations, it should fly for about five hours if I put in a spare tank...”

He was too prideful to say, “Sure, I’ll let you have a ride” like a normal, honest person.

“To go forward, twist the throttle. Same as a regular motorbike,” he said. “But there are pedals too. You press the pedal, the air rider ascends; you lift your foot, it descends. Only problem with this baby is that she doesn’t get the best mana mileage.”

“Sounds easy enough to operate! How does it actually work, though?”

“Not a clue. I’ve tried to investigate, but I can’t figure out a thing about this black box. Not even how to take it apart!”

“Given how heavy it is, I bet it absolutely guzzles mana, right?”

Flight magic—like Zelos’s Shadowraven’s Wings—went against the laws of nature, which meant it was usually mana-inefficient.

It required a lot of magic formulas with varying functions to generate a force field that allowed it to counteract gravity, accelerate and decelerate, ascend and descend, and change direction... And that wasn’t even mentioning the supplemental formulas needed to regulate the first batch.

Each formula chewed through a fair amount of mana, and flight magic only worked when all of them ran in tandem. It was not something an individual could sustain with their own mana supply.

The air rider essentially worked the same way, so it consumed an enormous amount of mana.

Between the mana the air rider consumed to lift its hefty frame into the air, the additional fuel required to accelerate, and so on, the amount of mana required was so great that the tank depleted faster than you could fill it.

Naturally, if you used up all the mana in the tank, the air rider would typically stop working.

“For what it’s worth,” Zelos said, “I built in some contingency features in the event of a midair fuel exhaustion, but...I’d rather not have to use them. See that bracelet-like thing? The one at the end of a cord next to the right handlebar?”

“Oh. Yeah, I get it. You put this on to turn the rider’s mana into an emergency fuel source, right? Makes sense. Mages are pretty much living batteries.”

“It should only activate in an emergency, mind you. And it’d suck your average mage dry of mana in an instant.”

“But we’ve got our cheat powers, so I guess we’d be fine, right? Y’know, I’m amazed you managed to attach something like this to it.”

“It wasn’t too hard. The design is simple enough, apart from that black box. I just had to tinker with it a little, and it started working just fine.”

“I wonder if you could strike it rich if you started selling these?”

“It’s a moot point. I couldn’t start selling them. Not without figuring out the black box—that’s what makes it all tick. As much as it’d be incredible...”

Men could be sad little creatures.

The instant they had the means to turn their wildest dreams into reality, they got carried away and followed their hearts until they succeeded. It didn’t matter whether those “dreams” involved adventuring, making a harem, founding a nation, or piloting a huge robot.

One way or another, men would find a way to dive wholeheartedly into their dreams, like kids who acted out their superhero fantasies in the playground, desperate to make them a reality. Sure, some would fail, but that was typically because they’d set their sights on a goal beyond their means.

When their dreams were modest, however, hard work was usually enough. And that was particularly true when it came to developing a vehicle.

Zelos and Ado had already succeeded at exactly that, with their Harley-Sanders Model 13 and kei car, respectively. Both had just been made for personal use, but they were handy enough to grow popular nationwide if their creators set up mass production. And they’d be huge boons to the economy too.

Still, things weren’t that simple. These inventions would also spark the need to build mass transportation infrastructure and prevent traffic accidents. Sure, merchants could potentially make an incredible profit, so they’d be happy to help out...but there were so many issues to solve before that was feasible, and those issues would take a nationwide effort to solve.

Traffic accidents from carriages and the like were common enough already. And most of the time, anyone wealthy enough—nobles or affluent merchants, for example—were deemed not at fault in those accidents, leaving the blame pinned on the other party.

It wasn’t like the families of anyone who’d died in traffic accidents received apologies or compensation. And that would still be the case even if people suddenly switched from horse-drawn carriages to cars.

This world didn’t even have an insurance system yet, after all. Nor did it have traffic lights, which would be needed to make pedestrian crossings viable.

Vehicles capable of going over eighty kilometers per hour would’ve been too dangerous in a world like this. They would’ve been deadly weapons on wheels.

Long story short, the world wasn’t ready for Zelos and Ado’s Earth-inspired modes of transport.

“Hmm... What about steam cars, then?” Ado asked. “Those didn’t go too fast, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“Ah. Yes... They could usually only go about as fast as an old-fashioned cultivator, couldn’t they? I suppose you could use magic stones to supply and boil water... I think the real problems would come after you’d made a prototype. Remember, there’s no infrastructure here for that kind of thing. No license system either.”

“Yeah, I guess the more useful something is, the more you need to regulate it... Pretty sure society would hate us if we just brought these things into the world without taking all the proper steps first.”

“Still—maybe I will make one. Just as a test. Then I could palm off all the rest to a certain duke.”

If Zelos put his mind to it, he’d probably be able to make an aeroplane, let alone something like a cultivator. But he wasn’t interested in putting in the effort to bring it to market.

Duke Delthasis, however, could handle all the patent applications and such behind the scenes. He’d already ensured that nobody else could nab the sales rights to the magic formulas Zelos had improved.

The duke always had a good eye for business.

“Anyways,” Zelos said, “are you actually going to get on this thing? I’ll drive it myself if you don’t hurry up.”

“Urgh... I just... I just don’t wanna go where all those roaches are... But I so wanna ride the air rider... Argh, whatever! I’m doing it!”

Ado sat on the Sidewinder’s seat, inserted the key, and turned the ignition.

As the vehicle started, he felt a faint vibration, and the fans inside the aerothrusters started to spin.

Zelos hurried to sit behind Ado. The air rider was ready for takeoff.

“So I’ll be riding tandem with you, huh, Zelos? I wish I could’ve done this with Yuika—I mean, with Yui—instead...”

“Even if you could, surely that’d be a bad idea right now, wouldn’t it? She’s pregnant, remember. Give up on your ideal joyride—just take us to fight some bugs already. You’ll be able to see her once we’re done. Oh, and... Now that I think of it, you’re terrible with directions, right?”

“Yeah. Please be my navigator—at least until I’m reunited with Yui...”

“Sure. You’ll have to find your own way back from there, though, okay? I do have other things to do.”

Ado was dejected by the realization he’d be riding tandem with another guy.

Worse, the two of them weren’t exactly heading off to some tourist destination. They were going to a plain teeming with enormous cockroaches.

Heaving a depressed sigh, Ado stepped on the pedal.

For a moment, he felt a flutter of vertigo, as if he were on an elevator.

“Oh? Oh! I’m— I’m actually flying?! Is this for real! It’s for real, isn’t it?!”

“Well, someone’s happy, eh?”

Ado was over the moon as the Sidewinder lifted up off the ground. He was as hyped-up as a little kid.

“Make sure you don’t mess up the controls, okay?” Zelos warned him. “This old guy doesn’t want to get caught up in a tandem suicide with another man.”

“Don’t worry—neither do I. Ah hah HAH... I’m flying! I’m really flying!”

In his excitement, Ado twisted the throttle as hard as he could.

As it accelerated, the air rider zipped through the sky. The air resistance pushed the middle-aged man and his foolish younger companion back in their seats.

“WHOAAAAAARGH!”

“Get back into the right position! Now! Or else— CRAP! We’re going to fall! We’re falling!”

The Sidewinder zigzagged wildly, like a raging horse trying to throw its riders off its back.

Chapter 4: The War of the Roaches

Zelos and Ado shot through the sky on their sad two-man ride as the Sidewinder gradually made its way north.

There were fewer monsters from the stampede out here, but in exchange, the sea of black shapes covered the land more and more densely the farther they traveled.

As they looked closer, they saw enormous cockroaches eating the dead monsters that had fallen and been trampled underfoot.

But as Zelos looked out over the huge swarm, he felt something was wrong.

“Something’s not right. These are just the young ones. Where are all the big blattellas and periplanetas? I swear, the last time I was here, there were enough of them to cover the land completely. And now they’re just gone...”

“Seriously? Even this seems like a whole lot...”

“It is still a lot, yes. But if this were the extent of it, Slaiste’s defenders could probably manage it themselves. Besides, I don’t see the biggest one. I would’ve expected it to have gotten close by now...”

“You said it was about to evolve, right? Maybe it’s just gotten slower? I wouldn’t be surprised if evolving strained the monster’s body here, unlike in the game.”

“Hmm... That does sound feasible. If that were the case, the givleon would be farther ahead...”

However, the swarm started thinning out as Zelos and Ado traveled in the direction the roaches had come from.

This was a night-and-day difference from the colossal horde Zelos had witnessed last time.

“Hey, Zelos—are you sure there was a great givleon? I feel like we’re seeing way fewer monsters now...”

“I’d be thrilled if it had done us the favor of dying. Fighting that thing’s going to exhaust me otherwise...”

“The map says we’ll be in Metis territory if we keep going.”

“Let’s just take a bit more of a look. Sure would suck if it’s already evolved. Aha ha ha ha.”

“Uh... Not sure I’d be laughing about that.”

Before long, the ground beneath them was barren earth, without a single blade of grass—courtesy of the starving cockroaches that had swept over it.

They’d devoured all traces of plant life.

“You know, I’d heard those things had a big appetite, but I didn’t think it’d be this bad,” Zelos said. “Now I understand how they could bring a country to ruin.”

“Yeah. This is insane,” Ado agreed. “Everything’s just...bare. It’s like the start of some land reclamation project. I know they’re omnivorous, but did those things seriously eat every last weed on their way here?”

“They did a number on Mother Nature, didn’t they? They were so hungry they made sure to get every last morsel. Even their dead companions all ended up in their bellies...”

The sheer, overwhelming number of starving creatures was what made Hell’s Legions so scary.

The laws of nature, however, meant no creature could survive without food. And traveling in such massive numbers meant no source of food could be enough to sustain an entire Hell’s Legion. Some of its members would perish along the way.

That was the difference between a Hell’s Legion and a stampede: The members of the former would devour even their own fallen kin as they traveled, so its numbers would drop rapidly.

But it wasn’t all good news. Sure, there would be fewer and fewer strong monsters in the swarm as time passed, but on the other hand, the survivors would grow even stronger. And the monsters would continue laying eggs, so the number of weaker, younger monsters wouldn’t really fall off.

It was strange, then, that the cockroach swarm was this much smaller than a few days prior.

“I guess the swarm could’ve split into multiple groups and spread out?” Ado suggested. “Or...no, maybe the missing ones all got eaten by the givleon?”

“If that’s the case, I’m glad—it means fewer for us to deal with.” Zelos paused for a moment. “Ah. Seems we shouldn’t have gotten our hopes up.”

“Well, well...”

Just as the Sidewinder approached a valley between the mountains, Zelos and Ado spotted the great givleon, whose body had turned almost completely white.

A bunch of larger cockroach monsters, the ones missing from the greater swarm, surrounded it like a king’s elite guards.

On closer look, the men saw that the great givleon had completely lost its legs. Its enormous wings were in the process of disintegrating too. Put all that together, and it almost looked like the creature was at death’s door. However...

“Damn... It’s only moments away from evolving, huh?” Ado said.

“Mmm... Yeah, we should probably blow it up as soon as possible. I get the feeling we’ll have trouble if we waste any time.”

“A swarm of weaker ones is surrounding it, though. Regular area magic’s not gonna be enough to deal with it. What do you think? Do we use something crazy big?”

“I think we’ll have to. I’d go with Dark Judgment, cast directly above the givleon.”

“Out of everything you could’ve said, you went with that... Well, whatever. This is Metis’s territory. It should be fine.”

“That being the case, get us directly above the big boy, Ado! Chop chop! Oh—some of these things can fly, by the way, so watch out. They’ll probably attack us.”

“Really?! Argh, damn it! I got the short end of the stick by agreeing to drive, didn’t I?!”

“See, Ado, you never really had a choice to begin with.”

“Damn it all to hell!”

Ado piloted the air rider toward the great givleon, evading flying cockroaches as they went.

In theory, the plan was simple: Cast Dark Judgment to rapidly thin out the enemy numbers.

But the plan didn’t account for the instinctive aversion, the distress, the dread that a person would feel at the thought of plunging straight into a swarm of giant, grotesque cockroaches.

Perhaps this was the perfect way for people to shore up their mental fortitude.

It would’ve made for a pretty horrific training method, though.

As the air rider encroached on givlee airspace, the eyes of the blattellas and the periplanetas—the main soldiers of this defense force—glowed red.

Their long antennae had detected an enemy incursion, and they prepared for battle.

These cockroaches, each between one and three meters in size, entered flight mode simultaneously and rose into the air with a great buzzing of wings.

They launched themselves at the Sidewinder.

“Oh my god, oh my god!” Ado screamed. “They spotted us! They’re coming right at us!”

“Well, would you look at that?” Zelos said. “For how big they are, they sure can move pretty quickly. How do they get so much speed out of those big, bulky bodies? That’s gotta break the laws of physics, don’t you think?”

“I-It probably has something to do with mana, right?! How are you so calm?!”

“You know, I’ve thought it was strange for a while now. Mana can strengthen its users’ bodies, break the laws of physics like nothing, create things out of nowhere... What even is mana, I wonder?”

“Zelos, now’s not the time! Go ask some scholar when we’re done! No, no, no... I can’t do this! There’s no way I can shake these things off!”

The meters-long cockroaches flew at the Sidewinder like birds of prey, eyes on their target. They looked completely willing to ram the vehicle with their bodies. In fact, that was probably their plan.

If Zelos’s and Ado’s knowledge from Swords & Sorceries applied here, then these cockroach monsters wouldn’t have any special abilities to speak of; however, they would have insects’ usual durability.

If one of these things rammed the Sidewinder, Zelos and Ado would certainly come out of it worse.

They could expect some bruises, at the very least.

“Flare Napalm!”

“Plasma Mine!”

The cockroaches didn’t stop pursuing, even as the mines peppered them with flames and lightning.

“No way!” Ado cried. “They flew right through all of that?!”

“So lightning’s not going to cut it, eh?” Zelos said. “That was a direct hit, and they just brushed it off. I guess they have unusually high lightning resistance...”

“Blizzard!”

Ado swerved the air rider to dodge a charging blattella by a hair’s breadth, but then—

“Ice— WHOA! Shit!”

—a periplaneta rocketed up at them from below, its glowing crimson eyes closely resembling those of creatures from a certain anime movie.

“Get outta here! Go back to the Toxic Jungle!”

“These aren’t those giant isopod things, Ado. They’d die if they went there.”

“Giant isopods? Weren’t those supposed to be pill bugs? W-Wait! This is not the time! It’s taking everything I’ve got just to dodge these bastards! They’re driving us away from the big one!”

After surging through the gauntlet of Zelos and Ado’s latest barrage of magic, the givlees adjusted course and beelined for them again. Even if they were managing to dodge the creatures for now, it would’ve been impossible for them to defeat this many cockroaches bit by bit.

The fact that the Sidewinder flew slightly faster than the cockroaches had been the difference maker, but if enough monsters leaped directly up at them, all at once, then no amount of magic could help Zelos and Ado. With their numerical advantage, the cockroaches were slowly driving the two mages back.

They needed to get rid of these small fry ASAP.

“It’s all or nothing,” Zelos said. “What do you say we take a bit of a risk?”

“What’s the plan?” Ado asked. “There are so damn many of these things. They’ll get us sooner or later. I can’t dodge them forever.”

“I say we clear out every bug in front of us and zip straight down the middle in one go.”

“How are we gonna be able to do that? I’ve almost used up all the delayed spells I had prepared, y’know...”

“I don’t think we have a choice. Anyway—let’s go. Blast Typhoon!”

“No warning? You’re just doing it?!”

Blast Typhoon was an air spell that launched a strong sideways typhoon directly ahead of the caster, buffeting any enemies in its way.

The caster could freely move the typhoon to an extent, making it handy against masses of weaker enemies.

Once the typhoon had opened a path, the air rider barreled straight through the eye.

“Whoa... It’s working!” Ado shouted. “This’ll be easy now! Those blattellas can’t even get near us!”

“We haven’t gotten to the givleon yet. Hopefully this’ll keep working until we get right above it... Blast Typhoon!”

“Aww, you’re such a worrywart, Zelos. No way those things can attack us while we’re in here. We’re set.”

“I certainly hope you’re right. But, you see, a lot of creatures here have evolved in strange ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same were true for these givlees.”

“I, uh... I hope you didn’t just set a flag with that...”

After figuring out that they couldn’t reach their enemies through the walls of the typhoon, the cockroaches began maneuvering behind to follow Zelos and Ado through the eye of the storm. Zelos and Ado were clearly fine, so it hadn’t taken the monsters long to realize they should be able to do the same.

But that wasn’t all.

Several monsters ascended higher into the sky, ignoring the typhoon below. These were different from the others; each had a sharp horn protruding from its back.

“Never seen any like that before,” Ado said. “Were there ones like that in Swords & Sorceries?”

“I’m getting a bad feeling about this. Plus, the others are chasing us from behind...”

The ascending horned roaches stopped midair, then, all at once, they set their sights on the Sidewinder and nose-dived at their target. Worse, they were spinning rapidly, turning their horns into drill bits.

“A-Are they using Spiral Dive?!” Zelos exclaimed.

“Seriously?! They must be trying to burst right into the middle of the typhoon! See, Zelos?! This is all because you set that flag!”

“How was I supposed to know about the special ability of some mutant bug I’d never seen before? Anyway—go full throttle! Just get to the givleon!”

Spiral Dive was a charge attack used by large bird monsters and certain dragons. It made the user spin rapidly, allowing them to deflect frontal physical and magical attacks and create a defensive barrier of their own mana.

Zelos never would’ve expected a bunch of cockroaches to use this move, though.

The horned roaches were about four meters long. While there weren’t many, they were barreling toward the air rider with terrifying force. These were probably the great givleon’s strongest guardians.

After using the momentum of their Spiral Dive to pierce right through the wall of the typhoon, the roaches hurtled toward Zelos and Ado.

“No! NO! NOOOOOO!” Ado shouted.

“You can’t even call those things cockroaches anymore,” Zelos said. “They’re a whole other type of insect at this point, don’t you think?”

“How are you still so calm?! If one of those hits us, we’re DEAD! It’s that simple!”

“Luckily for us, all that spinning probably makes it hard to aim. We should be fine as long as you keep a level head and dodge.”

“Not if my heart gives out first! It feels like I’m constantly one moment from screwing up the controls and getting us both killed!”

Ado was just about in tears.

As far as he was concerned, he had no obligation to protect the Magic Kingdom of Solistia.

However, his fiancée Yui was in the country—and she was pregnant. It was an incredibly important time for the two of them. Maybe he’d have been able to get out of here right now and flee in his kei car, but only Zelos knew where his wife was.

Sure, part of the reason he was here was that he’d been desperate to give the air rider a whirl, but the main thing that had convinced him to work with Zelos was the promise of reuniting with Yui.

His determination was just about at its limit, though.

These special roaches had so much momentum that they hadn’t even flinched at Zelos and Ado’s magic attacks, ruining what was supposed to have been the pair’s ace up their sleeve.

And right now, these huge insects were tearing the typhoon apart with their sheer force, relentlessly flying after Ado and Zelos inside.

It gave them a sense of fear like they’d never felt before.

“A-whah?”

“Huh?”

Making a silly exclamation as he got his wits back, Zelos spotted three more cockroach monsters trying to block their path ahead.

And these three were also of the horned variety.

“I don’t like where this is going...” the men said at the same time.

Their concern was justified.

The horned roaches were hovering in midair, wings tucked away as they spun faster and faster.

“Huh. I guess they can fly for a little while even without using their wings. Color me impressed,” Zelos remarked.

“Again, how are you so calm?! They’re coming!”

The horned roaches rocketed toward them with their brutal spin move, like the combination attack of a certain mech. The fact that there were three made it that much more evil.

Since the eye of the Blast Typhoon was narrow, dodging would be tough.

But before they even had time to think, one of the horned roaches was right in front of them.

“Tch!”

With a click of his tongue, Zelos leaned hard to the left, using his weight to careen the Sidewinder out of the way. The first roach missed them by a hair. But the other two were right behind it, on a collision course with the air rider.

No space left to dodge. I’ll have to...

Zelos reached around in front of Ado without warning to take control of the bike. He wasted no time pushing the lever in front of the handlebars.

This device, which he’d added himself, would temporarily cut off the vehicle’s supply of mana. As he activated it, the sigil providing the air rider’s force field disappeared. The vehicle immediately plummeted, no longer able to maintain flight.

“What the— What did you do?!” Ado cried.

“Lean forward! They’re coming!” Zelos replied.

“H-Here they—”

Gravity pulled the Sidewinder rapidly toward the ground.

As it did, Ado stooped forward, while Zelos leaned back, both dodging the horned roaches.

The spinning monsters passed just over the top of the two, grazing Ado’s back and Zelos’s nose, before dropping to the ground.

“Hey... Zelos? I swear I just felt something brush against my back...”

“What a coincidence. I felt something pass right above my nose.”

“What... What would’ve happened if we’d been going just a tiny bit faster?”

“We’d both be mincemeat. I guess we were in luck—we should be happy! By the way, would you mind pulling that lever back to where it was? If you don’t want a very abrupt encounter with the ground, that is.”

“WHOA?!”

In a panic, Ado pulled the lever, and the sigil reactivated the air rider’s force field, stabilizing its levitation and narrowly avoiding a crash from high altitude.

“Shit, that was close... Remind me, again—why do I have to help you out with this suicide attack?!”

“You’re about the right age to be taking some crazy risks, aren’t you? You know that Ozaki song? ‘I’ll ride off on a stolen bike, not knowing where I’m headed’...”

“That song’s about a fifteen-year-old! I’m twenty-three! Besides, what’s my age got to do with it?! And does this thing not have any weapons?!”

“Nope! Or to be precise, it does have a last resort, but there’s a solid chance we’ll crash if we use it. So our only real option’s to attack with magic. Puts us in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it? Hah hah hah!”

“This is no laughing matter! We’re surrounded!”

“Ado! Turn toward Sirius! We’ll dive straight into the dragon’s nest.”

“What do you mean by ‘toward Sirius’?! We’re not on Earth! There is no Sirius! Ah, goddamn it—forget the dragon nest, I keep diving headfirst into your stupid setups!”

“Ooh. Nice comeback. What do you say we start a comedy duo? Take the entertainment world by storm?”

“Don’t you think we have bigger things to worry about right no— WHARGH!”

Horned roaches suddenly punched through the typhoon and rushed them head-on. And this time, the roaches shot lightning at them.

It came as quite a shock to Zelos and Ado.

“I forget,” Zelos said. “Did Swords & Sorceries have any cockroaches that attacked like that?”

“Absolutely not,” Ado replied. “Forget lightning; they didn’t have any special abilities. Not unless you count stuff like ramming into you or creating vibrations with their wings. Looks like this world has some pretty evolved ones, though.”

“In that case, these horned ones may be a different species. They almost look more like rhinoceros beetles if you ignore the antennae.”

“I don’t know... Sure, the horns sticking out of their backs look kinda similar, but you can still tell they’re cockroaches from the wings, can’t you?”

The horned roaches looked quite different from other roaches, but if they were serving the great givleon, they must’ve been its kin. Alternatively, they could have been another creature that had a symbiotic relationship with the givleon. But there were a lot of different ways that insect monsters could evolve, and it was common for some to become unrecognizable after a few evolutions, so it was hard to be sure.

That said, even Zelos hadn’t seen such highly evolved insects before...

“We’re almost at the end of the typhoon, if you haven’t noticed,” Ado said.

“Time to fire it up again, then. Blast Typho— Bwah?!”

As they exited the typhoon, a swarm of givlees appeared in a defensive formation to block their path, almost like an ambush.

While the eye of the Blast Typhoon had helped them get this far, it’d also given Zelos tunnel vision. He’d been so focused on the cockroaches in their path that he’d forgotten to track the rest of the cockroaches.

“No way... Did they bait us here?!” Ado said, stunned. “You’re kidding me! These things shouldn’t be smart enough to—”

“These givlees probably hunt as a pack,” Zelos said. Then he explained how other insect monsters, like giant ants and killer bees, hunted in groups. Some individuals focused on fighting, others on transporting prey, and so on, and each evolved according to its specialization. “If even regular ants behave like that, we shouldn’t be that surprised to see these cockroaches doing the same thing.”

The proof was right in front of them, after all. Countless monsters that neither man had ever seen in Swords & Sorceries—insects so big and fat they no longer resembled cockroaches—whizzed through the air, blocking their path.

“They might be closer to termites, actually,” Zelos said. “Maybe this whole place is both a swarm and a nest. Hmm... Behaviorally, though, they’re more like army ants. Some focus on attacking, others on defending...”

“So they were hiding a trump card of their own, huh? This world is wild, isn’t it? All these new monster habits and weird laws of nature... Anyway—Zelos? What do we do?”

“We break right through the middle. That’s all we can do. I don’t know what abilities those fat ones might have, but it looks like they’ve gone down a pretty different evolutionary route from the others.”

“Those ones aren’t even cockroaches, are they? They look more like drone beetles.”

“See? Now you’re getting it. Took you long enough. Anyway—we’ve got no choice. Let’s switch to offense and blast through, eh?”

“I don’t wanna use up too much of my mana, y’know, but...fine. Guess I’ve gotta steel myself.”

“‘Steel yourself’? You’ve come all this way, and you still haven’t done that? You do know we’ve been fighting for our lives for a while now, don’t you?”

Knowledge from Swords & Sorceries could be useful in this world, but only as a general reference.

The gist of things was typically the same, but the nuances were always different. They couldn’t assume everything they knew would hold true here.

It was dangerous for them to blindly trust their instincts, forcing them to constantly revise their understanding.

“The plan hasn’t changed,” Zelos said. “We shoot through the middle, get right above the great givleon, and blast it with Dark Judgment.”

“I mean, the plan might not have changed, but it’s gotten a lot harder to pull off... So, what? You want us to forget about defense and go all in on offense?”

“Here’s what we do: I cast Dark Judgment, and you hightail us out of here. You’ll want to press that red button next to the throttle.”

“It’s not a self-destruct button, is it?”

“It’s a booster, more or less. It eats up mana like there’s no tomorrow, but it should get us up to the speed of sound in no time at all.”

“So you’re not worried about how much mana’s left in the tank, right? Sounds like we might be heading back on foot...”

Ado groaned, but he twisted the throttle all the same.

The Sidewinder accelerated in response and began surging straight ahead, right at the great givleon. The givlees reacted by further solidifying their defensive formation, trying to prevent the two of them from getting through. Apparently, the insects were more organized than the two of them had thought.

“Outta the way!” Ado shouted. “Flame Lance,Overshoot!”

“Plasma Lance, Overshoot!” Zelos followed.

Overshoot was a mage-specific skill that could magnify the caster’s firepower and the effects of their spells. For example, while Flame Lance usually created twenty flaming spears out of a fireball and propelled them at a target, adding Overshoot could increase the number of spears and boost their penetration.

Zelos had his Divine Mage skill maxed out, while Ado was a rank below, at Imperial Mage. They could both fire a frighteningly enormous number of projectiles.

The intermediate-level spells Flame Lance and Plasma Lance usually formed twenty missiles per cast. But with Zelos’s and Ado’s levels, these spells shot out a continuous, rapid barrage.

Casting the spells with Overshoot turned them into spray-and-pray attacks—but when surrounded by a sea of enemies, they didn’t need to hold back. They could pretend they were magical girls and fire beams of light in every direction.

Since these givlees had lived in the Far-Flung Green Depths, they would’ve troubled your average mages or knights. But Zelos and Ado had an overwhelming level advantage against these monsters, which made things incredibly one-sided.

“Damn it! There are so many!” Ado shouted.

“The fatties are pretty tanky, aren’t they?” Zelos said. “Looks like they’re using mana to boost their defense. I don’t think we can one-shot them, so we’ll have to find a gap and slip past. The attacks from the horned ones are a hassle too.”

“Yeah—jeez, the horned ones are a pain in the ass! Can those fuckers give us a break already?!”

The “fatties,” as Zelos had called them, were sturdier than expected; even Ado’s Flame Lance couldn’t bring them down easily.

Meanwhile, Zelos was trying to intercept and ward off the horned roaches as they charged in, and even he was starting to get frustrated. Spiral Dive repelled any frontal attack, so the secondary effects of the pair’s magical explosions weren’t doing much. Even if they had been taking damage, it wasn’t like that would’ve stopped them. These things were a real menace.

“Just a little closer... If we can just make our way into that group of fatties...” Zelos said.

“Sending out this many attacks at once means none of the projectiles are particularly strong, so we haven’t managed to kill any big ones yet... Think we’ll be able to pull this off?” Ado asked.

The battle was a constant ebb and flow between the mages’ sheer number of projectiles and the incredible momentum of the charging monsters.

If Zelos and Ado made even a minor miscalculation of how many attacks they needed, they’d fall prey to a Spiral Dive.

But Spiral Dive wasn’t without its flaws.

The move required a clear line of sight on the enemy. The most effective way of achieving that was to attack from above, but ascending to the appropriate altitude exposed the attacker. To get around that flaw, users worked together, one group keeping the enemy busy while another ascended to prepare their deadly divebomb attacks. After each one, the groups swapped roles.

Zelos and Ado’s magical onslaught, however, was keeping the roaches at bay, making it difficult for them to carry out their strategy.

Even if the monsters did manage to get near the mages, the barrage of magic pushed their attacks off course, causing them to shoot past their target.

But still, these were soldiers, and they had a duty to protect their leader. They’d get back up and attack again as many times as they had to. Though, of course, some of them were getting shot down as the fight wore on.

Neither the humans nor the monsters saw backing down as an option.

“Nearly there... Nearly there... We just need to break through that wall of fatties, and then...”

“I’ll get them all out of the way at once. Shining Ray.”

When the Great Sage used Shining Ray, he shot a laser beam thick enough to eradicate an entire army. As Zelos’s spell swept over them, the “fatties” dropped out of the sky, their wings burning away, and the Sidewinder surged toward the gap that opened up.

“YES! Did it! We’re right above the great givleon, Zelos!”

“Time for this Destroyer to do some destroying!” Once they were right above the great givleon, Zelos cast his spell—“Dark Judgment!”—and lobbed the preprepared magic at the monster below.

Now all that was left was to get the hell out of there.

“Hitting the boost!”

“Whargh!”

The moment Ado pushed the button, the Sidewinder ripped through the sky, accelerating like it had never done before. If not for his and Zelos’s cheat-level strength, they would’ve been thrown off the bike.

Even as the monumental air resistance threatened to push the two of them backward and off the air rider, Zelos used Divine Silver Barricade to deploy a cone-shaped shield in front of them, and they made a rapid retreat from the battlefield.

Right as they did, Dark Judgment activated.

A massive orb of supergravity swallowed up countless cockroaches. Next, it sent out smaller gravity fields, which chased after the remaining, fleeing roaches and used them as fuel to form more supergravity orbs. The immense gravitational force caused an explosive chain reaction that eradicated the monsters.

“Zelos...”

“Yes?”

“What is this?! Did you just cause Ragnarok?!”

“Nothing good comes from conflict. Only grave mistakes...”

“We’ve— We’ve lost part of ourselves, Zelos! Something important! We’ve lost our humanity! We’re just...reducing the world to rubble...”

“Mankind will always fight to survive, Ado. Even if it has to destroy its own world to do so. History has proven it. Even on Earth, war has caused unimaginable ecological destruction... All because humanity fought to exist.”

“So all this destruction comes from humanity being so desperate to survive... Humans sure are selfish, aren’t they? We cling to survival, even if it means the whole world falling to ruin...”

Zelos’s spell hadn’t just obliterated the monsters; it had also left terrible scars upon the earth.

All he and Ado could do now was watch from a safe distance as the spell unleashed its terrifying might.

They’d just laid waste to nature. They could fly away from the destruction, but not the guilt weighing down on their shoulders.

Chapter 5: The Old Guy Runs into the Four Three Gods

The sacred realm was a separate dimension from which the gods subordinate to the God of Creation, or to any Observer, could manage the world.

Every world in the infinite multiverse had such a realm, existing as if it were adjacent to that world’s physical realm. Gods were only present on planets that contained life, however.

The most important responsibilities of these gods included maintaining dimensional stability and managing life, especially spirits. And to do so, these gods monitored their worlds at all times. While the why was a bit of a mystery, gods instinctively recognized it as their life’s mission the moment they came into existence, and they would immediately begin carrying it out in accordance with the proper processes.

Whether tasked with managing a single world or three thousand, these custodians would watch over their jurisdictions and devote themselves to their duties, spending what was practically an eternity dealing with any irregularities that appeared.

But there were always exceptions to the rule.

“Bored... I’m so incredibly bored...” grumbled a listless Aquilata, a blue-haired goddess with a voluptuous body.

In her see-through, skintight dress, she looked less like a goddess and more like an exhibitionist.

She stretched to reach a cookie on a nearby table, not bothering to get up from the extravagant sofa she was lazing on.

“We can’t do anything about you being bored...” another goddess replied. “Since...we can’t go to other worlds anymore...”

Aquilata sighed. “I thought we agreed to stop bringing that up, Windia? Truly, though—banning us from entering again merely because we put some stones on some train tracks? What narrow-minded spoilsports they are over there!”

“I know, right?! Thanks to that, we’ve got, like, literally nothing to do... Urgh! I so wanna eat some Fujiya cakes!”

“We...are the ones who broke the covenant. It’s too late to complain about it now...”

Windia was a cute-looking goddess with green hair, a sailor uniform, and a sort of spacy look to her. Flaress, the other goddess who’d replied to Aquilata, was a redhead with a goth-loli appearance.

Gailaneth—a blonde bombshell of a goddess, and a shut-in who loved sleep above all else—was here too, but she wasn’t part of the discussion. Even as the others talked, she snoozed nearby in her pajamas, sporting crazy bed head and drooling.

While many worshipped these goddesses as the Four Gods, the Four Slobs would’ve been a more fitting name. They were immoral, they were selfish, and they had zero intention to oversee the world like they were supposed to.

“We did give them the information they wanted about this world—surely they could have cut us a little slack!” Aquilata cried. “They are so ridiculously petty!”

“Yeah! I mean, who even cares if, like, 150 humans die?!” Flaress agreed. “They’re such tight-asses! And now... I...am...so...insanely...BORED! Bored, bored, bored!”

The issue went back seventeen years, in the goddesses’ time, when a god overseeing Earth had requested information from the Four Gods about their world. Apparently, the request had gone something like, “Just watching gets boring after a while, you know? I’d reaaaally like to make a playground in my world, where I can spend time with my children~ That’s where you come in...”

But Aquilata and the others, unable to wield the full breadth of the gods’ powers, hadn’t been able to access that information. They’d only ever been able to use a portion of the management permissions usually available to the gods in charge of worlds, and the God of Creation had divided those permissions between the four of them. They couldn’t even use the powers they did have to their full potential. They were gods, technically, but imperfect ones. In fact, “imperfect” didn’t even do it justice.

To fulfill the request, they would’ve had to enlist the help of a higher-ranking god. Unfortunately, the only god in their world with the correct management permissions had been sealed deep underground. Knowing that it would chase them until it had obliterated every trace of their existences if they woke it, the Four Gods had formed a covenant with the god from Earth. Under it, said god would gain access permissions to obtain the information it wanted from the Four Gods’ world itself as long as it didn’t interfere with that world; meanwhile, the Four could travel to Earth for sightseeing, but they were forbidden from using their powers when they were there.

Of course, there were other little clauses and details, but that’d been the gist of it.

After the covenant had been formed, the Four Gods went on a trip, curious to see the world the heroes had come from—the world shaped by their fellow gods—and well and truly let loose. When they left, they brought all sorts of items back to their own world.

All might’ve gone well...but there’d been no chance these four hedonistic, selfish goddesses were ever going to be able to abide by the covenant. Inevitably, they caused a problem.

The incident occurred in a huge city, inside a rush-hour train packed full of people.

The goddesses, sick of being crammed inside the train like sardines, had a thought. And it was a very dangerous, extreme one: Wouldn’t it be hilarious if this train just crashed right now?

The four of them—all demigods modeled after faeries—had a deep-rooted love of playing pranks.

And the “prank” they ultimately decided on was no laughing matter: They forced the train to accelerate, then derailed it.

Of course, an accident ensued, taking 157 lives and wounding 174 others. With 331 casualties, it became one of Japan’s worst train wrecks.

In the aftermath of this anomalous accident, the gods of Earth and other worlds were left in a panicked frenzy trying to restore the timeline and rewrite history.

Thanks to their efforts, it was ultimately as if the incident had never happened at all. But then came a flood of complaints from the gods involved in the cleanup.

The Four Gods, having broken their covenant, lost their rights to travel to other worlds. They never regained that privilege.

“It’s...the consequence of your own actions...” Windia mumbled. “If you hadn’t gone too far, Flaress, then right now we might still be—”

“Hey!” Flaress cried out indignantly. “Aquilata was on board with it too! Why are you only blaming me?! You’re being so unfair right now!”

“Windia, weren’t you the one who came up with the idea of speeding up the train to cause even more damage?” Aquilata said. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

This was far from the first time they’d argued about who’d been at fault.

In fact, it’d happened so many times now that keeping an actual tally would’ve been impossible. The only one who had still been allowed to travel to other worlds had been Gailaneth, but unfortunately for the others, she was a shut-in.

She was perfectly content to spend her whole life lazing with her trusty pillow and pajamas.

The other three had begged her to go back to Earth to buy merch for them, but she’d had zero interest. “Sounds like a pain,” she’d said with a yawn.

Around this time, omens of the Dark God’s awakening had started appearing.

In response, the Four Gods had used Gailaneth’s still-active permissions to dump the Dark God into that same other world shaped by their fellow gods. After that little stunt, Gailaneth—the other three goddesses’ final hope—was finally stripped of her ability to travel between the worlds.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

“Let’s leave it at that,” Aquilata sighed. “Continuing this discussion won’t get us anywhere.”

“Seriously, though, the heroes are so uselesssss!” Flaress complained. “Why can’t they just hurry up and turn this place into an advanced civilization already?!”

“We can’t summon any more anyway...” Windia said. “All the tools from the God of Creation are gone now.”

“And that’s the reincarnators’ fault too,” the three of them said together.

It was a sad attempt at passing the buck.

These goddesses shut their eyes to their own misdeeds and only saw things the way that was most convenient for them, which meant that they would’ve never considered the possibility that this latest situation was a plot by the gods of the world they’d wronged...

“Mmmnh...” the fourth murmured. “An abnormal gravity quake... Is it the Dark God?”

“Clara woke up?!” exclaimed Aquilata and Flaress.

“Uh... Who’s Clara?” Windia asked.

Gailaneth slowly rose, rubbing her bleary eyes. Not bothering to fix her crazy bed head, she looked around drowsily. After a moment, her expression became blank and indecipherable, and then—

“Good night...”

—she went right back to sleep.

“Hey! Don’t just doze off again!” Flaress shouted. “Why are you always napping, anyway?! Isn’t three hours a day good enough?!”

“Oh, quiet, Flaress!” Aquilata snapped. “Hey, Gailaneth—you just said something very important right now, didn’t you? About the Dark God?”

As Gailaneth rose for a second time, she struck a bizarre pose and asked with an ominous voice: “Were you the ones who disturbed my sleep?”

“Gailaneth... You sound like someone else completely,” Windia said. “Are you quoting someone?”

“Mmm. The Nameless Pharaoh.”

“What? No! You’ve got your characters mixed up!”

Getting woken up a second time had made Gailaneth furious, apparently. But her disheveled hair, the bear-patterned pajamas sliding off her body, and her kaiju-themed slippers made her attempt at threatening the others look more cringe than intimidating.

If she just reined in her hair, she’d probably be a real beauty. But her bed head and sleepy, droopy eyes made her look...kind of lame.

The fury she was exuding was the real deal, though.

“You can go back to sleep once you tell us—so come on, hurry up!” Aquilata shouted. “What was that about the Dark God?”

Gailaneth yawned, clearly in no hurry. “Mmm... I felt a huge disruption in gravity. It was...probably the Dark God, I think? Yeah. Good night. Zzzzzz...”

“She always falls asleep so quick, jeez!” Flaress said. “Anyway—the Dark God?! Did it, like... Is it back?! We’ve gotta ruuuuuun!”

“Calm yourself!” Aquilata said. “We can’t confirm from here whether it’s the Dark God or something else. But if Gailaneth sensed something, we know there has to be something there.”

As the goddess with power over the element of earth, Gailaneth could sense abnormalities. Unfortunately, she’d never put that power to good use. She was always sleeping like a log, after all.

“I’ll...investigate...” Windia mumbled.

“I’d appreciate it,” Aquilata replied. “If the Dark God were to start wreaking havoc right now, there’d be nothing we could do. We don’t have the sacred treasures the God of Creation left us anymore...”

“Yeah, ’cause that idiot left us tools that break like glass! I mean, why not make us tougher weapons? Right?! Actually, this is the heroes’ fault too for being such scrubs!”

The Four Gods were terrified of the Dark God’s existence.

A major factor was that the Dark God was the God of Creation’s true successor, meant to manage this world. It was such an almighty existence that these goddesses had no chance of standing up to it without help.

It would hunt the Four Gods relentlessly until it regained its rightful permissions; in fact, it had already done so once before, nearly destroying the world in the process. The goddesses were still traumatized by that.

The Dark God had obliterated the ancient civilization’s “all-powerful” weapons like they were nothing. It had cleaved continents and boiled seas, plunging the world into chaos and driving the Four Gods into hiding like terrified mice scrambling away from a predator. The Dark God had seemed unstoppable—until the heroes’ sacrifice had sealed it away.

If the Dark God had caught them, it would have absorbed them to regain every last permission and power they held. Although the Four Gods had been modeled after faeries, they still feared death.

“Found it,” Windia said. “But it’s not the Dark God...”

“It’s not?” Flaress repeated, incredulous. “What is it, then?”

“If it’s not the Dark God, I assume it’s a reincarnator,” Aquilata said. “In which case, if we can eliminate them right here and now—”

“Then we’ll be...safe,” Windia said. “I don’t think there are many strong reincarnators.”

“Exactly. Which means that we alone might be able to defeat them,” Aquilata said. “We can’t let troublemakers like that remain alive.”

As far as the Four Gods were concerned, the Dark God wasn’t the only threat. None of them could remember exactly how many reincarnators had power worth noting, but they figured that thinning out the reincarnators’ numbers now would save them trouble down the line. And, worthless and pathetic though they were, they were still gods. They weren’t weak by any means.

Aquilata, Windia, and Flaress left to head for the location of the gravity wave, unaware that they were about to discover something that would turn their assumptions about this world upside down...

Gailaneth, finally left alone, happily drifted back into the land of dreams.

* * *

Zelos and Ado stared, speechless, at the violent destruction that Dark Judgment had wrought upon the landscape.

Rationally, they knew using a wide-area annihilation spell had been necessary. But even if their brains accepted that truth, the same wasn’t true for their hearts. This devastation had been a justifiable means of stopping the Hell’s Legion, but they couldn’t shake the guilt off their backs.

Regret, doubt, remorse, and frustration were human nature, and those feelings hit twice as hard when people had to contend with the things they’d done of their own volition.

Imagine, for example, a country on the verge of losing a war. Its leader decides to drop nuclear bombs to save its people. Perhaps that decision would save the country’s own civilians, but it would also cause the deaths of countless completely innocent civilians in the enemy nation.

Depending on the situation, that could be a reasonable option. But regardless, whoever pushed the button would be racked with guilt. And they would, almost certainly, be criticized for their decision in the future.

As much as that leader might have been prepared for those consequences, they would still have to bear that burden on their conscience.

Although force was sometimes necessary, the person pulling the proverbial trigger would always have to balance the guilt gnawing away at them and their duty toward the lives under their own protection.

These are the things Zelos and Ado grappled with as they stared at the fallout of their spell. Still, the fact that they were feeling so tormented showed that they were still human.

“This is horrible...” Ado mumbled. “I think I understand now how it must’ve felt to be a president who decided to push the button and drop nukes...”

“Me too,” Zelos said. “The guilt’s eating away at me. I feel like throwing up, to be honest with you...”

The spell’s gravitational collapse had caused a tempest of destruction that still hadn’t abated. Dark Judgment wouldn’t stop until every trace of its target had been obliterated. It was more thorough than nuclear weapons.

Even if this attack did end up saving many human lives, these two would never forget the scene before them, the scarred landscape a permanent reminder of their transgressions. No one in that situation could escape the weight of such a heavy cross to bear.

“Y’know, I cast Gluttonous Void a while back, and I wasn’t even able to swallow my food for a while after that...” Ado said. “I knew what was gonna happen, but once I actually did it, I couldn’t bear the thought of what I’d done.”

“We need to remember how it feels to pull the trigger, though. The sin. The weight of the lives we took. If we forget, we won’t be human. And whether it were planned or a spur-of-the-moment decision, I think it’d be just as painful...”

Zelos carried a cigarette to his mouth with shaking hands before lighting it with the Torch spell.

Even if he’d only used Dark Judgment on monsters, watching the outcome had forced him to confront the fact that he’d underestimated the weight on his shoulders. Magic provided convenient firepower to its wielder, but it also forced every mage to feel the responsibility of holding a deadly weapon twenty-four seven.

“When I used Dark Judgment back in the Far-Flung Green Depths,” Zelos said, “I was so focused on running for my life that I didn’t even have time to dwell on what I’d done. But now that I know the carnage I caused, my heart’s just killing me...”

“Yeah. And this wasn’t something we had to do for our own personal survival. It was just a one-sided slaughter. Makes me realize I need more resolve for this kind of thing than I’d thought.”

“Having this kind of power at all is dangerous. That said, devoting myself to being some nation’s tool wouldn’t be any more responsible. Since, well, I’d rather not spend my life being treated like a living weapon.”

Mages as far beyond the pale as these two bore a responsibility to make the right decisions and properly handle their destructive magic. If they became state mages to foist that responsibility onto someone else, they could trigger a war. After all, their very existence would make them irresistible forbidden fruits to those in power.

Rulers from all over would constantly scheme to make the pair’s might their own.

Time and time again, Zelos and Ado forgot just how off-the-charts they were, only to be brought back to reality by a situation like this.

“Uh... Is the world gonna start seeing us as a threat? This is bad, right?” Ado said.

“The path of a Sage is a lonely one,” Zelos replied. “All the more reason we have to walk our own path. If it gets too tough, I say we just run away.”

“Zelos? You’re not just ‘a Sage.’ You’re a Great Sage. Why’re you trying to downplay yourself?”

