Chapter 2: Fenrys

Flio decided to go for a walk after his meal. He’d been eavesdropping on conversations at the inn when he heard about a guild for adventurers, and figured he might as well check it out. In Flio’s original world, these guilds were places where registered adventurers would take posted jobs calling for monster hunters or caravan guards or the like, and receive payment. Newly arrived as he was, Flio had no connections in this world, and it seemed to him that the rewards for posted jobs at a place like that would be the best way to make money quickly.

He had scarcely begun to make his way through the city when a small window appeared in front of him, giving him directions:

Continue ahead to reach the Klyrode Castle Town Adventurers’ Association.

This was the effect of one of his passive skills: Guidance. With its help, Flio could navigate easily through this completely unknown city.

As he was walking, Flio felt a presence behind him. “Hm?” He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw a child dressed in rags carefully drawing closer to him, looking intently at his possessions like a thief. The child reached out his hand to grab Flio’s Bottomless Bag, but his hand was deflected by a magic barrier. A number of Flio’s passive spells activated at once.

“Wh-What?” the child blurted out in surprise. The next instant, a rope appeared at the child’s feet and rose up, tying his legs together. Tightly bound, he lost his balance and fell.

Flio turned to get a good look at the would-be thief. He was painfully thin, and his clothing was in tatters. It was easy to assume that he’d only turned to theft out of hunger and desperation. The boy was trying to say something, but the ropes had moved up his body, pulling tighter and gagging him. Flio couldn’t make out his words.

“Hey, that’s—” a voice called out.

“What in the world?!”

A crowd was starting to form around them, drawn by the sight of a fallen child wrapped up in ropes. Flio frantically looked around. Not wanting to get involved in any kind of trouble, he took a gold coin from his bag and stuck it through a gap in the rope binding. Then, he leaned close to the child’s ear. “Don’t do that again, okay?” he whispered, stepping away and releasing the spell.

Disoriented at being suddenly free, the child darted away into the crowd. Flio watched him go until he was completely out of sight, and then stepped into the crowd himself, using magic to conceal his presence. Before long, he reached the guild.

The guild was a fairly large two-story building. The first floor held the reception area as well as a food hall and weapon shops. On the second floor, there were rooms for adventurers to stay overnight.

First things first, I need to register myself as an adventurer. With that in mind, Flio walked up to a counter he saw marked by a sign hanging from the ceiling that said “Adventurer Reception.” A red-haired elf was sitting behind the desk. She smiled as Flio approached.

“Good afternoon,” she said. “How can I help you? Are you here to register as an adventurer? Or are you looking for a job?”

“I want a job, please,” said Flio. “Do I need to register first?”

“Yes,” she said, still smiling. “That’s how our organization works.”

“I’ve never done this before. Would you mind giving me a simple overview?”

“Of course! I’m here to help.” Flio smiled politely at her words. “Now then,” she continued, beginning to explain.

According to the receptionist, the first step for an aspiring adventurer would be to register themselves with the guild. They would take jobs and earn merit, rising in rank in proportion to their achievements. Higher-ranked adventurers could undertake more difficult jobs that promised greater rewards.

It was possible to take jobs from the guild without registering as an adventurer, but registered adventurers were eligible for provision funds to pay for any gear deemed necessary for the job as payment up front, and if they happened to be injured while undergoing a mission, they could receive healing free of charge from the guild’s witches. It was no surprise that most adventurers chose to register. However, if a registered adventurer abandoned a job partway through or failed to complete it in the allotted time, they would be obligated to pay a penalty fee for the breach of contract.

There were also certain jobs listed as “unranked.” These jobs were considered exceptionally difficult. There was no penalty for abandoning an unranked job, but also no payment upfront and no free healing if an adventurer was wounded in their attempt, no matter how serious the injury. For the most part, they were hardly considered worth it. On the other hand, many of them offered immense rewards if a party could pull it off (although there were some cases where the client simply wasn’t able to provide an appropriate reward for the difficulty, or lacked adequate information concerning the request). You could rise in rank very quickly by succeeding on unranked jobs, but you’d be courting death if you made it a habit.

After listening carefully to the explanation, Flio finalized his registration and was given a small, silver pendant tied with a braided cord. “Your adventurer profile and all of your information is magically recorded inside,” the elf said. “You can check it using magic. When you accept or complete a job, be sure to bring it here so that we can record your achievements.”

Flio brought the plate in front of his eyes. A letter was projected on the surface of either side. “What does this ‘E’ mean?” he asked.

“That’s your rank. Adventurers’ ranks go from E at the lowest, to S at the highest. Everyone starts at rank E.”

“I see. And I’ll gain ranks as I take jobs?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“All right,” said Flio, putting the pendant around his neck. “In that case I’ll just have to do my best to make this thing into an ‘S’!”

The woman smiled at him. “I look forward to seeing you in action! Now, I just need one silver as a registration fee.” She held out her right hand.

“Can I pay with this?” asked Flio, taking a gold coin out of his bag and handing it to her.

“Yes, of course.” The elf took his coin with a smile, then gave Flio his change back in silver.

Paid and registered, Flio walked quickly to the board where jobs on offer were displayed, but he ended up stopping short of the board itself. Before him, standing by the board, was a lone, young girl. She seemed to be approaching adventurers who came to see what jobs were available and pleading with them about something. “Hm?” Flio wondered aloud. “What’s going on with that girl?”

It struck Flio as suspicious, so he decided to try to listen in. He focused on his hearing and several of his skills activated—now he could hear her more clearly.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, again and again to different adventurers. “Would you please escort me to the Delaveza Forest?” A client could have their request displayed on the board as a proper job for a set fee, but this girl seemed to lack the money and could only work outside the rank system and approach adventurers individually. The Delaveza Forest was rumored to be an abode of demons, but the girl could only offer a few coppers as payment with no provision funds upfront. It was very poor conditions for a job, and most of the adventurers simply ignored her.

One of them took pity. “It’s a twenty-day ride,” the adventurer said. “I’ll do it if you can at least pay for a cart, and food for the trip.” But it seemed like the girl lacked money even for that, and they, too, walked away.

Flio watched from a short distance. The Delaveza Forest... he thought. I was just there. I could make the trip in no time using Teleportation. It looks like she’s in some real trouble... He walked up to the girl.

“Excuse me, miss, would you like me to take you?” he said.

The girl jumped in surprise and turned around to look at Flio. It seemed like she had been on the verge of giving up. She looked him over and said, “Um, I can’t offer much of a reward. Is that okay?”

Flio smiled calmly. “I mean, if all you need is someone to bring you there, it won’t take any time at all with my Teleportation skill. I’ll gladly do it for free.”

The adventurers around him started to whisper. “Wait, wait, did he say he can cast Teleportation? That kid?”

“It’s gotta be a lie... Not even a good one, at that,” said another.

“As if an E-Rank adventurer could cast Teleportation.”

Flio swore internally as he heard the adventurers whispering around him. He had been able to cast the spell so easily before that he had assumed it was a basic spell in this world, one that anyone who had even the slightest bit of magic could cast. He had no idea that he would cause such a commotion just by saying the name. Flio made a troubled expression and scratched the back of his head.

A lady-knight walked up to Flio, standing between himself and the girl and staring him straight in the face. “You say you can cast the spell Teleportation? Forgive my rudeness, but you look nothing like the kind of elite magic user it would take to use such a high-rank spell,” she scoffed. “What are you scheming? If you mean to abuse her or sell her off...” She fixed Flio with a sneer of open contempt through the eyehole of her helmet. A number of women were standing behind her—her party, most likely—glaring at Flio with the selfsame expression.

Flio faced the knight and her party in turn, giving them his best smile. This is what I get for speaking too freely I guess... Now everyone thinks I’m a creep. I’ve probably scared the girl too... Now what?

He thought furiously behind his fake smile, until he finally hit on an idea. “Oh, I know,” he said to the knight. “Why don’t you all come with me? I’d be happy to share the reward with you.”

The knight went to discuss the matter with her companions. They huddled together for a while, speaking in murmurs. Flio could have easily listened in on their conversation with his eavesdropping skills, but he thought better of it. I don’t want to give them another reason to be suspicious of me...

Finally, the four of them concluded their discussion and the knight stepped forward. She faced Flio directly and said, “We’ll take you up on your offer. However, we will respond to any threatening movements in kind, so don’t even think about it.” She was plainly dead serious.

Their discussions concluded, all six of them including Flio, the knight, and the young girl left the Adventurers’ Association behind them. Flio wanted to go somewhere where nobody could watch him use Teleportation, so they turned the corner to a back alley.

“This is as good a place as any,” said the knight. She was being a little forceful now that they were out of sight. “Go on, cast your spell.”

Flio glanced at the knight’s party, who had formed a circle around the girl to protect her. Honestly, this seems like a bit too much caution, he thought, inwardly annoyed. He turned to the group. “Okay. I’m gonna cast the spell. Gather around me, please.”

The knight’s party gathered around him dubiously. After Flio was sure they were all in range, he began to focus. He followed the instructions that appeared on the windows, and at once, they vanished from the street.

◇The Delaveza Forest◇

“Well, this is a surprise.” The knight looked like she couldn’t believe her eyes. The Delaveza Forest was spread out before them. The girl and the rest of the knight’s party were no less astonished, glancing around the place in disbelief.

After she regained her wits, the knight approached Flio and lowered her head. “Sir Flio, was it? I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was wrong to suspect you.”

One of her party came forward—she seemed to be a witch. “I’ve never seen anyone use Teleportation over such a long distance,” she said. “You’re a Grand Magus, then? A top-tier Grand Magus?” She looked bewildered more than anything.

Flio was as taken aback by her words as she was by his spell. “N-No,” he said, desperately trying to explain, “I’m just a novice adventurer who happens to know a bit of magic...” Unsurprisingly, the witch seemed completely unconvinced. She continued to stare at him, puzzled.

As Flio and the witch were having their exchange, the girl anxiously rushed off towards the forest. Flio managed to escape the conversation and chased after her. The witch made to follow, but the knight stopped her in her tracks. She carefully watched the two of them.

Flio called out to her. “Miss, what’s the matter?” She turned around.

“This forest, it...” she began, looking between Flio and the wooded area. “It... It’s all gone. There’s no malicium anywhere. It used to be thick here, I’m sure of it...”

“Oh, that malicium,” said Flio. She must have been talking about the malicium that he himself purged from the forest not long ago. Before his eyes, another window appeared, the type with the flashing red border. A warning.

Caution: It may be dangerous to relay your use of Purification to a demon.

After making sure of the window’s message, Flio began looking fervently around the area. All he could see, though, was the young girl, the lady knight, and her party.

I don’t see any demons...

Flio was standing there confused, when another window appeared:

Young Client: Demon (Lupine) disguised by magic to appear human.

Flio’s eyes went wide, and he felt his pulse quicken. Meanwhile, the knight’s party, who had been observing the two from a distance, began to advance on the girl. The knight drew her sword, as did one of her companions, a woman wearing heavy cavalry armor. The archer in the party kept her distance, readying her bow, and the witch began to chant, extending her arm in the girl’s direction. It was clear that they were readying themselves for battle. The knight, their leader, came within striking range and stopped.

“Now. Isn’t it time you showed us your true form, little girl?” she commanded, her sword at the ready.

“You wanted to go here?” said the archer, keeping her bow trained. “With all the Dark One’s minions running around? Did you think we’re stupid?”

The party had the girl surrounded, their eyes trained on her like hawks, waiting for her to make a move. “I’m terribly sorry to involve you in this, Sir Adventurer,” said the knight, not taking her eyes off the girl as she addressed Flio. “We received a report at the castle about a ‘suspicious little girl.’ This girl has been coming to the Adventurers’ Association for several days now looking for someone to bring her here. Our original plan was to go along with her, and reveal her true form by force once we were on the road, but we arrived at the guild just as you spoke to her. We cast aspersions on you as a way to involve ourselves. I’m truly sorry.”

As the knight spoke, her brawny companion in the heavy armor—the person nearest to Flio—took two, three steps towards him. “We were thinking of letting you know what was up when we were on the road,” she said. “We didn’t expect you to actually cast Teleportation. Sorry for that.” She brought her hands together in front of her face in a gesture of apology.

“Well then,” said the knight, addressing the cornered girl, “answer me!”

There was a strange fire in the girl’s eyes as she glanced at the knight, the corners of her mouth twisting into a sneer. “Hmpf. So, a knight from the castle then. And it sounds like you think you have me trapped.” As she spoke, her shape began to change. Her mouth split open. Hair grew all over her body. Ears sprouted from her head and her nails became sharp claws.

She had become an enormous wolf.

