Chapter 3: The Evil Priest Notts

Chapter 3:
The Evil Priest Notts

1

THE GOVERNOR’S MANSION—currently occupied by Lord Grand—stood at the very center of Arroburg. Easily the largest building in the city, it was surrounded by a high outer wall to ensure no prying eyes peered in to violate the lord’s privacy. Guards patrolled the perimeter night and day.

Flanked by two of his subordinates, Grand stood facing a young man in a basement room. The youth had blueish-black hair, narrow eyes, and was handsome enough at a glance. But he exuded an aura that made most humans in his vicinity squirm with discomfort.

“N-Notts, have you finished preparations for the ritual?” asked Grand, and the humanoid dragon nodded. Notts paused for a moment before speaking.

“The stars have aligned and the silver thread bonding us to the astral plane grows thin. The lambs gather, and their spirits will be summoned before dawn. The girl who swallowed sand holds a withered branch. She will open her eyes again to sleep. Ideas have inherited the rust of an unsightly crown, but whose face is reflected in the returning blade? Our deepest desires—” Notts wove the words with his beautiful voice like some sort of arcane poem, but Grand had no idea what they meant.

Notts turned to Grand and his men, opening his narrow eyes and taking note of their confusion. The three shuddered as his gaze passed over them, each man breaking into a cold sweat that chilled their bodies to the bone.

One of them worked up the courage to whisper, “Lord Grand, perhaps you should reconsider—”

“There is no turning back now! This man will make me a king!” Nott’s aura was powerful, but Grand’s greed was stronger. His round, ugly face paled as he smiled.

“Have no fear of my metaphors, my lord—I forget myself around ordinary humans. Plainly put, I mean that preparations are complete. I must express my gratitude for your permission to use the city of Arroburg as the altar. For ages, I have longed to call upon my master and destroy the foolish, power-thirsty swine who have forsaken the true faith,” said Notts, his mouth turning up in a small smile. “I have no desire for authority. I wish only to see the world returned to its intended order by the God of Terror. I assure you that you will ascend the throne, as promised.”

“I-in that case, all is well! Yes, make it so… Ho ho, I will be king!” Grand chuckled quietly to himself, and his men glanced at him with unease.

“My lord, there is something I wish you to hear before my master returns,” said Notts softly. “In the distant past—some five thousand years ago—the chaos wrought by the demon kings was so horrific that the current state of the world seems idyllic by comparison. In their weakness, humanity prayed for salvation, and after generations of mewling prayers, a giant arose from the sea in answer. Images of her horrifying mask and writhing arms are recorded in murals and stone tablets. She was Zolophilia, the God of Terror.

“Zolophilia defeated the demon kings and brought peace to the people. But she also knew that without a common enemy, humanity would inevitably turn upon itself. So Zolophilia used her horrific mask to instill fear in men’s hearts—a frightening leash to restrain the base instincts of humanity.”

Grand smiled politely, disinterested in the history lesson. He daydreamed of the power he would soon wield. Notts continued:

“Yet…in its foolishness, humanity began to resent Zolophilia. My ancestors, the priests who devoted themselves to the God of Terror, were wiped out in a surprise attack, and Zolophilia was sealed away by the rulers of the very nations she had saved.”

Notts’s emotionless voice began to crack with anger. Grand was startled from his fantasies of power as the priest’s aura intensified. Sweat dripped down Grand’s face.

“But that was not enough for them. No! They distorted history; they sullied the name of my family. Zolophilia, the god who saved the world, was now called…evil! Even now, those who worship her are hunted down and cruelly tortured to death!”

The force of Notts’s grip cracked the staff in his hands, and deep furrows of rage appeared across his face. Tears of anger streamed from the corners of his narrow eyes.

“Their sins will not be ignored! History will not repeat itself! In eons past, we were wrong to have been so kind! Humans are nothing more than greedy swine, ignorant of their own debt. We will grant authority only to the chosen few, and the rest will be treated as livestock! That is the only way to guide this world back to eternal enlightenment! Once Zolophilia awakes, true terror shall rule!”

Grand stood frozen in shock, his mouth agape. He knew that Notts meant to summon some horrible entity. He also knew that it would likely cost the lives of many of his subjects. But now he was confronted with the abject depravity of his decision to work with the humanoid dragon.

Notts tossed his broken staff to the ground, wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his robe, and smiled warmly.

“My lord, you do understand, don’t you?”

Grand answered Notts’s question with a glassy stare and two mechanical nods, like a marionette whose strings were being tugged.

2

POMERA AND I met up at the Guild the following morning to look at the request board and listen to the latest rumors. It seemed that Octavio had left the city…for some unknown reason. We weren’t the only people happy to see him go. The word on the street was that another group of people even tried to ambush him on his way out, and he barely escaped with his life. We weren’t implicated in any of the circulating gossip, which was a relief.

“The C-rank requests seem really profitable, Kanata!” said Pomera, with a quick glance toward me.

“Y-yeah…” I couldn’t help looking away from her.

“Wh-why won’t you look me in the face? I don’t remember much about dinner last night—just waking up in my bed this morning. D-did I do something rude?”

“You don’t remember?”

Pomera jumped a little at my words and squeezed her staff in embarrassment. “S-so I did do something…”

“Let’s forget about it.”

“What did I do?!”

Pomera couldn’t hold her liquor. At all. She might’ve been the worst drunk I’d ever met.

Having tried a little of the free beer the tavern gave us, I decided it was too strong for my taste—but Pomera showed no restraint. I should have stopped her after she chugged her third beer in a row. She even grabbed what was left of my beer and drank it while telling me in slurred speech that she wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

Then I ended up on the receiving end of some drunk harassment as she hung on my back and stroked my head while saying she wanted to see me drunk. One thing led to another, and she pulled out her staff and started casting a spell. I panicked and put her to sleep with magic.

“…Just don’t worry about it, okay?” I tried in vain.

“P-please tell me! What did I do?!” she persisted. I forced a smile and made a noncommittal shrug, but her face just paled even more. I made a mental note to cut her off after her second beer in the future.

Then we heard a scream from outside, and a man raced into the Guild.

“The sky’s turned a strange color! It’s like uh, fuchsia…maybe magenta…but it’s really weird!”

Chaos erupted in the Guild as everyone tried to get to a window or door to look.

“Is this something that happens often?” I asked Pomera, but she shook her head. We left the Guild to see for ourselves.

The sky had indeed turned magenta. It wasn’t the beautiful kind of purple you might see at sunset—it looked artificial. Everyone in the street had stopped to stare up in awe.

I saw a large hawk flying in the distance, and the strange color seemed to tint the bird like an overlay.

“Maybe…it’s not the sky? Some sort of light around the city…?”