“I just don’t want to admit it. I don’t want to think about how potent my own magic is. How scary it is. Oooooo!”

“Uh... I hope you aren’t expecting some witty comeback.”

Zelos had hoped to ward off the difficult topic by turning it into a joke, but reality wasn’t so kind.

They were at a safe range, but explosions sporadically sent a cockroach body part flying past them. It made their minds conjure images of how the scene would’ve looked if they’d used the spell against humans—and those images were no laughing matter.

“Hey, Zelos... Do you think that was enough to take down the great givleon?”

“Who knows. That thing’s an anomaly, remember? Thirty meters long. It’s probably got insanely high defense—plus, it was just about to turn into a demon lord. So if it has survived...”

“If it survived, we’ll have to fight a givlord, huh? You think just the two of us could beat one?”

Attack of the Great Givleon, also nicknamed “the Revolting Roach,” had been a raid event from Swords & Sorceries that inspired a huge reaction among the playerbase—and not in a good way. Since so few players had participated, the event had spiraled into an infamous tragedy, with city after city falling to the attack. And the biggest factor in that tragedy had been the givlord.

The givlord’s magic attacks had sent many players—including some of the top-ranked heavy knights in legendary gear—to the graveyard. It had been so insanely fast that it had had some of the game’s best players, including the Destroyers, at its mercy.

Most fearsome of all, though, had been its impermeable defense. People had desperately made gear using extra-rare materials, but even that had only been enough to scratch the givlord. It’d been so completely, utterly unbalanced that the playerbase considered it bugged, and it had become infamous as calamity incarnate.

In fact, the monster had earned itself a unique honor: It was the only raid event that even all of the Destroyers, working together, never managed to defeat. It earned itself a reputation as the strongest enemy of all, the monster above all other monsters.

If a monster that strong appeared in reality, not a game, Zelos and the others had no hope of stopping it as things stood.

That was why Zelos had used Dark Judgment. He’d been desperate to defeat the givleon before it became a demon lord.

“Tell me, Ado... Do you think you could defeat that thing?”

“No chance in hell. I can say that with confi— Huh?! What the—”

Suddenly, they felt an enormous mana signature appear above them. Looking up, Zelos and Ado saw three sigils floating midair. Unlike the ones they were used to, these sigils weren’t made up of the magic letters or numbers; they were unlike anything the two had ever seen.

“Are— Are those sigils? But they...” Ado mumbled.

“Mm-hmm. Never seen any formula like that before, have we? I can’t decipher it either. Could this be...”

A figure began to emerge from each of the three sigils: a blue-haired woman with an eye-catching sheer dress, a red-haired goth-loli girl, and a green-haired middle school girl in a sailor uniform.

By appearances alone, they were just a trio of brightly colored oddballs.

But they emanated so much mana that the two mages barely even registered the strangeness of their looks.

“Z-Zelos? Are... Are those...”

“Yup. The Four Gods, I’d guess. Well, three of them, at least. The other one was probably busy with something. No idea what.”

The sensation of mana against their skin told Zelos and Ado that these entities were definitely hostile.

“FOUND YOU, reincarnators!” the redhead shouted. “We’re here to take—you—down! Get ready for—”

“Grand Superexplode.”

KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Without any warning whatsoever, Zelos had gone from standing in a seemingly casual stance to making a preemptive strike with an improved version of the Explode spell.

The top-level area spell, boosted to its limits by Zelos, engulfed the three goddesses.

“Wh-What are you doing? We haven’t even introduced ourselves!” the blue-haired one cried. “This is why humans are all—”

“Darkness Nova,” Ado said, clearly not in the mood for a discussion.

VWOOOOOOOOOM!

While not as powerful as Gluttonous Void, Darkness Nova was roughly on par with Grand Superexplode.

Whether you saw Zelos and Ado as early birds eager to get the worm, fearless knights riding forth to smite down evil, or moths racing toward the nearest flame, their lack of hesitation was obvious.

They were up against the Four Gods. They saw no need for mercy, or tolerance, or trying to talk things out.

“Th-They’re trying to kill us!” Aquilata cried.

“Mm. No hesitation,” Windia agreed.

“Hey! You jerks!” Flaress shouted. “What do you think gods are?!”

“Huh? Piles of shit, that’s what,” Zelos and Ado spat out in perfect harmony, both seething with rage. “How dare you waltz up and show your faces in front of us? It’s time to take out the trash. You just float there—we’ll handle the rest!”

“Are you, like, actually not gonna respect us?! We’re gods!” Flaress shouted down at them. “We’re the ones who saved your lives!”

“That’s some bullshit if I’ve ever heard it!” Ado replied. “Drop dead, bitch! Shining Nova!”

“Trying to act all divine after you dumped your toxic waste onto our world? Bit late for that, don’t you think?” Zelos sneered. “Now it’s your turn to die. Dark Lightning Concerto, random fire.”

The goddesses had evaded Shining Nova’s gravity implosion, but Zelos’s Dark Lightning Concerto created a swarm of heat-seeking projectiles that mercilessly attacked the goddesses from their blind spots and denied them every escape route.

Zelos and Ado immediately followed it with another cast: “Blossoming Explosion!”

Zelos had created this spell himself. It could generate a flash of heat above ten thousand degrees, turning its fiery explosions into partially ionized plasma. It was potent enough to overcome even Flaress, the Goddess of Fire. She couldn’t ward off flames that had morphed into something else entirely.

Their attacks had no visible effect on the goddesses—perhaps because their bodies were virtually nothing but pure energy. But as the spell began damaging them, their forms repaired themselves, steadily depleting their mana reserves.

The two mages gave each other a thumbs-up.

“Solid explosion.”

“Very solid explosion.”

The three goddesses trembled at the reincarnators. They’d thought the only real threat would be the Dark God, but these mages had just hit them with attacks they couldn’t laugh off.

They quickly realized: If the fight continued, at this rate their deaths were inevitable.

“These ungrateful little pricks!” Flaress screamed.

“You would’ve been dead if we hadn’t taken you in! Do you even realize that?!” Aquilata said. “And this is how you repay the favor?!”

The two of them were fuming.

“Save your nonsense for someone who’ll believe it,” Ado said.

“Just to confirm—you are the same goddesses who made our world’s gods clean up your mess, then dropped us reincarnators into random locations, yes?” Zelos said. “How do you expect us to repay that favor? Besides, if I may add, you’ve shirked every one of your duties, including the ones related to us and the heroes... You know, you really should’ve been more thorough when you ‘destroyed’ the Dark God. Heh heh heh...”

“We shouldn’t have come here,” Windia mumbled. “They know about everything...”

Combined, the fragments of intel that Zelos and Ado had discovered were more than enough to paint a clear picture of what the Four Gods were really like.

And above all, Zelos and Ado harbored a deep-seated grudge toward these goddesses.

“You trampled all over my plans for a quiet, happy family,” Ado said. “It’s time for payback.”

“I was so looking forward to drinking that sake...and now, because of you, I’ll never be able to. So would you mind atoning with your deaths?”

“The first guy’s thing is whatever, but is the second guy trying to kill us over missing out on some alcohol?!” the three goddesses cried together.

“The world’s a cruel, unfair place, you know?” Zelos said. “And I’m sure you’d understand, hmm? Given all the cruel, unfair things you’ve done yourselves. What goes around comes around, after all. Ready for your trip to hell? Got your one-way tickets?”

The Sage and the Great Sage’s mana flared, bolstered by rage and hunger for revenge. They had even more mana than the Four Gods.

“A-Are you seriously trying to kill pretty little girls like us?!” Flaress shouted.

“Little girls?” Ado scoffed. “You may look young, but I bet you hags are way older than us, right?”

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you to treat women with respect?!” Aquilata said.

“I’m related to a truly awful woman,” Zelos said. “And unfortunately, I’ve spent a long time dealing with her shit. So if another bitch like her tries to mess with me, I won’t bat an eye if I need to cut her down to size.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

Then Windia said, “I request a lawyer.”

“Nope!” Zelos and Ado spat back. “You get no rights, no lawyer, and no last words. We are judge, jury, and executioner!”

“You tyrants!” the three goddesses shouted.

Both the goddesses and the humans here were acting like tyrants—but at the end of the day, in this world, might made right. If you got hit, hit them back. That was how it worked.

The time for words was over. Would the goddesses maintain their iron grip on this world, or would David take down Goliath?

These goddesses had looked down on mankind for so long, and now mankind had driven them into a corner.

Ultimately, these goddesses were naught but stand-ins. They were no true Observers; they weren’t omnipotent.

“All right—let’s get this party started! Geh heh heh heh heh!” Ado cackled.

“I have no mercy for the likes of you three,” Zelos said. “Regret all you’ve done as you disappear into the darkness. No one’s going to place flowers at your graves once you’re gone. Mnuh huh huh...”

Some said that demons lurked in people’s hearts, but right now, Zelos and Ado looked like the devil himself, alive and breathing. They gathered mana in their hands, preparing to pass judgment in the form of annihilation, with wicked grins plastered across their faces.

They’d been awaiting this moment for what felt like an eternity.

They fired a relentless tempest of brutal, raging magic at the goddesses without incantations, intending to completely erase them from this world.

They were convinced their foes were trivial, good at nothing but scampering away.

The idea of justice was the last thing anyone would think of watching these two demonic, hateful men fire colossal waves of mana at the three goddesses trembling in fear.

No, this was wrath.

“Gluttonous Voi— Huh?”

Suddenly, an enormous mana signal appeared in the distance—from the direction where they’d fought the great givleon.

“Wh-What the— What could that much mana possibly belong to?” Flaress stuttered.

“It exceeds even ours,” Aquilata said. “Is... No. Is this the Dark God?!”

“No,” Windia replied. “It’s...different...”

Zelos and Ado were just as shocked as the goddesses by the insane level of mana.

In the distant field of craters, the thoroughly battered, pulverized body of the great givleon stirred.

Then, within the creature’s tattered form, it awoke.

A deep crimson light shone through its carapace, and then an incredible surge of mana coursed through its limbs. Its current was too much to contain, and mana erupted from the creature’s body like flames, blasting its outer shell high up into the sky; it was no longer needed.

The creature’s antennae twitched on its head. It immediately sensed what it was looking for and sprang into action, ready to carry out its mission.

The two wings on its back flapped, covered by an immense field of mana, propelling the creature through the sky like lightning.

It was time for this thing to battle the enemy embedded in the very core of its consciousness...

Chapter 6: The Old Guy Gets Blown Up After All

The tremendous mana signal had interrupted Zelos and Ado’s attempt to execute the goddesses.

Of course it had. This mana was so far beyond anything they’d felt before.

And whatever that mana belonged to was coming right at them at incredible speed.

Zelos, Ado, and the three goddesses were so overwhelmed that they’d frozen in place.

“H-Hey, Zelos... Please tell me I’m wrong here, but is this—”

“You’re not wrong. It looks like we didn’t manage to finish off the givleon. That said, its mana signal doesn’t feel like a givlord’s. Plus, we can sense its mana from here...”

“Crap. This is not good...”

Even Zelos couldn’t think of a monster he’d encountered with this much mana, but he knew the sheer amount of mana coming at them meant the thing was a powerful aberration on par with the Dark God.

“I’d guess it’s as powerful as the Dark God. Well, isn’t this a problem?” Zelos said. “I can’t see us beating that thing by ourselves.”

“H-Hang on! Did you seriously just compare that thing to the Dark God?!” Flaress shouted. “Since when did this world have anything that crazy?!”

“Don’t ask me,” Zelos bit back. “All the hero summonings created pockets of unusually high mana concentrations. It was only a matter of time before some monster wandered through one and absorbed all that concentrated mana. And that monster just so happened to be a great givleon, I guess.”

“What would summoning heroes have to do with mana concentration?” Aquilata said. “You do know the world’s level of mana is constant, don’t you? What you’re saying makes no sense.”

“Oh? You’re technically gods, but you have no idea? You see, each time you collect the mana for the summoning rituals, it redistributes a small amount of mana from farther regions to the areas near the sigil, gradually increasing the concentration. The Far-Flung Green Depths alone should’ve made it obvious that something wasn’t right, hmm? Or were you completely unaware that the world was about fifteen hundred years away from total ruin?”

The three goddesses floated in silence.

At that moment, it became clear just how careless they’d been.

They turned away from Zelos, diverting their gazes to evade his cold glare and their own failures.

A monster on par with the Dark God had been one thing, but now they’d learned that the world was on the brink of ruin. All they could do was float in shocked silence.

After all, they were the cause behind it all.

Finally, Windia opened her mouth to say just two words: “It’s coming.”

The ominous glow of the red dot in the sky thundered closer and closer until, finally, it came into detail. At 170 centimeters tall, it was small for a demon lord, but a weirdly thick shell covered its entire body. Two wings beat furiously on its back. Its eyes, meanwhile, shone with a crimson light, visible through the creature’s lumpy yet sturdy head armor—the only thin part of its full-body carapace.

Its two long antennae made it just barely clear that this thing was cockroach-related, but this was clearly no normal insect.

“Wait... Isn’t that just Sanagiman?!” Ado said.

“I do see the resemblance, but Sanagiman’s based on pupae,” Zelos said. “Cockroaches grow by molting, so they don’t even go through that stage, do they?”

“From how it looks, I feel like it’s just gotta have a second form...”

“Mm-hmm. I could see that. Something like Inazuman...”

Whatever this thing was, they agreed it resembled the hero of a certain 1970s tokusatsu show.

It glared at Zelos and Ado, then suddenly gathered an enormous amount of mana and began to focus it.

“Shu, shu, shu, shu, shu...”

“It talked?!” Zelos and Ado shouted. “What is this, a cockroach alien?!”

They couldn’t understand what it was saying, but it was clearly intelligent.

The mysterious creature crossed its arms over its chest, collected mana in its arms, and then—

“SHUWATCH!”

PEWWWWWWWWW!

—it shot out a mysterious beam of light.

Zelos and Ado dodged it, but Flaress wasn’t so lucky. She took a direct hit.

“Owowowowowowow!”

“Damn, that’s pretty...” Ado said.

“It’s a nice attack, isn’t it?” Zelos agreed. “Something about it just gets me so excited. Feels like I’m a kid again.”

“You’re so mean!” Flaress said. “Why didn’t you try to help me?!”

“Why should we have to help you?” the two reincarnators scoffed. “We want you dead.”

“These men are awful...” Aquilata said.

Now it was the goddesses’ turn to glare at Zelos and Ado.

The men felt zero obligation to help the goddesses. After all, the goddesses had come to eliminate them. Pair that with the men’s grudges against the Four Gods, and they saw no reason whatsoever to team up with them. They’d rather try to get the mystery creature to help them annihilate the goddesses. They were enemies, plain and simple, and the Sages felt no sympathy for the goddesses, who still insisted on emphasizing their supposed superiority.

Zelos and Ado felt a fresh wave of motivation to settle this as soon as possible, so they promptly resumed their barrage against the goddesses.

“Lightning Shooter.”

“Dark Lightning Concerto.”

“H-Hey! How dare you?!” Flaress cried.

“That was...close...” Windia said, having gotten out of the way just in time.

“We’ve been enemies from the start, haven’t we?” Ado said. “Why should we put up a common front with you?”

“Exactly,” Zelos agreed. “Or what—did you seriously think we’d team up just because one more enemy appeared? An ally who’d stab us in the back at the drop of a hat is the last thing I want. Heh heh heh...”

“Tch! Not one bit of common sense, either of you...” Aquilata muttered.

She had, indeed, been planning to foist this mysterious creature off onto Zelos and Ado, then flee while they were busy. Having gotten by on arrogance alone for so many years, the goddesses had actually believed that all humans would eagerly follow their commands. They hadn’t considered even once that they might be wrong.

But Zelos and Ado had never seriously considered teaming up, so Aquilata’s whole plan fell apart like tissue paper the instant they attacked.

“SHUWA!”

The mysterious entity shouted like a certain tokusatsu hero from space as it leaped up high into the sky. Then, it came barreling down at Aquilata with a dropkick. Aquilata dodged, and the creature shot past her, toward Zelos and Ado.

“Aah—?!”

“Whoa?!”

It hit the ground, blasting an enormous plume of earth into the sky. Chunks of dirt rained over Zelos and Ado.

“Hey—that almost hit us!” Ado shouted at Aquilata. “Don’t just dodge, dammit! Plasma Lance!”

“Eep! D-Don’t be ridiculous! Are you saying I should simply die?!”

“That’s exactly what we’re saying.” Zelos nodded. “Cyclone.”

“Nwaaaaaah!”

While Aquilata managed to dodge Zelos’s air spell, it struck a direct hit on Flaress and swept her into the sky.

“Honestly, that almost looks fun,” Zelos said. “Not that I’d want to give it a try myself.”

“Yup. Sure would make things easier for us if that kills her,” Ado said.

“Gotta keep your eyes on the prize!” Windia said, suddenly behind them.

“GWAAAAAAH!”

They had no idea when Windia had gotten behind them, but she suddenly hit them with a powerful cyclone of her own, immobilizing them. Zelos and Ado had let their guards down when they realized just how unaccustomed to battle the goddesses were, but Windia had taken advantage of that to catch them unprepared.

But right as Windia attempted to finish them off, the cockroach creature shot at her with incredible speed and hit her with a straight right punch.

“Uuuh!”

“Shu, shu, shu, shuwa!”

After sending Windia flying, the cockroach creature crossed its arms and started gathering energy again.

“Ah, crap...” Zelos and Ado said at the same time.

“Shuwa!”

The sages deflected the mysterious light with a reflective barrier spell called Reflecting Mirror, redirecting it toward—once again—Flaress.

“Gaaaaaah!”

The hit blew out Flaress’s hair into a magnificent afro, transforming the Goddess of Fire into the Goddess of Slapstick.

“All of you!” she yelled. “Is it just me, or are you taking every chance you get to try to kill me?!”

“Y-You’re imagining things...” Windia shook a little. “Pfft!”

“Y-Yes!” Aquilata said. “Why would we ever do something like— Bfft!”

“I mean,” Ado said, “we were trying to kill you in the first— Gah hah hah!”

“Wouldn’t you say you deserve it?” Zelos asked. “Erm... Excuse me— Bwah hah hah hah hah hah!”

Even the cockroach creature joined in. “Shu...? Shu shu shu shu shu!”

Flaress had just crit everyone there with a special AoE attack called Funny Bone, just like you’d have expected from the Goddess of Slapstick. She’d caught everyone off guard with her surprise gag, and now, in the middle of a raging battle, no one could stifle their guffaws.

In fact, they all fell to their sides, rolling with laughter.

“You... You’re all getting along well, aren’t you...” Flaress simmered. “Fine, then... I’ll just give you all afros too!”

“She’s snapped?!” the other four said.

Consumed by rage, Flaress conjured an enormous fireball and threw it toward the others.

While the reincarnators and the two other goddesses dodged, the cockroach creature was still rolling with laughter, leaving it the sole target of Flaress’s literal flames of rage.

This hellfire far surpassed area magic. She wasn’t known as a goddess for nothing.

“That’s one down...” she muttered. “Now I’m gonna burn the rest of you to a crisp!”

“F-Flaress... Th-The enemies are over there!” Aquilata said. “Why are you targeting me?”

“You all laughed at my misfortune! You can all burn to death!”

“You’ve brought misfortune on plenty of people yourself, haven’t you?” Ado said. “Just because you’ve got an afro now doesn’t—Bah hah!—doesn’t negate all the horrible things you’ve done, you know? Hah... Ah-hah... Oh, my stomach hurts...”

“Human suffering means nothing to me! But this? No! I’ll give all of you this bouncy, frizzy hair too!”

“Ah—so you’re going to make yourself feel better by dragging everyone down with you?” Zelos asked. “You really are petty. A petty, cocky, afro-haired goddess...”

“I didn’t give myself this hair!”

“Sure you did! You’re the Goddess of Afros!” Windia said. “Of course the Goddess of Afros has an afro... Pfft!”

“W-Windia?! Even you?!”

Everyone but Flaress was in on the joke. She hadn’t realized, but her new hair had united her enemies. They’d overcome their anger and grudges to find common ground—temporary, perhaps, but common ground all the same.

Perhaps this new Goddess of Slapstick could bring world peace if she kept it up. But her thoughts were growing more and more simplistic now; she kept up a relentless barrage of attacks, single-mindedly determined to put others in the same situation as her.

“Uh, hey... Zelos? Is that—”

“What is it, Ado? And do remember we’re in the middle of a crisis right now—this afro-haired goth-loli’s threatening to make us all frizzy-haired. We’ll all end up looking funky if we don’t watch out.”

“No. Not that. Over there—inside that sea of flames. Is... Is there something moving in there?”

As Zelos looked toward the fire, he saw that there was, indeed, something moving inside.

It slowly stood, emanating an incredible aura, and walked through the blazing flames as calmly as if it were strolling through an empty field.

“You’re kidding me... Even all that fire didn’t do anything to it?!” Zelos said. “Is its armor fire-resistant?!”

“I thought insect monsters were supposed to be weak against fire, apart from the few that have evolved in fiery environments...” Ado said. “But this is a cockroach. Fire has to be its weakness, right?”

“I mean, it should be, but... Was I right earlier? Is this not actually a givlord? Is it actually Sanagiman?”

The mysterious cockroach creature released a huge tempest of mana, blowing away the flames. As it did, its bulky armor suddenly exploded, blasting fragments like grenade shrapnel.

The creature wasn’t just purging its armor; it was also shooting shards of armor so fast that no human could take a hit and come out unscathed. In fact, if you were unlucky enough, it could instakill.

“Guh!” Flaress choked.

“Waaaaaah!” Aquilata cried.

“Evacuate...” Windia murmured.

“D-Did it just cast off its armor?!” Ado said, before: “Bwaaaaaah!”

“So it did have a second form... Is this meant to be a tokusatsu hero or something?! Whoargh!”

Flaress had been hit. Again.

Aquilata and Windia had immediately retreated, while Zelos and Ado had deployed a magic barrier to deflect the shrapnel. Now, they were all frantically running from the shock wave that followed.

A cloud of dust engulfed the area, obscuring their vision and making the plain resemble the target of a bombing raid.

“Jeez, that’s powerful,” Ado said. “That thing is a living weapon!”

“So Mother Nature can create things like this, can it?” Zelos mused, before: “Mm?”

After a moment, a pair of glowing crimson eyes appeared in the thick shroud of dust.

And then—

“Jet-Black Meteor Givleon!” it announced, striking a flowing pose that cut through even the dust cloud.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

An explosion rippled in the background, only adding to the drama.

“It’s talking fluently now?!” Zelos and Ado exclaimed. “And it really is a tokusatsu hero, isn’t it?!”

The creature’s new armor shone like polished obsidian. And its movements, strong yet elegant, stirred the soul.

Zelos and Ado found it so incredibly cool that they couldn’t help but fall in love. It was hard to believe this thing had ever been a cockroach.

What stood before them now was undeniably a hero of justice.

The hero stood straight, looked right at Zelos and Ado with its gleaming crimson eyes, and thrust a finger toward them.

“Damn, that’s sick...” Ado said.

“This thing was a cockroach... It was a cockroach...” Zelos muttered. “But I can’t help it—my heart just... Ngh!”

“No way. I can’t bring myself to fight this.”

“Same. I feel like I’d lose a vital part of myself if I attacked it...”

These two otaku felt a familiar passion in their hearts. Every man had idolized superheroes at some point, but that longing had become dormant as they grew into adults. Now, this thing’s appearance had rekindled those feelings.

“You evil gods who think nothing of laying waste to nature!” the creature shouted. “And you as well, humans! Now that I’m here, your wicked deeds, your destruction of this beautiful world, are over!”

“What do you mean, evil gods?!” Flaress yelled.

“Know your place, you lowly monster!” Aquilata said.

“Hesitation...” Windia murmured.

“Wait, what? It thinks we’re evil too?” Ado asked.

“Well, human history is the history of creation and destruction, after all,” Zelos said. “Depending on how you look at it, we might be the evilest creatures alive.”

What this “hero” was saying wasn’t necessarily off the mark. Over its years of development, human civilization had ravaged the natural world, felling trees, leveling mountains, and obliterating ecosystems to fuel its expansion and technological advancement. That wasn’t even mentioning humanity’s history of war, which had stained entire continents with blood. War was a different beast entirely; nature’s only law was the survival of the fittest, but people masqueraded war as righteous, when, in reality, violent ideologies had ruined so many lives. Wars driven by religion, culture, or the ambition of the state’s leaders had wrought untold suffering.

If the world had a will of its own, intelligent life would seem evil to it.

And perhaps this Jet-Black Meteor Givleon was the very embodiment of nature’s will.

“That said,” Zelos continued, “I don’t plan on sitting by while that thing punishes me as it sees fit.”

“Yeah.” Ado nodded. “We’re living creatures too, after all. We just fight for our own lives—and the prosperity of civilization does affect those lives a lot. Still, I really don’t wanna fight that thing...”

“Mm-hmm. Well, even if humanity perishes, that’s the cycle of life. Nature will reclaim the whole world after long enough. The world will always have a future if it isn’t completely destroyed.”

Life was a never-ending chain of conflict.

Even if the world itself moved to destroy civilization, living creatures had the resilience, the strength, to adapt to their environments.

And that was especially true of humans, who stood at the top of nature’s hierarchy. Humanity wouldn’t roll over and die just because some hero told it to.

“Hmm. You have a point. What are humans if not particularly evolved creatures of nature?” the Jet-Black Meteor Givleon said. “So be it. I won’t pass judgment on humanity today. Your technologies could be used in harmony with the environment. But you, you wicked gods; you are different!”

“Huh?!” Flaress exclaimed.

“Hey! You were born here, weren’t you?!” Aquilata said. “Well, we’re in charge of this world, so you have to do as we say! Annihilate those reincarnators!”

“Abuse of authority...” Windia said.

“Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! You are the culprits who’ve summoned countless heroes, wreaking havoc on the world for your own selfish desires! And you’re nothing but stand-in gods; how laughable that you would present yourselves as omnipotent!”

This strangely evolved creature had hit the goddesses where it hurt, but something was off...

This thing really knows what it’s talking about, doesn’t it? Is this due to some sort of external interference? At the same time, it did evolve from the great givleon, so...maybe it’s more like some self-purifying feature of nature? Okay, yeah, I’ve got no clue.

This righteous hero was an enigma. For something that had evolved from a monster, it was oddly knowledgeable about the whole situation, including the Four Gods, as if it had somehow seen everything happen with its own eyes. It’d talked about that stuff, which Zelos had only discovered after painstaking research, like it had been born with the knowledge.

But Zelos’s confusion aside, a battle was beginning to unfold between the righteous hero and the organization of villains, between good and evil.

One side was a champion of justice, born from nature itself; the other a group of selfish, hedonistic goddesses continuing to lay waste to the world. They would never be able to coexist.

“I will deliver your punishment in the name of Mother Nature! Givleon Sword!”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Aquilata formed an ultradense orb of water, well over thirty tons, and hurled it at the givleon. “Take this!”

The givleon, however, used a sword growing out of its armor to cleave the orb apart with ease. Then it leveraged its momentum to dash right up to Aquilata and hit her with a roundhouse kick.

Next, it deftly spun toward the afro-haired goth-loli goddess and opened its chest armor.

Flaress conjured another enormous fireball in response, but right as she was about to launch it toward the givleon, the givleon fired its own attack.

“Burn, you bug!”

“Givleon Smasher!”

The two blazing-hot attacks collided midair.

A tremendous shock wave and intense heat swept over Zelos and Ado.

“Whoaaaaargh?!”

“Ngh—Tranquility of a Frozen World!” Zelos said, warding off the shock wave and the flames.

Tranquility of a Frozen World was a modified, dual-layered defensive spell that combined a physical barrier of absolute-zero ice with a magical boundary. It was handy against dragon enemies with fire breath, but consumed so much mana that it was insanely inefficient, so it often sat unused in Zelos’s arsenal.

You never knew what might come in handy when.

“Guys, I’m begging you—can you take this somewhere else?” Ado asked.

“Looks like the Goddess of Afros over there is plummeting down to earth in a tailspin,” Zelos observed. “You know, this reminds me—back when I was in middle school, there was this one delinquent girl with super frizzy hair. She wore such thick makeup too...”

Zelos had completely turned into a spectator. The moment the Jet-Black Meteor Givleon had stopped viewing him and Ado as enemies, he’d seen no point in fighting the creature anymore. At this point, they were watching Mother Nature’s champion take on the root of all evil like it was a boxing match.

Seeing a spectacle like this unfold right before their eyes, in real time, felt incredibly hype.

“Ooh,” Zelos said. “I wonder if we’ll get to see any robots? Or secret weapons?”

“This hero’s a lone wolf, Zelos,” Ado replied. “You can’t expect that sort of thing out of it. Maybe it could have a motorbike or something, but a crazy combining robot? A huge secret weapon that breaks the laws of physics? It’d just be over the top. Besides, I feel like there’s something so manly about that thing being out here all alone, fighting with its fists.”

“Oh, that’s fair. Now that you mention it, stuff like that team-based finisher where they kick a ball at the enemy, or that weird-shaped bazooka that’s a pain to assemble because they always have to combine all their weapons together to make it—that stuff’s kinda a letdown too, don’t you think? Not to mention that one where everyone fuses their mechs together to make one huge robot as their final form... It’s just so over the top that I can’t get into it as much, you know? A lone hero, one huge robot, no special power-ups—that’s where it’s at.”

“I actually like those ones, to be honest. Oh—what’s your opinion on that three-hero team from outer space?”

“I don’t have a problem with them. The enemies in that one are all huge to begin with, so it’s fair. Oh, actually, it did have that one enemy that was just a tentacle alien...”

“Y’know, Zelos, I don’t get your standards for what makes a good hero.”

As they talked tokusatsu hero tropes, they watched the underwhelming goddesses run from the black-armored hero.

“Huh. I wonder if those stupid goddesses can make themselves huge too?” Ado asked.

“I’d want to see that,” Zelos said, “but I don’t know if they actually can. You know what? Let’s just ask. Hey! You two up there! Can you turn into giants? And would you mind doing that for us, if you can? We’d like to see how it looks!”

“As if we coul— Gwaaaaaah!” Aquilata and Flaress shouted in unison.

They’d been polite enough to actually answer Zelos’s question—and the givleon had used that moment of distraction to fire high-voltage lightning from its antennae, landing a direct hit.

Yet still, the two goddesses stubbornly survived.

Zelos and Ado clicked their tongues. “Tch! So that wasn’t enough. So close!”

If the givleon beat the goddesses badly enough, the Sages wouldn’t even have to lift a finger.

At the same time, getting thrashed had clued Flaress into the pair’s plans.

“HEY!” she shouted. “If you’re just gonna sit there and watch, at least stop distracting us to try and get us killed!”

“Windia!” Aquilata yelled. “Help us out here! Wait... Windia? Where’d she go?”

As they scanned their surroundings, they noticed that the green-haired goddess in the sailor uniform was gone, leaving their side with only two fighters now that the Goddess of Air had vanished.

“Graaaaaah! Windia ran away by herself!” Flaress cried.

“First Gailaneth, now Windia... They just don’t give a damn, do they?” Aquilata said. “We have to find a way out of here, or—”

But the righteous hero wasn’t about to let this chance slip by.

Jet-Black Meteor Givleon, the hero who wielded nature’s ancient power, soared high up into the sky, spread its wings, transformed its armor again, and began to focus the sunlight above.

“Is that... No way?!”

“Is that Grand Cross Attack?!”

The two otaku were incredibly hyped now. They watched with the sparkling eyes of excited boys.

“GIVLEOOOOOON NOVAAAAAAAAA!”

Blue gems embedded in the givleon’s chest, shoulders, and knees released radiant light that engulfed the goddesses. When the light hit the ground, it caused a huge explosion, blowing up the area all around it.

This move was powerful enough to rival Dark Judgment.

Even though Zelos and Ado were caught in the explosion, they were ecstatic.

“Woooooo! Did you see that?!” Ado shouted.

“I sure did! Jeez, a man my age shouldn’t be this giddy... But yeah! Now that’s how a hero’s meant to be!”

The explosion had flung them into the distance—but it hadn’t dampened the boyish glee rekindled in their hearts. They hadn’t been able to think anything but, DAMN, this is so cool!

Both inveterate otakus didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret.

Standing alone in the massive crater it had formed in the ground, the givleon struck a dramatic pose and shouted: “Justice prevails!”

The attack had torn up the road to the Holy Land of Metis, which would further delay the theocracy’s recovery.

As a result, a rift would begin forming between the civilians and the church, which would eventually fester into nationwide protests. Although nobody knew it at the time, those protests would rapidly lead to an insurrection.

* * *

“That sure sent us flying, eh?” Zelos said.

“How’d we even survive?” Ado replied. “Like...that kinda thing’d usually kill someone, right?”

“It’s not the first time, but I still can’t believe how tough my body is here. We’re practically superhumans, don’t you think?”

Zelos and Ado couldn’t hide their shock—they’d been hit by an attack that could kill a regular person a hundred times over, and here they were, still alive. People who’d unlocked Zenith Breaker seemed to be on a whole other playing field from everyone else.

By this point, the Sages had experienced so many things against their standards of common sense that they were on the verge of giving up on even trying to understand it all. What use was common sense, they thought, in a world where levels meant so much?

Between their monstrous physical strength and immense pools of mana, they were weapons of mass destruction in this world.

“For example,” Zelos said, “if the average person in this world did just a bit of leveling up, they’d be able to win a gold medal back on Earth. And then you have us. We’re probably on par with nuclear weapons, wouldn’t you think? That’d make the average mage here about the same as...hmm, well, about as strong as an Aegis battleship?”

“What kind of comparison is that?” Ado laughed. “Who are you—Jack Rakan? Are you saying that even regular people here are crazy strong?”

“There are races here who can fight head-to-head with dragons, remember? One thing’s for sure, at least: Earth’s version of common sense means nothing here. I’d say this world’s knights could take down a whole nation’s army back on Earth, and it wouldn’t be particularly close.”

“I guess. Actually, wouldn’t Earth’s laws of physics mean that magic would just keep growing stronger and stronger? I can see a big magic battle on Earth turning into, like, some kind of world-ending event...”

“Mm-hmm. I’d assume anything that instantaneously changes the properties of matter—like attack magic, for example—would be incredibly dangerous to use. Especially if you added a formula for a nuclear explosion to the Explode spell... That’d be no joke. It’d consume a crazy amount of mana, though, so it wouldn’t be practical. Spells like that are nowhere near as efficient as self-sustaining magic.”

“Huh. Didn’t know that.”

As a general rule, an attack spell’s potency depended on the complexity of its formula and the caster’s mana supply. Generating enough power to rival a nuclear explosion would consume an enormous amount of mana, so almost nobody possessed the mana required to activate spells like that, let alone make them actually function. Only something like a demon dragon ruler could possibly have enough energy. Even then, the sheer scale of the formula required would fill so much of that creature’s subconscious that they wouldn’t have any room left to learn other spells, turning them into the ultimate one-trick pony.

Nobody in this world could use magic like that, even if they supplemented their mana with nature’s. Zelos and Ado were just the exceptions that proved the rule.

On the other hand, the “self-sustaining magic” Zelos had mentioned was typically installed into defensive locations like castles or forts. It powered its formulas by drawing mana from nature.

Such magic was semipermanent, but inscribing the necessary formulas onto buildings or other spots was time-consuming. Plus, a huge amount of mana was required for its initial activation before it could begin sustaining itself. And with humans having nowhere near enough mana to do so, people nowadays only saw such magic in ancient ruins.

For example, if mages wanted to bolster the defense of a fort’s walls with self-sustaining strengthening magic, they’d need to incorporate it into the fort’s design while the fort was being built. Plus, activating up the formula would require some sort of artificial aid—or mechanical aid, perhaps.

Nowadays, it was next to impossible to install self-sustaining magic formulas. Researchers were working on the subject, but they had yet to reach a full understanding. After all, mage society had lost the knowledge of how to harness nature’s mana.

By the way, the wide-area annihilation spell that the Wiesler mages had been devoting so many resources to research fell under this category. The formula for that spell took up about as much space as the Colosseum.

Of course, no human could ever activate something like that by themselves.

“H-Hang on a second! Zelos? That Gluttonous Void spell we use—that’s annihilation magic, yeah? If humans from this world can’t use annihilation magic, then how are we able to use it?”

“Well, we are kind of inhuman, aren’t we? By the standards of this fantasy world, we’re something like disciples of the gods, right? We were sent to this world by gods from another one, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. And... I dunno if I’m just imagining it, but I feel like I might’ve also gotten a little smarter since I arrived in this world.”

“No, you’re not just imagining it. Have you looked at your Intelligence stat recently? Personally, I’ve been scared to look at mine ever since I got here, but if our stats are the same as they were in Swords & Sorceries, then wouldn’t our INT be high enough to make this world’s geniuses cry out of frustration?”

“Uh, I don’t feel like I’ve gotten that much smarter...”

“Remember, the game did treat Intelligence as a yardstick of how your ability to memorize and control massive spell formulas, so I’d assume something similar would be the case here too. And even if that’s all it is, that’s more than enough to make us loose cannons in this world.”

“Yikes...”

“Vast reserves of mana, superhuman strength... Mwah hah hah. We could be whatever we want here—gods, demons...”

Zelos had checked some of his stats—just his HP, his MP, and his skills, for the most part—but he had yet to confirm the rest.

His good sense had made him hesitate.

He already had so many maxed-out skills that he struggled to use them all. His physical strength alone was higher than he knew what to do with.

It wasn’t like he’d compared his stats with the inhabitants of this world, but going about his day-to-day life had made him fully aware of what an abnormality he was. If he actually did compare stats with anyone—if he forced himself to confront the extent of his own nature—he risked never being able to recover.

He wanted to keep believing he was human.

“I, uh... I hadn’t thought about it that deeply before.”

“Speaking of which, my dear Ado, let me ask: You haven’t been making any magic tools that people here might see as artifacts, have you? Because if you have, let me tell you: It’d be incredibly dangerous. You’d risk changing the face of war in this world completely.”

“N-Ngh! I’ll... I’ll watch out.”

Ado had, in fact, been creating some absurd magic tools and substances—not that he’d tell Zelos about them.

Worse, he’d even tried to kill Zelos at one point. If Zelos found out about that, there was no doubt that Ado would receive a punishment so horrific that he’d pray for death. And knowing that, Ado fully intended to take that knowledge to the grave.

“A-Anyway... We should get going. No point standing around in this wasteland forever, right? Plus, the others are waiting.”

“Mmm... Yeah, sure. I don’t see any signs of the givleon now, and as for the goddesses... Well, it’s just my intuition, but I think they’re still alive. It’s all a little murky, but I’d say we achieved what we came here to do, so let’s hurry up and get back.”

“Oh—and you did say you’d tell me where Yui is, remember? I helped you, like you asked. Now it’s your turn.”

“Yes, yes. I’m a man of my word.”

Despite an unexpected intrusion, they had fought the great givleon. Ignoring the fact that it had ultimately blown them up, it seemed the danger had passed for now.

Zelos and Ado made their way back to the fortified city of Slaiste—after stocking up on a truckload of magic stones, of course...

* * *

At the bottom of a crater formed by the Jet-Black Meteor Givleon’s Givleon Smasher move, feeble wisps of fire and water seeped out of the earth—earth that had been turned into a sheet of glass by the incredible heat.

Eventually, those wisps coalesced into the shape of two little girls.

“Urgh... That was, like, the worst...”

“How dare Windia abandon us like that... We’ll need to punish her for skittering off, don’t you think?”

Flaress and Aquilata had revived. They’d used up a lot of mana, though, so their current forms were truly pathetic. If they tried proclaiming themselves gods in this state, nobody would believe them.

“So, like... That weird insect guy was one thing, but I don’t think we could even take those reincarnators! Right? I mean, those guys were definitely as strong as the Dark God!”

“Hah! We simply need to incite the other humans against them! I am not going to take them on directly a second time, that’s for sure. Never again.”

Since the goddesses were based on faeries, they could easily revive as long as their cores remained intact.

It wasn’t even clear if they were living beings. Whatever they were, their constitution was as incomprehensible as their behavior.

“I don’t wanna be a god anymoooooore... Why do we gotta deal with all kinds of stuff that could get us killed?”

“Tell that to those other gods! They’re the ones messing with our world! Doesn’t that make you mad?!”

“But our enemies are stronger than us! There’s no way we can beat them!”

“Mmmgh...”

Both the reincarnators and the mysterious creature that had appeared were stupidly powerful. Even though Aquilata and Flaress were gods, their opponents were easily on par with them. In fact, they surpassed them.

“At any rate,” Aquilata said, “this confirms that the destruction we saw that other time was the work of reincarnators, not the Dark God. That means we’re safe for now. We should count ourselves fortunate for that, at least.”

“I sure don’t feel safe!” Flaress exclaimed. “Still—they were staring daggers at us, but they let us get away for some reason.”

“Mmm... Most likely, they lost sight of us due to that bizarre thing’s attacks. In the chaos, it even lost track of us. What a foolish creature...”

“The reincarnators, whatever that thing was—it feels like they’re all looking down on us! Urgh, it makes me so mad! But, yeah, Aquilata—you think you can beat them?”

“The reincarnators? Frankly... It would be difficult, I can say that much.”

Even Aquilata couldn’t see herself defeating the reincarnators. They completely defied every one of this world’s norms. The Four Gods had messed with other gods’ worlds, and now those other gods were getting revenge—but the Four hadn’t expected their reprisal to be this much of a hassle...

Worse, the reincarnators were so openly hostile toward them that they’d certainly be gunning for the Four again soon.

Fortunately, humans didn’t live all that long. The four could at least rest assured that the reincarnators would be buried six feet under in a century.

“Not a huge issue,” Aquilata said. “Humans are short-lived creatures. We can simply wait them out.”

“What if the other gods gave them divine protection, though? Something that makes them live longer?” Flaress asked. “I feel like those guys would totally copy those kinds of light novel tropes...”

“They can’t interfere here to that extent. Remember, the God of Creation specifically gave us this world’s administrative permissions. And gods don’t have the power to meddle with each other’s territories too much. Or at least, I don’t think they do.”

“Mmm... But even with those powers, we can’t get into that extradimensional hallowed place. Plus, we’re up against gods, so I feel like they’ve gotta have some kinda ace up their sleeve.”

“Flaress... Is it just me, or are you much sharper than usual? You’re typically such a simpleton... Did you hit your head on something? Do you have a fever, perhaps? Is the world coming to an end?”

“Rude!”

When it came to fun, the Four Gods gave it their all. They shirked their managerial duties as stewards of the world, its ecosystem, and its environment, but fun? That was when they got serious.

And sometimes, that made them cunning when you least expected it.

“Well, we can hardly stay in this crater forever,” Aquilata said. “Especially since that strange creature could return any moment. Let’s hurry back.”

“Yeah, and then we’ll give Windia what’s comin’ to her... That traitor! How dare she!”

After encountering their natural enemy in person, the goddesses fled back to their base, shrunken forms flitting over the battlefield.

Too caught up in their discussion, unusually serious by their standards, they completely failed to notice how crazy they looked. They remained unaware until later, when their return to the sacred realm incited a roar of laughter.

The righteous hero seemed to have a knack for giving people afros.

Chapter 7: The Old Guy Gets Suspicious; or, A Behind-the-Scenes with the One Who Blew Him Up

The Jet-Black Meteor Givleon was in low Earth orbit.

Living creatures couldn’t usually survive in the vacuum of space, but this bizarre thing was doing just fine.

With the battle over, the creature had ascended, its instincts urging it to take on another form to fulfill its next duty.

But upon reaching outer space, its vibe had changed completely. This creature had been spouting corny lines on the surface just moments ago, but now, it began to speak in a voice completely devoid of emotion:

“Shifting to next state-based process: unsetting disguise. Seraphim Core confirmed operational within regular parameters. Proceeding to cancel Persona Program.”

The givleon sounded more like a machine now.

“Full withdrawal from the administrative area of local sacred realm confirmed. Commencing unsetting of disguise. Transferring mission to Seraphim Core. Lifting freeze on disciple: Lucifer.”

The apparent righteous hero’s shell began to crack, then it broke altogether. The fragments dissolved into dust, and then that too disappeared, revealing a glowing orb surrounded by dozens of sigils. As they revolved around the orb, the sigils executed their preset commands at dizzying speeds.

The orb began rapidly accreting space dust, which it used to begin constructing its next preprogrammed body.

“Commencing body formation. No interference detected from Sentinel Module. No interference detected from Antivirus Program. Prediction: Administrative system is dormant. Conditions for third-party intervention from an outside world have been met. Commencing temporary intervention into administrative permissions by Observer. Simultaneously scrubbing disguise data.”

What had seemed like a hero of justice was actually an entity sent from another world. If conditions were met, it would disguise itself, infiltrate its target world, and intervene in accordance with its programmed task.

Following its predetermined sequence of operations, it had begun creating a body to house the orb. Eventually, after taking in and reshaping enough matter, the system’s vessel was complete, and a transparent humanoid form now floated in low Earth orbit.

A female humanoid form, specifically, with a dozen wings.

Even though she didn’t quite look entirely human, she maintained an air of innocence. Her long, wavy, blonde hair fluttered, even in the vacuum of space, and she wore an expression so tranquil she almost looked asleep.

This life-form—what many might call an angel—slowly opened her eyes in the vast reaches of space.

“Where am I? Ah. I must have made it to my target world without any problems.”

The woman allowed herself a moment of relief at reaching her destination—a place beyond the control of her own world’s gods—and then started working to fulfill her next task.

“Hmm... It doesn’t seem like I can open a gate to the hallowed realm. In fact, the administrative permissions are frozen, so I doubt even this world’s own custodians can access the hallowed realm right now. What about the Observer’s access code? Mmm... It appears usable, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to get me into the hallowed realm.”

She moved on to her next task.

The no-confidence motion raised against the gods of this world for breaking a covenant, as well as the powers she’d been granted by Observers from an alliance of worlds, gave her the authority to begin extracting information from the Akashic records.

“This world has ended up in quite a state, hasn’t it? All the third-tier custodians are based on local life-forms, and there are no second-tier custodians or above. Has the administrative system been completely separated from the custodians? Or...no. Has it become independent?”

Observers could manage tens of thousands of worlds alone, and they made sure to leave a fragment of themselves behind in each of those worlds to help. Doing so allowed them to form a cross-dimensional network.