The knight and her party stepped back, awed by the wolf’s imposing presence. Fear was written on their faces. The archer froze in place, too frightened to move, unable even to fire her bow. The wolf’s eyes darted around at the knight’s party. “Well? Is that what you think? That you have me, the great Fenrys, sister of Fengaryl of the Dark One’s Infernal Four, caught in a trap?!”

Fenrys bared her fangs as malicium filled the air around her. The knight’s party was in a state of panic. “We were expecting something in the league of a scout... She’s in the same class as the Infernal Four!” The knight shrunk before the wolf’s majesty, unable to move even a muscle.

The heavy-armored fighter drew close to the knight, looking desperate and afraid. “We need to get out of here,” she said. “We’re no match for this thing!” However, as she spoke she noticed the beast move right in front of her, and she too found herself awestruck, frozen in place. The mage and the archer had already collapsed to the ground, completely immobile. The whole party was helpless. Fenrys regarded them with a haughty grin.

As for Flio, he was standing there watching this all unfold. Whatever aura Fenrys had didn’t seem to affect him—he felt completely fine. “Well, well,” said Fenrys, her surprise registering on her face, “at least you seem to have some spine.” She grinned again, as arrogant as before. “Wait here a moment. I’ll see to you once I’ve finished them off.” She lowered herself down, preparing to attack.

This looks pretty bad, Flio thought. He spun to look at Fenrys’s target, the immobilized knight. Can I cast Teleportation and have it only affect them? Flio began to focus.

“Now, perish!” Fenrys shouted as she leapt into the air. The knight squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for death. But just at the last moment, Flio completed navigating the windows.

“Send the knight and her party back to city!” Flio shouted. As he said the words, the knight and her party vanished instantly. Fenrys was a second too late, her jaws biting fruitlessly at the empty space where the knight had been.

“Where did she...?” Fenrys quickly glanced around the area, dumbfounded. But the knight and her party were nowhere to be seen. “Don’t tell me... You did this?” she said, turning to look at Flio. “You’re tougher than you look. And I brought you here thinking you’d be prey for my brother and his minions...” She licked her lips, readying herself to attack again, this time targeting Flio.

“No way,” Flio muttered. “I don’t feel like dying quite yet.” He was glancing between Fenrys and his window display as he spoke. He selected a spell.

“Eh?!” Fenrys felt an unbelievable weight pressing on her body, forcing her to the ground. The pressure was too strong to resist. She fell down to her knees, front paws splayed out. Wh-What is this? She tried to speak, but the literal gravity of the situation forbade her from even opening her mouth. She tried to muster her strength, to get to her feet, but it was completely impossible. She was stuck down on her knees, unable to move a muscle. Wh-What magic is this? Even I can’t fight it...

In the Dark Army, Fenrys was known for her overwhelming magic power and her unbreachable magic resistance, both of which she had been blessed with since birth. But even she was overwhelmed by this spell, her whole body immobilized. She stared in open shock, struck by the reality of her situation. N-No... She tried to cast the spell Low Gravity, desperately chanting its invocation in her mind—but her spell broke and shattered, making a hollow sound like glass breaking.

Clink!

No way!

Shocked and afraid, Fenrys began casting any spell she could think of, one after another in rapid succession. Short Range Teleportation! Meteoric Leap! Positional Exchange! But every time, as soon as she finished each mental incantation, the spell broke with the same hollow sound.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Th-This can’t be happening... Frightened though she was, Fenrys stubbornly kept trying to use magic. The spells she was attempting, however, were very powerful, and before long she had completely exhausted her magic power.

Impossible! Human magic shouldn’t be able to do this!

Her face went pale. She was drained of magic, and this whole time her whole body was still being forced down by that unimaginable weight.

Is there no way out of this?

Her consciousness beginning to fade, Fenrys thought as hard as she could, but not a single even slightly useful idea came to mind. She couldn’t move her body, her magic power was completely dry, and her mind was starting to feel cloudy. She had tried everything. It was hopeless.

With the last of her strength, Fenrys turned to look at Flio. “I surrender,” she muttered. “Go ahead and kill me.” She quietly closed her eyes. Suddenly, the force that had been pushing her down vanished. “H-Huh?” Fenrys had thought she would be killed for sure. Finding herself unexpectedly alive, she opened her eyes, bewildered. What she saw was Flio, kneeling down and extending his right arm towards her.

Fenrys transformed, changing her shape from the great wolf to that of a woman. This was not the form of the little girl she had used at the Adventurers’ Association, but a beautiful and dignified lady with long, silvery hair—this was the humanoid form she could naturally adopt as a demon.

“I can’t kill someone who’s surrendered,” said Flio, “and I don’t especially enjoy fighting, anyway.” He took off his cloak as he spoke and put it on Fenrys. Her clothes had been torn when she had changed into a wolf, and Flio wasted no time in covering her up.

Fenrys glanced up at Flio, frowning. “Aren’t... Aren’t you humans at war with demons? You know I’m an enemy soldier, right? Why would you spare me?”

“I may be a human, but I’m not from this world,” said Flio, smiling wryly. “It honestly doesn’t matter to me what kind of person you are, human or demon. I just don’t want to kill someone who’s surrendered. That’s all.” His face settled into a calm smile.

Flio’s words only served to baffle Fenrys further. “How naive,” she said, laughing sarcastically. “Far, far too naive.” But despite herself, she was smiling. She no longer had any strength to oppose him.

There had been a window that kept stubbornly appearing in Flio’s vision for a little while now, advising him to use a Subjugation spell to bind Fenrys to his service. Maybe I am naive, Flio thought. But I just can’t do something like that to someone at my mercy. He set the window’s display setting to “off.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“I...suppose I should thank you.” Fenrys bowed slightly. She was wearing a set of adventurer’s clothing she had gotten from Flio.

“There’s really no need,” Flio responded happily. “Those are just clothes I got from the castle. All I did was adjust them.” As he said, Fenrys was wearing an outfit that had been in Flio’s Bottomless Bag. Originally an inferior item, Flio had improved it and fitted it to Fenrys’s proportions with magic. It looks pretty good on her, thankfully, he thought.

“Incidentally,” Flio said, addressing Fenrys with a smile, “you’re free to go wherever you like, as long as you promise to stop attacking humans.”

Fenrys smiled bitterly. “You really are naive. No... I suppose the proper word is ‘kind.’” She went down on one knee. “You spared my life, when you would have been justified to kill me and take my pelt. From this day forward, I, Fenrys, swear to never attack a human without just cause.” Flio nodded, satisfied. She continued: “Furthermore, I hereby declare you as my master. I will repay this debt to you with my life.” She bowed deeply.

“W-Wait!” Flio said, flabbergasted. “You don’t owe me that kind of debt!” As he tried frantically to think of what he should say, Fenrys lowered her head, looking up at him.

“You reject me? Master... It is our law as lupines that we dedicate our life to the person we deem our master. If I can’t do that, then...I would have to die.” She grabbed hold of Flio’s arm, looking at him with forlorn, pleading eyes.

“N-No,” said Flio, unable to hide his distress. “I... I can’t...”

Fenrys pressed herself even closer. “You can use me as a pack mule or a slave,” she begged. “It doesn’t matter what you do with me, Master. Just, please... Please let me be by your side.”

Flio shook his head. “I don’t need a pack mule or a slave!” he responded, frantic. “I don’t want someone serving me like that!”

His mind was racing. This isn’t good... I don’t think I can change her mind. But I’m alone in this world, exiled with nowhere to go. I don’t know what I’m doing, or how I’m going to make a living. Can I really take her with me?

Flio couldn’t bring himself to agree. Surmising that this was the way of it, Fenrys turned her right arm into a wolf’s. “Master, if you have truly made up your mind not to take me...” She brought her sharp claws to her own throat. “Then this is where I die.”

Her right hand began to move, but Flio rushed to grab it. “I...” he said.

“Master?”

“I get it. You win. You can come with me. Just please don’t do that again.” His shoulders were trembling.

Seeing him like this, Fenrys was at a loss for words. He really cares that much about me? She returned her arm to its human form, staring at her new master.

◇ ◇ ◇

A while later, the two had finally calmed down. They were sitting together on a nearby boulder, Flio behind Fenrys, lost in thought. I guess she managed to force herself on me. But if she’s going to be coming along, how should I refer to her? Flio had had enough bad experiences with speciesism in his home world—he didn’t like the idea of treating Fenrys as a slave or a pack mule. What would be the best way to bring Fenrys along without alarming people?

As he was thinking, Flio glanced at the side of Fenrys’s face.

“Is there something you need, Master?” she said, smiling when she noticed that he was looking at her.

At the sight of Fenrys’s smile, Flio had an idea. “Fenrys,” he began, “if you’re okay with it...” He looked into her eyes, suddenly speaking very slowly and deliberately. “Would you...travel with me under the guise of a married couple?”

Fenrys went still.

“Ah, no,” Flio said, worried that she had misunderstood, “I don’t mean you have to be my wife for real, just... If that’s what we told people, we might be able to travel without raising suspicion...”

As he was speaking, Fenrys suddenly wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Of course I’ll be your wife!” she said, her cheeks turning red as she wrapped her arms joyfully around him. “I’ll be your wife for real! I get to be the wife of someone as strong as Master? Someone as kind as Master?!”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! F-Fenrys! Wait a minute!” Flio peeled Fenrys off of him, and looked into her eyes. “I’m not from this world,” he said. “I was one of the Hero candidates they summoned...but I was deemed a failure and thrown away. I can’t go back to my home world. I’m completely alone. I don’t have anywhere to go, and I don’t know what I should do next. You can’t... You can’t marry someone like me.”

Fenrys took his hand. “I don’t care,” she said, looking straight at him. “I promised I would be your wife. I want to be your wife. Wherever you come from, I’m not going to change my mind.” She smiled. “I swear my eternal loyalty to you. For the rest of my life, I swear to stay by your side. So, please let me be with you, Master—I mean, Husband.”

For a little while, Flio just stared at her smile. Then he clasped her hand in his. “Really? You really want this?”

“I do,” she said, nodding giddily.

Flio embraced Fenrys, holding her softly in his arms. Fenrys happily returned his affection.

◇ ◇ ◇

Having pledged to work together as husband and wife, the two of them decided to spend the night camping in the forest. Flio considered returning to the city, but it occurred to him that the knight he had sent back with Teleportation would be there with her party. He thought it would be better to wait until the heat died down.

After walking a while in the forest, the two came upon a clearing suitable for a campsite and settled in. “Well, shall we spend the night here?” asked Flio.

“Very well, my beloved.”

The two of them spread a cloth over the ground, gathered dry sticks for firewood, and began preparing the clearing for a campsite. It was sunset before they knew it. They ate some of the rations from Flio’s Bottomless Bag for dinner and sat close together on a fallen log by the campfire.

“My husband,” said Fenrys, turning her gaze towards Flio, “if I may, I would like to service you tonight. As your wife.” She removed the clothes she was wearing and tossed them aside. Now naked, she nuzzled up to him.

“W-Wait, Fenrys... I, I haven’t had a bath today and...”

Fenrys interrupted him with a kiss. As her lips met his, she began to cast spells of passion on him, one after another—spells like Attract, Lust, Aphrodisiac...

You who would be my husband... Be my partner in both body and spirit.

She stroked and caressed his body as she kissed him, her magic taking effect. Then, pulling back from the kiss, she ran her tongue down his body, teasing...

Clink! Suddenly, the hollow sound of a spell breaking rang out, and her aphrodisiac magic vanished. Fenrys opened her eyes in surprise. “This... My lord, did you...?”

“I don’t... I don’t have much experience,” he said, interrupting her. “But...” He kissed her on the lips. Fenrys’s body shook with pleasure at the touch. His tongue was inside her mouth, toying with hers. For Fenrys it was like an electric shock—she felt like she was melting just from a single kiss.

She could feel Flio’s own passion magic flowing into her body. It was incomparable to the spells she had cast earlier. She was absolutely overwhelmed. “N-No, I... W-Wait...” Her face was bright red. She couldn’t resist this.

Flio quietly cast a spell and began to glow, his face and body transforming.

“What... What is this form?”

“This is my real body,” he said, gently embracing her. “I had kept it hidden until now because I was worried that people from the castle might be after me. But... I thought I should be like this for our first time.”

Fenrys swooned and blacked out in his arms.

When Flio had reached Level 2, he had mastered every skill and every spell that existed in the world. As it turned out, skills related to seduction or pleasure were no exception. The more he wanted to make love with Fenrys, the more his unrivaled skills of foreplay began to manifest, and the more his peerless sexual magic took effect.

Flio, however, was not aware in the slightest.