As I stood there confused, I soon realized that the crowd’s racket was steadily getting quieter. The people around me were starting to lean against walls and slump to the ground.

What the hell’s going on?

It was obvious to me now that this wasn’t a natural phenomenon. As I looked on, I began to hear the cries of the suffering townspeople.

“I-it hurts… I c-can’t raise my arms…”

“I’m so cold…”

“What is this…?” I asked, turning to Pomera.

“K-Kanata, you don’t feel anything at all? It feels like my health is being sucked away…”

No way, I thought as I checked my own status. Both my HP and MP were slowly being depleted. It was such a tiny fraction of my overall total that I couldn’t feel it, but there was no doubt that it was dropping.

I gulped. Whatever this magic was, it was powerful enough to get through the protection of Lunaère’s robe.

I looked up at the sky again, and it finally hit me. “It’s barrier magic…”

There was a giant barrier surrounding the entire city, draining the life and magic of everyone in Arroburg. Even Lunaère couldn’t pull off a spell this massive without preparation.

The caster had to be close by. They also had to be incredibly strong if they were confident enough to attack an entire city. This wasn’t a poseur like Lovis, this was the work of an actual high-level magic user. I tried to remember the name I’d seen on that bright-red wanted poster.

“We have to evacuate…” I started to say. Then I saw a child leaning against a wall. He was limp from the pain, and his crying mother was trying to lift him back to his feet. At this rate, the common people of Arroburg were going to waste away and die before they could make it to the city gates. They wouldn’t survive if we didn’t put a stop to this soon.

We could try to take out the barrier, but there were most likely items throughout the city supporting the spell. Destroying them might weaken it a little, but it wouldn’t nullify the whole thing.

No. I needed to defeat the caster. That was the only way.

“It’s okay. I can handle this,” I said, taking a deep breath to reassure myself as much as anyone around me.

Lunaère had expected that I would run into serious threats. She trained me to fight against other magic users, particularly legitimately dangerous ones. Even if it was that humanoid dragon, I should be able to handle the fight.

At the very least, I was certainly the strongest person in the Adventurers’ Guild. I’d never forgive myself if I abandoned these people. I had to act, but I wasn’t confident that I could do it in time to save everyone.

“Pomera-san, is there anywhere the people can gather during an emergency?” I asked.

“Huh? S-somewhere the people can gather?”

“Like if there’s a natural disaster or monster attack. Is there a rally point?”

“Umm…the church?”

I took my map out of my magic bag and unfurled it. The church was fairly near the center of Arroburg. That seemed as good a place as any.

I pulled another magic bag out of my main magic bag. I couldn’t use Dimension Pocket in public, and a single magic bag couldn’t hold that much—so my inventory was magic bags all the way down. This one contained healing potions and elixirs.

I handed the bag to Pomera.

“K-Kanata…?”

“Pomera-san, I need your help. I need you to go to the church and destroy whatever is holding up the barrier there. Heal the injured and take them along with you as you go.”

At heart, Pomera was a white mage. She could cast Raphael’s Tears, a level 11 spell that could heal nearly any injury or disease. She could also cast Healing Rain and restore the health of everyone in a large area. After the past week of training, the white magic she could use far surpassed any healing I could do.

I was worried that the barrier would sap her MP, so I loaded her down with a few more elixirs to keep herself topped off.

“You mean I should gather the people…? I-I’m not sure I can do that…” she said anxiously.

She might seem like a timid girl, but Pomera could be courageous if she thought it would help others. She’d bravely called the guards when Octavio harassed me and shown me around town even though she risked making Roy angry. She’d even faced the demonic horrors inside the Cursed Mirror. I believed she had the strength to be a real leader, but first she had to believe in herself.

“Pomera-san, if there’s anyone who can do this, it’s you.”

She was hesitant, but my words seemed to give her resolve. Pomera took a breath and said, “O-okay… I’ll do it!”

Her knuckles whitened as she squeezed her staff tightly. I nodded in encouragement.

“I’m going to find whoever cast this spell and stop them,” I said, but I had no idea where they were hiding. Not a single clue. Maybe I could narrow down their location if I knew their motive, but even that was a mystery.

“Um… H-how do I destroy parts of the barrier? I don’t know anything about barrier magic…”

“For a spell this big, there must be items stabilizing it. Probably a lot of them, placed in regular intervals around the city. They shouldn’t be hard to find if we just had time. If you can’t find them…well, just do your best. Lead the people and heal as many as you can…”

“Th-there should be lots of them… How could someone do all that preparation without the guards noticing?”

That was a good point. There would have surely been rumors if someone had been skulking around town doing preparations like that. It’s not like they could have done it under everyone’s noses…

“…Oh.”

There was somebody, or rather somebodies who could have done it—the people in black robes. I’d thought they were working on some sort of barrier to keep monsters at bay.

“Those black-robed magic users were doing something to the city walls! Destroy the spots where they were gathering! Tell everyone else too!” I said.

“But they work for Lord Grand! No one’s going to believe me if I tell them!” said Pomera, panicking.

That would probably change if she healed them. Still, we didn’t have time to dawdle, and those were the clues we had to work with. Magic users working for Lord Grand prepared the barrier. The guards clearly weren’t suspicious of their work. If that was the case, it was obvious that Grand was involved. That meant it was likely that the caster was hiding out in Grand’s mansion. And the red fliers for the humanoid dragon were taken down on Lord Grand’s orders… It was all coming together.

I spread out the map and looked at the city’s center.

“I’m sorry, but I have to go! I think I know where the caster is!”

3

I RAN UP to Lord Grand’s mansion alone, vaulting over the exterior wall and kicking down the front door.

It looked like my hunch was correct.

An evil aura radiated from somewhere below the floor, and the effect was so strong here that even I could feel it. This was the full force of the spell, not the weaker area of effect that had been extended with the assistance of items and ritual.

Unexpectedly, there was nothing in place to keep the barrier from affecting people inside the mansion. The rooms were littered with the fallen bodies of guards, blackened and dried. They were already dead, their life force completely drained by the spell. I also saw bodies wearing the familiar black robes.

What happened here? They even sacrificed their own people…

I searched through the mansion and found a door left half-open to stairs leading deep underground. I knew the person behind this must be waiting at the bottom. I walked down the steps as quietly as I could before throwing open the lower door; I hoped to take them by surprise. Inside was a large room with magic formulas carved into every inch of the walls, ceiling, and floor. There were also two men in the room.

No, just one. The other was already dead.

On the floor lay the corpse of a fat man dressed in opulent clothing. His hair was falling out, as were his eyes, and his skin had taken on the appearance of black rubber. A look of terror was frozen on his face.

“I see you’ve met Lord Grand,” said the other man casually.

Notts. Evil Priest Notts… This is the humanoid dragon from that poster!