Other gods and disciples were also created to help, and each was given a certain role.

For a simple example, a god of fire might be created to manage things pertaining to fire.

Of course, some gods had permissions spanning several domains—though these tended to have more administrative roles, overseeing several other custodians.

This woman had those sorts of permissions in her own world.

“This administrative system seems more advanced than the one in my world, but it’s scary how free-spirited these custodians are. I could easily see this world falling to ruin. Strangely, such destructive acts are being carried out intentionally. The custodians have been carelessly summoning individuals from other worlds. Did they not consider that those other worlds would see that as interference upon their own territories? What was this world’s Observer even thinking, leaving its world’s stewardship to these reckless custodians? I can’t even imagine...”

While the custodians had been using an administrative system more advanced than the one from the woman’s own world, they’d used it incredibly irresponsibly.

Something like this never would’ve happened in her world.

The records showed that the Observer of this corporeal world had been reassigned to an even larger administrative world following a promotion and had planned a renewal of this world’s administrative system to coincide with their departure.

The system itself was so advanced that the woman was astonished, but it was being managed with astounding negligence. It didn’t have enough custodians, and what custodians were here were worryingly free-spirited.

Common sense told the woman that it was unacceptable for custodians to outright meddle in the worlds they managed, but these custodians brazenly interfered with life-forms in the corporeal world, inciting chaos as they pleased. If the mess had been confined to this world, it would have likely been overlooked. But when it threatened other worlds as well, things had been taken far more seriously.

Yes, the meddling in question was the hero summonings.

As a rule, when summoning living beings between worlds with different rules and laws, it was essential for the summoner’s world and the summonee’s world to work out the little details in advance, or there was no telling what could happen.

A summoned being’s soul was a dense mass of energy, and it was nearly impossible to say whether that energy might negatively affect a world with different rules.

A couple of bugs in the administrative system were one thing, but those effects could pile up over time, growing increasingly dangerous and eventually threatening to make the whole world collapse on itself.

And with that in mind, it was easy to imagine the sort of damage that repeated summonings could cause.

Of course, the Observers of other corporeal worlds had tried to do something about the problem too, but they’d run into a problem—namely, that this world didn’t have an Observer of its own.

Regardless of how much the Observers had complained, the custodians here never even got their complaints.

It was like a company without a president behind the wheel, now run by clueless employees who made decisions based on whims and vibes.

The woman sighed. “Why did things have to end up like this?”

Observers were generally indifferent about worlds not under their jurisdiction.

Even if people were being summoned from another world, and that world’s Observer came to raise their concerns with the one doing the summoning, the latter would typically wave it off with a statement like “Oh? That so? Well, sucks to be you, huh?”

This time around, however, there were a lot of worlds that had been summoned from, not just the world this woman was from. And the individuals who were getting summoned weren’t coming back.

Souls weren’t the same in every corporeal world. If summoned souls were piling up in this world, and that led to a chain of errors within the administrative system, then in the worst-case scenario, there could be a dimensional collapse that threatened not only the world those souls had been summoned to but also the worlds they’d been summoned from.

And a chain reaction like that could spell disaster.

The aggrieved Observers had thus decided to use a backdoor to see if they could interfere with this administrative world.

Clearly, they believed that if they waited too long to act and the threat spread beyond this world, there would be nothing they could do.

They couldn’t remain indifferent any longer.

Above all, if they didn’t retrieve the souls of those who’d been summoned to this world, there would be no repairing the damage to the fabric of reality.

They couldn’t allow even a single soul to linger in a world it was not native to.

“So they let these custodians wreak havoc in another world, then used the covenant against them to send disciples like me here. Seeing as the custodians here have been summoning people from other worlds without getting permission, the Observers do have legitimate grounds to intervene. Why didn’t they act earlier, though? I know they’re an apathetic lot, but still...”

The woman was not thrilled at having been dragged into this whole affair.

She wasn’t the only one, though. Other disciples had been sent to this world too.

As you might expect, Zelos and company were among them. Their harassment of the Four Gods was effectively laying the groundwork for the Observers to retrieve the souls stuck in this foreign world. The reincarnators were unconsciously working as probes, seeking out souls from other worlds.

And fortunately, the other Observers had obtained an Observer specimen within the “playground” they had set up.

All that remained now was to fully revive that specimen, then transfer all this world’s administrative permissions to it, and the world would have a new Observer in charge.

Naturally, that was the hard part...

“Okay. I’ve extracted most of the information I need now. I suppose now’s the time to make a status report.”

The woman started trying to contact her own world, which would’ve been impossible if this world’s defense systems had been working properly. Fortunately for her, this world had no Observer.

Or...while it technically did have one, that Observer was still an embryo.

A screen manifested in front of the woman, and she attempted to open a connection to her boss.

A video feed appeared on the screen, showing the inside of a cluttered apartment—and, for some reason, what looked like the back of a boy in a school uniform.

The boy whirled around to face the screen, and—

“Hi ho! Kemo the Observer here.”

—introduced himself in a chipper voice, like an iconic character from a long-running educational show for kids.

The woman felt a strange sweat run down her back.

“Master... Just how long have you been standing there waiting to do that?”

“Aww, come on! As if I’d have the free time to do something like that! What are you suggesting, Lucifer?”

“Nothing. I’m well accustomed to your eccentricity by this point, Master. There’s nothing more I have to say.”

“Boooooo! You’re so cold to me! Are you still mad about what happened ages ago? When I thwacked you and sent you flying? I was only getting back at you for striking, you know. Plus, I said sorry already, didn’t I?! So many times! But, I mean, it was a long time ago, so I thought, like...maybe it’s about time you could finally forgive me, or something? Looking back, yeah, that was my bad too...”

“I’m not angry. I’ve just given up.”

Kemo was Lucifer’s boss, and as far as she knew, the most powerful of all the Observers—but he was just plain weird.

He did strange things—traveling back in time to early civilizations to leave crystal skulls and precious metals that didn’t make sense, or adding relief carvings depicting advanced scientific societies to the stone buildings those civilizations had built.

In other words, he had no problem leaving things on the surface that would later be known as out-of-place artifacts. He was a pain of a custodian.

When he saw these artifacts become the talk of various occult magazines, manga, and more, he secretly grinned. He was twisted like that, delighting in people’s reactions to his antics.

He did fulfill his job as an Observer, sure, but he also crossed between timelines to carry out pranks. The foreign substances he left behind often led to the creation of anachronistic weapons like the Arrow of Indra and the onset of large-scale military conflicts, and what had been established history began to branch into multiple timelines. Over and over again, he’d altered history in ways that were just minor enough to have no major impact but still left problems—problems that Lucifer and the others had to deal with. An increasing number of timelines meant more work for the custodians who had to manage them. Eventually, they’d come together to organize a strike.

Kemo hadn’t been happy with the strike. If you’re familiar with the Bible or other religious texts, you might already know what happened next...

For what it’s worth, Ragnarok had actually been a drinking party between custodians, including Kemo. They’d gotten into quite a brawl, and the story had been exaggerated over the years.

“Why did we end up as the ‘demons,’ anyway? Weren’t you the one at fault there, Master?”

“I didn’t do that, though, did I? Some of the other custodians probably let slip what happened when they were giving revelations, right? Then whatever they said got misinterpreted and written into the Bible? Something like that.”

“I know that, but just... Please stop time-traveling for fun! Frankly, you’re troubling all of the other custodians!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, but... I just can’t help myself, y’knooow?”

“Do you mind if I hit you when I get back? I was kidnapped in the middle of my part-time job and sent here without any say in the matter, you know...”

“K-Kidding! I was just kidding! I found somewhere else to play recently, and other Observers have started joining in too, so I don’t plan on getting up to any more mischief like that for now.”

Observers largely just watched events unfold and recorded them.

They possessed incredible power, but those powers were only supposed to be used to create and manage the worlds in their jurisdictions. That said, many did abuse their powers to get up to mischief here and there.

Why? Well, they were bored.

Observers weren’t “gods” in the way that humans pictured them. Not in the slightest. They were actually mischievous rascals and voyeurs with far too much free time on their hands.

“So? Think you’ll be able to access the hallowed realm?” Kemo asked. “My mentor made that administrative system, and it’s pretty elaborate, so it’ll probably be a pain...”

“I should be able to get in, but I’ll need administrative codes from multiple other Observers,” Lucifer replied. “Just relying on the custodians’ negligent supervision won’t be enough to get me in. The defenses are too intricate. The gate to the hallowed realm won’t open unless I input codes from other Observers.”

“My mentor managed more worlds than I do, and he was a higher-ranking existence too. Makes sense his system would be complex. Well, then, I’ll send you the administrative codes of thirty-eight Observers, including mine.”

“Thank you. I just want to get this job over and done with.”

Lucifer’s tone was blunt, despite her speaking to the being who was technically her boss.

Her annoyance was understandable. She had been dissatisfied with her job enough to strike, and the ensuing fallout had gotten her labeled as Satan, a name synonymous with evil.

She’d been given an extended vacation as an apology for the whole affair. As a result, Lucifer hadn’t worked since the era of mythology. It had been a very extended vacation.

“Well, the last time I was there, I was constrained by the covenant,” Kemo said. “I couldn’t bring anything back except the data I specifically requested. This time, though, you can use our power as Observers, so it should be easier.”

“It should? That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.”

“That’s just how it is. My mentor had way more authority than I did. I mean, who’d even think to seal away their own successor, make a bunch of stand-in custodians, and let them just run wild?”

“This is your predecessor we’re talking about, Master. It sounds entirely plausible to me.”

“Hey! What are you implying?! Even I wouldn’t be that irresponsible!”

But when Lucifer shot Kemo a cold glare, he avoided her gaze, proving that he knew just how irresponsible he could be.

“Please hurry up and send more support staff, okay?”

“Don’t worry! I’ve got it all prepared. Right, then—I’m gonna time-travel a bit and confess to that girl. This time, I’ll definitely make her fall for me! And then I’ll get her to wear cat ears and a school swimsuit for me! If she says no again, I can always wind back time and—”

“So you were about to go off and cause more mischief! Please, stop time-traveling every other second already! Do you even understand how much trouble you’re causing?!”

“I’ll cause whatever trouble I need to if it gets that girl to wear a school swimsuit, cat ears, and a cat tail for me! We Observers live for fun, after all—and we’ve got so much time to kill! All the time in the wooooooooorld!”

“Ngh... All this free time? I suppose I can’t say anything... You do get all of your work done properly, and you clean up your messes when you have to...”

Kemo was the real deal.

He was also a real piece of work.

He’d make his subordinates cry if it meant getting to enjoy his hobbies—though he wouldn’t forget to care for them after the fact too.

“By the way, Lucifer...”

“What?”

“What’s the deal with those antennae growing out of your head?”

“Huh?”

Lucifer touched her crown and realized two long, black antennae were growing from her head.

She hurriedly checked the records covering the events leading up to her arrival in low Earth orbit and found one that showed she’d been incarnated with a disguise based on a great givleon. The antennae must’ve been a vestige from that data.

The records included her going all out, striking corny poses and prattling on about justice. As she cringed in embarrassment, she peeked at her boss’s face on the screen—and saw him grinning back at her.

At that moment, Lucifer realized everything that’d happened.

“Master... You set me up, you—!”

But it was too late.

Before her awakening in orbit, she’d behaved according to the artificial personality created by Kemo. Looking back at herself now, it was just so, so embarrassing...

Kemo chuckled at her reaction. Maybe this was just how he expressed affection.

“Well, good luck out there!” he offered, then he promptly cut the feed, leaving Lucifer to quietly bemoan those damned antennae and the strange program Kemo had installed in them.

Humans weren’t alone in being at the whims of crazy, unreasonable gods—the gods’ own disciples were too.

* * *

By the time Zelos and Ado got back to Slaiste, the sun had already set, leaving the city veiled in twilight.

The tavern on the ground floor of the Breezy Lodge was packed full of rough-looking mercenary men partying and chugging alcohol like there was no tomorrow. They didn’t hold back even a little as they celebrated the successful defense of the city.

“We aren’t gonna run into drunks trying to mess with us, are we?” Ado asked.

“We’ll be fine,” Zelos replied. “If they try to pick a fight with you, give them one. They’re mercenaries. They should know to be responsible for their own actions.”

“Being a mercenary really is a rough line of work, huh...”

The Four Gods had gotten away, but Zelos and Ado had acquired a good deal of information that would probably come in handy the next time they came face-to-face with the goddesses.

They hoped they’d never have to fight the Jet-Black Meteor Givleon again, though. It wouldn’t feel right opposing a hero of justice. Besides, after seeing the way that thing had attacked the goddesses, they knew it wouldn’t be wise to antagonize it.

Not to mention, it left them with so many questions...

“Two tankards of ale, please, mister,” Zelos called out to the proprietor.

“Got it—two scoops o’ protein, comin’ right up! Won’t be a minute.”

“He didn’t say anything about protein!” Ado cried. “Why are you so desperate to turn us into beefcakes?!”

“Yer mercenaries; yer body’s yer livelihood! Gotta make sure yer muscles have yer back!”

“But we aren’t mercenaries!” the Sages snapped back.

Technically, Ado was qualified as a mercenary, but he wasn’t working as one.

It was a similar story for Zelos—he was an S-rank mercenary, but for the most part, he got by on part-time jobs. So calling either of the two men mercenaries didn’t seem quite right.

“Huh. I don’t see Lisa or Shakti around,” Ado said.

“What—were you actually expecting two young women to eat with these animals?” Zelos said.

“Okay, fair point. No way they would. They’d have drunks hitting on them nonstop.”

In a world like this—where public order even in cities was low—it was dangerous for two women to go around alone.

Crimes targeting women were relatively common here, especially with the existence of magic complicating matters. Women often kept safe by not going out at night.

The proprietor came back with the pair’s drinks, giving a deep sigh and looking utterly crestfallen. “Fine. Here’s yer ales.”

“You don’t have to sound so disappointed about it!” Zelos and Ado replied.

They wondered what had made the man so desperate to spread his doctrine of swoleness...but they had a feeling they’d get dragged into something stupid if they asked.

After all, this man seemed hyperfixated—he was similar to Zelos and Ado in that sense. And people so obsessed with a specific interest would sometimes try to push it onto others to the point of ignoring their wishes.

“Anyway—a toast to our hard work today!” Zelos said.

“Hard’s an understatement. Today was a lot...” Ado sighed. “I never would’ve thought the great givleon would evolve like that.”

“Oh—yes. Right. That. It was cool enough that I couldn’t help but cheer for it...but now that I look back on it, what happened doesn’t really make sense. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing...”

Something about the “righteous hero” just felt off. And the two Sages couldn’t get it out of their minds.

“There’s the way it started speaking fluently out of nowhere, for one,” Zelos said. “Where’d it even get any knowledge of language? Maybe you could say it learned it from us, but it started talking far too quickly for that to be the case. And that’s just one of all the things that didn’t make any sense.”

“Yeah... I know monster evolutions can be weird, but I’m not buying that. From memory, even the one in Swords & Sorceries took almost a week to learn to speak, right?”

Monster evolution was a thing both here and in Swords & Sorceries, but now that the Sages could sit down and think about it, the great givleon’s had been bizarre.

There was just no realistic way it could’ve learned language so quickly, for one.

Even if there were some mechanism whereby it could acquire knowledge by eating brains, for example, the Sages found it hard to believe that a cockroach could have the intelligence to actually parse that knowledge. Maybe a creature could go from living entirely on instinct to being capable of rational thought, but it would inevitably need a learning period to make that change.

A givlord could order regular-sized cockroaches to find places that contained prey, at which point it could obtain linguistic knowledge by eating the humans living in towns and villages. That would allow it to learn very quickly.

But quickly was one thing; instantly was another.

“The fact that it went straight for the Four Gods bothers me too,” Zelos said. “If that thing was a givlord, it should’ve just started attacking indiscriminately. But this one seemed to have more of an intent...”

“It did start out attacking indiscriminately, didn’t it?”

“Technically, sure. But remember the way it struck a pose before it attacked? It was practically shouting, Hey! Just a warning—I’m gonna attack you now! Make sure you dodge it, okay? Anyone born on Earth—or, at least, anyone from Japan—would’ve recognized what those poses meant.”

“Oh... Yeah, that’s true. It really did signpost its attacks by posing like that, huh?”

Before firing its beam attack, it had gotten into a stance just like a certain tokusatsu hero from outer space.

Nobody in this world would’ve taken that stance as a warning, so they’d likely have gotten hit by the attack. But anyone who’d grown up where Zelos and Ado had would have recognized it immediately.

It was the exact sort of overacting you’d see in tokusatsu shows.

“From the way the Four Gods were panicking, I don’t think they knew something like that existed either,” Zelos said. “It’s clearly an anomaly. And it was such a perfect fit for otaku tastes that it couldn’t have been a coincidence.”

“It was hitting pretty much every trope otaku love, wasn’t it? Which is kinda sus, now that you mention it... So, Zelos—what do you think? You’ve probably got at least a bit of an idea, right?”

“I think it was a prank by gods from another world. Or...maybe a disguise, made to look like a prank. I get the feeling there was some sort of ulterior motive behind it, at least.”

“A prank? You think something that insanely powerful was a prank? That thing was more destructive than Dark Judgment. If we’d messed up, we could’ve died.”

“Given how significant levels are in this world, I don’t think we would’ve died that easily. The vibe I got from fighting against the Four Gods was that you and I alone could take them down. That means that thing was probably sent here for some other purpose.”

“Guess it’s one of those things where just thinking about it won’t get us any answers, though, huh? But anyway—have we been, uh, seriously underrating humans this whole time?”

They’d managed to fight beings that were, technically, gods. People here weren’t any different physically from those in Zelos and Ado’s old world, but when you added a leveling system to the mix, humans could surpass their limits and grow far stronger.

Or was it even appropriate to call it “growing stronger”? Regardless, the existence of levels was a dangerous phenomenon.

“Humans being strong is one thing, but I think another factor is how this world quantifies your experiences and immediately turns them into something useful,” Zelos said. “At the same time, the monsters here are extra strong, though.”

“Well, yeah, it’s not like you can take down a dragon with a knife,” Ado said. “It’s pretty balanced, in that sense. If you want to beat a big monster, you need a big weapon.”

“It may be balanced as a system, but it’s hard to believe it’s natural. Killing a dragon shouldn’t require a big sword—it should require a siege weapon, like a ballista or something. You’d really need some incredible firepower.”

“Feels like there are a bunch of question marks with the skill system too. Especially the way special effects get added to weapons and armor. You can’t exactly aim for specific effects.”

“Ah, yes; they’re just about completely random, aren’t they? The materials and the processes you use affect the outcome, but there’s no way of knowing with certainty what sort of weapon you’ll end up with. It’s much easier to just make a magic sword.”

Crafting weapons with special skills was mostly random, in other words. Sometimes, you could end up creating a weapon with a skill that made it less effective. If you crafted over and over again, you could identify some kind of trend in how it worked, but those trends weren’t deterministic or fully understood.

Conversely, making a magic sword—which could activate a spell you’d loaded into a magic stone or similar item—allowed the creator to put a specific, desired effect into the weapon. It was a far more user-friendly process.

“Even if you used the same materials to craft two different weapons, they’d end up with totally different skills most of the time. That randomness can make two weapons that would otherwise be the exact same perform completely differently,” Ado said. “Plus, when we can accidentally make a legendary weapon, we have to be careful about selling the stuff we craft.”

“I’ve gone through that myself.” Zelos nodded. “Even simple weapons can be considered exceptional by this world’s standards, so you get people being insanely grateful... It’s bad enough that I end up feeling like... Huh? You’re getting worked up over this?!”

“And our weapons would pretty much be the stuff of mythology here. On par with sacred swords. I wanna collect all my failed attempts at making stuff and just get rid of them, but they’re too dangerous to sell, so I don’t know what to do with them...”

Zelos and Ado were both jacks-of-all-trades, not only Sages but also spectacular craftsmen. But since anything they made—weapons, magic tools, or otherwise—could have terrifyingly powerful effects, their creations seemed likely to cause untold suffering if used in something like war.

Aware of that, they were hesitant to put their all into making weapons or other gear.

If this world were Swords & Sorceries, there’d be level requirements for equipping powerful weapons and items, so low-level players wouldn’t be able to equip the strongest gear.

But this was a real-life fantasy world, where there was no such rule. Even the lowest-level individuals could equip the most powerful gear.

“The problem is,” Zelos said, “at our levels, we can make deadly weapons that even complete amateurs can handle. I loaned one of my weapons to this low-level girl a while back, and she took out a big monster in one hit.”

“Uh... Isn’t that bad news?”

“Sure is! It just means we have to be careful, really. But we do have a habit of getting carried away from time to time...”

A while back, Zelos had loaned one of his weapons to a girl in an abandoned mine near Arhaus. Her level hadn’t been anything to write home about, but with the help of Zelos’s weapon, she’d managed to take out a war ant—a monster higher than her in level—in a single hit. Frankly, it’d been abnormal.

Seeing her do that had shown Zelos just how different things here were from Swords & Sorceries.

Weapons that could make level gaps meaningless were incredibly dangerous in this world; one could only imagine the sorts of ambitions they’d rouse in a society ruled by royals and nobles. A single weapon could turn a regular person into a mighty champion.

Of course, then, those royals and nobles wouldn’t be able to ignore Zelos and Ado’s existences any longer—not with them able to create such weapons whenever they wanted. If they played their cards wrong, they could end up being captured, imprisoned, and forced to craft weapons for the rest of their lives.

Even if things didn’t go that far, the risks were enormous. Just one of them selling off some failed attempts could spark chaos across the world.

Zelos and Ado’s strength meant they’d need to exercise the utmost caution just to throw out some duds.

“Urgh, what a headache,” Ado sighed. “By the way...”

“Mmm?”

“Can you hurry up and tell me where Yui is already? I’m worried about my kid too, y’know...”

“Whoops. It’d completely slipped my mind. She’s in a village called Hasam—it’s to the south of Santor. The mayor there’s taking care of her.”

“Uh... I actually passed through that village on my way to the library at the Istol Academy of Magic...”

“Oh? So you’ve sort of been there, eh?”

“Well, I was in a carriage with this super amped-up driver... We basically blasted through the village, from one end to the other, before I even realized there was a village there. It was this guy with two sleipnirs pulling the carriage...”

“Ah. High-Speed Jonathan. Jeez, that guy gets around!”

It sounded like the very intense carriage driver was keeping himself busy even when Zelos wasn’t around.

The way he tore along roads with no regard for anything but speed, carrying everything from deliveries to people, reminded Zelos of a certain crazy taxi.

Zelos couldn’t even begin to imagine how many victims the man had left in his wake.

“I swear, the moment that guy starts, he just doesn’t stop...” Ado said. “It took everything I had just to cling on and not get thrown off. Honestly, I was half expecting to die that day.”

“Oh... I know. He ran me over once.”

“With that thing?! I’m amazed you’re still alive.”

Zelos and Ado continued to drink as they talked about their shared trauma. After they returned to the room for the night, they got “one last drink” each from Zelos’s inventory, but that turned into one more, and then another—and so they drank the night away before finally, eventually, going to sleep.

The men made so much noise that they woke Lisa and Shakti, who’d already gone to sleep in the adjoining room. The women burst into the men’s room the next morning to give them an earful about it, but the men couldn’t remember anything about the previous night.

Apparently, Zelos and Ado had had a great time drinking and making merry, but they couldn’t actually remember anything from the night, including all the things they’d talked about. It was enough for Lisa and Shakti to give them both cold glares.

If nothing else, the men had learned that they were both annoying drunks.

Chapter 8: The Old Guy Wraps Up the Job

Now that the threat of the great givleon had passed, the monsters remaining in the stampede began to scatter. Perhaps their wild instincts had told them the danger was gone.

This exodus could be seen from the fortified city of Slaiste, where the unprecedented disaster had come to an end.

The city had escaped with minimal damage, though the surrounding settlements had been decimated. The streets were filled with celebration, and the many refugees from nearby settlements were relieved, even though a full recovery would take time.

Still, the main threat had passed, and Ado and Zelos—the two mages who, unbeknownst to the public, had faced off against the great givleon—visited the mercenaries’ guild to give their report.

The battle had occurred on a plain along a highway north of Slaiste. Solistia had escaped almost unscathed, but a section of that highway that passed through the Holy Land of Metis had been completely torn to pieces, which would affect trade. Zelos and Ado would have to report that, at the very least.

Before all this, Metis had unilaterally severed its diplomatic ties with Solistia. But merchants still needed to use the highway, so the road needed to be repaired as soon as possible.

However, since both the damaged road and the huge crater were in Metis’s territory, Metis was the one responsible for repairing it. Solistia wouldn’t provide any aid for the repair work either.

And given how things were going in Metis lately, it seemed like the road wouldn’t be getting fixed anytime soon.

That didn’t have anything to do with the Sages, though. They were only responsible for reporting what had happened; they weren’t paid to care about what came next.

“So you’re saying the highway leading from here to Metis has been damaged so badly as to be unusable?” Aleph asked.

“Mm-hmm. We did think a demon lord might appear, but a demon lord with power rivaling the Dark God? I certainly wasn’t expecting that,” Zelos said. “It seemed to have beef with the Four Gods more than anything, though, so we should be safe for now.”

“It... It is still a monster, though, isn’t it? Are you sure it’s fine to just leave it alone?” Aleph asked.

“Can’t be too sure, but yeah, it should be fine,” Ado replied. “It just kept chasing the Four Gods—well, there were only three of them, but you get the idea—and ignoring the two of us. Didn’t seem to care too much about humans one way or the other.”

“What a strange monster,” Aleph said. “And you said it understood language? I’ve never heard of a monster like that.”

As Aleph listened to Zelos and Ado’s report, he was clearly bewildered by their description of the mysterious Jet-Black Meteor Givleon.

Society hadn’t even considered the possibility that a monster with humanlike intelligence could exist.

Sure, things like that featured in legends, but nobody had ever witnessed such a creature with their own eyes. Expecting someone to come to terms with it so suddenly was a tall order.

“Well, there haven’t been too many merchants using that highway lately, so I doubt His Majesty will do a thing to help unless Metis absolutely begs us,” Aleph said.

“Jeez. Seems like everyone hates the Holy Land,” Ado said.

“From what I’ve heard, they do some pretty horrific things in the name of the gods,” Zelos said. “And they charge ridiculous fees for healing magic, even if it’s to mend a tiny little scratch.”

“So they’re running a racket? Yeah, makes sense why everyone’d hate them, then,” Ado said. “I would’ve thought they’d at least make their fee proportionate to the severity of someone’s injury...”

Until recently, priests had been the only ones who could use healing magic—or holy magic, as they called it. But now that mages could use healing magic too, priests had plummeted in value.

Recently, a new job skill called Medical Mage had been discovered, and many alchemists were working to reskill as one of those.

Medical mages had less potent healing magic than priests, but they could supplement their effectiveness with healing potions—their mage backgrounds came in handy for that. In a sense, medical mages were more valuable than priests now.

The Magic Kingdom of Solistia was, after all, overflowing with unemployed mages—more than it knew what to do with. Countless people had gone through all the effort of training as mages and failed to find any jobs that put those skills to use. Most of them ended up living lives unrelated to magic.

Finding a way to utilize all the magical skills of these people who’d missed the boat was a big deal economically.

“I hear farmers have started growing medicinal herbs on their farms too,” Aleph said. “Going forward, I expect we’ll see a rising number of medical mages and an increased demand for medicinal herbs. I’m going to recommend a nationwide initiative to cultivate medicinal herbs and anything else that might be needed.”

“I’d bet medicine’s gonna advance too,” Ado said. “After all, when priests had a monopoly over healing magic, Solistia couldn’t afford to anger Metis, so they could probably only do so much to influence foreign policy. And now that that’s not a problem anymore... Oh, by the way—who sold these healing spell scrolls to the Solistian government in the first place?”

“Good question,” Zelos said, doing his best to feign ignorance. “As far as I know, they were the result of a joint development effort between Solistia and some other countries.”

Zelos was the one who’d started the project to get back at Metis, but he’d never publicly revealed his involvement.

“Well, wherever it came from, we knights are grateful to have mages who can use healing magic,” Aleph said.

“Yes, it’s a little scary to rely entirely on potions, isn’t it?” Zelos said. “Oh, by the way—I heard the number of augmentation mages has been rising too?”

“You heard right,” Aleph said. “Mages who specialize in support have been proving valuable in combat. With the country adopting those Wiesler students’ reforms, those sorts of mages have already achieved results—though it’s all on a trial basis for now, mind you.”

“Ah—Zweit and his buddies, eh?” Zelos nodded. “I did teach them a bunch of stuff...”

Back when Zelos had been working as a private tutor for two young mages, he’d taught them the roles a mage was supposed to serve in combat.

Mages were typically categorized into three broad groups: attack mages specializing in offensive magic; support mages (also known as augmentation mages) specializing in buffing and protecting their allies; and crafting mages, who use alchemy and other fields to create magic tools, potions, and more.

When the Order of Mages went to war, attack and support mages fought alongside the knights, while crafting mages did their work outside the battlefield.

More recently, the circulation of healing spell scrolls had given rise to a fourth category of mage: medical mages.

Zelos and Ado didn’t have a specialization. They were all-rounder combat experts, but beside them, very few mages had mastery over offense, support, and crafting.

The Order of Mages, as it existed, was composed mostly of attack mages. Its composition was incredibly lopsided.

Until recently, Order mages had fought like artillery units. While the Order of Knights protected them, they’d blast their enemies with powerful attack magic at crucial moments. They’d occupied that role with a certain smugness too.

Zweit and his fellow Wiesler students, however, had proposed a different, fairer strategy. Unlike the old approach, mages would be embedded within knight units according to their specialty; that way, all members would use their specific skills to optimize each unit.

Essentially, Zweit had incorporated Zelos’s game-derived knowledge of combat tactics into reality.

And now, with the addition of medical mages who could heal injuries and more, that strategy was becoming even more effective.

The knights would fight in the vanguard, while attack mages would fire off spells from the rear.

Support mages would use their augmentation magic to support the knights and mages alike.

Crafting mages would be positioned nearby, ready to replenish supplies and craft anything that the situation called for.

Finally, medical mages would heal injured allies.

Units comprising these four types of specialized mages would combine with knights to operate efficiently on the battlefield.

When the king had received the report proposing this strategy, he’d had the Order of Mages—which had been focused on its own factional disputes more than anything else—stop completely in its tracks.

The heads of each faction, who sat at the top of the Order, had of course lodged objections to these sudden plans for organizational reform. But the king had responded with, “Do you actually think I can trust advisers who do nothing but use their positions within our nation’s army to drag each other down and bicker with opposing factions?”

What was more, the people behind the restructuring had been mere students. And the king had used their status to further intimidate the Order into complying. “Even the youngsters from the academy are worried about the direction our country is going!” he’d said. “And then we have you fools. What have you been doing?!”

Solistia’s court mages were well and truly peeved at the students who’d submitted the reform proposals. But on top of that, they were concerned—concerned by these outstanding young mages threatening to rise through the ranks and take their positions.

The court mages knew that if the restructuring went ahead, they’d completely lose face, and that any attempt to keep clinging to their own profits and authority after the reforms would see them cleared out of the Order. But the king was entirely on board with the proposals, and he was angry enough with the state of affairs that anyone who tried to stop him might find their head on the chopping block for treason. The court mages had no way out.

Ultimately, then, these mages had given the outward appearance of falling in line with the king’s decision, allowing themselves to be incorporated into the broader military.

But these mages’ plans had been derailed in a big way: They’d soon found they could no longer turn down requests from the Order of Knights, as they’d been doing this whole time. Even then, though, it wasn’t as if the restructuring would immediately wipe out the long-standing antagonism between the groups, so plenty of arrogant, egotistical individuals had refused nonetheless—and found themselves fired before long.

Amid all this, the mages assigned to Aleph’s knights had joined the knights in their training. They’d been fiercely resistant at first...but a few weeks later, upon their return, they were suddenly obedient and devoted to their jobs. It was like they’d turned into completely different people.

Yes—they too had undertaken the Trial of the Depths.

Just like that, then, a clear distinction had been drawn between the “useful mages” and “useless mages,” and only the former were kept within military service.

Those individuals who’d merely pretended to feign obedience to the king’s command, quietly plotting to take back their former authority the moment they had a chance, had been weeded out entirely, stripped of all authority.

Encouraged by the initiative’s success, the king and the Order of Knights had recommended that the Trial of the Depths be incorporated as part of standard training. In contrast, those who’d been in favor of maintaining the old structure of the Order of Mages had seen their influence wane rapidly.

“Thanks to you, Mr. Zelos, we’ve been able to shut the mouths of those noisy old fogies in the Order of Mages,” Aleph said. “We don’t need that kind of dead weight around when we’re trying to defend the country.”

“Zelos?! Did you seriously take a scalpel to the country’s institutions?! What were you thinking?!” Ado cried.

“I haven’t done a thing,” Zelos replied. “Anyway—it sure sounds like everyone hated those old Order of Mages leaders, eh?”

The old fogies from the Order of Mages had actually ventured into the Far-Flung Green Depths as well, but they hadn’t been able to withstand the fierce combat and harsh conditions there.

In fact, upon seeing members of the Order of Knights using magic as well, those mages had been forced to recognize that it would be nigh impossible to maintain the existing system.

It simply wasn’t feasible for the mages to keep sitting back in safety and scheming to grow their influence while the knights honed their skills in brutal training. Seeing the overwhelming—and still widening—skill gap between them and the knights, the mages had been forced to confront the reality that the times were changing. Mages with essentially no combat experience had been weeded out on the spot, while those desperate to survive improved themselves and were integrated into the Order of Knights.

It really was survival of the fittest. The knights’ ghastly training regimen was enough to send shivers down the spines of spoiled mages from noble backgrounds.

“There’s no training better than real combat, after all,” Aleph said. “And while we might have been working with you as guards, Mr. Zelos, what we went through in the Depths was excellent training for us as well. Though I can only wish to be strong enough to take on wyverns myself someday...”

“Zelos?” Ado spluttered. “What have you been getting up to that you haven’t mentioned?!”

“Look, I... I just wanted my pupils to learn how terrifying combat could be,” Zelos said. “I certainly didn’t expect the knights to pick up my idea and run with it like this. Speaking of which—what were you planning to do if people died out there, Aleph?”

“Plenty of people dropped out due to injuries,” Aleph said. “They were all mages, though. If you ask me, it just goes to show they hadn’t trained enough, that’s all. They go out there, run out of mana in seconds, and then they’re useless, since they have no idea how to fight up close and personal. And neither the Order of Knights nor the court mages need that kind of dead weight in their ranks.”

“Damn, you guys are hardcore!” Ado said. “I get it’s a meritocracy, but jeez!”

Most members of the Order of Mages had been recruited based on their grades and had no experience in combat.

It wasn’t as if they were completely useless in combat, but they didn’t have the slightest clue how to handle critical situations. The moment a battle devolved into a melee, they’d stop following orders and run straight for the nearest rescue party.

After spending all those years arrogantly looking down on knights, these mages had been made painfully aware of their own incompetence. Some had even been so terrified by their brief time in combat that they still hadn’t recovered.

And just like that, only the cream of the crop, who’d made it through hell itself, remained in the Order of Mages.

Hearing about all this left even Zelos flabbergasted. Sure, this training regimen had been his idea, but he hadn’t meant for an entire country to adopt it as a means of cultivating a body of elite mages.

Moreover, it’d been Zweit, one of Zelos’s pupils, who’d suggested the training regimen be used that way.

The little training camp Zelos had improvised on the fly had grown legs of its own.

And in turn, it seemed, the knights and the mages alike had been taking themselves to the next level—both literally and metaphorically.

“Anyway,” Zelos said, “that concludes our report, so I was thinking of heading back to Santor now.”

“Give my regards to the former duke, if you would,” Aleph said. “I’m not sure what we would’ve done if His Grace hadn’t sent you to help.”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. All in a day’s work,” Zelos said.

Aleph and his knights would be stationed here for a while longer to keep guard and help with the cleanup.

Zelos and Ado left the mercenaries’ guild—the knights watching as they departed—and headed for Slaiste’s eastern gate.

“So, Zelos,” Ado said, “you’re headed to Santor now?”

“Hmm. Well...” Zelos thought. “We can make Hasam our first stop. I’m sure you’re worried for your wife.”

“Thanks. And yeah. I am worried about her. But what I’m even more worried about is, uh—if she stabs me, can I count on you to heal me?”

“You’re just assuming you’ll get stabbed?! Why are you resolving to die like some tragic hero?!”

“See, the thing about Yui is... She gets insanely jealous. In fact, instead of protecting me, can I ask you to protect Lisa and Shakti? Please. Like, seriously. I’m begging you here.”

Thinking back to when he’d met Yui, Zelos really didn’t remember her seeming like such a scary person. Still, Ado knew her better than anyone else. Zelos couldn’t just say he was lying.

Perhaps this would become the newest example of Zelos’s tendency to get caught up in trouble.

“Oh, Ado!” Lisa shouted from the distance. “You’re finally here! You sure took your time!”

“Yeah. We’ve been waiting here for a while,” Shakti said. “Did making your report really take that long?”

“Sorry,” Ado said. “Things kinda dragged on a bit.”

Seeing the exchange play out like a scene from a cliché romcom put a scowl on Zelos’s face. “Tch! Damn normie. I suuuuuure hope you don’t get stabbed later. It’d be a reeeaaal shame... Peh!”

“H-Hey! It almost sounds like you’re hoping she’ll stab me now!”

Zelos was a narrow-minded man.

His jealousy aside, though, the reunited quartet wasted no time departing through Slaiste’s east gate.

The group walked along the road for a while, and then, once the city’s walls were out of view, Zelos and Ado took out their Harley-Sanders Model 13 and kei car, respectively, from their inventories.

“Ooh. A kei car, eh?” Zelos nodded appreciatively. “Definitely reminds me of a certain manufacturer.”

“I mean, it’s pretty much the same one I drove back on Earth,” Ado said. “Kinda just defaulted to that design.”

“Hmm. It’d probably be able to fit my coccos...”

“Coccos? You mean the trash mobs? You’re keeping those as pets?”

“You shouldn’t underestimate them, Ado. It could get you killed. My coccos are the real deal. Each of them’s a rare variant—and they’re at the point now that they could hunt wyverns, you know?”

“What?! No way those are coccos!”

Zelos would have to pick up Ukei, Senkei, and Zankei along the way. After confirming their location with a map, the group started heading to the village where Zelos had dropped off the coccos on his way to Slaiste. Fortunately, the recent monster stampede meant there weren’t any merchants traveling along the road who could spot them.

When they arrived a little later, they were shocked by what they saw.

“Wh-What is this...” Zelos muttered, at a loss for words.

“Whoa. Are— Are those priests?” Ado said. “And they’re...wrapped up in mats and hung upside down? There are groups of villagers beating them up too...”

“Well, this would need to be R-rated. If innocent kids saw how cruel people could be, it’d traumatize them...” Shakti said.

“Why are the villagers doing this, though?” Lisa asked. “Aren’t the people hanging up there part of the clergy?”

The culprits behind the killings—the Inquisition members—had been thoroughly punished by the villagers, hung upside down or half buried alive, and then subjected to gang violence too brutal to show on-screen, leaving them on the verge of death.

While they were very much reaping what they’d sown, anyone visiting this village for the first time might think they’d stumbled across a bunch of devil-worshipping villagers tormenting innocent priests.

Without the context of what had happened here, Ado and the others were speechless. All they could do was stare at the cruel scene, mouths agape.

Zelos was the only one willing to call out to one of the villagers.

“Excuse me!” he said. “Would you happen to have seen my coccos around here? There are three of them, and they’ve turned into pitch-black cockatrices, if that helps.”

Wait a minute! the others thought. Are you seriously gonna pretend you don’t see all this?!

The villager Zelos had called out to was in the middle of mercilessly beating a swollen priest with a piece of timber. He lifted his head and looked at Zelos with the eyes of a madman. He was clearly consumed by bloodlust.

But the moment he registered the meaning behind Zelos’s words, his expression changed to a pleasant smile, as if nothing were out of the ordinary at all. “Oh? Are you the keeper of the sacred coccos?”

It was hard to believe he was the same man who’d been unleashing a tempest of violence moments ago.

“The... The ‘sacred coccos’? What did they do?” Zelos asked.

“The sacred coccos saved our village. And they continue to protect us, even now.”

“You don’t say...”

Left in a daze by the villager’s strange reverence for the coccos, Zelos glanced toward the nearby forest and saw a massive bear flying through the air.

It had probably just been hit by a powerful attack from Ukei or one of the others.

By the looks of it, the coccos were doing just fine, and they were out hunting to test their skills against monsters.

“In that case,” Zelos said, “what’s with the priests here?”

“These scum attacked our village! They even killed our elderly, our little children... If not for the sacred coccos, I imagine these vermin would’ve killed us all by now,” he said, turning to kick the nearest captive priest in the head.

Zelos sighed in relief now that he knew what was going on.

When he’d first witnessed the scene, even he’d been a bit worried—What do we do if this is some deranged village that just has a thing for torturing people? he’d thought—but now that he knew the problem lay with the priests, he figured everything was fine.

What had happened to Zelos’s common sense?

More villagers came over to chip in, having heard the conversation.

“They’re all murderers dressed up as priests! Surely you wouldn’t think of helping them, would you?”

“They killed our families—even the children! You’d better not get any stupid thoughts in your head, okay?”

“You may be the keeper of the sacred coccos, but if you try to stop us—”

“Oh, no, don’t worry,” Zelos said. “They had it coming, so I won’t do anything to stop you. Though I would suggest you stop short of actually killing them and hand them over to some guards when you’re done. It’d be best to make them regret ever being born before they die, don’t you agree?”

How is he just accepting this?! the other three thought. They may be criminals, but even criminals have rights!

Zelos had come to grips with the furious villagers’ explanation without a moment of hesitation. The way Ado, Shakti, and Lisa saw it, dispensing mob justice in the form of a bloody beatdown was wrong—even if these priests were criminals. But the villagers’ bloodlust had whipped them into an absolute frenzy, so there was no way they would see it like that. The trio could tell this was not the sort of atmosphere where they could try to mediate.

If the reincarnators made a heavy-handed attempt at mediating, they could find themselves on the receiving end of the villagers’ “justice.”

The villagers, having had their families brutally killed, still saw these battered priests as their enemies, and no one in Ado’s party had the nerve to deny them that.

“H-Help...” one of the priests groaned.

Zelos turned his gaze to the man. “Tell me—what brought such a large group of priests to Solistia in the first place? And to a little farming village, at that? The Holy Land sees Solistia as its enemy, doesn’t it? Were you here to lure the great givleon into Solistian territory, perhaps?”

“Gakh—?!”

“So, do I take that as an admission that you came here to drive the monsters that attacked the Holy Land into another country? And then you thought you’d kill some innocent civilians while you were here? Oh—might you all be members of the ‘Inquisition’ I’ve heard so much about? Wouldn’t surprise me. Killing and torturing for a living would turn people rotten.”

The man who’d called out for help—Josephoke—had done so as a desperate last hope. But he hadn’t expected Zelos to figure out the truth—and now that he had, Josephoke was lost for words.

Of course, Zelos hadn’t been confident in what he was saying. Not at first, at least. He’d just made a guess based on the information available to him, but Josephoke’s reaction had confirmed his theory.

“Then I suppose you were the ones who isolated this village too, hmm?” Zelos asked. “Let me guess—you came here planning to enjoy an all-you-can-kill buffet, figuring that if anyone asked later you could say you were ‘meting out divine retribution’? And really, I am just guessing there... But I’m right, aren’t I?”

Josephoke remained silent.

“Cat got your tongue, eh? Well, whether you’re priests or criminals, the fact is that you came here to kill innocent civilians. So we have to make sure you atone for your sins, don’t we? Ah, I say ‘we,’ but I won’t be the one punishing you.”

The priests were quickly realizing that the Faith’s “pardons” meant nothing here. There would be no salvation for debauched priests who delighted in murder. Not from Zelos, and not from the gods.

With the discussion over, the villagers resumed their gang violence.

“Hey, Zelos...” Ado said. “You sure we shouldn’t stop this? Even criminals have rights...”

“Exactly. Don’t you think they deserve due process? Even if they’ve killed people.” Shakti nodded.

“This is just terrible...” Lisa murmured. “I know they have their reasons, but seeing people be so brutal toward each other is just...”

“Mmm? No, of course not!” Zelos replied, astonished by their reaction.

“Huh?!” the three of them exclaimed together, caught off guard by the tone of his response.

They weren’t wrong. Criminals did have the right of due process under the law—but due process only applied to criminals apprehended by guards or bounty hunters.

In this world, crime was rampant, and the perpetrators were often repeat offenders who’d escaped the eyes of the law, or fugitives who’d fled distant lands where they were wanted. And any rural civilians who caught such a perpetrator red-handed couldn’t rely on guards being around to solve the issue. They’d need to either apprehend the criminal themselves or kill them on the spot.

“Things here don’t work like they do in Japan,” Zelos reminded them. “Laws in this world are still a bit behind the times. These criminals were killing people—right here, in this village. And yes, the villagers managed to apprehend them, but do you think that’ll be enough to satisfy the hearts of people who’ve watched as their loved ones were killed?”

“Still... It isn’t like doing this will bring their loved ones back, is it?” Shakti replied. “Besides, once they captured the culprits, shouldn’t they have handed them right over to the guards?”

“This is a small village. Calling guards would require a trip to the city and back, which would take, what—about three days on foot? There’s a chance the culprits could escape in that time. Besides, I’m sure the families of the deceased hate these people enough that they need an outlet for their rage.”

“Even then, I think it’s important to follow the law. If anyone can be judge, jury, and executioner when they feel like it, then what’s the point of having laws in the first place? We can’t let this happen.”

“Could you say the same thing to the victims’ families? People who saw their loved ones killed before their very eyes? Look, you’re right when you say that nothing these people do will bring their loved ones back. But unless they avenge their families, they won’t be able to put this behind them and move forward with their lives. Here in this world, the law means less than you might expect. That goes double in remote areas like this, where the eyes of the law don’t reach. Ultimately, things get left to the local citizens to decide.”

What was “moral” in a given place depended on the values of those who lived there.

For example, morality could differ wildly between a theocratic country and a democratic country. Things considered completely normal in the former could be seen as bizarre the moment you crossed the border to the latter. That was to say nothing of the fact that this wasn’t just another country but another world, and one where civilization was nowhere near as advanced as on Earth, at that. It should’ve been obvious that shared values would be completely different here.