That night, with Flio as her partner, Fenrys would lose consciousness many, many more times.

◇The Following Morning◇

Fenrys was lying on her side, Flio using her arm as a pillow. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her body felt heavy, and her mind was still foggy from sleep.

Flio noticed that her eyes had opened slightly. “Good morning, Fenrys,” he said.

Fenrys looked up at the face she had seen so many times last night under the bright moon, holding her, kissing her...

“My husband...” She clung to his chest, her breath hot. My body... My heart... They are both yours.

Resting against her husband’s chest, Fenrys once again closed her eyes.

◇ ◇ ◇

Fenrys finally awoke in the late morning. She and Flio straightened up their clothes, and Flio turned back into his disguised form.

“All right,” he said. “What do you say we head to the city and get something to eat?”

“Oh, sure! I’ll gladly accompany you!”

The matter settled, Flio casted Teleportation, taking them back to the castle town. They arrived to find a noisy tumultuous crowd in the streets. Taking stock of their surroundings, they realized the townsfolk were rushing towards the castle gates. There, before the crowd, a truly impressive number of knights stood in formation, prepared to set out.

“Wow,” said someone, “that is a huge detachment of knights. What’s up?”

“It sounds like they found one of the Dark One’s followers in the Delaveza Forest.”

“So all those knights are off to slay a demon?”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard!”

Flio smiled wryly as he overheard the conversation. They’re talking about Fenrys, aren’t they? he thought. He turned to look at Fenrys, clinging to his arm. “Shall we leave them to it and find somewhere to eat?”

The two of them were about to hurry away from the scene when Flio heard a familiar voice calling to him from a corner of the formation of knights. “Are you... Could you possibly be Sir Flio?”

Flio’s body went stiff. Th-That voice... Slowly, he turned his head to look. There, in the army, he spotted the knight and her companions from yesterday—the ones he had sent back to the city with Teleportation. They must have been part of the force being dispatched. When they spotted Flio, they darted out of formation, running up to him in joy.

“I knew it,” the knight said, clasping Flio’s hand tight with tears streaming down her cheeks, “I knew that someone like you would be able to get away from that monster. I’m so relieved to see that you’re safe...” Her whole party was standing behind her—the heavy soldier, the witch, and the archer—crying their eyes out every bit as much as she was. For a while, they just stood there, glad to see Flio alive.

Eventually, the knight’s eyes happened on the person hiding behind Flio—on Fenrys. “Tell me, Sir Flio,” she said, tilting her head to the side, “who is this woman? I don’t recall seeing her with you yesterday.”

Flio felt a pang of anxiety at her words. I hope this doesn’t go badly...

Fenrys was not the small girl she had been when the knight’s party had encountered her, but a young woman. And when they had faced off against her, she had transformed from a little girl directly into a full lupine. This form was one they had not seen before. It seemed they were unaware that she was the demon from yesterday.

After turning it over in his mind a few times, Flio faced the knight. “She’s with me,” he said, smiling. “She was waiting at an inn in town when we met yesterday.” Behind his smiling face, Flio was rushing through magic windows in his mind, bringing his spells into effect, one after another. Bluff. Concealment. Suggestion... Any spell he could find that would help prevent her from noticing...

Between his disarming smile and the absolute deluge of magic he was subjecting the knight’s party to, their dubious expressions relaxed. “I see,” said the knight, now smiling, “I’m sorry. I hope I haven’t given any offense.” She bowed her head, and Flio inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fenrys tugged at his sleeve. “My lord,” she whispered, “why didn’t you introduce me as your wife? That was quite untoward.” She puffed out her cheeks in a pout.

“You’re right,” he apologized quietly. “I’ll tell them next time. I promise.”

“B-By the way,” he said, turning back to address the knight. “What is this army? You’re with them?”

The knight turned to look back at the host of knights. “Oh, the army. We’re being dispatched to the Delaveza Forest. The Dark Army has been stationed there for some time, threatening our kingdom. Now that we’ve learned that a demon from the forest has been coming to the castle town itself, King Klyrode has deemed that the matter can no longer be ignored. So, this army is...”

It seemed she had more to say, but just then, the crowd in front of the castle let out a great shout of joy.

“The Hero! The Hero has come!”

“He looks so commanding!”

“The Golden-Haired Hero! Save us, O Hero! Save our kingdom!”

As they continued their exclamations, the knight turned back to Flio. “Yes, that. The Hero is going to lead us.” She nodded her head.

Flio looked towards the back of the host. There, riding on a white horse and wearing a suit of ornate armor, the golden-haired knight was slowly advancing as the crowd parted before him.

Oh, it’s that guy.

It was the knight Flio had met before. The knight who had been summoned at almost the same time as him. There was no mistaking that golden hair. He was the hero who had gotten high ability scores from the very start—the hero worshipped by the crowd, celebrated at the Feast of the Hero’s Advent that had lasted several entire days.

Well, I’ve changed my form with magic... He probably won’t recognize me.

While Banaza had been exiled, the Golden-Haired Hero was being lauded by the people as the savior of the kingdom. Seeing the difference in their fortunes, complicated emotions sprung up in Flio’s heart.

The knight turned back to him. “Oh!” she exclaimed, “Sir Flio, would you be willing to join us? If we say you’re one of my retainers, surely nobody will take issue. Your magic would be a tremendous boon to our cause. You’ll be compensated too, of course.”

Flio, however, made an apologetic face. “I’m honored that you think so highly of my abilities,” he said. “But I’m afraid I used up almost all of my magic power in the fight against that demon... I won’t be of much use to anyone until I recover.” He bowed in apology, but the knight rushed to console him.

“Oh, oh no, there’s no need to apologize like that,” she said. “I’m the one who owes you an apology, for inviting you so casually without making sure you were in good condition. Yes, after all, you were just in a battle with that horrible demon...” She nodded her head, flustered.

The knight and Flio spoke for a while longer, after which she returned to her unit. “When I return from this mission, allow me to thank you properly for yesterday!” She waved him goodbye. After she had left, Flio sighed in relief and exasperation.

It probably doesn’t need to be said, but the story Flio had told her about having used up his magic was, of course, a total lie. If he stood out in the hero’s forces and things went badly, it was possible they would discover he was still alive. He decided he had better not accompany the army, and came up with a lie on the spur of the moment.

As the knight left, Fenrys squeezed his arm tight. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.

“I... I don’t know, really,” she said, casting her eyes downwards. “It’s just, when I saw you chatting so casually with that woman, I felt...miserable, in the pit of my chest...”

“I understand,” said Flio, gazing at her and giving her one of his smiles. “I’ll take care not to make you feel that way again.”

As the Golden-Haired Hero led his army to sally forth, Flio made his way towards the town center, Fenrys firmly attached.

◇ ◇ ◇

Within five short days, the force the Golden-Haired Hero had led to sortie from the castle was utterly defeated and forced to withdraw without even encountering the Dark Army when they came under attack by a horde of psychobears—ferocious monsters known to attack humans.

There were many such dangers to the north of Klyrode Castle, even aside from the army stationed at the Citadel of the Dark One. It was not at all a place suitable for human habitation. This was why the Hero had gone south from the castle to train for his quest against the Dark One, where he only fought smaller groups of relatively weak monsters. He had finally been dispatched on his long-awaited mission to the Delaveza Forest, but on the road they had come under attack by a huge number of wild psychobears—maybe a thousand, even—and the Golden-Haired Hero panicked.

“Hero! Wh-What do we do?!”

“Golden-Haired One, command us!”

The soldiers waited for the Hero’s orders as they desperately fought back while on the verge of being overrun by the psychobears, but he refused to take charge. “I-I’m not supposed to die like this!” he cried, already fleeing back towards Klyrode Castle. He was the first to break ranks.

The knights put up the best fight they could, but without their commander it wasn’t long before they were destroyed. Of the ten thousand who set forth from Klyrode Castle, only three thousand were to return.

When he heard the news, King Klyrode’s face went white. If it was known to the populace, he reasoned, that the man he himself had acknowledged as Hero had failed so utterly, it was not impossible that he might be held responsible. Therefore, he needed to suppress this. He ordered all records of the campaign for the Delaveza Forest to be expunged to conceal the fact that an army had even set out. He even forced the survivors of the massacre to sign contracts stating that they would not disclose what had happened to anyone under any circumstances.

In the midst of the cover up, he secretly called the Golden-Haired Hero to the castle.

◇Klyrode Castle—Throne Room◇

“Well, Hero, what is the meaning of this? You set out to strike at the Dark Army, only for your forces to be destroyed by common monsters?!” King Klyrode sat on his throne, crossing his arms and fixing the Golden-Haired Hero with a look of discontent.

“By your leave, Your Majesty, and speaking frankly,” the Hero said, taking a step forward and meeting the king’s smoldering eyes, “what is the matter with your soldiers? They fell to pieces at just the sight of the monsters! By the time I could do anything, the army was already basically destroyed. There was just no way I could have rescued all of them on my own, no matter what I did!”

For a while the king just stared back at him, and then he let out a great sigh. “Which is to say, that you claim the fault lies with my army.”

“Yes, exactly! It’s not my fault at all! In fact, you should be thanking me that as many soldiers made it out alive as there were!” His piece said, the Golden-Haired Hero turned his back to the king and stormed out of the throne room.

King Klyrode continued to sit, just watching the door the Hero had left through. At length, one of the aides to his side stepped forward. “Your Majesty, permission to report on the observations of the Hero’s activity?”

“Please.”

The aide leaned in to whisper in the king’s ear. “That Golden-Haired Hero... During his training this past month, he would only ever challenge opponents he was sure to defeat. If anything posed even the smallest threat, he would run. And then he would go on tangents, blaming anyone else for his behavior, speaking rather unlike a Hero...”

The king knit his brow at the man’s words. “Then why,” he said, “did you not recommend he be placed in the dead center of the forces and have someone fit for command take the lead?”

“This also came up several times during his training,” the man said. “Many people tried to offer him advice, but he would always say, ‘This is just how I do things,’ and refuse to alter his behavior in the slightest. So the report says.”

The king sighed even more loudly than before, and shook his head. “We had no choice but to name him the official Hero, under the circumstances, but now that we have, we can’t accuse him of failure... All we can do is hope he hurries up and gains enough levels to defeat the Dark One.”

Saying this, he let out one final heavy, frustrated breath.

◇ ◇ ◇

The Golden-Haired Hero walked through the halls of Klyrode Castle, fuming. His demeanor was calm, but inwardly he was full of impatience and rage. Why is this happening?! he thought.

He called up a window, displaying his ability scores:

Lv: 91

Strength: 999

Defense: 999

Speed: 999

Magic: 999

HP: 999

Skills: Pre-Mastery

His level had risen considerably, but his other abilities hadn’t grown in the slightest from what they were when he was Level 1. I’ve been training hard for an entire month, he thought, clicking his tongue as he continued down the corridor, so why won’t my abilities go up? As I am, I can handle humans or weaker monsters, but it’s way too dangerous to take on anything stronger! I knew I should have refused to lead that army...

A woman who seemed to be an attendant rushed up to him as he walked through the castle. “My Lord Hero!”

“Tsuya,” he said, glum. “Sorry to keep you.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” she said, following behind him as he walked. “It’s part of my duties, you know.”

The two of them were joined by a group of strong-looking knights who surrounded them as guards. With their protection, the Golden-Haired Hero departed Klyrode Castle.

◇ ◇ ◇

Flio and Fenrys returned to The Jewel’s Blessing and spent the next two days hardly leaving their room. They would come downstairs to the restaurant for mealtimes, but after eating they would return straightaway to their room, firmly attached to each other, and stay there for the rest of the day.

The innkeeper watched as the two ascended the stairs, grinning in amusement. “Nice going, VIP,” she said.

“‘Nice going’?” asked the dog demihuman waitress, a puzzled look on her face. “What are they doing in that room all day, Bao?”

The innkeeper snickered knowingly. “Bafuna,” she said, “what do you think a man and a woman do alone in a room together?”

The dog girl—Bafuna—went red. “What? U-Um, you don’t mean...” The innkeeper kept grinning as she watched Bafuna study her feet, fidgeting nervously.

The two lay together in their bed, Fenrys embracing Flio, naked beneath the covers. She was resting her head on his arm, eyes closed and breath hot as Flio gently stroked her hair.

“My husband,” she cooed, “I’ve never been this happy before in my life...”

Flio gave her a hug. “Still,” he said, “it’s about time we start thinking about what comes next.”

“‘What comes next’?”

“Yeah. Things like, where are we going to live, how are we going to make money...”

“I’ll go anywhere as long as it’s with you,” said Fenrys. As she spoke, she wrapped her arms around Flio’s shoulders. “But we can worry about that later.”