Sure enough, he had the same handsome face that I’d seen on the bright-red flyer. In real life, his hair was actually dark blueish-black, and he wore a brightly colored robe of red and green. He held a skull-shaped crystal in his hand.

“I hadn’t thought a human could survive the journey into the center of my Sacrifice spell,” he said.

Drawing the Heroic Sword of Gilgamesh, I pointed the blade toward Notts. “I thought you and Grand were working together?”

“His contribution was appreciated. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able assemble the proper offering, at the proper coordinates, under the proper constellations.” Notts opened his eyes slightly and looked coldly down at Grand. “But is a man who would betray his own subjects really fit to be king?”

Notts smiled slightly as he crunched his foot into Grand’s ribcage. I noticed that some of the red on his robe was splattered blood.

“Quite pathetic, really. He remained clueless until the bitter end. But such is the fate of swine—a life of greed and excess, ended with a quick and merciful slaughter.”

I shuddered. I wasn’t sure what had gone on here, but this meeting wasn’t going to end with a chat and a handshake.

It was important to know what I was up against. I focused on Notts, hoping I could use Status Check while he was making his grand speech over Grand’s corpse.

Instead, Notts raised the skull-shaped crystal in my direction.

“Whatever you were about to do, it would have been pointless. You should sleep…forever,” said Notts. “Death Magic Level 8: Heart Eater.”

Black mist gathered to form a monster with a gaping mouth. It flew toward me, but I didn’t dodge. The black mist struck me and dissipated. Notts’s narrow eyes opened wide as he watched me stand there, unharmed.

“You defended against Heart Eater? No matter. You can’t possibly block against all my spells.”

“My robe has the power to deflect all low-level attack spells. Please just stop,” I said.

“Bah. There’s no item in the world that can defend against all spells level 8 and below. Wait! Something is amiss… Oh, I see. The reason Sacrifice reached its full potential so quickly is because you entered the mansion. You’ll be the instrument of your own doom! Space-Time Magic Level 8: Dimension Pocket.”

Letting the crystal skull fall to the floor, he reached in and withdrew a shining jade staff.

“It seems I must use my full strength for the first time in centuries. I had hoped to avoid the gaze of those above, but I am faced with a trial before the ceremony!” Notts swung his staff in my direction. “Death Magic Level 10: Death!”

A large magic circle appeared in the center of the room, surrounded by floating skulls of purple light. What remained of Grand’s body rotted away, and every surface of the room began to age rapidly.

“I once killed a hundred soldiers with a single cast of this spell!” cried Notts. His breathing grew heavy and deep furrows formed on his brow. “But how…how do you just stand there?!”

“My robe has the power to deflect all low-level attack spells,” I said again, repeating each word slowly. If it wasn’t advanced magic, it wasn’t getting through Lunaère’s Robe.

Notts’s Sacrifice spell must have fit that description. While he might be able to cast a level 11 or 12 spell after a lengthy ritual, he couldn’t cast one in the heat of battle.

Readying my sword, I rushed toward the evil priest while using Status Check.

NOTTS NIGRADE

Race: Human

Lv: 375

HP: 1613/1613

MP: 944/1800

Notts wasn’t even level 400!

“Th-this is impossible! I can’t be stopped! My duty to Zolophilia demands that I guide the world!” he shrieked.

I swung my sword, shattering the dropped crystal skull and making a spiderweb of cracks in the floor. The crystal skull was the heart of what held the Sacrifice spell together—without it, the citizens of Arroburg shouldn’t lose any more of their health.

“No! We stand on the threshold of a new world, and I am the last of the Nigrade line…” Notts fell and struck the floor with his fists before looking up at me, his breathing ragged.

“There’s no way these people will be able to keep you contained. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you’re just too dangerous to let go… I’ll have to kill you,” I said, raising the Heroic Sword of Gilgamesh.

“You don’t know why I’ve done this? Ha! Ha ha! Aha ha ha!”

“What’s so funny?”

“It is unfortunate that I won’t be able to fulfill my duties as a priest, but my life is of little consequence now. Sacrifice was nothing more than a vessel to gather the magic necessary to cast an even stronger spell…” giggled Notts.

Is he just acting tough? No, he thinks he has something up his sleeve.

“Before you arrived, I used that concentrated power to cast Nirvana. You even donated a good bit of your own magic power! Even now, Zolophilia—once sealed away by the stupidity and sins of humanity—is emerging into this world.” His crazed eyes opened wide, and his mouth curled into a malicious smile as his rant went on.

“No one can stop her now! Zolophilia will show no mercy. She will fill this world with terror! Ha ha ha! She awakens! Freed from her imprisonment, she will end the world as you know it! At last, my people’s deepest wish will be granted! My death is nothing compared to that!”

The room began to shake, and the evil aura grew more intense. I realized now that it hadn’t been coming from Notts.

“Aah! She’s here, she’s here, she’s here! Here, here, here! Zolophilia!” Notts chanted, then trailed off into frantic laughter.

“…Play,” came an ominously ethereal voice, echoing from the depths of the earth. “Let’s…play.”

From the corner of my eye, I saw something appear behind me.

It was a giant crimson-and-jade mask. Nearly three meters tall, it seemed to be made of a layered, bark-like material. Spiral patterns swirled around hollow eyes that opened wide on each side.

Behind the mask was a disgusting lump of flesh, the same jade green as the mask. I couldn’t tell if it was plant or animal in origin, but countless tentacles reached out of the mass. They also appeared plantlike, but something about their shape suggested the form of human arms and legs.

“Wh-what the hell…?” I gasped.

“Zolophilia! Our beautiful god! To think I am blessed to see her with my own eyes! She’s so…! Oh, Mother, Father, my humiliated ancestors—I-I’ve done it!” Notts stood, his arms wrapped around himself as he wept and prayed to the creature.

Is this guy for real?

I was dumbstruck by Notts’s strange excitement but more so by Zolophilia’s strange appearance. That was when her tentacles stretched out to attack me.

I was too slow. Swinging the Heroic Sword of Gilgamesh, I managed to cut off some of the tentacles as I leaped back. But like a flash, others snapped forward to wrap around my legs.

“Let’s…play, let’s…play…”

“Oof!”

Zolophilia swung me around, and my back smacked into a wall, buckling the stone. She kept going, bouncing me off each of the four walls in turn. Twisting, I tried to cut the tentacles, and Zolophilia let go of me mid-swing. I flew into a wall, which collapsed on impact. I was nearly crushed by the falling rubble.

“Aah ha ha ha ha! Zolophilia has delivered me from death! My beloved God of Terror! Today I fulfill the purpose of my birth! Zolophilia, return this human-warped world to its proper state!”