The ideas of morality you’d see in Earth’s advanced nations were nothing like those in the outlying areas of this world’s small nations. Here, revenge killings were effectively legal.

The Inquisitors were foreign spies who’d brought considerable harm upon the Magic Kingdom of Solistia. That was before you even considered the fact they’d killed innocent people for fun.

If not for Ukei, Zankei, and Senkei, every last villager here would’ve probably been dead by now. And speaking up for the perpetrators for reasons like “but the law says...” and “human rights are...” seemed simply naive.

“Tell me,” Zelos said, “have any of you killed a bandit before?”

“I... Yeah. I have,” Ado said. “The guilt was just horrible...”

“Us two, we—” Lisa stammered.

“We haven’t,” Shakti answered for her. “Ado’s dealt with them all. Lisa and I haven’t killed a single person.”

“Naive,” Zelos replied. “If you can’t kill to protect yourself, you will die the second things turn south. This is a world where brutal violence isn’t just overlooked—it’s the norm. You’d do well to remember that—and to prepare yourself for what that means.”

Heroes and reincarnators alike found it difficult to break free from the notions of common sense they’d had in their own world.

The problem wasn’t that those notions were wrong. It was just that they were too advanced to be of any use in an underdeveloped world like this one.

Perhaps they could be useful as a reference for legal reform—but even if those reforms were passed, people would still need education and time to reflect. This wasn’t like Japan, where police were always nearby to maintain the peace. There were soldiers, but stationing them all over the country wasn’t cheap.

Nor did this world have things like scientific evidence or courts, where you could bring a lawyer to appeal for a reduced sentence.

“From what I’ve heard,” Zelos said, “one of the summoned heroes was under the impression that he was this world’s protagonist. He went around slaughtering people wherever he went, and then, when he got caught, he was executed. Apparently, he made a real fuss—his excuse was something like, ‘I’m the hero! I’ve been protecting you, haven’t I?! Why the hell are you gonna execute me?!’”

“Sounds like an idiot...” Ado said.

“I’m guessing that just because he could see his stat screen, he got the wrong idea and thought he was in a game. People say that even in his final moments, he still saw everything as a game; his last words were things like ‘Kill me if you want—I’ll be back!’ and ‘The next time we meet, I’m killing you all!’”

“What a nasty story...” Shakti said. “But if he could feel pain, why didn’t he realize it was reality?”

“Maybe he thought it was, like, virtual pain?” Lisa offered. “I don’t know what world he came from, but it’s such a ridiculous story...”

“Some of the heroes just think, Damn, I’m OP! No one can beat me! In fact, I met a hero exactly like that,” Zelos said. “But I got the impression that being called a hero, specifically, was what made him dance to Metis’s tune.”

As Zelos saw it, the overlap between the heroes and Ado’s party was that neither saw the world as it really was; both were too caught up in their Earth notions of common sense.

They lacked the proper awareness that they were living in a world where violence was considered acceptable.

“Anyway, where exactly are those coccos of mine...” Zelos muttered.

“You’ve gotta be the most adapted to this world out of all of us, Zelos,” Ado said. “You’re way too used to violence.”

“Nothing fazes him, does it?” Shakti said. “But personally, I don’t want to get used to an environment like this.”

“Me too,” Lisa echoed. “At the same time, though, I get that we have to be able to kill people if push comes to shove. As much as I don’t want that to happen.”

Unlike in Japan, violence was just part of life in this world. Being able to defend yourself was crucial if you wanted to stay safe, and here, people killed each other on a daily basis. You had to fight to survive.

But Lisa and Shakti were the same as Iris; they hadn’t yet fully adjusted to their new environment.

“I won’t tell you to get used to killing people,” Zelos said. “But you need to at least be prepared to do it—or you’ll simply die if you end up in a kill-or-be-killed situation. You can probably think of this world the same way you’d think of Japan’s Sengoku era. In other words, I’d recommend keeping in mind that carelessness could get you killed here.”

“Feels like this whole world’s full of evil people, monsters, the works...” Ado said. “The real hardcore players are about the only people who could get used to this, right?”

“Oh, yeah, I could definitely see that being the case,” Zelos said. “There are plenty of people out there whose minds would just stop at, Hey, this is a fantasy world! And those people will do something stupid, sooner or later.”

Outsiders’ fates could be determined by how good they were at recognizing and accepting the nature of the world they were in.

Zelos had made gathering information his first priority when he’d arrived here. And Ado, upon being welcomed as a guest of the state, had been similar, using libraries to gather whatever information he could.

Most individuals whose reaction was simply “Woooooo! I’m in an isekai, baby!” would be taking this world too lightly. It was hard to imagine those people surviving for very long.

“So, what—we should treat it like we’re employees sent to some branch location in a conflict zone?” Shakti asked.

“Oh—yeah, I see what Shakti means.” Lisa nodded. “It’s that feeling that you never know where trouble might be lurking, that if you’re not careful, you could get kidnapped by terrorists—that you could get shot dead at any moment... It’s scary, isn’t it?”

“Stay away from the most dangerous places and we should be fine—though I guess it’s hard for us to know what those places are,” Ado said. “I guess us reincarnators and the heroes are the same in that we grew up used to peace and now we’re out of our element.”

The heroes had swallowed the information they were handed about the world hook, line, and sinker; the reincarnators were more inquisitive, but they’d still need time to adjust to the world.

It had already been over five months since they’d been sent here, which was enough time to differentiate the wiser reincarnators trying to live in this new world and the dumber ones still behaving like they were in a game.

Ado and Zelos had started working to strike back at the Four Gods and their devotees, while Iris and Eromura were doing everything they could to adjust to their new lives here. Then there was Sharanla, who’d completely integrated with this world’s version of the underworld.

It was frightening to consider what path other reincarnators might’ve taken.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to trust anyone outside of the people I know—even fellow reincarnators,” Ado said. “Complete strangers are scary. No idea what they might be scheming.”

“Personally,” Zelos said, “I just try to live by my motto: ‘A quiet life’s a good life.’ I’m just your average Joe who happens to get some jobs from a ducal house.”

“What part of you is average?!” the other three cried.

One way or another, Zelos always seemed to get his neck stuck in all kinds of trouble.

Maybe somewhere, deep down, he enjoyed being in another world.

“Caw?” (“Is it time to retreat, Leader?”)

“Oh. Senkei. Where are Ukei and Zankei?”

“Ba-ko-ko.” (“I believe they should be returning soon.”)

“We’ll be making a detour on the way back. By the way, have you cleared out the monsters around here?”

“Bok-a-bok, ca-baw.” (“We’ve just about routed the largest foes. Only the weak fodder remain.”)

“Well, that’s good to hear. Hmm... I suppose none of the monsters in these parts were a match for you, then.”

They’re having a conversation... the other three thought. Who is he, Steve Irwin or something?

Somehow, Zelos was having a full-on conversation with Senkei.

To the others, it just looked like a lonely middle-aged man having a one-sided conversation with a bird.

Quite the sad sight, really.

Before long, Ukei and Zankei returned, and Zelos loaded the three coccos into Ado’s kei car. Then the party set off once more, toward the village of Hasam.

The village that had been taken over by the Inquisitors devoted itself to a faith based on sacred beasts—and before long, Zelos’s three coccos were formally recognized as sacred beasts themselves.

* * *

Highways enabled commerce and connected settlements.

But here in this fantasy world, proper urban planning was virtually nonexistent; a lot of roads had been laid out pretty thoughtlessly. And the highway Zelos, Ado, Lisa, and Shakti were traveling along was one such example.

Instead of being optimized for efficiency, most road networks centered around the nearest ruling lord’s town and branched out from there. As a result, the terrain created a lot of detours.

To someone born on Earth, it all seemed strange. Builders here didn’t dig tunnels through mountains to allow for more direct roads or anything of the sort.

It wasn’t just the terrain itself that made traveling dangerous, though. There were narrow roads that wound their way through natural mountain passes, but most would be perilous for any merchants who dared to make the journey. On top of the inherent danger of narrow mountain roads, they provided plenty of cover for bandits and burglars to ambush travelers, so merchants had to keep their eyes out. Forts and fortified cities were built along such paths to keep criminals in check, but with crime constantly on the rise, it was an endless game of cat and mouse.

Even highways spanning open plains weren’t completely safe.

The problem with bandits and their ilk was that even if you destroyed their organizations, the survivors would simply regroup and start doing the same thing again.

National budgets could only stretch so far; a country couldn’t just throw more personnel at the problem forever. The upkeep costs of forts and fortified cities were nothing to sniff at; simply maintaining their garrisons required huge sums of money for food and salary.

Then there were the costs of equipping the soldiers, repairing damaged fortifications, and so on. Altogether, nations allotted about a third of their budgets to defense—which was a high price to pay for smaller countries.

Long story short, building more roads wasn’t a silver bullet that’d improve travel and trade. The real limiting factor was maintaining the defense personnel to keep those roads usable—and those personnel weren’t free.

“Given all that,” Zelos said after he’d finished explaining all of this to the others, “this mountain road is apparently a bit of a no-man’s land. Bandits could be hiding anywhere! Oh, and we can’t forget about the monsters...”

“So why did you take us this way?!” the others snapped, unable to stop themselves.

Zelos had chosen this route for a good reason, though. Namely, he’d used his map to determine that it’d be the quickest way to Hasam.

Ado followed Zelos in his kei car, while the Great Sage rode his Harley-Sanders Model 13. That had seemed like the smartest idea, given that Ado’s sense of direction was so atrocious that any of his attempts to navigate would’ve ended in embarrassment.

But he hadn’t expected following Zelos to mean he and his party would sleep outdoors at a rest stop built along some mountain highway.

Sure, they had magic tools they could deploy to create impassable boundaries, not to mention the strength to obliterate any bandits with their bare fists, but that didn’t exactly make them feel safe. Attackers could feasibly release a paralyzing poison upwind, for example, or just target the two women, who were much lower-level than Zelos and Ado.

“What’s your plan if we get attacked by bandits, then, huh?!” Ado shouted.

“We just...get rid of them?” Zelos replied. “We could even get a reward out of it, if they’re wanted.”

“But if monsters attack us—” Lisa started.

“Then we might get some fresh meat for tonight’s menu!” Zelos said.

Shakti sighed. “Oh, it’s no use. He’s gotten too used to living here.” She turned to Zelos. “Exactly what kind of life did you have back on Earth?”

“Oh, I was self-sufficient for the most part. I’d go hunting with people from the local hunting club, work the fields...you know. Just your average, everyday lifestyle.”

But Zelos’s idea of an “average, everyday lifestyle” was far from average.

Ado had floated between part-time jobs. After he and Yui had discovered she was pregnant, he’d hurried to find full-time employment, all while keeping up his part-time work on the side to earn some money. He’d spent every day worrying about the future. And here was this old guy, who’d apparently been living in a farming village, surrounded by nature.

Ado had desperately looked for a full-time job, but finding one had only brought him a mixture of relief and nervousness. Meanwhile, Zelos had been going hunting with a buddy from the farming village he lived in.

It was hard for Ado to believe that Zelos’s lifestyle was average in the slightest.

And that was before he considered Zelos’s days as a salaryman, which had seen him traveling the world and eating all sorts of strange foods. It had been a pretty hectic lifestyle, by the sounds of it, and it had turned Zelos into a man who wouldn’t turn his nose up at anything but the most bizarre culinary creations.

Such creations did exist, mind you, and even Zelos had his limits. He’d had moments of thinking, There’s no way humans are meant to eat this stuff! But he was fine with eating things like big spiders and centipedes, at least.

Of course, insects were considered a valuable source of protein in this world as well. They didn’t taste that bad either, so Zelos didn’t feel a need to get hung up on appearances.

Ultimately, it hadn’t been that hard for him to adapt to his rugged new environment—he’d started laying the groundwork back on Earth.

He had years of experience on Ado, Shakti, and Lisa.

“So... So you were living off wild game even back on Earth, huh?” Ado asked.

“It sounds like you were pretty rural,” Shakti said. “Just how far out in the mountains were you? By the way you talk about it, I don’t think we would’ve been able to live like that...”

“Personally,” Lisa said, “I’ve eaten deer and wild boar on trips to the countryside. I haven’t had civet or anything like that, though.”

“Oh, I’ve never eaten civet either,” Zelos said. “I did come across a dead one in my storeroom one summer, though. And it had started to decompose, so it stunk like hell...”

Worse, he’d found it right in the middle of Obon, so the animal shelter that usually would’ve disposed of the body had been closed.

He’d been left with no choice but to dump the body in the mountains himself. It had reeked right up until he dug a hole and buried it.

The rotten stench had lingered in the storeroom too. For a while, he’d had to fight the urge to vomit every time he got ready to work in the fields.

He could feel the trio’s pitying stares on his back as he told the story.

“Oh,” he said, trying to lighten the mood, “one time, I saw a mama bear and her cub walking right through my garden! Now that was a surprise!”

“Damn... Okay, so it was more than just a little dangerous out where you were. You could’ve been killed if you were unlucky!” Ado said.

“No, I was fine,” Zelos said. “I had a crossbow and a kukri in case I needed them. I did use them once, actually. Took down a deer.”

“Okay, so you were living in a totally different world!” Lisa cried. “It’s not that you’re better than us at adapting to new environments. It’s just that your old lifestyle was pretty similar to how we have to live here, so you had an easier time accepting everything when you got here!”

“I used to make naan in a brick oven, by the way. Oh, and my own kimchi. Plus plenty of prosciutto and sausages, of course!”

“Look, Ado—you make sure you keep on Zelos’s good side, okay?” Shakti said. “He’s too reliable an ally to lose!”

He was also a high-level mage and a master of all sorts of crafting skills.

His title of Great Sage wasn’t just for show. His abilities made him more than deserving of it.

“The guy’s seriously just invincible...” Ado murmured.

“Anyway,” Zelos said, “enough of that. Shouldn’t we start getting dinner ready? Collecting firewood’ll be much harder if we leave it until dark.”

“I suppose. Are you sure bandits won’t be a problem, though?” Shakti asked.

“According to my familiar, there are no other humans nearby,” Zelos replied. “It did spot a six-legged bear, though.”

“Wait—a hexabear?!” Ado shouted.

“I don’t know if I could deal with one of those at my level,” Lisa said. “Even if I did beat it, I definitely couldn’t butcher it...”

“I’d hate to get attacked by one of those things,” Ado said. “Guess we just pray they stay away...”

“For now, let’s just get started on dinner,” Zelos said, completely unconcerned. He then took some outdoor cookware and charcoal from his inventory.

The other three weren’t sure whether Zelos was super adaptable or simply prepared for any situation; whatever the case, they were impressed by how reliable he seemed right now.

At that moment, the coccos—who’d rushed off into the mountains earlier to hunt some game for dinner—returned with a massive haul. And about an hour later...

“This wyvern prosciutto’s delicious, isn’t it?” Shakti said. “It’s just too bad about the bread. It never seems to make me feel full...”

Lisa nodded. “You really miss your rice, don’t you, Shakti? I understand...”

“Yeah,” Ado said, “I’d kill for a donburi right about— Wait. Huh?!”

As they took a closer look, they saw Zelos and the coccos eating donburi.

Zelos was shoveling his meal into his mouth with chopsticks, while the coccos were pecking away at theirs with beaks moving as fast as jackhammers.

These chooks had some epicurean tastes.

Coccos were omnivorous, though, so perhaps the trio shouldn’t have been surprised.

“W-Wai— Zelos?! There’s rice in this world?!” Ado exclaimed.

“No way! I need some! Nice, piping hot, white rice...” Lisa said.

“So you already managed to find rice in the short time we’ve been here, hmm?” Shakti said. “I should’ve expected as much from one of the top players. You really are a force to behold, aren’t you?”

“Oh? You want some of what I’m having? Mine’s a tempura don, for what it’s worth.”

“A tempura don?!” the three of them shouted. “Seriously?!”

Culturally, this world resembled medieval Europe. Bread was the staple food here, and it was the firmer European type, not the sort of soft, fluffy Japanese bread that Ado and the others were used to eating.

While rice wasn’t part of the diet here, there were dishes like oatmeal. As nutritious as it might have been, though, oatmeal didn’t taste amazing. Nor did it leave Ado’s party—who’d grown up eating their fill—feeling satiated.

“Anyway,” Zelos said. “Sure. I don’t mind making you some.”

Zelos finished his meal a little quicker than he’d planned and started frying up more tempura in a little pot.

The sound and smell of sizzling, crackling oil whetted the trio’s appetites.

There was plenty of cooked rice left over in a large camping pot—Zelos must have been planning to really pig out tonight—so he could make tempura don for all three of them.

He topped each bowl of hot rice with tempura and a sweet sauce, and just like that, three large tempura don, Great Sage style, were ready.

Zelos placed a bowl in front of each of them. “Your second course.”

They were lost for words. “O-Ooh... Oooooohhh...”

It was their first time even seeing Japanese food in a long while.

Zelos had fried up prawn tempura, as well as whole crustaceans that looked like large crabs. The tempura, piled on top of the bowl, made their stomachs growl.

“I-It’s a tempura don... An actual, proper tempura don...” Ado murmured.

“It looks so good...” Lisa said.

“Th-Thanks for the meal,” Shakti said.

They used improvised chopsticks to pick up rice and tempura. Then, with trembling hands, they brought the food to their mouths.

The sweetness of the rice and sauce danced across their taste buds and harmonized with the delicious, rich flavor of the tempura. It stirred something deep within the trio, instantly evoking a sense of nostalgia.

“Ish sho gooooood!” they said together.

It was the first tempura don any of them had had in a long time, and it tasted like heaven.

Tears of joy streamed down their cheeks as they shoveled food into their mouths. They’d all been longing for the taste of home, and now that they finally had it, they were entranced.

“The prawn tempura’s so sweet! This is amazing!” Lisa exclaimed.

“When was the last time I actually ate until I felt stuffed?” Ado said. “I’m so glad I’m alive!”

“How’d you even manage to find soft-shell crabs here?” Shakti asked. “I guess they could’ve been in your inventory, but wouldn’t they have gone bad in there?”

“What? Crabs?” Zelos shot back, puzzled, as he helped himself to another serve of tempura don.

Immediately, Shakti stopped moving her chopsticks. She was getting a bad feeling about this. Her intuition was as sharp as ever.

“Zelos?” she asked. “Do you mean these aren’t crabs?”

“I mean,” he said, “I’d call them...crab-adjacent. Whatever. Don’t worry about it. Just eat up! You know, lass, not thinking too hard about what goes into a donburi is what makes it so tasty.”

“Don’t just brush me off with some stubborn old chef’s proverbs! What is this ‘crab’?! Tell me! In fact, prawn tempura aren’t meant to have tails that look like this, are they?”

“Don’t worry. I prepared it all perfectly. I wouldn’t be serving it to guests otherwise.”

“Yeah? Then how about you try looking your ‘guest’ in the eyes while you say that?! Just tell me what ingredients you used already!”

Zelos wasn’t even trying to make eye contact.

His reaction made Ado and Lisa put their chopsticks down too.

“It tastes good, right? So what’s it matter?” Zelos asked.

“Why are you so hesitant to tell me what’s in this?!” Shakti cried. “If there’s nothing wrong with it, surely you could just tell us, right?!”

Zelos sighed. “You see... There are all sorts of things in this world you’re better off never knowing. Things you can’t go back to not knowing. The truth’s not always sunshine and roses, you know? Now—do you still want me to tell you?”

“W-Wait!” Ado yelled. “The way you’re phrasing this is basically an admission that you’ve put something crazy in here, isn’t it?! What the hell have you made us eat?!”

“Ah. Whoops. Slip of the tongue. Don’t worry about it.”

“We are worried about it!” the three shouted.

Zelos stubbornly ignored the trio’s suspicious glares—even though he’d practically confirmed that he’d used some questionable ingredients—and returned to eating his mysterious donburi alongside the coccos.

But the others weren’t about to let it slide.

“Look—quit beating around the bush and spit it out!” Ado said. “What. Did. You. Feed. Us?!”

“Really, it’s fine,” Zelos replied. “It’s not poisonous. Is it honestly worth getting this worked up about?”

“If it’s ‘fine,’ then I don’t understand why you can’t just say what you used!” Shakti yelled.

“Because I don’t want you chucking it all back up and wasting the food. The lives that went into making this dish would spin in their graves, don’t you think? It’s a dog-eat-dog world, you know?”

“So...” Shakti paused. “The ingredients are so insane that you think we’d vomit if we found out what they are?”

“Look... Are you sure you want to know? Like, really sure? Because... Heh. Heh heh heh...”

With his hair covering his eyes, Zelos started giving off a disconcerting vibe.

The others were curious about what exactly he’d fed them, but at the same time, they could feel the danger. They knew that once they found out, there’d be no going back.

They were being forced to make the ultimate choice. If they found out, they would regret it. But if they didn’t, the uncertainty would keep gnawing at them.

In other words, it was just a matter of what kind of mental burden they preferred. There would be no happy ending, and their unfortunate fates had been sealed the moment they’d swallowed their first mouthful of donburi. Their joy from eating it had long since disappeared. Perhaps they could’ve stayed happy if they’d never noticed...but it was too late for that now.

It’d become a real catch-22.

“I’ll ask again,” Zelos said. “Do you want me to tell you, or not?”

Zelos’s aura had only grown stronger and more oppressive. He looked like a commander about to send his squad on a suicide mission.

The trio could tell this was going to end in tragedy.

But all the same, their burning desire to know the truth won out by a hair.

“P-Please... Tell us,” Ado said. “What did you use to make that tempura?”

This was what they’d decided, knowing full well they’d regret it.

“Hmph... Very well. Then allow me to enlighten you! But know that you are certain to regret your decision. The truth is a cruel mistress, and your urge to open Pandora’s box shall bring you great misfortune. Remember—you are the ones who insisted on hearing the truth! May you regret this foolish moment forevermore!”

Zelos suddenly sounded like one of those unfortunate bosses who turns out to be a pawn of some shadowy organization.

He folded his arms across his chest—just like a certain commander—and gave a deep sigh.

Was he expressing repentance for what he’d done? Or was it pity for the trio, who were certain to regret their decision in mere moments? It was hard to tell. But either way, the die had been cast.

Zelos had no choice but to tell them the truth.

“Let’s start with the mixed tempura,” he said. “I used poisonbane burdock, instakill carrot, death onion, and afterlife yam. All of which are poisonous.”

“S-Surely those aren’t meant to be used as cooking ingredients!” Ado exclaimed.

“Relax,” Zelos said. “I nullified the poison with a cure potion. Anyway, moving on—the ‘prawn’ tempura was made from three-day centipedes. They’re named for the fact that their poison slowly kills you over three days, leaving you writhing in agony as your body rots from the inside out.”

“A... A centipede?” Lisa stammered. “I— I ate— I ate a centipede?! Aaaaaah...” With that, she suddenly fainted.

“Lisa?!”

It really was a bizarre ingredient.

“As for the ‘soft-shell crab,’” Zelos continued, “I used lesser murder tarantulas. Fun fact about those, actually—while they’re shaped like crabs and called tarantulas, they’re actually more closely related to ticks, scientifically speaking. They swarm their prey and use venom to liquefy their victim’s flesh before eating it.”

“So those really weren’t crabs?!” Shakti asked, incredulous. “I know you said they were ‘crab-adjacent,’ but I didn’t think they’d be, well... And—ticks?! They’re just called tarantulas?!”

“Don’t worry. The poison’s completely nullified. My prep work was flawless.”

“So that’s what you meant when you said you ‘prepared it all perfectly’?!” Ado cried. “What the hell did you just make us eat, Zelos?!”

“I did ask whether you really wanted to know, didn’t I? Quite a few times, in fact.”

Zelos was right when he said he hadn’t made any mistakes with the prep.

And while he had been eating a tempura don in front of them, they’d asked to try some too.

They probably should’ve asked him what was in it first.

Besides, they were at a rest stop nestled in the mountains. Where would crabs or prawns even have come from? Under these circumstances, the responsibility fell on the trio for eating without any suspicion.

More to the point, Ado had known that Zelos ate some strange things while trying to survive in the Far-Flung Green Depths.

Apparently, that had built his tolerance for eating that sort of stuff.

“In this world,” Zelos said, “being weak gets you eaten, and being strong means you get to eat. And here we are, strong, alive, and eating tasty food—shouldn’t we all be happy about that?”

“Urgh, the guy’s got nerves of steel...” Ado sighed. “Dammit. We never should’ve asked.”

“You’re right,” Shakti said. “We would’ve been better off not knowing. But at the same time...it is delicious. And while it still feels wrong to eat it, that feeling isn’t so strong that I can’t eat it.”

“Wait— Shakti? You’re gonna eat more?!”

“I mean, we ate worms without knowing it back in Isalas, didn’t we? After going through that, the idea of foods being too weird to eat isn’t as convincing. Wouldn’t we be happier if we just ate without worrying too much? It’s better than eating grubs, at least.”

“Damn...”

“Worms are a precious source of protein,” Zelos chimed in, “but it’s a pain getting all the dirt out of them first, isn’t it?”

“You’ve eaten worms?!” Ado said.

Zelos was one thing, but apparently Shakti had nerves of steel too.

At the end of the day, only Ado and Lisa were delicate about these things.

Zelos’s willingness to eat bugs to survive was respectable, but Ado and Lisa were too stuck in their modern-day Japanese ways to come aboard.

Even if they knew this was a fundamental difference about living in a new world, they couldn’t get used to it. Ultimately, Ado stressed over it until he fell asleep later that night.

He’d heard people say before that living was a battle, but this was the first time he’d really understood what they meant.

Namely, people here had to be willing to eat whatever it took to survive. It was a reminder that he’d have to abandon the ideals he’d grown up with in Japan if he wanted to survive in this harsh world.

He and Lisa would have to make a decision: live strong and resolute like the locals, or stick to the Japanese mindset they’d been raised on? They couldn’t have it both ways.

* * *

To get to the village of Hasam, the party would have to cross the Aurus River.

Very few merchants used the highways in remote regions like this one, so Zelos had made most of the trip on his Harley-Sanders—and Ado, Shakti, and Lisa in their kei car—without worrying about being spotted. But now that they were approaching a trade hub and pedestrian traffic was increasing, they’d have to travel the rest of the way on foot.

After all they’d done, they understood it was maybe too late to start worrying about standing out—but they still wanted to do anything they could to keep a low profile.

Zelos effectively had the backing of a ducal house, so he didn’t have to worry about open oppression by authority.

Ado, however, was affiliated with a foreign country, albeit only temporarily. The more he stood out, the more likely it was that he’d get his movement restricted. Not to mention his fiancée was here in this country, and he didn’t even want to think about what could happen if she were taken hostage.

Not all people in power were as clever as Duke Delthasis.

Some would pull stupid stunts without a second thought.

And considering that possibility, Zelos had decided to take some preventive measures, just in case.

Things don’t always go how you want, do they? Trying to ensure our freedom could just draw in more stupid bigwigs.

Perhaps that sounded a bit rich coming from Zelos, who could whiz around wherever he wanted in his groundbreaking form of transport, but he did have a justification for keeping it under wraps. After all, he was trying to prevent a rapid technological advance.

As long as he was affiliated with the Solistia ducal family, he had to be careful about how much technology he showed off.

If this world’s technology developed too quickly, it could lead to war. For example, if Zelos’s Harley-Sanders Model 13 were repurposed for battle, there would be obvious reconnaissance utility.

Replicating it wouldn’t be practical, of course. The cost of all the metals and other materials would seriously strain Solistia’s finances. The design required materials that only came from dragons, after all. Maybe the country could figure out how to make a rudimentary version of a motorbike in the end, but in terms of durability, versatility, and so on, it would pale in comparison to Zelos’s Harley-Sanders.

Still, showing off something that far past society’s current technology would only cause unnecessary chaos.

If he took things step by step, and helped jump-start research into the basics of steam engines or something, he could maybe introduce the motorbike. But then that approach would run into the problem of environmental issues. After all, vehicles suddenly exploding in popularity seemed almost guaranteed to cause issues with pollution.

Earth’s history exemplified how far humanity could progress, but it also showed all the issues that could follow.

Yeah. Suddenly whipping out advanced tech would cause nothing but trouble, huh... Plus, I assume inciting that kind of rapid economic and industrial growth would just give nobles even more influence than they already have. And I doubt the average noble would give one damn about pollution.

Civilization would advance sooner or later.

Left to its own devices, this world’s economy would probably advance in a major way, driven by magic—effectively a clean technology. But the people of this world had no experience with industrial technology and its harmful effects. They wouldn’t comprehend the significance of contaminating seas and rivers.

They’d have no way of knowing how toxic certain chemicals or tiny particles of metal were to the human body until those things were already a problem. Worse, it was possible the average noble would quietly approve of endeavors that caused suffering for the common masses. And even if nobles did try to take measures against such consequences, their lack of background knowledge made it hard to say whether they’d even manage to find out the causes, let alone prevent them.

Further, it was a given that most technology would be used to strengthen countries’ militaries. And a stronger military would whet nobles’ appetites for conquest, driving them to start wars to expand their territories.

Technology could also enable more affluent lifestyles, which would risk making nobles even more arrogant than they already were. Now even more focused on their shortsighted endeavors, those nobles would close their eyes to the harms of pollution and focus instead on finding new, uncontaminated land to spoil.

Long story short, a lot of bad things could happen, and Zelos and Ado had the power to cause all of them. If they wanted to live free, they needed to make friends in high places. Having influential backers would make a big difference to their standing.

I guess it’s more important for them to learn other stuff before focusing on technological development, then... Wait. Why am I thinking about all of this, anyway?

Magic-based technologies were typically developed by continuously combining and testing theories. Over time, enough hypotheses were proven to form a consensus.

Studying pharmaceuticals could lead to advancements in medical knowledge, hygiene, and biology. Even something as simple as a cog could lead to mechanical engineering, electronics, and more.

But Zelos’s and Ado’s cheat skills could bypass all that and send the world skyrocketing straight to the top rungs of the technological ladder. They had the potential to make things that were incredibly dangerous—things that could affect a great many lives. That was the problem.

What if I got Ado to enter into a business relationship with Duke Delthasis too? I can’t bring myself to trust other nobles—and besides, it should be fine if they’re just focused on what’s mutually beneficial. Yeah. And if they ever need, they can form a contract, like I did with the spell scrolls.

Duke Delthasis was a wise man.

If he could maintain a mutually beneficial relationship, he would. He wouldn’t come to a business partner with an unreasonable request unless the situation were truly extreme.

Plus, nobody—or at least, next to nobody—wanted to make an enemy of the Solistia ducal house.

The duke was just about the most trustworthy business partner anyone could ask for.

His mind still mulling over all this, Zelos joined the others on foot and headed toward a little port town, where they intended to get a boat to cross the Aurus River.

“Urgh. I hadn’t realized we’d have to walk once we got close,” Ado grumbled. “I mean, I get there’s a lot of people around a trading town like this, so the kei car would stick out like a sore thumb. I don’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention, but still...it’s a drag.”

“Your car and my bike are clearly from a whole other technological era,” Zelos said. “Showing off forms of transport more efficient than carriages could revolutionize war and industry as this world knows them. If any nobles saw you traveling in that thing, they’d drag you away for sure. You can’t go around showing off tech like that willy-nilly.”

The port town was still a fair while away, but Zelos used a familiar to scout from above and determined that they’d probably arrive in about three hours.

Despite walking for about an hour, neither Lisa nor Shakti had said a word. They were probably both exhausted. After all, they were both at a much lower level than Zelos and Ado.

And with such a huge gap between all of their stats, it was only natural that some got exhausted far more quickly than others.

“Shakti and Lisa both look pretty spent, huh?” Ado said.

“I can see why,” Zelos said. “Sure, the road’s paved, but it’s far from even.”

This was nothing like a perfectly flat, asphalt road; it had a rough, bumpy cobblestone surface that made it hard to walk on.

Plus, the surrounding scenery was nothing but forest. It got boring after a while.

“They didn’t say a single word even when we were resting, now that I think about it...” Ado mused.

“Mmm... It reminds me of those overnight study camps back in elementary school. You know, where all the kids had to walk up a mountain. They’d always be pooped by the time they got halfway up. Their willpower’s keeping them going, but their spirits have given up on thinking. Something like that, at least.”

“Overnight study camps? What are those? Are they different from regular field trips and other excursions like that?”

“Not that different. We’d stay at a lodge surrounded by nature, walk around a lake like we were on a field trip... I think we even did some fishing and stuff. Then there were the night events, where we’d build campfires and stuff. What, did your elementary school not do those?”

“I, uh... I always seemed to get sick right before those kinds of trips. As far as I can remember, I only ever got to go on one field trip. It was in my third year of middle school. It ended in tragedy before I even started going up the mountain too.”

“That doesn’t even sound like you got stranded in nature. It just sounds like a typical kid, getting lost.”

Ado wasn’t just bad with directions—he also had terrible luck, apparently.

He’d even missed photo day, so his graduation album had added his photo afterward, roughly editing it in next to the rest of his class.

The memory was so sad that tears started welling in his eyes.

“E-Er, sorry... Let’s change the topic, shall we?” Zelos said. “How much have you looked into this world?”

“Huh? Uh, let me think... So the general setting is the same as in Swords & Sorceries, but the little things are all different, yeah? Take levels, for example. Players could pass Level 1,000 if we went about it the right way, but in this world, Level 500’s the limit. I think I’ve heard that even Level 300’s considered pretty impressive?”

“That’s right. And that means us reincarnators and our levels are abnormal here. Remember, we went up against those three and came out thinking we could’ve won easily enough if the fight had continued. It shows we’ve got to be pretty beyond the pale.”

“Yeah, we’re more than a match for the Four Gods in a fight... Does that mean we’re, like, outside the framework of this whole world?”

“You could probably call us contaminants. Foreign substances. If this world had a bunch of mages and soldiers the same level as us, it’d get destroyed. I mean, even calling ourselves living weapons would be an understatement, right? The thing is, though, we’re not the only ones that can go past Level 500. Monsters living in certain environments can, for one. And what do you think that might mean?”

“You’re talking about the Far-Flung Green Depths... What, do you think the laws of nature in this world are just broken? Yeah... Unlike humans and animals, monsters have magic stones in their bodies, and they sure seem to deviate from the natural order of things. Or...are they only just starting to deviate?”

“Mm-hmm—that does seem to be the likely conclusion, doesn’t it? The reufayl are said to be the God of Creation’s disciples, so let’s put them aside for a moment. No other races and species seem to be able to go past that level cap. Monsters, though? They can. And they can evolve too.”

“Yeah, evolution’s usually meant to be slow. A species adapts to its environment over many generations. But one thing suddenly transforming into another is just weird, isn’t it?”

Sentient life, humans included, could only raise their levels so high.

Unlike the other humanoid races, the reufayl—who’d once been considered the chosen ones of the God of Creation—could surpass Level 1,000, but even then, you could count those who had exceeded it on one hand.

Either way, the other races were stuck at Level 500, and although levels weren’t an explicit concept here, they worked almost identically to how they did in Swords & Sorceries.

Monsters were hardly disciples of the gods; instead, they were more akin to wild animals. But, strangely, their levels weren’t limited to 500. Depending on their environments and their evolutions, they could go beyond that “cap.”

If monsters were regular life-forms, then it should have been impossible for them to exceed that value in this world.

So it was natural to assume that this phenomenon had something to do with the laws of nature breaking down.

“I’m starting to feel like monsters are special somehow. Is this another thing that’s happening because the Four Gods don’t bother actually managing the world?” Ado said.

“Who knows?” Zelos shrugged. “Maybe it’s because all the hero summonings have connected this world to others so many times? Remember that those were happening once every thirty years, which means this world was breaking through dimensional space pretty frequently, in macro terms. There are probably a bunch of other worlds out there, like Earth, that don’t have any mana. And there could be worlds governed by natural laws we can’t even comprehend. Even if it was only for a few moments every time, coming into contact with worlds like that must have thrown this world’s systems into disarray. It’d be weird if that didn’t happen.”

“Right...”

It was still too early for Zelos to tell Ado that the lingering souls of the heroes were destroying this world.

After all, if Ado probed into where Zelos had gotten that info from, Zelos would inevitably have to tell him about the Dark God.

And while the Dark God hadn’t finished reviving inside a culture tank in Zelos’s basement, Zelos had to keep it absolutely secret, even from Ado. To that end, he’d mixed in some falsehoods to throw Ado off the scent.

While he’d thrown ideas together without much thought, he wasn’t lying when he’d said the world’s laws of nature were collapsing.

He’d just left out some important details, that was all.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get to finish them off back there, huh?” Ado said.

“I mean, it would’ve been a three-way fight between three of the Four Gods, a cockroach tokusatsu hero, and us. The damage would’ve been even more catastrophic than it already was.”

“I guess, but... I just wish we’d been able to get rid of at least one of them.”

“One of them disappeared at one point, didn’t she? Maybe they aren’t that close to each other. Anyway, we got more proof of how annoying they are, so I guess we should be content with that.”

They’d verified that the Four Gods—or at least the three who’d come to fight—were exceptionally selfish.

Even if he’d already been confident that was the case, seeing the three goddesses talk and act in person—seeing them make spur-of-the-moment decisions with minimal thought—had made Zelos sure now that the three of them were far too immature to be deserving of the title “gods.”

Their attitudes had given him flashbacks to his older sister Remi, or Sharanla, as she was called now. It had made Zelos even more confident categorizing them as something he had to exterminate.

He was prepared to blow them up without a moment’s thought the next time they met.

“They really did act like faeries, didn’t they?” he said.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Ado nodded. “Makes sense now why the Faith of the Four Gods protects those little shits.”

“Are you with me in thinking the Four Gods were based on faeries, Ado?”

“Not a doubt in my mind.”

Faeries were semicorporeal life-forms. If you were being generous, you could say they had a child’s innocence and simplemindedness—but, more accurately, they were hedonistic, egotistical, selfish, and full of unrestrained malice.

The “pranks” that faeries pulled weren’t petty like children’s. They’d come out of nowhere and slaughter humans and livestock for fun, dissect people and other creatures alive, and so on. They weren’t your average life-forms, and they were incredibly dangerous.

It had never been entirely clear why the Faith of the Four Gods extended its protection to such dangerous entities. But if the Four Gods themselves were closely related to faeries—if they were modeled on faeries—then that mystery solved itself.

“Actually, the village sheltering Yui had been beset by faerie attacks when I visited,” Zelos said. “I eradicated the whole faerie settlement. With Gluttonous Void.”

“Oh, yeah—there were rumors about that even in Isalas, y’know? People saying that Solistia might be testing some wide-area annihilation spell...”

“The moment I set foot in town, a faerie tried to drop an anvil on my head. Oh, and there was a little kid who’d been mutilated and left on death’s door. I don’t think I can really be blamed for crushing the little pricks in response, can I?”

“Wh-What about Yui?! Was Yui okay?!”

“She was fine. You know, apparently faeries don’t attack priests. And they can tell who’s a priest based on the robes, from the sounds of it.”

“I’m so glad I had her make a priest... Nice one, me!”

Before they’d all ended up in this world, Ado had recommended Swords & Sorceries to Yui, who hadn’t been able to go out much because of her pregnancy.

When she was sitting in the character creation menu, unable to decide on a class, Ado had recommended she make a priest, which would provide good support for his more combat-oriented character.

Her robes weren’t exactly the same as those worn by priests of the Faith of the Four Gods, but faeries weren’t intelligent enough to tell. As a result, Yui was much less likely to be the victim of faerie attacks.

After a moment of thought, Ado paled. “W-Wait. What if... What if she’d gone with something other than a priest?”

“Well, we’re talking about sadistic little gore and murder fiends. Do you really think they’d have left a pregnant woman alone?”

“Shit... They’re that bad?”

“That bad, and worse. Before I got to the faerie settlement, I scouted with a familiar, and the whole place was just full of corpses. It was like a cabal of serial killers had been doing their thing there for decades. I even saw one guy—a bandit, if I had to guess—getting dissected alive.”

“Zelos... Thank you so much for getting rid of those things! I owe you! Seriously, I don’t even have the words...”

Ado’s mind had gone straight to the possibility that the victim could’ve been Yui rather than a bandit. He felt like he’d never be able to thank Zelos enough.

“The faeries here are somehow worse than the ones in Swords & Sorceries,” Zelos said. “If you ever come across any, exterminate them without a moment’s hesitation. Don’t leave a single one alive.”

“Sure sounds like it, yeah. And sure—if I find any, I’ll do that. Still... I know they’re pretty awful, but it seems like you really have it out for them, huh?”

“They remind me of someone I had to deal with back on Earth, and that pisses me off. Anyway, yeah, thanks. If you stumble on a big faerie settlement, I’d appreciate you dealing with it.”

The pair exchanged a firm handshake.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Shakti continued to plod along behind them with empty expressions.

After walking like this for a while longer, the quartet arrived at a small port town that would allow them to cross the Aurus River.

It was nearly time for Ado to reunite with his fiancée, Yui.

* * *

A woman in priest robes ran through the forest.

This was a woman who never took the blame for anything. Her name was Remi Osako, but here she was known as Sharanla.

She’d tried desperately to stay hidden while three bizarre chickens had attacked the other Inquisitors. She’d fought one of those things before, but this time, there were three, so she knew for a fact that she wouldn’t have come out on top. In fact, even the idea of fighting them all had terrified her. It would’ve been a death sentence.

Outside of preparing poisons, Sharanla had been a scrub of a player. She hadn’t put the effort into things like leveling up, and since she’d avoided fighting whenever possible, her combat skills were incredibly weak.

She’d spent her time in Swords & Sorceries using poison to kill other players, then swiping their gear. She’d been an assassin specializing in theft.

Earlier, she’d spotted her younger brother while she was hiding.

But he’d been surrounded by those accursed chickens, as well as three people who seemed to be his allies. She’d had to be careful.

Even without the supporting cast, her brother was a Destroyer. She’d have stood no chance of winning anyway.

If she were smart, she would’ve given up. However...

Knowing him, I bet he’s already got a base set up somewhere. And he’s human, so even he’ll have to interact with people sooner or later. So my first step should be to find his base. But...

Sharanla didn’t know when to give up. And she was looking to play dirty as always.

She wasn’t a complete idiot by any means. In fact, when it came to manipulating people, she was a genius. She was familiar with how her brother operated too. In a sense, they understood one another better than just about any other brother and sister.

She planned to find where Zelos was operating out of and manipulate the people around him.

She wondered whether she might even be able to get them to steal an item from him that could nullify the side effect of the youth restoration potion she’d taken, but that’d be completely impossible if he stored it in his inventory.

Still, if she did nothing, she was going to die for sure.

Her life was on the line here.

“That aside—he has a motorbike?! How is that fair?! Who does he think he is, using something like that in a fantasy world?!”

She’d tailed Zelos and his companions as best she could, but a human couldn’t hope to keep up with a machine. Even after losing sight of them, she’d continued frantically running in the direction the bike had gone.

She was still at it, persistent as ever, when the forest finally gave way to a stretch of grasslands.

“This is all... This is all your fault, Satoshi!”

It looked like she was never going to abandon her grudge against her brother.

“Just you wait! I’ll sniff you out, and I’ll make you regret everyth—”

But she didn’t get to finish her threat. The moment she entered the grasslands, a herd of huge cows with enormous horns spotted her. They began flaring their nostrils and kicking at the ground.

“Wai—”

MOOOOOOOOOGH!

Sharanla had no choice but to run.

These cow monsters were called bighorns. They had extensive territories and moved together to seek out food. They were highly territorial too, and easily provoked.

And they were famous for stubbornly continuing to chase their targets.

They’d been common monsters in Swords & Sorceries, and for any reincarnator who’d played the game normally, they would’ve made for easy hunting.

But Sharanla was useless at fighting monsters.

Maybe she would’ve stood a chance against just one, but none of her skills allowed her to deal with a charging herd.

She’d always played as a gimmicky one-trick, and now she was paying the price.

Ultimately, the bighorns forced her into an epic game of tag that continued across the plains, wove between mountains, and only ended when they threw Sharanla into the Aurus River.

Chapter 9: The Old Guy’s Party Arrives in Hasam

After getting a ferry across the Aurus River, Zelos got back onto his Harley-Sanders and Ado, Shakti, and Lisa into their kei car to resume the trip to Hasam.

The way they were heading—toward the Far-Flung Highway—was the shortest route there, but it came with its own issues. In fact, the party was finishing off one of those issues now.

“Fireball.”

“GWAAAAAARGH!”

Most bandits didn’t try to size up their targets. They just saw a traveler, attacked, and expected the rest to work out.

Maybe it was recklessness, or perhaps overconfidence...but the distinction didn’t matter now. The criminals didn’t even realize their mistake until they were at death’s door.

With no fort or town nearby, simply incapacitating the bandits wasn’t really an option. In this kind of situation, most people would just finish the criminals off and either burn their bodies to ash or bury them in a hole.

Otherwise, the corpses could fester and cause an epidemic, or attract monsters looking for a meal.

“That should do it,” Ado said.

“If these guys had just gotten a proper job, they wouldn’t have had to die. Why do people even do this sort of thing?” Zelos sighed. “Not to mention the hassle they cause everyone else.”

“I’m pretty sure the only people who become bandits are the ones who can’t work a proper job,” Ado replied. “Isn’t that why they turn to crime? Because it’s all they know how to do?”

“Which came first—the chicken or the egg? Well, they’re a nuisance either way, I suppose.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

The dozen or so bandits who’d attacked were now black stains streaked across the ground.

The average bandit had never had any good prospects for their future. They were the second or third sons from farming villages, for example, or second sons from merchant families who stood no chance of inheriting the family business.

Farmers always had the option of cultivating new land, but some people avoided that kind of hard labor at all costs, and after long enough, they’d break bad.

They reaped what they sowed, really—not that the average bandit was conscientious enough to realize that. Instead, they’d just blame society and vent their anger on merchants and travelers.

Of course, the government had no problem with people injuring or killing these sorts of criminals in self-defense.

While bandits could be scary in numbers, they were basically amateur fighters without any special skills.

The real danger came when failed mercenaries joined a bandit group. Having a real combat veteran in its ranks made any gang much harder to subjugate. Just a single mercenary could be enough to get the bandits to fight as a cohesive unit.

There’d been one such failed mercenary among the bandits Zelos’s party had just defeated.

“Mercenaries stooping to banditry... What a sorry sight,” Zelos said. “If they’d done their jobs right, they could’ve made more money as mercenaries. Idiots.”