Flio could tell what Fenrys wanted. Once again, he held her close.

◇Some Days Later◇

Having eaten their first meal of the day, Fenrys and Flio decided to head outside to walk around town a little.

“Are you ready to talk about it?” asked Flio.

“You mean, talk about what comes next?”

“We need to find a place where we can live an easy life together, and to do that we need to find work.”

“An easy life together...” Fenrys repeated Flio’s words, letting out a little bit of a laugh. “I’d never have considered such a thing before.”

Flio smiled back at her. “Well, I’m going to do some reconnaissance. Shall we try the Adventurers’ Association first?”

Fenrys nodded, and the two of them walked along the crowded city streets, heading in the direction of the guild.

◇Adventurers’ Association◇

They found the Association noisy with adventurers huddled together and whispering. They seemed worried about something.

“Hey, did you hear?” said one among the crowd.

“Oh, that rumor about the Hero’s forces getting crushed?” said another.

“The Dark Army got them, huh?”

“I heard they couldn’t handle some wild psychobears.”

“No way. You’re kidding?”

They continued on like this, talking mostly about the Hero’s defeat. “That’s hardly a surprise, with him in command,” said Fenrys, just loud enough that only Flio could hear.

“You think so?”

“I do. The Golden-Haired Hero is fairly strong for a human, I suppose, but I don’t think he would fare well against a demon. All I could sense in him was pride and vanity—not a trace of bravery, leadership, or intelligence.” She glanced up at her husband. “If you had led them, no psychobear would have stood a chance. You would have annihilated them in the blink of an eye.”

Flio smiled coolly. “I’m glad you think so,” he said, “but if he couldn’t do it, I don’t see how I would fare any better.”

“What are you saying?!” Fenrys shouted. “His strength is nothing compared to yours! Even I, Fen—”

Flio interrupted her, pressing his index finger to his lips. “We’re in public, Rys,” he said, smiling.

After cutting her ties with the Dark Army to follow Flio, Fenrys had decided to start going by “Rys” as a precaution. Even if none of the Dark One’s servants were nearby, it wasn’t impossible that some humans would know her by name. However, she still hadn’t grown accustomed to the pseudonym, and almost referred to herself as Fenrys before Flio stopped her.

Embarrassed by her near slipup, Rys covered her mouth with her hand. “M-My apologies!”

“It’s no big deal,” said Flio. “Just act natural, okay?” He smiled.

The two of them made their way to the registration counter to register Rys as an adventurer.

“Humans have such interesting ways of managing information, don’t they?” mused Rys, holding her new silver pendant before her eyes, examining it curiously.

“I have one too,” said Flio, taking it off his neck and showing it to her. “Here!”

“So we have matching pendants,” Rys murmured, putting her own around her neck. Matching pendants with my husband... Her cheeks flushed at the thought.

They were about to head to the board to see what jobs were available when the bell at the center of the guild suddenly rang out. A rabbit woman was behind the counter, ringing the bell and speaking with a loud voice that filled the entire guild. Almost every adventurer must have been able to hear her words. “Emergency request! A large herd of psychobears has been found to the north of the city! It appears that they are heading in our direction. All adventurers, please lend your aid against the monsters! While this is in effect, the reward for killing a psychobear will be increased to ten times the usual bounty.”

The adventurers gathered in the guild began to chatter.

“Hey, you think that request is...”

“Yeah, it’s gotta be the monsters that wiped out the Hero’s forces, right?”

“I bet. I’ve never heard of large herds of psychobears in this part of the world.”

“Ten times the bounty is good, but... Those things defeated an army!”

“I might go, but I’m gonna want a large party.”

As the adventurers gossiped noisily, the rabbit woman continued. “This request is rank-free. Adventurers of any rank may participate. However, as this is considered an unranked request, insurance or provision funds are not available. The high reward is meant to compensate for this.”

“Wait, it’s unranked?!” whined one of the noisy adventurers.

“No insurance means they won’t heal us if we get injured, right? Right?”

“That’s just unreasonable.”

“But...you can’t just ignore that bounty.”

The adventurers kept talking about this and that. Some of them, drawn by the reward, began to gather into parties, but the majority of the crowd showed no signs of moving. Their talk turned again to the topic of the Golden-Haired Hero.

“Isn’t this sort of thing what the Hero is for, anyway?”

“Where is the Hero? What is he doing?”

“I heard that as soon as he got back, he set off for the south again.”

“So he’s running away? Not from the Dark One, but just some monsters?”

Flio headed out of the building as he listened to the adventurers’ conversation, Rys following along. When they were outside, he turned to her. “It sounds like well-paying work,” he said. “What do you think? Wanna go hunting?”

“I can handle psychobears on my own,” she said. “You should find somewhere to eat and wait for me to return, my lord.” She looked like she really was about to dart off, but Flio stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey, there’s still a lot of magic I want to try out, you know? And I would feel bad about sending my wife off to fight on her own.”

“Y-Your wife?!” Startled by that unexpected turn of phrase, Rys blushed furiously and froze in place. Flio was puzzled.

“Should I not call you that?”

Suddenly coming back to her senses, Rys urgently shook her head. “No! You should! It’s... It’s just that it’s such an honor... I mean, such a joy...” Her face was as red as a boiled lobster.

“I’m happy to hear that,” said Flio. “Then, are you ready to go?”

“Y-Yes, my husband!”

The pair nodded to each other and set off again down the street, this time heading to a weapon shop.

“I don’t need a weapon to defeat the likes of a psychobear, my husband,” said Rys, confused. “I’m quite strong without one.” Flio smiled at her with his usual calm expression.

“I know you don’t need it,” he said. “But people might think it strange if we set out unarmed to hunt monsters.”

“The humans would find that strange?” Rys glanced at the merchandise, a mysterious look on her face. It didn’t take her long to make a selection: a shortsword, on the small side. As a lupine, she had absolute confidence in her speed. Flio already had a staff in the style a magic-user might use, but he also bought a new longsword, which he strapped to his back. His plan was to use magic to fight, but he wanted to make a display of being armed. By strapping it to his back, he could do so while keeping his hands free.

“And, um, this is just a trinket, but...” He handed Rys a ring that he had purchased along with the longsword. It was enchanted with a few minor skills related to speed.

“I don’t think skills on this level will make much of a difference,” said Rys, eyeing the ring suspiciously, but Flio took her left hand in his.

“Among humans, it’s customary for husbands and wives to wear rings on their left hands,” he said. “As a symbol of their bond.” As he spoke, he slipped the ring on her finger. Rys looked, and saw that Flio was wearing an identical ring himself.

“A symbol of our bond... Our...marriage?” Rys held up her hand, blushing deep as she gazed at the ring Flio had given her. There was no such custom among demons, and hearing the meaning of the gesture made her flush with bewildered joy.

“Do you not like it?” Flio asked, noticing the shocked look on her face. “You can take it off if you prefer...” But Rys quickly turned her head up to look at him.

“What?! No, never! I-I want to keep it on!” Her voice was quite a bit louder than she had intended, loud enough that the other customers in the store looked curiously in their direction. Rys held up both of her hands to cover her bright red face, hiding from the gazes of the people around her.

Wh-What is wrong with me, she thought, casting her gaze down, still hiding her face in her hands. I’m getting flustered so easily...

Flio wrapped an arm gently around her. “My apologies for the surprise,” he said. Keeping his head down, he led Rys out of the store.

◇ ◇ ◇

With their new weapons in hand, Flio and Rys headed for the north with a mind to take on the emergency request from the guild. There was an incredible array of armed guards standing watch at the north gate, readying themselves for the psychobears to attack.

“Excuse me,” said Flio, approaching. “May I get through here?”

A number of guards moved to block their way. “Didn’t you hear? The area past the gate is full of psychobears right now.”

Flio smiled calmly at the guard obstructing him. “We know,” he said. “We were just heading out to go psychobear hunting.” The guard gave him a look, and sighed.

“Maybe you’re after the money, but between you and me, you had better give it up. The two of you would just be going to your death. If you really insist on hunting psychobears, at least find some more adventurers to go with you.”

One of the guards was laughing. “What morons,” he said, voice full of scorn. “Where do idiots like that keep coming from? Where do they get off thinking they can take on monsters like that?”

Rys clicked her tongue and lowered her stance, ready to strike the man down where he stood, but Flio put a hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “Rys, leave it. It’s fine.”

“But my lord...”

“It’s fine. We haven’t proven ourselves as adventurers yet.”

“But...”

“Leave it.”

At her husband’s repeated words, Rys slowly and reluctantly stood down. Looking her over to make sure she wasn’t about to attack anyone, Flio turned his attention back towards the guard.

“My understanding was that the psychobear extermination request was rank-free. We should be allowed to join, correct?” He held up his pendant, showing it to the guard, signifying to him that he was an adventurer with the Association.

“Well, yes, that’s true, but...” The guard’s expression darkened as he looked at Flio’s pendant.

The guard captain walked up to them as they had their exchange, looking the pair over. “If they want to go, let them,” he said. “We gave them a warning. Whatever happens is on their heads.”

“If you say so, Captain.” The guard who had been cautioning Flio stepped back. After making sure everything was in order, the guard captain turned towards Flio.

“Nothing more to say, I suppose. Do your best out there. Maybe you’ll get lucky and take down a psychobear between the two of you.”

The guards opened the gate, and Flio walked through, Rys following along. He turned to smile at the captain. “Thank you, sir,” he said. “We’ll see what we can do. Maybe we will take one down.” The gate closed behind them.

“Are those two going to be okay?” a guard muttered idly to himself.

The captain smiled grimly at his words. “Of course not,” he said. “The psychobears are going to eat them alive. If they’re lucky they might make it back, but I’ll be shocked if they return unharmed.”

“What a pity,” said another. “And such a good-looking woman too... He could have at least left her behind for us.” A few of the guards snickered crudely at the remark, but the captain furrowed his brow, annoyed.

“Enough chatter,” he said, commanding the guards in a loud voice. “Get back to your positions. There’s no telling when the psychobears are coming, so stay on your guard!”

The guards obeyed, and returned to their stations.

◇ ◇ ◇

It wasn’t long after leaving the city that Flio and Rys encountered a group of psychobears.

“Looks like we’ve found their vanguard.”

“My husband,” said Rys, readying herself to attack, “If I may...”

Flio held up his right hand to stop her. “Would you mind letting me have these ones?” he said, stepping forward. “I want to get a sense of how powerful my magic is.”

“If that is your will.” Rys didn’t seem quite satisfied being denied a chance to fight, but she obediently stepped back.

“Now,” began Flio, facing the psychobears, “Let’s start by seeing what happens when I use this much force.” He extended his right arm towards his target and cast the spell Gravitation.

The psychobears could tell something was off. They began to wander aimlessly, confused, making noises like “Grawoowl?!” and “Graah!”

“Not much of an effect,” said Flio, watching closely. “Now, let’s see what happens when I use this much.” He increased the power of his spell. The next moment, the psychobears collapsed at once to the ground and the sick sound of bones snapping filled the air. The squashed psychobears looked for all the world like fur rugs spread out over the ground. Naturally, they died instantly.

Flio looked disappointed at what he saw. “That’s too much force,” he said. “This is pretty hard to get right.” He scratched the side of his head with his right hand.

Beside him, Rys was staring at the dead psychobears with evident awe. A psychobear’s bones are as hard as steel, and he flattened them like it was nothing.

“Now,” said Flio, “we have to get the trophies back to the city somehow...” He thought for a while before remembering. “That’s right! I forgot I had a Bottomless Bag.” He placed his hand on one of the dead psychobears, willing it into the bag...but nothing happened. The corpse remained where it was on the ground. “Hm? Why didn’t it work?” Flio tried again, with the same result.

“My lord,” said Rys, “it may be that the Bottomless Bag has certain restrictions. It may not be possible to place the corpse of an animal inside.”

“Oh?” said Flio, looking at the bag. “They have settings like that?” He sounded impressed. “So that means we need to think of another way to transport the psychobears.”

Flio looked once more at his bag, double-checking its contents for something he could use to carry a body. He saw that there was a cart among the agricultural tools he’d been given, and quickly brought it out. It was fairly big, as it was meant to be used for farming. “This will do, I think,” said Flio, loading it up with the psychobears’ remains. As he finished up, he moved towards the front of the cart, meaning to pull it by its metal fixture, but Rys had gotten there first, ready and eager.

“I will take on this duty,” she said. “I insist.”

“W-Wait, I can’t make my wife do something like that...” Flio started, but no matter what he said, Rys continued to assert that she be allowed to pull. Eventually, he yielded, and Rys took to her job with zeal. She pulled happily, simply glad to be of use.

◇ ◇ ◇

A little farther, right before a thick forest, the two came upon a house. Behind the house was a cultivated field, but whatever had grown there before seemed to have been set upon by the psychobears. It was a miserable sight.

The house itself, by contrast, seemed surprisingly unscathed. The interior was in a bit of disarray, but it seemed less the work of monsters, and more the traces of the residents fleeing in a hurry. “What’s this?” said Rys.

“We might be able to use this house,” Flio mused. “Hopefully the owners won’t mind.”

“Use it?”

“Rather than hoping we run into groups of psychobears like before, it might be more efficient to use this house as a base and patrol the area around it.”

“I see,” said Rys. “I understand your reasoning.” The two cleaned up a little of the mess, and set out to hunt.

It wasn’t long before they found a pair of psychobears. The monsters detected their presence and charged, letting out a terrible roar.

“My lord,” said Rys, “please allow me to handle it this time.” Not waiting for an answer, she got into a fighting stance, transforming just her fingertips into wolf claws. She kicked powerfully at the ground and leapt into the fray, diving within the reach of a psychobear. She was much too fast for the monsters to follow. “Hah!” She rent the beast’s neck with her claws, slashing it open with a single strike. The psychobear fell to the ground with a dull thud. Its partner received similar treatment. The whole fight was over in a matter of seconds.

The two continued easily dispatching any psychobears they came upon—Rys with her claws and her incredible speed, and Flio using mostly the spell Gravitation, although he branched out into experimenting with spells like Magic Cannon and Ripper. Before the day was even halfway over, they had felled almost twenty psychobears between them.

“Our stamina is fine,” said Flio glancing at the cart, “but...” The cart was loaded with a veritable pile of psychobear remains, so much so that it was creaking ominously. I think the cart’s about at its limit. Flio cast Reinforce to strengthen the cart, and turned to his wife. “Rys,” he said, “the cart’s full, and it’s starting to get late. Shall we return to the house?”

“If that is your will,” said Rys, stepping to his side.

Suddenly sensing something, Flio turned to look at the forest. “Hm?”

“A psychobear...” said Rys. She, too, could feel its presence. “It seems to be alone.” She readied herself as the psychobear appeared from the woods. For a little while it idly looked around the area, until it spotted Flio and Rys. Baring its claws, it charged forward. Rys walked calmly towards it, transforming her fingertips back into claws. “Come, then,” she said, casually lowering herself into a fighting stance. She was overflowing with killing intent.

And then, something strange happened.

The psychobear, hurtling towards them, roaring, fangs bared, came to a sudden halt in front of Rys and simply keeled over backwards.

“What was that?” asked Flio, thoroughly puzzled.

“I...don’t know...” Tilting her head in confusion, Rys stared at the fallen psychobear. The two walked up to it. Its arms and legs were splayed out to the side, as if it was trying to show that it had been defeated.

“Maybe it realized it’s no match for you, Rys,” said Flio.

“That’s...admirable, in a way?” The two looked at each other, then laughed. “What should we do with it? We certainly can’t just leave it here.”

Flio folded his arms in thought, when the bear suddenly clambered up to its knees. It faced them, and began to prostrate itself, again and again. Flio couldn’t help himself from smiling at the sight. “Any interest in a pet?” he proposed, turning towards Rys. The psychobear made a noise. It sounded happy. Rys, too, found herself grinning in amusement.

Flio cast Subjugation, binding the psychobear to him on the spot. Otherwise, there was a risk that the monster would turn aggressive and start attacking people. An iron collar appeared around its neck—the symbol of its bondage. Like this, it would be perfectly safe accompanying them into the city, but Flio was still concerned. A large bear like that would obviously stand out on the city streets. It was very likely that someone would misunderstand the situation and report it to the guards.

Eventually, Flio thought of a solution: “Why don’t we give it something to wear?” He took all of the outfits from his bag and combined and transformed them using magic to create a set of psychobear-sized overalls. He handed them to his new pet, who happily put them on. Dressed like that, it completely lacked the menacing aura of a psychobear. It looked like it could be some sort of bear-type demihuman. “Walking around shouldn’t be a problem like this.” The psychobear cheerfully nodded.

“We should give it a name, shouldn’t we?” Rys folded her arms. Flio also hummed and hawed in thought.

“Well, since it’s a psychobear,” he said, “how about something like Sybe?” He looked back and forth between Rys and the bear.

“An excellent name,” said Rys. “You truly are brilliant, my beloved.” Sybe jumped up happily.

Flio and Rys returned to the house they were using as a base, bringing their new pet along. Rys had made to pull the overfull wagon, but Sybe moved in front of her, seeming to say, “Leave it to me.” Rys let Sybe pull the wagon, which it did happily all the way to the house.

“It’s getting late,” said Flio. “Let’s stay the night here and head back to the city tomorrow morning.”

“Then, allow me to prepare something for us to eat,” said Rys, heading into the kitchen.

While she was busy, Flio cast spells of sealing and preservation on the wagon. That way, the corpses threatening to spill over its sides would remain fresh the following day, and their bloody stench wouldn’t stink up the whole house. Next, he created a magic wall around the perimeters to keep out any of the area’s roaming psychobears that might happen upon the house in the night.

He had just finished the wall when he heard Rys calling from inside the house. “Dinner is ready, my lord!”

“Okay!” he called back, “I’ll be right there!” He and Sybe (who had been following him around) went back to the house for dinner.

As Flio came up to the kitchen table, what he saw made him tense up unconsciously.

“What is the matter, my lord?” Rys looked curiously at her husband as she took her seat. Before them was a platter loaded up with enormous slabs of raw meat.

“Rys...” uttered Flio, visibly nervous. “What in the world?”

“This is the fruit of our hunt—fresh psychobear meat. Is something wrong?” She looked up at him, genuinely confused.

Flio forced a smile as he looked back at Rys. “Yes... Yes, I see...” he said. “Um, speaking personally, I prefer my meat...cooked?”

“You do? Then...shall I cook it for you?”

“Yes, please. I’d very much appreciate it.”

Rys picked up one of the slabs of meat and brought it back to the kitchen. “It seems like a waste, though,” she muttered as she seared it in a frying pan. “Such fresh meat really should be eaten raw...”

That piece is too big to cook like that... Flio thought, still forcing a smile. Most of it is still going to be uncooked...

Behind him, Sybe was devouring one of the slabs of psychobear meat like it was the best thing it had ever tasted. If it knew that this was cannibalism, it didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest.

◇The Following Morning◇

Flio roused from sleep and stretched mightily in bed. Rys, lying beside him, slowly opened her eyes.

“Good morning, my beloved,” she said, draping her body over his and kissing him tenderly. The two lay like that for a little while, cuddling naked in the light of the morning sun as it filtered in through a gap in the curtains.

After Flio had finished putting on his clothes, he cast the curtains open. “Good weather today too,” he said. Then, “Hm?”

“Is something the matter, my husband?” Rys walked up beside him, still in her undergarments. She followed his gaze outside, and saw a number of psychobears wandering around outside Flio’s barrier, staring at the house.

“I wonder if those were the ones who ruined the garden,” Flio mused. “Maybe they’ve got a taste for fresh produce.”

“I can take care of them, my lord,” said Rys, making for the door without bothering to put on proper clothes, but Flio called after her to stop.

“Wait, Rys, there’s no need,” he said, pointing out the window with his right hand. Suddenly, the wandering psychobears fell at once to the ground, perfectly still.

“Was that Gravitation?”

“It was. I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on that spell thanks to yesterday’s practice,” said Flio. He had used just enough force to kill the monsters, without flattening them into psychobear pancakes.

Rys smiled. “Well then, I suppose I should prepare our breakfast,” she said, and began towards the kitchen.

“Rys,” said Flio, “tell me, what are you planning on making?”

“Oh, more psychobear meat. The same as last night. Why?”

Flio once again forced a smile as he spoke. “Why don’t I cook this time,” he said. “You just get dressed and wait. Okay?”

“Indeed?” said Rys, a curious expression on her face. “Very well...” She did as she was told and retrieved her clothing from where she had left it at the foot of the bed. While she was busy, Flio prepared a meal with astonishing speed. When Rys returned to the kitchen, she found the table set with a great number of plates and bowls filled with all kinds of food: rice, vegetable stew, a fresh salad, and psychobear meat cut thin and fried with vegetables.

“And this is for Sybe,” said Flio, treating their pet to a heaping plate of psychobear meat. This wasn’t anything like the raw meat Rys had served last night—it was cut into thin strips and skillfully fried. Sybe began to greedily devour its food, clearly even happier with it than it had been with the meat last night.

Flio made sure Sybe was eating its meal without complaint, and then he turned to his wife. “Shall we dig in as well?” He sat down in the seat in front of Rys, but Rys herself was frozen stiff.

“My... My lord husband...” she said, stunned. “This meal... How...?”

“Mm? Oh, the vegetables are from the garden in the back. It’s in a sorry state but there was still a lot there that was edible. And I found the rice in the pantry and decided to cook it up. What’s wrong?”

As Flio spoke, Rys began to panic. Born and raised a soldier in the Dark Army, Rys had been thoroughly schooled in swordplay and martial arts, but nobody had ever taught her how to cook. There were only two recipes she knew: meat (raw), and meat (cooked).

Rice? she thought, her eyes darting all over the table. This fluffy white stuff is made from rice? And this soup... How did he make the water taste like vegetables? Even the meat seems like it’s been flavored somehow... It tastes much better than when I do it... Rys took a bite of Flio’s cooking, and then another, deep in thought. If I’m going to cook for my husband, I’ll need to cook food like this...

Beads of nervous sweat ran across her brow as she enjoyed the meal.

◇ ◇ ◇

After their meal, Flio, Rys, and Sybe stepped out into the woods. Flio felled a tree with magic and shaped it into a large cart—much bigger than the one they had been using. They transferred the trophies from yesterday and the psychobears Flio had finished off just this morning onto the new cart. There were almost forty bodies to move, but thanks to Flio’s magic the work went fast.

Like before, Sybe went to the front of the cart, seemingly insisting on being the one to pull it. It flexed its muscles for them, posing like a bodybuilder. Flio and Rys both grinned at the sight. “Well then, Sybe,” said Flio, “take us to the city!” Sybe let out a happy roar.

The cart had been magically reinforced to hold the mountain of corpses without any issue. Normally, when slaying a beast or monster, it’s enough to bring its right ear back for proof of the deed. Psychobears, however, were not only considered a delicacy for their meat; their hard bones could be used as materials for armor or weapons, and their pelts made good cold-weather gear suited for northern climates. Because they were valued so highly, adventurers could claim a higher bounty if they returned with the undamaged body.

The guards couldn’t believe their eyes when Flio’s party reached the city gates. “You got how many psychobears? In one night? Just the two of you?!” The guard captain who had seen them off yesterday was there, regarding the mountain of psychobears piled up on their cart with wide eyes, completely bewildered. The others could only stare as the cart passed into the city.

At the Adventurers’ Association, a crowd gathered around Flio’s cart. “That’s...an incredible amount of psychobears.”

“I’m pretty good with magic,” said Flio, smiling calmly at the cat-type demihuman girl who came out of the building to confirm his kills. “And my wife is a strong sword fighter.”

“We’ll assess the value of these materials for you, so would you please hand me your pendants?” She looked between Flio, Rys, and Sybe.

“Oh, Sybe is our pet, not an adventurer,” said Flio. “I have it under Subjugation, so there’s no danger of it attacking people.” As he spoke, he removed his silver pendant from around his neck and handed it over. Rys did the same.

“In that case, could I ask you to register your pet? A beast that size isn’t supposed to be in the city without an official record of its owner, just in case something happens.” The girl handed Flio a piece of paper, labeled “Pet Owner Registration Form.” The bottom half of the page was a list of notices and guidelines, such as: “In the event of an incident involving a registered pet that results in the injury of a citizen, the pet may be executed with no right of appeal,” and “Owners are liable for any damages caused by a pet registered under their name.” Flio filled out the various fields on the form’s top half, signing his name at the bottom in the field where it said “I accept all terms.”

Just to be safe, Flio wrote “bear” in the field for “pet species.” It seemed like entering “psychobear” might prove unwise.

“That’s all for your registration,” said the cat girl. “I’ll add Sybe’s information to your pendant’s data.” She took the form and the pendants to the back of the reception area. It seemed like it would take a while to assess their kills, so Flio, Rys, and Sybe took a seat.

While they were waiting, a different cat girl came by, carrying a teapot on a tray. “You must be terribly strong,” she said, smiling as she set out cups of tea for them. “I had no idea there were people out there who could take down so many psychobears.”

