Chapter 4: All Alone

When I came to, I was lying face down in an open grass field.

“Ugh...”

I rolled onto my back and saw the star-filled sky.

That’s right... Asu launched me.

The tornado whipped up by Asu’s wings was extremely powerful. I didn’t know how far I’d been thrown. Gillain often appeared from a gust of wind, and now I knew that he had been traveling on Asu’s high-speed winds.

The bugs here sound different. Where am I?

“Map.”

But nothing happened. Apparently, I didn’t have much magic left. I had to hurry and get some healing medicine and something to eat out of my Magic Room... Wait, was there really any need to hurry?

“I lost...”

I hadn’t stood a chance against Prince Schneider. And now that I’d fought the prince, I was a fugitive from my own country.

“Alma... Nick...” I can never go to school again.

“Brother... Grandmother...” I don’t know when I’ll see you again. I’m sorry for getting you involved when you didn’t know the situation.

“Father...” Will I really see you again someday?

“Lou...” My precious silver...

Lou and I were one and the same. I still didn’t understand why he chose me. He was at once a noble holy beast and a fluffball spoiled on Matsuki’s cakes.

I can’t live without Lou at this point. How can I go anywhere without his sweet scent from eating so much sugar? What can I do without his pure energy surrounding me?

Lou, my father, and I had decided that in the worst-case scenario, I would live on my own as an adventurer.

This plan’s a pipe dream! How am I supposed to live all alone when I’m so weak?! I’m not strong like I was in the book! I know what warmth feels like now. I can’t stand up on my own after being cut off from that warmth!

Lou, are you okay? You were really hurt... I can’t cast a healing spell on you from so far away!

I was contracted to him...but due to my inexperience, I couldn’t even sense him.

“Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou...” In spite of being as completely drained as I was, somehow tears could still pour from my eyes. “What am I supposed to do?! Waaaaah...”

I felt a soft, gentle magic energy envelop me, along with a familiar, slightly bitter magic.

“Don’t cry, Miss Sere. I’ll drown in your tears.”

I felt my tears being sucked up from my cheeks.

“They’re salty, Miss Sere. Get up.”

“...Miyu?”

When I looked away from the sky and down, I saw Miyu sitting on my chest, the same size as when I had met her. She tilted her head in concern and smooched the tears at the corners of my eyes.

I nervously sat up, rested on my elbows. “Why are you here, Miyu?”

“Asu came to the swamp and asked me to help you. I said okay, because I really love you and Asu and Lou! My papa said to do my best too! So I turned small, came to the desert with Asu, and went into your shirt pocket before the tornado!”

“Asu...”

I remembered when he’d given me his tear. I also realized that I wasn’t bleeding anymore, and the rose poison had gone away. I was able to move now thanks to that.

“I trained a bunch with Asu and Lou, Miss Sere. They said I was a good girl when I did well, and they gave me tasty snacks. Asu said to do our best as two cute girls until we meet again!”

Asu...

“I see... Can you change your size now because of that training? That’s great, Miyu.”

“Hm? I’ve been able to do that since my papa became a lesser dragon. But I can only get as big as my true size. I’m just a kid, after all.”

Miyu’s just a kid, but she’s comforting me...

I smacked my cheeks with my hands. Have faith! Have faith! I’m going to see everyone again! Lou told me I’d become stronger in the future. I’ll get stronger and make it through this! I can’t let everyone down! My dream is to go on a fluffy world tour with Lou and call it a pilgrimage! I’ll make it happen! No matter what!

“It’s really nice to have you here with me, Miyu. Thank you! Let’s do our best as fellow girls!”

“Miss Sere, ever since you helped my papa, I decided I’d serve you! If anyone is mean to you, I’ll wrap around their neck and squeeze!”

“O-Okay...”

“Also, my papa and I ate a bunch of yucky leaves every day, and now we can spit poison mist!”

“O-Okay...”

I reopened my Magic Room, got out some healing medicine, and gulped it down. Once I could move again, I walked for a bit, found a cave to shelter in, and put up a small tent.

I had four kinds of tents, each taking into consideration different purposes and seasons. Naturally, they had extra features and magic for added convenience, so they were rather comfortable. The bare necessities, including shelter, were a high priority.

I set up the inside of my tent, sat down to rest, and took out a piece of preserved food. As I ate it, I asked, “What do you eat, Miyu?”

“I’ll absorb your magic from you.”

Same as Lou, huh? Miyu is seeming less and less like a snake.

That reminds me, is Lou okay without my magic? I hope he’s not hungry...

“Oh, yeah! Asu said to tell you to use as little of your magic as possible. Bad guys might follow your magic to try to catch you.”

“But I’m not confident I can adventure without using magic...”

“Mhm, that’s why I’ll give you a little of my magic. Then your magic will change appearance, and you can use everyday spells that don’t take a lot of magic. Can I give you a bite?”

“Sure.”

Miyu slithered up my arm and nibbled my index finger on my right hand. A little of her magic flowed into me.

“Your magic smells like flowers, Miyu.”

“That’s ’cause I’m a girl!”

A girl who spits poison mist...

“Oh, yeah. When I fell from the tornado, there was a scary blue magic coming from your chest and surrounding you. It helped me land softly.”

Gillain... I clutched his plate. “Oh, right. Miyu, how old are you?”

“It’s rude to ask a lady’s age, Sere!”

“S-Sorry...”

“He he, I actually forgot. I stopped counting after fifty.”

She’s my elder by far...

After one night of rest in the tent, I had most of my stamina back. It was all thanks to Asu’s tear, my brother’s special recovery medicine, Matsuki’s homemade emergency rations, and Gillain’s cushion-like wind magic.

Gillain’s wind magic from the plate was still enveloping me, although I had long since landed. Was it set up to stay active until my safety was ensured to Gillain’s standards? Whatever reason it was, it did make me feel safe...

“Map!”

This time, a screen floated in front of my eyes.

“Miyu! We went across the ocean! This is Regan Island in the eastern ocean, far from Judore!”

“The ocean? I did think it was big for a swamp. I was watching from your pocket, though, and it wasn’t too far for me to swim.”

That’s the daughter of a lesser dragon for you! I should look up to her as a person—I mean, as a snake!

“Asu sure did launch us a long way.”

“He said the farther we go, the harder it would be for them to come after us. The royal family wouldn’t be able to move freely because of their position.”

There was no warp magic in this world. I had tried to connect two points in space and warp through an alternate dimension, but it didn’t work. If I couldn’t make it with my cheat powers, then that meant even if items could be stored in an alternate dimension in this world, people couldn’t enter it.

So, that meant we had to move by ourselves. People with a lot of magic could use it to increase their movement speed, but it wasn’t easy to cross a country or a nation. Not without being launched by Asu, at least.

Prince Schneider most likely couldn’t leave the country without permission under the surveillance of the royal family—the queen.

The same could be said about Gillain. He was an emperor; the responsibility he bore was in a different league than Prince Schneider’s. Even if he did hypothetically leave the empire without permission, people would speculate about war.

I couldn’t be sure about Terl’s abilities. Could he spin around and fly like that one turtle kaiju from a movie in my past life? Would the prince ride on top of him? It was surreal to picture that aloof pretty boy riding Terl, though. I couldn’t imagine it really happening.

At the very least, I could rest assured that I wouldn’t be killed today or tomorrow.

“I wonder if Lou knows I’m okay.”

“He knows since he traded magic with you. If you died, your magic would leave his body. The magic I got from you before is still all smiley inside me. I bet it’s smiley inside Lou too.”

Thank goodness... He’ll probably let my father know too. Lou and my papa have been connected by an invisible bond ever since I kicked them both in the head...

My departure would cause issues for my loved ones. I knew to expect that. I brought it up at our countermeasure plan meeting, but my father laughed it off.

“Serephi, I’m rather strong myself, and I’ll make preparations,” he’d told me. “Don’t worry about it. All you have to do is live happily and healthily. I would never sacrifice my beloved daughter for my own life in the first place. I’m sure your grandmother feels the same.”

Father...are you okay right now?

“Asu said he’ll watch the time and come back to get you, so you should get stronger,” Miyu told me.

Asu was probably the fastest being in this world. He could cross the ocean. I felt bad that he had to look after both me and Gillain. Asu was the only one on Gillain’s side in his country, yet he generously let Asu out to see me.

Gillain was probably furious right now that I’d been hurt and fled the country, even though it was my own fault for being weak-hearted. Is my magic still left from when I healed the cut on his face recently? I hope that lets him know I’m all right.

I didn’t want to make my loved ones any more sad. There was only one thing I could do...

“Miyu... Let’s work hard together and be the strongest girl duo ever!”

“Yes, Miss Sere!”

...and that was to get stronger and survive until the day we could meet again!

Miyu and I went over our plans for the future. For the time being, we would go to a port town, train, and collect rare materials from Regan Island since this was a rare opportunity for me to visit here. Then we would prepare for a long journey and go farther across the ocean.

We were headed to the Kingdom of Marsche!

There was only one small town to the northeast on this island, so we headed there. Miyu and I forged ahead with gathering materials and subtly working on new kinds of magic that we would need.

“Miss Sere! While you’re not using much magic, I’ll give you some resistance to water magic! You can use the power for more than just killing. When you’re floating in the water...no, when you feel one with the water, you can reduce the damage you take. Now... No, you’re doing it wrong. You have to swim to that coast as punishment. Okay, go!”

“Ahhh!”

Splash!

“Miyu, stop pushing me into the ocean! I thought you were going to break my neck just now!”

“But I did it for your sake...! Waaaah!”

“S-Sorry, Miyu! Don’t cry!”

“As long as you understand! Okay, I’m gonna push you in super hard one more time! Go!”

“Ahhh!”

Splash!

I surfaced and gasped for air. “Hey, Miyu! There are a lot of pearl oysters in this ocean. Look at this huge pearl I found in one!”

“That’s so pretty, Miss Sere! I want to give my papa a hundred of them as a souvenir. Can you get them for me?”

“Ah, well, a hundred would be—”

“I want to give them to him as proof that I’m trying my best even when he’s not here... Waaaah!”

“A-All right, don’t cry! I’ll get them, I’ll get them!”

“Thank you, Miss Sere. And don’t come up for breath until you have at least thirty! If you come up before then, I’ll shove you back in!”

“Ahhh!” Blub blub blub...

“You’re walking too loud, Miss Sere! You have to quietly slide through the forest!”

“I mean, I’m not a snake...”

“Miss Sere! People are after your life! What will you do if you can’t hide yourself?! I couldn’t face Asu and Lou like that! You have to tense the space between your big toe and second toe! And don’t step on the dry leaves!”

“L-Like this?”

Crackle!

“Ahhh! Miss Sere, stop fooling around already!”

“Eeek! No poison mist!”

Miyu is so strict, even though her papa was nice... I collapsed onto the forest floor.

◇ ◇ ◇

We’d finally made it to Tobos, the port city on Regan Island. I went to the boat boarding area in some clothes that I’d had prepared in my Magic Room to look like the epitome of average: an undyed shirt, beige trousers, and a khaki-colored mantle.

The boats headed to Judore and other countries were going in and out at a steady pace, but there was nobody at the Marsche-bound boarding area.

“Are there any boats going to Marsche today?” I asked someone who looked like a staff member.

“All trips to Marsche are currently canceled, miss. The parent company of some shipping operations in Judore has ordered routes to be diverted from Marsche indefinitely. I suppose it’s because of the political instability.”

“They did?!” Who the heck did such a dumb thing?! “Would there be anyone who could take just me?”

“Let’s see, someone with a boat and some free time... That would depend on how much you can pay. You could try commissioning the guild.”

“Okay. Could I ask where the adventurer’s guild is?”

“The guild is that three-story building with the brown roof over there.”

“Thank you very much!”

Tobos Guild had a restaurant annexed onto it where you could have a light meal. I ordered a bowl of harbor city soup and flipped through a binder containing commission request forms.

The soup was full of things resembling crayfish and mussels, and it was flavored well with garlic. It felt good to eat something hand-cooked again after so long.

Miyu poked her face out of my pocket and flicked her tongue into my soup. “Why do you want to go to Marsche, Miss Sere?”

“They say the best place to hide a tree is in a forest. Marsche is in turmoil right now, so the people will be panicking. Everyone will be worried first and foremost about their own safety, so if I slip into their midst, I doubt anyone would find one individual girl.”

“Mmhmm.”

“I was surprised to hear that there are no boats going there, but that also means that once we’re there, nobody can come after us, right?”

“It does! You’re so smart, Miss Sere!”

“Hey!” someone suddenly shouted. I looked up and saw a drunk man who was clearly in desperate need of a bath.

“Whatcha doin’ here, cutie?” he said. “It’s no fun eatin’ all by yourself. How ’bout you come over to my table?!”

This reminds me of the guys from work in my past life who would make passes at people below them...

“No, thank you.”

“Huh? I can’t hear you... Just c’mon!” He grabbed my arm. I hastily tried to push him off, but before I could, two spells activated!

The first was the reflection magic I’d used on Miyu. She was on me right now, so it had apparently treated this the same as an attack against Miyu. Nice, it works on physical attacks too! Good job, me!

The second was the magic that had been protecting me ever since I’d come here...Gillain’s wind magic.

Bam! The drunkard was thrown back, and he slammed into the wall.

“How thoughtless to lay a hand on Miss Sere,” said Miyu contemptuously.

The employee who had been at the counter rushed over. “Pl-Please, don’t make a scene!”

“Well, he’s the one who started this.”

“He’s the only D-ranker on our island! Look what you’ve done! Now he’s going to get bent out of shape and stop accepting commissions! It’s your fault for coming to a guild by yourself as a girl, anyway. You can’t expect not to get hit on with that pretty face!”

“Are you blaming me?” Some rage seeped out of me. I may not have looked like it, but I had a lot of pent-up anger from everything that had happened recently...so my fuse was shorter than usual.

“Eek!” The employee ran back behind the counter.

I irritatedly swigged what was left of my soup, then I took three sheets out of the commission binder and headed to the counter. “Hey.”

“Y-Yes!”

“These B-rank requests haven’t been completed for over two years. I’ll take them.” I flashed the plate at my chest.

“Eeek! A gold plate from Trundle!”

A stir ran through the room. So, a Trundle plate holds weight even outside the country... Thanks, ancestors!

“I’m telling you that I’ll do what that drunkard over there can’t. In exchange, let’s see... I’d just like to be taken to Marsche. Not a bad deal, right?”

The employee ran out. Just when I was beginning to think he’d fled the guild, he brought back an old man with a white beard.

“Are you the guildmaster?”

“I am the mayor of Tobos. I also act as the guildmaster because the town is small. To be honest, it’s nothing more than a title. I have no experience as an adventurer.”

“A guildmaster is a guildmaster, though. So, will you accept my offer?”

“Hmm... So, the first one is to subdue the giant octopus making trouble in the nearby sea. The second is to purify the shrine behind Cavira Falls. The third is to collect vitagrass from the peak of Mount Gidzina. Can you really do all of these, miss?”

“I don’t know how to fish, but I could lure the octopus out, right? In that case, I can do it.”

“I-I see... Okay. As the guildmaster and mayor of Tobos, I will accept your offer. Once these three problems are solved, I will secure you a boat to Marsche.”

“I’m going to need that in writing.” Having contracts in writing had come back to help me in the past!

◇ ◇ ◇

They got a boat for me as soon as the proceedings were done, and I went straight out to take care of the giant octopus! I wanted to get it over with quickly. Time is money, after all.

I was accompanied by a local fisherman named Gan, who was muscular, wild-looking, and had the hair on both his head and face grown out. He tossed a raccoon-like animal he’d caught in the forest into the water.

“Do octopi eat meat?”

“This one’ll eat anything! It’s eaten everything in the ocean around here, so we have to use land animals as bait... There it is! Catch it!”

A large wave rocked the boat, and I gripped the edge. The water swelled, then a huge splash soaked me from head to toe. The giant octopus had come out of the water and wrapped its tentacles around the boat!

“What...?”

It was smaller than I expected—only about as big as a broadshell turtle. It was about three meters across. I guessed it made sense, considering it was just an octopus in the first place.

“Should we take it out with a lightning strike?” I asked Miyu. “I can use magic as long as it’s just a little, right?”

“Leave this to me, Miss Sere!” Miyu chimed in. “I haven’t shown you how I can help out yet!”

“I have no doubt that you’re strong, but... Sure, go for it!”

Miyu slithered out of my pocket, began to glow, and grew to her original size.

“A sn-snake!” Gan the fisherman fell to his knees.

Miyu slithered toward the giant octopus without a hint of fear.

“Here goes!”

She bit down on the tentacle that was wrapped around the boat...and then started slurping it up!

Sluuuuuurp!

“Y-You’re swallowing it whole?!”

Slurp. Gulp. “All done!”

The ocean was once again as clear and still as a mirror.

“M-Miyu... Does your stomach feel okay?”

“Oh—”

“Wh-What is it?!”

“Apparently, this octopus was the strongest being in this area. Now that I’ve swallowed him, I’m the ruler of the eastern sea! All the sea creatures here will listen to what I say now!”

“Whoa...”

One big slurp had launched her to the top of the stack... My precious little Miyu had become the queen of the eastern sea!

I stayed at Gan’s house that night.

“I can’t thank you two enough. Now that that octopus is gone, the fish will come back, and I’ll be able to fish again. This isn’t much of a house, but please feel free to stay over!”

Gan grilled up some dried fish that he’d saved for hard times.

“I-I can’t possibly take this much food from you!” I insisted.

“I’ll be able to catch plenty more soon enough. Don’t hold back! That goes for you too, li’l snake!”

“Thank you, Gan!” chirped Miyu.

Miyu was more than a little different from your everyday snake, but she still barely counted as a snake, so anyone could see her. I was the only one who could talk to her, though, so I interpreted to Gan for her. Oh, and now that Miyu had eaten the giant octopus that had been bothering Gan, she was a “li’l snake” to him.

“What is the shrine we’re going to tomorrow dedicated to? And why is it a B-rank commission?”

“I heard it’s for the harvest goddess,” replied Gan. “I have no idea why it’s B-rank, though. I haven’t heard that it’s dangerous.”

“Once we get that over with, we can collect the vitagrass and be done tomorrow.”

“Don’t take Mount Gidzina lightly,” warned Gan.

“I’m not. I’m used to climbing mountains.” Like the ones from Trundle territory!

I could hear someone having a coughing fit from the other room. “Um, is that a family member?” I asked.

“Yeah... That’s my wife. She’s...lying down at the moment.”

“Could I greet her, since I’m going to be a guest in her home?”

Gan sighed. “I guess it’s not a surprise if it’s Miss Gold and the li’l snake... Go say hi to her. She’ll be glad too.”

I peeked over to the bed in the other room intending to just greet her, but she was lying down unconscious. All her visible skin, including her face and neck, had turned black.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m impressed how unfazed you are. Four years ago, she suddenly collapsed, unable to move, and her skin changed color. I took her to the doctor on this island, but they didn’t know what was wrong. Then someone said it could be a curse, so I took her to a curse expert to have it lifted, but I couldn’t tell if it worked or not... They said if I took her one more time, she would get well, but I ran out of money.”

That’s definitely extortion. Miyu and I narrowed our eyes.

“Thanks to you two, I’ll be able to fish again soon and earn more money. Then I can have her curse lifted. Also, you two are tough, so if you go collect some vitagrass for me, that might heal her.”

“Did you request the vitagrass?”

“I did. Oh, and the guild already has the money, so don’t worry about that!”

“She’s not cursed, Miss Sere,” Miyu informed me. She’d already looked into it, the capable little snake. Curses are a snake’s specialty, after all!

Okay, me too! Appraisal!

Appraisal was a new kind of magic I’d created right after I came to this island—I’d left it up to Lou before then. Between my knowledge from reading light novels in my past life and the evil-hating magic Lou had left in my body, it only took me about two days to finish.

The woman’s body glowed blue.

Julia (Fisherman’s wife)

Status: Poisoned (Mixture of poison clam, beach rose, and ocean bee toxins), weakened

I see... The doctor gave her medicine in case of poison, which is why she’s still alive right now. But it makes no sense that there are three kinds mixed together...

“Are you going to use a spell like you did on my papa?” asked Miyu.

“Hmm... No, I’ll go with the antidote grass. I have some on hand. I should save my magic, right?”

Miyu nodded.

Poison, though... Why was a fisherman’s wife given such a complex mixture of poisons?

Appraisal!

Gan (Fisherman, Julia’s husband, former C-rank adventurer)

Status: Exhausted

Gan is a former C-ranker... Other than that, he was also glowing blue. That was important. Blue meant normal. If someone’s body glowed red, that meant they had bad intentions. Gan was in the clear.

I hate that I doubt anyone and everyone...

“From what I can tell, your wife has been poisoned with multiple toxins. If you can trust me, I’ll start making the antidote right away. It won’t work immediately, though. The effects should show after a few days. If you can’t trust what I say as a stranger, I don’t mind.”

“Miss...will Julia get better?”

“Yes, I can heal her. But she’s been exposed to quite a complicated poison. I can only do this if you’ll promise to keep it a secret that she was healed and you don’t let anyone see her until she’s completely better.”

“You’re saying someone on this island poisoned Julia, and they could do it again?! Don’t give me that crap!”

I made him angry after all...

“It’s only natural that you would prioritize the people of your own town over an outsider. Good night, then, Gan.”

Gan had nothing left to say.

The next morning, Miyu and I woke up at dawn and tried to leave for the shrine.

“W-Wait!”

“Gan?”

“Sorry about last night. I’ll trust you. Please...help Julia!” He bowed his head deeply.

“And what about the conditions I gave?”

“I’ll accept them all!”

I’m not taking the chance of her getting poisoned again after I went out of my way to heal her.

I took a bottle out of my bag containing a green liquid. I’d made it overnight, of course, anticipating that this would happen. Gan had good sense, after all.

“This tastes awful. I tried it, and it’s so bad, Julia would recoil even while unconscious. You’ll have to feed it to her mouth-to-mouth all at once so she doesn’t spit it up.”

“Mouth-to-mouth?!” Gan flushed red.

“Yes. Then, she’ll develop a high fever in the process of clearing the poison and thrash about. You have to hold her tight to keep her still!”

“Hold her tight?!” Gan covered his mouth with both hands.

What a weird way to express embarrassment... “Yes. Then, when the fever breaks, take off all her clothes and wipe the sweat off. Put her in new clothes after that.”

“Take off all her clothes and wipe her down?!” Gan’s eyes darted about.

“That’s what I said, yes. After that, you’ll need to give her some water to get her rehydrated. If she hasn’t regained consciousness by that point, you’ll need to give her the water mouth-to-mouth. Once all that’s taken care of, if you simply let her rest, she should get back on her feet.”

“Mouth-to-mouth again?!”

“Oh, come on! What’s with the overblown reactions?! Aren’t you husband and wife?! Why are you blushing so much?!”

“T-To be honest... She collapsed on...the night of our wedding...”

“So, she was poisoned just after your ceremony...”

“Yes.”

Oh, Julia...

“I’m...a coward who couldn’t protect my bride.”

“But you must have at least been changing her clothes all this time, right?”

“I did change her clothes, but I felt bad looking at her naked without her consent, so I had some of the older ladies in the neighborhood wash her.”

“You can’t do that this time. You have to do it, even if it means Julia will smack you for it later!”

I imagine getting married to him kind of counts as implicit consent to at least be touched by him, though.

“I can handle her smacking me if it means she’ll get better...”

“I bet the person who poisoned her was against their wedding!” commented Miyu. “But a wedding is every girl’s dream! Unforgivable!”

Miyu’s eyes gleamed. Her curse magic had activated!

Let me explain. I’d upgraded the reflection magic that I used on Miyu and her papa before, so now it not only reflected attacks, it had a new ability I called Curse. Miyu could activate it in response to any danger or accident that befell her. Aren’t girls scary?

Why did I upgrade it? Because Miyu and her papa were putting in hard work, and because Asu and Lou had an eye on them. Of course, because they obeyed the pure and upright holy beasts, they could only cast righteous curses (whatever that means).

This time, Curse was activated because of the misfortune that had befallen Gan, who we were indebted to for food and lodging, and also because a girl’s heart had been broken. Our little Miyu was a pure maiden, after all.

The person who poisoned Julia must have been hit with the curse right around then. I wondered what would become of them.

“Who cares?!”

I put Miyu in my pocket and headed out for the shrine.

◇ ◇ ◇

We made it to Cavira Falls safely. It was in the jungle in the northeast of the island. I swam breaststroke to go through the waterfall, then I went around to the other side of the falls, where there was an area above the water’s surface blocked by a boulder.

“Is the shrine in there?”

Miyu and I climbed up, dripping wet as we went, and reached the boulder. I tried pushing it. I tried pulling it. I tried moving it to the side.

“It’s not opening,” declared Miyu.

“Is it okay for me to break it?”

“With your sword?”

“Or I could blow it up.”

“But I told you to use as little magic as possible!”

“Hmm. Could you ask the fish in this lake, then?”

“Yep!” Miyu dove behind the waterfall and came back after a few minutes. “They say you can’t break it! You have to say the password!”

I’d have to get that from the guild... They never told me about this.

“What are we gonna do?” asked Miyu.

I had no choice... I had to bet on my OP magic words!

“Open sesame!”

The boulder submerged into the ground with a rumble. I didn’t have a plan B, but...I was a bit disappointed that it opened that easily.

There was a small clearing inside that had an air as pure as that of the Granzeus mansion. Some mummified offerings and dried flowers rested on an altar.

“How many years have these been here? It’s time to get down to cleaning, Miyu!”

“Got it!” Miyu sprayed a water jet from her mouth, pressure washing the dirt away. I feel like I saw a late-night commercial on TV for a machine that did this in my past life...

I wiped up the water with a towel. It reminded me of going to Buddhist services, although this was better because there were no spiderwebs, unlike the graveyards in Japan. Miyu wiped the spots I couldn’t reach, and after about an hour of wiping and polishing, the space was sparkling clean.

After I used my dryer magic and cleansing magic to clean myself and Miyu, I took some flowers we’d picked in the forest as well as some fruits similar to figs and apricots out of my Magic Room as offerings. Then, in place of sacred sake, I broke the seal on a bottle of top-quality Granzeus whiskey and poured it into the stone vessel.

“Mmm! That smells good!” Miyu chimed in.

“No, no, no, no!” Stop, Miyu! You’re going to end up like those heavy-drinker snake yokai in real life!

“Okay, Miyu! Let’s pay respects to the gods!”

We put our hands together—wait, snakes don’t have hands—and we prayed to the gods.

“God of Regan Island, we apologize for leaving you alone all this time! We cleaned your shrine, so please continue to protect the creatures of this island!”

“Please do!”

Light suddenly shone from a crack in a rock above our heads. A white snake appeared on the altar below the light.

“Welcome, adventurers... Wait! Ahhh! Why is the ruler of the eastern sea here?!”

“Sorry, Miyu, let me just... Appraisal!”

She shone blue.

Miyu (Snake→spirit, daughter of a lesser dragon, servant of the Heavenly Beast of the East and Serephione, apprentice to the Heavenly Beast of the South, ruler of the eastern sea)

Status: Healthy

Skills: Water magic, reflection magic, poison mist, curses

“Ooh, you do have the title ‘ruler of the eastern sea!’ It’s like a boxing title.”

“Is that cool?”

“Super cool!”

“Rooaar! Come at me, bro! I mean, mister!”

“So, are you the god of this shrine?” I asked the white snake. “How can you talk to us?”

“I am the messenger of the lord of this place. I can speak with humans using my lord’s power.”

“Why did you want an adventurer at B-rank or above to visit you?”

“My lord’s wishes can only be granted by the strong. I set a base level and test the strength of those who come.”

“You test them?”

“You don’t have to fight, Miss Sere. I’ll go up against her as a fellow snake!”

“Wait! I have no intention of testing the strength of the ruler of the eastern sea and the contractor!”

“You can tell I have a contract?”

My Lou isn’t here, though...

“My lord informed me.”

“So...what is it you need?”

“It must be the will of the moon goddess that the two of you visited. My lord is...going to heaven soon.”

Miyu and I were silent.

“I want you to see my lord off into a restful sleep.”

“Does that require someone strong? Is it dangerous?”

“It is not dangerous, but my lord will only acknowledge the strong of body and mind.”

“But we aren’t affiliated with the faith of this shrine.”

“It is enough that you are connected to the heavenly beast of the west.”

“What do you think, Miyu?”

“Shouldn’t we help if they want it?” replied Miyu. “I feel bad for them.”

“Please do help!”

Sere, come on! We have to help! I felt like I heard Lou say. I smiled softly.

“I’d be glad to help if I’m able. What should I do?”

“Oh, we found someone, my lord! Thank you, contractor and ruler of the eastern sea!”

We introduced ourselves. Apparently, this white snake who served the god of this place was named Renza.

“So, Renza, does this mean we’ll be having a...going-away party soon?”

“No. I would like you to bring a shrine maiden. It is customary to send people off with a ritual prayer from a shrine maiden.”

“Where can I find one? On this island?”

“No, the last shrine maiden on this island stopped many years ago. We will need one from outside.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know any shrine maidens.”

“If you cannot find one, then we will just have to send my lord off ourselves. I would like you to look for one, though.”

“How long do we have?”

“Approximately a year.”

I didn’t know if Miyu and I could bring back a shrine maiden within the year, but I parted with Renza with the promise that we would meet again.

After that, I climbed Mount Gidzina and picked just a little of the valuable vitagrass that grew there.

◇ ◇ ◇

I opened the door to Tobos Guild. “I’m done with the commission!”

“M-Miss Gold! We’ve been waiting for you!”

The receptionist who hadn’t given me very good customer service yesterday came running. By ‘Miss Gold,’ does he mean me?

“Oh, you have? Well, first things first, about the octopus...”

“We don’t have time for that! Come this way!”

He pushed me by the back into a small room. The D-ranker who Miyu’s reflection magic and Gillain’s wind magic had thrown into the wall yesterday was lying unconscious in a bed. His skin had turned black and hard.

“It’s the enemy of all girls, Miss Sere,” commented Miyu.

“Please help Bacas, Miss Gold!” asked the receptionist.

“Why me? Don’t you have a doctor?”

“The doctor threw in the towel! It must be fate that you’re here now! Please help!”

So, this guy was secretly in love with Julia? Was he jealous of Gan for marrying her? Or was he frustrated that he didn’t rank higher than Gan?

“What do you think, adventurer?” asked the mayor/guildmaster, who was also in the room.

“I think this man has an idea of what’s happening to him and how to heal it. You can ask him when he’s feeling a bit better. More importantly, I finished the commissions. I’d like a boat as soon as you can get me one.”

The guildmaster sighed. “Let’s relocate, then.”

“This completes all three commissions. Here’s the vitagrass I collected. Please mark this down.”

We sat down on the not-often-used rattan chairs in the guildmaster’s office, and I gently set the vitagrass on the table. Freshness was vital for this plant.

“Do you think this vitagrass will heal Bacas?”

“Didn’t Gan request the vitagrass? Are you going to use it without his permission?” The mayor shouldn’t have known that Julia had been healed. Assuming that she wasn’t healed, Gan should have been waiting with bated breath for this vitagrass. “Are you telling me that Bacas has higher status than Gan in this town?”

“I’d rather you not speak on this island’s matters as an outsider,” the guildmaster said threateningly.

Hey, now. “You know, what you said just now isn’t something you can say as a guildmaster.”

He was silent.

“A guildmaster with no intent to protect adventurers or fulfill commissions isn’t a good guildmaster. If you’ll put the town over those things, then you should quit.”

“Things were going just fine until you showed up.”

“Are you blaming me?”

Miyu slithered out of my pocket, curled up on my shoulder, and hissed at him.

“Eek!”

“I’ll tell you one more time, since you don’t seem to understand. I’ve been acknowledged by the god of this island. They asked me to bring back a shrine maiden. I’m friends with someone powerful enough that I’m trusted as a messenger of the gods. You’ve chosen the wrong person to pick a fight with!”

“I...I apologize,” said the mayor as I continued to glare coldly at him, not moving a step.

“I don’t want an apology. I just want you to do your job. Please mark these commissions as complete and make arrangements to have me sent to Marsche.”

He sighed. “I see you’re more experienced than I expected. I misjudged you based on how young and cute you look.”

I did have experience. I’d almost been killed recently. I’d seen scarier faces and scarier old people than this guy.

“I’ll make the arrangements,” he said. “And this is advice as an elder... You should do something about that cute appearance of yours so you don’t waste any more time on useless exchanges like this.”

I met eyes with Miyu.

“He has a point,” said Miyu. “I’ll ride on your shoulder from now on so stupid men take you more seriously!”

So I’m cute... I am pretty small, I guess. I wasn’t able to drink milk growing up. It’ll definitely be tiring if I have to explain that I’m not a kid wherever I go...

I took my knife out of its holster at my thigh.

“Eek!” The guildmaster screeched in shock.

“Stay back, Miyu.”

“Miss Sere?”

In one swift motion, I sliced off my hip-length hair that had been tied back in my grandmother’s hair clip.

“Did you just...?”

“From now on, I’m going to live as a boy who’s a traveling snake charmer.”

“Oh, no... Lou’s going to be so mad!” Miyu exclaimed. “You can’t cut your hair, Miss Sere! Take it with you at least!”

“Huh? Why?”

“B-Because you’re contracted to him!”

“That’s a thing?”

“That’s a thing!”

◇ ◇ ◇

We stayed at an inn for the night. When I went to the harbor at the time I’d arranged, there was a large man there with tan skin and dark brown eyes. He was rather handsome. Just when I was about to walk past him, he suddenly teared up and hugged me.

“Miss Gold! Li’l snake!” he cried.

“Huh? Um... Who are you?”

“Gan!”

“What?!” Miyu and I exclaimed. We looked him up and down. I used Appraisal, and it really was Gan.

“A guy can change a lot just from shaving his beard and cutting his hair...” Miyu mused.

“Misses! Julia...! Julia is awake again! And her skin is back to its original color! Thank you so much!”

She’d gotten better faster than I expected. It was thanks to Gan’s loving care! Maybe Julia got mad that he looked so messy and made him clean up.

“That’s great to hear,” I replied.

“I’ll never forget what you did for me!”

“Oh, you can forget about it. Just worry about spending your lost time with Julia. Thanks for telling me that she’s better. You can go ahead and go back to her.”

“Yeah!” Miyu chimed in. “Redo your honeymoon! Go be all lovey-dovey kissy-kissy!”

I interpreted for her, and the pure boy went bright red. He put both his hands over his face.

“So, this is how tolerant a Trundle A-ranker is... I’ll take you two to Marsche in return. Julia asked me to. I won’t let anybody else take the honor! Please, ride in my boat.”

I met eyes with Miyu. “Okay, if you insist.”

“Yeah, we can feel safe with Gan!”

“And what happened to your hair, Miss Gold?” he asked.

“About that... I decided to be Mister Gold for a bit. I’ll be back in a year, so see you then! I’ll use transmission magic to contact you!”

“The short hair emphasizes your innocent black eyes... It makes you look like a real fairy... Okay, we’re off!”

“Woo! Time to set sail!”

“Set sail!”

Time to go to Marsche!