Ado gave him a look. “Uh... I know it’s weird to say when I just joined you in killing all those people, but you’ve really got no chill, do you?”

“Anyone who makes a living by killing others should expect someone to return the favor eventually, no?” Zelos said. “I feel like it’d be rude to hold back against them. In fact, purging them with all we’ve got is a token of respect.”

“What?! What do you even— Nobody wants to die! If they did, they wouldn’t have become bandits in the first place!”

“What they want doesn’t matter. You can’t afford sympathy when you’re dealing with people willing to kill innocents. Besides, if they were too incompetent to realize their would-be targets were going to massacre them, forget being bandits—they weren’t even cut out for being mercenaries.”

“You know, maybe you should’ve given them this lecture before you killed them.”

Most bandits were in it to make a quick buck. They’d start with theft, progress toward more serious crimes over time, and eventually become murderers.

If anything, their inexperience only made it more dangerous to show them any sympathy. You never knew what a small-time outlaw might do next.

Sure, experts were their own kind of trouble—but at least they were predictable. You could trust them to know what was best for them and avoid pulling anything stupid, but amateurs were brutally volatile.

“These types of criminals—no principles, no convictions, all spur-of-the-moment decisions—are such a pain,” Zelos said.

“I guess,” Ado said. “But aren’t the ones with convictions even more trouble? Since they’re fighting for something? Anyway...did you really need to kill every last one of those guys?”

“If word spreads that an entire gang was slaughtered down to the last man here, it’ll keep this region safe for a while. Sometimes, excessive force can save lives in the long run. Though of course, that’s not to say you should kill every single enemy you come across.”

Too many people fell victim to bandits along highways. Solo travelers in particular were prime targets.

And all crimes of this sort—from the sudden, impulsive attacks to the carefully planned ambushes—were real headaches for those in charge of public safety.

At least the attack on Zelos’s party had come as they’d just started to make camp, when they were beginning to prepare a meal. If the attack had come just after they’d finished eating, things would’ve turned out a lot worse.

Shakti was already cowering and looking nauseous, and Lisa had outright fainted. It was hard to blame them, though, given the carnage they’d just seen.

“You’re handling it better than I would’ve thought, Shakti,” Zelos said. “Meanwhile...” He glanced toward Lisa. “Her? Fainting in the middle of an ambush could get her killed.”

“We’ve been attacked by bandits before. More than once. And Lisa’s fainted every time. To her credit, though, I haven’t seen her faint during the attacks,” Shakti said.

“So she’s trying her best to defend herself, but her heart’s not doing what she tells it to—that kind of thing, eh?” Zelos said. “Anyway, you two need to stop being so soft on people trying to kill you. There won’t always be mercenaries or knights nearby to save you.”

“I know. Sometimes, we might have to kill in order to protect ourselves. I can imagine what might happen to the women that bandits take captive. The law only means so much in this world.”

Zelos wasn’t asking them to kill people without remorse, but if they hesitated when it was do-or-die, they’d be the ones going to an early grave.

If they were meticulous, they could maybe subdue their attackers, but a poorly thought-out decision to spare the bandits’ lives out of mercy and hand them over to authorities could see any bandits with lighter criminal records back out there a few years later, ready to commit the same crimes again.

Plus, if you were attacked somewhere remote, far away from a fort or town with mercenaries and knights, killing the perpetrators on the spot was much easier than dragging them to the nearest authorities.

Sometimes, ruthless slaughter was the best way to minimize casualties.

“Frankly, feeling guilty about killing makes you better people than I am,” Zelos said. “I don’t even hesitate against thugs like that.”

“So you’re just straight up admitting that you’re unhinged?” Ado said.

“Honestly—who knows?” Zelos shrugged. “Maybe all the scumbags I’ve been running into lately have sapped me of any reluctance to kill. At the end of the day, though, wouldn’t you say death is their just deserts for causing so much suffering?”

“Scumbags... Does this have to do with that awful person you knew back on Earth?” Shakti said. “I’m kind of curious about them now, but I’m also afraid to ask...”

“If I had to sum her up in one word,” Zelos said, “it’d be ‘parasite.’ She’s a vile, vile woman. Her very existence is toxic. Oh—and she ended up in this world too, by the way. She’s an assassin now. I intend to make sure she gets her last rites the next time we meet.”

Shakti had heard enough to get the gist of the situation. All in all, Zelos was a good person. His behavior could be problematic, but he wasn’t the type of man to turn to crime on a whim. Meanwhile, it sounded like this other person was a family member of his—a family member who’d caused Zelos no end of trouble.

Since this family member was apparently a woman, Shakti took “trouble” to mean that she seduced, deceived, and manipulated men. And if this woman had stooped to becoming an assassin upon arriving in this world, Shakti assumed she was willing to use any means necessary to achieve her goals.

In other words, she doesn’t care about anything except money, Shakti thought. And it sounds like she’s quick to sacrifice people to get what she wants. If she were married, she’d be the kind of wife to kill her husband to get his inheritance. Zelos seems to know her quite well, but I don’t get the vibe that she’s an ex, so I’d assume she’s his sister. Then from there...

It was just as you’d expect from someone who’d planned to go into law. After analyzing just one of Zelos’s offhand remarks, Shakti had gotten a near perfect impression of this person and her relationship to the Great Sage.

“I don’t suppose this person happens to be your older sister?” Shakti asked, unable to stop herself—and her curiosity gave her a peek into the darkness inside Zelos.

“You’re spot-on. And we’re related by blood too, which only makes it that much harder to tolerate her existence. She will show up again, sooner or later, and when she does... Heh heh heh.”

“R-Right...” Ado and Shakti said together, each trying to hide their fear.

A sliver of Zelos’s hatred manifested as an aura.

Ado and Shakti didn’t know all the details of Zelos’s relationship with his sister, but the fact that he found her very existence intolerable spoke volumes. It made sense he’d become murderous after finding out she’d ended up here. Plus, this world didn’t have modern forensic investigation techniques, so pulling off the perfect crime would be all too simple. If he put his mind to it, he’d be able to get rid of her without leaving a trace.

Plus, given that duels and revenge killings were more acceptable here, Zelos wouldn’t need to hold back in the slightest. He’d kill strangers in self-defense without batting an eye. Against someone he actively wanted dead, you’d better believe he wouldn’t hesitate to do the deed.

Perhaps this world was the perfect place for Zelos.

As for Sharanla... Nothing could be more terrifying than being targeted by perhaps the highest-level Great Sage in existence. Even if Ado and Shakti weren’t his targets, just thinking about how horrifying it’d be was enough to send a chill down their spines.

Zelos can be one terrifying guy, Ado thought.

If it were me, Shakti thought, I’d steer clear of him altogether. But he seems convinced his sister will show her face. Is this woman an idiot? Has she not learned already?

Shakti had hit the nail on the head.

Sharanla was an idiot who refused to learn her lesson.

“Hey, uh... How about we move on?” Ado suggested. “I don’t really wanna eat here after we turned all those people to ash.”

“Ah... Of course.” Zelos said. “In that case, we’ll draw some spring water first, then find another open spot to have lunch. This place smells like a crematorium now.”

“Talk about callous...” Ado said. “Guess you’re not wrong, though. They did get cremated.”

Cremated alive, even.

Having decided to relocate, the three of them started cleaning up.

* * *

Zelos and his party reached Hasam in the early evening, when the villages’ farmers had either finished their work for the day or started to clean up.

“So we’re finally here,” Ado sighed. “Who would’ve thought we’d get attacked by bandits three times?”

“It’s a new record,” Shakti said.

Lisa moaned. “I can’t forget the looks on their faces as they died...”

“Don’t bother remembering the faces of louts who rob and murder innocents,” Zelos said. “They would’ve been executed or enslaved sooner or later anyway.”

“Nothing fazes you, huh?” Ado said. “I’m kinda envious, honestly.”

Zelos had wiped out the bandits with a chillingly blank expression, but the others had been even more surprised by the bizarre strength of his coccos.

“Hey, Zelos...” Ado said. “Don’t you think something’s kinda off about those coccos of yours? They’re insanely powerful...”

“Well, they have been training,” Zelos replied. “I’m not surprised they wiped the floor with a bunch of two-bit thugs. Dying at the hands of such strong opponents should’ve been a worthy way to go for those guys, wouldn’t you say?”

“Uh... I reckon they’d feel bitter about getting killed by a flock of birds, if anything,” Ado said. “I just hope they don’t come back to haunt us.”

“If they do, we just purify them and bam, problem solved. I haven’t had many chances to try the light magic priests use, so I’d appreciate the chance for a good test run.”

“They’d never get to rest in peace at that rate. At least ask a priest to do it, dude!”

Apparently, Zelos intended to use the bandits’ spirits to farm experience with light magic. The way he saw it, they were already dead—but what a lousy end to existence that would be.

You couldn’t really blame him—what goes around comes around, after all—but it served to remind Ado, Lisa, and Shakti once again of how dangerous this world could be. And this time, it wasn’t the criminals that they were afraid of.

Sure, it was how things worked here, but it was still horrible. Sinners needed to be punished, but that was no proper way to die.

“Bo-ka?” (“All this fuss over a few dead lowlifes who didn’t know their place?”)

“Ca-caw, ca-caw.” (“If they didn’t want to die, they shouldn’t have committed such atrocities in the first place.”)

“Keh, bo-keh.” (“The world is short a few more fools. What of it? I see no reason to grieve.”)

“I mean, I get where you’re coming from, but...” Ado paused. “Wait. Huh? How did I know what they said?”

You too, eh, Ado? Yeah, good question...

Zelos had been just as bewildered when it happened to him. By now, though, he was completely used to it. Ado’s confusion reminded him of how he’d been not too long ago. It was oddly nostalgic.

“Well, then,” Zelos said, “follow along. The mayor’s house is this way.”

“I’m getting kinda nervous,” Ado said.

Wait. Aren’t we forgetting something? Something pretty important? Lisa and Shakti thought.

They followed Zelos, but a fog of anxiety hung over their hearts.

Paying no heed to their concern, Zelos guided them to the mayor’s residence, a house overlooking the village square. The only large building in Hasam, it doubled as an assembly hall where villagers could discuss crop rotations or the budget for the annual harvest festival. They used the plaza outside for meetings too, but having an indoor venue to discuss important matters was vital given the unpredictability of the weather.

“Now... I wonder if the mayor’s home?” Zelos wondered aloud, rapping on the door.

“Coming!” a voice rang out from inside.

A few moments later, the door slowly opened, and a kind-looking young man in his early twenties greeted Zelos.

“Oh? I was expecting the mayor,” Zelos said, not recognizing the fellow.

“Ah—my grandfather?” the man said. “His back’s acting up again, so he went off for treatment. Um...who might all of you be, if I may ask?”

“Oh. Of course,” Zelos replied. “I know Yui, the woman your grandfather’s been looking after. I found her husband, so I drag—ahem, escorted—him here.”

The man blinked, surprised. “Huh? Y-You found her husband?!”

“Mm-hmm. And what a surprise that reunion was, let me tell you. Anyway, I took him into custody and brought him along. Aha ha!”

“What am I?” Ado interjected. “Some kind of criminal?”

“Anyway,” Zelos continued, ignoring Ado’s glowering, “I’m a mage; the name’s Zelos. I’ve passed through once before.”

“Z-Zelos?!” the young man exclaimed. “My grandfather told me all about you! Thank you so much for saving our village!”

“No, no, no, it’s nothing. I’m curious, though. You weren’t here when it all went down, were you?”

“I wasn’t, no. I became an apothecary after graduating from the academy. I travel from village to village, peddling medicine.”

“Ooh, so you’re a mage, eh?”

The young man, apparently a graduate of the Istol Academy of Magic, told them his name was Uru and invited the party inside. They followed him into a room and saw Yui sitting on a chair, knitting woolen socks.

Her belly had gotten a lot larger since Zelos saw her last. She was probably due soon.

“Yui! Long time no see,” Zelos said.

“Zelos?! What brings you here? Oh! Did you—”

“Yup. I found Ado, so I brought him here. A-Ah—” As Yui tried to leap to her feet, Zelos tried his best to gently stop her. “Should you really be standing up so quickly? It can’t be good for you right now.”

He didn’t want her pushing herself when she was heavily pregnant.

“Yuika...” Ado muttered behind him.

“T-Toshi?!” Yui began, her face lighting up with joy.

Then her eyes shifted from Ado to Lisa and Shakti—and her arm snapped, whipping a projectile with startling speed. It hissed toward the trio standing in the doorway. Sensing danger, Ado jerked his head aside, and the projectile bit into the wall behind him with a heavy THUNK!

A kitchen knife.

“Hey, Toshi...” Yui said. “Who are they? Surely you haven’t been using my absence as an excuse to chea—”

“Y-You’ve got it all wrong! The three of us ended up in the same country when we got here! We’ve just been fighting together! We’re only friends!”

“Mmm... Friends who look awfully close, don’t you think?”

“Why won’t you believe me?! Do I really look that suspicious?!”

“You look like a boy, but...it’s not impossible. And on the off chance you have been cheating on me...” Yui trailed off into a sinister laugh, the air around her darkening with murderous intent.

“We aren’t like that, okay?!” Lisa said.

“We really aren’t,” Shakti said. “I wouldn’t even be interested in a guy like him. He’s so bad with directions that we always end up having to go find him...”

“Oh, so now you’re insulting me too?” Yui shot back. “For getting engaged to a man who can’t navigate to save his life? Using Toshi to make a jab at me, hmm?”

“I-I wouldn’t dream of it...” the two of them stammered.

Yui saw any woman who got close to Ado as an enemy.

To be fair, Ado was a pretty attractive guy. Just going about town, he had his fair share of women flirting with him.

Yui saw those women as targets to destroy. Even if they weren’t in romantic relationships with him, she didn’t even want them in his proximity.

Her love was pretty intense.

Zelos glanced at the knife embedded in the wall. “Oh? Well, if it isn’t one of Ted’s cursed blades. This one was part of a set of seven, right? The Normie Eradicators, he called them. How’d you get your hands on those, Yui?”

“Ah—we actually knew Ted in real life,” Ado explained. “When we found out Yui was pregnant and started dating in Swords & Sorceries, the idiot gave us those as a present.”

“Didn’t those blades have a curse that adds lethal poison to any food you make with them?” Zelos asked. “Plus, an Ultimate Envy curse that makes you want to stab any couples you see nearby...”

“Yeah. My character got killed by Yui thanks to those things. He confessed to Yui last year, you know, and she rejected him. That bastard was trying to get back at me.”

“So that’s why you and Ted were always at each other’s throats. You guys crossed swords practically every time you met.”

Dead Ted, one of the Destroyers, had been Ado’s junior at school. After he’d confessed to Yui last summer, he’d gotten completely turned down and become a shut-in. He was actually good-looking in real life, plus he’d had amazing grades and had been great at every sport. Countless female students had confessed their feelings for him, but his unrequited love had set him on a course to becoming a hermit.

While Swords & Sorceries didn’t let you see players’ real-life identities, Ado had encountered Ted in-game once. He’d introduced him to Yui without knowing who he was, and Ted had recognized her from the way she talked.

Not long after, he’d learned Yui was pregnant.

Until about a year ago, Ted had gotten along pretty well with Ado, but he’d become openly hostile by the time they fought the Dark God. Zelos had always wondered why—and now he knew.

“I’d been worrying about him because I hadn’t seen him in real life for about a year, but...yeah. How was I supposed to know he’d turned into a recluse after Yui rejected him?” Ado said. “Not long after that, apparently, his mom heard about Yui’s pregnancy through some online gossip group for local housewives. Then he heard it from her and showed up at my part-time job to stare daggers at me...”

“So you’re saying that up until then, you had no clue that you knew Ted in real life?” Zelos asked.

“Yeah. I mean, who’d assume some guy they know in an MMO is actually their childhood friend?”

“Fair point, I guess. So, Yui—how’d you reject Ted? What’d you say to him?”

“Huh? Nothing too weird. Something like ‘Sorry. I only have eyes for Toshi. By the way, I want to tie the knot with him and earn everyone’s approval, but I’m not sure how to go about it. Do you have any suggestions?’”

“So you didn’t just reject a guy shooting his shot—you also asked him to help you get with someone else?!” Zelos and Ado cried.

Apparently, Yui had been scheming ways to lock Ado down even before Ted’s confession. It was a scary thought.

From Yui and Ado’s anecdotes, it seemed that Yui had realized she was pregnant before her high school graduation, so her decision to marry Ado must have come even earlier than that.

In other words, she’d had her eye on him from a young age—no, more like her crosshairs. Eventually, she’d shot her shot—and it had gone right through Ado’s heart. She was clearly head over heels for him.

The thought of Ted being forced to watch their love blossom from afar was kind of pitiful.

“He must’ve been pretty serious about you if getting rejected turned him into a shut-in. In a way, I feel bad for him too,” Ado said. “Sounds like you’re a real heartbreaker, huh, Yui?”

“I feel like your sympathy would only infuriate him, Ado,” Zelos said. “Yui, out of curiosity, is there anything else you said to him?”

Yui tilted her head. “Hmm... What was it again? ‘Every guy but Toshi is garbage. And it’s always satisfying to watch trash get incinerated, you know?’ Something like that, at least.”

“You compared him to garbage when you rejected him?!” Zelos and Ado exclaimed. “That’s gotta be rough on a guy his age...”

“What else was it?” Yui said, trying to remember. “Maybe... ‘Thanks for telling me, but your feelings are kind of a nuisance. I see you as a friend and have no interest in you beyond that. Sorry.’”

Zelos, Ado, Shakti, and Lisa all winced. “Harsh!”

Ted had been seen as boyfriend material, both by the girls in his class and those in other classes.

But the one he’d actually had his sights on, Yui, had shown no such interest in him. She was different from all the others.

Ado was about the only thing Yui had ever been assertive about. She hadn’t been interested in fashion or pop culture like most of the other girls, and as a result, she hadn’t really fit in with her classmates. It had been more of the same when it came to talking about guys.

The problem was that she was Ted’s type to a tee.

But Yui had only ever had eyes for Ado, so she saw any other guys as...well, as empty space, if you wanted to be polite—but she just called them garbage.

Maybe the way Yui had stood out from the rest of her class had made her seem mature and elegant to Ted. And although they had been in different classes, he’d always stuck his neck out, trying to help her get along with the other girls. That was probably when she’d started seeing him as a friend.

That had been in the fourth year of elementary school...and Ted had spent the whole time since, right up until his rejection, convinced that he was the one Yui had feelings for. Love could be blind.

Blessed with talent and good looks, he’d been positive that the only reason Yui never called out to him was that she was shy, or that she was worried about how the other girls might look at her. He’d been so lovestruck that he’d forgotten Yui had another childhood friend: Ado.

Perhaps he was just vain, or perhaps he was arrogant.

Eventually, though, Ted had learned that his crush had been one-sided the entire time—and worse, that his crush saw him as garbage, and worse again, she’d already been making plans to tie the knot with the other guy. All things considered, you could start to see why Ted might have struggled to recover.

The worst part of all was that Yui hadn’t even been trying to hurt him. She’d meant every word.

But her flippant rejection had been like a knife to his heart.

Yui had been Ted’s first love. He’d been genuinely head over heels, and...then she’d told him he wasn’t even on her radar. It had apparently been shocking enough to turn him into a traumatized recluse.

“Erm, Yui?” Zelos paused. “You might’ve been speaking from the heart, but...”

Ado nodded. “Yeah... If I heard someone I was crazy about say that stuff, I don’t think I could recover.”

“Listening to someone you don’t even like confess their feelings is such a hassle, though, don’t you think?” Yui said. “Speaking of which, I don’t even remember Ted’s real name—just that he was younger than Toshi and tagged along with him everywhere.”

Ted, you poor guy...

It seemed like she’d completely forgotten that Ted had been her own childhood friend at one point.

Clearly, she saw any guy who wasn’t Ado as an extra.

The problem wasn’t just that Ted had seen their relationship as something more than it had been—it was also that his feelings had been completely unreciprocated.

Yui had only ever been interested in Ado, shutting out every other guy from her mind. And Ted hadn’t just failed to get into a relationship with her; he’d completely self-destructed.

Sure, Yui could’ve turned him down more gently, but she hadn’t broken the young man’s heart out of malice. She’d meant every word, but that’d also made it clear to Ted that he’d never had a chance to begin with.

You still had to feel for the guy, though.

And with the way Ado had gotten harassed in Swords & Sorceries in the aftermath, you had to feel for him too.

“Um... Yui? Don’t you think you could’ve chosen your words a little more delicately?” Shakti said.

“Are you suggesting it was my fault?” Yui responded. “I just told him how I felt, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, maybe, but, uh...wouldn’t ‘Sorry, I’m into someone else’ have been enough?” Lisa said.

“You say that now, but do you know what he actually told me? ‘Your childhood friend will never fall for you. If you two are as close as you say you are, he probably sees you more like a little sister. Just give up on him.’ It made me so mad that I just couldn’t help but snap back...”

Ted’s own words had come back to bite him. Sure, Yui did have a childhood friend she never would’ve been lovers with, but it wasn’t Ado...

Ted... I know that’s a common thing, but you can’t expect it to apply to every childhood friend, Zelos and Ado thought. And it looks like it blew up in your face.

It sounded like Ted had handled things poorly too.

He’d probably spoken out of desperation, but from Yui’s perspective, he’d been sticking his neck into something that was none of his business. Her getting pissed by someone not even on her radar trying to lecture her made sense.

Her cruel honesty was understandable, then—even if it had ended badly.

“I wish the guy would stop dwelling on it. I mean, just get over it already, dude,” Ado sighed. “And why does he have to take it out on me? That’s not even fair, right?”

“Of course it’s not fair,” Zelos agreed. “He probably still has feelings for her, though. He’s not the type to throw in the towel easily, and I’d assume that includes Yui. So all he can do is get angry about it, I bet. And then he directs that anger toward you.”

“It’s so annoying. All I did was turn him down when he asked me out!” Yui said. “That should’ve been the end of it!”

“Oh, absolutely,” Zelos said. “But... Hmm. It’s hard to put my finger on, but something just doesn’t sit quite right with me.”

Neither side was completely in the wrong, and that made it feel so unsatisfying. When both parties shared fault, it was hard to root for either one of them.

Sure, there was nothing between Yui and Ted, and any potential had vanished the moment she turned him down.

At the same time, you could see things from Ted’s perspective. People’s hearts didn’t always listen to reason—and Ted putting off confessing for so long in the first place was human nature too.

Either way, Ted had ultimately become a recluse.

Uru suddenly entered the room carrying a teapot and some teacups on a tray. “Are you done?” he asked, beaming. “I’ve made some tea, if you’d like.”

“O-Oh. Thank you.”

Uru’s return had cleared the awkward fog hanging over the room, even if only temporarily.

The group sipped tea and caught up with one another.

* * *

“Hey, Toshi. Is Isalas really that impoverished?” Yui asked.

“Yeah. Their food situation’s pretty dire,” Ado replied. “They don’t have much diplomatic influence either, so they were on the brink of becoming Metis’s puppet.”

“Isalas is lucky it’s so mountainous, if nothing else,” Shakti said. “Precious medicinal plants grow all over the place out there. We were able to gather enough to build a good stock of medicine for the sick.”

“It sure wasn’t easy collecting it, though, was it?” Lisa said. “Most of the plants were growing out of cliff faces. We could’ve died!”

While the mountainous nation was short on food, it wasn’t so bad that its people couldn’t survive.

The abundance of precious medicinal plants helped, for one. The problem was you had to have a pretty high level, not to mention the ability to take down monsters that appeared along the way, to harvest them without dying in this process. Still, nabbing even one could make you rich.

“We saw a fair few corpses lying around, didn’t we?” Ado said.

“People are probably just desperate to earn as much money as they can, but... Yeah. There are a lot of people who die out there because they’re not strong enough,” Shakti said. “Isalas basically gives you two options: starve to death, or throw yourself into danger. The nation being extorted into selling minerals dirt-cheap didn’t help anything.”

“Monsters kill a lot of the people trying to harvest those plants, yeah,” Lisa said. “Others who make it back alive are so badly injured that they can never work again. Even the monsters seem desperate there. Desperate enough to attack the livestock, at least...”

Isalas had a small population and was surrounded by mountains.

Most of the country’s income came from minerals, but it had been forced to sell those minerals for paltry sums until only recently.

People had to raise grazing livestock to survive, and even then, they’d get stuck living in towns and cities overrun with crime, which unemployment only exacerbated.

Law and order were lacking everywhere, but Isalas was particularly bad.

“Ah, yes... Rainbow lilies and icebloom grass can fetch a pretty penny, but they grow on cliff faces, don’t they?” Zelos said. “And I imagine the few places where they are easy to reach are always picked bare.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing,” Ado said. “You need a special container and tools to properly harvest the plants growing in remote areas, but clueless idiots hoping to get rich still sweep through, plucking everything they see. Then, when the herbs go to waste, there’s nothing left for the people who need them.”

“Remember that time I nearly fell into that huge gorge?” Shakti said. “If Ado hadn’t been there—”

“Hmm? If Ado hadn’t been there?” Yui repeated, giving her a large, strained smile.

“Then I wouldn’t be standing here today. You know that trope where a person’s losing their grip on a cliff, about to fall to their death, and someone grabs them at the last second? It was basically that. Surely it’s okay for him to have lent me a hand in that situation, right?”

“I suppose.”

“N-Nothing like what you’re imagining happened, okay, Yui?” Lisa said. “We were all just trying to survive, and sometimes we had to help each other out. That’s all it was.”

“Nothing ‘like what I’m imagining’? What is it you think I’m imagining?”

“Huh? U-Uh... Um...”

Lisa’s attempt to de-escalate the situation had only added fuel to the fire.

Despite Yui’s smile, her aura was anything but friendly.

“Such as, uh... Oh! One time,” Lisa said, “we were running away from some rocs and I tripped, and Ado picked me up and carried me...”

“W-Wait! Don’t—” Ado started, panicked.

You could almost hear Yui’s aura flare—FWOOM!—as if some malevolent god were about to manifest in the room with them.

Her smile couldn’t conceal her murderous intent.

“O-Oh! Yeah! Yui! I passed a hot spring town on my way here!” Ado said, clearly trying to change the subject. “How about we visit after you give birth? It can be our honeymoon!”

“Ah—would you be talking about Lysagr?” Zelos asked. “I actually dug that hot spring up myself by accident. With a washing machine.”

“With a washing machine?!” the other four repeated, baffled.

Well, that had succeeded in changing the topic.

After a moment, Yui hummed thoughtfully. “A honeymoon? Well, I don’t think I’d be able to until the baby’s about a year old, but...” She didn’t seem to hate the idea.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Ado and Zelos had executed quite an impressive alley-oop.

“So you were the one who made that hot spring, Zelos?” Shakti asked. “There were a lot of people there, you know. You must’ve really helped out the economy.”

“The water there’s effervescent, so it should be good for your health, right? Maybe that’s part of it,” Lisa said. “Oh, that reminds me—I was relaxing in the open-air bath there once, and Ado just walked in. He didn’t know it was women-only at that time of day! Jeez, what a surprise that was!”

“U-Uh— Lisa?!”

FWOOOOOMPH!

Yui’s deadly aura roared back to life, even more intense than before.

Zelos and Ado might’ve scored some points, but Lisa had just cost them the game.

The party could practically feel the malevolent god beginning to form within the young woman once more.

And this time, Yui’s jealousy was paired with Zelos’s unsightly envy.

“Ado? I think we need to have a little chat, just the two of us, hmm?” Zelos said.

“Zelos?! I do not need you turning to the dark side too right now!”

“Now, Ado... Surely I’m off base here, but just in case...” Zelos said. “You didn’t do it intentionally, did you? It wasn’t some elaborate plan to feign innocence, pretend you hadn’t seen the signs, walk into the bathing area, and use the ‘confusion’ to ogle the women’s bodies?”

“Hell no! I just wanted to get away from that pessimistic king and all his depressing problems! To relax in an outdoor bath and get my mind off things! You get that, right?!”

“So, what—it was just a coincidence that you happened to go in at the same time as Lisa and Shakti? Hmm? You lucky basta— Ahem. I mean, you must have considered yourself lucky, eh, mister rom-com protagonist?”

Lisa’s testimony had hit Zelos’s heart like a blast of nitroglycerin.

And it seemed to have done a number on Yui too. She was hanging her head, gazing at the floor, and laughing eerily.

“Why are you so damn jealous?!” Ado shouted.

“You see, Ado, just before I discovered that hot spring, I’d been kidnapped and forced to work at a construction site. I’d spent far too many days stuck swinging a pickaxe and digging a tunnel with a bunch of gruff, sweaty men. I actually struck that hot spring the very same day we finished the tunnel. And now I hear you, on the other hand, got some fan service scene in that very same spot?! Are you trying to make me mad? Because it’s working. I can feel the flames of wrath inside me. Heh heh heh...”

“Whatever you went through isn’t my fault, okay?!”

“Besides—even after what happened, they still forgave you at the end of the day, didn’t they? Usually, they’d look at you with disdain after that! But no! Don’t tell me—are you like him? Are you also planning to build a harem in this world?”

“A harem?! That’d get me a knife in my back! It’s the last thing I want! I’d be dead a dozen times over before I even hit the ground!”

“Admit it, though. Part of you did feel like you got pretty lucky there, didn’t you?”

“W-Well, I guess I— Oh. Oh, crap!”

Ado was a man too, and a little part of him, deep inside, had been happy to see Lisa and Shakti naked.

But honesty was not what he needed right now, and his hesitation had spelled his doom.

FWOOOOOOOOOMPH!!!

Yikes... Okay, now she’s super mad, the party thought.

They could practically see the wrathful she-demon forming in the air behind Yui. She looked so furious that it seemed like she could end the whole world at any moment.

“Toshi? All this time, I’ve been here worrying about you... But it’s starting to sound like you were out there having all sorts of fun without me, doesn’t it?”

“N-No way! Not at all! I’ve actually had it pretty tough, y’know?!”

“Say, Toshi, what would you have done if I’d never shown up in this world?”

“Honestly... I dunno. It’s impossible to predict how things would’ve turned out, right? I mean, it’s just a hypothetical, so...”

“Toshi? That was where you say, ‘I would’ve spent my whole life single.’ You could’ve lied about it, but you didn’t, which means... Okay. I get it. I’m not even that important to you, am I?”

Someone as possessive as Yui couldn’t possibly overlook the fact that Ado had perved on other women, even by accident.

Ado merely thinking about other women, even if only for a moment, was enough to give her strong suspicions that he was about to cheat on her.

She was a real yandere.

In those moments, all other thoughts left her mind, and her base impulses took the wheel.

“I’m sorry, little one. Mommy might not be able to give birth to you after all...”

“W-Wait! Yui! Calm down!”

“If someone else intends to take you from me, Toshi, then...then I have to kill you first, and then myself...”

“Ah! Young lass! Do I have just the thing for you!” Zelos interjected, sounding more like a snake oil salesman with every syllable. “Take a look at this—my patented Murder Dagger. Beautiful, isn’t she?”

“Oh? Ooh. That looks perfect.”

“Buy now, and I’ll even throw in this grindstone for free. Get it while supplies last!”

“But it can’t be cheap, right? I don’t think I can afford it...”

“You drive a hard bargain. You’re practically robbing me blind, lass! Right! Today only—I’ll give you a free trial! Give her a test-drive and let me know how she handles. Go, before I change my mind! Just take it, you thief!”

“H-Hey— Zelos?!” Ado sputtered. “What the fuck are you giving her?!”

Having fallen victim to his darker instincts, Zelos had just peddled a knife with an ominous name to Yui like some infomercial host.

“It’ll all be fine, Toshi,” Yui muttered. “We’ll be together in heaven. Two happy parents and their child...”

“How could I be happy? I’d be dead!”

“I’ll... I’ll see you in the afterlife. Look for me, okay?”

“Wait! Don’t do something you’ll regret! Calm do— WAAARGH!”

Ado bolted out the door, his terrified shriek echoing through the village of Hasam.

Despite her advanced pregnancy, Yui chased after him with the speed of one of Swords & Sorceries’ top players, and proceeded to demonstrate her “love” for him until she was satisfied.

Her romantic hunt continued until her mind was exhausted.

Mercifully, her berserk mode—fueled by sheer jealousy and possessiveness—couldn’t last forever, and Ado managed to get through it alive.

Uru, the mayor’s grandson, didn’t react while watching the scene play out. He just sat there quietly, sipping at his tea.

He only said a single word, as he softly set his teacup down: “Why?”

There was a dangerous glint in the young man’s eyes, but the others were all too distracted to notice.

Chapter 10: Ado’s Dangerous Relationship

Days started early in Hasam.

Before the sun was fully up and the birds began singing, the villagers were out of bed, tending to their livestock. They’d feed their livestock, then herd them into a pasture shared between cows, pigs, sheep, goats, and more.

As the animals made their way into the field, the sound of their cowbells would echo throughout the village as it bathed in the dim light of dawn. Every morning would start like that.

Next, the villagers would gather in the plaza in front of the mayor’s house, do some group exercises, and then head to their respective fields.

After doing some fieldwork, the villagers would prepare breakfast. Then, for the rest of the day, they’d take things pretty easy.

And that was an average day in the town of Hasam.

Zelos watched the village’s peaceful little routine play out through the window.

“Mmm... I wonder how my own farm’s going. Apparently, when I’m gone, the coccos tend to it in the morning, and the neighbor kids take care of it during the day. Can’t say I’ve ever seen them doing it myself, though...”

Zelos had casually inspired Santor to create a work program to teach skills to orphans and give them a way to earn some pocket change.

With a whole lot of money and not much to spend it on, he’d left some with Duke Delthasis, who could distribute it to anyone willing to help out on the farm. The scheme had proven popular with the orphans and the elderly, who couldn’t work their old jobs anymore.

People in this world often holed themselves up in their homes as they grew older, with few opportunities to get out. Meanwhile, bored, destitute orphans filled the streets of Santor, making them a hotbed of crime.

All sorts of problems like this plagued the city, and Zelos had merely taken the first step toward solving some. While he hadn’t seen it as a big deal, his idea had led to policies that were now doing a lot for people who otherwise couldn’t work.

Recently, more and more people had been traveling to big stores and farms to participate in the work program. In turn, public order in the city’s old town had improved considerably.

Pleased with these developments, the duke had decided to take the program up another level. He’d started by asking elderly participants to describe the jobs they’d done in their younger years so he could assign work suited to their skill sets.

These elders and their skills had been the cornerstone of the Duchy of Solistia in years gone by, and some of them were true artisans. It’d be a shame, the duke figured, to let such talent waste away in retirement.

Not every old person had been a master craftsman in their heyday, but the others could still boost the economy significantly by helping at farms managed by the ducal family. They’d even earn themselves a little extra money in the process.

There was one hitch, however: Most highly skilled artisans, whether young or old, lived in the duchy’s larger towns and cities. Very few stayed in remote villages, which meant that, unless the local nobles put in the work to support the program, farming villages like Hasam wouldn’t see the benefits anytime soon.

I can’t imagine they have enough experts to spare to send to Hasam. Not that that’s my problem, I suppose. Anyway...

Turning away from the window, Zelos saw Lisa and Shakti sprawled out on the floor of the large guest room they were in.

They’d collapsed from exhaustion last night and hadn’t moved since.

Not that you could blame them. They’d spent almost seven hours running around last night trying to stop Yui’s rampage. And up until Yui had collapsed, they’d been terrified they might be killed at any second.

It looked like a hurricane had run through the room. Everywhere Zelos looked, he saw torn-up books, shattered pots, and collapsed shelves—not to mention the knives embedded in the walls and floors.

Yui’s rampage had been so horrifying that even Zelos had thought, Ah, crap. This is bad news. I’ve gotta run. The memory alone was enough to make him shiver.

As he ran his eyes over the carnage, he realized Yui and Ado were absent.

Well, she was pretty damn jealous. I guess she might’ve dragged him off after everyone collapsed for the night? I know I fanned the flames, but at the end of the day, it’s a matter between husband and wife. I probably shouldn’t get involved any more than I already have.

There had been no stopping Yui’s rampage.

And a big reason for that had been the set of seven blades, the Normie Eradicators, that one of Zelos’s fellow Destroyers had crafted.

Troublingly, every one of the knives was enchanted with dangerous magic and a curse that polluted the user’s mind.

It wasn’t possible to simply uncurse the user—you had to do something about the knives themselves—and if the user had the full set of seven, the curse was twice as strong. They also nullified magic attacks, maximized their user’s physical capabilities, and inflicted the Mental Corruption and Mad Warrior status effects to boot.

It was such a diabolical set of weapons that it had turned Yui, a relatively low-level priest, into a foe none of the others had been able to handle.

Worst of all, their effect remained even when their user wasn’t actively holding them.

You sure have a vendetta against happy couples, don’t you, Ted?

Pretending he wasn’t just as bad, Zelos peered off into the sky and reminisced about his old comrade, who was probably still somewhere in Japan.

“Well, I think Ukei and the others should be awake by now,” he said to himself as he stepped outside.

It was time for what had become part of his daily routine: sparring with his coccos. It helped train them while also giving him some exercise.

He wanted to make sure he stayed healthy.

Before long, the sounds of battle rang outside the mayor’s house.

Hah! Hyah!

* * *

“Mm...”

Lisa slowly opened her eyes as the early morning sun filtered through the window.

The morning soundscape filled her ears: birds tweeting as they flew past the window and farmers greeting each other as they started the day.

She could also hear noises that sounded decidedly less peaceful—SCHWOOMPH! CLANG! THUD!—but half asleep as she was, she didn’t pay them any thought at first.

Rubbing her bleary eyes, she looked toward the window and saw—

“Hai-yah!”

“Bo-caw?!” (“Oh, no!”)

SCHWA-TING!

—Zankei, a black-feathered cocco with long, silver wings, soar past the window following the clang of a shrill, metallic impact.

Then, a little farther back, she saw Zelos and Ukei leap at one another and trade a flurry of kicks midair.

For a moment, Lisa thought she might still be dreaming. Why was such an intense battle unfolding right outside her window?

“H-Huh?! What?!”

Unable to stop herself, she rushed to the window for a better look. She watched as another pitch-black cocco—Senkei—split into several clones, all of which made a mad dash toward Zelos.

The cocco had used an assassin combat skill called Phantom Onslaught, which created clones of the user to launch a flurry of attacks.

But Zelos was prepared. He also split into clones and used them to protect himself from the bird’s attacks.

“Bok?!” (“What?!”)

“Not today, you don’t.”

Senkei had no idea when it had happened, but all of a sudden, Zelos was right behind them. He concentrated mana into the palm of his hand, then released a blast of energy at the cocco’s back.

Ukei and Zankei took the opportunity to swoop in and attack their owner from the left and right simultaneously. It wasn’t enough. Zelos caught Ukei’s strike with his left hand and parried Zankei’s slash with the combat knife he held in his right.

“Co-kah...” (“So he managed to stop that...”)

“Bok. Kebok-a-baw.” (“Just what I’d expect from Leader. He won’t let us land a single talon on him.”)

A violent battle was playing out in this tranquil little farming village. Even a cockfight didn’t get this intense.

Lisa stared in confusion at the spectacle. Huh? Since when have chickens been so good at martial arts?

“You can’t even call those coccos anymore, can you?” Shakti said, suddenly standing behind her.

“Wh-Whargh?! Shakti! You were awake?!”

“As if I could sleep with all that racket out there. It’s the crack of dawn—what are they doing?”

“Uh... Warming up for the day, I guess? It does seem a little too hardcore for that, though...”

“If that’s a warm-up, the training they do in Isalas wouldn’t even count as stretching. Honestly, it looks like they’re trying to kill each other out there.”

Both Zelos and the coccos were launching all-out attacks as if it were nothing.

Maybe this was them holding back. Still, it was hard to call this training in any way, shape, or form. It looked every bit like a fight to the death.

“Aren’t coccos supposed to be cute little monsters?” Shakti said.

“Those things don’t even look like monsters at all. More like biological weapons,” Lisa replied.

As the fighters traded slashes, sparks flew through the air, and deafening blows rang out.

Coccos were only meant to be fodder. Trash mobs. But these ones? These ones were devastating.

Sure, this wasn’t the first time Lisa and Shakti had been forced to revisit their preconceived notions of normality...but this went so much further than just that. This was the kind of thing they’d only ever seen in manga, and here it was, right before their eyes. Fantasy worlds sure were something.

“Is, uh... Is this the part where we give up on trying to understand this place?” Lisa said.

Shakti nodded. “I think so. Let’s just...do some cleaning. Last night left a real mess.”

Yui’s rampage had done a real number on the place, and she was only a guest here. Looking at the aftermath again, Lisa and Shakti could do nothing but sigh.

“Yui’s, uh... She sure is possessive, isn’t she?” Lisa said.

“People like her are dangerous,” Shakti replied. “Depending on who they’re with, they might even kill themselves just to get revenge on their partner. Fortunately, Ado’s the kind of guy who treasures his spouse, so I don’t think that’d happen. But if he were some controlling, cheating bastard instead, then...well, things would be a lot worse.”

“You sound like an expert. Is this another one of those things you looked up on the internet?”

“Lawyers have to look through a lot of court cases and mediations. But also, yes—the net does make it easy to find gossip articles.”

“Can’t do that here.”

“Still, people here are purer, if you get what I mean. More human. They aren’t drowning in a sea of culture and civilization like people back on Earth, so they really value their homes and their families. Well—everyone here isn’t like that, obviously.”

A civilization’s lack of advancement wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

With less irrelevant information, people in this world often turned out purer and more grounded.

Yes, crime still occurred, but most perpetrators simply had violent, shortsighted personalities, had gone down the wrong path due to unemployment, resented watching the rich enjoy their affluence while they were stuck in poverty, or other things of that sort.

Any kind of skill or academic background was usually enough to help someone secure a job; surprisingly few criminals went down that path because they wanted to. Having options helped.

The only problem was this world didn’t have things like tech schools. So if you wanted to learn skills or get that academic background in the first place, you had to, say, spend a lot of money, or apprentice yourself to a crafter.

“The thing is, from everything we’ve seen so far, I get the vibe that being a mercenary is the most common profession here,” Shakti said. “The second would probably be construction. The big jobs are all male-dominated, so women have pretty low status here. Sure, a good number of women work as apothecaries, mages, or alchemists, but it still seems like most are just housewives.”

“What about priests?” Lisa asked. “We’ve seen a decent number of female priests and pastors, haven’t we?”

“The church is pretty much the same: The ones in charge are all men. I heard from Zaza that women in the clergy don’t get paid as much as the men. And while church doctrine ‘strictly forbids’ priests from physical contact with the opposite sex, it sounds like exceptions are pretty much a given if a priest gets with a noble. They say it’s some holy doctrine, but the whole thing’s set up to encourage priests to end up with nobles. After all, if a priest marries a noble, it gets the Faith that much more leverage. It’s all self-serving. I hear the big temples and churches even arrange marriages for their priestesses.”

“Wait—so they call themselves a holy priesthood, but the leaders are just getting women to seduce guys so that they can increase their own influence? What do they take women for?” Lisa sighed. “There really aren’t that many decent jobs for women in this world, are there?”

As far as Shakti was aware, priests lived within a hierarchy with strict rules and a primarily male upper class.

That part wasn’t all that different from the nobility. But when it came to marriage, the wishes of male priests took priority, while the wishes of female priests were often ignored altogether. Their bosses—a head priest or head pastor—would often decide the female priests’ futures by forcing them to marry their son or some other relative of theirs. Marrying for love was next to unheard of for priestesses.

The Faith would sometimes even arrange political marriages with foreign nobles, and some abbeys that officially trained priestesses were run like finishing schools that raised sheltered young girls for marriage.

Still, you could never completely put a lid on human emotion and instinct. Sometimes, prostitutes or criminals managed to seduce priests; other times, love syndrome set priests spinning out of control, sleeping with whomever crossed their paths.

In order to deter that, the Faith could isolate a priest somewhere to “train.” There, they’d forgo all contact with the opposite sex for a period of time, which was used to prevent outbreaks of love syndrome among the priests.

If that wasn’t enough, the Faith would penalize the parties involved severely.

All of this instilled a twisted sense of morality among the clergy, but it let the Faith maintain its patriarchy.

Priestesses were largely limited to healing and volunteer work and were almost never given any positions with political power. The rare exceptions included the saints, and the heroes’ entourage—and even then, they were only there to monitor and honey trap certain targets. Naturally, they were expected to use their bodies to advance the aims of the Faith.

All in all, as much as the Faith tried to paint a picture of spotless integrity, immorality ran rampant behind its cloistered doors. There was a never-ending list of priestesses who’d been driven to suicide.

The Faith had responded by wielding the power of religion in one hand, and its authority in the other, to suppress—no, to silence—any discontent.

And it had succeeded...for a while. Up until a certain female pastor had broken the mold and started to insist on things like gender equality and freedom for people to live the lives they wanted to live...

Most of the Faith’s freely married priests and pastors were clergy members the church had reassigned overseas for supporting said female pastor, making them “risks” to the Holy Land.

Sooner or later, Shakti thought, the Holy Land’s social system would fall apart. She’d heard reports to that end from Zaza, a spy for the Kingdom of Isalas.

As a sidenote, the Artom Empire was an exception that followed not the Faith of the Four Gods but the Church of Creation, a religion not unlike Japan’s Shintoism.

Its priests were referred to as shrine maidens or shamans, and they devoted their days to carrying out what were pretty much Shinto rituals.

With a few exceptions dependent on social class, most didn’t have to follow stringent rules and were free to marry whomever they wished.

“It’s not easy for women to succeed in this male-dominated society,” Shakti said. “Even when they have the talent, some guy will probably just steal the credit for their achievements. That sort of old-fashioned thinking is still just seen as the norm here.”

“Maybe it’s that our way of thinking is too futuristic for the people here?” Lisa mused. “I mean, I think even Japan was pretty male-dominated up until, what—the Edo period? The early Meiji period? And even then, things didn’t change that much for a while. It wasn’t until the Showa period that women started to get some more power in society.”

“I suppose that’s part of it. But still—women make up half the world, you know? If we’re going to be living here from now on, don’t you think we should do what we can to improve the social status of women here, even if it’s just by a little bit?”

“Wait—don’t tell me you’re thinking of getting into politics, Shakti?”