“Oh,” said Flio, smiling wryly, “we just got lucky.” He took the cup of tea in his hands and continued. “But I wanted to ask... There’s an unoccupied house right before the forest to the north. You wouldn’t know what happened to the people who lived there, would you?”

“Everyone in that area evacuated when the psychobears came, I think,” she said.

Flio thought for a little while before turning his attention back towards the girl. “We had the idea of using the house as a base for hunting psychobears in the north. Would that be allowed?”

“I’ll have to check,” she said. “There have been a lot of monster incursions recently. It would be a big help to have strong adventurers like you making a base up there.” She hurried back behind the counter.

Flio finished his tea and sat chatting with Rys as he waited for the girl to return. It didn’t take long at all before she came rushing back. With her was an old demihuman man, another cat-type. He seemed to be her superior. “That’s them,” she said, introducing them to him. “Mister Flio and his party, the ones I was telling you about.”

“Mister Flio,” the man said, bowing. “My name is Leolith. I am the head of accounting for the Adventurers’ Association. Mimew here tells me you were asking after an abandoned house. We just finished checking with the town hall; it seems that the house’s former residents themselves have already declared it abandoned. We took the liberty of claiming the house for the Association, and registered your names as its current occupants. Please use it as you see fit. The Association will handle all of the fees and paperwork. All we ask is that you keep up your splendid performance.” Leolith and his subordinate Mimew both bowed deeply.

“There’s no need for all that,” said Flio. “I can at least pay the fee for you.” But Leolith shook his head.

“No no no, I insist. We’re more than happy to help the ones who hunted so many psychobears for us. Please allow us to do you this small favor.” They argued back and forth like this for a while, but in the end Flio yielded to Leolith’s generosity and accepted the free house.

That matter dealt with, Leolith signaled to the Association staff waiting behind him, who placed two large bags on the table in front of Flio. Leolith smiled, indicating the bags in turn. “In that bag is your bounty. The guild recognizes your extermination of thirty-nine psychobears. Ordinarily, slaying an A-Rank monster would earn you 10 gold per head, but due to the special extermination request, the bounty for psychobears has been increased tenfold to 100 gold each, totaling 3,900 gold. In addition, you are owed a bonus for returning the carcasses intact. Your bonus comes out to 780 gold. I trust everything is in order?”

The Adventurers’ Association divided monsters by rank, and paid bounties on this basis. A-Rank bounties included psychobears and cyclopes, and were worth ten gold. B-Rank included the likes of dark spiders and lizardmen, and paid one gold. C-Rank bounties, such as evil worms and vampire bats, were five silver, and slimes and goblins were D-Rank bounties, paying a single silver coin. Of course, monsters that had earned A-Rank or B-Rank bounties were considered difficult opponents. Usually it was very large parties, or several parties working together, who attempted them.

Flio and Rys, by contrast, had brought back 39 A-Rank bounties by themselves. The staff and the assembled adventurers at the Association were watching them with amazement. When they heard the size of the bounty for the defeated psychobears, the adventurers began to stir.

“They killed how many bears?!”

“That’s the biggest bounty I’ve ever seen...”

They gathered around Flio’s party, all gossiping loudly about them.

This might get annoying if we stay for much longer... thought Flio. He gave Rys a look and stood up. “A pleasure doing business,” he said, thanking Leolith and his subordinates, and left the Adventurers’ Association behind him. Rys followed closely behind, understanding from his look that he wanted to leave in a hurry.

“Waoor!” Further behind, Sybe ran after them, swinging its large body.

The Association was abuzz with noisy conversations. Leolith and his group were staring at the door Flio’s party had left from. “I’ve heard that the Golden-Haired Hero has gone to the Southern Stronghold and cut off all contact with us,” said Leolith, shaking his head and sighing deeply. “If only they had his job. That Flio would make a much better Hero.”

After taking their leave of the Adventurers’ Association, Flio and Rys departed the city straightaway, their pet Sybe pulling the empty cart behind them. It wasn’t long until they arrived at their house—their new official residence. Their first task was to put the place in order. The previous residents had fled in a hurry when the psychobears came, leaving the interior in disarray. They had done some minor cleaning when they stayed overnight the previous day, but Flio was ready to do some serious tidying up. He used magic to deep clean all the rooms at once, and sorted the kitchenware and utensils, throwing away any he deemed unusable. Any garments that had been left behind, he put in his Bottomless Bag. It wasn’t long before the place looked completely transformed—sparkling, immaculate, and pristine.

“Okay,” said Flio. “This will do for the time being.” Rys looked up from where she had been crouching and wiping the floor with a rag, and gave him a smile. “Now we just need to do something for Sybe.” He glanced out the window at the psychobear, who was hard at work scrubbing the exterior walls.

Flio went into the forest, felling trees and shaping them with magic. Next, he destroyed a section of the wall. He attached the wood, joining it to the wall itself to extend the floor plan, enlarging their living room. With the leftover wood, he built a pen in one corner.

“What do you think, Sybe?” he asked, bringing Sybe inside to see its new living area. “I laid some straw out on the floor here for you.” At Flio’s urging, Sybe slowly entered the pen. At first it wandered around, sniffing curiously at everything, but before long it made a happy cry of approval. Flio and Rys joyously watched on as Sybe giddily paced in and out of the pen over and over.

“All right,” said Flio. “Sybe can sleep down here, and we can take one of the rooms upstairs. Though... Even if we each take a separate bedroom, there’ll still be one left,” he mused. “That just means there’s room for our little family to grow bigger.”

“Bigger?” echoed Rys, blinking. “Who are you thinking of inviting?”

“That’s not quite what I mean,” said Flio, smiling sweetly as he placed a hand on Rys’s belly. “Just...if we ever want to have a baby...”

Her face went bright red.

◇The Following Morning◇

The three left early in the morning to go hunting. Sybe followed behind Flio and Rys, making cheerful growls as it pulled the cart.

“I don’t believe there are any psychobears left near the house,” mused Rys.

“We hunted a lot around here yesterday, didn’t we? All right, then let’s try deeper in the forest this time.”

Flio led his companions into the woods. The people of the city avoided these woods, regarding them as dangerous. Sure enough, Flio and co. had hardly set foot inside when they came upon groups of monsters. Psychobears aside, there were many A-Rank monsters who’d made their homes here—monsters like the salamanders and cyclopes that came out to attack them as soon as they took note of their presence. But even this level of monster was no threat to Flio and Rys. They had made short work of the psychobears yesterday, after all. They slew them one after another, and Sybe heaved their enemies’ remains onto the cart.

Rys looked dissatisfied as she ripped open a cyclops’s windpipe. “Prey this weak makes for a poor warm-up,” she said. Behind her, Flio was casually taking down yet another.

The cart was full up before noon, so they headed back to the city with Sybe pulling the cart as always.

◇The Adventurers’ Association◇

“Wha?! You brought us this many today too?!” Mimew’s eyes went wide as she stared at the mountain of monster remains presented before her. The adventurers inside the building, too, thronged onto the street and gathered around to look.

“Those two go psychobear hunting again?” questioned one.

“Outta this world...” another marveled in awe.

“Is that a salamander? Didn’t one of those things drive off a troop of knights just last year?”

“They took it down on their own?!”

As people gossiped noisily around them, the guild staff took the cart for assessment.

As soon as the cart was out of sight, Rys turned to address her husband. “Excuse me, my lord,” she began. “May I be permitted to wander the city, at least until they have finished their assessment?”

“Of course you can,” said Flio. “Would you like to go together?” She shook her head. “I...” she started, trailing off. “There is...a private matter I must deal with. I do not wish to trouble you with this.”

“Hmm...” Flio frowned. “All right. I’ll wait here with Sybe, then.”

Rys bowed deeply. “My beloved husband,” she said, “thank you for indulging my selfish request.” Alone, she turned to leave.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Here it is,” Rys muttered to herself, staring at the building in front of her. “The place Mimew told me about. To think I would be made to endure such shame... But, it is all for the sake of my husband...”

Rys stepped foot inside the Mileno School for the Culinary Arts.

◇ ◇ ◇

Flio was relaxing in the Adventurers’ Association with Sybe as he waited for Rys to return when Leolith appeared with a number of guild staff. “Mister Flio,” he started, “my apologies for the wait.” He handed over another bag. “Psychobears still give a ten-times bounty, of course. Furthermore, one of the monsters you brought us was wanted by the kingdom. Its prize of one thousand gold has also been added to your reward.”

“‘Wanted by the kingdom’?” Flio repeated.

“Indeed. This salamander dealt a great deal of damage to the kingdom’s knights a year ago.”

“Oh,” Flio said, mildly surprised, “I see.” He recalled testing out the spell Windcutter on a giant salamander, slicing it into eight pieces with a single blow. Really? That salamander was supposed to be dangerous?

Rys arrived right as Flio finished collecting his earnings. “Welcome back, Rys! Your timing was perfect. I was just—” but Flio was suddenly taken aback. “Rys! What happened to you?!” Something had ripped and torn her clothing. There were smudges on her face, cuts all over her arms and cheeks. “Don’t tell me—you were attacked? Was there a monster?!”

“A-Ah, I,” she sputtered. “N-No, it wasn’t a monster.” Worried, Flio quickly tended to Rys using recovery magic.

Rys cast her eyes downward. I never imagined that cooking was such a formidable endeavor...

◇One Month Later◇

The family of three had settled into a daily routine. In the morning they would hunt, and then they would bring their full cart back to the Adventurers’ Association for a reward, then idle around the city for a while before returning to their house.

Sybe was a very personable psychobear, and before long it had become an object of adoration for the local children. One would see Sybe pulling its cart behind Flio and Rys and cry out, “It’s Sybe!” summoning more children from all over to come gather around them. Sybe was always happy to let them ride on its back.

◇ ◇ ◇

“My lord... Once again, I must take my leave.” Rys faced Flio and bowed, and then turned to set out towards the city streets.

For the past month, she had been diligently attending daily classes at the Mileno School for the Culinary Arts, studying the very basics of cooking while Flio waited for the Adventurers’ Association to complete their assessment.

The school was full of young women; Rys was among them, peeling vegetables with a deadly serious look on her face. Mileno, the teacher, came over to her and beamed proudly. “You’ve improved quite a lot, Miss Rys,” she said. “I can hardly recognize the girl who couldn’t peel a potalpo without breaking it into little bits.”

“O-Oh! Thank you, Miss!” said Rys, bowing deeply. This is more fun than learning to use a sword was, she mused to herself, a smile creeping onto her face as she returned to her practice. I wonder why?

◇The Adventurers’ Association◇

Her lessons finished for the day, Rys returned to the guild.

“Hello, Rys! Welcome back. I just finished collecting our earnings,” said Flio, holding up a bag for her to see. “Shall we find somewhere to eat before heading home?”

“Forgive my forwardness, my lord, but may I prepare supper for us today?”

“You want...to cook?”

“I do. Is that acceptable?”

“All right,” Flio answered. “Then let’s buy the ingredients you need and head home.”

Rys cheerfully nodded her head, happy to have permission. Eventually, the two would come to settle on a system where Flio and Rys would trade off cooking duties from day to day, but that’s a story for another time.

◇ ◇ ◇

A few days later, Flio and Rys were on their way home from their regular trip to the Adventurers’ Association when they suddenly heard sounds of battle nearby. Flio turned his head. “I think it’s coming from over there.”

Flio and Rys moved quietly towards the sounds, and came upon a knight and her party fighting against two psychobears and losing badly. They were putting up a valiant effort, but the monsters were far too strong for them. Together there were four: a knight, a heavy soldier, an archer, and a witch.

The two in back—the archer and the witch—seemed to lack combat experience. They were standing around panicked and confused, unsure how to support their comrades. The psychobears would charge through and attack those two if they were given any chance, so the knight and heavy soldier were exclusively focusing on defense, and were unable to counterattack effectively. Wait, thought Flio. That knight... He felt like he recognized her from somewhere. Then it hit him. That’s the group that attacked Rys back when I first met her!

Rys seemed to have noticed as well. She was glancing at the party with a subtly hostile expression. “I see no need to involve ourselves in this,” she said. “Let’s leave these people and go home, my love.”

Flio mulled over Rys’s words. There was no doubt in his mind that if they left, the knight and her party would be destroyed. “I mean,” he said, feeling guilty, “they’re people I know, at least a little bit...” Hidden in the shadow of a tree, Flio began to chant and invoked the spell Lightning. It struck with a loud thunderclap.

“What was that?! What’s going on?!” Startled by the sound, the knight began looking all around her.