Notts was still laughing and ranting as I pushed aside the debris and crawled out.

“Let’s…play…” Zolophilia’s giant mask was suddenly right in front of me.

“You must be around level 2,000,” I muttered. Then I slashed horizontally with all my strength. The blade sliced through the mask, creating a deep gouge. The surface split, and dozens of Zolophilia’s tentacles fell like cut leaves.

“AAAH!” Zolophilia shrieked as she was thrown into the air from the impact of my strike. She crashed into the ceiling, opening a massive hole and leaving the floor littered with fragments of her shattered appendages.

“Ah ha ha ha ha…wha?” Notts’s eyes followed Zolophilia up through the ceiling, and then he turned to look at me in amazement.

Her first attack took me by surprise, but now I knew the truth—Zolophilia was a weak opponent. Despite her unsettling appearance, she wasn’t any weirder or tougher than the demons in the Cursed Mirror.

“I’ve fought stronger monsters in Cocytus. You don’t live up to your name, God of Terror,” I said.

Zolophilia writhed in agony on the floor above us.

“Let’s, let’s…let’s…play…”

She might have been weak to me, but I knew that she was unthinkably strong compared to the citizens of Arroburg. Unless I finished this quickly, she might destroy the entire town.

ZOLOPHILIA

Race: Heart of Dreams

Lv: 1800

HP: 3211/8100

MP: 8100/8100

Turns out I was right, she was just shy of level 2,000—but I’d never heard of a race called Heart of Dreams. I wondered what that was about.

“Shocking!” Notts sputtered as he limped around the edges of the rubble, watching the battle unfold. “To think Zolophilia would need to remove her shackles and choose another form! This hasn’t happened for 5,000 years.”

“Oh, ooh, oooh…” came her eerie moan from above.

Through the broken ceiling, I could see that Zolophilia was growing.

“It is absurd that Zolophilia would recognize a single human not as a subject—or even something to be idly destroyed—but as an actual threat! She is no longer playing… Ha ha! The fact that you have a modicum of strength means you will truly know terror!” shrieked Notts.

What the heck is Zolophilia? She’s not a demon. Maybe some sort of god, but she’s not anything like Naiarotop.

I leaped from the floor of the basement, up through the hole in the ceiling. It looked like we were in a ballroom. A chandelier sparkled overhead, and a raised dais meant for musical performances was situated along the far wall.

Zolophilia’s mask shrank, and her body elongated until she nearly filled the room. Before, she had been a disgusting mass of organs and flesh, but now she took on the form of a dragon. Huge wings unfurled from her back, and wicked claws dug ruts into the ballroom floor. The ceiling was over five meters high, but her back scraped against it in places.

If her shape changed, did her stats change too?

ZOLOPHILIA

Race: Heart of Dreams

Lv: 2141

HP: 4746/9635

MP: 6952/9635

H-her level jumped?!

Even as I checked, her level climbed steadily as her new body grew thicker and tougher. It seemed impossible. Nothing could gain levels without earning experience first. Except…

Lunaère had explained the nature of levels and experience to me once. When I killed another living thing in this world, I absorbed a portion of its soul into my own and that made me a little more powerful. But if something could manipulate the power of its own soul, it might be able to increase its own level at will. I didn’t know how high Zolophilia could go, but it was obvious that I had to end this as quickly as possible.

“Ooooh!”

I leaped back as Zolophilia slashed out with her claws, barely evading the attack. The floorboards splintered where I had just been, and the entire room shook, knocking paintings off the walls and dropping the chandelier.

Her claws came at me from every direction, and the attacks grew steadily in force.

I lunged forward and slashed with my sword, sending one of Zolophilia’s limbs flying off. It regenerated; but as it did, the severed arm shriveled and dissolved into a pile of multicolored sand.

Zolophilia raised her new arm high and brought it down with a vicious slam. I stood firm and counterattacked, opening a gaping wound that healed as I feinted to avoid another strike.

It was hard to land effective hits on an opponent with regenerative abilities and such a long reach. I didn’t know where Zolophilia’s weak spots were, so I tried to put some space between us to cast a spell.

Then Zolophilia swung her gigantic forked tail. I was taken by surprise but managed to bring my sword up to defend against the blow. I rewrote my magic circle on the fly to deal with the situation at hand.

“Space-Time Magic Level 12: Slow World!”

I was surrounded by a purple sphere of light about three meters across. Time inside the sphere slowed down, softening the impact of her strike against my sword and allowing me to land feet first on the opposite wall. I let the spell end as I slid to a halt.

Notts staggered into the room. He looked up at Zolophilia, mouth agape.

“Th-that form… Is that the First Dragon Drigvesha?! Zolophilia, must you go this far for victory? Why, why…why? How is this human still standing? Drigvesha is said to have been the most powerful creature in existence!”

Good grief… I thought. Even amid a raging battle, Notts found time to give history lessons. I wondered if he’d truly known how dangerous Zolophilia was when he summoned her.

“Groooo!”

Zolophilia rushed toward me, but I had enough time to cast a spell. Since coming to Arroburg, I’d mostly been melee fighting to hide my real abilities, but in this fight, I couldn’t afford to pull any more punches. It was time for a magical haymaker.

“Fire Magic Level 20: Apocalypse!”

I pointed my sword, and a crimson dragon launched from the magic circle, bathing the entire room in flames. The red dragon laid waste to the walls and floor as it sped toward the God of Terror.

“Ooo—aaaagh!”

Zolophilia was engulfed in flames. She fell to her knees, and I used the Twin-Minds Method to cast my second spell.

“Space-Time Magic Level 19: Gravity Bomb!”

Shining darkness filled the space. It lifted the massive bulk of Zolophilia—still burning—and drew her into the center of the singularity before crushing her torso when it collapsed. I closed in and struck with two diagonal slashes for good measure.

Zolophilia’s mangled body fell to the ground in pieces that began to fade and disappear, filling the room with multicolored sand. Her mask floated in the air, shrinking.

“That…that was Drigvesha! How?! There’s nothing left! My people…the new world… Aah! This cannot be!” Notts cradled his head and wept while crouching on the ground.

Something weird was going on. Well, it was already pretty weird, but it was getting even weirder. Just what exactly was Zolophilia?

I scooped up a handful of the multicolored sand that was filling the room and pulled the Acacia Memoirs from my magic bag.

SAND OF DREAMS

Value Class: Godly

Created five thousand years ago by a family of royal alchemists. It is said they melted down a god-created shield owned by an otherworldly traveler and infused it with other key ingredients to make the sand. Comprised of the materials that built the universe, it was the ultimate alchemical catalyst. The Sand of Dreams responds to desire and has the power to make any wish come true.

However, the sand is fickle and cannot be controlled. A merchant who wished for riches was turned into a statue of gold. A hero who desired power was transformed into a hideous beast. Use with caution.

Is this what Zolophilia is made of?!

If that were the case, then the fact that she could change form meant that the sand was wishing on its own. But the Acacia Memoirs didn’t mention anything about self-awareness…

It suddenly hit me. Zolophilia’s race was listed as Heart of Dreams, not Sand of Dreams. That led me to a chilling hypothesis, and I felt the blood drain from my face.

“Don’t tell me they fed the Sand of Dreams a person!” I said.

“To be more precise, Zolophilia is a homunculus: a creature born from alchemy using a human as its base material. They used a curse to seal away the martyr’s free will and personality so that she could live eternally as the God of Terror,” said Notts as he crouched in the corner.

“How could they do something so horrible?”

“My ancestors did only what was necessary—and we were betrayed! Thousands of years have passed, and I have kindled the light of a new era, only for this…this to happen!” Notts gestured angrily at the ruins of the ballroom while veins throbbed in his temples.

Just then, I felt the evil presence begin to rise again.

“Oh, give me a break!” I whined. I’d let my guard down, assuming that I had won. Wasn’t slaying a dragon-god enough to end this fight? I gawked at the new form of Zolophilia taking shape in the center of the room.

She was…me.

I looked across at a copy of myself, perfect in almost every detail except for Zolophilia’s trademark mask covering my…no, her face. The doppelganger raised her arm, and I saw the Heroic Sword of Gilgamesh gripped in her hand.

“Zolophilia… Y-you believe that a human is the most powerful form for defeating your enemies?!”

She lunged toward me, unleashing a flurry of slashes. I parried each one with my sword, and on the fifth strike, I managed to shatter her sword. As she withdrew, I used the opening to slice off both of her hands at the wrists.

I guess I was the best version of me after all. The copy of my sword couldn’t stand up to the real Heroic Sword of Gilgamesh, and my stats were still higher, even if she could boost her own. In the end, she was just a cheap copy of the genuine article.

“Aaah…” groaned Zolophilia as she looked down at her stumps.

“Please, just go back to wherever you came from. I don’t want to fight you,” I said.

“Aaah!” Zolophilia’s hands regrew, and she pointed a finger at me, croaking out, “…G-gravity B-bomb…”

This was a new development; I didn’t expect her to start using my own spells against me. But Gravity Bomb was a tough spell to cast. The magic circle was very complicated, and it left her open to attack from anything in melee range.

I struck at Zolophilia without hesitation, cleaving her upper body completely away from her waist and legs. It was unsettling to watch both halves collapse to the floor.

“I hope I never have to chop myself in half again.”

I spoke too soon. Dissolving back into the multicolored Sand of Dreams, Zolophilia formed four more masked copies of me.

“Oh, come on!”

Three of them rushed in to attack with their swords. I defended, evaded, and parkoured off the walls and floor as I ran, desperately seeking an opening to counterattack. No matter what, I couldn’t let them pin me down because the fourth doppelganger was pointing a finger at me from afar, waiting for her moment to cast Gravity Bomb.

I steadied my breathing and counterattacked viciously with my sword while simultaneously creating a magic circle. It was times like this that I was really happy Lunaère had insisted on teaching me the Twin-Minds Method. Being able to split my concentration wasn’t limited to magic; I could also focus on something physical while I cast spells with my off hand. I was eventually able to maneuver the three melee Zolophilias into one spot as my spell neared completion. From across the room, it looked like the caster was almost finished with her spell too.

Gravity Bomb was incoming. I hoped that my timing was perfect.

“Space-Time Magic Level 12: Slow World.”

I closed the three melee doppelgangers inside the purple bubble of Slow World while I backed away from the sphere. Then the black light of Zolophilia’s Gravity Bomb started to fill the area.

“Space-Time Magic Level 4: Short Gate.”

I teleported away right before I was caught by the spell. The three copies weren’t so lucky—they were crushed. While she was distracted, I did a quick Status Check to see what sort of nonsense I was still up against.

ZOLOPHILIA

Race: Heart of Dreams

Lv: 3122

HP: 2746/14049

MP: 952/14049

Even Zolophilia had her limits, it seemed. The copies must have shared their HP and MP pools, and the self-inflicted Gravity Bomb took the wind out of her sails. She raised her sword, shoulders heaving with ragged breath—but I had a spell ready to go.

“Space-Time Magic Level 20: Karma Breaker.”

I pointed the Heroic Sword Gilgamesh at Zolophilia, and a pure white light encased the last doppelganger. Karma Breaker attacked with holy light, but its biggest effect was that it removed any status effects or curses on the target.

Long ago, Zolophilia’s personality had been taken from her with a curse to turn her into the God of Terror. She must have spent every moment since then lost in fear and confusion. Thousands of years, if Notts was telling the truth. I couldn’t turn her back into a human, but I hoped I could at least give her some peace during her final moments.

Inside the light, Zolophilia’s arms and legs started to fade and disappear. Her mask shattered, and I saw a face underneath that looked like mine, but with an innocent, childlike expression.

“Play…” she mumbled as her eyes slowly closed in a peaceful sleep. As the light faded away, Zolophilia faded with it.

Grand’s mansion had finally reached the limit of its structural integrity. The walls and ceiling began to crumble, dropping beams and other debris across the tattered remnants of the ballroom floor.

“Aaah… Zolophilia! Zolophiliaaaaa! My beloved God of Terror!” screamed Notts, throwing himself to the ground where she had vanished.

“Time to go!” I said to myself as I leapt through a window. Once outside, I looked back to see Notts still prone on the ballroom floor. I wasn’t sure if he didn’t notice the building collapsing around him or if he just didn’t care.

“You could use some peace too.”

I turned away and left him in the doomed mansion while I made my escape.

4

THE NEXT MORNING, Arroburg was still recovering from the chaos of the previous day.

Searching the ruins of Grand’s mansion after the fight, I had managed to pick up a…tagalong. The little girl was my shadow as I walked through the city searching for Pomera.

She hadn’t returned to her room the previous night, and I was getting worried. I headed down to the guildhall to see if she was there.

“The Guild ain’t running today,” said a bald, brawny adventurer as I approached the entrance.

“Yeah, thanks. It’s just that I got separated from my partner and thought she might be here…” I bowed slightly. The little girl tried to imitate my motions with a small bow of her own.

“Thank…you!” she said. Even the tough guy cracked a grin at her cute thanks.

“Hey, brother—I know the Guild is basically shut down, but it still ain’t the kind of place to bring a kid.”

“Sorry…I think she got lost in all the trouble yesterday. I, uh, can’t really leave her alone.” I said, forcing a smile as I went into the guildhall.

Pomera was slumped over a table in the lounge area.

She looks beat…

“K-Kanata?” Light returned to her eyes.

“You must be exhausted,” I said, taking the seat across from her. She looked like she hadn’t slept. I started to feel guilty about going back to my room instead of searching for her.

“S-so…what happened after you left yesterday?” she asked.

“The rumors are true. The Evil Priest Notts was working with Lord Grand.”

Pomera flinched when she heard Notts’s name. “R-really? Notts was in the city…? That’s, that’s…”

“Yeah. But I defeated him…kind of. The fight destroyed the mansion, and he was still in the mansion.”

Pomera’s eyes grew wide with shock. The signs of fatigue vanished from her face.

“B-but there’s barely a scratch on you!”

When I’d used Status Check on Notts, I noticed that his race was listed as Human. That made me suspicious that humanoid dragon might be more of a job description than an actual race, so I checked a few of Lunaère’s books before I fell asleep. I learned that humanoid dragons got their title based either on their level or the destruction caused by their plans. Notts must’ve been the dangerous-plan sort, not the high-level sort.

Before last night, I’d worried that my level was grossly overpowered. Everyone else seemed so low by comparison, even Notts. But after fighting Zolophilia, I knew that Lunaère was right—there were some truly high-level dangers kicking around Locklore. I couldn’t let my guard down.

“You act like it was nothing…” said Pomera, staring at me with her mouth open in amazement. Then she looked over. “And…who’s this?”

The little girl had hopped up on the bench to sit next to me while we spoke. She looked about ten years old, and her hair was twisted into two buns on either side of her head, one pale green and the other a light pink.

“Let’s play!” she chattered, clinging to my arm while she looked around the guildhall with an innocent smile. Even the hardened adventurers in the room couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“Well, it’s complicated…” I started, then facepalmed while letting out a sigh.

How could I explain that she was the Heart of Dreams, cursed five thousand years ago by Notts’s ancestors to create the God of Terror? The little girl was Zolophilia.

As I left Grand’s crumbling mansion the night before, I noticed her standing behind me. I’d hoped I was just seeing things, but Status Check confirmed that it was her and that she was still level 1,800. Zolophilia had used the Sand of Dreams to recreate her original body.

I thought Karma Breaker had killed her, but I guess I still had trouble casting a level 20 spell and keeping it stable. She’d reverted to her former personality and was so sweet that I didn’t have the heart to try to kill her again—even if she was the most powerful person I’d run into on the surface.

I patted Zolophilia’s head, and she seemed to enjoy it. She laid her head on the table and closed her eyes.

“Y-you’re looking after a lost child?” asked Pomera hesitantly. “Why don’t you let the church take care of her once things have calmed down a bit? They’re looking after any orphans from all this mess.”

I wished it were that easy—but what if she threw a tantrum and destroyed the city in the process? Or maybe Zolophilia would end up massacring people just trying to play a game with them. What if she was kidnapped? Someone could try to use her for evil ends.

“The priests don’t happen to be level 3,000 or so, do they?” I asked.

“What?! Kanata, are you okay? You didn’t get hit with some weird spell from Notts, did you?”

“I didn’t think so…” I said glumly.

I knew the church wasn’t an option, but I was still disappointed. Until I found a high-level person who I could also trust to act like a parent, she was mine to look after. Level 1,800 or not, she was still a child at heart.

I stroked Philia’s head to calm her while listening to Pomera—I’d decided that Zolophilia was too much of a mouthful.

“Yesterday was really tough…” Pomera said.

She had worn herself out healing and guiding the townspeople. Even after Notts’s Sacrifice spell collapsed, she continued to act as a leader until she nearly collapsed herself. There was still a lot of cleaning up to do, but she finally hit her limit. I suspected that she apologized to everyone she could before she left the church.

“In the end, the barrier spell just…stopped. There were rumors about Notts, but no one actually saw him. Except you,” said Pomera with a sigh.

That sounded about right. Aside from rumors, no one in town had any idea that Notts and Grand were working together. Between the Sacrifice spell that had killed all of their followers in the mansion and the collapse of the mansion itself, there wasn’t much left in the way of evidence or witnesses.

And since the Guild was administrated by the local lord, it was pretty much shut down for the time being. A distant relative of Grand’s was going to be coming in as a substitute, but nobody knew how long that might take. Until then, the hall was still open for adventurers to hang out, but no requests were being posted. I heard a few idle adventurers talking about moving on to other cities.

“I barely slept last night… I never thought I’d end up drinking a sleep replacement elixir unless you made me,” complained Pomera.

“But you worked really hard and did a lot of good. People had to notice that, right?”

“Yeah…” said Pomera, her expression showing mixed feelings. “Maybe I’m expecting too much, but I feel like things have changed. It would be nice if I could make some equal friends, but…”

“But?”

“Well…everyone’s treating me like a hero now, which kind of makes me uncomfortable. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t complain.”

“But you are a hero!”

“Yeah…I was running around the city looking for weakened people, casting Healing Rain and using elixirs to raise my magic. The people who saw me thought I had unlimited magic. Then they started cheering me on. And when the barrier was destroyed, people acted like I was the one who did it. They kept calling me a saint…” Pomera’s shoulders fell before she continued. “It’s the exact opposite from before, but they’re still not seeing the real me… I-I don’t know what to do.”

Pomera scrunched herself up smaller.

“That’s rough. It sounds like you got famous, whether you like it or not. Just make sure you get to know people before you get close to them.” I said.

“Get close to the people I know… Maybe you’re right,” Pomera murmured as she gave a little nod.

“I mean, be careful. Not everyone who recognizes you will have your best interest at heart. Some will try to take advantage of the bad attitudes about elves to force their agendas. Other people might act friendly to try to get something from you. They might seem charming, but they’re bad news.” I said and then took a drink of water. Pomera wore a troubled expression.

“Maybe we should try going somewhere else for a while,” I continued. “I know you wanted to reduce the prejudice against elves here, but I think the way you helped yesterday might have done a lot to make that happen. And Lord Grand is dead now, so he won’t be around to drum up any more hate. We could make a fresh start somewhere else. A place where you could make friends with a blank slate.”

“I-I’ll think about it…” Pomera nodded slightly.

I didn’t want to bum her out. It was amazing that Pomera found the courage and strength to save Arroburg in its moment of need, but we had to have a frank discussion about what might happen next. Some self-centered jerk like Roy was bound to try to take advantage of her. Better to have her a little disappointed now than let her get wrapped up in someone’s scheme because she was naive.

“P-Pomera! No… Saint Pomera! I knew I’d find you here!”

Speak of the devil. I felt my expression darken.

“R-Roy, it’s been a while.” said Pomera with a tiny bow.

“I’m so sorry I was such an idiot! Please forgive us! When I heard about how you rushed around the city protecting people, it made me realize how poorly we treated you!” he said through crocodile tears as he bowed low.

Pomera looked at the back of his head with narrowed eyes.

I wasn’t impressed with his act either. Pomera always tried to find reasons to stand up for Roy, but he was a real tool.

“It’s fine… I don’t really care,” said Pomera.

“Oh, how kind—especially after I was so horrible to you! Let me atone. Join me as a true companion, and let’s adventure together!”

“No, thank you,” was all Pomera said in return.

“Wha…? Y-you’re still mad, aren’t you? Please, Pomera! I’m begging you to forgive me! I can’t move on if I don’t make it up to you!” Her silent treatment caused cracks to form in Roy’s facade. “I thought you liked me, Pomera. Isn’t that why you were so obedient? Right?!”

Pomera looked around in distress, and after a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed my hand.

“I’m in Kanata’s party now! So, no, thank you. And I never thought much of you at all, Roy!” said Pomera.

“Wh-what?!” Roy’s face twisted in anger.

“Let’s go, Kanata. We don’t need to stay here any longer, now that we’ve met up,” said Pomera as she pulled my arm. I gently shook Philia’s shoulder to wake her before Pomera dragged both of us from the guildhall. Roy stared after us, his face bright red.

5

AS KANATA FACED OFF against the Evil Priest Notts, Lunaère sat surrounded by a pile of books. In front of her was a dark bolt of cloth, and she was carefully painting magic symbols across the fabric with red pigment.

Noble awoke from a nap and gently stretched his hinges.

“Shouldn’t you take a break, Lady?”

Two weeks had passed since Noble brought up the possibility of Kanata finding love on the surface. Since then, Lunaère spent sleepless nights searching for a way to reduce the effects of her unholy aura. She read through every magic book she owned and wandered the floors of Cocytus, killing monsters and collecting items for her research. She’d killed so many monsters that Noble quietly worried that she might be upsetting the dungeon’s ecosystem.

Every day, she forced herself to focus on continuing her work, drinking enough elixir to float a boat. But even a lich had her limits—bags had formed under her eyes, and her mental fatigue caused her to call Kanata’s name on the rare occasions she dozed off.

Noble was a little shocked. It had taken less pestering than he expected to convince her to leave Cocytus. He even began to regret putting the idea into her head—her obsession was getting scary. Even scarier was the thought of what she’d do if Kanata managed to snag a girlfriend before Lunaère caught up. He wanted her to find happiness, but he didn’t want to be the treasure chest standing between Lunaère and a jealous rampage.

“No need to rush,” said Noble, imagining the carnage.

Years ago, Lunaère had developed the theoretical background for a process to dampen the impurity, but she never put it into practice. It was research for research’s sake, just something to pass the time until another piece of research became more interesting. In truth, she never actually entertained thoughts of going outside until she met Kanata. After she hunted down all her old notes, trying to pick up where she left off, Noble worried that she was trying to cram a century of work into a few weeks.

“You’re a smart girl. Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually. Until then…” he trailed off.

Lunaère looked at Noble and nodded slightly.

“Oh, thank the gods! You’re finally being—” started Noble.

“It’s finished.”

“Huh?”

“If I make an Impurity Sealing Robe with this cloth, I should be able to reduce the effects of the aura by 80 percent,” she said, spreading and smoothing the cloth. “It will seal my magic too, so I might not be that strong, but…I can go see Kanata!”

Her voice was filled with excitement and uncertainty. Even she seemed surprised to have finished the project so quickly.

“Wh-what do I do now? It’s done, but won’t I just be bothering Kanata if I go running after him?” She looked restlessly at Noble.

She seemed to be asking his permission, but Noble was pretty sure she was going to do whatever she wanted regardless of his opinion. He thought this was her best shot at happiness, but it was also a big risk of heartbreak. He managed to swallow those words before they came out.

“I don’t think you’d be bothering him…” he said instead.

“Y-you really think so? But I haven’t completely eliminated the effects of the aura…”

Noble let out a huff, growing annoyed with her waffling.

“Okay, fine. Then just give up, why dontcha?” he asked.

Tears welled up in her eyes. “H-how could you say something so horrible? I’ve worked so hard to make this… No! It’s fine! An 80 percent reduction means the average person will just feel a little uneasy. I might be able to improve its efficacy if I continued researching, but that could take years. By then…Kanata will have forgotten about me!”

Lunaère’s white face turned red as she grew agitated, and she gestured wildly.

“Hey, hey! Settle down, Lady! Giving up isn’t an option. I know that. You know that. So…just go,” said Noble.

Lunaère’s eyes got wide.

“N-Noble…”

Noble felt a wave of relief wash over him; the indecisiveness had ended.

Lunaère squeezed the magic-formula cloth and scrunched her shoulders up.

“But…what do I even say when I find him? M-maybe it really is best if I don’t go,” she said.

Noble fell over on his side in exasperation. Lunaère continued to hesitantly talk herself through her concerns.

“A-and if Kanata has found a girlfriend, what do I do then? I don’t think I could stand it! I really should just stay in Cocytus…”

Lunaère began to fidget, balling the magic cloth in her hands and wrinkling it.

“Let it go!” said Noble, rushing over to pry the fabric from her grip with his mouth, “It might tear! Look, I said he might find a girlfriend someday. Kanata’s not the kinda guy who would forget about you in a few weeks.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah. Don’t you trust him?”

“Yes, but…”

“Buuut—if you keep wasting time being wishy-washy, then you can kiss him goodbye!”

Those words proved to be the incentive Lunaère needed. She rushed to stitch together the Impurity Sealing Robe. About an hour later, she placed the finished garment in her Dimension Pocket and walked out of the hut. Noble hurried to catch up.

“H-hang on! What about the rest of the stuff in the hut?!” he asked.

“I don’t have time to clean up. A-another girl could steal him in the time I spend going through things,” shouted Lunaère, walking away with her face turning red.

“Calm down, Lady! It’ll only take a day to pack—”

“What if today’s the day that changes everything?” asked Lunaère, her expression utterly serious now. Noble knew that face. Arguing was futile.

“…Okay, fine. Gimme ten minutes,” he sighed, then went into the yurt and shoved any valuable item he could find into his mouth.

They set off for the 100th floor. Lunaère casually turned every monster they encountered into goo splattered on the dungeon walls. Eventually, word got around, and the monsters stopped coming.

It took them less than twelve hours to reach the bottom of Cocytus. A crystal path hovering over a yawning void spread out before them.

The rightful ruler of Cocytus stood at the far end.

“I am Satan—a mighty demon, essentially a god—and ruler of Cocytus. During my ten-thousand-year reign, you are only the sixth human to reach this room and bask in my glory. Only one person has left Cocytus alive.”

Despite the invitation to bask in his glory, Lunaère’s pace did not falter.

“H-hey, stop. Stop! Didn’t you hear me? I am Satan, a demon nearly as powerful as the gods—”

“Get outta the way, moron! She will kill you!” shouted Noble, struggling to keep up behind Lunaère.

“Oh! M-Miss Lunaère?! P-please, be my guest! You may, of course, pass!” Satan hurried to the edge of the walkway to let her by. He was too slow.

“Gravity Bomb.”

Lunaère cast the spell as she jogged past. A sphere of black light appeared near Satan, and stray pieces of broken crystal from his battle with Kanata began to get sucked into the gravity well.

“Wha?!” Satan leaped clear of the spell’s effect just as it imploded. A moment slower and he would have been crushed.

Unfortunately, his jump took him over the edge of the walkway. Satan found himself hurtling into the abyss.

“AAAaaah!” His scream echoed through the chamber.

Noble paused for a moment to watch Satan disappear into the depths.

“Good luck crawling back up, chump.”

“Hurry up, Noble,” Lunaère called. “The teleportation circle to the outside should be just ahead!”

6

NAIAROTOP FLOATED in the white space of the Upper Realms, observing their handwork. Magic circles appeared around them, opening tears that let them peer into other dimensions.

“You are working so hard, my beloved travelers. Ho ho, some of you are coming along quite nicely. Ijuin, that ego is pure charisma. Otogi, you used to be so boring, but your brand is on the rise now that I’ve pulled a few strings…”

A host of gods like Naiarotop worked behind the scenes to keep Locklore running. Each had their own duties; there were those who kept amusing records of the happenings in the world, others who arranged focus groups with the Higher Gods and sent those findings to the gods in charge of marketing, and even mid-level manager gods to oversee daily operations.

Among other things, Naiarotop’s duties included sending people to Locklore, creating demon kings, and giving divine revelations to important characters. Sometimes they would run a plotline where a powerful warrior would succumb to a ruinous fate, or sometimes they would steer a “humanoid dragon” into a new scheme so that a traveler would have a proper nemesis. Essentially, they kept the drama moving along.

They’d even been behind the storyline that sealed away Zolophilia, five thousand years ago. A manmade god that destroyed demon kings and humanoid dragons alike would have been bad for continuity. Naiarotop liked to make sure their stories didn’t develop plot holes.

“Takanashi, you…you are a bore.” Naiarotop sighed. “I suppose she has her fans, but I am not one of them. I have tried so hard to nudge her in the right directions, but she is incapable of taking a hint. What is the point letting her live a comfortable life if she never takes any risks? Whatever. She can stay for now. I’ve got a season finale event planned for her soon, if I can convince this humanoid dragon to play along. Ha! I wonder if she can make a death scene interesting.”

Naiarotop continued to monitor their feeds until a Higher God’s voice called from the ether.

“My subject!”

“My lord? How may I be of service? If this is to discuss my job performance and impending promotion, then I humbly—”

“My subject, something unfortunate has occurred. Do you remember Kanata Kanbara?”

“Hm, Kanata Kanbara… Who was that again?” said Naiarotop, struggling to put a face to the name.

“He is the human you sent to Cocytus. The one who wanted to return to Earth because of his cat.”

“Oh! Him! I sent him to Cocytus to make a comedy horror short where he would be eaten by monsters, piece by piece. Did it wrap up too quickly, or was it not well received? It was fairly dark…” said Naiarotop with a chuckle as they covered their mouth.

“Weren’t you paying attention? I bet you stopped watching after his arm was eaten by a mimic. Kanata Kanbara lives. He was saved by a lich girl.”

“…Beg your pardon, my lord? There should be no monsters in that dungeon who would save a human…” Naiarotop’s smile faded.

“You have neglected your duties in monitoring Cocytus. It appears a lich girl has lived there for centuries, and she has reached a level surpassing even that of the dungeon’s overseer.”

“W-wait! There must be some mistake. The lich girl loathes humans. She would never save one!” Naiarotop had a vague idea of who Lunaère was. They’d heard her speak of her hatred toward humans many times, and she never left the dungeon. What was the point of keeping tabs on her?

“How could you be fooled by such an obvious facade? You slipped up and left a dangerous lich to her own devices for hundreds of years.”

Naiarotop’s face grew paler and paler. “B-but it can’t be that big of a problem! She’ll never leave Cocytus. I will come up with something for Kanata Kanbara and tie up that loose end. If there are no other issues—”

“Oh, but there are. Are you aware that that humanoid dragon, Notts, attempted to awaken Zolophilia without your permission?”

“That bastard…” muttered Naiarotop to themself. “He must have found a chance to deceive me without drawing my attention! If he resurrects that beast, he’ll destroy the balance of power in Locklore. I let one descendant of that family live because everyone loves a good callback, but that was obviously a mistake!”

There was nothing more irritating than someone flying under the radar. The world of Locklore was maintained with careful oversight so that otherworldly travelers could live out their stories with as little interference as possible. A vein throbbed on Naiarotop’s temple.

“I hope you’re sitting down, my subject. Because Zolophilia has already been summoned by Notts and defeated by Kanata Kanbara. After he left Cocytus.”

“What?! But Zolophilia’s lowest level is nearly 2,000. How could Kanata Kanbara—?”

“Another of my subjects has already recorded Kanata Kanbara’s story in the Memory Sphere. Review it yourself. Furthermore, Lunaère the lich girl has also left Cocytus. Do you understand what this means?”

“…Th-that my mismanagement has created an abnormal situation…”

“Indeed. You have become a laughingstock among the Higher Gods, and your incompetence reflects very poorly on me.”

Naiarotop cradled their head as they listened to their master’s words. Disappointing a Higher God was the most terrifying prospect they could imagine.

“I-I will fix this, even if I have to go to Locklore and correct the mistakes myself. I will kill them—!”

“You most certainly will not! Do you know why? The selling point of Locklore is that it is the most extreme form of reality entertainment ever. Excessive interference is explicitly forbidden because if you break the immersion, the other gods will lose interest. And if they lose interest, your role will be downsized.”

“U-urgh…”

“Take care of those two as fast as possible, leaving as little trace as possible. Use every means available to you within the rules. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, my lord. I will end those two immediately and resume monitoring Cocytus properly. This will never happen again. Please, just show me mercy!” Naiarotop bowed on both knees, sweat running down their face.

“That will depend on how you handle this. If you fail…well, don’t fail.”

“U-understood!”

With that, the Higher God’s voice cut off. Naiarotop clenched their fists and growled with resentment in their voice:

“Kanata Kanbara, you are nothing. You are a broken plaything that has brought me nothing but shame! Death isn’t good enough for you!”