“I do think it’d be interesting to, if I could. But no. Even if I managed to get something done as a politician, the patriarchy wouldn’t let it stand. The moment I started to dismantle the power they take for granted, they’d make it their top priority to crush me. I guarantee it.”

“Mmm... By our standards, civilization here really is behind the times, isn’t it?”

“That’s just how it is. It’s generally the men who are most obsessed with status and glory—and I can’t imagine them liking the idea of a female politician standing in their place and speaking her mind. Here, they think a woman’s place is in the kitchen, and it’s just so...urgh.”

“You don’t hold back, huh, Shakti?”

“What we need is to change people’s views over time. Have you ever heard of Mohism? It’s a philosophy on Earth that preached equality and altruism...but the people in power at the time saw it as a nuisance, so they crushed it. And in the end, the philosophy that came out on top was something that better suited the interests of the people in power: Confucianism. At the end of the day, however noble your ideas are, you’ll just be brushed off unless you can get enough people to support them.”

“Huh? What did they have against a movement that wanted equality and altruism?”

“If everyone’s equal, no one’s more important than anyone else. And when the emperor’s authority was seen as absolute, that was one of the most dangerous ideas you could have had. It could have caused a rebellion.”

Imagine, for example, a philosophy that extolled the “virtues” of revenge and conquest. Leaders could use that philosophy to justify invading others with their armies to expand their realms.

And what if a new philosophy arose, built on kindness and altruism, in the midst of that? The answer: Those same power-hungry leaders would see it as the ultimate thorn in their sides.

They wanted every system of belief to validate their own behavior. They’d never allow something that denounced the very foundation of their existence.

Social structures evolved slowly—trying to change them all at once would only result in backlash.

So even if Shakti did go into politics here, she could only see one outcome: being helplessly crushed by the status quo and its supporters.

And she especially couldn’t see the political realm here being willing to welcome in a reincarnator.

“On another note, Ado and Zelos said they fought the Four Gods, didn’t they?” Shakti said. “And it sounded like the goddesses weren’t all that strong.”

“They were saying Zelos alone might be able to beat all four, so... Like, we’ve gotta be sure now, right? Sure that the Four Gods are only stand-ins, I mean,” Lisa said. “I wonder where the real god went?”

“Who knows? But whoever they are, they can’t be any good. Just look at who they left in charge.”

“Mmm... Yeah. Everything I hear about the Four Gods makes them sound like a bunch of sadistic criminals.”

The Four Gods weren’t deserving of worship, that much was certain.

They were careless, they were irresponsible, and they seemed entirely willing to destroy the whole world if it was in their own interests.

“And that’s why we’re going to punish them, isn’t it? Though...we’ll have to make sure the world isn’t about to cave in on itself first,” Shakti said.

“By the way,” Lisa noted, “I don’t see Ado around. I wonder what happened?”

“Yui must have dragged him off somewhere, right? I can’t imagine she wanted to leave him here with us two.”

“Ohhh. Yeah. That makes sense.”

From the way Yui looked, it was hard to imagine her capable of such ferocity—but she became a completely different person when it came to Ado.

She couldn’t even stand the thought of him cheating. Just seeing him in the company of other women had been enough for her to draw a kitchen knife on him.

She’d probably had Ado on her mind ever since arriving in this world months ago.

And then, the moment she’d breathed a sigh of relief, her emotions had gone wild, creating the carnage that now surrounded Shakti and Lisa. Yui hadn’t just gone berserk in any house either—no, this was the mayor’s house and de facto assembly hall. And now, the place was a wreck.

“Well... I guess we should clean up.” Shakti said. “I feel awkward standing in the middle of this mess.”

“Yeah. Yui did all the damage, but I guess it never would’ve been this bad if we hadn’t been here...” Lisa said.

They sighed and started cleaning up the room.

As they got to work, they listened to the sounds of a ferocious battle between a middle-aged man and his three birds just outside.

* * *

Once Zelos and the coccos had sparred to their satisfaction, they switched to lighter exercise that resembled tai chi chuan.

This too was part of their daily routine, and they did it after every morning sparring session.

While Ukei was the hand-to-hand combat specialist, Zankei and Senkei joined too. They knew they couldn’t beat every enemy with swordsmanship or assassination alone, so they made sure to train for every potential combat situation.

They were devoted martial artists.

“What are you three training so hard for, anyway?” Zelos asked them.

“Bok.” (“For what our instincts tell us we must do.”)

“Bo-kawk, ka-ka.” (“Yes. Someday, we must go there.”)

“Ca-caw-ca...” (“To the land that humans call the Green Depths...”)

Like all monsters, their survival instincts drove them to seek out strong foes. To fight those foes, devour them, then set out on the search for other, even stronger opponents.

“Ba-ka-ka-caw!” (“I promise you, Leader—one day, we shall return with news that we have defeated a dragon!”)

“A dragon? I don’t know exactly what kind of dragon you have in mind, but let me warn you: You’ll have to become demon lords yourselves if you want to put up a fight against something like a dragon ruler. They’re the strongest creatures out there, and they pride themselves on their strength.”

“Ca-caw. Bo-kaka!” (“Hah. You only make my wings itch for combat all the more!”)

“Bok-a-caw, a-keck-kah!” (“Challenging the ultimate foe is what makes a man a man. Just you watch, we will scale those lofty heights!”)

Zelos had only fired them up. And these three, he thought, might actually be able to do it. The realization scared him a little.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could swear he saw the flames of the trio’s resolve burning behind them.

“Well, then, how about we get breakfast ready?”

“A-bok.” (“We shall pick bugs from the fields.”)

“Ke-caw ca-caw!” (“May we find the juiciest of earthworms!”)

“Bu-keh, cack...” (“Or snakes, or lizards...”)

With that, the coccos rushed off into the fields, intent on filling their bellies.

As they left, Zelos had a realization: Ah. I was wondering where all the bugs around my farm went. Guess that explains it...

Zelos was unaware, but wild coccos were akin to slimes: They were Mother Nature’s janitors. They scavenged corpses and preyed on insects, which made them beneficial to humans.

“Wonder if I can borrow the kitchen?” Zelos muttered, turning to open the door to the mayor’s house.

The place had been such a mess after last night’s chaos, but thanks to Lisa and Shakti, it was much cleaner now.

“Good morning, you two.”

“Morning, Zelos,” Lisa replied.

“It’s the first thing in the morning, and you’re out fighting like your life’s on the line,” Shakti said. “Don’t tell me you train like that every day?”

“Well, yes. The little things have been getting tougher and tougher lately. Can’t let my guard down around them anymore, I can tell you that! Aha ha ha!”

How is he so nonchalant about it? He’s training those things to be the perfect human-killers! both women thought.

And they weren’t wrong.

Zelos was probably far stronger than anyone born in this world, so it was hard to believe any normal human stood even a remote chance against the ridiculous monsters he’d raised.

In fact, there was zero chance.

The coccos had started evolving in strange ways too, and if they ever reproduced, they could very well become a threat worse than a monster stampede.

Together, they could slice, shoot, and strike, and each of them had mastered skills for close-quarters combat.

Not to mention, their obsession with battle meant they’d only obey the strong. The more you thought about it, the more trouble it seemed they might cause.

“Good morning, everyone. Oh? It’s so much cleaner here now!”

“Well, if it isn’t Uru,” Zelos said. “Good morning. Coming back from the fields, are we?”

“Yes—I was just planting some wheat. And some potaroes.”

Uru was carrying an empty basket on his back that he’d probably been using for some early morning farmwork.

A potaro was like a cross between a potato and a sweet potato. They were sown in the winter and harvested in early summer. They grew well in open fields too.

The only problem was that these root vegetables attracted all sorts of hungry monsters, especially megamice, fangboars, and dommoths, which were like small elephants. Mercenaries appreciated the work they got out of it, at least.

“We’re sorry about what happened,” Lisa said. “It’s, like...we showed up and immediately turned your house into a mess...”

“Yeah. Really—we apologize.” Shakti nodded. “We can’t fix what’s broken, but we’ve cleaned up as best we can.”

“Oh, no, no, it just goes to show how much Yui loves him,” Uru said. “Honestly, I’m kind of jealous. Besides, it was old junk anyway. My grandfather has a hobby of collecting weird curios, that’s all.”

What a forgiving guy... the other three thought.

A lot of the broken objects had been hard to identify, but they had looked like they were from native tribes: a wooden mask that seemed like it’d be used for some mysterious ritual, a wooden rod with strange carvings, and so on.

It would’ve made sense for a scholar of folk traditions to own things like this, but it was hard to say why the mayor of a small village had all these strange items.

Everyone had their hobbies, sure, but most of these were things your average person wouldn’t even think of buying. They looked like the sort of stuff you’d find in the clearance bin of a souvenir shop.

“Oh, you’re all up! Good morning,” Yui said as she entered the room.

“Good morning, Yui,” Uru replied. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“Like a log!”

“You’re pregnant, remember, so please don’t push yourself,” Uru said, taking Yui’s hands into his own and peering into her eyes. “This is an important time—your child should be your top priority.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Hold on a minute! the other three thought. Is he seriously just worried about her?! Or is this...

Perhaps it was their imagination, but something about the way Uru was looking at Yui felt passionate.

Zelos, Shakti, and Lisa exchanged a look and started whispering.

“Surely not, but does he... Does he have a thing for her?”

“I could see it. He might just be in love...”

Uru looked like the very picture of a lovestruck man as he spoke to Yui.

And the more the trio thought about it, the more confident they became: Ah... Yikes. This is going to end in blood, isn’t it?

At that moment, Ado, with the worst timing imaginable, staggered inside with a yawn. “Jeez... My whole body’s killing me. And the sun seems so bright...”

He looked unusually exhausted, and a quick glance at him gave Zelos an idea of what had happened.

Ado had seemed perfectly okay when they parted ways yesterday, but now he could barely stay on his feet. Zelos had seen the same thing happen to one of the guys he managed back on Earth after the fellow had stopped at a lover’s house overnight.

Of course, Zelos didn’t think Ado was the sort of scumbag who’d get down with his wife when she was this far pregnant. Most likely, then, he’d poured everything he had into calming her down, especially after their emotional, rage-inciting reunion.

He’d probably spent the entire night coming up with line after desperate line of sweet nothings, each saccharine enough to rot teeth. It must have been a romantic night—well, for Yui, at least...

As a matter of fact, Yui was in great spirits this morning, while Ado seemed as exhausted as a soldier returning from the battlefield.

It must have felt like a life-or-death mission for him. After all, one wrong word and kitchen knives could’ve started flying again.

That was how Zelos read the situation, at least. He forced a strained smile at the thought.

Uru called out to Ado, oblivious to the look on Zelos’s face. He gave a quiet laugh.

“Well, if it isn’t our good friend Ado? It seemed like you were having a grand old time last night, hmm?”

Ado wasn’t sure how to respond—but that wasn’t the problem here. “Huh? Uh... Sorry?”

Uru knew exactly what had gone down between Ado and Yui last night.

The mayor’s house hadn’t exactly been built with privacy in mind. Uru, in the adjoining room, had overheard every last passionate word through the thin wall.

If he really was in love with Yui, it must have been torture for him.

And Ado, unfortunately, was slow to notice the change in Uru’s demeanor.

Ordinarily, he would’ve noticed, but he was too mentally exhausted to register the black aura of spite oozing out of the mayor’s grandson.

The other three, however, could very clearly tell that Uru had just turned to the dark side. They had a feeling this was going to end in violence.

Fuuuuuuck...

“My word... You really must be a carefree man, leaving your wife all alone as you gallivant around the world, hmm?”

“Carefree? C’mon, man. I’ve fought in some huge battles. I’ve nearly starved to death...”

“That’s no excuse. You’re about to be a father. Don’t you think you should’ve been caring for your wife instead?”

“If you’ve got a problem, take it up with the Four Gods. They’re the ones who put me— Urgh, that just reminded me how annoyed I am that we didn’t get to finish them off.”

“Not much we could’ve done,” Zelos reminded him. “That bug-hero guy was just too strong. Honestly, if we’d gone for the gods there, we might’ve just gotten in his way.”

Despite his words, Zelos felt the same as Ado. He regretted becoming so enraptured by the heroic figure that he’d turned into a mere spectator.

He still felt like he should’ve gone straight for his targets and finished them off the moment he had the chance, and he resented his otaku spirit for making him miss the opportunity.

“The Four Gods?” Uru repeated. “You hate the Faith, then. I’m a mage too, so I get it—but what do some gods who may or may not even exist have to do with what we’re talking about?”

“It’s not just us two,” Ado said. “Lisa and Shakti over there, and Yui as well—we’re all victims of the Four Gods. It’s their fault we got split up in the first place. Most of us were dropped into the middle of nowhere.”

“He’s right,” Zelos said. “There might’ve even been others who died, but it’s hard to know for sure. Now, we’ve got our sights set on exterminating the gods responsible. Who knows how many people they’ve caused hell for...”

Uru paused for a moment. “Hmm. So you made sure your stories lined up before you came here, did you? Even if the gods really did attack you, though, I’d assume you had it coming. As much as the Faith’s insistence on sheltering faeries infuriates me, I find it hard to believe their gods would attack you out of nowhere.”

“I’m with you on the faerie bit at least, dude. I want to turn every last one of those little pricks into potion ingredients,” Ado growled.

While the average person saw the Four Gods as this world’s protectors, Uru—between his background as a mage and the harm faeries had done to the village—didn’t believe they existed at all.

He wasn’t sure what kind of relationship could possibly exist between those gods and Zelos’s party, but he was awfully jealous of the fact that everyone else here saw things the same way as Ado—not just Yui, but Shakti, Lisa, and Zelos as well.

He was an outsider in his own home, and that brought a furious look to his face.

“Let me make it clear,” Zelos said. “Metis had been summoning heroes on the order of the Four Gods—and it’s left the world on the brink of destruction. Those gods are real, and they’re evil. No doubt about it.”

“Y-You can’t be serious!”

“Well, yeah, it makes sense you don’t believe it,” Ado said. “But we’re different. They scattered us all across the world, and it hasn’t been easy for us to track down the people we know. I’m telling you, I didn’t abandon Yui, okay?”

“It’s a good thing you ran into Zelos, isn’t it, Toshi?” Yui said. “Thanks to him, we’re back together.”

“Aww... Thanks. But it was mostly right place at the right time, honestly,” Zelos said.

Uru had been under the impression that Ado had just dumped his pregnant wife outside Hasam one day. But now, it sounded like their separation had actually been the doing of the Four Gods—meaning Ado hadn’t abandoned her at all.

Uru had spent the past month living with Yui, and although it had sometimes hurt to see the adoring look she wore whenever she thought of her husband, that month had been absolute bliss.

But now that Zelos had found her husband, Uru’s happy days were at an end.

He saw Zelos now as a herald of misfortune.

“Bit of a shame, though. I’d hoped to personally give my thanks to the mayor who’s been protecting Yui,” Ado said.

“And I’m sure you would’ve gotten here a lot sooner if you’d known where she was from the start—or, heck, where you were. Right?” Zelos said.

“Oh—speaking of my grandfather, he went to get his back treated at a hot spring,” Uru said. “He left early one morning in a carriage. The driver was pretty intense...”

W-Wait... He took that guy’s carriage?! I... I hope the mayor’s still alive...

Zelos and Ado were very familiar with both the place and the carriage driver, who seemed to be up to his usual mischief, rampaging throughout the land.

“So Ado, what are you planning to do about Yui?” Shakti asked.

“Huh? Uh... What do you mean by ‘do’?”

“Well, we are state guests in Isalas—and they’ve given us quite the warm welcome, remember?” Shakti said. “But surely it’s not the kind of place you’d want to take Yui to, is it?”

“Yeah, especially when she’s got a baby in her belly, y’know?” Lisa agreed. “Not to mention, it’s a long trip there. There’s no way you can make her go all that way.”

“Ah.”

As Shakti and Lisa had just pointed out, Ado was in a precarious situation right now.

Isalas had been giving him some very special treatment because of how spectacular a mage he was. Plus, he was seen as a champion of the people for helping alleviate the country’s perpetual food shortage.

There was no way Isalas would be keen on letting a talent like him slip from its grasp. Yui would undoubtedly become an important bargaining tool to convince Ado to stay. In fact, the nation’s war hawk faction might even take her as a hostage.

“U-Uh...Zelos? Any ideas?” Ado stammered.

“I’m not sure I’m the guy to ask. Remember, I’ve been trying not to get mixed up in state politics in the first place.”

“Please, man, don’t blow me off here—I’m begging you! Help me out! I can’t leave Yui here forever either... I’ll do anything! At the very least, I want her to have someone I can trust by her side!”

“You really are desperate, aren’t you? In that case, how about I introduce you to a former duke I know? Isalas and Artom are both in Solistia’s debt, after all. Ah—I expect he’ll ask you for something in return, mind you.”

“Ngh...”

Ado was being forced to make a monumental choice.

After Isalas’s warm welcome, the thought of joining Team Solistia felt like a betrayal. But with Yui to consider, moving to Solistia did seem like the safer option.

It provided a much better environment for raising a child, after all, and if worse came to worst, Zelos would be in the same country to help him out. That was a big bonus.

“Still... Wouldn’t it be bad of me to just suddenly up and move from Isalas to Solistia?”

“Then how about you make sure Isalas gets something out of it?”

“Like what? Any ideas?”

“Like, say... Why don’t you start some kind of joint venture between Solistia and Isalas? Isalas doesn’t have much to see beyond mines and quarries, so tourism’s probably out... Hmm.”

“It’s gotta be cars, then, right? Isalas could do the bodywork while Solistia makes the engines...”

“You’d need to overhaul the infrastructure, though. If you’re not careful, you’d kick off a whole tech revolution.”

“It’s bound to happen sooner or later, right? And just to be clear, I’m talking about, like, sticking engines in carriages. Not fancy sports cars, just basic, low-speed family cars. And honestly, I’d start a revolution myself if that’s what it took to keep my wife safe.”

On Earth, adding engines to carriages had been one of the first steps of automotive development—but engine technology could be used for much more than cars. If Ado went through with his idea, things wouldn’t stop at automobiles. Once the genie was out of the bottle, there was no putting it back in. Ado had a lot on his plate, though, so he needed something to soften the blow for Isalas.

“Even if you’re not on board, Zelos, I’m still gonna go through with it. I need money so I can live with Yui too.”

Zelos sighed. “Doesn’t look like I’m going to change your mind...”

Decisiveness was normally one of Ado’s strengths, but in that moment, it seemed to be leading him down a risky path.

“Oh... Fine. You’ll want to use metal for the frame and wood for the body. For the engine, you could probably use a lower-grade mana motor. Magic stones should power a small one well enough.”

“Magic stones? Not a mana tank?”

“Mana tanks are made from a mithril-orichalcum alloy, remember? I doubt they’d be cost-effective. Plus, using magic stones would stimulate the economy. All in all, that’d probably get you about twenty years or so of breathing room.”

“Oh... And with magic stones, there’s no tank to worry about refilling. On the other hand, you’d need a lot of stones to actually run the car once you factor in travel time and distance...”

“As for speed... Well, their top end shouldn’t be much higher than a horse-drawn carriage. A little faster would probably be fine. That alone would increase demand among mercenaries, which would be huge for the economy. Still, I’m warning you: This is pretty much guaranteed to spark an industrial revolution.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers. I need to find common ground between a magic kingdom and a mining kingdom, and this fits the bill. Besides, I can’t imagine them putting together anything like my kei car or your motorbike.”

Zelos’s Harley-Sanders Model 13 and Ado’s kei car had been made using large amounts of rare minerals, which were expensive and only found in mines or dungeons. There just wouldn’t be enough miners, crafters, or materials to manufacture vehicles like that on an industrial scale.

Still, Zelos worried that their actions could cause technology to advance far faster than intended.

“The problem is this, I suppose: Would it be okay to take Yui with us to Santor right away?” Zelos mused. “After all this village has done to take care of her, it could be rude to simply drive off with her without giving proper thanks.”

“Have you talked about whether you might do something to repay them, Yui?” Ado asked.

“Huh? Well, the mayor said I was fine to leave without notice if you or Zelos ever came to get me. I do feel like I should at least give him a proper goodbye and thank him again, though.”

“Guess you leave him a letter or something, then? Wouldn’t want to disappear without a word.”

“H-Hold on a minute!” Uru shouted, clearly panicking. The way he saw it, a stranger had just shown up out of the blue to whisk away the woman he loved. Sure, that stranger happened to be her fiancé and the future father of her child, but Uru wasn’t mature enough to just stand by.

“Y-Yui’s pregnant, remember?!” Uru sputtered. “Are you really about to take her away from the village at such an important time?!”

“Don’t worry,” Ado said. “We have a special form of transport. We’ll be able to get her there faster and safer than in a carriage.”

“But just think about what could happen!”

“She’s in a stable phase of her pregnancy at the moment, so she should be fine,” Zelos said. “Plus, we can move her to my trailer when we get closer to the city.”

Zelos had a farm trailer he’d built himself, fitted with some decent suspension.

The kei car they’d be taking for most of the journey had cushioned seats and such too, so Yui would be fine to travel in that for the relatively short trip to Santor.

But reason wasn’t going to sway a young man that smitten. His first love was about to be taken away from him. He might never see her again.

And he refused to smile and let it happen.

“Fine. Then you leave me no choice,” he muttered. “Ado...I challenge you to a duel.”

“Huh?!”

Zelos and Ado were stunned by the turn of events. Their surprise made sense—they couldn’t have known what was going through the young man’s heart. Sometimes, youth and emotion drove people to reckless decisions.

And this was unmistakably reckless. Uru had no idea Ado was a Sage.

Perhaps ignorance was bliss. The gap between the two mages was enormous. Not only would Uru never be able to injure his opponent—it wouldn’t even be a fight.

Chapter 11: Ado Accepts a Duel

Love makes people do stupid things.

The lovestruck had a bad habit of jumping right into fanciful dreams of their future before they’d even bothered confirming whether their love interest actually liked them in return.

Things were only amplified if it was someone’s first love. Exchanging just a few words with their crush was enough to make them positively ecstatic, and if their love interest talked to them more than once in a day, they were convinced they were getting closer.

It would never occur to them that they might’ve misread the situation.

Sometimes, these kinds of people could leap to some extreme conclusions, like thinking they knew their love interest better than anyone else, or genuinely believing that nobody in the universe could love their soon-to-be lover as much as they did—all without any confirmation that their attraction was mutual.

A lot of those people turned into stalkers.

Unfortunately, Yui and Uru were both included among this lot. On the bright side, if you could call it that, at least Yui’s love for Ado was mutual.

Yui might’ve had something of a jealous streak, but she was devoted to Ado and over the moon to be bearing his child.

You couldn’t have said the same of Uru, though. He’d always been pretty straitlaced, diligently applying himself to learning magic and alchemy since the day he’d knocked on the door of the Istol Academy of Magic.

Of course, he had the same interest in women as your average young man. He’d tabled all that, though, to reach ever higher heights in his studies. He hadn’t gone on a single date in his time at the academy.

After graduation, he hadn’t been able to find a steady job, no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, his only option had been to start his own alchemy business. He’d done pretty well at it too.

While he’d occasionally return to Hasam to visit family, he spent most of his time traveling from town to town, selling potions and herbal remedies, staying at inns, and gradually building a customer base. It was an honest living.

One day, he returned to Hasam to find a young, pregnant woman he’d never met before. Uru’s grandfather told him they’d found her unconscious just outside the village. Naturally, he and the other villagers couldn’t have just left her there on the side of the road.

After asking some questions, Uru had discovered that nobody knew where the woman’s husband was. She’d wanted to search for him herself, but she knew she couldn’t be so rash with a baby on the way. It frustrated her.

In addition, Uru learned that a friend of the woman’s husband had stopped by and helped the village solve its faerie problem. He’d said he’d get in touch if he found the man in question.

The entire situation had enraged Uru. He’d told himself that any man who’d abandon his own pregnant wife like that must be an irredeemable piece of shit.

Of course, Ado hadn’t actually abandoned Yui. Uru’s anger was founded on faulty assumptions, but his reaction made sense for someone who didn’t know the full picture.

For the next month, Uru’s life had been bliss. He hadn’t been sure how to react to the whole situation at first, but as the days passed and they got to know one another, he’d started falling for Yui.

Sometimes, she’d lie in the sunlight and gently stroke her stomach as she murmured softly to her unborn child. Watching her, Uru saw her as something like the Virgin Mary, and he was overcome by her beauty.

Before Uru knew it, he was head over heels.

Unfortunately, the good times weren’t going to last forever.

After Uru’s grandfather—the mayor of Hasam—strained his chronically bad back and left for treatment, Uru had secretly been thankful. Actually, no—he’d positively rejoiced. He’d been so ecstatic, in fact, that he’d felt like breaking into dance right there in the middle of his room. He’d started off with a spin, slipped into a moonwalk, done a backflip, and then landed in a cool pose with a “Booyah!”

In short, he’d felt like he’d lost his mind—like he’d been possessed.

He’d been so caught up in his fantasies that he’d thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to seal the deal with Yui while his grandfather was away.

But then, out of nowhere, Yui and Ado had been reunited.

Uru had felt an intense loathing toward Zelos, the man who’d brought Ado. Somehow, he’d managed to put up the friendly face of a merchant instead, but hiding his hatred for Ado had been another matter entirely. After all, Ado was Yui’s husband—and yet he’d shown up with two other women by his side. Seeing that had made Uru just as mad as Yui, even if the underlying reasons were a little different.

He’d already viewed Ado as a lowlife who abandoned his pregnant wife, but now the man had the gall to bring his mistresses to his visit with his wife. He was utterly shameless!

Even when the others had told him that Yui and Ado had been separated by the Four Gods, Uru couldn’t see that explanation as anything more than a load of bullshit. But it hadn’t taken long for him to realize that the other five—including Yui—saw things the same way.

For the first time, Uru had felt like Yui was slipping out of his grasp. The accompanying feelings of alienation, loneliness, and frustration had only brought his simmering jealousy to a boil.

Then, the others had started talking about taking Yui with them when they left, sending Uru deeper into panic.

I have to do something. Now. Or they’ll take her away from me, he’d thought.

Selfish as it might’ve been, Uru had started frantically trying to change their minds.

He’d even been pretty proud of coming up with his excuse, that Yui’s pregnancy meant she had to stay in the village for her own sake, on the spot.

But despite his protests, Yui had been intent on leaving with Ado, further enraging Uru.

Why?! Why aren’t you noticing how I feel?!

Then, finally, the dam had burst: Uru had made the reckless decision to challenge Ado to a duel.

“I’ll repeat myself: Duel me, Ado!” Uru said, desperate. “If I win, you leave Yui behind in this village. If I lose, you are free to do as you wish.”

“Uh... But why should I have to duel you in the first place?” Ado asked. “Not like I really get anything out of it...”

Zelos looked at Uru. “Nor do I think you’d get anything out of it. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Zelos and Ado had no interest in giving Uru his big moment. There was nothing in it for them.

Even if Ado were to accept the duel, the outcome was predetermined: Uru would get trounced. There was just no point in Ado complying with Uru’s request.

“Ado? Zelos? Why don’t you consider how he feels?” Lisa said.

“Mmm... Yeah. She has a point,” Shakti agreed. “When it comes to love, it doesn’t matter who’s known someone longer. Are you sure you can’t just fight him, Ado? It might give him closure, at least.”

“Huh? U-Uru? You’re in love with Toshi?!” Yui exclaimed. “B-But... But you’re both guys...”

“What gave you that idea?!” the other five shouted.

Yui was simply oblivious to Uru’s feelings.

You had to feel for the guy. His crush had basically admitted that she found it more likely that he was gay than into her.

Maybe the others were imagining it, but they wondered if Uru was on the brink of tears.

“He’s in love with you,” Shakti sighed. “How have you not noticed?”

“Huh? But didn’t you just say, ‘When it comes to love, it doesn’t matter who’s known someone longer’?”

“I did, but why’d you assume I was talking about who’s known Ado longer?! Is that head of yours capable of thinking about anything other than Ado?!”

“Nope. Toshi’s my whole world.”

Those were some heavy words.

“C’mon, man,” Ado said. “What’s dueling me going to change? All you’d get out of it is bruises.”

Zelos nodded. “Listen to the man. Ado could kill someone in the blink of an eye with beginner magic. Even calling him overpowered would be an understatement. Lisa, Shakti—are you really that desperate to see this guy die?”

“W-Well, if Ado dials it back, maybe—”

“Holding back is just an insult to your opponent,” Ado said. “Besides, I’m not sure you guys understand how potent Zenith Breaker is. Zelos and I are absolute juggernauts.”

“I... I guess you’re right,” Shakti conceded. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead...”

Ado had no problem accepting the duel, but he was strong enough to break every bone in Uru’s body with a few half-hearted punches—and that’s if Uru was lucky. Nine times out of ten, he’d just be killed.

The others could heal any injuries well enough, but nothing would help Uru if Ado outright killed him half a second into the fight.

In short, challenging Ado was a terrible idea.

“Aww... I was looking forward to telling you two not to fight over me!” Yui pouted. “I guess Toshi’s just too strong...”

“You... You wanted us to fight, Yui? Just to play out some dumb trope? That’d be unfair to Uru, since he doesn’t actually have a chance and all...” Ado said.

“Every girl dreams of being in the middle of a love triangle at least once in her life, you know?” Yui replied.

“It’d be a bloodbath,” Zelos sighed. “Ado could cut the guy in half with a swipe of his sword, blast him to pieces with a single spell... Point is, he wouldn’t survive a duel. Taking on Ado would be a very bad decision.”

Once again, Uru came face-to-face with harsh reality.

Despite how intense his love for Yui was, she hadn’t even noticed his feelings. And now that she had found out, there was no way she was going to reciprocate them.

But as furious as he was, Uru wasn’t about to be swayed by the others’ logic. It was all just white noise to him.

“Hmph—are you scared? Worried I’ll beat you?” he taunted.

“Look, dude...” Ado said. “Were you even listening?”

“Yes, I was listening—listening to you four spout any nonsense you could think of to get out of this duel. I’ve never even heard of a mage as preposterously strong as what you’re claiming.”

Suddenly, Zelos’s sixth sense activated. He could feel the similarity between Uru and his sister, Sharanla, who was obsessed with money and refused to do anything but leech off the rich. Like Sharanla, Uru seemed incapable of believing he could be in the wrong.

“Mmm... Okay, Ado, this guy’s not going to listen. I think you’ll just have to accept the duel,” Zelos said. “People like this won’t back down until you actually show them how much stronger you are. They’re impossible to convince.”

Perhaps Uru’s self-confidence—his belief he could never lose—was a factor too. But whatever the case, he was failing to understand that what he was asking for was suicidal.

Sure, it did show how strongly he felt about Yui, but his intensity was taking him down a dangerous path.

What was more, Uru was the type who refused to let go of anything he’d grown attached to. Once he got started on something, there was no stopping him. And eventually, it would turn into a stubborn fixation.

“Seriously?” Ado said. “Urgh, this is gonna be a pain...”

“Honestly, this should be a decision between you and Yui—you shouldn’t have to convince this guy of anything—but I’d recommend nipping the issue in the bud before he gets any more worked up,” Zelos said. “He probably intends to steal her from you. Just think of him as a stalker or something.”

“Wait—so he’s the same as Yui?! Jeez... Give me a break already!”

“Remember, I’m pretty sure he sees you as some asshole playboy. He’s not going to back down and let you have Yui unless you show him he’s got no chance.”

“Uh... Is that how he sees me, or is that you being bitter?”

“What? N-No, uh... Of course not. Not at all.”

“Look me in the face, dammit!”

Despite his fooling around, Zelos did have a real concern in mind. Ado and Yui might’ve been engaged, but they weren’t married—and it didn’t seem like an engagement was enough to dissuade someone as persistent as Uru.

There was even the risk he’d drift into that ‘let’s just die and be together in heaven’ sort of thinking.

In fact, Yui—with her similar stalker tendencies—had tried to pull the same thing only yesterday. It didn’t seem out of the question for Uru to try it himself.

The fact that it might happen a second time in two days made Zelos curse his bad luck for getting caught up with such troublesome individuals.

Though, technically, Ado was the one who had to deal with it all...

“Your only option’s to crush him with everything you’ve got,” Zelos said. “Going easy on him would only backfire, by the way. He won’t stop unless you leave him terrified of you. I’m confident.”

“Are you nuts?! You know he’s no match for me, right? You may as well be telling a dragon to go all out against an ant. I don’t wanna be that brutal...”

Zelos just chuckled. “And what’s your alternative? You expect a stalker to be convinced by reason? What chance do you think you’d have of talking down Yui if she were this jealous and this mad?”

“Okay—damn, you’re convincing! ’Cause yeah, no way. No chance. She doesn’t listen to a word I say when she gets like that...”

“Well, then—there you have it. A toast to the young man and his obsessive future wife!”

Zelos had planned to stay out of what was a matter between husband and wife.

As childhood friends, Ado and Yui understood each other, and it was clear that they cared a lot for one another. It was the kind of relationship that could blow up spectacularly if an outsider—especially a woman—got between them, but everything would be smooth sailing as long as everyone else kept that in mind.

Unfortunately, though, another man had gotten close to Yui.

Yesterday, Yui had chased Ado around for what felt like forever after seeing him arrive with Shakti and Lisa. Today, it was the opposite.

If Ado had had the same personality as Yui and Uru, things would’ve devolved into complete chaos by now.

“Am I really that stubborn? That bad at listening?” Yui pouted.

“Have you already forgotten about your rampage yesterday?” Zelos said. “Uru’s just like you, Yui. In fact, this could be a good chance for self-reflection. You know what they say: ‘One man’s failure is another’s lesson.’”

“Zelos?” Ado glared at him. “Have you forgotten how you egged her on? You fanned the flames! You tried to have her kill me!”

“Whoops...” Zelos laughed. “I suppose I did! What can I say? My emotions got the better of me. I guess I’m still an emotional young man myself, eh?”

“When someone your age acts like that, it’s just called immaturity!”

“I prefer ‘young at heart,’ my dear Ado. I may be middle-aged, but I’ll have you know I’ve got a reputation among my neighbors for my youthfulness. Lately, people my own age have been telling me how spry I look!”

“I don’t give a shit!”

While Zelos and Ado went at it, Lisa and Shakti did their best to distance themselves and not get involved. They didn’t want to end up as collateral damage.

Seeing everyone act so casually only infuriated Uru all the more.

Through great effort, Uru had become a top student at the Istol Academy of Magic, an achievement he was quite fond of. The academy had later invited him to work as a lecturer, and he prided himself on being more capable than even the court mages. He had a fair amount of combat experience too.

He’d expected, at the very least, that his foe wouldn’t completely write him off—yet it seemed like Ado and Zelos weren’t even aware Uru was still in the room with them. He wondered why they were completely ignoring a graduate of a renowned magic academy—and why everyone seemed to agree that he didn’t stand a chance.

His ego more bruised than ever, Uru took Ado and Zelos’s attempts to warn him as a provocation.

“So? Will you accept my duel or not?” he said.

“I really don’t want to,” Ado said, “but if I don’t, you’re never going to get off my back, are you? You’re not giving me much of a choice, so whatever. Let’s do it.”

“You certainly seem calm,” Uru spat. “You’re underestimating me, aren’t you?”

“No. I know for a fact you won’t stand a chance. I know your answer, but I’ll ask anyway: Are you sure you wanna go through with this?”

“Of course. You don’t deserve her.”

“Who we ‘deserve’ is for us to decide, not some outsider. Look, I feel awkward about all this. You did help her out, after all. But if we’re really gonna fight...don’t expect me to take it easy on you, okay?”

“I wouldn’t want you to!”

Uru’s fate had been set in stone.

Zelos took an amulet out of his inventory, figuring it might just come in handy. It was one of the prototypes he’d given Zweit, Croesus, and Celestina before the academy’s trip to the Ramaf Woods.

“Do you mind putting this on, Yui? Just in case.”

“Um... What is it?”

“A little something I’d like you to equip before we move on, just in case things go south. I’m getting a bad feeling about this, that’s all.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, just let it do its thing later on, if you need to.”

While Yui was hesitant to take anything from a man who wasn’t Ado, she figured Zelos was trustworthy enough. After all, he’d kept his word and brought Ado back to her. She wasn’t about to let down her guard around Shakti or Lisa, but she couldn’t ignore the advice of someone who’d kept a promise like that. In the end, she decided to equip the amulet.

In the meantime, Uru continued to glare daggers at Ado—who yawned in return, entirely disinterested.

“Guess we start once you’re ready?” Ado sighed. “Actually, wait—where are we doing this?”

“Hmm... How about that open field outside the village?” Zelos suggested. “There’s plenty of room there, and if we’re that far out, there shouldn’t be too many casualties if everything gets blown up.”

“You know, Zelos, you’re awfully familiar with the area for someone who’s only been here once...” Ado said.

“Ah, that’s because I took out a faerie rose in the countryside last time,” he explained. “I happened to pass that field on my way out to it.”

“Shit... So there was one here too, huh? Yeah, guess we really do need to wipe out every last one of those little faerie bastards...”

And so Zelos made his way to the countryside, Ado plodding along begrudgingly in his wake.

* * *

After getting equipment from his room, Uru made his own way to the dueling ground. When he arrived, however, he was baffled to find a huge crowd waiting for him.

“Wh-Why are all these people here?” he asked.

“Ah, yes—sorry about that!” Zelos said. “A lot of residents recognized me from last time, when I dealt with that whole faerie business. They got curious about what we were up to, and, well...”

“Still—this many?”

Villagers Uru knew well lined the field. Small villages like Hasam had little in the way of entertainment. Naturally, the neighbors had overheard all the commotion that morning. Rumors spread like wildfire in the country, and it had taken no time at all for everyone to gather, eager to see what happened next. They’d even brought food.

“Well, if it ain’t li’l mister Uru! So you’re really ’boutta duel, eh? Go get ’em, lad!”

“Now, look ’ere, li’l Uru... Don’t you think it’s a bit mean to try takin’ someone else’s girl? I know it can be hard for you youngsters to control your emotions, but granny ’ere doesn’t think that’s very nice of you...”

“Yui’s a real beauty, ain’t she, Uru? I can see why you’d fall for ’er! If only I was ten years younger, I’d be... Gah hah hah!”

“What was that, dear? Come over ’ere—sounds like someone needs an earful!”

“Ah, I remember those days...”

“Makin’ the most of their youth, ain’t they?”

Uru had intended it to be a serious affair, but at some point, his duel had basically become a public humiliation ritual.

“You’re doing this to throw me off, aren’t you?! You coward!” he spat at Ado.

“How is this my fault?!” Ado cried. “You’re the one who spent the morning shouting loud enough for the whole village to hear! You don’t get to pin this on me!”

“Ahem—attention, please!” Zelos said. “How about we get this duel on the road? I’ll be your referee for today. Any objections?”

“Hang on—why’d you make yourself the ref, Zelos?” Ado asked. “Whatever... I guess it’s fine.”

“I have a lot of objections, but...I’ll allow it,” Uru said.

With no objection from the others, he raised his megaphone to his mouth and grinned. He was clearly having fun acting as both referee and emcee. He’d even changed into his Black Destroyer outfit.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen! Looks like both these sacks of shit are raring to go. One final check to make sure they’re ready, then how about we get ’em into position? What do you say, folks—ready for some mage-on-mage action?”

The crowd erupted in a cheer.

“That’s how you describe us? Prick...” Ado muttered.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have let him referee,” Uru said.

The villagers were fired up, making for quite the rowdy crowd around the two duelists. And it seemed like there’d be a flood of booing if the match ended in a single attack.

The spectators were obviously hoping for an intense battle, which only made things more awkward for the duelists.

By this point, Shakti, Lisa, and even Yui, the duel’s “prize,” were surprised by how much Zelos was hamming this up.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you, Zelos? You’ve even changed your outfit,” Lisa noted.

“I think he just likes stirring up chaos,” Shakti said. “He probably lives for this kind of drama.”

“Hmm... But like, I’d think Toshi would be the same, though. If he wasn’t one of the contestants, I mean,” Yui said. “I get the feeling those two are cut from the same cloth.”

Maybe one stalker had been drawn to another, and one destruction-loving Sage to another.

“Right, then—let’s go over the rules!” Zelos said.

“Wait, wait, wait! ‘Rules’? Aren’t we just gonna fight?” Ado replied.

“Why do you get to decide how we fight?” Uru said. “I never agreed to that!”

“Mmm... Are you two sure that’s how you want to play things? Everything needs rules, my dear contestants! You thought this duel would be a simple slugfest? Nonsense! If you two just fought, what chance would widdle Uru stand against Addy-Addy? It’d be completely one-sided, and who wants to watch that?”

“Don’t call me ‘Addy-Addy’!”

“I don’t care what’s entertaining! This is a duel, not a show! And why are you calling me ‘widdle’?!”

“Hmph... Neither of you gets it. See, this is why I have to treat you like children.”

The duelists were dissatisfied, but Zelos was right: Duels had rules. Typically, duels between knights or nobles were fought with swords, with both contestants’ honor on the line. Spells and magic tools were usually prohibited, except in rare cases where it was permitted to level the playing field between two obviously mismatched duelists.

“Uru, I’ll be frank: You’ve got no chance of beating Ado,” Zelos said. “The difference between you is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth. One basic Fire spell and you’re charcoal—that’s how staggering the disparity is. Trying to strategize would be meaningless, and charging head-on is a death sentence. You’d be utterly helpless against his firepower. Even if he did his very best to hold back, you’d still wind up bedridden from injuries. There’s no getting around that.”

“What kind of nonsense—”

“Sorry to tell you, but it’s not nonsense. It’s a fact. You’re the one who made the stupid decision to challenge such a high-level mage to a duel. I can envision how embarrassing a no-holds-barred fight would be for you—an instantaneous loss, with a huge crowd watching. Plus, wouldn’t that be such a boring end to all this?”

“This madman...” both duelists muttered.

“Oh, and I’m not about to listen to you prattle on about wanting to test his strength yourself,” Zelos continued. “Ado isn’t just a mage—he’s an obscenely powerful mage. You were never going to stand a chance against him in a contest of magic.”

Uru had graduated from the Istol Academy of Magic and was stronger than your average mage. He had a reasonable deal of combat experience too, so he was confident he could wallop almost anyone in a fight.

But today, he was far outclassed.

The gap between a Sage and a regular high-ranking mage was simply overwhelming, and that was before you factored in the bonus each would get from their respective job skill.

Case in point, Ado was fully intending to end the duel with a single hit.

It wasn’t fair by any measure.

“Stop fooling around!” Uru shouted. “If he were such a powerful mage, he’d be famous. I’ve had enough of your cheap attempts to trick me!”

“I know you should never say a match is decided before it’s even happened, but some odds are just too great to overcome,” Zelos said. “Why are you so confident you can win? It isn’t like you’ve studied every person in the world, is it? There’ll be plenty of people out there stronger than you. If I were to face you, for example, you’d be dead in an instant. Without a handicap, this won’t even be a contest. You’re a mage, aren’t you? Use your head. Put your emotions aside for a moment.”

“Fine—for the sake of argument, let’s say a mage like that does exist,” Uru said. “Even so, they wouldn’t be traveling in broad daylight, would they? Someone that strong would almost certainly be working for the state, and they wouldn’t be as young as him!”

“What makes you so confident he can’t be powerful at his age? What do you even know about us? Nothing—am I right? You don’t even know where Yui grew up, do you?”

Silence.

Zelos was right: Uru didn’t know the first thing about Ado and his companions, let alone the woman he loved. But that ignorance had only fueled his frustration, which had festered into jealousy, and then anger, and then his ill-informed decision to challenge Ado to a duel.

“And so, here are the rules,” Zelos continued in the same measured, indifferent tone. “Uru will be permitted to use magic items and potions to increase the potency of his magic. Meanwhile, Ado must fight with nothing but an iron sword—he will be prohibited from using any magic. Oh—and this isn’t up for debate. Duels have to be fair. I don’t want anyone having grounds to complain about the outcome later.”

That, of course, was a massive lie.

It was true that if Ado and Uru had to duel, Zelos thought it’d be best if they had a fair fight that both would be satisfied with. But Zelos was mostly motivated by something far simpler: He just didn’t want this to be boring. He had no moral high ground here at all.

“Anyway, Uru, if you’re going to use magic tools, prepare them now,” Zelos said.

“And I’m only allowed to use a sword, right?” Ado confirmed.

“Hmm. I still feel like we might need a bigger handicap, actually... Ah! Of course! Rock Pillar!”

Zelos’s spell was earth magic that was usually used to impale large monsters. It created stone pillars beneath its target, which then plunged up into their bellies.

As Zelos cast the spell, two huge pillars formed on the field, stretching into the sky.

“Each of you must protect your pillar while destroying your opponent’s. That’s the win condition. You’ve got until the spell’s effect runs out and the pillars disappear to do so. You’re allowed to attack and disrupt your opponent, but you’re not allowed to kill them. You can set traps if you’d like. The duel will begin when you’re both standing by your pillars and you’ve finished preparing. You get all that?”

“So we try to knock their pillar down, and we’re allowed to attack them or disrupt them? Simple enough,” Ado said.

“I’m not happy about all of this, but fine,” Uru said. “I still don’t believe you about how strong he is, but if you insist that these rules will make it a fair contest, I’ll allow it.”

“Oh—just to be clear, while Ado can’t use any magic during the duel, he can use it during the preparation phase to set traps. Absolutely no lethal traps, though, Ado—and none based on any crazy-powerful magic. Before you start preparing, I’ll create a wall between you two so you can’t see what the other’s doing.”

“You’re just throwing on more rules whenever you feel like it, aren’t you?” Ado said.

Ado didn’t really care about the details, though. Uru, meanwhile, wasn’t happy with them, but he begrudgingly agreed.

Even though Zelos had made these rules more for his own entertainment than out of the kindness of his heart, he gave an exasperated sigh at Uru. The young man was clearly too stubborn to listen to reason.

He was an oblivious fool, and his ignorance was the only thing propping up his hope.

Soon, though, this duel would show him the cold, hard reality.

Grinning wildly, Zelos used Gaia Control to create a wall that would hide each duelist’s side of the field from the other. He was obviously itching to watch this play out.

Chapter 12: The Pitfalls of Dueling

Two huge pillars towered over the open field outside Hasam.

To win the duel, Ado and Uru needed to take down their opponent’s pillar. They were allowed to use physical attacks, nonlethal traps, and (in Uru’s case) attack magic. More specifically, Uru was allowed to use spells, magic tools, and other magic items, while Ado—as a handicap—could only use a sword.

On the surface, that sounded like a pretty unfair fight...but the gap between the two duelists was large enough to justify those rules. If anything, Uru needed a bigger handicap.

Before the duel started, Ado and Uru were given time to set traps in front of their respective pillars. Neither was thrilled with Zelos’s rules, but they nevertheless both scurried to lay traps that’d hopefully protect their pillar.

There was a handicap with regard to these traps too. Namely, Ado wasn’t allowed to use any deadly traps, while Uru had no restrictions whatsoever.

As a Sage, though, Ado had incredibly high magic resistance; traps weren’t likely to work on him.

Before long, the two young men were ready to begin.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” Zelos shouted through his megaphone. “Let’s get this duel started! For our first contestant today, we have the village mayor’s grandson, a mage who graduated at the top of his class from the Istol Academy of Magic. Let’s give it up for Uru! And now for the man he’ll be fighting: a battle-hardened, elite mage whose talents have helped him out of more close calls than he can count—and have earned him VIP status abroad. Let’s hear it for Ado! Now, what sort of heart-pounding battle are we about to see from these two? I can feel the tension in the air already! Today’s winner will receive the right to take Yui’s hand in marriage! Mind you, I think the winner’s already set in stone in her heart, but... Well, someone here doesn’t know when to give up, eh? How far will his childish stubbornness get him against a man he’s no match for!”

“You’re the one who pushed us into doing this thing!” Ado shouted. “And who gave you the right to turn Yui into a prize?!”

“How long do you intend to treat me like a fool?!” Uru yelled.

Both competitors were mad at Zelos now, but anyone could see why. He had turned their duel into this public spectacle.

“Yes! In one corner, we have Uru, the selfish suitor who doesn’t give a damn about his own love interest’s feelings; in the other, we have Ado, the lucky bastard who’s somehow popular with the ladies despite being an utter buffoon,” Zelos said, continuing his enthusiastic commentary for the crowd. “It’s a clash of extremes!”

“We don’t need your input!” the duelists shouted at him.

But this was Zelos’s chance to run his mouth as much as he wanted, and he intended to make proper use of it.

“Now, let’s get a word from our competitors: the harebrained stalker-boy who wants to steal his opponent’s girl, and the damn normie bastard who wants to have a happy life with his loving wife.”

“‘Damn normie bastard’? Oh, can it already!” Ado snapped back. “Whatever. This prick wants to put his hands on my wife, so I’m gonna teach him a lesson. I’ll let him know exactly who he decided to pick a fight with!”

“I’m not wrong, am I?” Zelos shrugged. “You’re the pinnacle of normie. Just looking at you makes me mad. You and Yui are so sickeningly sweet that you two could subsidize the whole world’s sugar supply... Actually, you know what—mind if I stab you myself?”

“You don’t deserve Yui,” Uru spat at Ado, ignoring Zelos. “I’ll make her happy—you just shut your mouth and get out of the picture. In fact... Today’s the day I erase you from the picture myself.”

“And there you have it! Your favorite hometown stalker’s dropped his mask! Not even one word about what Yui wants!” Zelos commentated. “It sure seems like someone can’t see farther than his own fantasies, wouldn’t you say? A word for the boy: Leave the dreaming for bedtime!”

Zelos wasn’t holding back in the slightest.

But neither was the crowd:

“Don’t get hurt out there, Uru!”

“What kinda man tries to steal another guy’s lady? Know when to call it quits!”

“Forget that little girl! You’d be much happier with a MILF...like me!”

“Don’t worry, pookums—if you lose, I’ll be happy to comfort you! All...night...long... Mweh-heh! ♡”

Starved for entertainment, the villagers were treating this duel like some big festival.

“Zelos is so bitter toward Ado, isn’t he? You can hear it every time he talks...” Yui said.

“Still, he did make that rule saying they can’t try to kill each other,” Shakti said. “Which was a good idea, don’t you think? Plus, having all these people around should make them think twice about murdering their opponent.”

“Mmm... I don’t think that’s the only reason he turned it into a spectacle, though,” Lisa said. “I mean, even if he’s being pretty vague, he’s still giving a backstory for each fighter, getting the crowd invested, setting this up as some big climax... Don’t you think he might be doing that so that everyone knows this is the end of it once the winner’s decided?”

“Oh. That’d make sense... So he’s assuming Ado will win and making it so that Uru can’t try to talk his way out of it when he loses?” Shakti mused. “Framing it like that for this big crowd means Uru won’t have a leg to stand on once he loses here. Zelos is quite the schemer, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. It’s impressive... He came up with this plan to deal with Uru in no time at all. Still, I feel like he’s being a bit mean-spirited about it. Like, I can tell part of his motivation is just spite...” Lisa said.

While the reincarnator women had their criticisms of Zelos, they were overall impressed.

But it must be said that it was all a coincidence! Zelos had come up with the rules on the fly. He hadn’t had any clear intent in mind, let alone some secret master plan.

Maybe he would have put some sort of plan together if he’d known about everything in advance, but there was no way he could’ve devised perfect countermeasures for a situation that had developed as suddenly as this one had. He’d just been quick to react, that was all.

And that reaction, if anything, had honestly just been: Well, this has turned into quite a mess, hasn’t it? In which case, how about I make it the flashiest mess it can be?

That was what had led to this farce of a duel.

“Looks like our competitors are ready. Well, then, it’s time for Bride Battle: Sweetheart Versus Stalker to begin!”

“Toshiiiiii! You can do this!” Yui shouted from the sidelines.

“Don’t embarrass us by losing, Ado!” Lisa said.

“Watch out! I know this should be easy for you, but you could still lose if you let your guard down, okay?” Shakti warned him.

The other spectators joined in too:

“Think about how the girlie feels here, Uru!”

“She was looking forward to seeing ’er ’usband again, wasn’t she? Why’d you ’ave to go an’ get in their way?!”

“Be a man, dammit! Know when you’ve lost!”

“Forget about trying to steal another guy’s wife—you can marry me!”

“Iv ya lose, barry be! Bweh heh heh heh!”

“Oi! Yer already married, ain’tcha?! To me! You plannin’ ta get a divorce?!”

Some of these bystanders were odd folks, but they were all staring at the two young men with varying kinds of excitement as they waited with bated breath for the duel to begin.

Finally, Zelos raised his hand.

“All right, mages. On your marks, get set, GO!”

KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Using Explode, an area spell, Zelos suddenly blew up the wall dividing the two sides of the field. The resulting explosion opened a huge crater in the middle of the field, covering the whole area in a cloud of dust.

This was one stupid way to start a duel.

“Why’d you have to do that?!”

“Th-That power... He can use the highest-level magic? And could that mean that this man is just as...”

You had to be a pretty elite mage to throw around Explode like that.

After all, it was the kind of spell that typically got passed down from master to apprentice; it didn’t get taught at the Istol Academy of Magic. Uru, of course, wasn’t able to use it.

But while Ado had complained about Zelos using the spell, he didn’t seem all that surprised to see him use it.

And that, Uru figured, meant that Ado had already known Zelos could use Explode. Maybe Ado could use it too. Uru was starting to think Zelos might not have been lying after all when he’d warned Uru he had no chance of defeating Ado.

Only now was Uru realizing what a dangerous arena he’d stepped into—and how utterly outclassed he would’ve been in a standard duel.

But he can’t use magic, and that means I still have a chance!

Under Zelos’s rules, Ado was prohibited from using magic. He’d only been allowed to use it to set traps to protect his pillar; now that the duel had started, his sole weapon was a shoddy sword. Uru, meanwhile, could use long-range attack magic, so he was confident he had an advantage.

“Arrows of flame, bombard my foe! Let a thousand arrows burn them to ash! Flame Arrow!”

Despite the incantation, Flame Arrow didn’t actually produce a thousand projectiles. It was more like fifteen, each a little larger than those created by the similar Fire Arrow spell. Still, Uru thought it’d make for a strong preemptive strike against an opponent who could only use a melee weapon.

But Uru was about to witness something truly unbelievable.

With one casual swing of his sword, Ado cut through all of the flaming arrows.

“Hah! You think that’s enough to take me down?!”

Just like that, Uru’s spell was gone.

Ado hadn’t performed your average slash. He’d generated so much power that the displaced air became a weapon unto itself, shearing grass from the ground and dispersing Uru’s flaming spears before dissipating.

“I thought you were a mage?!” Uru called out. “Did you trick me? O-Or... No—don’t tell me you’ve been doing the same thing I have...”

Since Uru traveled between different towns and villages to peddle his potions, he was constantly at risk of getting ambushed along the road by bandits or monsters. Realizing the importance of close-quarters combat, he’d trained himself in it. He wasn’t as competent with a sword as he was with magic, though. He might’ve managed against monsters, but his swordsmanship wasn’t good enough to beat another human in an actual fight. It was serviceable at best, but when he combined it with his magic, he could at least keep himself safe.

Ado’s slash had been a different beast entirely. The very height of swordsmanship.

In other words, there was no doubt about it now: Ado far surpassed Uru in both magic and sword skills.

Both men were mages who knew how to fight up close, but there was a world of difference between knowing how to do something and having mastered it.

Ado was a different type of mage altogether: a type who could defeat Uru without casting even a single spell.

Now that Uru couldn’t win by relying on the simple fact that he could cast magic while his opponent couldn’t, he’d have to draw on every bit of his talent to get through this.

Unfortunately, the gap between them was too wide.

“Damn it... Fireball!” Uru shouted, unleashing the spell from one of his rings.

Ado had no trouble dodging.

Under the rules of this duel, participants were allowed to interfere with one another but not kill. Each player’s objective was to destroy the pillar on the opposite side of the field. To get within attack range of that pillar, however, they first had to incapacitate the opponent standing in their way.

If this had been a team battle, each side’s defenders could’ve held the enemy while attackers went for the other team’s pillar.

But in a one-on-one duel, you had to make your own opening. In turn, the key to victory lay in determining how to immobilize your opponent and strike while they couldn’t stop you.

Uru had a weakness there, though: His repertoire of magic was limited.

He might’ve studied at the Istol Academy of Magic, but its instructors only taught so many spells. Obviously, they didn’t teach mere students the most powerful spells available.

Most high-tier spells were area spells capable of devastating enemy forces with a single cast. And to purchase something that dangerous, mages had to undergo a strict and expensive evaluation. Even if they passed, the spell scrolls themselves cost a pretty penny.

While the evaluations helped prevent crime, they could be rough on your average mage.

As someone born to a peasant family in a farming village, Uru simply didn’t have that kind of money sitting around. As a result, he hadn’t been able to afford to learn those kinds of spells and had eventually given up.

Secretly, this system had also been designed to protect the prestige of mages from noble backgrounds. Even so, a good number of commoners had passed the evaluation and earned access to high-tier magic. Many of them often went on to work for the state.

“O raging lands, coalesce; make me a spear to shatter even steel. Impale my foe as they encroach; grant them death. Earth Lance!”

But yet again, Ado cut through Uru’s attack as if it were butter.

“Outta my way!”

And in the time Uru had taken to say the spell’s incantation, Ado had closed the distance.

It had been a fatal delay for Uru.

Worse, the incantation had allowed Ado to determine which spell Uru would use. While it had been obvious that Ado would approach—each duelist had to first get within range if they wanted to destroy their opponent’s pillar—the speed of his approach was terrifying.

Plus, he was dodging or parrying every attempt to slow him down.

Carelessly firing off spells was going to do nothing but deplete Uru’s mana. And if he ran out of mana, he wouldn’t even be able to move.

He’s not just a first-rate mage. He’s a first-rate swordsman too... Argh! Why does it have to be someone like him?!

Uru envied Ado’s talent.

Of course, the other four reincarnators had known all along that Uru stood no chance of winning.

In fact, Zelos had been confident enough to give Uru a handicap.

As Uru became increasingly aware of his own weakness, his hatred for Ado only grew hotter.

He knew his feelings for Yui were one-sided. He knew he was being selfish. But he couldn’t lie to himself.

He didn’t want to give up. He didn’t want to see the happiness he’d found shattered. And he absolutely refused to part with Yui.

His love for her was the real deal, and it made him as stubborn as nails.

Even if he lost this duel, he was confident his love for Yui would never fade.

Ado, on the other hand, was surprised by just how weak his opponent was.

When Zelos said I wasn’t allowed to use magic, I thought I’d be at a disadvantage. But mages in this world really aren’t worth worrying about, huh? I knew they were weak, but I didn’t think things were this bad... When all of them are shouting incantations, you can figure out what kind of attack’s coming pretty easily and deal with it. Anyone who wants to put up a fight against me has to be able to cast without incantations and use multiple spells at once, at the bare minimum. But...I guess this is what passes as normal for mages in this world? In Swords & Sorceries, this guy would’ve been weak even for a noob.

Uru wore red robes, identifying him as a high-ranking mage according to Solistian law—but that didn’t mean anything to Ado. He just continued using his sword to bat away every magic attack that flew at him.

Even the most adept of swordsmen in this world couldn’t fend off magic like this.

I guess I should finish him, huh? Dragging it out any more than I am would just be kinda sad. I don’t wanna bully someone this weak... Zelos knew I’d be able to swat away all this guy’s magic with a sword, didn’t he? Damn, the guy’s sly...

While Ado had plenty of mana and energy left in the tank, Uru panted in exhaustion as he alternated between chugging magic potions and firing off magic at Ado.

Ado couldn’t help but see Zelos as some villainous mastermind for setting these rules. They almost seemed designed to highlight Uru’s powerlessness.

What had sounded like a handicap wasn’t doing anything of the sort; in the face of the enormous level difference between the two duelists, it just didn’t matter. It was more like a mean trick that gave Uru a ray of hope before reality came crashing down to show him how far out of his league he really was.

In a duel between mages, losing to an opponent who hadn’t cast even a single spell would be an utter embarrassment.

While it was important to make Uru understand his place, this was ruthless.

After all, he’d never had the slightest chance of victory, right from the start.

Uru was at fault for letting his emotions get the best of him, of course, but that didn’t mean Ado’s hands were clean here—he’d ultimately accepted the duel, even if he hadn’t known what it would lead to.

The fact that things had turned out this way was a mere coincidence, though. Even Zelos didn’t spend his days inventing conniving schemes.

Okay, he was a pretty conniving kind of guy, but—

What was the guy’s name again... Uru? Sorry, man, but it’s time to say goodbye to your pillar!

Ado broke into an all-out sprint, planning to deliver the coup de grâce. He slipped past Uru with ease, then beelined for his pillar.

While he wasn’t allowed to use magic now, he still had his combat skills like Physical Enhancement, which was like the martial arts concept of circulating energy throughout your body. In this world, such things were called “arts.” They were effectively physical moves or abilities—unlike spells, which were cast by activating a formula stored in the caster’s mind.

The two disciplines could have similar effects, but each was based on different underlying principles.

“Argh... I can’t keep up!”

“Sorry ’bout that! But remember, you’re the one who picked this fight. And it’s time for me to wrap it up.”

“Not on my watch! Victory will be mine! Flames, ignite my enemy with a ball of blazing hellfire... Fireball!”

“Yeah, like that’ll hit me!”

“Flaming arrow, pierce my foe. Fire Arrow!”

“Hah. Getting desperate, are we?”

Uru targeted Ado’s feet with his back-to-back spells, but Ado avoided them effortlessly.

As the spectators watched the spells miss, they figured Uru’s defeat was imminent.

“Yeah... It’s over, isn’t it?”

“This is what he gets for trying to steal someone else’s lass! If the other lad’s Yui’s husband, then they must already be in love, no?”

“As a guy, the idea of dueling for the girl ya love gets ya pumped up, but...he never even had a chance, huh? Poor chap.”

“Still, even if he’s silly... I want someone to love me that much! ♡”

“C’mon—he’s bein’ nothin’ but a pest to that girl. You see that, don’tcha? He’s doin’ this all outta his own selfishness.”

As the villagers were saying, Uru’s duel with Ado had been destined to be pointless all along. Yui had never had feelings for Uru to begin with.

The duel only served to make Uru look like a clown for getting so fired up about it.

Sometimes, though, it was hard to go against your emotions. Sometimes you had to find some kind of outlet for those emotions, or you’d never be able to move on.

And now that Uru’s latent stalker tendencies had been triggered, he’d probably tail the couple forever unless something was done to stop him.

Proving he was no match for Ado was an effective way of making him give up.

And frankly, at this point, Uru had tried everything—except, of course, for his trump card: The trap he’d laid before the duel.

Having realized how much stronger his opponent was, Uru knew he had no choice but to wager everything on this trap. Speaking of which—

“Bwaaargh?!” Ado shouted, and then he abruptly disappeared.

“Wh-Where’d the girlie’s husband go?!” the villagers cried.

I got him!

He’d run right over a trap—Pitfall, an earth spell. Uru had created several traps, including several shoddy-looking decoys to conceal the real pitfall.

All that had remained was to lure Ado to the real trap.

Uru didn’t know how much time this would buy him, but it was his final weapon.

Ado, in his defense, had been looking out for traps as he moved through the battlefield. But Uru’s attacks at his feet and back had distracted him, and then he’d been unfortunate enough to run right over the trap.

Uru had capitalized on the fact that Ado had underestimated him.

“U-Ugh?! What is this stuff... Wait—slime liquid?!”

The sticky, liquid substance at the bottom of the trap, known as “slime liquid,” became even stickier when it reacted with water. It was commonly used for capturing monsters. It was made by grinding a large number of slime cores into a fine powder, which would then expand dramatically once it came into contact with even a palmful of water. The stuff was insanely sticky.

Since even ambient humidity could cause the slime to swell, it was difficult to handle. A hassle of a material, really.

“You were so overconfident that you let your guard down, I see! Well, then—victory is mine!”

Uru cast a spell to boost his agility, then made a dash for Ado’s pillar.

The sudden turnaround sent the spectators into a frenzy of cheers—

“Gaaaaaah!”

—and then Uru promptly fell into a pitfall trap too.

And this one also had slime liquid at the bottom.

It looked like the duelists had come up with the exact same idea.

“Y-You coward!” Uru shouted from the bottom of the hole.

“Oh, shut up!” Ado snapped back. “Of course I’d put something there just in case! Nothing’s deadlier than overconfidence!”

“How much longer do you intend to stand in my way?! Just give up and get lost already!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me! I guess falling for someone else’s wife wasn’t enough for you. Now you won’t be happy until you steal her for yourself—it fucking pisses me off! She’s not even interested in you! She never has been!”

“I could make her so much happier than you can! And I’ll raise the child that’s in her belly! Her eyes may be on you now, but with enough time, she’ll come to love me as I love her! I just know it!”

“And what are you basing that on?! Nothing, right?! Plus, you basically admitted that you don’t even care about how she feels, haven’t you? I’m amazed you’ve got the guts to say you love her when you’re treating her like that! Stop getting caught up in your fantasies, you selfish asshole!”

Given that the duel was happening in an open field, they’d only been able to set certain types of traps. Even so, it was hilarious that they’d fallen for the exact trap type they’d set themselves.

By this point, the duel had devolved into spitting insults back and forth from the bottom of a couple of holes. It was a bit anticlimactic.

“What kind of girl would want a dude covered in slime? Nobody wins here...” Zelos said.

“That’s your takeaway from this?” Lisa retorted.

“I’m cringing just watching this,” Shakti sighed. “They’re both nothing but idiots.”

“Does this mean the duel’s a draw?” Yui asked.

“Hmm... Good question,” Zelos said. “Well, I’d probably say sheer tenacity’ll let Ado take the win.”

What had started as a duel between mages had become two guys hurling verbal abuse at one another from the bottom of a couple of gooey holes.

Tch, Ado thought. I can’t attack unless I get out of this h— Hang on a minute. I can still see the pillar from down here, so why don’t I just throw my sword? I’m pretty sure there was some kinda sword skill that’d be perfect for this...

If I just stand here, he’ll beat me to the punch, Uru thought. But I can see the pillar, so if I put everything I have into blasting it with magic...

Both men started acting at the same time, but the viscous liquid coiled around their bodies restricted their movements.

“Oh? What’s this?! It looks like our contenders are planning to finish the fight from inside the traps!” Zelos announced. “They can probably only see the tip of their target pillar from down there, so hitting it with magic is going to take some impressive control! And remember, they have to destroy the pillar to win, not just damage it. We might’ve had a bit of a lull, but forget about that—this is a race against time now, folks!”

“You can do it, Toshi!”

“Ooh—and we have Yui favoring her husband!” Zelos continued. “Uru won’t be happy about that one! In fact... Neither am I, Ado! I’m jealous! I hope your dick rots off!”

“You’re not even trying to hide your inner thoughts now, are you, Zelos?” Shakti said. “I feel like that says something about you as a person...”

“Come on, Zelos! Just whose side are you on here?” Yui pouted.

“Hmph... That should be obvious. I’m on the side of every unpopular bachelor out there!”

“M-My hero! He sees me!” cried a bunch of guys on the sidelines.

Zelos had earned the support of the rural men starved for prospective brides.

At the end of the day, human nature was the same regardless of what era or world you were in.

And the farming village of Hasam had an especially high ratio of bachelors. Most were firstborn sons or second sons who’d been forced to find new land to cultivate.

Their circumstances made it difficult for them to find partners.

Dammit, Zelos... Knock it off already! And fuck, it’s hard to move...

Ado was desperately trying to ready his sword at the bottom of the pit. Determination and—quite literally, mana—emanated from his entire body. In staggering volume.

Forget destroying the pillar—this was enough mana to utterly blow it away.

Uru despaired as he felt Ado’s mana wash over him like a tidal wave of pressure.

What’s even so good about that guy, Yui?! A-And... What’s with all this mana?! I underestimated him. I didn’t even know a mage could have this much mana. But still, I can’t lose!

By saying that Yui was “favoring her husband,” Zelos had stoked the fire of Uru’s jealousy.

Uru’s magic didn’t have a lot of force to it. Plus, he used traditional magic, which was fairly inefficient. If he pushed himself, it’d take a toll on his body.

But he resolved himself to shoulder that burden and put every bit of mana he had into his attacks.

He desperately chanted a spell. Every moment, every word, felt like an eternity.

“Flaming arrow, pierce my foe. Fire Arrow!”

At Uru’s level, the Fire Arrow spell could only shoot off fifteen projectiles or so, even if he was at full mana when he cast it. He was allowed to use magic tools to boost his magic’s potency, but the effect was negligible.

He needed to chant an incantation for every spell he cast, and the impatience he felt as he did threw him off as he tried to focus.

While Uru chanted, Ado focused mana into his sword.

Uru could tell from experience that a terrifying amount of mana was gathering at a single point.

Desperate, Uru whittled away at the pillar with his magic. But the pillar—made with magic itself—was sturdier than he’d expected. Destroying it wasn’t going to be easy.

He was panicking.

He couldn’t focus.

Every moment felt so torturously long.

Never before had he been this frustrated by his need to use incantations.

And he could tell that, behind him, Ado had finished preparing his own final attack.

“Sword Throw: Thunderblade!”

The sword flew through the air and, upon impact, stuck into the pillar and unleashed the overflowing mana Ado had packed into it. Thunder boomed; lightning split the skies, then rained down destruction on the surrounding area.

The force of the collision created a huge shock wave, and just like that, the pillar shattered and toppled like a building demolished with explosives. The ensuing cloud of dust swept over the spectators.

Behind him, Uru heard his pillar falling to pieces.

“Wha—?!”

Finally managing to crawl out of the pit, Uru saw that he hadn’t even managed to destroy one-third of Ado’s pillar. Meanwhile, Ado had reduced Uru’s pillar to smithereens.

“There’s no way... I’ve never heard of any sword skills like this. You must have used magic, didn’t y—”

“I didn’t use magic. It was Thunderblade. A sword-throwing skill you learn when you become an Elite Swordsman. It’s a more advanced version of Thundering Toss.”

“B-But that force it had—how is that any different from magic?! I won’t accept this!”

“It isn’t magic, though. Just a sword skill. It’d be kinda hard to give you any more of a handicap than you’ve already got, y’know...”

Sword skills, swordsmanship, arts—regardless of which term you preferred, they were distinct from magic in that they didn’t use spell formulas.

Magic was constructed from magic letters, so it was effectively a field of science centered around transforming mana into physical phenomena. You could probably compare it to something like programming or design.

Sword skills, on the other hand, worked by charging mana into a weapon to boost its power. While these skills did have attributes, their specific effects ultimately depended on the materials used to make the weapon and the individual’s own nature.

Some people specialized in thunder and lightning, others in fire; there were even some prodigies who had mastery over multiple elements.

That was only true of this world and its denizens, mind you. Every Swords & Sorceries player was able to use skills of any attribute.

However, being able to use many different arts wasn’t the same as having mastered them. Many arts sat there completely unused.

Plus, the more force an art provided, the more it reduced a weapon’s durability, so powerful skills came with the drawback of shortening your weapon’s lifespan.

Ado had basically used an ultimate, and one that certainly wasn’t in the repertoire of your average knight or mercenary from this world.

“I did say you wouldn’t stand a chance against Ado, didn’t I?” Zelos said. “He went through all sorts of terrifying ordeals to get this strong.”

“Bit rich coming from you, Zelos,” Ado said. “You and your group were the ones who dragged me into all those ordeals.”

“Heh... Well, it’s all in the past. Besides, I’m not as unreasonable as the rest of them.”

“Yeah, that’s true... You weren’t as bad to deal with as them. You’re splitting hairs here, though. You were still bad!”

“I don’t remember causing casualties like Brose did, at least! I took plenty of precautions.”

“Yeah, but you sure took me to some insanely dangerous places! Oh—speaking of Brose, I met him recently. He’s still doing his thing as the Barbarian. And he was surrounded by a bunch of beastfolk wives.”

“So he’s a normie now too, huh? I mean, the guy’s a furry, so I’m not exactly jealous, but...”

Kemo Brose was a disciple of one of the Destroyers, Kemo Luvyune. And just like his mentor, he was an inveterate furry. He adored beastfolk of all kinds, ranging from “pretty much a human with some animal ears and a tail” to those who looked completely animalistic.

And despite having the body of a middle schooler, he apparently had seventeen wives now. Plus, that number was climbing fast. Coming to this world had turned his dreams into reality: He had a big, fluffy harem now.

“I refuse to accept this as our duel! I refuse to accept this outcome! Waaaaaah!” Uru shouted.

“Wha— Crap!” Ado said.

“Mmm... So he’s lost it after all. Yup, about what I expected,” Zelos said.

“You’ve left me no choice,” Uru muttered. “I’ll have to abduct her, take her somewhere safe, confine her... Then to make sure she can’t run away, I’ll grab her legs and—”

“God, that’s creepy!” Ado and Zelos reacted.

Uru’s refusal to give up on his love, combined with his extreme possessiveness, had made him even more desperate. And now, that desperation was pushing him over the edge. His nature kept him stewing in his resentment, and ultimately, he seized on an extreme course of action.

He started running straight at Yui, and all of a sudden he had a knife in his hand.

Perhaps he’d determined that with Zelos and the others there, even kidnapping her wouldn’t be possible. So it seemed like he’d decided on the sociopathic option of I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill myself! We’ll be happy together in heaven!

But his desires were not to be.

TING!

As he thrust the knife at Yui, an invisible wall repelled it.

She’d calmly activated the amulet Zelos had given her in advance.

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew... That was scary.”

“Why... Why won’t you love me back?!” Uru cried.

“She already has someone. You were never going to have a chance with her,” Shakti said. “However strong your feelings are, she doesn’t feel the same way about you.”

“You never even confessed to her, right?” Lisa said. “And now you’re just trying to force your love on her? Her heart was already with someone else. You should’ve known she was never going to love you back.”

“But what part of me isn’t good enough?! Do I need more strength?! Power?! Authority? Money?! Are you saying I’m not worth even considering?!”

People whose emotions were this out of control didn’t tend to act on logic.

Shakti and Lisa made good points, but they weren’t getting through to him.

Somewhere inside, Uru realized what they were saying was true. He’d already known it, but he hadn’t been able to accept it—and that was why he’d resorted to such extremes.

He was a lot more childish than he looked. He might’ve made his actions more noble by saying he did them out of love, but at the end of the day, he was nothing more than a nuisance.

“Um... I’m sorry,” Yui replied. “I can’t even think about anyone except Toshi, so I have zero interest in any other guy. In fact, every other man looks like a scarecrow to me. And your faces all look identical. Honestly, I can only tell other guys apart by their voices.”

“S-Scarecrows? Even... Even me? That’s how you see me? Aha... Aha ha ha ha... Oh, what a stupid...”

Now that was a clear rejection.

Just as she’d been with Ted, Yui was utterly merciless.

Being turned down like that had to hurt, even if Uru had never had a chance with her to begin with. He’d been desperate to make Yui his, even if he’d had to kill her to do so. But now, with even that option gone, there was nothing left he could do.

Theoretically, killing Ado would’ve been an option if the gap between the two of them wasn’t so enormous. But at this point, he knew all too well that would be impossible.

And so, young Uru’s intense first love was over.

After the duel, the men of the village were kind enough to drink with him and console him.

It should go without saying that the next morning, Uru was laid up with a nasty hangover.

* * *

“Right. Guess we should get going,” Ado said.

“When we get there, you’re all free to stay at my place for a while instead of an inn,” Zelos offered. “I’ve got plenty of room.”

“Thanks, Zelos. We appreciate it,” said Ado, Shakti, Lisa, and Yui in unison.

Zelos’s three coccos joined the four of them in Ado’s kei car. Meanwhile, Zelos took point in his Harley-Sanders Model 13 and led them straight to Santor.

Everything that came next would hinge on how Ado’s negotiations with Duke Delthasis went.

Ado sighed. “I wonder what’s gonna happen to us?”

“You’ve been working in some pretty important governmental roles, so I’d guess you’ll get the VIP treatment, for starters,” Zelos said. “After that—well, who knows? I suppose it’ll depend on how your talks with the duke go, eh?”

“Must be nice to be as carefree as you, Zelos,” Ado groaned. “Ever since the king summoned us to his castle, we haven’t been able to decide anything for ourselves. We messed up, huh?”

“I think your big mistake was that you panicked; you didn’t start by giving where you should set yourselves up a proper think,” Zelos said. “You shouldn’t have defaulted to helping out the first people you came across, regardless of how big a pickle they were in. You should’ve laid out clear goals for yourselves before anything else.”

Shortly after arriving in this world, Ado, Shakti, and Lisa had decided to help villagers living pitiful lives.

Their benevolence had earned them the unwanted label of important state guests. If, instead, Zelos had been in Ado’s position, his top priority would’ve been to immediately search for Yui.

Even if he’d come across impoverished villagers or townsfolk along the way, he wouldn’t have looked to act entirely out of the kindness of his heart. After all, he knew that kind of thing would get him caught up in trouble.

That was the difference between Zelos and Ado. That was how they’d ended up in such different positions.

“What should I even do with myself in Solistia?” Ado sighed.

“Hmm... Well, like we were saying—probably something that shows Isalas you can help them out even while you’re here, right? Food logistics, industrial development, or anything else that could improve things in Isalas even a little. Show them that, and I reckon they’ll let you do what you want.”

“The war hawks there kept trying to make me develop weapons for them. In the end, I only made one worth worrying about, but...”

“Oh? Mind telling me more?”

“No way! I know it’s you, Zelos, but I can’t just blab about that!”

“Mmm... Well, I suppose that’s fine. It’s not like I haven’t been getting up to some shenanigans of my own. Let’s agree to keep our mouths shut about a few things.”

Having reached that agreement, the group set off down the Far-Flung Highway.

As they left Hasam behind, their two vehicles—decidedly out of place in this fantasy countryside—kicked up a cloud of dust.

It seemed like they’d stopped caring about merchants seeing them along the road.

Chapter 13: The Academy Students Head to the Undercity

A caravan moved along a road illuminated by dim magic lamps.

Recently renamed the Isa Lante Deepway, this old dwarven road connected the Kingdom of Isalas to the Artom Empire.

Many merchants had been using the Deepway since its recent reopening. They mostly transported a steady supply of mineral resources to the resource-poor Magic Kingdom of Solistia. As a result, the Kingdom of Isalas—which until recently had been forced to sell its minerals to the Holy Land of Metis for cheap—was seeing a major economic boost. If it had taken any longer to finish the Deepway, Isalas could’ve risked being annexed by Metis. They’d cut it pretty close, actually.

Along the route was the ruined undercity of Isa Lante, which was quickly becoming an important location in its own right.

“Damn, this is a long road...” Zweit muttered from within one of the caravan’s carriages. “Wonder how long it goes?”

“According to my map, we should reach Isa Lante before long,” Croesus said.

“Are we... Are we sure this tunnel’s not going to cave in on us? How are you two so calm? Doesn’t it worry you?” Diio said.

“Zweit ought to be used to it by now, hm?” Makarov shrugged. “And Croesus is champing at the bit to see ancient ruins in such pristine condition. C’mon, Diio, use your head...”

The caravan consisted of students of the Istol Academy of Magic. Specifically, the duke’s three children—Zweit, Croesus, and Celestina—as well as Diio, Makarov, Serina, and Yi Ling; Carosty and her entourage; mercenaries and guards, including Anzu and Eromura; and a bunch of other high-achieving students from each faction.

It was quite the ensemble, but that was exactly the problem. Every student here was too high-achieving.

They’d continued to make remarkable progress since their summer break, and their grades had improved enough to put their teachers in a bind.

Normally, instructors would’ve been delighted to have such excellent pupils. The issue was that these students were pushing for political change and proposing factional reform—or, in at least one case, were problem children constantly creating man-made disasters they called “experiments.”

Figuring that they’d be held accountable for their students’ actions and potentially fired if things continued at this rate, the teachers had devised a plausible enough pretense under which to send the students away from the academy.

They were entirely too much for the teachers to handle. Having such excellent young minds was beneficial for each faction as a whole, but the individuals in charge of those factions wanted to maintain the status quo—and they had no idea what to do with kids gunning for change.

“Not that it really matters, but Croesus...” Diio paused. “Where’d you even get that map? Looks like it’s got details about everything in the city...”

“Oh, I helped out with some bits and pieces,” Croesus replied. “And as payment, I had a graduate acquaintance of mine smugg— I mean, er, it was a gift. But please, don’t pry any further, Deep Onion.”

“Who the hell is ‘Deep Onion’?! My name is Diio! You only got the first syllable right! And you were about to say you had someone smuggle it for you, weren’t you?!”

Makarov sighed. “His sister’s remembered our names by now, but he—”

“Aww, don’t get so mad about it, Mack’n’roll,” Zweit said. “This is Croesus we’re talking about, y’know? No way he’d remember anything that doesn’t interest him.”

“Oh, great—so you don’t know my name either! Who’s ‘Mack’n’roll’ supposed to be?! You want me to start thrashing away at some drums or something, huh?!”

Zweit and Croesus still hadn’t learned the names of each other’s friends.

Makarov and Diio had been in the same class as the brothers before. If the brothers still couldn’t remember their names, it seemed like they just didn’t care about them in the slightest.

Maybe the wisest option was giving up.

“By the way, Brother...”

“Mmm? What’s up, Croesus?”

“That guy is supposed to be your guard, isn’t he? What’s he doing?”

“‘That guy’?” Zweit paused, following Croesus’s stare. “Oh. You mean Eromura.”

Eroginis Multielf Ravisha was one of the reincarnators. His real name had been Itsuki Enomura, but everyone called him Eromura. And right now, he was diligently attempting to—

“Oh? So you don’t have a boyfriend? Well... How about me? I’d call myself a pretty devoted guy, y’know?”

“Reeeaaally? But, like, you kinda give off playboy vibes...”

“Aww, me? No way! I may not look like it, but I’m the most honest guy you’ll ever meet! I mean, I know I’m hitting on you, but I had to work up my confidence first, okay?”

“Ehe heh... I find that totally hard to believe, though! You for reals?”

“Oh, one hundred percent! I’m not joking here! I am but a lonely vagabond, searching for a maiden to love...”

—get a girlfriend.

And he wasn’t holding back either.

What was more, a bunch of the other guards were clearly getting annoyed.

“Forget about him,” Zweit sighed. “He’s gonna get beaten up by mercenaries again, isn’t he?”

“Well, that’s rather heartless of you. Aren’t you going to help him?” Croesus asked. “Not that I care. It’s none of my business.”

Croesus was pretty heartless too.

In fact, Croesus had seen several fights break out on the way here and had ignored every one of them, refusing to mediate.

“Urgh... Are we there yet?” Zweit groaned.

“You’ve asked that so many times already. Just be patient,” Croesus said.

“And you’ve said that every time...”

The route to Isa Lante was quite boring, and it didn’t seem like the drudgery was going to end anytime soon.

* * *

Celestina sat in the carriage with the other female students.

A bunch of the girls had already been calling her “Mistress,” but lately people had started using her other nicknames. Some of the other students had started calling her “the Magic Angel” and “the Genius Mageling,” while the teachers had dubbed her “the Classroom Heretic” and “Celestina of the Rebellion.”

Like Croesus, she was too talented for her own good, and the teachers didn’t know what to do with her. But unlike Croesus, she’d been seen as useless until recently. In fact, that was part of the problem—now she was seen as a prodigy who’d learned how to use magic without her teachers’ help.

The teachers knew that some people weren’t innately suited to magic, but they’d never heard of a student who’d overcome such a shortcoming and become a mage through their own efforts. They could already hear the questions they were going to get...

“So a girl you couldn’t teach magic to went off and learned it by herself, without your help... What are you even teaching these kids? Are you saying you’re not capable of doing what a student managed to do? Hey! Are you listening?!”

That was literal, by the way. People were already starting to ask those sorts of questions.

To make matters worse, Celestina had started teaching magic to other struggling students, drawing even more attention to the teachers’ ineptitude.

It wasn’t as if the teachers were slacking off, mind you, and Celestina was tutoring her peers out of the kindness of her heart—but her volunteering was effectively tightening a noose around the necks of her teachers.

Unable to endure being compared to her at every turn, those teachers had eventually decided to effectively banish her, along with most of the academy’s other top achievers, to Isa Lante.

Of course, even if they’d allowed her to stay at the academy, it wasn’t like her instructors had anything more to teach her.

Serina sighed. “I’m so bored. When there’s nothing else to do, I can’t stop eating Yi Ling’s cookies. I’m worried they’ll make me fat...”

“Mmm? What—are you blaming me?” Yi Ling asked. “But you’re the one eating them!”

“Oh, shut up! It is your fault! For making these taste so good! Grr... I only just finished dieting too...”

“You’ve never been able to resist temptation, have you?”

While Serina and Yi Ling snacked, Celestina and Carosty stared at them.

They looked down at their chests, then back at the other girls’.

“Not too big, not too small... I bet Serina’s breasts are perfect under those clothes,” Celestina muttered, despondent.

“And Yi Ling has quite the spectacular bosom, as always,” Carosty said. “Not to mention her baby face, and her aptitude at every kind of housework... I hear she is most popular with the gentlemen.”

“Do you remember that rumor from a while ago that Zweit and I were in some kind of illicit relationship? She was the one who started it. Apparently, she’s quite the gossip...”

While Yi Ling usually came across as the gentle, spacey type, she had a surprisingly sharp mind. Going by grades, she was among the top four female students.

She’d been part of the combat training trip to the Ramaf Woods too. But since her party had included underclassmen, she’d spent most of her time gathering and the like instead of pushing herself too hard. As far as combat went, then, she’d only faced things like goblins.

“People call her ‘the Academy’s Babysitter,’” Carosty said. “And I hear she and Sir Croesus are an item.”

“I do think my brother needs a woman who’s good at taking care of people, but...”

Carosty and Celestina sagged in defeat. They were women, just like Serina and Yi Ling...but they couldn’t help but feel like there was an overwhelming gap between them in terms of their feminine qualities.

“Who knows what the future holds?” Carosty said. “I am positive good things lie ahead, for both of us!”

“The... The future, huh? Given my current size, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much...”

“We mustn’t abandon hope! Why, if we do, then the battle shall be lost then and there!”

Since when had this been a “battle”?

Neither Carosty nor Celestina had ever done housework before; they spent all their time researching magic.

They’d already been fretting about their lack of feminine appeal, but Yi Ling’s motherly warmth and curvaceous figure only made them brood over it more.

“By the way, I hear there’s a hot spring town near Isa Lante,” Serina said. “I’d love to visit.”

“Mmm... You sure?” Yi Ling replied. “That’s in Artom, you know? What if we get yelled at for going there without permission?”

“Rumor has it the water there makes your skin smooth as silk. I bet it’ll do wonders for us.”

“Huh...”

To Celestina and Carosty, it was an irresistible description. What did she just say?!

But when they were going to Isa Lante as part of their studies, they couldn’t just abandon their studies for some personal side quest. It was frustrating, even if the trip was just a pretense for their teachers to send them away, and they hesitated at the thought of shirking their obligations.

“Ngh... So there’s a hot spring nearby that could make us more beautiful, but we can’t go to it? It’s so...” Celestina groaned.

“I know. But we mustn’t trouble others simply to pursue our own vanity,” Carosty said. “We have no choice but to choke back our tears and accept it.” She looked outside the carriage. “Oh, on a separate note...”

Ulna was running frantically alongside them, most likely as training. Strangely, however, an elusive little ninja girl was overseeing her workout.

“Grr... Anzuuu! I can’t get the Swiftstep thing right!”

“Mmm... You need to do a better job of tempering your mana. Gather it in your feet. Next, use your whole body as a spring to accelerate off the ground. And when you do, make the mana in your feet go boom. It looks easy, but you have to do it at the same time as Physical Enhancement, so it’s harder than it looks.”

“You do it like this, Miss Ulna,” said Miska, a bespectacled maid with purple-tinged black hair who was running ahead of Ulna. An instant later, she disappeared—only to rematerialize several meters ahead of where she started, a satisfied smile plastered across her face.

She loved surprising and teasing people.

Anzu’s one thing, but...why are Ulna and Miska here?! Celestina thought.

Surely Miss Ulna’s grades are not sufficient for her to be part of this expedition, Carosty thought. And Miss Miska is a complete outsider...

As a guard under the employment of the Solistia ducal house, Anzu’s presence made sense. But Ulna’s grades were below average, albeit only by a little, so she shouldn’t have been able to join this trip. And Miska, for her part, was merely a student’s personal attendant, which shouldn’t have qualified her to tag along either.

Yet here they were.

Miska returned to Ulna’s side, beaming with pride. Ulna gazed at her with respect.

Anzu was as indifferent as always.

“Um... Miska? Ulna? Why are you two here?” Celestina asked. “I can’t think of a single reason you’d be—”

“Why, you ask? What a silly question! It’s because I’m your maid, of course!”

“Your conception of maids makes no sense! You can’t just get out of everything by saying you’re a maid! This trip’s run by the academy, you know?!”

“Ah. So that one won’t work on you anymore... Tch. Well, if I must say, this is a holiday of sorts for me. His Grace gave me some time off, so I thought I would visit some hot springs. Then, I simply kidna—ahem—invited Miss Ulna to accompany me and join the expedition. Do you have a problem with that?”

“You were about to say kidnapped, weren’t you?! I heard you start to say it! And wait—you’re going to the hot spring?! No fair!”

Miska explained everything as if absolutely nothing were out of the ordinary. She was obviously an outsider taking advantage of the situation, but somehow, her brazenness disarmed everyone’s suspicions about her tagging along. Plus, by traveling alongside the carriages, she’d avoided needing to pay for her own guards.

The real issue was Ulna.

“Look, Miska, Ulna is a student at the academy. If her grades aren’t good enough, she may have to repeat a year.”

“Worry not, Milady. It is all taken care of. I made sure to blackma—ahem—convince the headmaster and the teachers, so Miss Ulna’s grades will stay as they are. It will not be an issue.”

“You blackmailed the headmaster?! What sort of mayhem are you getting up to when I’m not around?!”

Miska’s glasses gleamed unsettlingly in the dim light.

While the others couldn’t see her full expression, the corners of her mouth were twisted into a larger and far more devious smile than they’d ever seen her make before.

She clearly regretted nothing.

“Why, Milady, doesn’t everyone have a skeleton or two in their closet? I simply mentioned one of the headmaster’s during our chat, and he oh so kindly accommodated my wishes.”

“No! Your average person does not! And you’re just openly admitting now that you used blackmail!”

“My, my... Fussy today, aren’t we, Milady? Just when I’d prepared a lovely present for you...”

Miska handed Celestina a black, leatherbound book that exuded an ominous aura.

“What’s this—a book? W-Wait a... GWARGH?!”

The moment Celestina saw the title on the front, her body froze. Then, she started shaking.

“M-M-M-Miskaaaaaa... Why is there a book of this?!”

“Ah, your delighted reaction makes all my hard work editing it worthwhile. Sales have been very impressive lately, I’ll have you know! And the royalties, oh, the royalties... My word. Congratulations on your success, Milady!”

Miska gave a thumbs-up. The noble girl stared at her with pure loathing, but Miska only smiled in smug satisfaction of a job well done.

“That wasn’t what I asked!” Celestina hissed. “Why did you turn this into an actual book?! Why is it being sold?!”

“Because I thought it would be such a shame to let it fade into obscurity without society ever learning of its joys. And oh, how right I was. Even the employees at the publisher were amazed by the demand they’ve seen for it!”

This was part of Celestina’s history that she wanted to forget.

As a result of one of Miska’s pranks, she’d become so interested in adult manga that she’d crammed every trope she’d grown obsessed with into a single masterpiece of her own creation. She’d sealed it away, though; it was a secret she kept under lock and key.

At the time, it had just been a collection of her personal fantasies. But at some point, Miska had somehow gotten her hands on it and published it. What was more, sales were apparently booming.

The title of this masterwork, by the way, was Lament of the Beastmen: Fools Dance Together in the Garden of Roses.

“Oh! I’ve read that one!” Carosty exclaimed. “’Tis the tale of orphan boys rising through the ranks of the underworld, correct? Of intertwining love and hate between gentlemen who alternate between hurting each other and making love in the most passionate of ways... The ending reduced me to tears!”

“H-Hwah?! H-How do you know about it, Carosty?!”

“Whatever do you mean, how? It was on display in the new releases section of the academy’s great library! I was looking for another book and only picked it up by accident, but the story was so much more splendid than I could have expected. And I would never have thought two gentlemen could be so, erm...intense with each other...”

“NOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Her dark secret had been revealed to the public.

And somehow, the fact that it had received rave reviews only made it worse. This was painful.

“How my heart tightened when those best friends’ circumstances had them at one another’s throats!” Carosty recounted. “The scene where one silently slips out of bed and leaves was so heart-wrenching, but at the same time, so precious. Oh, my sweet Giovanni... ♡”

“I paid special attention while editing that part, by the way,” Miska said. “It’s the climax for those two gentlemen. A culmination of the conflict between their duty and their love. It was also the part Milady worked hardest on.”

“Please! Just STOP already!!!” Celestina shouted.

It sounded like Carosty had fallen down the same hole as Celestina.

When Celestina thought about how she was to blame for putting her fantasies down on paper, she felt like crawling into a hole and dying. Sometimes, praise could feel more agonizing than any torture device.

Even when her work drew nothing but acclaim, each compliment felt like a dull knife driven straight through her heart.

Her HP had basically dropped to zero.

“Isn’t that nice, Milady? You have such supportive friends!”

“Aaargh... Just kill me already! Have mercy on me! Finish me off!”

Miska pretended to wipe tears of happiness away with a handkerchief, as if she were the proudest maid in the world. Meanwhile, Celestina couldn’t help but scream from the utter humiliation and resolved herself to death. This was one unhealthy master-servant relationship.

“If I may ask... Is there a release date yet for the sequel?” Carosty asked. “I cannot wait to read what happens next!”

“I assure you, I am hard at work editing it,” Miska said. “I hope to have it released by next year.”

“Gakh!”

Unable to endure reality any longer, Celestina finally collapsed.

Outside the carriage, Ulna and Anzu were still enjoying their training.

“Oh! I pulled off Swiftstep!”

“Mmm... You’re a natural. At this rate, it may not even take you long to learn Shukuchi.”

“Really?! Woo-hoo!”

Apparently, they were oblivious to the uproar just next to them. They were having a ball.

As Celestina faded into unconsciousness, she couldn’t help but envy the pair’s carefree ease.

* * *

Finally, after a long trip, the convoy of students from the Istol Academy of Magic arrived at their destination: Isa Lante. But before they could enter, they had to pass an inspection at the city’s main entrance.

They stood in a line full of merchants who were also waiting for inspections, each scrambling to be first to capitalize on the new trade opportunities created by the Deepway’s opening.

Previously, the only trade route connecting Solistia with Artom and Isalas had passed through Metis. But the Deepway’s opening provided a direct route, allowing people to travel between these countries without incurring extra costs.

And merchants were desperate to be the first to find new trade partners and outmaneuver their competitors. The outcome, though, was that there were too many merchants here. The long queue at the city’s gate was hardly even moving.

“Whoa... It really is Isa Lante...” Eromura muttered. “I’m not just dreaming, am I?”

“Mmm. It’s real,” Anzu replied. “But if you think you might be dreaming, I can punch you. See if you wake up.”

“N-No,” Eromura quickly answered, aware that a single one of her hits could be lethal. “Please, no. I don’t wanna die.”

While it was hard to be too sure given her expressionless face, Anzu seemed a little disappointed.

Both Anzu and Eromura had been players of Swords & Sorceries. But while Anzu had quickly accepted the reality of where they were, Eromura still couldn’t fully believe it, even as he stood just outside the city gate.

He wasn’t exactly happy to have been brought to this world, but all the same, he was amazed to see that not only did this undercity—a low-level hub from the game—exist here, he was standing right in front of it.

He couldn’t believe his eyes; that was why he’d wondered aloud whether this might all just be a dream. But alongside that hesitation, there was another part of him that realized that, no, this was indeed real. It was a strange feeling he was having right now, as if he were back playing Swords & Sorceries.

He knew, though, that feeling that way was very dangerous.

If he fell into the trap of treating this like a game, he’d lose his fear of danger. Of death.

And the fact that this was no game meant there’d be no respawning if he died.

“Yeah, crap... Maybe I shouldn’t have come here,” Eromura said. “Being here kinda makes me feel like I’m in Swords & Sorceries again.”

“There’s no Temple of Rebirth here,” Anzu replied. “You might die if you’re not careful.”

“I get that. But like...what does this all even mean? Why the hell is Isa Lante here?”

“I don’t know, but the Destroyer guy is probably trying to find out.”

The figure of a middle-aged mage in jet-black gear flashed through Eromura’s mind.

“That old fart, huh? Yeah, I guess he did seem like a top player. He’d probably be good at investigating stuff like this. Maybe he’s already found something out.”

The Destroyers were all crafters, but they’d been top-tier strategists as well.

And given that Zelos had managed to form ties with a ducal house so quickly after arriving in this world, Eromura got the impression he was one sharp guy. In fact, he thought Zelos might even know why this world resembled Swords & Sorceries.

Not that Eromura had the courage to ask. It also didn’t help that he didn’t know where the Black Destroyer was in the first place.

“I have an idea. Want to hear it?” Anzu offered.

“Seriously? Mmm... Nah, not right now,” Eromura said. “I don’t think I’m ready to hear the truth yet.”

“A loser and a coward, huh?”

“Uh... Anzu? That hurts, you know?!”

Eromura wanted to enjoy his life in this world.

As for Anzu? It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

The ninja girl’s expression hadn’t changed in the slightest upon seeing the gate to Isa Lante.

Meanwhile, Zweit and some of the other male students were agape at the sight of the undercity.

“Whoa. I guess there really was an intact ancient city out there...” Zweit murmured.

“Heh heh... Oh, I can’t wait to investigate every nook and cranny of this place,” Croesus said. “I feel like I could devote my whole life to researching this one city.”

“Jeez, Croesus, you really are a research junkie, huh?” Makarov asked. “Actually, who am I kidding? You’ve always been one.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit late for that, Makarov,” Diio said. “Anyway, this place is amazing. It’s practically an impregnable underground fort.”

While Makarov was a scholar, Diio was more of a future military man who saw the city through the lens of tactics.

Regardless of whether you focused on its magical technologies or its potential for military defense, this ancient undercity looked like the holy grail for any researcher.

What was more, it was one of the rare ancient sites that had an intact infrastructure.

Of course, now that the students had arrived at the city, they’d be splitting up. Some would research tactics, others magical technology.

As students, they were restricted from accessing the most important parts of the city. But apart from that, they’d be largely free to do as they pleased.

“Hmm... I’d assume we’ll be sleeping at the site of the former consulate,” Croesus mused. “I’ve heard it sits above the very heart of the city. There’s a very intricate system deep below it. Whatever’s there has been sealed off, though.”

“You’re in charge of looking into magic tools, yeah? We’ll be focusing on the city’s layout and the defensive tactics its inhabitants might’ve used,” Zweit said. “Essentially, we’ll try to imagine how commanders might lead their forces in a conflict here, and what sort of situations could arise.”

“And I suppose you’ll be presenting a report on your findings?”

“Yeah, most likely. We’ve been getting up to all sorts of stuff lately, so the higher-ups have really got their eyes on us. For better and for worse.”

While the Solistia brothers were from different factions, they’d both been putting every day to good use.

Croesus and his fellow Saint-Germain students had been garnering attention for their improvements to potions and formulas. In particular, Croesus’s new approach to deciphering formulas had forced others to think about how to respond, stalling short-term research progress across many fields of study.

However, now that researchers could gain a clearer understanding of formulas that had hitherto been opaque, future analysis could move at a frightening pace. All of the groundbreaking new possibilities being showcased had left researchers so immersed in their work that they were forgetting to eat and sleep.

Meanwhile, Zweit and the other Wiesler students had been creating and submitting new battle tactics and proposals for organizational reform. Their proposal to restructure the Order of Knights and the Order of Mages had been implemented on a trial basis, and now, the two orders were rapidly transforming into an efficient military force.

Only the very top of the Order of Mages and Order of Knights were unaffected by the reforms; everyone else below saw their positions changed and merged via large-scale restructuring. It was also formally decided that mages’ roles would be reassessed.

Further, while those at the top of the orders were unaffected by the restructuring itself, they wouldn’t be able to feud among themselves as they had previously. If they tried, they risked dismissal.

“It sounds like those blockheads at the top are finally being taken down a peg. Good. They’ve been using their positions to leech off everyone else for too long,” Diio said.

“That’s only part of it, Diio,” Makarov said. “It’s not like everything’s going smoothly. I’ve heard that since mages have spent their whole lives doing nothing but playing combat support roles, a bunch of them are getting weeded out now that they have to train with the Order of Knights. There are countless stories of mages who got fired because they outright refused to take part in melee combat training.”

“Masher Love is right.” Zweit nodded. “We’re entering an era when mages fight on the front line too. They can’t just sit at the back and act like they’re better than everyone else. Not anymore. I’ve heard the same about the mages removed from positions because they refused to follow orders; they must not realize things are different now. I guess the state’s trying to make an example of them too.”

“His name is Makarov, brother...” Croesus sighed. “Anyway, what happens on the battlefield has nothing to do with me. I’m just a researcher.”

For a moment, Makarov wondered: Are these guys intentionally getting our names wrong or what?! Feels like they’re coming up with wilder and wilder variations every time we talk to them...

But unfortunately, Zweit and Croesus weren’t doing this on purpose.

They were genuinely getting the others’ names wrong, which made it even worse.

Perhaps Diio and Makarov needed to resign themselves to just being happy the guys recognized their faces.

Other members from the Saint-Germain faction approached the carriage to rejoin Croesus and Makarov. From here, the students would split into smaller research groups.

“C’mon, Croesus. Let’s go together!” Yi Ling called out.

“You too, Makarov!” Serina followed up. “And thanks for keeping an eye on Croesus. He didn’t get up to anything too silly, did he?”

“Oh—Yi Ling, Serina,” Makarov greeted. “No, he actually behaved himself. For once.”

“Really? That is rare,” Serina said, surprised. “Hopefully our good luck there doesn’t get balanced out by a cave-in or the like...”

“Is it really that unthinkable for me to go a moment without experimenting, Serina?” Croesus asked. “I’m aware of my reputation, but I’m not always causing mayhem.”

“What?!” the others shot back, clearly skeptical.

It probably went without saying at this point, but Croesus was inevitably at the center of any chaos. He was responsible for about seventy percent of the academy’s worst experiment-related incidents.

Of course nobody would believe him when he said he “wasn’t always causing mayhem.” Far too many times, they’d witnessed his antics—and the resulting casualties—with their very own eyes.

“It’s not nice to lie, okay, Croesus~?” Yi Ling said.

“How the hell are we meant to believe you when you go right from one crazy thing to the next?!” Makarov said.

“Do you remember what happened just the other day?” Serina asked. “You showed an underclassman how to create potions and ended up making one with some ridiculous effect? The poor students who took it started divulging their most embarrassing hobbies and fetishes!”

“O-Oh? Did that happen? I can’t say I recall...” Croesus said, trying his best to gloss over it.

The other three continued glaring at him coldly.

He could never stop himself from throwing in extra ingredients on a whim. That was why his experiments always took a turn for the worse.

When he saw warning labels that said “Don’t mix these substances together,” he read them as “Go ahead! Mix anything you want! See what happens!” instead.

Fortunately, he hadn’t actually gotten anyone killed or critically injured yet, but there was no guarantee his lucky streak would continue.

“Hmm...a potion that makes people spill their secrets unprompted?” Zweit mused. “So...a truth serum? That could be useful...”

“Zweit?!” Diio recoiled.

Zweit, who’d been listening off to the side, seemed very interested in Croesus’s potion. If war ever broke out, Solistia would send spies to other countries, who would do the same in return. And eventually, intelligence agencies were likely to capture some of those foreign spies.

There were various methods for getting intel out of spies, but the most effective method was torture.

Croesus’s potion, however, would make it possible to get information without all the brutality. After all, if interrogation targets just volunteered everything they knew, the nation wouldn’t need torturers—people whose work often made them lose their minds and drift toward crime. Plus, this potion would make it faster to get intel too.

In short, this potion could let Solistia gather intel effectively and cheaply in conflicts between countries—situations where critical information could emerge and change at a moment’s notice. To Zweit, it sounded like the most useful potion any military could ever have.

“So, Croesus...” Zweit asked. “Do you still have the recipe for that potion?”

“Of course I do,” Croesus replied. “Did you honestly think I would fail to document my experiments?”

“Then could you put together all of your files for that recipe and submit them to the academy council? It can wait until we’re back, but that potion of yours sounds like it’d have military applications.”

“What—that thing I made by accident? What would it even be used for? Oh—I won’t be researching it any further, just so you know. I’m a busy man. I have a lot to do. Though...I’ll admit I’m intrigued, at least.”

“I wouldn’t pry too much into how it’ll be used. Let’s just say our intelligence agency might have use for it, and you can probably figure out the rest from there, yeah? The Magical Goods Laboratory will probably handle the development.”

“I see...”

Two main organizations investigated the efficacy, quality, and so on of magic potions in Solistia.

The first was the Solistian Institute for Magical Goods Research, which carried out R&D for commercial products. The second was the Solistian Army Magical Goods Laboratory, which carried out R&D for magic tools, potions, and other items used for military purposes.

If you asked the general public, they’d assume both were just different divisions of the same entity; the Laboratory was rarely mentioned by name. After all, it answered directly to the royal family, while the Institute was run by the Order of Mages.

Though the recent reforms had somewhat stripped the Order of Mages of its power as a whole, it was difficult to lay people off from the Institute, since it was headed up by the Order’s top court mages.

Behind closed doors, power struggles were going on in an attempt to bring the Order of Knights into the Institute as well. But with all these half-implemented reforms, it’d be highly inefficient to try to transfer control of the organization, making it difficult to carelessly dismiss those currently in charge.

For now, the wisest approach was to just keep a close eye on them and see how things went.

You could say the Magic Kingdom of Solistia had entered a period of preparation to completely rework its old structures of power and begin a new era. And in that context, Croesus’s new potion would likely be researched and produced under the Magical Goods Laboratory.

For some reason, though, Croesus looked very regretful to hear that other people would continue the research into his discovery.

“Weren’t you just saying you wouldn’t spend any more time researching it?” Zweit asked. “Why do you look so sad?”

“Oh, it’s just... The thought of some strangers researching a potion I discovered makes me feel...”

“Selfish, much?!”

Croesus had an endless appetite for knowledge—a trait befitting a researcher, perhaps.

As the one who’d created the truth serum, he hated the thought of other researchers taking over the rest of the work. But at the same time, he had so much other research to do, including the trip he was on right now.

He felt frustrated—as he often did—by the fact that he had so many projects to work on, yet there was only one of him.

“Oi! How much longer d’ya plan on standing around?!” a man behind them shouted. “Move already! Yer in the way!”

“Yeah! We wanna hurry up and get inside! C’mon, ya little shits—shove!” another echoed.

“O-Oh...” the students realized together.

The frustrated merchants, in their eagerness to enter Isa Lante and reserve a place to stay, had started hurling abuse at the students.

The students—realizing a fight could break out if they stood here any longer—moved forward in a hurry. About thirty minutes later, they were inspected at the gate and passed into the city.

One way or another, all of the students, Zweit included, had made it safely to Isa Lante.

* * *

Zelos and the other reincarnators were setting up camp by the side of the highway leading from Hasam to Santor.

While the road here was paved, it was far from smooth. Even the passengers in Ado’s suspension-fitted kei car felt a lot of vibration.

Seeing as the group had a heavily pregnant woman—Yui—with them now, they couldn’t travel as fast as they had previously; they were taking it nice and slow. But with the sun starting to set for the day, they’d decided to play it safe and set up camp right in the middle of a plain.

Zelos, for his part, had started preparing dinner. And as they saw him go about it, the others remembered something important...

“So, Zelos,” Ado started. “About this karaage...”

“I’ll be going for a bit of a curry flavor, if that’s your question.”

“Uh, no. It’s not that. It’s...”

This was promising to be one luxurious camp meal.

Zelos was preparing vegetable soup and nice soft bread, plus some karaage for a good old taste of home.

Just looking at it was enough to whet everyone’s appetites. The problem, however, was in the ingredients.

“H-Hey, guys... Where do you think that meat’s from?” Ado whispered to his party members.

“After it’s been cut up like that, I don’t think we have any way of knowing,” Shakti muttered back.

“I-I’m scared... Thinking about eating his cooking again scares me...” Lisa said.

The vegetable soup? The bread? They didn’t have a problem with those. Those made sense.

But they had no idea what sort of creature the mystery meat came from, and they couldn’t help but feel suspicious of it.

“Oh, don’t worry about all that!” Zelos called out to them. “Come, my pretties! Dig in! I’ve made plenty, just for you! You’ll love it!”

“Why are you talking like that?! It only makes us trust you less!” the trio replied.

Zelos had a particularly sinister grin on his face, as if he knew exactly what they were worrying about.

The trio picked up their chopsticks with trembling hands. As they lifted their plates, they waged an internal battle: the courage to eat versus the fear of the unknown.

“Ooh! This is delicious!” Yui exclaimed.

“Y-Yui?!” the other three reacted, looking on in shock.

“See, kiddos?” Zelos said with a smug look. “What’d I say? C’mon—karaage’s best when it’s piping hot, so get it in your gobs!”

Yui was eating with gusto. She hadn’t been traumatized as Ado, Shakti, and Lisa had.

The slight spice of the coating, the mild sweetness of the meat juices, the perfect flavor and texture; they all reminded her of home. She felt like she was back on Earth, eating at a table with her family.

“Gaaah... Damn it!” Ado shouted, clearly torn.

“Okay, fine! You want us to eat it, right?!” Lisa said.

“Well, I suppose it’s not a problem as long as we can’t make out its shape,” Shakti mused. “This should be safer than the tempura don, at least.”

The karaage smelled delicious. They didn’t know what meat Zelos had used, but it really did look delectable. Ultimately, the trio’s hunger won out, and they ate their fill. There was no resisting piping hot karaage—even if the addition of a little curry powder gave it a slightly unusual aftertaste.

“In the end, we ate the whole lot...” Ado commented.

“We did, didn’t we?” Shakti said.

“So in the end, Zelos, what did that meat come from?” Lisa asked, unable to stop herself.

“Chicken,” he replied. “Or...something close to it, at least. Anyway, don’t worry about it.”

Lisa really should’ve stayed quiet. They would’ve been much happier not knowing.

Now that she’d asked, though, it was time for a repeat of that nightmare.

“Actually...” Zelos said, having clearly changed his mind. “So you want to know, do you? They say ignorance is bliss, but, well, if you insist... Heh, heh, heh...”

“Y-You know what? On second thought, I’d rather not know,” Lisa said.

“Y-You know how sometimes you get the urge to look at something you know you’d rather not see?” Shakti panicked, trying to cover for her. “It’s like that, but...”

“I didn’t ask, okay?!” Ado shouted. “Don’t tell me! I don’t wanna hear it!”

“Frankly, the way you’re reacting only makes me want to tell you more, whether you want me to or not,” Zelos smirked. “So here you go! Okay, so I got a...”

The trio’s screams proceeded to echo throughout the plains.

Without saying exactly which creature the meat had come from, it was clearly outrageous enough to leave Ado, Shakti, and Lisa miserable.

But at least Yui was happy.

Chapter 14: Eromura and Anzu Investigate

Rediscovered during construction work on the Deepway, Isa Lante was an intact relic from the ancient era.

Long ago, people had lived here. But when the city’s contact with the outside world had been severed during the Dark God War, it had become isolated from the rest of the world.

Eventually, its people had starved to death. Nothing remained of them now but monsters: risen corpses and wraiths consumed by hatred. It had become a literal city of the dead.

Following the city’s rediscovery, researchers had been sent to investigate. They’d proven that the city was collecting mana from a dragon vein flowing beneath its foundation, which it used as a power source.

The many pillars towering over the city served as conductors. Using mana from the vein below to fix the bedrock above in place with magic, they’d kept the city intact for all these years.

Just as impressive was the city’s infrastructure, which helped maintain a living environment. But that had been deemed too dangerous for contemporary mages to mess with, so it had been completely sealed off using dozens of layers of defensive barriers.

After all, it wasn’t wise to let any mage tinker recklessly with the city’s defense system and risk accidentally activating some ancient weapon.

In fact, the “Arrow of Judgment” that had been unleashed upon the Holy Land of Metis had been one such ancient weapon, and this was where it had accidentally been activated. But only a few people in Solistia knew that truth.

The point was that this ancient city was brimming with danger, so the mages needed to investigate carefully as they went about their research. If they found anything, they were required to report it without fail.

While research maniacs like Croesus taking items out of the city for further study without permission was certainly a problem, the bigger priority was ensuring the mercenaries—who were there as guards—didn’t pocket magic tools and other finds instead of reporting them as they were supposed to. It was a valid concern. Ancient relics were so valuable that people would resort to crime to get their hands on one.

Of course, the students sent here as assistant researchers were no exception to these rules. They had to report their finds as well.

Against this backdrop, Croesus and his fellow students from the Saint-Germain faction were combing through a storehouse that housed various magic tools found throughout the city.

“Hmm... This ring looks like it should be paired with something else,” Makarov observed. “I think that’s an activation formula etched into it, but I’ve got no clue what it’s meant to pair with.”

“If you’re not sure, then why don’t you just try to activate it?” Croesus suggested. “It could potentially be one of the other magic tools in here, don’t you think? Perhaps it’s in range.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding. What if it unleashes some terrifying spell on us?”

“Then we just bolt, don’t we? I’d run at the first sign anything was wrong, at least.”

“Wow. So responsible of you.”

Magic tools typically had either a magic stone, a magic crystal, or a spirit crystal embedded in them. By engraving formulas into these precious stones, crafters could imbue each tool with a different effect. In theory, one could use a magnifying glass to decipher the etched formula and determine which effect a tool had—but in practice, that required a lot of patience and effort.

If the magic stone or magic crystal was large enough, it was easy to read the formula. Some of these tools, though, were tiny, barely the size of your little fingertip. The researchers could tell that these had a formula etched into them, but actually reading the formula was totally out of the question.

They didn’t know how the ancient crafters had managed to make such intricate little formulas and sigils, but those impressive formulas were now causing the researchers no small amount of anguish.

Most of them, at least. Croesus, and Croesus alone, was delighted.

“These are magnificent,” he marveled. “How were they able to incorporate sigils into such minuscule objects? Truly, magic tools from the ancient era are works of art...”

“I’m amazed you’re still this excited, Croesus,” Yi Ling said, dejected. “We threw in the towel right away. Like... How are we meant to figure out what these things are?”

“This is Croesus we’re talking about, I suppose,” Serina said. “This place must be paradise for him.”

“Oh, it very much is,” Croesus replied. “This is no mere storehouse. It’s a veritable treasure trove of knowledge. I could spend my whole life doing research in here, and I’d have no regrets.”

“Jeez... Is it really worth getting that excited about?” Makarov asked, skeptical. “Everyone except you’s fed up with it.”

At first, all of them had been just as excited as Croesus.

After all, these magic tools were from an ancient civilization, and it wasn’t often that people got the chance to touch such exquisite objects. It might have even been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Moreover, there was a mountain of them. If anything, there had to be something wrong with any researcher who didn’t get giddy at the thought.

Once the work began, though, it became clear what a terrible hassle it would be to actually identify them all.

Technically, researchers with the Appraisal skill had a means of figuring a few things out, but even for them, these ancient magic tools were far too intricate to be fully understood.

The storehouse was just full of objects with purposes so unclear that even those rare individuals with Appraisal wanted to give up; identifying these things was an incredibly tall order. Working away at the task would level up an individual’s Appraisal skill, but they were just so far from being able to wrap their head around these things.

After all, it wasn’t just their Appraisal levels that were low; their levels as mages were low as well. They could barely hope to read a single letter of the formulas etched into magic tools made with such advanced techniques.

Usually, mages with Appraisal were given special treatment. Here, though, there had been a complete reversal; the task had well and truly shattered their confidence, and instead of talking them up, the other mages had started hurling abuse at them.

Combine that with the frustration of being stuck at a standstill, and tensions were so high that fistfights had broken out a number of times.

Croesus was pretty impressive for staying upbeat with all this going on around him. Even now, some researchers standing nearby were arguing about it.

“I can’t do this! My Appraisal skill’s hit the maximum level, but it’s not advancing to the next rank... Oh, I’m such a useless mage!”

“Urgh—here we go! The Appraiser’s whining again! I can’t focus with ’em carrying on like that. Someone go toss ’em outside!”

“You do it! I’m busy deciphering here! Gah—how do you even read this?! Someone pass me a dictionary!”

“A dictionary? Do you know how many races and languages are out there?! We’ve got thirty-six volumes here for beastfolk alone! Then there are the elves, and the dwarves, not to mention all the extinct races and their languages...”

“Aaargh! I don’t get this crap! The hell is ‘mahyaborala’ supposed to mean?! What language even is ‘chocho-memenne’?!”

“Calm down. You might just be reading them wrong.”

It was chaos.

The inescapable fact was that this work was a pain in the ass.

To decipher even a single letter, the researchers had to pore through mountains of dictionaries. Once they were done, they had to repeat the process again, and again, and again.

Apparently, back in the mythological era—the period before the ancient era—all the races had spoken a shared language.

Over time, however, that language had split into different dialects, which then drifted so far apart that each race eventually had its own unique language. That meant that the process of deciphering these old magic formulas was effectively an exercise in translating that original protolanguage. If researchers managed to decipher the meaning of these formulas, they would eventually get enough data points to reconstruct the entire language.

It was a huge, historical undertaking...but for now, the people working on it were just hitting roadblock after roadblock.

Sometimes, a single word from the protolanguage had evolved to carry different meanings in each race’s new language. And while the students here were capable of deciphering formulas, they were just students, at the end of the day. There was no way they’d be able to decipher everything.

They’d been given quite an unreasonable task.

“Mmm... We need a change of pace after being stuck in this rut for so long, don’t you think?” Yi Ling said.

“I do,” Serina agreed. “Do you have any suggestions? Anything interesting we could talk about?”

“I have one,” Makarov interjected. “So, like... Everyone making magic tools back in the ancient era knew a shared language, right? But what about the language of the era before that?”

“Interesting question,” Serina mused. “I know it’s been more than two millennia since the Dark God War, but it’s strange that no ruins have ever been found from before the ancient era—from the beginning of civilization. I know it’s called the mythological era, but if people were around back then, they must have left some evidence behind.”

A glance at Isa Lante was enough to tell you an advanced magic-using civilization had existed before the Dark God War, during the period known as the “ancient era,” the “ancient times,” or similar terms. However, the period before that was shrouded in mystery. Various magic tools, weapons, literature, and documents from the ancient era had survived the Dark God War, but most had been destroyed in the upheaval of the subsequent thousand years. The Holy Land of Metis, for example, had banned the surviving texts and burned any it found. After all, they’d contained writing that a theocracy certainly wouldn’t want its people reading.

Now, the fact that you could translate a magic formula into the language of every individual race suggested that the constituent magic letters must have come from a shared language.

Plus, all the surviving races, like elves, dwarves, humans, and so on, spoke with some degree of mutual intelligibility.

Of course, no one had yet found even traces of ruins from back then to prove that theory...

“Shouldn’t we simply assume that nobody has found ruins from the mythological age because they were destroyed in a different war that engulfed the world? One that occurred before the Dark God War?” Croesus suggested. “Wars between countries and religions, racial and ethnic conflicts, wars of unification... Humanity’s intelligence is the very thing that leads to war, and in turn, war perpetuates a constant cycle of civilizations rising and falling. At least, that’s the only explanation that comes to mind. It isn’t all that different from the modern era, if you think about it.”

Croesus’s answer to Makarov’s question was pragmatic, realistic, and devoid of any romance.

“C’mon, dude... Why do you have to be so boring about it?” Makarov sighed. “Don’t you get excited thinking about how things could’ve been all those years ago? When you’re so straitlaced about it, it kinda kills the mood...”

“Oh, Makarov... However many races there are in the world, at the end of the day, we’re all still animals who’ve learned to think a little better, are we not? You merely need to look at the world we live in today. Metis, for one, derides the beastfolk as ‘savages’ while using its religion as an excuse to invade its neighbors time and time again. All sorts of things can lead to war: political circumstances, ambitious leaders, racial tensions, you name it. And do you honestly think the victors of every war throughout history have allowed evidence of the losers’ civilizations to survive? Even in our era, we often see victors in wars destroy that evidence, don’t we? Deep down, human nature doesn’t change. If anything, the winner eradicating every last trace of the losers’ culture is the way things have always been.”

One culture would blow up another’s idols out of religious disagreements; statesmen would issue an order to burn down an entire city and everyone inside just because they didn’t like a philosophy that was spreading there; a conquering nation would destroy the castles and graves of the royal family they’d overthrown. Those sorts of things were carried out as if they were nothing, even in the modern day.

“When just one war we do know about, the Dark God War, was enough to leave the world on the brink of destruction, I would be incredibly surprised if there were any relics remaining from the very beginning of civilization,” Croesus said. “By now, it will all have been swept away by the sands of time. We have no way of finding out anything about it.”

As Croesus said, there was no clear means of unearthing history from the mythological era. Even the ancient area’s patchwork of civilizations had been largely wiped off the map in the wake of the Dark God War. Perhaps, somewhere out there in the world, there was some remnant of the very first civilization...but these students were no archaeologists.

“The Dark God’s a mystery too, y’know~?” Yi Ling said. “If there was this huge, destructive being strong enough to end the world, then where was it hiding up until the war? Given all their technology, don’t you think people in the ancient era would’ve found something like that before it attacked?”

“Yi Ling’s got a point, yeah,” Makarov said. “We’ve got no idea what the Dark God actually was, or where it came from.”

“That’s true. In fact, it’s only called the ‘Dark God’ and the ‘Dark God War’ and so on because Metis started using that name,” Serina said. “But with how many unknowns there are, there’s nothing we can say for sure about what kind of entity the Dark God even was, is there?”

“Ah—what if it was actually a biological weapon made during the ancient era?” Croesus posited. “Take homunculi, for example. We aren’t able to create those nowadays, are we? It’s considered taboo; ‘man creating living things is blasphemy against life itself,’ or so we’re told. But...what if that taboo exists because of the Dark God?”

“Oh. Yeah. If what you’re saying’s right, then I mean, of course they’d ban it...” Makarov nodded.

Nobody actually knew the Dark God’s true form, but the idea that it was actually a biological weapon from the ancient era made sense to these researchers. After all, mages had a tendency to doubt the existence of gods. These people devoted themselves to untangling the mysteries of the world, and most of them struggled to believe in beings so vaguely defined as these supposed gods that most of the world believed in.

That didn’t just apply to the Dark God either. Most mages considered even the Four Gods to be creatures that had evolved in some particular way. It made sense.

In reality, their hypothesis was half right. However, nobody but a handful of reincarnators knew the truth, and none of them were here right now to explain it to these students.

“Well, then—I’d say that little chat should have sufficed as a breather, don’t we think? Back to work,” Croesus said.

“Blech... Did you have to remind me?” Makarov groaned. “Now I’m depressed again.”

“With the way things are going, I would’ve been happier just analyzing modern-day magic,” Serina said. “Should we really be spending our time digging through these old magic tools? We don’t even know whether they’ll be useful.”

“Croesus sure looks eager, at least...” Yi Ling said.

Amid a throng of fed up students, Croesus alone was still full of energy and excitement.

The other students envied how obviously happy he was to get back to analyzing magic tools.

It had been unfair to ask a bunch of students to analyze these tools in the first place. There just weren’t enough proper researchers, though. And since Croesus had been the one to release the groundbreaking publication on deciphering formulas, he and his peers made up a good portion of those who could analyze the tools.

In other words, the high ratio of students here boiled down to Solistia’s policy of meritocracy.

However the research group had been assembled, though, all of them—with one notable exception—were dreading their continued slog at what was practically a black company.

In fact, seeing as there wasn’t even an end in sight, this might have been worse than a black company. Perhaps it was hell itself.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zweit and his fellow Wiesler faction students were busy looking for faults in the city’s defenses.

“Okay... So there are two gates: one on the Solistia side, and one on the Artom side,” Zweit muttered. “We’re underground, and there are no entry points besides those gates, so if the people in charge keep a close eye on who’s coming in, they should effectively be able to stop any outside forces from seizing it.”

“A revolt inside the city would be an issue, though,” Diio said. “No way in, no way out...”

Isa Lante was basically self-sufficient.

Since it was underground, it had no need to worry about invaders breaching it from above. It just had to pay attention to the merchants and mercenaries coming in and out, and it’d be practically unassailable.

Nothing in life was absolute, however, and countries could sometimes be taken down through unexpected methods.

“There are barracks in front of both the west gate and the north gate, right?” Zweit said. “Plus, some guard stations dotted throughout the city to keep the peace—oh, and watchtowers on the street corners. Just from the way the city’s laid out, they were obviously pretty serious about maintaining order. I can’t even imagine how many soldiers they had...”

“The files show a pretty big armory, so... I don’t know exactly how many there would’ve been, but yeah, it was probably a lot, right?” Diio said.

“It looks like the patrol division in charge of protecting the people was under different command from the army. They were definitely well organized, that’s for sure. I wonder how the two worked together when they had different chains of command, though?”

“I mean, whether they’re guards or soldiers, they’ve kinda got the same job: protecting something. Just different positions, that’s all. Apart from that, both groups would’ve been effectively the same. I don’t think they would’ve had to deal with anything like what we’ve had between the Order of Mages and the Order of Knights.”

“Maybe. Still, knowing how things went down between the orders, splitting the army and the city guards into separate groups doesn’t sound efficient. Just seems like it’d invite tensions between the two...”

The tension between the Order of Mages and the Order of Knights went back to when both were founded.

Originally, a majority of mages had been alchemists. They made potions, magic tools, and so on, providing logistical support to the knights, who in turn maintained public order and protected the country as a formal army.

Potions were prized for their ability to heal wounds on the spot and get injured knights right back to the front. After all, Metis had enjoyed a monopoly over healing magic at the time, which had inevitably boosted the demand for potions.

There were problems, though, in that both the Order of Knights and the Order of Mages had many members from the nobility.

Nobles prized honor above all else. In the country that had existed before the Magic Kingdom of Solistia, mages were treated poorly; any mage was looked upon with scorn, even if they were nobles. And of course, many of those perpetuating that scorn had been nobles from knightly lineages.

In turn, the highborn mages had staged a coup against the monarch. Ultimately, knights born into noble families had taken part in the coup as well, though they’d only cooperated because it aligned with their own interests.

The mages wanted better treatment, while the knights had been worried the state might collapse entirely if its tyrannical rule continued any longer. Ultimately, the coup succeeded, leading to the founding of the Magic Kingdom of Solistia.

For a while, tensions between the highborn mages and knights cooled. But eventually, things flared up again, turning the groups into distinct political camps and worsening the situation.

In short, the highborn knights returned to spewing the same vitriol that had kick-started the coup.

The mages retaliated by restricting the supply of potions, leading to further animosity. All the while, both lowborn mages and lowborn knights became casualties in the conflict.

This same conflict had been simmering ever since—right up until Zweit and his comrades put together a plan for reform and got it implemented.

As a sidenote, their reformation emphasized merit, ensuring that nobody, even nobles, would be hired for key roles unless they’d earned it. As the country put that in place, it was weeding out its incompetents through prompt dismissals—a process that was ongoing at this very moment.

“Well, grumbling about the state of things won’t get us anywhere,” Zweit said. “Let’s get to the point: Diio, if you had to mount an attack on this city, how would you do it?”

“I’d send in some allies disguised as merchants, then slowly take the city down from the inside,” Diio said. “You’re not going to defeat this city with a frontal attack. It’s impregnable. And sure, maybe you could challenge its ruler to single combat, but it’s not like whoever’s inside would be under any obligation to accept.”

“Yeah, I guess. Though...with my position, I wouldn’t have a choice. I’d be forced to agree to single combat...”

“Being a noble sounds rough.”

In the current era, royals and upper nobles had to fly flags displaying their heraldry on the battlefield.

This was done to lift allied morale and organize the army’s troops, helping them determine unit formation and iron out tactics—crucial aspects for any fighting force to act like a well-oiled machine.

Of course, at the same time, these banners told the enemy where an army’s commander could be found, making targeted attacks likely.

That was doubly true when it came to mage nobles, who were conventionally poor in melee combat. And even mage nobles had to accept single combat if challenged—especially if they had royal blood in their veins. They couldn’t disgrace themselves by running away.

The practice of single combat was the number one reason fueling knight nobles’ contempt for mage nobles. When a mage was challenged to single combat, they’d blast their opponent with magic from afar. You could see why knights would consider that cowardly.

From the mage nobles’ perspective, though, the knight nobles were the cowards for expecting mages to fight up close, where knights had a major advantage.

When each group’s background gave them such different perspectives, they were never going to see eye to eye.

And as a relative of the royal family, Zweit had to accept any request for single combat, whether he wanted to or not.

His lineage could really make things hard for him.

“Anyway... At this rate, we’re gonna have nothing to do here before long, huh?” Zweit said. “I was interested in seeing an ancient city, but when its defenses are this perfect...”

Diio gave an awkward laugh. “Yeah... There are only so many ways you can attack or defend a place. And that’s extra true here, since the city’s so specialized in defense.”

“Wonder if there’s somewhere we can do some training, at least... Huh?”

Just as Zweit unfurled a map of the city and was about to head somewhere else, he spotted Eromura and Anzu walking together.

They made quite an odd pair. What was more, they’d been hired as guards, so going off on their own without permission was a breach of contract.

That was doubly true for Eromura. While he’d received a pardon for his crimes, he had been an accomplice in an attempted assassination. And while he hadn’t had much choice in that—having been a criminal slave at the time—it was his own stupid crime that had reduced him to that status to begin with.

Long story short, his circumstances made it especially important for him to get permission from Zweit before going out and about.

“Hey,” Zweit called out. “Where do you two think you’re going?”

“Yo, comrade!” Eromura greeted him. “We were thinking of doing a bit of exploring. There might be a big tunnel up ahead. One that no one else has found yet. Who knows—we might even get a chance to fight a bit!”

“Wha— Is that true?!” Zweit exclaimed.

“Mmm... Just Eromura’s guess,” Anzu clarified. “That’s why we’re going. To find out if he’s right.”

“A-Anzu?! I thought you said you wanted to check it out too! Can you not pin it all on me?!” Eromura said.

Eromura and Anzu were both reincarnators, meaning they knew Isa Lante from Swords & Sorceries. They were looking for a very specific place to determine what, if anything, was different between this version of the city and the version they were familiar with. They’d been on their way there when they’d run into Zweit, who’d latched onto the idea more than they’d expected him to.

While Zweit and Diio did joint training with the Order of Knights, they also didn’t neglect their own training routines.

And any opportunity for realistic combat training would strengthen not only the students but also the knights at the garrison.

Zweit was still a little worried about the idea of Eromura, of all people, conducting this exploration. But having Anzu there to keep the thoughtless horndog in check made him a little more optimistic, at least.

“Well, we might be off the mark, so don’t get your hopes up too much, all right?” Eromura said.

“I’ll try not to,” Zweit replied. “Where exactly are you going, though? And shouldn’t you have checked with me first?”

“Sorry, sorry. My bad. Anyway...here.” Eromura pointed to a spot on the map where an enormous pillar stretched up to the ceiling above. “This is where we’re headed.”

“Why that one pillar?” Zweit asked. “Isn’t it just there to supply mana to the outside of the city?”

“Actually, you can go through it to get to the surface,” Eromura said. “If I’m right, that is. There should be both stairs and an elevator inside. I just hope they haven’t been destroyed.”

“You sound like you know a lot about this,” Zweit said. “Even we haven’t heard about any of that...”

And what’s an “elevator,” anyway?

“I bet the Destroyer’d know more than us. It’s not like we know that much about this place.”

“Say... Who exactly are you two? Where’d you learn all this?”

Only now was Zweit beginning to notice what an anomaly Eromura was.

Isa Lante was a lost undercity that had been rediscovered just recently, yet Eromura not only knew about the city—he also knew about some staircase hidden inside a specific pillar.

Even Croesus, who managed to somehow get his hands on all sorts of information about ancient ruins, knew nothing about the internal structure of these pillars. And this was the first time Zweit had heard anything about a staircase leading to the surface.

What was more, if Zelos did indeed know even more about the place, then he had to be even more of an anomaly. Both Zelos and Eromura knew too many things no one else knew.

“I mean... I guess you could say we’re in the same boat as that old guy.” Eromura shrugged.

“Ignorance is bliss,” Anzu mumbled. “Curiosity killed the infernal greatcat. Try not to worry about it...”

“Look, you can’t just drop the name of a legendary monster like that,” Zweit retorted. “Speaking of which, we’d just be dead if we ever ran into one of those, right?”

“Mmm... You’ll be fine,” Anzu said. “You won’t die. I’ll protect you.”

“That’s pretty rich coming from the guard who abandoned me to go out exploring, don’t you think?” Zweit replied.

“Aww, c’mon, comrade. Don’t sweat the small stuff,” Eromura said. “Don’t wanna go bald from stress, do ya?”

“I’m not going bald! Oh, whatever,” Zweit sighed. “Just tell me if you find anything, okay?”

Zweit decided to relent for today. He got the feeling Eromura and Anzu weren’t about to tell him anything more just yet.

“Sure thing! Leave it to me!” Eromura said, giving him a parting wave.

“There’s...something strange about those two, don’t you think?” Diio mused.

“Yeah. Eromura said they’re ‘in the same boat’ as Teach, but those two aren’t mages. So what do they have in common?”

“Why don’t you ask that teacher of yours?”

“I can ask, but I don’t know whether he’d give me an honest answer. He gets evasive about the weirdest things.”

Not knowing what Zelos and the others really were gave Zweit a sense of discomfort, like there was a lump in his throat.

Just thinking about it wasn’t going to get him anywhere, though, so he gave up on pursuing it for now.

He believed that, if the time ever came when he needed to know, Zelos would tell him everything.

* * *

Eromura and Anzu arrived at a hundred-meter-tall pillar that towered over its surroundings. They could feel a vast amount of mana flowing through the grooves carved into the pillar’s surface like circuits on a circuit board.

A bunch of pedestal-like structures, each about twenty meters tall, surrounded the pillar, but they saw no sign of an entrance.

There was a massive bulwark, but it remained tightly shut.

“I think it was about here...” Anzu mumbled.

“If we’re remembering things right, there should be a camouflaged door, yeah?” Eromura said.

“Mmm. The one the orcs come out of in that ‘Attack of the Great Orc Kaiser’ event.”

“Oh, yeah. That one always got the newbies hyped up, didn’t it? You’d usually head to another town once you’d finished it. Anyway, any luck finding a door?”

“Yeah. We were right. There. An entrance.”

As they focused their eyes, they could just make out an indent in the slightly curved section of wall. They placed their hands on the indent, and a cold, synthetic voice rang out: “Please input unlock code.”

“Uh... What was it again?” Eromura said. “Maybe... The Almighty Saint Alnne-Camus?”

“Code accepted. Opening door.”

The curved part of the wall drew back about two meters, then slid to the right to create an opening.

They hadn’t expected the door to be this thick.

“Mmm. I’m surprised you remembered that,” Anzu said. “You actually did something smart for once.”

“Were you actually trying to compliment me just now?!” Eromura said. “Because it still feels more like an insult!”

“I was complimenting you. About...ten percent of it was a compliment, at least.”

“So the other ninety percent was just an insult, then?! What, do you hate me or something?!”

“I simply don’t care about you one way or the other.”

“I— Do you mind if I have a bit of a cry?”

Eromura would’ve almost felt better if she’d said she hated him. But apparently, she was just indifferent—and bold enough to say as much instead of trying to hide it.

“All right—let’s explore this thing. But you and I are going to have a good, long talk later, okay?”

“Eromura... Are you a pedo?”

“What the— Who’s a pedo now?! Is that how you see me, Anzu?!”

“Mmm. A womanizing pedo.”

“Don’t say it so confidently! Urgh... No point picking a fight with you over it, though. I know I’d never win.”

“Eromura... Are you useless? A chicken? A virgin?”

“Come on! What do you want me to do here?!”

Eromura never wanted to hear those words from a girl, and right now they were gouging away at his fragile heart of glass. This tyrannical little ninja might have looked emotionless, but the corners of her mouth were twisted upward ever so slightly.

It was a small enough change that Eromura didn’t even notice.

“Stop messing around. Let’s go,” Anzu said.

“You’re accusing me of ‘messing around’? How?!”

“Making excuses now? That’s not very manly of you.”

Eromura headed inside the pillar, still completely at the girl’s mercy.

Neither realized they were being watched from a distance.

* * *

“Did... Did you see that?” Celestina said.

“Oh, I certainly did.” Carosty nodded. “To think there was such an intricate mechanism at play...”

Celestina and Carosty had been strolling around the city when they had just so happened to see Eromura and Anzu open a pillar and head inside.

Like Croesus and his friends, the girls had been busy investigating magic tools somewhere else. Then, just out of curiosity, they’d decided to walk around Isa Lante for a break.

Miska and Ulna were outsiders on this expedition, so they were off doing their own thing.

“As proud mages, this is where we ought to follow them!” Carosty proclaimed. “These are the remains of an ancient, magical civilization; there is no telling what sorts of discoveries may await us inside!”

“I agree with what you’re saying, but we’re not equipped for combat right now, you know?” Celestina replied. “What if something’s lying in wait in there, and it attacks us? Besides, none of the other researchers know about this place. We shouldn’t be reckless.”

“So you say we risk allowing the greatest discovery of the century to slip through our fingers? What if these mercenaries discover incredible relics inside and pilfer them in secret?”

“I don’t think Anzu would do something like that, at least. But... You’re right, I’m not sure I can trust the other one... Eromirer? Was that his name? Anyway... What do we do?”

“I say we have no choice but to follow them in,” Carosty said. “No, we must follow them!”

Both girls were dressed in their school uniforms and robes. The only weapons they had were a poor excuse for staff and a ring to serve as a magic conduit, which were far from ideal for fighting.

But as uneasy as they were about heading into a potentially dangerous place alone, they ultimately both succumbed to their scholarly curiosity.

“S-So... The moment we think things are getting dangerous, we turn back. Okay?” Celestina said.

“Why, of course,” Carosty replied. “This is merely a preliminary investigation. If we deem the risk too great to continue, we can simply flee.”

They were committed now. There would be no more changing their minds.

After one last vigorous nod to each other, Celestina and Carosty looked for the entrance Eromura and Anzu had used. Before long, they found the door—still open—and hurried inside.

The two girls began to explore the pillar, eager to make some big new discovery.