“Hey...” said the heavy soldier, pointing. “Hey Balirossa, look...” Before her, the two psychobears who had been attacking them were lying collapsed on the ground, charred black.

“What in the world...?” The knight, Balirossa, stared at the dead psychobears, uncomprehending.

“W-Well, whatever that was... At least we’re saved, right?” the archer uttered, speaking slowly. Beside her, the witch wordlessly fainted.

Flio gave a quick check to make sure that none of the knight’s party were injured, then quietly left.

“My lord, you are much too kind,” pouted Rys.

Flio grimaced. “Oh, please don’t be like that... Look, let’s just go home and enjoy your delicious cooking.”

“Okay...” said Rys. “I’ll do my best.” The two of them hurried home, engaged in a somewhat awkward conversation.

When they arrived, they found two psychobears burnt to a crisp outside the house. “That trap is incredible, isn’t it?” admired Flio. Lately, he had been supplementing the magic barrier around the house with a trap spell. If anyone were to draw near, the barrier would activate first, preventing them from entering. And if it was a monster who activated the barrier, it would immediately be struck with a Lightning spell. Flio, Rys, and Sybe, of course, were designated as exceptions by the barrier, and could approach freely. Flio began moving towards the dead psychobears to clean up, but Sybe got there first. It ran forward with a “rawhr!” and began loading them onto the cart. “Thanks for the help, Sybe,” said Flio, patting the psychobear on its head. Sybe rumbled happily, almost like a cat purring.

While Sybe was bringing the loaded cart to the back of the house, Flio and Rys brought the ingredients for cooking and other items they had purchased in town inside. They were in the middle of their preparations when Flio’s detection spells picked something up. “Hm?” Focusing, Flio sensed a number of humans approaching the house. Flio gasped in surprise when he saw who it was: that presence could only belong to the knight he had just saved and her party. He went outside, tilting his head in curiosity. Why are they coming here? What do they want?

◇ ◇ ◇

A look of surprise came over the knight’s party as they caught sight of Flio standing outside the house. “You... S-Sir Flio?!”

Flio regarded them with his usual cool smile. “What brings you all here?” he said. “This is a dangerous place to wander about, with all the monsters.” He opened a section of the barrier, allowing the knight and her party to come in.

“It’s...a shameful matter, I’m afraid,” said the knight, stiffening up as she faced Flio. “I would very much prefer if you didn’t repeat this to anyone.”

Nonetheless, she began to explain her situation. “Perhaps you’ve heard, but some time ago the Hero’s army met a group of psychobears in battle and was destroyed. The Golden-Haired Hero was terribly angry—he shut himself in the Southern Stronghold, and still refuses to come out. It seems he sent a letter to His Majesty, saying, ‘Although my abilities are phenomenal, the soldiers meant to support me are altogether useless. I refuse to attack the Dark One until they are of a high enough level to be useful as my right arm.’ His Majesty summoned all of his knights and commanded us to ‘train until we can at least handle a psychobear,’ as he put it.” She hung her head and sighed deeply. Her party nodded their heads affirmatively.

“The plan was for the highest-level knights to take priority in training. They could do it faster, you know?” said the heavy soldier, folding her arms. “But they all begged to be taken off training, saying they were needed to ‘secure the castle.’ Even a high-level knight is gonna have trouble with a psychobear. I guess in their minds, falling in battle against the Dark One is one thing, but they don’t want to die training against some monster...” She inclined her head forward.

The archer, standing next to her, continued the story, gesturing with both hands. “And then? Thanks to the Hero’s army losing to the psychobears? Lots of people started thinking stuff like, ‘Wow, the Golden-Haired Hero’s pretty weak,’ right? So like, people are saying they don’t wanna throw away their lives for a Hero like that.” She hung her shoulders.

Next, the witch picked up the thread, stepping forward and facing Flio. “And that’s why weaklings like us are out here...” All four of them sighed at once.

“Among all the knights and their companies, we are the freshest batch,” said the knight, looking Flio head-on despite her humiliation. “Of course, we haven’t been neglecting our training, but even so, as we currently stand we could not defeat even a single psychobear between the four of us. Not long ago we had the bad luck to encounter two of the beasts. There was absolutely nothing we could do against them, but just as we were on the verge of annihilation, they were suddenly struck by lightning.” She pursed her lips, as did her companions.

It looks like they haven’t realized that the lightning bolt was my spell... Flio thought, looking over the knight’s party. He resolved to keep quiet about it.

“By the way, Sir Flio,” said the knight after she’d spoken a bit more, “what brings you to this forest?”

“Oh, this house was abandoned by its former occupants, so we bought it for ourselves.” Flio smiled coolly, turning to face his house. “My companion—no, I mean, my wife and I have been living here with our pet bear, hunting monsters to cover our living expenses. We’ve been here for an entire month, come to think of it...”

The knight’s eyes went wide. “E-Excuse me? Y-Your...wife? Sir Flio! You’re... You’re married?!” She sounded betrayed, like this was some personal affront. The heavy soldier prodded her on the side and she seemed to return to her senses.

What’s wrong with me being married? Flio glanced at the knight, confused. He had no idea what had caused her to behave that way, so he simply kept forcing a smile. The knight seemed like she was still in shock, so the heavy soldier spoke in her stead. “We actually came here because we thought there was an abandoned house in the area. We were done in pretty bad by those psychobears, and we thought it’d be a good place to rest. I mean, I don’t fancy camping with all the monsters about.” Saying this, she craned her neck towards Flio. “Hey, Flio, I get that I’m being super impertinent, but can we stay here for a bit? We’ll be happy even just staying in the shed. Don’t wanna be a bother to you or your wife.”

Flio hemmed and hawed for a moment, and said, “It’s all right with me, but wouldn’t you rather I send you back to the city with Teleportation?” But at his words, the party’s expressions seemed to darken.

“Oh, yeah, that would be great!” said the archer. “But we’re not supposed to go back until we’ve gotten results, y’know?” She sat down heavily.

Next to her, the knight nodded. She seemed to have finally calmed down. “Our orders from the castle were to return having improved...or not return at all. If we can’t at the very least defeat a psychobear between the four of us, we will not be allowed back.” She sighed.

At this point, Rys stepped out of the house, smiling. “I suppose then that the two of us had best sleep in the living room tonight, my beloved,” she said.

“Really? You’re fine with it?”

“Of course I am. It wouldn’t do for us to ignore people in need,” she responded, and gave another smile. “If my husband says it is all right, then as his wife, I must abide by those words. Yes—as his wife.” She put an unnatural amount of emphasis on the word wife as she spoke.

Rys must be happy that I introduced her properly as my wife this time! thought Flio, gazing at her. Last time he had chanced upon the knight’s party among the Hero’s forces, he had simply said, “She’s with me.” He recalled that this had upset Rys rather badly.

Flio and Rys showed the knight and her party into their house. They entered, politely thanking the couple.

But as they stepped into the living room, they stopped in their tracks, staring wide-eyed at Sybe. “What?!” exclaimed the knight. Sybe was sitting in a corner of the room, wearing overalls and playing with a ball. The party cowered before it, knees shaking in fear. “Is that...a psychobear?!”

“No... What’s one of them doing here?”

The knight and the heavy soldier rushed to draw their blades, but Flio stepped in front of them, standing beside Sybe with a casual smile. “There’s no need to worry,” he said. “This psychobear is our pet. Its name is Sybe.” He affably clapped Sybe on the shoulder. Sybe struck a pose, flexing with both arms, and then lay down on its side like it did for the children in the city.

“Your...pet.” The knight’s party sat down feebly, afraid to move, cold smiles on their faces.

“Aha ha... W-Well, I guess it’s kinda cute.”

Rys served the party tea, and they gradually seemed to calm down. One by one, they introduced themselves.

“My name is Balirossa,” said the knight. “My family... Well, you could call them nobility, but in truth that would be in naught but name. Fallen nobility, if you will. As the eldest daughter, I have devoted myself to chivalry, in hopes that I may one day restore our fortunes.”

“And my name’s Blossom,” said the heavy soldier. “You can probably guess, but I’m a heavy armor knight. Don’t take me lightly for being a woman! I built up these muscles working on my family’s farm. I got to know Balirossa when we were classmates at the knights’ academy, and we’ve been together ever since.”

The archer spoke next. “Oh, um, I’m Byleri? I’m, like, an archer? I was a stable hand at the castle, but I’m pretty skilled, right, so they asked me to go with the army? At some point they gave me a bow to use... Anyway, I’m, like, totally a newbie. Um. Nice to meet you!”

“Belano...” said the witch, bowing politely. “I’m a witch...”

After they made their introductions, Flio saw to the party’s wounds, healing them with magic. “By the way, Belano,” he said, “You use magic, don’t you? Do you not know any healing magic?”

“I-I’m a defensive magic specialist,” she replied, embarrassed. “That’s the only kind of magic I can do...”

I hope that wasn’t rude to ask... Flio pondered. He faked the best smile he could, and addressed the whole party. “Regardless, you’ve had a rough day, haven’t you? How about we all have some dinner? Get some rest.”

Blossom raised her right hand to speak. “Actually, there was something I wanted to say... We don’t want to be any bother to you two, so we’ll be fine sleeping out... Huh?” Her eyes drifted towards the window, when she saw something that made her recoil in shock. Outside, there were two psychobears charging towards the house. But as they drew near, they seemed to reach some sort of barrier, unable to come any closer. The next instant, a lightning bolt struck with terrible violence: Flio’s magic trap. It hit the two psychobears, charring them black where they stood. Slowly, they fell to the ground.

“F-Flio,” said Blossom, slowly, “Does that...happen a lot?”

“It does,” Flio responded, matter-of-factly. “Usually when we wake up there are five or six of them out there, caught by the trap.”

It took a moment for Blossom to respond. “L-Like I was saying... We’ll be fine sleeping in just the very edge of your living room, but would you mind if we stay indoors?” She bowed several times, fervently entreating them.

After dinner, Flio turned towards Balirossa’s party. “All right, let’s get your beds ready,” he said, moving in the direction of the window.

“Sir Flio, are you truly going to let us sleep in your bed?” said Balirossa, “We will be happy to sleep on the floor so long as we have cushions...” But as she was speaking, Flio faced the forest and cast a spell. Tree after tree fell, but they never hit the ground. They danced through the air, moving towards Flio’s house. With each movement of his hands, a tree would split into usable wood, assembling itself in no time at all until they had become four wooden bed frames. Flio brought them inside with magic, and set them right next to Sybe’s pen. Rys knew her husband well enough to anticipate that he would make beds for their guests, and had already gone to the back room to retrieve four padded cushions. As Flio set the bed frames down, she placed the cushions on top as mattresses. Balirossa’s party, meanwhile, was stunned silent by the spectacle of beds being created by magic before their eyes.

“These beds are for you,” said Flio. “Rys and I will be sleeping upstairs. Don’t hesitate to knock if you need anything!”

The four women thanked Flio and tucked themselves into bed as he and Rys went upstairs to sleep. They were extremely tired from their ordeals, and Blossom, Byleri, and Belano were asleep and snoring as soon as they got into bed. Only Balirossa lay awake, a huge grin on her face, her eyes gleaming.

To be reunited with Sir Flio like this... It must be the will of the gods. He uses such powerful magic like it’s nothing! If I could make him part of my household, it might not be so impossible to reverse my family’s fortunes. Him being married is an unforeseen setback...but I also have the option of bringing him into my family as a mage retainer. It doesn’t matter how precisely, as long as I can bring him into the fold. I’ll stop at nothing!

Still grinning, she pulled the covers up over her head and started giggling relentlessly underneath.

Inside its pen, Sybe tilted its head as if to say, “What’s that about?”

◇The Following Morning◇

When Flio came downstairs in the morning, Balirossa, who had been cleaning the floor, grinned widely and walked up to him. “Good morning, Sir Flio! I’m sorry to bother you so early, but I have a request...”

“You do? What do you need?” Flio looked inquisitively at the knight.

Balirossa smiled amiably at Flio. “I was wondering if you might see fit to instruct the four of us in the ways of combat?”

“You want...instruction?”

“Yes. It brings me great shame to say it, but we simply lack the strength we need. As things stand, we will never become strong enough to slay monsters. We could seek instruction at the castle, but we were told not to return until we had grown stronger on our own...” Balirossa’s eyes were glimmering as she spoke. She drew closer to Flio. “Under the circumstances, we would deeply appreciate your instruction. We would even welcome any harsh discipline you could contrive if it could train us to be stronger.” She bowed deeply. The other three ran forward and bowed alongside her.

“I understand, but... Well, we have to do our morning hunt...” Flio folded his arms in thought, when Rys walked up to him in high spirits.

“Is there any problem with bringing them along, my lord? They can assist us! Perhaps it can serve as practical exercises for them.” Rys had been inordinately cheerful ever since Flio had introduced her as his wife the day before. Even now, she was grinning as she spoke.

“We’ll do our best not to get in your way,” said Blossom, bowing again. “Please, we need your help.”

“Well, if Rys wants to bring you along, I’m not going to contradict her,” said Flio. And so, he reluctantly found himself accepting their request.

◇Some Time Later◇

Flio and Rys, as well as Balirossa’s party of four, set out for their usual hunting spot of late deep in the forest to the north, with Sybe following behind them pulling the cart. It was difficult to navigate with everyone together, so they decided to split up. Flio took Balirossa and Blossom while Rys took Byleri and Belano to carry out their hunt separately.

◇The Adventurers’ Association—Midday◇

“Today’s a little on the small side, isn’t it?” Mimew was craning her neck looking over Sybe’s cart. On most days their trophies would be piled higher than Sybe’s head, but today there were hardly any.

“There were some...special circumstances we had to deal with today,” said Flio, straining to keep a smile on his face.

“I see... I suppose even you have days like that.” Mimew was assessing their kills as she spoke.

Flio and Rys decided to grab a late lunch at a restaurant in town after they were done with the guild. They left Sybe, happily chewing on a chunk of meat, outside with the cart. Before long, a crowd had started to gather, chattering happily and looking at Sybe.

“Flio and Sybe are so cute, aren’t they?”

“Look, it’s really enjoying its meat!”

“Sybe always cheers me up.”

Sybe, it seemed, was gradually becoming the city’s idol.

The mood inside the restaurant was much less cheerful. Rys sighed heavily where she sat facing Flio. “Those two... I had no idea they would be so miserable at this,” she said, and sighed again.

“Was it really that bad?”

“‘Bad’ hardly begins to cover it,” Rys said, and began to relate the events of the morning’s training.

She started with Byleri. First, when they encountered a psychobear, Byleri hid in the shadow of a tree and loosed an arrow at the monster, but the arrow just bounced off its hide and fell harmlessly to the ground. The psychobear hadn’t even noticed that it was hit—it just kept walking. That was how weak her shots were. The psychobear had simply wandered off, unaware that it had ever been under attack.

Byleri was only equipped with a normal shortbow, so it was no surprise that her arrows lacked the power to pierce a psychobear’s thick skin. At first, Rys had assumed that she must be planning on enchanting the arrow to give it enough force to hurt a psychobear, but as she watched, Byleri simply fired a normal arrow with her normal shortbow to absolutely no effect.

“Is there a reason you aren’t enchanting your weapon?” Rys asked.

Byleri looked surprised at the question. “I-I, um, can’t use any magic?” she said. Rys went white.

“Without an enchantment, that bow isn’t going to do anything,” Rys said, and handed the girl a crossbow she had brought along. But Byleri was unable to even lift the weapon.

“Um... Miss? This is, like, too heavy?”

As for Belano, Rys had asked her what kind of spells she could cast, and the witch began to count them off on her fingers. “Defense-boosting spells... Status recovery spells... Barrier spells...” At first Rys had thought that it was a fairly impressive number, but as Belano continued to list them off, she gradually began to feel a sense of unease.

“Belano, defensive magic is all well and good, but could you tell me what attack spells you know?” Belano went silent, and seemed to freeze in place.

She stood there for a while, frozen, until finally she said a single word: “None.” Rys once again went white.

Belano told her that she could use defensive magic on par with an A-Rank spellcaster, but no matter how hard she tried she hadn’t been able to master a single offensive spell. Moreover, the amount of magic power in her body was uncommonly low, and she could only cast a few simple spells before running out. “It sucks,” she said, looking like she was about to vomit. “This whole situation sucks...”

Rys sighed deeply as she finished her story.

“It sounds like you had a rough time,” Flio said. “But you know... Balirossa and Blossom were something else.” He smiled bitterly as he launched into his account.

Balirossa was as skilled with a sword as one might expect from a fighter of noble birth, but she would insist on announcing herself to the psychobears, wasting time with preliminary remarks like, “Come! I shall be your opponent!” Moreover, every time she would swing her sword, she would go into unnecessary poses, like she was doing some fanciful sword form. Her skills were not suited to a serious battle with life and death on the line, but stage-fights and martial arts exhibitions.

Psychobears would attack her while she was still announcing herself, and she would be forced to flee, shouting, “Wait! C-Coward! This is not chivalrous conduct!” Even when she was lucky enough to finish her entire introduction and strike the psychobear with her sword, her stage-fighting techniques were unable to scratch its hide.

Blossom, meanwhile, fought using a greatsword befitting a heavy soldier that was the length of her body, and attacked the enemy directly using her entire body to deliver a strike with fairly impressive destructive power. However, her habit was to strike downwards using the momentum of her blade, a technique that had absolutely atrocious accuracy. Psychobears were faster than they looked, and had no trouble avoiding her attacks. In fact, over the course of the entire day, she had not landed a single hit. In fact, many times her foes would attack her while she was cutting through empty air, and she would be forced to drop her sword and flee, shouting, “Wha?! Idiot! Wait until I’m ready to attack again, you coward!”

Flio and Rys both had to devote their efforts to saving their charges from getting themselves killed, and as a result fell behind their usual pace. When they finished relaying their stories to each other, both heaved powerful sighs.

“This is going to be more difficult than we thought, isn’t it?” said Flio, but Rys shook her head.

“It’s not that it’s difficult, my lord,” she said, sighing again. “It’s clear that they have no potential at all. If I had known, I would never have urged you to take them on...”

◇Flio’s House◇

Flio, Rys, and Sybe returned home once more. When they had left for the city Balirossa and her party were passed out in their beds, exhausted from fighting the psychobears, but when they opened the door, they were greeted by a grinning Balirossa wiping the floor clean with a rag. “Welcome home, sir! Welcome home, madam!” she said, interrupting her cleaning to welcome them properly before she got back to work. “I hope you will allow us to do at least this much to repay you for your kindness.”

Blossom was in the garden behind the house (which Flio and Rys had never bothered putting in order from being ransacked by psychobears), tilling the soil. She was swinging the hoe like an expert, preparing the earth for cultivation. “I come from a farming family, remember?” she said, smiling. “This kind of work is my specialty!”

Byleri was outside too. It seemed like she had been helping Blossom with her work, but when Flio and Rys checked on her, she was resting under a tree, exhausted from the heavy labor. She must have really been trying to put some muscle into it.

Belano was poring over the grimoire she carried in her own Bottomless Bag, diligently reading every chapter on offensive magic and repeating various exercises.

Flio and Rys glanced at each other. It seemed like the four were doing their best to make themselves useful or else training to compensate for their weaknesses. “I suppose there’s no harm in taking a few more people along on our hunts,” said Flio.

“I suppose not,” said Rys. “They really are doing their best...such as it is.”

And so, Flio and Rys resolved to look after Balirossa’s party for some time longer.

◇ ◇ ◇

Flio and Rys continued to bring Balirossa, Blossom, Byleri, and Belano along on their daily hunts. As the days wore on, they began to encounter gradually fewer psychobears and had more opportunities to fight other monsters, especially cyclopes. Balirossa’s party did their best, but they still were no match for the monsters, and Flio and Rys would be forced to clean up after them every time without fail.

“Still, you’ve gotten quite a bit better from how you were at the start,” said Flio.

“Truly?” said Balirossa, beaming gleefully at the praise, “I-It gives me great pleasure to hear that.”

“However,” said Rys, “that is only speaking comparatively. Don’t forget that not one of you has been able to fell even a single monster.”

The four redoubled their efforts, spurred on by both the criticism and praise.

◇Klyrode Castle◇

“Oh?” King Klyrode raised an eyebrow at his aide’s report. “And they work for the Adventurers’ Association in this city, you say?”

“Indeed,” said the aide. “It seems that they live by a forest known to be inhabited by monsters, where they hunt dozens of A-rank bounties a day.”

The king made a throaty noise as he turned the information over in his head. Then, he lifted his gaze towards the aide and said, “Very well. Send a message to the Adventurers’ Association. Have it known that I would like to employ these adventurers as mercenaries under the direct employ of the kingdom. They will work as the Hero’s subordinates in the interests of Klyrode.”

“Understood, Your Majesty. Your will be done.” The aide bowed once and hurried out of the room.

The king watched the aide leave, let out a deep sigh, and then turned his head to look out the window. In the distance past the castle walls, he could see a fortress nestled in a mountain pass. Even now, the Golden-Haired Hero was shut up in that fortress, refusing to emerge. Perhaps now the Hero will be willing to resume his duties.

Ever since his forces had been destroyed by a horde of psychobears, the Hero had refused to step a single foot outside. King Klyrode had sent message after message urging him to do battle against the Dark One, even humbling himself in supplication, but the Golden-Haired Hero simply would not listen, even refusing to meet with the King.

“I will not,” the Hero had proclaimed. “Not until you give me an army made up of soldiers that can take on some psychobears.” The king was trying to fulfill the Hero’s conditions, but neither the knights nor the guards had yet sent him a message that they were ready. And so, as a final resort, the king at last entertained the idea of employing mercenary monster hunters for his army.

◇The Southern Stronghold◇

“My Lord Heroooo! Perhaps you’ve had enough to drink.”

“I don’t want to hear it! Tsuya, didn’t the king order you to see to my needs? Then do as I say!” The Golden-Haired Hero passed the cup he was holding to his attendant Tsuya who was sitting next to him. She reluctantly filled it up with alcohol. All around them were an array of plates of food, bottles of liquor, and an incredible amount of fresh fruit. The Hero laughed uproariously. “Tsuya, you should eat some too. The king gave us all these gifts to try to get me to go fight the Dark One! There’s no reason to hold back!”

“Oh...” said Tsuya, clearly distressed. “You...don’t say.” Once more she refilled the Hero’s cup. The Golden-Haired Hero had been living an extravagant life holed up in the fortress. He had been sending demand after demand to the king: for liquor, for food, sometimes even for women—anything he could think of to make his life comfortable.

King Klyrode had no desire to allow the Hero to continue his indulgent lifestyle, but was afraid of the repercussions of crossing the man he himself had appointed as the official Hero. Some in the castle were of the opinion that they should strip the Golden-Haired Hero of his title and give it to a newly summoned Hero Candidate, but the king was afraid that if they did so, the people would hold him responsible for appointing the Golden-Haired Hero in the first place. Therefore, he kept silent and acquiesced to the Hero’s demands, reasoning that he could do nothing but wait for him to set out on his quest.

◇Klyrode Castle—The Following Day◇

“Your Majesty,” the aide said, “We’ve received a reply from the Adventurers’ Association...”

King Klyrode sprung up from his throne in excitement, grinning expectantly... “Oh ho! Already? Then, when are those adventurers coming to the castle? Hm?” But the aide hesitated. He looked like he had swallowed a bug. “Hm?” said King Klyrode, again, his smile undaunted. “Do they want money upfront? That’s no matter. I hereby give permission to pay them however much they ask.”

The aide, however, seemed to have broken out in a cold sweat. Slowly, he opened his mouth to speak. “W-Well... Actually, the adventurers in question seem to have...refused.”

“They what?!” The king was incredulous.

“I-It seems that they were ‘not interested.’”

“How... How can that be? They’re nothing but adventurers! They could earn far more money, and far more fame in our employ! How could they not be interested...” King Klyrode grumbled, then sat for a while in silence.

◇ ◇ ◇

Flio and Rys were on their way home, having received their regular payment from the guild. “Was it truly wise to refuse the offer from the castle, my beloved?” asked Rys.

“Oh,” said Flio. “That.” He smiled coolly. “Remember how I was driven from the castle as a failure? I might have used magic to change my appearance, but even so, I’d rather not go back there if I can help it.”

Rys folded her arms and shook her head. “I don’t understand what’s wrong with the people at the castle,” she scoffed, disbelieving. “To deem you a failure...”

“But that blond guy they made the Hero... He had really incredible ability scores. I couldn’t have beaten him in a million years.”

“You mean when you were Level 1? As you are now, my love, you could defeat even the God of the Underworld, let alone the Dark One.”

“Hey, hold on, Rys,” Flio said, laughing. “I think you’re giving me a little too much credit!”

Rys gazed lovingly at her husband. My beloved, she thought, for all your strength you remain modest, never boastful... Truly I have married a wonderful man.

“What’s the matter, Rys?” Flio said, noticing that she was staring at his face.

“Nothing!” said Rys, drawing closer. “Nothing at all!” The two of them continued home, Rys clinging affectionately to Flio’s arm.