The Truth Around the Corner

1.

Once we passed through the mountains, our view opened up all of a sudden. An endless blue in front of us, with infinite cresting waves. The ocean. We had arrived at a seaside kingdom from a landlocked one.

“Rgh... The seabreeze feels amazing.”

“Hm. There’s about twenty kilometers between us and the ocean. You couldn’t possibly feel any seabreeze.”

Tiamat countered my sentiment. Why did she have to say things like that? Placebo’s a thing. The ocean isn’t less real just because we’re looking down on it from atop a mountain.

“I just wanted to enjoy the setting.”

“Because you’re human. Tia-o.”

The ridiculous back-and-forth had become a routine.

“Still, many have the same reaction as you, Mister Eiji. It’s a dramatic change of view.”

Mister Murdock laughed as he pulled the reins from atop the carriage. I was walking, by the way. We had been traveling for over a month. I couldn’t be the weakling forever. With a little tan as well, I think I was beginning to show my wild side, if I do say so myself.

“Only our boss man would brag about catching up to the average,” the much-wilder-than-I mountain of a man remarked.

Laugh it up. It was an achievement for me to be able to keep walking all day long.

“Now, now. He’s come a long way, Mister Baze. Remember, when we first started, he spent most of the day in the carriage. When he finally started walking, he’d give up in a few hours. Compared to those times the difference is night and day.”

Please, Mister Murdock. If your intention is to defend me, please stop talking.

“In any case, we’re on course to arrive at our destination by sundown. I’ve missed the sensation of a soft bed under my paws,” said Hieronymus.

Miss Eily walked alongside the refined gentlemen, and they seemed to be getting along smoothly. Human form? Cat form? Didn’t matter to this chick magnet. Disgusting.

As Hieronymus mentioned, we had been camping out the past few nights, as there weren’t any inns along the mountain pass. The first city after the mountains was going to be Mostail. As the second largest city in Noura, it apparently served as an entry point for travelers via land and sea.

The Murdock troupe intended to show their first performance in Noura at Mostail. Of course, there was no guarantee before they could speak to the lord or lady of the city and be granted permission.

“Are your permits ever denied, Mister Murdock?”

We had been traveling with the troupe for a while but I had yet to see that situation. It seemed unrealistic that the people of this world starving for entertainment would turn down traveling performers after they’ve already arrived at the city.

“It does happen. Sometimes the plaza is booked for another event, and other times they can’t be bothered with performances.”

“Can’t be bothered?”

“When preparing for battle, for example.”

“Oof.”

I wasn’t in peaceful Japan anymore. The lord/lady of a city had a completely different role than the mayors of Japan I was used to. They were tasked with running the city bestowed upon them by the crown, safe and sound. Fighting against bandits and monsters was part of the job description. That’s why they were granted decision-making powers and an army. The only reason I didn’t come across such a scene was dumb luck.

“If possible, I would like to keep our journey peaceful.”

“That’s what they call Chekhov’s gun, Eiji.”

Tiamat was right. All because of my stupid mouth, the Murdock troupe was facing a possible cancellation of their performance in Mostail.

“As if. This is just a coincidence.”

“Hm. Who are you trying to convince?”

When we arrived at Mostail, I could feel the tension in the air. Apparently, an army of monsters came close to the city, where battle ensued. The opposing force of ten thousand was mostly comprised of goblins and orcs, with a few ogres and cyclopes, too. That was more than a decent militia.

Even if the city fought them off from their walls, the city would take hits. And if enough enemies breached the walls, to the point where there were too many to eradicate, Mostail itself would fall. That would be a critical loss for the kingdom of Noura, as they would lose their trading post out west and their major seaport. The safest tactic was to keep the battle a siege and protect the walls while waiting for reinforcements from the capital... but even that was risky.

Things weren’t looking good. Faced with an uphill battle, Earl Mikhail Agamemnon, Lord of Mostail, made a daring decision. Not fighting the monsters head-on nor defending a siege, but guerrilla warfare, utilizing his army of one thousand. They used the shadowy forest, the dark of night, hunting traps, anything they could to lessen the number of the monsters. In fact, they were fighting like typical monsters themselves, appearing out of nowhere and disappearing again.

Of course, there were reasons behind choosing this unusual strategy. First, they couldn’t very well only defend Mostail. There were neighboring towns and villages that were unprotected. Things would turn very gruesome if the monsters changed their targets to those towns and villages. Being innocent civilians, many would die without much of a struggle. Farmland would be decimated, too.

“Most importantly, a soldier’s duty is to protect their people. Being under my command was your misfortune. I need every single one of you to give your life in exchange for at least ten of those monsters. A thousand of us, and ten thousand of them. That would eliminate us both from this world.”

That was a quote from the earl’s speech upon deployment. Moved by his determination, his loyal warriors forsook both their pride and chivalry as soldiers and knights, turning into monster-hunting machines.

With their elaborate armor cast aside, they blended into nature with mud smeared all over them. They hid in the shadows, picking out monsters one by one. Apparently there was even a battalion that took the place of one of the monster’s teams, then got close to other monster teams before stabbing them in their backs.

This was, in no way, how the honorable Knights’ Order was expected to fight. But they found pride in nothing else but protecting their people. Therefore, they wanted nothing but victory.

Earl Agamemnon’s army fought on with tragic determination. While they succeeded at slowing down the monsters, there was no way that their tactic was going to last. The one thousand plus Earl’s army had lost half of its soldiers already, and the remaining half was becoming too exhausted to function as a military. They had taken down 20% or so of the monsters with them, but the other 80% were still going strong.

The Earl had no other option but to have faith that the royal army of Noura was traveling fast during the few days’ time his men had bought... and to turn the battle into a siege, ready to die with his castle.

This is when we arrived. A traveling troupe of performers waltzing into the depressing atmosphere. I couldn’t tell you how painful the glares of the guards were, prodding as if to say “What the hell are you doing here?” Well, we couldn’t help it. How were we supposed to know what was going on when we came in from the other side?

“I’m sorry that you’ve come all this way, but we don’t have the luxury to enjoy such things at the moment. Moreover, this city will soon turn into a battlefield. I implore to leave, quickly.”

Earl Agamemnon did grant us an audience, though, and said this to us. It translated to ‘go back the way you came.’ While he looked exhausted, he seemed like an excellent man to me. Still, we couldn’t very well take his offer and run.

“I think that this, too, is a part of our world-saving endeavor.”

Tiamat shrugged her shoulders.

2.

Tiamat, Baze, Hieronymus, and I volunteered to join Earl Agamemnon’s army. I was sure that the Earl didn’t account for F-rank adventurers being of much use, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted all hands on deck. Every grain of sand towards tipping the scale. Then, I told the Murdock troupe to leave Mostail.

“There’s no point in running if the city is to fall. With our slow pace, we wouldn’t get far anyway.”

Mister Murdock rejected the suggestion. I didn’t try to convince him any further. He was absolutely right, and running from the city in no way guaranteed their safety. If monsters decided to go around the city and chase after them, they would be done for.

“Besides, there’s no time left to run.”

“Yep. The bad boys are marching in, full force.”

Tiamat and Baze pointed out the monsters’ movement, sensing the situation. Of course, I didn’t have such instincts.

“They’re sick of the attrition, it seems. They must intend to break through the walls, ready to lose a portion of their army,” Hieronymus explained, like a military strategist.

This baron made sure he played all of the cool roles. Acknowledging his comment, I turned to Tiamat.

“How do you feel, Tia?”

“In this form, I doubt I can take care of all of them.”

In other words, she would have turned all of them to ash if she were in her dragon form.

“Baze and I will cause a distraction, while Earl Agamemnon’s men will push them out of the city. That seems like the rational course of action.”

“I think rationality has fled the country.”

She just claimed to be able to stop a monster army of eight thousand in their tracks, with just the two of them, both still in human form. This dragon princess.

“Can I be of any assistance?” Hieronymus asked.

“No need. You will protect Eiji. Without me, he wouldn’t even be able to best Eily.”

“Aye aye, lady commander.” Hieronymus bowed ceremoniously.

My pride? What’s that? I certainly didn’t expect to regain any here.

“Earl, it seems the enemy is on the move,” I said.

“What... are you...?”

Earl Agamemnon stared back, dumbfounded. No duh. The troupe of traveling performers that could not have come at a worse time just refused to leave a worn-torn city and began plotting like they had a chance. I couldn’t blame him for thinking we were nuts.

“We’ll distract them to make an opening. At the right time, you and your men have to finish them off.”

“What are you...”

“Earl Agamemnon. Mister Eiji and Miss Tiamat are Hermits,” Mister Murdock chimed in.

Thank you. Oh, thank you. I thought I was going to be forced to say it myself. Given the Japanese consider humility a virtue, that would have been an embarrassing experience. Very embarrassing.

“Excuse us, we’re going to climb on top of the city wall.”

The wall that contained Mostail was about three meters high. It looked pretty sturdy, but it was no fort. Just a thick wall, with no equipment to fend off enemies nor archers’ stations atop it. Tiamat, Baze, and Hieronymus followed me... as well as the Murdock troupe, for some reason.

They carried drums, gongs, and other instruments with them. Then I realized their plan. They were an improv troupe, after all. They planned to accompany our heroism with music. The old storyteller was even warming up his throat, rubbing it with his hand.

“Mister Murdock? This is real war.”

“Is there such a thing as fake war, Mister Eiji?”

The troupe leader grinned.

The gong blared through the air. Four silhouettes stood atop the city walls with the steady beat of heavy drums in the background.

“Hear ye, hear ye!”

The storyteller’s voice rang. From how we were standing, it must have appeared like I was the one talking.

“You filth who dare desecrate this city, blessed by the Hermits!”

There that old man went with his nonsense. We had just arrived at Mostail moments ago. What blessing was there to give?

“If you fear the wrath of the heavens above! Cower while you can!”

He kept going, throwing all sorts of things across the field. Of course, the monster army didn’t falter. An ominous cloud began to rush towards us from the southeast. Even though I was just told that there were eight thousand of them, I couldn’t see their numbers in person. To be honest, I was terrified.

“I’ll go right.”

“Then I’ll go left.”

The dragon and the Fenrir beside me made their plans cheerfully. So casual, like they were going for a little stroll.

The gong rang again. The next instant, a bright light tore through a chunk of the monster army! It was Tiamat’s Laser Breath. How did she fire that in her human form?! Before I could ask that question—

“Long-range weapon out of the blue? Girl, you’re scary!”

Baze leapt, kicking off of the city wall and traveling over a hundred meters before landing in the middle of the enemies. He tore through the writhing goblins like he was mowing the lawn.

The troupe began playing some heroic music. The curtains were raised on our feast of blood and destruction.

“That can be scary in its own way.” Tiamat smiled. “I’m off as well. Be a good boy, Eiji.”

“Be careful.”

With a light peck on my cheek, she jumped off of the wall. I guess jumping down three meters was nowhere near dangerous for these two.

The monster army was slammed into the depths of chaos...

“Baze the Star Breaker and Tiamat the Dragon Princess. The Hermits’ sword. The Hermits’ shield.”

...accompanied by the storyteller’s song. Before I knew it, many residents of the city had climbed the wall to cheer on Tiamat and Baze. Wait a minute. These people were solemn and depressed a minute ago.

“Lord Eiji. The enemy will break soon. An opportune timing.”

Hieronymus ceremoniously gave me his advice, standing beside me. The monsters struggled to regain their formations to no avail. Baze tore apart any defensive formation they tried to take, and Tiamat blew through any concentrated attack formation with her Laser Breath. They were trampling those monsters. With a nod, I shouted from the bottom of my gut:

“Open da gates!”

Urr. A little Hokkaido dialect came out. Still, my meaning didn’t seem lost, as the city gates opened with a rumble. Lined up behind it were Earl Agamemnon’s soldiers, 450 of them in all. They were hurt and exhausted, but their eyes burned bright with fighting spirit.

“Behold! The brave warriors charge!” continued the storyteller.

He was explaining even the obvious stuff because not every person in the city was able to see it happen. This was the same in their usual performances, where they didn’t have a proper theater or stage to perform on. In order to make sure everyone in the audience knew what was happening, they had to employ a little over-narration. The gong rang furiously as the music climaxed.

“Charge!”

With the earl’s call his army ran out, as fast as a loosed arrow. Horseshoes tore through and flattened the monsters. Bravely, Earl Agamemnon himself was leading the charge. At this point, something came up beside him: a Fenrir, his brimming white fur blowing in the wind. Before he even had the chance to wonder if the Fenrir was an enemy, the earl was on its back.

“A hero is chosen! By Baze the Fenrir, Hermits’ Sword!”

The people roared in response to the storyteller’s declaration. Riding Baze, Earl Agamemnon kept shouting for his army to charge, swinging his longsword while engulfed in the crowd’s excitement. He was the hero, no doubt about it. The earl’s army, almost too energized, charged even faster.

3.

After that, everything happened so fast. Our team of 450 (+2) decimated the monster army of eight thousand in a single blow, literally. I doubted that there were more than a thousand monsters left. Having given up on the battle, they began to flee. While they still had the earl’s army beat by numbers, they were losing by every other standard.

“We won, Lord Eiji.”

“...Yeah, we did.”

The city was already in party mode. Victory had come in one glorious swoop from a hopeless situation. Who among them could contain themselves now? Still, I couldn’t help but withhold my reply to Hieronymus for a moment. Not because I was suddenly scared of the massacre I helped orchestrate or anything.

“Is something the matter, Lord Eiji? It seems to me that something is troubling your thoughts.”

“Lord Hieronymus. Is it in a monster’s nature to retreat so cleanly?”

“Hrm?”

Hieronymus gazed toward the distance, following my line of sight. The monsters were retreating as they gathered each other from every corner of the battlefield, keeping the injured in the center of their horde, and watching their backs.

“...No, that does not seem right. No sense that goblins and orcs can execute those strategic movements.”

“Indeed.”

Tiamat, transformed back into her dragon form, landed on the wall with a few flutters of her wings.

“Tia. You’re all right.”

I sighed in relief. I knew that she was stupidly powerful, but that still didn’t make me eager to send her out onto the battlefield.

“A piece of cake! ...Is what I want to call it, but it became a little too difficult for my human form, so I turned back. Same with Baze, I assume.”

Hm. Did that mean she actually had a tough fight on her hands, despite the nonchalant attitude?

“None of us fear a horde of a hundred goblins, but Lord Syfer’s team would. Is that what you mean, Lady Tiamat?”

“Mm-hm.”

I understood what he meant, too. The most definitive difference between an army of monsters and an army of humans is order. Humans are much weaker than monsters, and that’s a fact. We don’t have the body of an elephant, the fangs of a lion, the speed of a cheetah, or anything like that. While there were a few warriors who could handle several ogres in this world, they were unmistakably the exception.

At our core, humans are weak. For our weight class, we are the weakest in the animal kingdom. Yet, humans rule the world. Even in my homeland of Hokkaido, it wasn’t the Hokkaido wolf or the brown bear that was crowned champion, but humans. For simple reasons, too. Humans fight together. Humans implement strategies. Humans think ahead about what needs to be done to secure that victory. These things are huge, you know.

Monsters, though, don’t do any of that. They attack on instinct and flee when they fear for their lives. Or else they fight to their deaths without any forethought. A monster could defeat a human, but monsters could never defeat humans.

“They began to retreat, seeing that they didn’t stand a chance after our attack,” Tiamat said.

“They lost almost nine-tenths of their army.”

“That’s the thing, Hieronymus. Losing 90% is a miserable defeat, but what does nine thousand mean to orcs and goblins.”

“...Indeed, not much.”

Goblins and orcs, apparently, rapidly multiplied. I believe this is the case in most fantasy pieces too. I’ve never heard of an endangered goblin species.

“Perhaps their commander is even content to have a thousand left.”

“So you think the monster army has a brain, Lord Hieronymus?”

“Indeed,” the handsome gentleman confirmed. It was fishy that an army of monsters was after a crucial trading port to begin with. Their attack was clearly strategic.

“Monsters waging war...”

I pondered that with my arms crossed. I couldn’t help but imagine the worst. That being said, Earl Agamemnon’s men moved too well to be afflicted by beriberi. With war, people can’t afford white rice and start to mix in other grains. I had heard of that scenario. By this point, it had been almost two months since I first heard it. Was it all a coincidence?

“What’s wrong, Eiji? You don’t look too good.”

Showing concern, Tiamat came at me with the tried-and-true.

“You don’t mind if your boyfriend doesn’t look good, Tia?”

“Not that I fell for your face to begin with. I was after that sweet, sweet bod.”

She was grinning. What a lousy fiancée she was. Just watch the tears form a river down my cheeks.

In any case, we had won. The city of Mostail erupted, and the earl’s soldiers returned to be greeted with a storm of hugs and kisses from the girls of the city.

The one most adored, though, was Earl Agamemnon, who had fought valiantly on Baze’s back. He looked as glorious as a legendary hero... before rushing towards me and kneeling before me, in a sign of swearing his loyalty. This happened just as I had climbed down from the city wall. I didn’t really need that kind of thing, though. I would only make more unnecessary enemies now.

“Sir Eiji. Master Hermit. My words fail me to thank you for saving our city.”

“The credit belongs to you, Earl Agamemnon. We only lent a small helping hand.”

I took the earl’s hand to stand him up.

“And so the hero earns the Hermit’s trust,” the storyteller proclaimed, as loud as he could.

Someone stop that old man.

Why did he have to narrate that kind of thing, just at the right moment? No one’s tossing you coins, you know?

“Sir Eiji...”

“It’s not a show of humility. There would have been no victory without you and your army holding them off until now.”

If they had been defeated before we arrived, we naturally would have had no way to help them. Guerrilla warfare was the right choice, too. In order to combat that, the monsters formed an attack on the city while expecting to suffer casualties. It was indisputable that Tiamat and Baze could fully utilize their strengths only because the monsters were attacking through the front door.

If their method of attack was sneakier like monsters usually were, even Tiamat would have had a hard time dealing with them. It wasn’t amiss of me to say that most of the credit was due to Earl Agamemnon. We just happened to be here at the right time and took advantage of the situation.

“That being said, we did put some work in. I don’t think anyone would criticize you for buying us dinner.”

I winked. Maybe that was too much showboating. But asking for a meal wasn’t just to look cool; I wanted to know what they ate. The earl brightened his expression. We weren’t asking for money or titles nor making unreasonable requests like meeting the king. Our demand was the best-case scenario for the lord of Mostail.

“Mm. Not that you put any work in, Eiji. It was mostly Baze and I who put in the work.”

Tiamat tossed in this jest at the perfect time. Thanks, partner.

“You didn’t have to tell them that, Tia.”

Of course, I jumped on it, and the crowd laughed. It was a pretty good icebreaker. Of course, Tiamat and I didn’t want to make a living as a comedy duo... just in case that was unclear.

“If we were not at war, we could do so much more...” the earl said.

“Please. We’re travelers. We would almost feel uncomfortable with an excessive celebration.”

“You are too kind.”

“At war, you said?”

“Yes...”

The earl lowered his voice, somewhat.

A month ago, the monsters suddenly became much more threatening. They were no longer creatures that adventurers could hunt down. They were organized and efficient.

“As if a king has appeared and began ruling over them...”

I felt a chill as the distinguished earl whispered this.

4.

The celebration began. Boy, was that a storm. Who could have asked them to keep it down when their prospect of being overrun by monsters changed to a victory in an instant? The saved-up food and drink were released, and the Murdock troupe brightened the party with song and dance.

There was an incredible crowd at the city’s central plaza, reminiscent of the Nebuta festival in Aomori. As I recall, that festival is also a celebration of victory, celebrating Sakanoue no Tamuramaro’s conquering of the Emishi people. That’s why it’s a no-holds-barred party.

It has a unique chant that apparently came from people chanting for ‘more and more’ celebratory sake. The fact that the haneto dance has no rhyme or reason to it is because of the same reason, I bet. Drinking while jumping up and down from the excitement of victory. No sign of etiquette there.

That’s exactly how Mostail was. Baze and Agamemnon were holding each other’s shoulders, singing a song off-key. The beautiful women of the city were dancing a fast dance with Hieronymus. They all seemed to acclimate to the city just fine. I had decided to step away from the commotion to watch the crowd, just because I felt like it. You know, as a descendant of the conquered Emishi, I had a hard time jumping into this victory party.

“Hm. The Emishi that Sakanoue no Tamuramaro conquered were in no way the people of Hokkaido.”

“Right-a-roo.”

Emishi meant ‘the people of Ezo,’ but Hokkaido wasn’t called Ezo until modern times. To be more specific, the first use of the word in that way was at the end of the feudal era in Japan. That didn’t mean that no one occupied Hokkaido at the time. The Ainu lived there, of course.

“Even the signature chant of the Nebuta festival is theorized to have derived from the Ainu language. While we’re at it, Kyosuke Kindaichi explored the theory that the word Emishi derived from Ainu, too.”

He was a famous linguist in Japan, by the way. Her trivia DLC strikes again.

“What do you think, Tia?”

Of course, I wasn’t asking about the Nebuta festival nor the Ainu language.

“The timing is too perfect to brush it off as a coincidence.”

The course of this world’s history changed after my death. The Inspector had said that beriberi casualties drastically decreased afterward. I didn’t choose that world though. I refused to solve the issue by war and demanded a redo. The history we were writing now was one where Eiji the Hermit was not killed, so Syfer and Millia did not flee the country, and Azur and Noura won’t go to war.

“But the answer was shown.”

“Mm-hm. I agree, Eiji. I think the god of this world learned from your mistake.”

I didn’t ask that the god learn. It was obvious. During war times, day-to-day luxuries are taken away. Beriberi wouldn’t stand a chance, just like it didn’t in Japan during WWII.

“Theory: The god of this world summoned someone else. Not as an aid for humans, but for monsters.”

“Agreed. Then, everything makes sense,” said Tia.

The kingdom of Noura was at war with strangely organized monsters and their newfound strategic tactics. It was outlining this one possibility.

“But, why now? If summoning can be done willy-nilly, wouldn’t it be much easier to tweak the history of when Shizuru was here?”

No need to bring in Mister Fix-it. The god of this world just had to kill the hero on the spot after he defeated the Demon Lord. None of our current problems would have surfaced. It just seemed that everything the god of this world did was reactionary and didn’t quite hit the mark.

“Time is irreversible, I assume. I think the god can deal with what has happened, but not remove the source of the problems.”

“I got a do-over, though.”

“And who made that happen?”

“Right.”

It wasn’t the god of this world. The Inspector had done that. And she had called it the card up her sleeve. That’s not something you have an abundance of. It’s a one-shot move to turn the tables.

“History was changed, and a war-free future was beginning to be realized. If this isn’t in someone’s favor, there’s only one thing to do.”

“Oh boy...”

Summon someone, not as a hero, but as an enemy to the people, to save the people. It may sound ridiculous, but it wasn’t all that complicated. It is said that any human organization (a country, for example) needs a common enemy to bond together. What had the prolonged peace in this world brought?

That was an ironic question, though. The same could be said about Japan: did the Japanese people mentally grow through the past seven decades of peace? Well, even if I didn’t bring up extreme examples, I hear that, in most retail locations, the employees have a good relationship. They have a common enemy: the customers.

“That is extreme to another degree. You owe a sincere apology to every retail worker.”

“I am terribly sorry.”

“Mm. So the next person summoned this time is an enemy to humanity.”

“There still is the question of whether or not being reborn or transported here as a non-human species is possible.”

“I’m the precedent of that. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

That’s right. Here’s the woman who turned into a Dragon. And that’s more scary than Atsushi Nakajima’s “Sangetsuki.” In that story, it was only a tiger.

“Perhaps this person was convinced to stand up for the monsters oppressed in this world.”

“That’s ridiculous...ly probable.”

“Mm.”

It is just a difference in points of view. Goblins, and other monsters, were only nuisances in the eyes of humans. Naturally, they were hunted down and killed. But monsters were not created to become human prey. They had their own lives and the right to live them. Why were they hunted down, when all they wanted was to live their lives?

If humans had to eat them to survive, then it couldn’t be helped. Each species for their own. But did humans need the monster fur and fangs to survive? Were they only hunted to make human life more convenient? Did humans own this world?

“Those are arguments we hear all the time on Earth, just for animals instead of monsters.”

By conservationists and animal rights groups. I don’t think they’re wrong. If Earth had a heart, it might wish for humans not to exist. Humanity, like an ungrateful child, has only hurt our Mother Earth. Still...

“That, too, is merely a talking point of humans.”

Tiamat jumped in. I agreed. At the end of the day, humans are humans. Nothing more and nothing less. We can try speaking for the animals, but even then, it’s only human assumption. The same thing was happening in Noura too, I imagined.

“This isn’t a battle of humans against monsters.”

“Mm. Humans against the person controlling the monsters.”

We chuckled together. Of course, none of this was backed up by facts. Just a guess, based on prior knowledge and bias.

“Time to churn our brains, Eiji. How do we take care of this situation?”

I crossed my arms. We couldn’t leave it be. If war worsened, there would be countless casualties on both sides.

...There was no point in pretty words, though. I wasn’t concerned with casualties on the monsters’ side. Baze and Hieronymus were good friends of mine, but this was another matter entirely.

“First, we have to find the enemy’s headquarters.”

“To cut the head off?”

The dragon crooked her neck.

5.

“It’s not that we’re going to start a fight,” I answered as we watched the overjoyed residents of the city.

The torches were casting deformed shadows on the stone-paved roads. Before we knew it the sun had completely set, surrounding us with the dark of night. Still, the people showed no signs of settling down. In fact, the party raged even harder. I wondered if many of them would be able to get to work tomorrow. Perhaps they got PTO for hangovers.

“Mm.”

Tiamat’s response was short, probably because she knew exactly what I meant. Thanks, partner.

“There’s no point in winning that fight.”

Exactly. Why the god of this world summoned another person from our world, I didn’t know. Only god may have known. Literally. There was something I did know, though. Now that the god has summoned one, it didn’t make a difference to summon more. Even if we defeated the one who was summoned this time around, the god of this world would summon someone else. Our battles would never end.

“Besides, war is never better than peace.”

I tightened my fist. The hero had planted some seeds of destruction for this world. That much was indisputably true, and I couldn’t defend that. He had brought over something that should not have existed in this world yet. No choice of words would get him a decree of innocence. But no one could deny his achievement of defeating the Demon Lord and establishing an era of peace.

“Even if Shizuru the Hero destroys this world as a result, I will never condone summoning a Demon Lord to correct that course.”

“I mean, I’m happy you’re that passionate about my brother you’ve never met... But what are we going to do, specifically?”

Tiamat seemed a little embarrassed. A brother of hers might as well be a brother of mine.

“Talk.”

“Talk, huh? Wasn’t that how you were killed before?”

Yes, indeed-io. Totally taken off guard. My big mistake.

“I won’t fall for it again. Negotiations are what I’m good at, anyway.”

“I thought you were a lowly bureaucrat and not a crisis negotiator.”

Don’t call me lowly!

I mean, it was true. I called myself that all the time, but it was annoying when someone else did it.

“I don’t take care of the concerns of our city’s valued citizens for my own enjoyment.”

No one goes to the city clerk’s office just to vent or anything. Precise answers and specific suggestions are always required of us.

Take questions about taxes, for example. That isn’t something that I can ever answer ‘don’t worry about it’ to, nor give them some sort of discount. So I’m left talking about how they can pay their taxes. Can they pay it in installments? How much of their income could they put towards it each month? That’s the kind of discussion I have with people who come to me. If they still have trouble paying their taxes from poverty, I show them to an appropriate department.

We’re not just there to let people vent, but to set up real solutions. That’s my kind of talking.

“A little different from my kind of talk.”

“Right.”

Tiamat was a school counselor in Japan. According to her, the first priority of counseling is to listen. Specific solutions are not often expected of them. Lecturing is out of the question. It was completely different from bureaucratic discussions.

“So, what are you going to talk about?”

“How to coexist.”

“That’s a big one. Humans and monsters to coexist? You think we can do it?” Tiamat laughed.

It wasn’t going to be easy. Humans and monsters coexist in many fantasy pieces without issue, but I had a good idea of how difficult that really was to achieve.

Monsters ate humans. As long as that remained true, cohabitation was impossible. Unless one or the other was completely caged or something. Of course, that was not coexistence, but the set up of owner and pet. There are zoos and bear farms in Japan, too; who could claim those setups to be coexistence? The difference in how we obtain nutrients was a wider divide than most imagine.

“Isn’t it a little dismissive to give up on discourse without even trying?”

“That is true,” Tiamat agreed.

Just because the enemy started a war, it didn’t mean we had the option of giving up on all forms of contact. Brawling to the death was just too idiotic.

“We’ll find their base and negotiate with their boss. I suppose that will be our angle.”

“Yep.”

Tiamat and I shrugged our shoulders. I thought we were contemplating peaceful plans like researching seafood and finding rice bran or a substitute for it. It just didn’t seem like this world was willing to give us peace.

We decided that we would hunt down the surviving monster army. The day after the massive party in the city, I told as much to Earl Agamemnon, who was clearly hung over.

“They are powerful and multiply quickly. If we leave them be, they will soon regain their strength and attack again, as many times as it takes. In order to prevent that, we have to go for the head.”

“Oh, my... To think that you all have Noura at your hearts, Sir Eiji...”

“Not particularly. Nations and borders don’t hold that much importance to us. We are here to save people. That’s it.”

Whether they were from Noura or Azur didn’t really matter. As a result, we were just going to end up helping Noura.

“Master Hermits...”

“That being said, we are unfamiliar with the land in Noura. It would be of great help if you could provide us with a guide. And any passes you can print would be a big, big help.”

This (a little pushy) request was actually to give us a bit of ethos. I was technically an F-rank adventurer, so there was nothing suspicious about me traveling down the main roads for no reason. Since Noura was at war, all people would think was that I was here looking for mercenary work. I didn’t think we would get lost too easily either, since we had Tiamat’s DLC packs on our side.

On the other hand, if we could wave the Earl’s figurative banner, and have his people accompany us, we could roam much freer. Use every connection you have. That’s the Eiji style. I explained all of this to Earl Agamemnon, too. If we were to upset him and be rejected, that was fine by me. It was against my beliefs to use people through deception. If I was going to use them, I would disclose that fact up front.

“You would make for a poor politician, Sir Eiji,” the Earl laughed.

Yep, I know. Already been assassinated once. No big deal.

“I understand your intentions. In that case, please allow my son to assist you in your journey.”

With that, he introduced us to a young man named Ruey Agamemnon. He had spectacular red hair and a gentle face with a body built like a sable. He wasn’t as feral as Baze, nor as neat as Hieronymus, but seemed like an honest man. About as tall as me, too. His stature was extraordinary for someone of this world.

Another looker! One more good-looking guy joins the party! Why am I being surrounded by these guys?! If I was a woman, I might have enjoyed the situation like Don’t fight over me, boys! Teehee! but I, unfortunately, am a man. I had no wife or children, but I did have a fiancée... albeit a dragon fiancée.

“Sir Eiji. I will serve you to the best of my abilities!”

Ruey straightened his back. Oh boy. What a refreshing young man.

“Thank you, Lord Ruey.”

“Please. Just call me Ruey.”

Why are you blushing, Ruey? People might get the wrong idea.

I felt a pat on my shoulder, and turned around to find Tiamat in her human form. Giving me a thumb’s up. I’m sorry. I didn’t have a clue what she meant by that gesture. What were you expecting of me, mi amor?

6.

We ended up parting with the Murdock troupe at Mostail. We couldn’t very well keep traveling leisurely on a performance tour. I was going to miss all of them after spending all day every day with them for the past month, but it couldn’t be helped.

“We part alive. We shall meet again, if luck be on our side.”

Mister Murdock extended his right hand, and I firmly took it.

“Yes, we shall.”

We were both grown men, so neither of us cried. I held back the heat welling in my eyes. From the corner of them, I could see Eily and Hieronymus saying their goodbyes. She was embracing him with tears falling down her cheeks. Woah. Lord Hieronymus?

You didn’t cross the line, did you?

When we met up again, it wasn’t going to be funny if Eily was holding a baby in her arms, much less one with cat ears and a tail.

“And so our paths have parted. When will the sun rise to the day we meet again?” the elder narrated. Good.

Mister Storyteller, I hope you never change. Take care, old man.

Now we didn’t have much time to waste. We departed Mostail when it was still early in the morning. We were already a night behind. Even though we were traveling lighter than them, it was possible that there was already an unrecoverable distance between us. However, we had already traveled here, so we didn’t need to pack anything new. And Ruey was a warrior before he was the earl’s sun, so he only packed the essentials. Once we said our farewells, our steps were light.

“Can you track them, Lord Baze?”

“No probs. With this many tracks, I don’t even need to sniff.”

What a reassuring Fenrir. We estimated that there were one or two thousand surviving monsters. If such a large group traveled together, they would naturally leave a trail. Not just tracks, but traces of food and feces, too. There were more than a few members in their party, and it was impossible to completely cover their tracks.

“The thing is, they’re in a pretty big rush.”

“You can tell that much?”

“Their strides. Humans have longer strides when they run too, don’t they?”

“Oh, I see.”

I understood, looking at the tracks Baze was pointing at that most likely belonged to goblins. They were shorter than humans, and naturally had shorter strides than us. However, the tracks left behind were paced like a human jogging.

“They were sprinting, most likely,” said Tiamat.

“They wouldn’t last long, then,” Hieronymus answered.

I agreed. Goblins, humans, or any other bipedal species aren’t really made for running, due to air resistance. Actually, quadrupeds keep their body as low to the ground as possible when they run in order to prevent as much resistance as possible. Which was also why bullet trains are bullet-shaped. Higher resistance means more energy expended. That’s why humans can’t sprint for long. Same with monsters, I assumed.

“Suppose they fled the battleground as fast as they could,” said Tiamat.

“Seems plausible.”

Come to think of it, it didn’t seem feasible for them to travel all the way from their home base to attack Mostail. They should have some sort of base nearby, whether they set it up or conquered an existing settlement. The monsters had a general that came up with attacking Noura’s main port of trade. They would certainly have employed basic strategies like that.

“Why are my good ideas always tardy?”

I sighed. Pretty pathetic, if I do say so myself.

“That’s because you’re neither a military man nor a warrior, Eiji. You’ve lived your whole life without interacting with political or military strategy. It wouldn’t make any sense at all if you were suddenly a strategic genius after coming to this world.”

Tiamat consoled me. She was absolutely right. I was just a little bureaucrat, with no experience in politics or war. I had lived a peaceful life, without so much as being called in during a natural disaster. On the other hand, we were in a predicament where we couldn’t get away with ‘I never learned that, sorry.’

“It could be an ambush.”

“Mm. Seems plausible.”

The obvious retreat, the obvious track, and most likely a base ahead of us. A trap? Set up to lure in and decimate Earl Agamemnon’s army following their tracks. By numbers alone, there were more than a thousand left of the monster army, and less than five hundred of the earl’s men. It was no contest. It wasn’t too far-fetched to think that the monsters would try to pull us into their home field, rather than fight us out in the open where they had a disadvantage.

“It could be dangerous to pursue any further,” Ruey said, carefully.

“Yep,” I agreed.

One’s thoughtlessness and the preference for flashiness is usually proportional. Ruey was the only one in our party with an expertise in military strategy. If I wasn’t going to honor his opinion, there would have been no point in bringing him along.

“Shall I advance alone and scout it out?” Hieronymus suggested.

After a moment, I shook my head. If our enemy was a gang of bandits or something, one Cait Sith could take care of them. This time, though, they were a vicious monster army. They could spot him even if he tried to conceal his presence. If they did, he could be captured and even killed. I couldn’t take that risk.

“Let’s be careful. Lord Hieronymus, this time, we should look before we jump.”

There could come a time where we would have to gamble. No, there definitely would be such a time, but that wasn’t now. There was nothing to gain from taking a risk here.

“Our plan isn’t to attack them, anyway. We just need to follow them slowly and carefully so as to not lose their tracks,” Tiamat concluded.

There was no need to catch up to them and finish them off. There was no need to fight at all, in fact. The monsters were undoubtedly headed back to their home base. It would have been stupid to jump right into the traps they set to protect against follow-up attacks. So we continued following them.

Two days had passed when we came upon the abandoned base of the monster army, where we had expected them to ambush us.

“No trap, and not a soul to be found. What’s going on?” said Baze, after doing a lap through the place.

In the sudden clearing in the forest, a poorly constructed fort (most likely by goblins and orcs) stood on its lonesome.

“I... get it... That’s what happened...”

Ruey stood still, defeated.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sir Eiji. I am so sorry. They got us good.”

Of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. Was it that bad for us that there were no monsters here?

“It’s that bad, Eiji. Hieronymus and I took a little walk just now.”

“Their tracks can be found in every direction, making it difficult for us to tell which directions they retreated in. Isn’t that so, Lady Tiamat?”

Ruey finished Tiamat’s thought, as she returned with an exasperated expression. He was only double checking.

“Mm. Wool over our eyes.”

“What? What do you mean, Tia?”

“My father once told me... just making the enemy consider a trap can disrupt their decision making.”

Ruey was the one who answered me. Expecting an ambush, we followed the trail slowly. That was the monsters’ trap all along. In that time, they set up the place to conceal the direction they took, making for a successful escape. Our carefulness gave the enemy enough time to do it. If I had at least taken Hieronymus’ suggestion for him to scout out ahead, we could have avoided this situation. It was all too late, though.

“We leaned too far over the edge to look before we jumped, and fell right in. They won this round of mind games, Eiji. Hands down,” Tiamat said.

“What a mess...”

7.

We couldn’t spend all our time lamenting our loss. If it meant that our situation would improve, I would happily dance the Para Para or the Lambada, but that would be totally pointless.

“The former, by the way, is a disco dance born in Japan during the late 1980s; the latter was born in South America. They were both popular around the same time, but many discos at the time banned the dances for being too provocative.”

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Tiamat. But why was she waving me over? I can’t dance the Lambada.

“You just said you would. What a filthy liar you are.”

“Only if it would... Sorry. I lied. I can’t dance the Lambada or the Para Para. Please have mercy on my soul.”

I begged desperately, yet self-deprecatingly. I mean, it kind of felt like Tiamat would pull all sorts of tricks and solve our problem just to make me do the dance. No? Just me?

“Hm. Think about what you did.”

What a generous gesture of forgiveness. Damn it. Just you watch, one of these days I will make her rue this moment!

“Right. Ruety-rue-rue.”

“Errrrkk!”

“Tracks lead in every direction except due west, where we came in from.”

Disregarding our stupid conversation, Ruey was contemplating our next move, holding a map open.

“The discussion as to which tracks are real may be pointless, Lord Ruey. We have no way of discerning whether they plan to rendezvous somewhere or plan for each team to return of their own merit.”

Hieronymus was the one discussing with him. So sorry. I really am the useless one.

“There are the most tracks headed east, out of the bunch. That’s their main party.”

Even Baze sounded more reserved than normal. We couldn’t help but be more trepidatious after falling for their trap once.

“It could be a mislead to make us think so, or it could really be the direction they went in.”

Ruey shrugged. Someone once said that the most effective traps are set on your opponent’s mind. Determined not to fall for it again, we were being timid. Even though we knew that the enemy did this to buy time, we hesitated to take swift action.

“It would be a foolish decision for us to split up, too,” said Tiamat.

“Yep.”

Since I had no combat skills, I would pair up with Tiamat. Ruey would partner with Baze, and Hieronymus, who had smarts and situational awareness, would go solo. We could have split into three, but what was the point of breaking up our already meager force? Once we split up, it wouldn’t be easy to make contact with each other, either.

“Thought Speech can only go about a kilometer, max,” Tiamat added.

Maybe we could use it while we were in a town, but that was about it.

“Oh.”

“Light bulb, Eiji?”

“Let’s go in the direction with the least amount of tracks.”

“How come?”

“Because it’s probably not their biggest party.”

I needed to explain myself. If we try to catch their main party, we would be disappointed if we were wrong. Then, why not go in expecting one of the decoy parties?

“You go down the wrong path first in dungeons too. There could be treasure chests at the end.”

Stick to the correct path, and you might not get a chance to crawl that dungeon again. I wouldn’t want to leave a collectible behind.

“In video games, maybe.”

“Right. There’s no reason to go the long way in real life. But we don’t know the right path, anyway.”

It wasn’t important for us to pick the right path. No matter which set of tracks we followed, there would be monsters at the end of them. And those monsters would eventually return to their home base or meet up with the main party.

“And, maybe if they’re really small in numbers, we could capture them and make them talk, I think.”

A monster put in charge to lead a separate party could be a higher-up in their army. I didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but that monster could very well have some information.

“Hm... Not a bad idea, Lord Eiji.”

Hieronymus, who had been pondering my suggestion, cracked a grin. Beside him, Ruey gave a big nod.

With Baze back in Fenrir mode leading the pack, we restarted our tracking. Baze guessed that we were following a group of fifty or so, but couldn’t make out an accurate number since many of the tracks were covered or planted.

“An attempt to throw us for a loop. They have that much intelligence, at least. We mustn’t underestimate them.”

“Indeed.”

Tiamat and Hieronymus poofed out of their human forms. Since we weren’t in a town, there was almost no point in staying human. It seemed more beneficial to be ready to use their full power, rather than be a little more concealed.

We were headed south, generally speaking. Tiamat was beside me, as Ruey led our party and Hieronymus remained rearguard.

“I wonder how much distance they’ve put between us.”

“Not sure. Most likely two or three days’ worth,” Tiamat answered.

With some simple math, that’s about sixty to ninety kilometers. Although, since we weren’t traveling along a road but through the woods with poor visibility and uneven ground, I doubted that said distance was unrecoverable. Especially when there were so many more of them than us. There was no reason for their party to travel faster than us.

“If we keep going in this direction, though, we may be in for a little bit of trouble,” Ruey said, holding the map in his left hand.

We were in the woods as we spoke, but were coming up on a travel road if we kept heading south. Naturally, there were also towns and villages in that direction. I couldn’t predict whether or not the monsters would simply travel past any settlement. Even if they tried to, the residents of those settlements could overreact. Would they choose fight or flight? The latter would be all right, but there would be bloodshed with the former.

“Definitely want to avoid that.”

“When you say things like that...”

“Boss Man. I smell blood in the air.”

Baze gave a sharp warning, interrupting Tiamat.

“See. Nice tee-up.”

“My fault?! Was that my fault?!”

“No time to goof around. Your call, Boss Man.”

Baze was right. I made a snap decision.

“Let’s catch up to the source, quick. Can you go ahead, Tia? Lord Baze?”

“No. It would be too dangerous to divide us here,” said Tiamat.

“But going as fast I can isn’t quick enough.”

“Forget it. Boss Man. Ruey. Hop on.”

“Okay.”

I felt like I would have been scorned for turning him down, so I climbed onto Baze’s back... with Ruey’s help. There was plenty of room on the Fenrir’s back, even with two grown men on it. In fact, his fluffy fur was very comfortable. Tiamat’s scales were cold, and not fluffy at all. And she wasn’t big enough for me to ride on her back.

“Let’s go. Hold on tight.”

With a kick off of the ground, Baze accelerated. It was fast. And scary! There was no way I could sit up anymore. I held on to Baze with all of my limbs. He was sprinting in the woods, weaving through the trees. A roller coaster would have been a little less thrilling than this.

I kept my face down too, to keep any branches from flying into my eyes. Then Ruey covered me, protecting me with his own body. I was grateful, but what did that say about my role in the party?

The air roared passed us. As my vision closed in, I spotted Tiamat and Hieronymus. The dragon princess was flying very low and very fast, while the feline gentleman ran like a predator on the savannah. Right. Being on Baze’s back seemed like the safest option, after all.

8.

We came to the crime scene within minutes. The goblins were attacking a town. While some armored residents, perhaps a town watch, were fighting them back, they were clearly losing. Their numbers were too different to begin with. Against the twenty or so residents, there were nearly one hundred goblins. They didn’t stand a chance.

“Tia!”

“Mm. