Chapter 1: Being Summoned

The faces of the two girls drew closer.

Oh, this is a dream—Takuma figured.

No matter how you looked at it, one of the girls was most definitely an Elf.

The other one had pointy ears on top of her head, just like a cat.

Both of them were more beautiful than any actual human.

Still thinking it all a dream, Takuma continued to stare as the two girls came closer and closer—

Then, the realistic sensation of lips.

He felt the softness of their lips on his cheeks.

He could feel the almost burning sensation of their body heat.

It was enough to make him feel like he was melting.

The scent of the two girls gave off a faint sweetness.

As the torrential waves of these previously unknown experiences crashed over him, he knew this was something he could never have made in his imagination.

And he came to realize that this was all happening in reality.

†

It was happening too fast for him to comprehend.

Takuma spaced out as he stared at the sky. The two girls were now gone from his field of vision.

The sky that spread out before him was fantastically blue. This was not the ceiling of his room that he was used to seeing. Even the way he was dressed had changed.

—Do I have a cape on?

Instead of the usual T-shirt with loose collar and frayed shorts he always wore, he was clothed in jet-black garments and an extravagant cape. In his hands, he held a staff that was emanating a pitch-black aura.

He viewed his surroundings.

No matter matter how many times he checked, this most certainly was not his room.

Shaped like an octagon, the place was not very large—perhaps five meters long from edge to edge.

Takuma sat upon a stone altar in the center of the area, surrounded by four stone pillars.

The light coming from the tips of these pillars was not from fire or electricity, but had a soft, phosphorescent glow, not unlike the magic FX you would find in a video game.

Beyond this, that vast blue sky spread out before him.

It seemed that he was on top of a very tall building, or perhaps a tower.

He was not alone. There were others here as well—

The two girls.

One of them was an Elf. Though he doubted his own eyes, that was all he could think she might be.

Her ears were long and pointed. Elves were so well known for this particular feature that they could almost be called the “long ear” species.

Her hair looked as if it were made of melted gold, and she wore a hair decoration fashioned from grass.

The green tunic she wore was only tied together with bits of string, and her skin showed through from time to time.

On her back she carried a large bow, with a quiver for arrows at her waist.

Her arms, legs, and neck were long and slender, which fit with what Takuma already knew elves should look like. However, her incredibly robust and ample breasts were the one feature that did not fit the usual Elf image.

Then, on the other hand—

There was the girl with cat ears growing out of her head.

Her hair reached down to her waist, and was the same glossy black color as her ears.

She had a slender body, and from what little he could see of her legs, it was clear that she was in great shape.

Her eyes slanted like a cat’s, with highly arched brows that conveyed the strength of her will. She stared at Takuma with an expressionless face.

She wore a vest over her jacket with a wide leather belt coiled around her waist, and a skirt made of layered cloth. Because he was on top of the altar, he could not see anything else below that.

The girl with the long ears was a beauty, and the girl with the cat ears was incredibly cute.

Takuma had seen their likenesses before.

—So, one’s an Elf, and the other is...a Pantherian?

When a player first started playing Cross Reverie, they were able to pick whatever race they wanted their character to be, and could change features such as their face and body type.

Elf and Pantherian were part of the selectable races for the game.

Elves specialized in long-range combat with bows, while the Pantherian attacked fast and possessed great strength. That was what their character profiles were supposed to be, at least.

—It’s like I’m inside the world of Cross Reverie itself.

If that was the case, then where was he right now?

He felt like he had seen a place with similar background graphics before, but he could not remember...

Takuma was one of the top players of Cross Reverie, his knowledge of the game far surpassing that of a normal player.

He tried to fervently remember what this building was, while also carefully taking in his surroundings.

The reality of it all was no joke.

The feeling of the stone.

The remains of a dried up puddle of water.

The clouds that floated in the ever-expansive blue sky.

Because he was so high up, the strong gusts of wind made loud whooshing noises as they passed over him.

The light from the sun was brighter than any PC monitor would be able to render.

There were also the smells.

The wind carried with it the scent of mold and dirt, just as you would expect from an old building.

The design of the stone patterns on the ground were scattered everywhere.

What kind of hi-spec computer and monitor would you need to replicate this? It all looked far too authentic.

Takuma thought to himself:

—Is this reality?

But, he was sure that he had seen these surroundings in the game before.

The Pantherian girl murmured something in a voice that was almost drowned out by the wind.

“...That should be the end of the 《Enslavement Ritual》.”

—Did she just say “Enslavement Ritual?”

Takuma suddenly remembered the name and purpose of the tower he was on.

In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, there were numerous skills with effects that made you wonder why the developers even bothered adding them at all.

These kinds of inefficient skills were labeled as “cool, but impractical.” For Takuma, and others like him who insisted that “Online games are serious business!” and only focused on winning, these were the skills they would never pick.

For example, you could find two patterns of these kinds of skills in the “Sorcerer” skill tree, the job class that Takuma was using.

The first was called the “Brawler Sorcerer.” These skills focused on fighting at close-range, despite the fact that you were just a squishy Sorcerer.

The other kind was called—

“The summoning was a success! That means I’m a Summoner now, too!” the Elf girl joyfully proclaimed.

That’s right, a “Summoner.”

It was already well-known that Sorcerers who used spells based around the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, light, or darkness were the strongest. Despite this, a Summoner rejects these elemental skills and spends all their skill points from leveling-up on summoning skills. That is what it meant to be a Summoner.

Their way of fighting was to “summon and enslave beasts to make them fight for you.”

However, the damage their Summons dealt per attack was relatively weak, and an Elemental Sorcerer of the same level was way more powerful.

For defense, they would have to do things like: rely on their Tank to protect them while running around in circles; or beat their opponent before their adversary could hit them.

Because of this, summoners were called weak, and they were regularly made fun of with typical jeers like: “Summoner (lol);” and, “If you want an in-game pet, go play another game!”

This place had a deep connection with Summoners—

The summoning point: 《Starfall Tower》.

It was here that you could call Summons to enslave them to your will. Though, there were also special events where you could obtain Summons. This was the place you would normally come to get them.

The altar that Takuma had been lying on was the spot where the Summons were supposed to appear...

The Pantherian girl spoke up.

“...I would appreciate it if you would not mistake yourself. I’m the one who summoned this Summon. Your magic was a failure.”

The Elf angrily voiced her objection.

“What!? I don’t understand what you’re talking about! I used the summoning magic, didn’t I!? A-And...I did the Enslavement Ritual, too! Even though it was super embarrassing, I did k-k-kiss him, after all!”

“...I-I did it, too... Although, I have never seen a Summon shaped like a human before. Compared to the normal Summons, this one must be many times more powerful. There is no way an Elf’s magic would be able to conjure someone like him. So, looking at this logically, it would make sense that he is my Summon.”

“No! You’re wrong! He’s mine!”

The two girls began fighting with each other.

It was then that Takuma understood his predicament.

—Now I understand... I haven’t been summoned to this Cross Reverie lookalike as a player...

The girls shouted at each other at almost the exact same time:

“...I was the one who summoned Diablo!”

“It was me who summoned Diablo!”

Takuma Sakamoto—no, now “Diablo”—had been summoned to another world.

And he had been summoned not as a player, but as a Summon to one of these two girls.

†

Takuma reflected on what he remembered about Summons in Cross Reverie.

In opposition to other monsters and magic-type enemies, Summons were a class of their own. They were beings who existed to be summoned and controlled by Summoners.

Though they could not speak, they possessed high intelligence, and were able to unleash fairly powerful attacks. There were even types of Summons who could use healing magic.

But, because it was difficult to control them, you had to bind them using an “Enslavement Collar” gained from performing an “Enslavement Ritual.”

Any Summon with an Enslavement Collar on them would be completely dominated by their Summoner.

—Am I going to be dominated!?

Takuma turned pale as he remembered this information.

If this world was using the same setting as Cross Reverie, then he would have no choice but to be under the control of one of the two girls before him.

Either the Elf with golden hair and slender legs and arms; the well-endowed beauty.

Or the expressionless girl who sported cat ears and a slim, elegant body.

He was starting to think that being dominated might not be so bad after all.

—No, no, no! That’s still a bad thing!

Having given into temptation for a moment, Takuma shook his head back and forth.

At this, the girls turned their gazes back toward him.

They seemed to have reached a compromise for now. The girl with the cat ears spoke first.

“...Can you understand what we are saying?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

His response was minimal.

As if they were not expecting this, the Elf and Pantherian opened their eyes wide.

“He can talk!?”

“...This is a surprise. I have never heard of a Summon that could understand our language, let alone speak it...”

“Way to go, me! Even though it was my first summoning, I summoned something super amazing!”

The girl with cat ears glared at the Elf.

“...I will say it again, but I am the one who summoned Diablo, not you.”

“And I’ll say it again, too! Diablo answered my summons and came for me, got that!?”

The two continued to stare daggers at each other.

They were still fighting over who was the actual Summoner.

And there was no feature in the game that had two Summoners working together to summon one powerful creature.

“...Fine. If you’re going to go that far, then let’s confirm who Diablo is enslaved to.”

The Elf looked down at the cat-eared girl as she gave her response.

“Fine by me, let’s do this! He is my Summon, after all, so of course he’ll obey me!”

Things had definitely taken a turn for the weird here.

The Pantherian girl approached Takuma.

“...By the name of Rem Galleu, I command you to raise your right hand.”

So her name is Rem Galleu. Would Rem be her first name, then?

Takuma obediently raised his right hand.

The Elf started to protest.

“Anyone would follow an order like that! If you’re going to order him to do something, make it a little more ridiculous!”

“...It pains me to see you act like a sore loser, but as you wish. Diablo, I command you to pinch the cheeks of that Elf over there.”

“Is that something you would normally order someone to do!?” the Elf said, dumbstruck.

Takuma tilted his head.

“What? I don’t really want to do that...”

Rem was shocked at his reply. Because he was able to resist her command, this meant that she was not the Summoner.

—Or something like that, I guess?

With her face positively beaming, the Elf stuck out her chest. Noticeably.

“See! See, see, see! Looks like I was the Summoner after all! So, my Summon, Diablo! I order you in the name of Shera! Give that Pantherian girl over there a good spanking!”

“...Ordering him to use violence against others makes me doubt the value of your character,” retorted Rem.

You told me to do something similar just now, remember?—Takuma thought to himself.

“I don’t want to do that either.”

“Why!?”

The Elf’s eyes were as wide as could be.

Even Takuma was tilting his head a little.

—That’s weird. There’s no kind of oppressive force that makes me feel like I’m being enslaved... Maybe it’s because I’m a player after all?

Rem was glaring at Shera.

“...It seems that something has gone wrong since you tried to take over my summoning.”

“Um, wrong!? I was the first one who thought to use this place, you know! I was the one who thought the elevated amount of magic here would be able to call a Demon Lord from another world!”

“...I should have chased you away from the beginning... And it’s still not too late to do that. I will make you leave here by force and redo the ritual. The Demon Lord is mine...”

Rem reached into a pocket on her leather belt and pulled out a transparent crystal.

Shera reached for the bow on her back and took a stance.

If things carried on this way, there was going to be a fight.

Fighting is bad!

I’ll talk to them and get them to calm down—thought Takuma. Trying to think calmly, he attempted to reach for the words he needed to explain this all away, but suddenly found himself freezing up.

—Huh? H-How am I supposed to talk to a girl again?

Takuma searched his memories.

When was the last time he had actually talked to a girl in real life?

A year ago? No, wait! There was that time with the female employee at the convenience store, so surely... Wait, did he actually talk to her!?

Reality was cruel.

Even in the game, he always played solo as the “Demon Lord,” so all he ever talked to were dudes who played as girls in-game.

—Hold on, there was something! I talked to a girl!

He did talk to a girl, and recently!

Turning to face Rem and Shera as they continued to get ready to fight, Takuma mustered what little experience he had and called out to them.

“Cease your pointless squabbling. You are in the presence of Diablo.”

The two girls instantly stopped moving and turned to face him.

—All right! That’s it!

It was the tone of voice he used as the Demon Lord when someone came to challenge him. If he just talked like that, he should be able to talk to girls with no problems.

He almost felt like striking a pose as he faced the two girls.

However, he managed to suppress the urge. Demon Lords do not usually strike poses, after all.

“I am not partial to such futile quarrels. It is incessant, like the noise of two insects fighting with each other. And so, I order you two: make peace by shaking hands...and with a smile!”

Rem narrowed her eyes.

“Who would want to make nice...with such a foolish, useless Elf like——!?”

Shera raised her eyebrows.

“What!? It’s that little Pantherian pipsqueak who’s at fault here! She owes me an apology, and I won’t forgive her until she——!?”

The girls’ expressions started to change in strange fashion.

Their eyelids started to close in awkwardly, and the corners of their mouths began to twitch upwards.

The changes did not end with just their faces.

While still holding the crystal in her left hand, Rem offered out her right hand. Shera lowered her bow, and also reached out with her right hand.

One step at a time, they slowly began walking toward each other.

“...How...How could something like this...”

Usually devoid of any kind of expression, it was only now that you could call what Rem had on her face a “smile.”

Shera was afraid.

“No... Stop...! Why...Why is my body moving on its own!?”

It looked like she was about to cry. However, the girls’ faces stayed as they were, lips curved upwards.

An exchange of handshakes.

Though their odd facial expressions clearly showed that they didn’t like it...just as Takuma had ordered, the girls shook hands, smiles and all.

Suddenly, a black light began to coil around their necks.

A low, vibrating noise could be heard, followed by a heavy *thunk*, as if something was being locked.

Two thick collars had materialized around Rem and Shera’s slender necks.

They appeared to be made out of a dull-colored metal, similar to iron.

Rem’s eyes opened wide as she touched her neck.

“This is...an Enslavement Collar!?”

Shera checked her own neck, and let out a scream.

“What!? Why!? Isn’t this supposed to go on the Summon instead!?”

“...I am certain we performed the Enslavement Ritual necessary to have the Summon wear an Enslavement Collar.”

Takuma tilted his head.

“Hm? Enslavement Ritual? On me?”

Rem nodded while making a puzzled face.

“Y-Yes... Um, well, we certainly...cast the ritual...you see...”

Takuma looked down at his body.

He was wearing the armor 《The Ebony Abyss》, and an extravagant cape called the 《Curtain of Dark Clouds》. On his head were two goat-like horns—《The Distorted Crown》.

On the middle finger of his left hand was a ring that appeared as if it had been shaped from a flame, with an ebony jewel embedded into it.

He remembered seeing this pattern before.

The Demon Lord’s Ring.

This incredibly rare item from Cross Reverie possessed the ability 《Magic Reflection》, an effect that had no equal when it came to battling with enemy Sorcerers, though it was difficult to use since it also reflected healing and support spells.

Takuma started to put two and two together.

—So, because of this ring, it looks like the enslavement magic bounced off me and onto these two instead.

It was not Takuma who had been enslaved, but rather, the two girls who were meant to be his Summoners, instead.

†

“...While Magic Reflection is quite a powerful ability...there is no way I can accept this situation. Not at all.”

“Well, me neither! I don’t want to be enslaved by a Summon that we should be enslaving!”

Rem and Shera were shouting.

I feel like leaving the two of them like this would be a bad thing—Takuma thought.

As for now, Takuma had succeeded in “enslaving” the two girls.

However, “Enslavement Ritual” was a word that was only mentioned in explanations of Cross Reverie’s backstory. It wasn’t something that players could do any time they liked.

According to the setting for the game, Summons were powerful beings who lived in another world, with their entire existence revolving around being told what to do by puny humans.

In the game, Summons were not meant to fight back or resist in any way.

Because of this, it was unclear what the effects or details of the Enslavement Ritual really were. At the very least, there was no system in place where Summons would suddenly rebel against their masters.

Takuma was currently in a world that was very similar to Cross Reverie. One of those “summoned to another world” things, it seemed. Well, as long as this wasn’t all a dream...

In this world, what kind of effects did this “Enslavement Ritual” have?

—Maybe there’s a way to release them from it?

That might be bad.

When not being used, Summons in the game would turn into items and be placed in the player’s inventory.

—What would happen if I was turned into an item?

The visuals in-game showed Summons turning into some kind of crystal. He didn’t think that things would go smoothly if this happened to him.

He should give the order not to allow this item-ification to happen while they still had these Enslavement Collars on.

—But first, I’ll ask if it’s possible to undo the enslavement magic.

“You two. Can you not even release yourself from your own magic?”

In the middle of bemoaning their predicament, the two turned to look at him.

Rem’s eyes narrowed.

“...If we could, we would have already done so. This isn’t the kind of magic that you would normally need to undo, so we don’t know how. If we head into town, we may find a way. Or...if the Master dies, then the enslavement magic will be undone.”

“Hmph.”

There was the slightest tremble to his voice. Even though he had worked on his Demon Lord act for many years now, it took all he had to retort with just that one sound.

It seemed to have done the trick, however, as Rem backed off.

“...That was just another method. If you were weak enough that we could defeat you, then there would be no point in summoning you. We understand...that we are no match for you.”

There was fear in her voice.

Thanks to his “Demon Lord” performance, as well as his ability to use Magic Reflection, it seemed that Rem and Shera took that as a sign that he was a powerful force to be reckoned with.

They must have taken the slight tremble in his voice as a sign that he was angry.

He was just glad that none of his true self had slipped through the cracks there.

—But...am I strong, as I am now?

While his Magic Reflection ability had indeed activated, it was also a possibility that the only thing that carried over from the game world was his equipment.

Takuma had reached the max level of 150 in-game, and had mastered numerous kinds of elemental magic. He was the ultimate Demon Lord who used his countless battles as research to learn all there was to know.

That said, there were no menus or shortcut icons to be found. Without a mouse or keyboard, it was possible he would not be able to use magic.

But even if he could use magic...

—If the maximum level for this world isn’t 150, I’m kinda screwed.

This meant that he had to test his strength against something to check and see for himself. How strong was he compared to monsters or other people?

He had to check with other people from this world—that is, the two girls—and gauge their reactions.

“Hey, you two.”

The Elf girl pouted her lips.

“Geesh! Stop calling us ‘you two’ all the time! I have a wonderful name, you know! I’m the genius Summoner, Shera L. Greenwood!”

—Hm? Greenwood?

That was a name he felt he had seen before in a compilation book for Cross Reverie. Though it was on the tip of his tongue, he could not bring himself to remember.

“Hmph... ‘You two’ should be enough. Do not anger me with your pointless drivel.”

“Oooh... F-Fine, I got it...”

It seemed like the effects of his Demon Lord act were still working in full-force.

But soon enough, he would have to show them how powerful he actually was. He should confirm his power as soon as he could.

Starfall Tower was only meant as a place to summon beasts, and was fairly cramped as a result.

While he was worried about being too weak, he also had to worry about being too strong at the same time.

If the magic he cast spread beyond the range he was expecting, it was possible that these two could be caught up in it as well.

“Are there any monsters around here?”

“...Only the occasional beast that gets chased out of the forest. There are plenty near town, though.”

Takuma silently breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn’t want to get into any sudden battles while he was still unsure of his own abilities.

If he started acting like a coward now, Rem and Shera might start to question how strong he actually was.

He had to at least act like he was strong.

“Hmph... So there are no monsters around here. What a dull place... No matter. Any kind of boulder will do for my purposes.”

With the staircase as his goal, he started to walk.

While his memories were a bit fuzzy, he was relieved to find that the stairs did indeed go down.

“Wait a minute! Don’t just head off on your own! You’re my Summon, you know!?” Shera called out from behind him.

“He’s not your Summon...” Rem mumbled.

Taking short steps, Rem trotted over to Takuma’s side.

The small, cat-eared girl gazed up at him.

Well, technically they were panther ears. She was a Pantherian, after all.

Though she didn’t have any expression on her face, he sincerely felt that to be an adorable trait of hers. It was like she was a small, innocent animal.

—Dang, she’s cute.

He was overwhelmed with the sudden urge to pat her on the head.

Ahhh, how he wanted to try touching her ears!

However! Demon Lords did not just go around patting cute girls on the head.

The sound of Shera’s footsteps approached them from behind.

Glancing behind him, it wasn’t just Shera’s golden hair that was swaying to and fro, but her voluminous chest (that seemed completely unbefitting of an Elf) as well.

—Holy crap.

Mustering his will of steel, he managed to tear his gaze away.

Like a true Demon Lord, he walked as if he were leading the two girls.

The truth of the matter, though, was if they ran into trouble, he would have no choice but to rely on them.

†

Footsteps echoed off of the stone staircase.

Because everything had happened so suddenly, they were moving at a relatively slow pace.

Placing his hand on the wall as he walked, Takuma descended the narrow spiral stairs of the tower.

—It’s all so real.

The thin cracks etched into the stones, the coolness when he touched it...

Perhaps because the place had been built so long ago, fragments of the wall cracked and fell off near their seams.

Sunlight streamed in through the circular windows.

Thinking back to Cross Reverie, he tried to remember what things had used the name “Sunlight.”

When Takuma would gather information, he did not focus on things such as backstory or information about the world, but was only interested in things like new items or practical ways to efficiently use spells.

He had already beaten all of the main story quests, so he felt he had a decent grasp on the world overview...

The real problem, however, was how much this world had in common with the game.

They exited the tower to the outside.

Takuma squinted his eyes against the bright white light that washed over him.

After his eyes adjusted, he began to get a clear view of the outline of this world.

While looking exactly like Cross Reverie, the feeling of reality from the landscape that spread out before him was incomparable to any game.

Up until now, he had been at Starfall Tower.

The 《Man-Eating Forest》 sprawled out to the West.

Though the dense overgrowth of foliage and trees was blocking it from view, there should be a dungeon in the form of some ruins near the entrance to the Man-Eating Forest.

To the East, ever-expanding fields of green stretched out as far as the eye could see.

In-game, there would be a river just beyond these plains, with 《The Border City, Faltra》 being just past that.

If he remembered right, going by foot should get you there in about five minutes or so... But from here, he couldn’t even see the river. Maybe it was because of the landscape of the plains; maybe because it was far away.

Or it could be that the geography of the world was different.

There were three modes of transportation in Cross Reverie: walking, riding mounts, and teleportation.

When on foot, there was a chance you could encounter monsters. They would pop up at random, with most of them attacking players on sight.

Large boulders dotted the landscape of the plains in front of him. If he hid behind those, then he should be able to avoid fighting any monsters.

Because he was still keeping up his Demon Lord persona, however, hiding would make him seem lame.

Checking his surroundings, Takuma was relieved to confirm that there were no monsters in sight. He was just glad that he wouldn’t need to have the girls protect him.

In the Starfall Tower area, monsters were usually around the low 60’s.

For Takuma’s character in the game—Diablo—they would not even pose a challenge. As he was now, however, he wasn’t sure if he could take them.

That was what he was on his way to confirm for himself.

As usual, Shera and Rem were back to arguing over who had summoned Diablo.

Takuma turned around to look back at them.

“I believe you two are mistaken about something.”

“...What are you talking about? Well, it is true that this useless Elf is mistaken if she thinks she’s the one who summoned you.”

“I’m not mistaken, thank you very much! I’m the one who summoned Diablo, okay!?”

“...You are being foolish. This was your first summoning, wasn’t it?”

“It was, but I’m a genius! Everyone back home told me so!”

“...I have already made contracts with seven Summons. Even among the other Summoners back in town, this is a top-class amount... Put simply, I am an outstanding Summoner, while you are not. Diablo is an outstanding Summon, and therefore, the obvious conclusion one can come to is that I am the one who summoned him. Do you understand now?”

“What? Huh? So, um...what!?”

“...Elves should just stick with shooting arrows, you dumb Elf.”

“Don’t lump me together with the other Elves! And right back at you, kitty girl! Pantherians should just go sharpen their claws on a scratching post or something!”

“...It’s because I am special.”

Rem turned up her lips and looked the other way.

Takuma wanted to sigh.

—Dang, the more girls talk, the more they get off track. Or is this just how these two are?

However, a Demon Lord who started sighing because he did not know how to handle a couple of girls was the exact opposite of looking strong. Instead, he let out a scornful chuckle.

“Hmph... It seems that you two are against listening to me speak.”

They froze in place.

He felt bad about scaring them like this, but this was for the best if he wanted to get information out of them.

Besides, he had no idea how to talk to girls outside of his Demon Lord act, so this was just how it had to be.

—Man, what the hell do I do now?

Looks like he would have to keep on pushing through as the Demon Lord.

“Listen well, for I want to be clear on this... I am no Summon!”

The two looked at each other.

Shera opened her mouth to speak.

“B-But you were summoned because of the summoning ritual, right?”

“I am a being who transcends conventional wisdom. Being compared to the likes of those one-trick beasts is nothing short of an aggravation.”

“...So what you are trying to say is, you don’t fit into the category of a Summon? ...Are you saying you have more than two abilities?”

Summons in Cross Reverie came with a certain set of parameters, and only one special ability.

This could be anything from poison, paralysis, recovery, letting their Summoner ride on them, or even firing lasers to mow down multiple enemies at once. However, outside of their basic attack, Summons were only supposed to be able to perform one other action. What Rem had said must mean it was the same for this world too.

He was a bit relieved to hear that.

With a sneer, Takuma twisted his face into an expression fitting of a Demon Lord.

“Yes, that’s right. As proof, I do indeed possess abilities outside of Magic Reflection.”

Elemental magic.

He wouldn’t be going to much of anywhere if he couldn’t use this.

Of course, his equipment had other effects as well.

As Takuma stood at the edge of a puddle on the ground, his appearance was reflected on its surface.

The black outfit he was wearing, the Ebony Abyss, had the ability to reduce the power of physical attacks, as well as provide a hefty stat boost just for having it on.

The cape that covered his back was called the “Curtain of Dark Clouds.” In addition to protecting its wearer from negative status effects, it also had an effect that would leave the wearer with 1 HP from any attack that would normally reduce it to zero. He wore it so he could say things like “the Demon Lord will never die!” but so far, no one had been able to get his HP down to zero. If he was attacked again while at 1 HP, though, he really would die.

In order to give him more of a Demon Lord-esque appearance, he wore an item called the “Distorted Crown” on his head. Not only did it change how he looked, but it also had an automatic HP regeneration effect as well.

For his weapon, he carried a stave named 《Tenma’s Staff》. Not only did it boost his INT (Intelligence) stat, but it also shortened chant times for spells.

He also carried an item pouch on his waist.

Hidden under his cape, it held things such as potions to restore MP, as well as healing potions, since the Demon Lord’s Ring would reflect recovery magic.

He also carried with him a special rare item he planned on giving to anyone who could defeat the Demon Lord to commemorate their accomplishment.

He wanted to take them out to check, but to “take out” something in-game also meant “to use.” Since this world seemed based in reality, he doubted that would happen... But he wanted to avoid the risk of wasting any items before he could finish confirming his own power.

The Demon Lord’s Ring sat on the middle finger of his left hand.

This was the only thing that he had been able to confirm its effect. In-game, and in this world as well, it was Diablo’s ace-in-the-hole.

Takuma also got his first glimpse of Diablo’s face since coming to this world.

—Damn, I look good!

A face vastly different from the real-world Takuma was reflected in the water.

The light from his black eyes gave off a sharp gleam, and bluish-black tattoo-like marks covered his cheeks and forehead. Because of the effects of the Distorted Crown, he could also see two horns growing out of his head.

There was a mocking smile plastered on his face.

He was savagely handsome: his skin tanned and his body toned and muscular.

This was not 《Sakamoto Takuma》.

He was 《Diablo》, his appearance exactly the same as it was in-game.

—What are my abilities?

His particular fighting style was to circle the enemy while unleashing elemental magic, reflecting all of his opponent’s spells and annihilating them in the process. Could he do the same thing here?

Rem and Shera brought their faces together and started talking amongst themselves.

“...He isn’t a Summon? It is true that I have never heard of a Summon with more than two abilities before...”

“But Diablo is supposed to be a Summon, right?”

“...Why do you have such a hard time picking up on these things?”

“Huh? Picking up on what now?”

“......Diablo just said himself that being treated as a Summon was unpleasant for him.”

“But he was summoned from another world, right? Isn’t that what a Summon is?”

“...I give up. Putting that aside, I wonder what other abilities he could have besides Magic Reflection?”

Rem had a pensive look on her face.

Shera clapped her hands together, as if she had a brilliant idea.

“Why don’t we just have him show us!”

“...It is true that, as his Summoner, it is necessary for me to have a grasp of his abilities.”

Rem turned her piercing gaze toward Takuma.

Eyes sparkling, Shera also turned toward him.

“Hey, Diablo! Show us those abilities of yours!”

“...Yes. If you really do hold multiple abilities, then I definitely would like to see them.”

The reason he had come outside was for just that: to test his own abilities.

—I’m sure I can use magic, I have to be able to! Probably... I’m kinda screwed if I can’t.

He could not bring himself to say that it might be impossible.

Takuma sneered.

“Ku-ku-ku... Very well! I will show you the true power of Diablo!”

†

Taking a quick glance at his surroundings, Takuma found a reasonably large-sized boulder. It was roughly 3 meters tall, and probably about 5 meters across.

The surface of the rock looked as if it had been polished until it was completely smooth; it was unthinkable that this could have been formed naturally.

In the game, this was an indestructible object that would not break, no matter how much magic you hit it with.

This was the boulder he would try using his elemental magic on.

However, he was nervous.

He didn’t want to be seen as a weirdo who just randomly threw around his offense spells, which is why he said that all that stuff about “showing them his true power.” But that might have been going overboard.

Now they were expecting him to do something amazing.

“N-Now then... I cannot get too serious, as it would vaporize this world. I will only use a sliver of my power. Perhaps a thousandth... No, one ten-thousandth of my full power... I believe this amount will be enough to show you two.”

“Who cares! C’mon!”

“...Please show me your power.”

Well, no getting out of this one anymore.

As the two girls looked on with great interest, Takuma began to concentrate.

To use magic in the MMORPG Cross Reverie, you had to line up your cursor with your target and press the shortcut you assigned it to on your keyboard.

While auto-targeting was an option, Takuma would often use tactics such as leading his shots, so he liked to manually control the cursor from a third-person over-the-shoulder viewpoint.

—Look at the rock as if you’re lining up the cursor with it.

He imagined another Takuma, looking at him from above.

His other self was controlling his Sorcerer persona, and would make him use his magic.

He decided on something that he frequently used in-game.

An Elemental spell that would ignite and cause fire damage in a small area—《Explosion》.

This was a mid-tier spell an Elemental Sorcerer could learn by allocating skill points to the appropriate categories once they reached level 50.

Though it did not have a lot of power, the AoE of the spell was substantial, making it easy to use. Even as he kept leveling up, it was something he would use often.

The Diablo in that game was level 150, and an ultimate Sorcerer.

—There’s no way this won’t work!

Takuma pointed the tip of Tenma’s Staff at the boulder.

—But... can I even use magic?

“!?”

The sudden doubt that crossed his mind caused him to stop moving.

Rem tilted her head.

“...Is something wrong?”

“What are you doing? Weren’t you going to show us your power?”

His heart started pounding at their words.

If things kept going like this, it would be bad... It would be really bad...

“D-Do not rush me.”

“...Since I am your Summoner, I should know exactly what your powers are. Please hurry up and show me.”

“Wait, I’m his Summoner!”

Rem did not react to Shera’s obstinate retort.

If he did not succeed, he would lose his place here.

He was starting to sweat.

—Gotta remember the description they wrote for this magic!

He needed more details to get a solid image in his head of how to make the spell work.

There must have been something written in the explanation.

Yeah, it was something along the lines of, “Gather hydrogen from the surrounding air and ignite it with magic.”

He didn’t know if this made sense scientifically, but he tried imagining it anyways.

He could do it.

—Even if the me back in the real world can’t!

If it was the Demon Lord Diablo, the man who had laid waste to countless other players, he would surely be able to do it.

A black light began to emerge from the tip of Tenma’s Staff.

Takuma etched the image of the magic succeeding in his mind— No, he was not Takuma now. In this world, he was the Demon Lord, Diablo!

He murmured:

“‘Explosion!’”

An actual explosion!

The enormous boulder burst apart from the inside, fragments of rock shooting out like shrapnel and spraying the surrounding area.

Rem and Shera let out a scream and took cover behind Diablo’s back in a panic.

Though they may have just been shards of rock, if they hit you at that speed you would not get away unscathed.

Diablo had not been able to avoid them.

He stayed still out of habit, since usually graphical effects in the game (like an exploding rock) did not cause damage. It might have been dicey if he actually took damage from the sharp rocks... However—

The damage-reducing effects of the Ebony Abyss had activated. Right before the flying chunk of rock hit Diablo, it lost its momentum. No problems there.

He had actually used magic!

A great sense of joy bubbled up inside him at the thought of his success. He wanted to jump up and down he was so happy. However, he could never do something so childish. He was a Demon Lord, after all.

“Hmph... So that’s how it is.”

He tried saying it in a way that made it seem as if his original power was much greater.

But it was then that a terrible thought came to him.

—What if this actually isn’t all that impressive to people in this world?

Diablo turned to look at the two girls hiding behind him.

Shera and Rem had huddled together and were whispering to each other.

“What...just happened?”

“...It looked...like magic. Elemental magic, to be exact... But that can’t be...”

They looked like they were surprised. The problem was, he did not know if they were surprised because he was strong, or because he was so weak. He wished that they would have given him some more feedback out loud.

In this area of the game, the monsters should be around level 60 or so. This would have been suitable for players who had made it this far.

If that was the case, then perhaps “Explosion,” being a spell you learn at level 50, might have seemed a bit weak.

“I will show you a different magic.”

He pointed his staff at a boulder even larger than the one before.

—The important thing here is to imagine the description of the spell.

He had a feeling that remembering the details surrounding the spell would end up being more effective.

If he tried throwing in some of the things he had learned in school for manipulating the elements, he could come up with a more specific image in his head. He was sure that he would be able to cast an even more powerful spell.

For the next one, he thought it would be good to try something outside of fire elemental spells.

Monsters in Cross Reverie were assigned certain elements.

It would be dangerous if he could not use at least two types of magic.

—Next I’ll try going with the level 80 magic, 《Freezia》.

It was a spell that would completely freeze the area you targeted.

Its description read, “Use magic to force the molecules in the area to put on the brakes, freezing them.”

Pointing his staff, he imagined the heat being drained from the area he chose as his target.

—It worked.

“‘Freezia!’”

A formation of ice in the shape of a blooming lotus burst into existence, though this was just an illusion caused by the spell. The ice flower remained in the center of the area he had targeted for a short while, until it eventually turned into light and dissolved into pieces. It was a spell that was beautiful to watch unfold.

The boulder was frozen in an instant.

But that was not all—

The vegetation around the boulder was also frozen solid, with even the clouds of dirt in the air turning white.

The freezing effect in the area around the rock had transformed it into a frozen tundra.

The chill was enough to reach the three of them, even though they were outside the area of effect.

Diablo turned around to look at the two girls behind him.

They were looking up at him, stunned expressions on their faces.

He wasn’t sure how to take this reaction.

He started to feel uneasy.

—They’re not being all quiet because of how totally weak that was... right?

Shera barely managed to whisper something.

“...-azing.”

“Hm?”

“Amazing... That was amazing! What was that!? It looked like elemental magic, but can you even do that with elemental magic!?”

Rem’s lips were trembling.

“...Top-class... No, I don’t think you can even put a label on this ability... Even the top-class Summons 《Ifrit》 and 《Leviathan》 do not have this kind of overwhelming power...”

“Diablo’s body was all like, *whooosh*, and got all shiny! Even the flow of magic he put out was amazing! It was amazing!!”

“...Diablo... As long as you are here, I am sure you will be able to save even me... No, that aside, you have my great admiration. I would be grateful if you would choose me as your Summoner.”

“I already told you, I’m his Summoner! Jeez! Besides, I need him! There’s no, no, NO way that I’m letting you have him!”

“...I also have no intention of handing him over.”

Diablo felt no small relief at seeing their reactions.

—It looks like my magic is actually strong in this world.

He couldn’t let his guard down just yet, but he should at least be able to feel a little relieved at knowing that.

Just as a Demon Lord would, Takuma put an arrogant smirk on his face.

“‘Amazing,’ you say? But of course... I am Diablo, the being known and feared as the Demon Lord!”

†

The two girls had always called him “Demon Lord,” but it was the first time he had used it himself.

Rem gave a satisfied nod at hearing those words.

“...Thank goodness... I really did succeed in summoning a Demon Lord from another world.”

“Of course! I was already planning on having a Demon Lord as my Summon from the beginning!” Shera proudly exclaimed.

“...Not only does she lack understanding, but she does not even listen to other people when they talk... Typical Elf. Well, no matter. As long as I have Diablo’s power, we might be able to defeat it...”

“And what is this ‘it?’”

“...The Demon Lord of this world, Krebskulm.”

She pressed her hand tightly against her chest.

It was as if she were praying.

The expression on her face was a pained one.

In Cross Reverie’s setting, the Demon Lord Krebskulm was the most powerful boss in the game.

The story in the game went something like this:

“Long ago, there was a great battle between the Celestials and the Fallen. The Celestials emerged victorious over the Fallen, and the soul of the Demon Lord was sealed away. However now, 1000 years later, the Fallen are plotting to resurrect the Demon Lord. The only ones who can put a stop to this are the descendants of the Celestials—Adventurers.”

The player was made out to be a member of a gifted race and set out into the world of Cross Reverie as one of these Adventurers.

Adventurers were always doing battle with the Fallen, who were scheming to revive the Demon Lord, and trying to stop their plans. If the resurrection was somehow a success, then their mission would be to combine forces to destroy the Demon Lord.

—That being said and all, that’s just the objective for the story of the game. I’m pretty sure most players only play because they “want that weapon,” or “want to learn that magic,” or “want to clear the next event.”

The story for Cross Reverie was not complete.

Online games were always like that, though. The story would keep going until the very last day the game’s service finished.

Even now, they would periodically add limited-time events and new story quests.

When the game first started three years ago, the last boss was supposed to be the 《Demon Lord of the Sword, Sankdius》, who the Fallen had resurrected. Beating that boss gave you a kind of “Congratulations!” scene.

It turned out, however, that Sankdius was only a “Fragment of the Demon Lord.”

Players speculated that, at the time, the Demon Lord had not been completely resurrected.

—But is Krebskulm supposed to be the completed Demon Lord? That hasn’t been confirmed yet, huh...

In the game’s lore, Krebskulm was “a name that the Fallen held in great respect.”

So far, there had not been any quests released that included him.

In any case, Takuma thought it might be for the best not to call himself “Demon Lord” here. Since other people did not know about his situation, there was no telling what kind of reaction he would get from them. At the very least, he expected it wouldn’t be a favorable one.

Shera tugged on the dark sleeves of the Ebony Abyss.

“Hey! Let’s hurry and go back to town and do our Adventurer registration! Since you’re here, I can finally register myself as a proud Summoner, too!”

“Is that...so?”

“Mmph.........”

Rem glared at Shera, a look of extreme dissatisfaction on her face.

His interest piqued, Diablo asked:

“You two. Are Summoners people you respect?”

In the game, Summoners were either people who were not using their skill points correctly, or people who did not care about stats and just did what they wanted.

The three classes available to you from the start were 《Warrior》, 《Sorcerer》, or 《Archer》.

It was just common knowledge for anyone who picked “Sorcerer” to spend their skill points to make their Elemental magic stronger.

Depending on your stat distribution and the skills you learned in Cross Reverie, the name of your job-class would change automatically.

For a Sorcerer who prioritized their point allocation, they could, for example, go from 《Pyromagician》 to 《Burstfire Sorcerer》, and even further to 《Incineration Sorcerer》; or possibly even a 《Frostflame Sorcerer》. There was an endless amount of titles depending on your level and how you distributed your points.

Even if you were to reach the max level of 150, it was not possible to master every kind of spell in the game.

This was because the points you received from leveling up would not be enough.

After clearing numerous difficult events, achieving victory over other players in battle, and obtaining various items he earned as a result... Using all the points he had saved up, Diablo’s job class had changed to 《Sorcerer of Annihilation》.

It was thought that there was only one player in Cross Reverie who held this job title. This was because, even if you managed to reach the same stats, you would only become a 《Sorcerer of Destruction》.

Because it was the only one of its kind, it was thought that it was a title given to the person who had first managed to reach the requirements for it.

Though nothing was officially announced about it, it might have been a modest reward for the challenger who had cleared a path through areas of the game that had not yet been found on any strategy wikis.

Whatever the case, a Sorcerer was expected to use the power of their Elemental magic as a wave-motion cannon to inflict high amounts of damage upon their enemies.

This was not about sending your Summon to the front lines to fight for you. Spending points on Summoning was nothing short of impractical.

This was common knowledge in-game, but...

It seemed like the girls respected and even looked up to Summoners here.

Shera’s face showed surprise.

“They’re Summoners, you know!? When you think of Sorcerers, it’s gotta be Summoners!”

“And what of elemental magic? I already showed you my power, is it not the most supreme form of magic here?”

Rem was the one who answered his question.

“...The average elemental magic is not that powerful. At best, it can be used to muster up a fireball the size of your fist, or summon a gust of wind to knock someone over.”

“Right? You would just get laughed at if you called yourself an Elemental Sorcerer. People would just tell you, ‘If you want to start a fire, just go get some flint!’”

“...I cannot deny that. Elemental magic is good if you are a child who wants to practice using spells, but once you grow up, you learn Summoning magic.”

“How...could this be...”

—Is elemental magic really that weak here!?

This could be the biggest difference between the game and this world—Diablo thought to himself.

The job class he had spent so much of his time and enthusiasm into—now a job class for fools! He couldn’t believe people treated it as a laughingstock.

It was as if his days of information gathering, saving up points, and training his elemental magic was being denied. He felt nothing but grief.

Rem shook her head.

“...Your elemental magic is on another level. If the other Elemental Sorcerers could put out a hundredth... No, even a thousandth of the power you showed us, then maybe they would be treated a little better.”

Shera nodded in agreement.

“Usually if you said you wanted to be an Elemental Sorcerer, everyone either pities you, starts talking bad about you, or gets really angry with you.”

“...Kind of like an Elf who chooses not to become an Archer.”

“It’s not a bad thing for me to choose a path that’s more suited to my own talents!”

Tuning out their bickering for the moment, Diablo was busy setting his own heart straight.

Elemental Sorcerer was now a job class for fools.

But that was only because it was not studied as much here; Diablo’s magic was shown to have the same amount of power as it had back in the game. It was thought to be fairly strong.

He was a little saddened at having lost his comrades from the strategy wiki who would trade information about elemental magic with him...

But it was no problem.

Diablo steeled himself and called out to them.

“Are you two only capable of fighting when you open your mouths? We’re heading into town. Come with me!”

It was only after he finished speaking that he realized something.

It would not be very Demon Lord-like to ask where the town was after saying all that. It would definitely be lame.

—Please let the town be in the same direction I remember it being!

Using his memories from the game as a base, he started to walk.

“W-Wait up!”

“...Y-You are going a little fast...”

Since the two of them had started to run to catch up with him, he was relieved to see that he was probably going the right way.

†

After continuing on through the rock-strewn plains, they eventually came to see a large river spanning from north to south, as well as a sturdy-looking bridge made out of stone.

This was 《The Bridge of Ulug》, located to the west of town.

After crossing the stone bridge, there was a fortress made to look like a castle gate, and beyond that laid the town proper.

Walking this far from Starfall Tower should have usually taken about three minutes in-game, but it had taken about three hours to get here.

—Well, it’s not like this is some crappy game that takes three hours to get anywhere. And there’s no way they would build a fortress in a place that only takes three minutes to get to by foot.

In the game’s setting, the Bridge of Ulug was supposed to be the one defense that the city of Faltra had to protect itself in this area.

This was because if you passed through the Man-Eating Forest that spread out to the west, you would enter the domain of the Fallen, where high-level monsters would appear.

It was used as a place that players could recover their HP and MP and wait for their other party members in order to conquer the 《Primordial Forest Ruins》 dungeon located in the forest.

—I was the only one who would pass by everyone waiting for their party and head to the dungeon by myself, though!

How was the Bridge of Ulug used in this world?

He didn’t see any Adventurers around.

Since it was located along the southeast path to the town, the Bridge of Ulug also acted as a checkpoint of sorts.

They would do things like check travelers’ identities and inspect luggage; kind of like modern-day security checks.

There were numerous guards equipped with armor, making it easy to understand that this was a heavily fortified position.

Despite their heavily-armored appearance, the guards were standing at full attention.

Diablo crossed the bridge and tried to pass through the fortress—a guard stood in his way.

“Hey, you there!”

He carried a halberd in his right hand, with only the upper half of his body covered in armor.

It was normal for infantrymen not to wear any armor on their legs. Because of that, the armor they wore from the waist up was quite thick.

His race was that of a 《Human》 male. He had short brown hair that spiked out at the ends.

His eyes were wide, and there was nervousness on his face.

Now that he looked at him, he seemed to be quite young.

Perhaps it would be better to call him a teenager.

—I wonder what kind of role guards play in this world?

Back in the game, they were basically the police, and would dole out punishment to any Adventurer who committed crimes.

So, for example, if you did something like killing a player outside of combat or stole something, then those Adventurers would have their names colored red as a mark that they were a 《Criminal》. If you approached a town or fortress in this state, the guards would surround you and beat you to death.

—I didn’t somehow become a criminal, did I?

His Demon Lord act was just that: an act. It wasn’t like he was doing anything bad!

There was no name display either, so he couldn’t know for sure.

In the game, there were no events where guard NPCs would stop the player. He was considerably shaken up by this unforeseen development.

If he gave a weak reaction here, then there would have been no point to him doing his Demon Lord roleplay for the two girls behind him.

He would have to answer back as best he could!

He mustered his voice.

“What is it, knave? I trust you have made your resolve for stopping me, Diablo.”

The guard backed off, stunned.

It was obvious he had been overpowered.

“W-Well, it’s just... We’re in charge of checking those who come through here trying to get to Faltra, and I’ve never seen you before... It might seem rude, but I’d like you to tell me who you are and what you’re here to do.”

Rem’s voice came from under Diablo’s arm.

“...He is my Summon...kind of. The circumstances are a little complicated.”

For some reason, she was hiding her body under Diablo’s cape, only making her head visible to the guard.

Just like Rem, Shera also only showed her head as she spoke.

“And I’m telling you, you’re wrong! I’m the one who summoned him!”

“Oh, it’s Rem, and Shera the Elf... But, a Summon? I’ve never seen or heard of a human-shaped Summon before. Not only that, but he can talk, too?”

Rem looked away.

“...With my power, I am able to call Summons the likes of which have never been seen before. You’re not doubting me, are you?”

She had tried saying that in a forceful tone of voice, but since it was only her head sticking out from under the cape, ears twitching, she looked more like a scared kitten. Cute.

The guard was a bit flustered after being asked that.

“N-No, I would never doubt your power, Rem! But, you know...your Summon doesn’t have the necessary collar around his neck or anything...”

Diablo reached back and grabbed the two girls hiding behind him by the scruff of their necks.

“Collar, was it?”

Sorcerers may seem to be fairly weak physically, but once you reach level 150 like he had, picking up two girls with both hands was a piece of cake.

“Wha—!?”

“Stop! Stop it!”

Rem and Shera resisted, but Diablo was able to drag them out from behind his back with little effort.

“If it’s collars you want, then here they are.”

“Whaaaaaaat!?”

The guard was shocked.

Turning a deep shade of red, Rem and Shera hid their collars with their hands.

“...Humiliation.”

“Oooh... This isn’t what it looks like!”

The guard raised his voice, bewildered.

“H-Huh!? But usually it’s the Summon who gets the collar, but... Huh!? On you... Huh!?”

“Hmph... Do not put me together with the likes of those Summons. It is unpleasant. If you insist on fouling my mood any further—”

“...Please let us through.”

“What else do you want from us!?”

In the face of Diablo’s overwhelming pressure and the girls’ protests, the guard stepped aside.

“I-I’m terribly sorry! Please take care!”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Wait, you’re going too fast! And while we’re at it, try not to stand out so much!”

“...The shame...it’s unbearable... I will absolutely remove this spell once we make it back to town.”

Ignoring their objections, Diablo kept walking.

In a panic, Rem and Shera ran to catch up with him.

The other guards and travelers they passed on the Bridge of Ulug reacted with the same level of shock when they saw the girls’ collars.

Their faces showed great concern as they watched Diablo walk along, the two girls in tow.

†

Faltra was a town with a warm climate that received blessings from the river nearby.

The townspeople were cheerful and kind, and because of how pleasant it was, there was no small amount of Adventurers who chose to settle down and live here—that’s what the setting for it was in the game, at least.

The area around here was about level 60 or so. This was only a place the game’s story would have you come back to, or for when you finished the beginning parts of the game. If you were going to settle down here, he thought, then the game wouldn’t go on...

Whatever the case, there was no mistake that it was a convenient, warm, and beautiful town.

The outer walls were built of stone, and came together in the shape of an octagon.

Water from the river was drawn into waterways, forming a moat around the town. It also ran inside the town, splitting it down the middle.

The stone walls and the moat served as a way to avoid monsters. Wild animals were a constant threat to the normal people living here. They would even damage the crops.

However, in the face of abnormally strong enemies such as the Fallen or Summons, they were severely lacking in power.

It was not just the walls and moat that protected the town.

Towers were built in the corners in each of the eight sides of the stone walls.

They were thin and tall, like antennas.

These towers formed a barrier that would protect the town.

This barrier did not allow just anyone who approached it to pass through, and would only intercept and protect against attacks or the Fallen.

Because of the powerful barrier, no monsters or Fallen could enter the town, making it a safe haven—that was its backstory in the game.

Diablo was aiming for the drawbridge located on the west side of the town.

He was a 《Demon》.

This was one of the playable classes you could choose when starting Cross Reverie.

According to the game’s setting, Demons were a race of humans who had somehow received the blood of the Fallen. Tattoo-like marks covered their face and body, and while their physical prowess was lacking compared to the other races, they excelled at anything related to magic.

This was especially true for the INT (Intelligence) stat, which determined the power of your spells. It was only this class that could max out this stat.

Since their HP and AGI (Agility) stats were weak, even among the other Sorcerers, they were a class for players that had to rely on protection from their allies.

It was extremely unusual to see a solo player like Diablo use a Demon Sorcerer as their class.

Because the town’s barrier would repel anything related to the Fallen, Demons, as well as weapons and armors made by the Fallen, could not enter the town.

Because of this, there were gates placed at the four cardinal directions of the town that anyone could pass through.

Though you could come and go through them as you pleased in the game, Diablo was already expecting them to be under even stricter watch than the Bridge of Ulug.

People were actual living beings in this world. They were different from NPCs who would only act according to their programming.

By the time they had reached the gate, it was already dusk.

The setting sun lit up the stone walls, painting it the color of amber.

The plains they had traveled across were dyed red, as if they were on fire.

It was a beautiful scene.

Rem and Shera did not say anything as they were used to seeing it, but Diablo was secretly moved by it.

They crossed the drawbridge.

Six guards in armor were standing in front of the gate.

Turning up the lapels of their clothes and using their hands to cover their necks, Rem and Shera passed by while hiding their collars.

This time, no one tried to call out and stop them.

He could feel stares following them. They were attracting attention.

They entered the town.

Continuing through a large thoroughfare sandwiched between tons of stone buildings, Diablo decided to head toward the town plaza.

At this point, it wasn’t so much that this was a habit he picked up from the game, but it was simply because he wanted to go sightseeing. The goal: to look around town.

Despite it being the early evening, the area around the west gate was packed with people.

Just walking was a challenge.

—So these are all NPCs?

It was an amount you would have never seen in-game. This was an obvious difference though, as a game where you couldn’t even walk because of all the NPCs around wouldn’t be fun at all.

They weren’t shopkeepers or receptionists at the Adventurer’s Guild, but just normal people who looked like they had nothing to do with any kind of quest progression whatsoever.

As for the races here: there were Humans; long-eared, slender bodied Elves; Pantherians, with their triangle-shaped ears; Dwarves, who had thick beards and dog-ears; Grasswalkers, who looked like children with rabbit-ears and tails; and finally, though there weren’t many of them to be seen, Demons, who had marks covering their bodies and faces.

They were wearing everything from plain clothes to armor, carried knapsacks and weapons, and were walking, talking, and buying things as they pleased.

At first, he had been excited to see all this... But he was actually bad with crowds. On top of that, he was mentally fatigued from all the sightseeing he had done as well.

—I don’t feel so good...

Though the fatigue had not affected him despite how far he had walked until now, it was starting to weigh heavy on his shoulders.

Rem, who was standing right next to him while hiding her collar, cheeks flushed as if she were embarrassed, started to speak up.

“U-Um...”

“What is it?”

“I would like...to go to the inn...”

Her face turned completely red as she fidgeted around.

—Does she need the little girl’s room?

If that was the case, he would feel sorry for her if he had to ask why out loud.

“Hm, yes. I was just thinking that I would like to head to the inn myself.”

It was then a voice reached his ears.

“That’s Rem and that Elf girl, isn’t it? Why are they wearing those collars?”

Maybe it was because they had stopped, but by the time he had noticed, they were surrounded by people.

He could hear parts of the conversations they were whispering to each other.

“Huh? Those two weren’t Summons, were they?”

“But aren’t they wearing Enslavement Collars? That should go on the Summon...”

“No, they aren’t just for Summons. They go on slaves, too...”

“Does that mean those two became that guy’s slaves!?”

“Shh! Don’t say it so loud! ...Look at that guy’s face, he’s bad news. He may be a Demon, but I haven’t seen many like him before. Look at those horns... They’re twisted, real ominous-looking too...”

“You got that right... Making Lady Rem into a slave, doesn’t that make him pretty dangerous? Might be a good idea to report this to the Mage’s Association.”

“From what I hear, that Elf girl over there is supposed to have come from a pretty crazy background.”

“She’s definitely no normal Elf, that’s for sure... Something must have happened if he made those two into slaves, right?”

“Oh crap, he looked at us. Be best not to get involved with him, he’s gotta be something like the Fallen.”

They were saying some pretty horrible things.

It seemed Rem and Shera could hear it, too. Their faces red, they cast their gazes downwards. Their shoulders were shaking a little.

—Now that’s a shock. I wasn’t expecting there to be slavery in this world!

He had thought they were embarrassed about their collars because the enslavement magic had reflected back onto them, but he had been wrong.

They were embarrassed because they would be mistaken as slaves.

There was nothing like slavery in the game, so the thought had not even crossed his mind.

Not only that, but Rem was famous enough that people were calling her “Lady,” while Shera was supposed to have some kind of amazing family background.

—Oh my god, what do I do!?

He was just now realizing the cruel reality that he had paraded these two around town as slaves.

Diablo was filled with all kinds of regret at this.

They continued to gain more and more attention.

“Hey, you two, what are you doing standing around for? Did you not want to go to the inn?”

Since the townspeople had started to give them a wider berth, it was a little easier to walk around town.

†

They arrived in front of the inn.

It was a stone building located in between the west gate and the plaza.

About halfway through, Rem and Shera had led the way for him.

While there was only one inn in the game, there were multiple ones to be found even in this one area of town. Also, you usually couldn’t enter any buildings that didn’t serve some kind of function, and any places that had nothing to do with quests always had their entrances blocked off.

But this world was different.

Not only could you enter most of the buildings here, even the signs found on them did not all have the same pattern. A good portion of the buildings were built out of stone, were two stories high, and had triangular roofs and doors made of wood. He couldn’t even tell them apart.

—Back in the day, there was that one RPG that had scenery graphics that were so good you didn’t know where you were going. It was a big title for the dawn of the 3D era of gaming.

It might be harder to not get lost than to use magic...

If only he could have had a map function or something.

Diablo reached out and grabbed the metal doorknob. Pulling the wooden door open, he entered the inn.

It had been a while since he had been in the town’s inn.

Since he had customized his dungeon into his own personal space, he rarely left it.

In the game, inns did not only serve as a way to recover your HP and MP. The first floor was made into a bar; it was a place where you could gather information from NPCs or mingle with other players.

First of all, there was the reception desk.

There, a young Pantherian girl with yellow cat-ears—well, technically panther-ears—could be found.

It was an NPC Diablo had remembered seeing before.

With brown hair that came down to her shoulders, the Pantherian girl gave them a smile that spread from ear-to-ear.

“Hello, hello! ☆ I’m the idol of the 《Peace of Mind Inn》, Mei~ ♪ Kyaha!”

—Ah, so this is still the same as it was back in the game.

He didn’t know whether to feel relieved or amazed at this.

It seemed that the girl always acted like that in this world, since Rem and Shera did not seem to pay it any mind as they went to talk with her.

“...Could I get a key for a room?”

“Rem! Welcome back~☆ Was your summoning a success?”

“...It was... The summoning part, at least...”

Rem was hiding her collar with her hands.

The receptionist girl made a puzzled face.

“What’s wrong?”

“...Never mind that... I would also like to get one extra room.”

—That should be mine, right?

He felt bad about having her take care of him, so Diablo was planning on at least paying for his own room.

However, he wasn’t sure where the money for that would be.

What happened to his money, anyways?

There was a display on the bottom-right of the screen in-game that would show how much you had. It wasn’t an item he possessed.

He didn’t have any kind of leather pouch that seemed like it could be it, either. No matter where he patted himself down, he couldn’t find anything.

The currency used in Cross Reverie was something called “friths.” The icon for it in-game showed them as either bronze, silver, or gold coins, but...

No matter how much of a different world this was, he was sure that commoners wouldn’t be using gold coins as currency for their everyday lives. They must be using silver or bronze ones, but he couldn’t see any anywhere.

—So that means...I’m broke right now?

If it came down to it, he could bite the bullet and sell his equipment or items or something. And if this was a world where you could work as an Adventurer, then someone as strong as himself could easily start saving up some money...

The receptionist craned her neck.

“Another room? For the guy behind you? Hey there, mister! I’m the idol of the—”

“Excuse me!”

Shera suddenly raised her voice.

Though she was surprised, the receptionist girl still managed to respond with a smile.

“Hey to you too, Shera! ☆ What do you need today? If it’s a key you want, I’ll get it out right away. ♪”

“I-I would... um... I want to add one more person to my room, is that all right!?”

Her face was bright red.

—Is she talking about me!?

This is where Diablo had to put his foot down.

“Listen, you... You aren’t talking about me sharing a room with the likes of you, are you?”

His true feelings were something along the lines of, “If I have to share a room with a girl, I won’t be able to sleep at all. Please stop, you’re going to kill me.”

Shera grit her teeth.

“But, but...! I don’t have the money to pay for two rooms! And if you go stay in the room Rem’s getting you, then it makes it seem like she’s your Summoner!”

Rem gave her a frigid smile.

“...I was the one who called Diablo to this world, so it is only natural for me to prepare a room for him. Do you understand? You should just go enjoy being poor by yourself.”

“You’re wrong! I’m his Summoner! A Summoner and their Summon should always be together!”

“...No, someone as amazing as Diablo should be with someone who is equally amazing. That would be with me. So, you see... I will prepare... No, he will stay in my room.”

It was true that Diablo was penniless.

But what was all this about living together with a girl!?

It seemed like there would be no compromising with either Rem or Shera.

The receptionist clapped her hands together.

“Alllllrighty! Three guests to stay in our extra large room~ ☆”

Shera started to panic.

“What!? No, no, no! That’s actually kind of a problem! Why am I in the same room as Rem!?”

“...Staying in the same room as this dumb Elf is highly unappealing to me.”

While still keeping her smile, the receptionist tilted her head. You could almost see the sound effects for rumbling appearing behind the two.

“Je~ez, it’s a problem if you two start fighting at the front desk. ☆ I’m gonna put you bad kids in the same room, then! ♪”

Rem seemed as if she was going to say something in protest, when the receptionist’s smile disappeared.

“I’ll throw you out.”

In the face of this intensity, Rem and Shera could only nod silently.

The smile returned to the receptionist’s face, and she handed Diablo the key.

“Then there you go! Try to keep it quiet at night, okay? That’s a special request from me, the idol of the inn. ☆”

He took the heavy, worn iron key.

Sharing a room with two girls...

It took an extreme amount of effort to keep his hands from noticeably trembling.

†

There was one large bed in their room on the second floor.

—There aren’t three of them!?

There weren’t even distinctions like “large rooms” or “small rooms” in the game. The fee to stay the night was always fixed, so there were already a lot of things different here.

The bed itself was a wooden frame filled with straw and some sheets thrown over it. The smell of hay wafted throughout the room.

It seems like these were the kinds of things people slept on back in medieval times... He never thought that he would end up sleeping on a straw bed himself. And with two girls, no less.

If he had told himself last night that “Tomorrow night, I’m gonna be sleeping in the same bed as an Elf and a Pantherian,” he would like to think he would have responded with, “What the hell is wrong with me!?”

On the bed, there was only one blanket for the three of them.

He didn’t think it would get that cold at night, but...

—Just one blanket, huh...

There was nothing else there in the way of furniture. The windows were made of wooden boards, with no glass of any kind being used.

There was no attic to be found, and the triangular ceiling with beams criss-crossing it was of a medieval design that you would never see in the modern day. The candles on the walls gave the place an antique kind of feeling.

It was a simple room.

But it made Diablo remember the feeling of excitement he got from seeing this kind of scenery for the first time.

From the entrance of the inn all the way to the room, no matter how much he stared, he never got tired of it—

But there was only one bed.

Standing on either side of the bed, Rem and Shera were shooting nasty glares at each other.

“...How did I end up sharing a room with you. It would have been fine with just me... No, with just the two of us... Maybe...? No, we definitely would have been fine together.”

“That’s my line! If you hadn’t said those things about being Diablo’s Summoner, then I would have already finished my Adventurer’s registration by now!”

All sorts of luggage was piled up by the side of the bed.

Diablo stood in the entrance to the room.

No matter who he took a step toward, it looked like one of them would either get angry or start crying, so he couldn’t make any foolish movements.

“...And how does a tramp of an Elf who is not even registered as an Adventurer, such as yourself, even plan to pay the inn fee? Sleeping outside would suit you better.”

“I can’t even imagine life without a bed! For money... Well, you know... I was gonna start saving up... Or, you know... I have to save up...or else that would be bad...”

“...You didn’t come here without enough money to pay for the inn, did you?”

“I have it! I have...it? Yeah, I have it... I feel like, I have it... I still have some pretty-looking stuff I took from the treasure room... I-It’s fine! I’ll start saving up! I’m gonna start saving up with Diablo!”

“...I thought I told you not to use the Demon Lord I summoned however you pleased—”

—These two sure love to fight, don’t they?

Diablo was already past feeling troubled by all this, and had started to find the whole thing kind of charming.

They had taken out their weapons when they fought at first, but they seemed to be keeping it to just verbal arguments for now.

That said, there was something he wanted them to do before they got too much into their fighting.

“Hey, you two. Before you start your petulant quarrels again, first you shall tell me more about yourselves.”

He already knew their names from their conversations with him.

The small Pantherian with the black hair and panther ears was Rem Galleu. She possessed seven Summons and appeared to be quite an accomplished Summoner, with some of the people in town going so far as to call her “Lady.”

The gold-haired Elf with the huge chest was Shera L. Greenwood. She admired Summoners, but seemed to be proficient with a bow. She also appeared to have come from “an amazing background.”

That was all he knew about the two so far.

Because it seemed like Diablo would be living in this world for who knew how long, he had to gather as much information as he could about the two of them.

—I don’t know if I’ll even be able to get back to the real world, either.

He couldn’t say if he would end up living a life here as one of their Summons, but it was definitely the option with the highest probability at the moment.

It was important that he confirmed the girl’s motives for doing all this.

If their reason for traveling was something like, “I seek a place to die...” or “I want to find people who are stronger than me!” then he would have to decline.

He didn’t think there would be any mechanics like “You lose all your experience points when you die and then respawn” in a world that felt as real as this one.

“You must have a suitable reason for calling someone as powerful as myself. Tell me your skills and goals. I shall allow it.”

“...Would it be all right to consider this as your way of treating one of us as your Summoner?”

“What, really!? You’re gonna be a Summon for us!?”

“Depending on your true power and your ways of thinking, I would be willing to lend you two my assistance.”

He really just wanted to hole up in his own room in peace. He had to start saving up if he wanted to do that, though.

Rem was the first one to nervously open her mouth.

“...I will introduce myself again. My name is Rem Galleu. The reason why I became an Adventurer was because, I had to... I had a need to continually demonstrate my own strength.”

“You had to keep showing your strength?”

“...It’s a personal reason.”

Rem quickly glanced at Shera. It might be something hard to say in front of her.

Rem continued to talk.

“...Anyways... I have to become stronger as an Adventurer. My ultimate goal is to defeat the Demon Lord Krebskulm and completely destroy his soul.”

It was obvious for an Adventurer to make hunting down a Demon Lord their objective. It was in any game, at the very least.

But that was only how it looked from the outside. The real reason you would do it was usually for fame and fortune.

—By the way she talked about it, it seemed like she was serious, though.

That, or she was hiding her true objective.

“...My specialty is Summoning. Besides summoning a Demon Lord from a different world such as yourself, I also have formed contracts with seven other Summons. They are currently in my pouch in crystal form.”

“Hm, understood.”

It seemed that she was hiding a lot of things.

But it doesn’t seem like she’d do anything stupid—thought Diablo.

Her way of talking was intellectual and deliberate. The reason it sounded like she was hiding things was because she was considering how much information it would be all right to reveal at the time.

Pantherians were supposed to be a race of lightning-bruisers. If she was a proficient Summoner on top of that, this was surely because of her own hard work.

And he didn’t hate hard workers.

Also, she was cute.

She had a lean, flexible body, and since her height was short, more dynamic clothes suited her well.

Pantherians not only had cat-like ears on their head, but long, bushy tails as well. She got bonus points for the way her tail came out the back of her pleated skirt...

—Hooooold it, hold it! Now’s not the time for thinking about that!

He tried to play off his now slackened jaw by clearing his throat.

Shera, seeming dissatisfied, opened her mouth.

“If you already have seven of them, then why don’t you just let me have Diablo then!”

Rem sighed.

“...You truly are an idiot, aren’t you. You only said one sentence, but managed to get two things wrong. Number one: it’s been said a thousand times, but Diablo is not a Summon. And number two: Summons are not things that can be transferred to another person.”

“But I’m the one who called Diablo! You think so too, right!?”

Looks like the conversation had been passed to Diablo.

Her eyes sparkling, “I want you to agree with me!” was practically written on her face.

Diablo pointed to Shera with his chin.

“You should be talking about yourself as well. Depending on what you say, I may consider it.”

Shera’s face lit up in a flash.

“Really!? M-My name is Shera L. Greenwood! I may have the same last name as the Elven royal family, but that doesn’t matter, okay!?”

—Oh yeah, that’s right.

He had a feeling he had read the name “Greenwood” in things about the lore of the game before.

It was the name of the forest that the Elves made their home. Not only that, but in this world, it seemed Greenwood was the name of the Elven royal family here.

There was even a quest where you would save the princess of that royal family.

Also, as a bonus tidbit, you couldn’t enter it as your player name either.

Rem fired off a retort.

“...If it doesn’t matter, then do not bother with saying it in the first place.”

“Oh, that’s right! That’s why I decided not to go around saying it out loud! Uhm... Can we just keep going on while pretending I didn’t say it!?”

She had already said her name when they first met at Starfall Tower, too...

“Do as you like.”

“Anyways! On that note, um... The reason I thought I would become an Adventurer is because I’m almost out of money, and because of the people coming after me— I mean, uh... and for other, various reasons, I thought it would be good for me to be with someone strong. Also, it’s lonely traveling by myself... Also also, I seem to have a talent for Summoning! Go figure!”

Halfway through, when it seemed like she had remembered something, for an instant, an expression of loneliness had crossed her face.

Though she didn’t seem like much of a thinker, the fact that she was so honest left a good impression.

She seemed like she was having a lot of trouble since she couldn’t keep secrets very well, but Diablo shouldn’t have to worry about having someone with a bright personality like hers around.

Just like Rem, it was obvious that she was hiding things...

Also, she was beautiful.

In the game’s lore, out of all the races, Elves were said to be the ones who were closest to Celestials. Their shining hair, flawless skin, and slender bodies seemed as if they had been molded from statues. Their movements were lithe and filled to the brim with elegance.

Not only that, but Shera had distanced herself from the traditional image of flat-chested Elves, thanks to her possessing a large and bountiful bust. Just looking at it made things like safety and adventuring and all those difficult things just melt away...

—Hold it, hoooold it! Living is important! And now’s not the time to be thinking of stuff like that, anyways!

Be cool, be cool...—Diablo kept repeating to himself.

Shera put her hands on the bed as she leaned over it.

“A-Anyways, that was my self-introduction! Now you’re fine with being my Summon, right? Right!?”

Because she was leaning forward, her chest bounced, emphasizing the cleavage of her two luscious...melons.

Rem’s expression stiffened.

“...You cheater.”

“What are you talking about, Rem!? I wasn’t lying or anything!”

“...I don’t want a high-fat Elf with useless sacks of meat like you saying my name so casually.”

“Wha—!? Well I don’t like you calling me a high-fat Elf! I have a name, you know!”

“...I’ll just call you high-fat Elf from now on.”

“Whaaaaaat!?”

They were on the verge of fighting again.

Diablo knew that the reason these two were fighting was because he wouldn’t make a choice.

—It’s still too soon for me to declare something like, “Become your own strength and live on your own...”

They were still hiding things from him, but they must have had their own reasons for doing so.

What should I do?—Diablo thought to himself as he stared at the girls arguing with each other.

Then, there was a knock on the door behind Diablo.

†

Now that he thought about it, they were warned not to be too noisy.

—Could it be the receptionist girl?

Diablo stepped away from the door.

When he did, he had stepped toward Rem without realizing it. Shera looked like she was in shock, but he pretended that he hadn’t seen it. If he opened that particular can of worms, he was going to be stuck there for a while.

Rem, as the one who had paid for the room, was the one who answered the door.

“...Come in.”

“Pardon the intrusion.”

It was a soothing voice that sounded like a bell.

The door opened.

Their visitor was a beautiful woman.

She was a kind-looking person.

Her long blue hair plaited behind her head, with the rest of it spilling down toward the front of her chest.

She wore an extravagant red cape embroidered with gold, wearing it like a coat when she entered, but had opened it and put it on her back when she greeted everyone.

She wore a soft, blue robe that covered her from the shoulders to her ankles. It didn’t show off much skin, but since it was of a tight-fitting design, her ample bodyline was made visibly apparent.

It was kind of hard to control where he should look.

In her hands, she was holding a gorgeous white porcelain wand, with a gold ornament adorning it. He understood that to mean she was an accomplished Sorcerer herself.

Judging from her clothes, she must be some kind of higher-up—Diablo guessed.

She looked like she was in her early 20s, age-wise. Though she was only smiling, she gave off a sense of open-mindedness.

“Good day, everyone... So you really are sharing a room, Rem. I’m so happy to know that you’ve made some friends.”

Rem shook her head.

“...They are not my friends. One is someone I summoned from another world, and the other is...some kind of an extra. Please pay it no mind. Since its clothes are green, just think of it like mold you would find stuck on a wall.”

“Isn’t that too mean!?” Shera lamented.

The woman laughed cheerfully, and went to introduce herself.

“Ufufu... This is our first time meeting each other, right? My name is Celestine Baudelaire. But call me Celes, okay? I came here today because I had some business with Rem, but I would love to hear about you two as well.”

The way she tilted her head was really cute.

Though she seemed kind and mature, she also had a childlike charm to her as well.

—So her name’s Celestine? I feel like I’ve read that before somewhere, too... If I remember right, she was the Mage’s Association’s...

He had remembered, but thought against saying it out loud.

It was because it would be strange for a Demon Lord from another world to know that.

Thankfully, it seemed that Shera had picked up on it as well.

“What!? You mean the Celestine from the Mage’s Association!? The Lady Celestine Baudelaire!?

“Yes. Thanks to a string of coincidences, I am currently acting as the head of the Mage’s Association of Faltra.”

Celes nodded, gradually looking more and more embarrassed.

The Mage’s Association.

In-game, this was an organization that the player could not enter themselves, but they would see the name mentioned often.

Whenever a new spell was added in an update, it would be explained by saying something along the lines of: “The Mage’s Association has made a new discovery!”

The name also came up often as the client for quests.

As an organization, they kind of gave off the feeling of some kind of state-run research institution.

There was generally one Mage’s Association found in every town, with some having two or more in rare cases.

All Mage’s Associations had a loose alliance with each other, but since each one had their own way of doing things from town to town, there were good and bad things to be found in them all.

However, they all shared a common theme in the game’s lore.

The head of each respective Mage’s Association was in charge of maintaining the barrier that protected their town.

Basically, this meant that this woman’s very existence protected the town of Faltra from monsters and the Fallen.

He had seen the name Celestine Baudelaire as the client for various quests before, but he did not remember her ever making an appearance as an NPC before. So that’s what she looked like.

—Why would someone as important as her be at an inn on the outskirts of town?

Celes should have been in the deepest part of the Mage’s Association, using all her power to maintain the town’s barrier. I can’t believe she came all the way to see us, she must have some kind of reason—thought the shut-in, starting to get pumped up.

Celes clapped her hands together.

“Oh, I know! Would everyone care to go get some dinner together? It seems like you all have some...complicated circumstances, after all.”

Her eyes, thinned because of her smile, were looking at Rem and Shera’s necks.

That is where the two “Enslavement Collars” were.

Diablo nodded.

“Very well. I was just starting to feel a little famished myself.”

“...Then I will come too. I am Diablo’s Summoner, after all.”

“No fair, saying that in front of Lady Celes! Diablo belongs to me!”

The two girls were the same as always.

Celes tilted her head a little.

“Hmm... It seems like those circumstances are a little more complicated than I thought. We may be able to find a way to sort that all out as well, so let’s get going.”

Turning on her heels, she left the room.

Rem followed her.

Though she had been fighting with Rem just a second ago, Shera was practically skipping as she followed along.

“Food, food~ Actual, real food. ♪”

—That’s right, she did say she didn’t have any money. She might not have been getting enough to eat...

That song seemed a bit sadder now.

Despite what Diablo had said earlier, he was not particularly hungry.

What he needed now wasn’t food, but knowledge.

Being able to talk with one of the town’s big shots was certainly a stroke of luck for him.

He left the room.

There should be a bar down on the first floor.

†

The bar was a short trip down the long hallway that stretched out to the left of the front desk.

The ceiling, the floor, the counter, the evenly-spaced tables... Everything was made out of dark-colored wood that had a smoky finish to it. The walls were made of stone.

There were no customers besides themselves at the moment.

The bar Diablo was used to seeing was usually packed to the brim with players and NPCs, chat boxes flying everywhere.

It seemed that Celes had somehow cleared everyone out.

It was only Diablo, Rem, and Shera at the table, with Celes sitting opposite of them.

There were two more people who stood behind Celes on either side of her. It looked like they were keeping watch over Diablo and the others.

They were both young men, Sorcerers in brown robes that reached to their ankles who each carried a long magic staff in one hand.

The one standing in front of Diablo was as thin as a wire, and was wearing a high-strung expression on his face. He was also making no effort to conceal the fact that he was glaring at him.

—Is he on guard? Wait, is that hatred? Contempt? It’s the first time I’ve met this guy, right?

Well this didn’t feel good.

Since they were security from the Mage’s Association, they did not sit down.

Celes gave a bitter smile.

“I’m sorry, but because of my position I can’t just go out by myself...”

That should be obvious.

If anything were to happen to her, then the town’s protective barrier would disappear. He had never seen a situation like that happen before, but if monsters or the Fallen decided to attack... He didn’t expect any of the normal people living here would make it out unharmed.

Just from the fact that she only brought two escorts here, he could feel Celes’s respect for them—well, actually, it felt like she was showing respect for Rem.

Diablo gave a generous nod.

“No matter.”

His reply seemed to have struck a nerve. The guard standing in front of him made a face as if he were having a cramp.

“Hey, you. You best watch your tone when speaking with Master Baudelaire. If you don’t show her the proper respect, I won’t hold back.”

This guy sounds like a douche—he thought.

Celes, seeming troubled by this, went to calm down the man behind her.

“Galluk, that’s rude... It was those two who were the ones who forced him to come along with them, after all.”

“It may not trouble you so much, Master Baudelaire, but having this Demon nobody disrespect you is an insult to the dignity of the Mage’s Association!”

Diablo’s shoulders were shaking slightly.

—What the f—... Is this guard really going to lecture Celes, the head of the freakin’ Mage’s Association, about the dignity of the Mage’s Association?

It seemed like this guy was overly sensitive to other people being rude, but was too thick-skulled to notice when he was being rude himself.

—It would be a pain in the ass to get involved.

If he was being honest, he had basically zero communication skills back in the real world. Even though he had come to another world, that fact still hadn’t changed. If he tried to speak normally, then the words just wouldn’t come out right.

It would be bad if he was rude, but he didn’t have the verbal skills to pay respect while keeping up his own grandiose image.

Even if he didn’t want to stir up trouble, the only way for him to talk in a comprehensible manner was to use his Demon Lord roleplay.

He concluded that it would be safest if he just ignored it, though it seemed like Mr. Bodyguard over there wasn’t satisfied with the whole thing...

Celes went to change the subject.

“Before we start talking, let’s eat first. I’ll be taking care of everything, so please eat as much as you’d like, okay?”

“We can!? Really!?”

“Of course, help yourself to whatever you’d like.”

“Woohoo!!”

Out of joy, Shera threw both her arms in the air, then started making requests to the receptionist, who had come to take their order.

Before long, several dishes of food were brought out.

There were sausages of various sizes, boiled potatoes, plain soups, and white bread. Veggies that looked like lettuce and eggplant made an appearance, as well as apples and grapes.

The drink placed in front of Diablo looked like it could have been beer.

Rem and Shera got some kind of fruit juice, while Celes got wine.

“Yay! Let’s dig in!”

Shera reached out toward the food.

Judging by her reaction, this must really be a feast—he thought.

—But it doesn’t really look that good, though.

Diablo tried biting into one of the sausages.

It had just the right amount of chewiness to it, and the juicy, rich flavor of the meat spread throughout his mouth.

—Huh!? This is delicious!

It had a powerful, rustic flavor.

Shera was voraciously tearing into the food. It was enough to make you wonder where she was putting it all in that slender Elf body.

—Oh, I see! So that’s why her chest is like that...

Rem, from the corner of her eye, glared at Shera, who was happily stuffing her face. However, without bringing up Shera’s eating habits, she switched the conversation to the issue at hand.

“...So, Miss Celes...is this going to be about ‘that’ again?”

Rem sounded like she was annoyed.

Since the way she said it had been rude, he thought that the bodyguard from earlier was going to get involved again, but he did not give any reaction in particular.

—I wonder if Celes and Rem are of the same status to him?

That would mean someone from the Mage’s Association would see Rem as someone on the same level as the head of the Mage’s Association.

It made him wonder what kind of position Rem held.

Celes put her hands together, as if she were making a request.

“Rem, I’m just thinking that it would be great if I could help you, you know? You must have gone through many hardships, and you may not trust me, but I want you to know at least that part is true.”

“...I do not like like going to the Association headquarters, and I do not like having guards follow me around, either.”

“But it’s been pretty rough out there lately. There’s been reports of the Fallen having deceived people and making it through the barrier in other towns... If you were a member of the Mage’s Association, I can’t imagine a town being taken advantage of by the Fallen would be enough to cause you trouble.”

“...Thank you for your concern, but I am capable of protecting myself on my own.”

“Do you hate me, I wonder?”

Celes had a forlorn look on her face.

Rem sighed.

“...I have said it before, but I have never doubted your character. However... I do not know how to rely on people. I have always managed through life on my own, and I plan to keep pushing forward using my own power. Using that power—I will destroy the Demon Lord Krebskulm.”

“The Mage’s Association may be able to help you do something about that collar.”

Rem quickly touched her collar.

“This is...”

“You’re not wearing that collar because you want to, right? I don’t believe someone such as yourself could be forced into being a slave... Could it have been from an accident even you could not have foreseen, which caused the collar to be attached to you? And would I be mistaken in saying that the owner of that collar would be Mr. Diablo over there?”

“...You would not.”

“Hm.”

Without thinking, Diablo let his voice slip out.

—That’s some amazing insight she’s got.

There hadn’t even been anything said that would let her guess the course of events that led to the collars being put on them.

She had come to that conclusion only by the conversation between the three of them.

It seemed she hadn’t become the head of the Mage’s Association just because of her magical prowess.

Celes looked at Diablo.

“Please, I beg you, is there any way you could bring yourself to release Rem? She’s a very important person for this world. Of course, I promise to compensate you appropriately for doing so.”

He did feel that he wanted to release her.

However, even for someone who had played countless hours of Cross Reverie such as himself, he did not know the way you would go about removing an Enslavement Collar, since it was only mentioned in the game’s setting.

Diablo turned his head to the side.

“I am not in the habit of forcing others to obey me with magic... But since I do not know the method to release them, I cannot comply.”

He thought it would be best to tell her straight.

Celes let out a disappointed sigh.

“I see... You seemed to be quite the experienced Sorcerer, so I thought you might have been able to understand things that I could not... It looks like I have no choice but to look into this starting from square one.”

Shera made a serious face.

“Hmm... Since Diablo was the one who reflected the magic back at us, and his magic seems to be really powerful, even if you find a way, a normal Sorcerer might not be able to get the job done... Or something like that could happen, right?”

“It was reflected? I see... If that’s the case, then I may need to request Diablo’s assistance.”

Listening to the conversation, Diablo let out a sigh.

“So you’re all incompetent, unable to even undo your own magic... Very well. If you find a way, tell me. I will lend you my assistance at that time.”

BAM!

It was the sound of something striking the wooden floor.

He turned his gaze to look.

The wiry guard behind Celes had slammed his staff on the ground.

“You... You bastard! What right do you have to reject Master Baudelaire’s request! Not only that, but you have turned Lady Rem Galleu into your slave!? By what right!”

—Like I know...

All he had been saying was that an unfortunate accident had occurred, and that he was unable to undo the magic of his own will.

—Man, there wasn’t even an NPC as annoying as this in the game...

Celes stood up.

“It looks like going any further would only cause trouble for you... I’m sorry everyone, even though you must be exhausted.”

He hadn’t expected the conversation to stop midway thanks to the guard’s hysterics.

Celes’s position must keep her busy, but he thought he might have been able to get a little more information out of her.

Rem cast her eyes downward.

“Miss Celes... I may have seemed scornful after refusing to go to the Association and rejecting the guards. But, could I still ask you...to please look into a way to remove these collars?”

“Of course. All I want to do is protect you.”

Celes smiled.

It was a gentle smile.

Rem lowered her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. But if you ever change your mind, you can always rely on me, okay? The Mage’s Association has a duty to the world to protect you... And you’re like a little sister to me.”

At this, Celes turned and left the bar.

The two guards went to follow her.

However, as they were leaving, the wiry guard glared at Diablo, eyes full of loathing.

—Well, I’m sure I won’t be running into him that much, anyways.

But besides that.

Rem had been keeping a grave secret.

It was a secret so shocking that the head of the Mage’s Association had even said that protecting her was for the sake of the world.

This was something that could definitely turn into a big problem.

This is something I should know about—thought Diablo.

“Hey. You.”

“...What is it?”

“It seems the secret you carry is no ordinary one. I am intrigued... I shall allow it, so speak of it now.”

“I can’t...do that...”

She faltered.

It didn’t seem like it was something she could say so easily.

He knew that telling such a serious secret to someone that you had known for only half a day was asking for too much.

However, this was not the time for him to be backing down.

—My gamer sense is tingling. The problem Rem is wrestling with...is one of those things that makes the story get more serious!

For the most part, whenever a situation like this comes about where some big-shot comes all the way out to see a specific person; or if the person in question says it’s not something they can really talk about with other people; these secret circumstances only become clear after completing a bunch of story quests and reaching the finale.

There were also many instances where the whole thing could have been solved much more easily if they had just talked about it sooner.

These kinds of secrets would come to light if you started prying into them. That was how they would get you excited about playing through the story of a game.

It would be fine if we were talking about a game, though.

But this was another world; this was reality.

He wanted to avoid taking risks wherever possible.

Diablo wanted to take care of Rem’s problem, treating it as if a story quest had just appeared before him.

—Even if I have to force it out of her, I’m going to hear her secret and bust through that story!

By thinking of it as if it were part of the strategy he needed to beat a game, he had become strangely more assertive about it.

“Hey. You.”

“...What is it?”

Diablo got up from his seat.

Going over to Rem, who had barely touched her food, he grabbed her by the arms and made her stand up. Holding her by the waist, he picked her up and lifted her over him.

“You’re pretty light.”

“Wha!? Wh-Wh-What are you planning to do!?”

Shera looked up at them, countless sausages stuffed into her cheeks.

“Mmphmphmph! *gulp* Where are you two going? There’s still tons of food here!”

Now that he thought about it, Rem did seem to hesitate talking around Shera earlier. If he was going to pry this secret out of Rem, it would be better if it was just the two of them.

“I’m going to torture her.”

The two girls were at a loss for words.

Seeing the usually cool and collected Rem get this frightened was kind of a surprise.

Bread still clutched in her hand, Shera was frozen in place. Then, after a few moments...

“...I-I’ll just go ahead and keep on eating, then!”

She avoided looking at them.

Rem called back in a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

“Y-You... You and I were traveling companions, even if it was only for a short time, right!? Are you not even going to try and save me!?”

“You know, I have this straaange feeling that you kept calling me a stupid Elf the whole time!? And even just a little while ago, you said I was mold on a wall or something, didn’t you!?”

“...Why are you not being tricked, even though you’re so stupid!?”

“You said it again! You called me stupid again! I don’t even care anymore! I’m not going to save you!”

“Th-That was something someone who is going to save me would forgive me for saying!”

She was completely terrified.

There was no way of putting the brakes on the Demon Lord act. If he were that skillful, then he would have been speaking normally from the very start.

Even so, Diablo tried to work out a way to spin his words to try and reassure her a little. It wasn’t like he was trying to take her life or anything, he just wanted to know what she was hiding.

“Ku-ku-ku-ku... There’s no need to be afraid, I will not try to kill you... If you spill your secret fast enough, that is.”

Maybe the nuance of what he wanted to say changed a little.

He tried smiling.

As if she had accepted her fate, Rem closed her eyes and whispered:

“...I wonder if you could call my fourteen years living in this world as long or short. Mother, Father... It looks like I will be joining you on the other side tonight...”

It seemed to have had the opposite effect.

Since there were no other options, Diablo quickly made for their room while still holding Rem.

†

After returning to the room, he locked the door.

It was already nighttime.

The only light sources in the dimly lit room were the candles on the wall. The only things that could be faintly seen were things like the bed, the wall, and the two of them.

Since there were no chairs, Diablo sat Rem down on the bed, then turned his attention to her.

She was looking down at the floor.

Her little panther ears were lying flat on her head, and were trembling slightly.

—Dang, she’s cute.

—Maaan, I want to try touching them.

—Wait, I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. I have to make sure and hear what her deal is.

He didn’t want to have to force it out of her, though.

There was a possibility that they would be working together from here on out. He wanted to keep some semblance of a relationship with her.

“There is only one thing I wish to know... Why did the head of the Mage’s Association come all the way out to see you?”

“...I can’t say.”

Rem’s will was firm.

Even though she was this scared, it seemed she had no intention of revealing her secret.

Diablo was hesitant. The reason he wanted to ask Rem about her circumstances was because he wanted to get a head start on the difficult quest that was guaranteed to come up because of it. He wanted to avoid making their relationship worse, which would also serve to make this an even bigger problem.

—Maybe I’ll try digging around a bit more.

“Are you asking me to lend you my power while hiding things from me?”

“...That...That is true, but...I do not want to talk about it.”

“Hmm? Would this secret of yours be something that would be disadvantageous for me?”

Her voice sank. “...No... If I say it, then you will leave me as well...”

In the dim light, her eyes full of despair, Rem looked so despondent. It was enough for Diablo to be at a loss for what to say for a moment.

She continued.

“...I have a terrible secret. If you were just a powerful Summon, then I may have been able to talk with you about it. But as it is now, you have the choice of choosing between me or Shera...and that is why I am afraid. I need the power of the Demon Lord Diablo...but if you learn my secret, then you may distance yourself from me.”

—So the reason she doesn’t want to say it is because she’s insecure.

Rem was afraid that he would leave her if she knew her secret.

—A terrible secret, huh.

It also seemed that there were people who distanced themselves because they knew her secret. It was enough to have hurt her emotionally.

—I don’t think she’d believe me even if I said that I’d be OK with it.

By the time he was close enough for her to trust him, it might be too late. That was a common pattern for these things.

If Diablo had chosen to play the role of a valiant hero, then that’s probably how it would have turned out.

He didn’t have any magic words that could heal the wounds on Rem’s heart.

He didn’t have enough time to get her to trust him, and he also did not have the talent to give her the courage she needed to say it.

—A Demon Lord should do things like a Demon Lord.

Diablo sneered an extraordinarily evil sneer.

“I understand why you don’t want to say it. However, what I want to know is why Celes came to visit you. Did you think that a Demon Lord would hold back on you?”

“Hyah!?”

Rem tried to resist, but she was already sitting down.

Despite this, she managed to skillfully crawl up onto the bed. As you’d expect of a Pantherian, she had mastery over her small and light body.

Chasing after her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her down.

Diablo’s AGI (Agility) and STR (Strength) stats were far above hers.

It seemed that Rem was too scared to be able to use her true power.

“Ku-ku-ku... It seems like torture will be necessary after all.”

“Ngh... A-Are you planning...to disgrace me?”

“Huh?”

The thought had never occurred to him.

He hadn’t imagined he would have pushed her onto the bed either, but maybe it was a little weird that something like that didn’t even occur to him.

That was reasonable, considering the life he had led up until now was one where he had even forgotten the last time he had spoken with an actual girl.

—I was a solo player, even in real life... And now I’m making myself depressed.

Having come to a conclusion at what Diablo’s silence meant, Rem shut her eyes tight. She was trembling.

She had long, thin eyebrows, with small shoulders, slender arms and legs, miniature, doll-like fingers, and light-pink lips.

There was also an earthy smell to her. Was it because Pantherians were Earth-type?

Not only that, but she smelled sweet, too.

Her clothes were in disarray, and because the hem of her dress-like outfit had been pulled up, her snow-white thighs were showing.

—She’s cute.

Damn. She was so cute, the feeling was overwhelming that, no matter where he ended up touching her, he would seem like a criminal.

Tears were glistening in the corners of her eyes.

Well, he had already gone so far as to grab her and push her down. The question was, what would he do next.

He thought that maybe he would be able to make her talk by threatening her with a little pain... But now, even thinking of doing that to her was too sad to think about.

Her black hair spilled out over the sheets, kind of making it seem like she was one of the reverse-side images of a hugging pillow. Wait, maybe it was the opposite. Those were the kinds of products that modeled themselves after girls posed in this way, after all.

Rem’s ears were trembling, as if they were trying to hide in her hair.

—Wonder if here would be all right?

He reached out...and grabbed her silky panther ears.

“Yoink.”

“...Mm!?”

They were thin. Not only that, but her fur was soft and smooth to the touch as well.

The feeling of sliding his fingers from the base to the edges of her ears was nothing short of absolute bliss, and the resistance her fur gave when he brushed it the opposite direction was heavenly.

He relished the feeling of stroking her fur.

Rem’s body twisted about.

“Ha...ngh!?”

“What’s wrong? Does that tickle?”

“...I-It does... C-Could you please...stop that?”

She was just barely managing to hold onto her cool personality. It seemed like her ears were quite a sensitive spot.

Diablo smiled.

“Then you shall tell me your secret.”

“No way!?”

“So you can’t say it... Then there is no way around it.”

Gently grasping her ears, he began rubbing them.

Rem’s body twitched in response.

“Hyan...!? Ah...ah...! You...can’t...!”

“I see, I see... So around the outside of your ear is good, is it?”

He made his attack by tracing circles around her fur, just barely on the verge of touching it.

Rem kept twitching.

“Fuwahh!? Nghhh... That’s too...ngh...kuh... Hnng... It...tickles...”

Her calm and collected attitude was no more.

Her expression having been broken down, she was gasping in a higher-pitched voice than normal.

Diablo’s heartbeat had also strangely gone up.

“Now, how about the base of your ears?”

This time he would try scratching behind the base of her ears. He made sure to use the tips of his fingers in a way that wouldn’t hurt her.

Rem kept twitching, her body seeming like it was jumping in shock as her slender white fingers grasped the bed.

Straw came pouring out from where the edges of the sheet had been pulled up.

“Hah! Ah! Mmmph! N-no more...ngh... Not, there... Ah! If you scratch there... A-Ahhhhh...!! Not behind my eaaaars!!”

“Are you going to tell me your secret?”

“...I... I will, not...”

“Aren’t you a stubborn one. Then, how about if I do this!”

Taking one ear in both his hands, he used all ten fingers to stimulate the base of her ear.

Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch...

“Hyahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Rem’s back muscles tightened, raising her hips into the air.

Her hair completely disheveled, she tried to escape by moving to the edge of the bed.

He thought it would be dangerous if she fell, but was afraid he would hurt her if he went to grab her arms or shoulders when she was thrashing around this much.

Even if God could forgive someone for putting a scratch on her beautiful skin, the Demon Lord would not.

As Diablo moved on top of her, he wrapped his left arm around to try and hold her head, while he used his right arm to hold her shoulders down. This should make it so she wouldn’t fall off the bed.

It looked like he was holding her down so she couldn’t run away, but that most certainly was not his intention. Probably.

Even while this was happening, his right hand had been caressing her ears.

“Hya! Ngh, ah... Mm... Not...there... Ear...tickles... Khh, this is...nyhaaaa!”

“How’s that?”

“Hyau!? Hah, hah... Ngh... I won’t...say...”

Since he was hanging over her, his lips were incredibly close to her ears. Was it because he had been breathing on her? Her reaction then had seemed incredibly honest.

He tried blowing in her ears.

*Phewww*

“Fwahhhhhh...”

Another reaction that was completely different from when he was stimulating her with his fingers.

Though not strong, it looked like it had reached down to the very core of her being.

Rem’s breathing was ragged, and her face was crimson red. Tears poured from the corners of her eyes; her back was arched, and she gripped the sheets of the bed with her fingertips.

I feel like one more push should do it—he thought.

She looked at him with glistening eyes.

“Hah...hah... Diablo...”

“Do you feel like talking now?”

“I... I can’t, go on... This is...too embarrassing...”

Holy crap.

So cute.

He was starting to think he couldn’t go on much longer either.

“Rem, just leave it all to me. No matter what your circumstances may be, I will accept it all.”

As he said this, he opened his mouth—and wrapped it around her ear.

He experienced the softness with every part of his mouth; his teeth, his lips, his tongue.

Her small body convulsed and buckled under the multiple stimulations.

“Kuhahh!? Ah...ahhh...ngh, haaah...ahhhhhh!!”

Rem kept trembling over and over in his arms.

As her screams continued, it was almost shocking how someone as small as herself was able to make screams that loud.

“Ahhhhhnnnnngaaaaahhhhhh...!!”

After the loudest scream from her yet, Rem collapsed as her strength left her.

In the end, her voice was hoarse from her screams.

Even the sound of her breathing had quieted, causing him to worry.

Diablo took his lips off of her.

“Phew...”

“...U...uhu... *hic*”

Rem let out a sob.

—I made her cry!?

Diablo propped himself up with his elbows.

“H-Hey...”

“Uhu... *hic*... Oo, hng... *hic*”

The area around Rem’s eyes was completely red.

Transparent tears dripped down and stained her cheeks.

—Oh crap.

—I may have overdone it a little.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“...N...o... I’m...happy...really happy...”

“Wh-What!?”

Did her ears feel that good!?

“...U...ngh... Because...you said you would accept me...n-no matter my circumstances...” she said, her voice mixed with her sobs.

“Hm? Oh, b-but of course!”

He did feel like he had blurted out something like that in the heat of the moment.

What was he going to do if her secret was something really crazy...

—Man oh man. And here I thought I would never have to deal with any kind of trouble from getting involved with girls.

Rem’s breathing calmed down.

If there was a water supply or something around here he could have grabbed some water for her, but unfortunately drinkable water in this world was a luxury. He would have to buy some from the counter at the bar if he wanted any.

“Hm? Wait, now that I think about it...”

Though it wasn’t something you could normally do in-game, he may be able to expand upon how he used his elemental magic in this world. If he just imagined the basics of how a dehumidifier worked, he should be able to extract moisture from the air itself.

He decided to give it a shot.

Diablo opened the palm of his hand, imagining a small figure made of ice forming in it.

Even if the shape was simple, it would do fine.

He thought of something that he was always using, a cup, as well as gathering water molecules from the air. This would be the basics of the basics of magic.

“《Ice》 and 《Water》.”

A flash of light came from Diablo’s hand, and in it appeared a cup made of ice with water inside.

He already had experience with a spell like this, so he just tried to remember what he knew about the flavor text for the magic and gave it a try.

Rem’s eyes widened.

“What’s...this?”

“A cup with water. The cup is made of ice, so it might be slippery.”

Supporting her back, he helped sit her upright and handed her the cup.

“...It’s cold...”

“Don’t drink it all at once. Take it slow.”

Holding the ice cup in both hands, she sated her thirst.

If he was able to make glass or other kinds of ceramics, that would be a big help in living here.

—I wonder if that would be Earth-type magic?

He wasn’t particularly good at those. When he had the time, he would give that a try as well.

Rem exhaled deeply.

“...Phew.”

“Are you done already?”

She nodded in response. When she did, he made the cup and the water vanish.

By the time he noticed, he was sitting next to her on the bed, arms supporting her. Almost like how two lovers would hold each other.

—No no no, this is just me taking care of her. Oh, hold on, this was supposed to be me torturing her, wasn’t it!?

His goal was supposed to have been finding out why someone like Celes had come to see Rem, and to make her tell him that secret.

Rem turned her gaze toward him.

I wonder if this is what it feels like when a kitten stares at you.

She seemed frightened, but also as if she was hoping for something.

Diablo did not rush her.

Rem opened her mouth.

“...Inside of my body...is sealed the soul of the Demon Lord, Krebskulm.”

Diablo nodded. “Hm! I see.”

Rem’s eyes were the ones to widen in surprise.

“...What? Is that all? Doesn’t that repulse you? Doesn’t that make you afraid? A-Are you not...going to hate me...?”

“The soul of the Demon Lord Krebskulm? Repulsive? Scary? I am the Demon Lord Diablo, you know.”

“...Then, that means...”

“Celes said that she wanted to protect you. From that, I believe it would be reasonable to think Krebskulm will be released upon your death, or if you are taken away by the Fallen, they will release it somehow. Not only that, but as of now you are unaware of a method to remove it from yourself. If you did, she would surround you with the armies of this world, then draw out Krebskulm to defeat him. As of now, the only person that knows about this should be Celes. Of course, it seems like no one in this town has any idea, and that goes the same for the underlings from the Mage’s Association, too. I would think that someone such as that crazy bodyguard from earlier would never address someone who carried the soul of a Demon Lord in them as ‘Lady.’ As far as they are concerned, they only know you as a very accomplished Summoner. How’s that? Did I get anything wrong?”

Her eyes widened.

“...Th-That’s correct... The soul will be released when I die.”

“Then I will ask: did your mother carry the soul of the Demon Lord Krebskulm as well?”

“......”

Rem nodded.

—So that means the soul of Krebskulm is hereditary. From mother to daughter...

If this was the lore for Cross Reverie, Takuma would be complaining at the developers big time.

Making one girl bear the burden of the fate of the entire world by herself was just too cruel.

Not only that, but as an Adventurer, she was severely lacking in power.

“Hmph... Seems like even God can defy expectations. Forcing everything on this girl and then disappearing... Very well. I will crush the soul of the Demon Lord Krebskulm for you. As for pulling it out of you, some research will be required to find a method.”

Besides what Celes already understood, she should be researching a bunch of other things as well.

He would make sure to ask her about it the next time he saw her.

It looked like he had been right to look into finding out about Rem’s secret.

This information was sure to be the key for the story quest that would lead to the game’s finale.

—Like hell I’d play this tearjerker questline in order!

“Hm? What’s the matter, Rem?”

“......Ngh...!”

Tears were pouring from her face even harder than before.

“...Th-This is...the first time...someone didn’t...leave... Wahhhh!”

He couldn’t really make out what she said through the sobbing.

—That’s right. Rem had been worried that I would leave her once she told me her secret.

“Hmph... You underestimate me! For Diablo, the Demon Lord of another world... I am not so weak as to leave you over a thing like that.”

Rem gave a sob and tried to say something, but he couldn’t make it out.

Eventually, just like a kid, she tired herself out from crying and fell asleep.

Since she was already on top of the bed, he made sure to cover her with a blanket.

Her face when she was asleep was cute, too.

—Wait, that’s not it.

She had always been on edge up until now, but this was the first time she had an expression of relief on her face.

Diablo heaved a sigh.

“But man, I really did make her scream, huh... And as she was crying, too. I’m pretty sure the other rooms must have heard that... Wonder what they’re gonna think of me. Man... Oh well, I am pretending to be a Demon Lord, after all. I guess it’ll be fine.”

He should go and tell Shera that they were finished up here.

—I guess I should also go and apologize to the receptionist girl as well.

He would make sure not to say how it had concerned the fate of the world, though.

†

After Diablo had finished his errands, he left the inn.

Though the receptionist had warned him that nighttime was dangerous, he wanted to cool down his now heated-up body with the cool night air.

To be honest, can anyone in this town even put a scratch on me?—he thought.

The town at night—

He didn’t have any destination in particular.

—Guess I’ll make my way to the west gate and back.

A large moon and an unbelievable amount of stars were shining in the night sky. Maybe because of its size, it was still bright out with just the moonlight.

All the stores were closed. Only the bars still had their lights on, where the sound of people talking and raucous laughter could be heard.

There weren’t many passersby to be seen.

Compared to the afternoon, the stone houses and roads now looked cold to him.

In front of him, a group of people wearing familiar robes were walking toward him.

—Looks like fifteen of them in total.

Diablo was able to get an idea of how many opponents were in a group and their positions with just a glance. This wasn’t any particular skill from the game, but a testament to his own skill as a gamer.

The robes these people had were the same as the guards who had come with Celes earlier.

They were probably Sorcerers from the Mage’s Association.

—What are they doing walking around in a big group like that at night?

It piqued his curiosity, and he had no reason to avoid them.

Diablo walked slowly, eventually passing the group.

“Hey, you. The Demon over there.”

He was stopped by a voice that sounded like it was trying to pick a fight. There was also a hint of mocking to it.

“Hm?”

Now that he thought about it, humans in the game’s setting would discriminate against the other races, with the ones they scorned the most being—Demons.

Players in the game never did anything like that, so he had never really given much thought about it.

He didn’t want to get involved in anything, so he tried to ignore it and keep walking. However, his challenger drew closer.

“Hey! So a Demon thinks he can just ignore me, huh!? You’re just a parasite who’s living here thanks to our and Lady Celes’s kindness!”

—Parasite!?

It is true that Celes’s power kept up the barrier protecting the town, but there was no reason to go that far, was there!?

He recognized the man who had come forward to insult him.

It was that wiry guard with Celes who wouldn’t stop complaining, whose name escaped him.

Diablo decided to give him a response.

“What, Small Fry?”

“Ngk!? You really don’t have any manners, do you! My name is Galluk! Calling someone the likes of me, who serves under the head of the Mage’s Association, a ‘small fry’ is pretty damn rude, don’t you all think!?”

He was met with a chorus of “That’s right!” from the other members of his group.

They also reeked of alcohol.

—Oh god. Not only is this guy a pain in the ass, now he’s drunk, too?

Diablo was getting a bit dejected.

“What do you want? I don’t recall being able to be stopped by small fry like you.”

“H-Hmph! Say that while you still can. Ever since I first saw you, I never liked you! Not your attitude toward Lady Celes, and not your attitude toward Lady Rem, either! Everything you do lacks respect!”

—Seems like discrimination wasn’t the only reason he came after me.

Even though Rem was another race, a Pantherian, he would still call her “Lady.”

Another small thing Diablo noticed was that he would call Celes by her last name, “Master Baudelaire,” when she was around, while he would call Rem “Lady Rem Galleu.”

—Looks like this guy has another side to him.

It seemed as if he had taken offense from something about Diablo, and was releasing his pent-up stress with the aid of alcohol and the advantage of being in a group.

It was for the best if Diablo didn’t get caught up with someone the likes of him.

“If you’re going to be noisy, go do it somewhere away from me. I will not lend an ear to the nonsense spouted from some small fry.”

“You... Youuuuu... I won’t let you get away with this! Heh...heh!”

The wiry man sneered an unpleasant smile.

Staring at the man, Diablo had a bad feeling about this.

“You won’t let me get away?”

“Yeah, that’s right! You’ll regret what you said to me... No, what you’ve said to us!”

—So he’s relying on numbers.

He counted how many people they had total.

Fifteen, just like he thought.

It depended on how strong each of them were, but taking them all on at once might be a bit annoying.

However, he wanted Shera and Rem to keep thinking of him like he was a Demon Lord, so there was no way he could back down here.

“Now, won’t it be all of you who end up regretting this?”

“Heh... After this, you’ll be begging me to spare your life! Behold!”

Galluk took something out of his robes.

It was a crystal, roughly the size of a baseball.

Diablo remembered seeing the graphics for it somewhere before.

“So, a Summon.”

“That’s right! As someone who stands next to the leader of the Mage’s Association, I’m an accomplished Summoner as well! I possess Summons that can crush you in a snap! Now, if you don’t want to get hurt... Kneel! I’ll have you apologize for your rudeness toward me!”

The crowd went wild around him.

Diablo cocked his head to the side.

“Rudeness? What are you talking about?”

He wasn’t aware of doing anything like that...though he probably had.

Because he was so bad at communicating with people, these kinds things would happen a lot. He wasn’t trying to be hostile, and he didn’t mean bad by it, but he would make enemies before he knew it.

—Trying to get along with other people is just plain impossible.

After coming to this world, he thought he would have managed to get by just talking with other people using his Diablo roleplay, but...

When someone started attacking him without telling him their reason why, his desire to shut himself away in his room came bubbling back to the surface.

—No, this guy may just be a special case. I won’t give up all hope just yet.

Galluk’s face was bright red as he screamed. He looked like he was really pissed.

“You damn Demon! I’m going to tear you limb from limb and scatter you across the ground! When I do, Lady Rem will see who is truly useful, and who should be by her side!”

“Tear me limb from limb... You don’t say.”

“Fuhahahaha! Come, 《Salamander》!!”

Galluk smashed the crystal on the ground.

Arising from the shattered pieces appeared a lizard, wreathed in flickering flames.

—It’s huge.

Maybe not as big as one of those cut-outs you would find at the zoo, but it was enough that Diablo had to look up to see it.

It was covered in scales of flames, flicking its tongue in and out as it raised its head. Its cold, inhuman eyes so common in reptiles were meant to strike fear into those who saw them.

Usually it would make you feel petrified, like a mouse that was being stared down by a snake.

—It at least looks strong...

In the game, this would be around the fourth Fire-type Summon you could use.

Its stats were about the same as a Warrior at level 20.

Using it could be said to be advantageous for you, since even if the Summon was killed you wouldn’t take any damage.

Its special ability was 《Heat Breath》, a Fire-type AoE attack which was capable of inflicting the 《Burn》 status.

However, Diablo was currently equipped with the cape, the Curtain of Dark Clouds, which came with a passive ability that prevented negative status effects.

This meant that it was not an enemy that he had to fear. More than that—

“A Summon, and in the middle of town...”

Diablo was surprised something like that was even possible.

Back in the game, you were unable to use any combat-related spells while in town. Summoning magic and offensive spells could only be used while outside of town, while Warriors were not even able to swing their swords.

—If you think about it, I guess that’d be obvious.

The only thing that separated the town from the outside world was the barrier, something that did not possess any abilities outside of repelling monsters and the Fallen.

It was only in the game that the guards would come after you for breaking the rules. It was the middle of the night right now, and he saw no sign of them anywhere.

It seemed that Galluk had mistaken why Diablo was surprised, as he began to brag about his Summon.

“How do you like that! This is the level 30 Summon, Salamander! Breath hot enough to melt steel! Scales that can repel any blade! A massive body with destructive power hidden inside of it! Forget about trained fighters, this is the ultimate Summon, enough to burn a Warrior to death even if they are wearing armor!”

Galluk laughed gloatingly.

Diablo was speechless.

—Is the level for this world really that low?

The area around the Border City Faltra was about level 60 in-game.

To think that all adventurers in this town could be easily handled with only a level 30 Salamander...

He didn’t understand.

If this was how things were, he would have fought some of the monsters outside of town.

—I wonder if level 60 enemies even spawn around here.

Galluk seemed to have mistaken Diablo’s thinking as a sign that he was terrified, and started acting high and mighty as he ordered him around.

“Now, apologize! If you do it now, I’ll let you off with only a few burns!”

—What the hell is this guy saying?

The guard had picked a fight with his group while walking at night, sicced a Summon on Diablo that could ‘burn armored Warriors to death,’ and kept calling for Diablo to ‘apologize’ even though he wouldn’t say why.

This wasn’t the kind of talk that could just be blamed on alcohol. Now Diablo was the one who was pissed.

“Stop this nonsense, Small Fry. Do not anger me.”

“Ngk... You asshole! You don’t think these are just threats, do you!?”

In response to his menacing attitude, the rest of the group tried to warn him.

“H-Hey, isn’t fighting out in the streets like this kinda bad?”

“Let’s just end it here, ok?”

“What happens if someone sees us?”

However, Galluk would not be stopped.

He gave a crooked grin.

“A fight? What are you saying... All we’re going to be doing is just doling out punishment! Not only did he bring insult to Lady Celes, he has unjustly made Lady Rem into his slave! This is all punishment for this coward of a Demon!”

Reacting to Galluk’s feelings, Salamander let out a cry.

“Hssssssss!”

It sounded like a snake’s hiss, but raised to a deafening volume.

At the same time, it unleashed its Heat Breath, which spewed forth from its mouth.

—It’s attacking me!?

Diablo’s vision turned red as he was engulfed in the flames.

They had come from directly in front of him, hitting him dead on.

Galluk’s voice was mixed with equal parts insanity and joy.

“Fuhahahaha! How do you like that, Demon! Learned your lesson!? Burn! Burrrrn!!”

His comrades from the Mage’s Association had turned pale.

However, they were just as guilty as Galluk for having watched this and done nothing to stop it.

—That’s what I think, anyways. Wouldn’t you?

The flames that surrounded Diablo dissipated.

There was not a scratch on him.

The stones at his feet had been completely liquified.

But despite this intense heat, not even his clothes had been burned in the attack.

These weren’t just any ordinary clothes, so of course this would happen.

“That was all, was it?”

Diablo let out a sigh.

—The level gap here is just way too big.

There was an old gaming aphorism that went, “Just level up and punch ’em.”

In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, level gaps were tremendous things. The difference between a level 150 and a level 30 was like the difference between a tank and a child.

To someone like Diablo, it was just a matter of fact he did not take any damage.

—Well, maybe it wasn’t a matter of fact.

Since this was the first time he had actually been attacked, he was able to confirm that his magic defense was as high as it was back in the game. Thanks to that, you could say there was plenty of meaning to what just happened.

—But that was an attack that would’ve killed a normal person.

If Diablo didn’t hold the power of a Demon Lord, then he would have been dead for sure.

This man had decided he hated Diablo so much that he would try to kill him... It seemed like a little “punishment” was in order.

Galluk was shocked.

“Wh-What is this? Why are you still alive?”

It seemed that this man truly believed from the bottom of his heart that Salamander was the ultimate Summon, and it was strange Diablo was not dead.

Back in the game, if you had tried saying that a level 30 Summon was the best, people would just think it was some kind of joke.

That meant the reason he made this sad, sad mistake was because everyone else’s levels were so weak. He would say he pitied him, but he didn’t.

“Once more!” Galluk screeched with a high-pitched yell.

Again, the Heat Breath came rushing toward him.

His magic defense was definitely superior, and understood that he had taken no damage.

Usually in other games, no matter how big the level difference, you would at least be able to put in some scratch damage from attacks. In Cross Reverie, however, you would just see an effect that let you know no damage was being dealt.

Galluk yelled at the rest of his group.

“H-Hey! Send out your Summons!”

The rest of them, who did not seem as angry at Diablo, were indecisive.

“Ummm... But, won’t we get punished for summoning them in the middle of town—”

“It’s fine! I’ll take responsibility for it, so hurry up! Hurry up and do it!”

He was frantic.

In response to his fervor, Galluk’s allies threw their own crystals on the ground, the sound of them shattering echoing out.

What appeared were elemental spirits of various types.

《Fire Spirit》, 《Water Spirit》, 《Earth Spirit》, 《Wind Spirit》—

They were Summons shaped like the silhouettes of birds, and lacked eyes and mouths. The red ones were “Fire;” blue was “Water;” “Earth” was yellow; and green was “Wind.” They were flat, and looked as if they had been cut out from colored paper. Each one was about the size of a Steller’s sea eagle.

If it weren’t for the fact they were magical beings that would hurt you just by touching them, they were probably big enough that people could ride on them.

Their main way of attacking was to fly into enemies at high-speeds, but they were also able to split up the magic that composed them and launch that as an attack as well.

In total, fourteen of these things had appeared.

Salamander was still going strong, too.

The smile returned to Galluk’s face.

“Heh heh heh... I don’t know why, but it seems like you can resist Salamander’s breath attack... But I bet you’ve never been surrounded by this many Summons before! We haven’t had to trap anything like this since the time a monster from the Man-Eating Forest appeared. You could say that this only happens when there’s an incident that could be called a ‘disaster.’ You will regret having defied the Mage’s Association!”

Now this was a shock.

At some point, it seemed that he had gone from fighting with Galluk to making the whole Mage’s Association his opponent. The fact that this guy had basically said “I am the Mage’s Association” scared him for a whole different reason.

Not only that, but judging from the way he spoke, it seemed Galluk thought these Summons to be quite powerful.

He just didn’t feel satisfied knowing that. These Summons were the first ones you could get in the game.

Since a monster from the Man-Eating Forest would be around level 60, these things wouldn’t even make a good shield, let alone be able to take on said monster.

It was a mystery.

—Why are the levels in this world so low compared to the game?

Seemed like he would have to look into that later.

Right now, he had to focus on the problem at hand.

Galluk and the others had called their Summons purely to settle a personal grudge.

He had thought of the Mage’s Association as a logical and neutral organization...but that was just naive thinking on his part.

It was hard to think of it like that when there were people in it like these guys, who just did whatever they wanted.

“Are you all being serious?”

They remained silent, but showed no sign of backing down.

Galluk laughed.

“Heh... Heh... Heh heh heh! Lost your nerve? But you’re the one who made this happen, you know! If you had just known your place from the beginning, you wouldn’t have to die here!”

Unfortunately, he seemed to be serious.

If his opponents were coming after him with the intent to kill, even if it was to protect himself, he would not hold back.

If they were going for the kill, humans were just as dangerous as any monster. He could not afford to let his guard down by holding back.

“Do not expect any mercy from me.”

“Die, Demon! Summons, get him!”

The Summons moved on Galluk’s signal.

He was assaulted by Salamander’s Heat Breath and long-range attacks from the elemental Spirits.

It was a torrent of light made up of four different colors.

However, Diablo felt no need to avoid it.

No matter the attack, it was certain to be weaker than his magic defense. Not only that, but if you attacked with different types of elemental magic, some of them would conflict with each other. So, for example, a water and a fire elemental spell would cancel each other out.

—Have these guys never practiced using multiple attacks at the same time?

He could just scatter them all using his own magic. Or...

—Now’s a good chance to try out a few things.

First off, he wanted to know his own physical strength.

A Demon Sorcerer like Diablo was supposed to have low attack power. There were monsters that resisted magic, however, so there may come a time where he would have to get up close and attack directly.

—I wonder how much I can do right now?

Diablo approached Salamander.

The Summons kept up their attacks, but it was only enough to make him see spots of light in his eyes.

He stopped in front of Salamander.

It was big enough that he was looking up to see it.

He couldn’t help but say a quick prayer.

—Please don’t let this be over with just one hit.

If he was going out of his way to test his strength, then he was hoping this thing would be sturdy enough to handle it.

Diablo took up his “Tenma’s Staff” and swung it sideways, striking Salamander in the neck.

It was as if he had waved some mist away.

Then, like it had been cut with a sharp sword, the giant Summon’s head fell clean off of its body.

As red lights danced around it, Salamander disappeared, leaving a black crystal on the ground.

A defeated Summon would turn into a black crystal, meaning that it couldn’t be used for a certain period of time.

Diablo sighed.

“It was way too weak.”

He was hoping it would have been able to take at least one hit from a Demon who specialized as a Sorcerer. It seems he had been wrong to expect anything from a level 30 lizard.

Galluk’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets.

“Wha......? Ah, n, no! Don’t falter now! H-He only got one of them, that’s all! Wh-What are you all doing!? This is our chance! We...we can beat him! Kill him!”

“If you were going to run away, then I had no intention of following you... But there’s no way around it any longer. Let’s check the elemental affinities for offensive magic.”

This was a system in the game where, depending on what type of magic you attack with, if your target was of the same elemental affinity or resisted that element, then the power of that spell would be reduced.

Fire was strong against wind, wind was strong against earth, earth was strong against water, and water was strong against fire.

Basically, this meant that if you used Fire elemental magic against a Water-elemental monster, then the power of that spell should be drastically reduced. That is what he wanted to confirm.

Diablo pointed his staff at one of the Water Spirits.

“Burst to pieces. ‘Explosion!’”

The resulting explosion caused by his magic hit the Water Spirit.

His conclusion—it was too weak to be used to gauge the effects of elemental affinities.

The Explosion that Diablo unleashed not only hit the Water Spirit he was aiming for, but engulfed the other Summons in the area as well.

On top of that, the after-effects of the explosion had gouged out the stone tiles from the ground, breaking them into pieces and sending them flying.

Not only did they strike walls of the buildings facing the street, but they even struck Galluk and the other robed members of his group.

Luckily, no one was dead... But the Summons had been completely wiped out.

—Well that was a failure. I guess I should’ve tried using a weaker spell on them.

Galluk sank to the ground, unable to stand up any longer.

“De... Destroyed... They were all destroyed...in one shot?”

His robed companions were in a miserable state. Some were crying, some letting out strange voices, some were venting their anger at Galluk, and some were just plain dazed.

Despite the fact that they were the lowest level Summons you could get, it seemed they had thought them to be powerful enough to take pride in them.

—You could pass that level just by playing the game for a week, though...

He understood that everything here couldn’t even be called an experiment.

They shouldn’t come looking for a fight with him again after a thrashing like that.

—Let’s just think of that as a good thing, that’s one less annoyance to have to deal with.

As Diablo went to leave, unexpectedly, Galluk called out to him.

“Wh-Who... Just who are you!? This can’t be... Something like this...can’t be...”

—Who am I?

He had been summoned, but was not a Summon. Nor was he a denizen of this world.

He was planning on becoming an Adventurer, but right now was different.

Diablo loomed over them.

Covered in wounds and stupefied, fear ran through the group of robed underlings from the Mage’s Association.

He faced them with a devilish smile.

“I am ‘Diablo,’ a Demon Lord who has come from another world.”

†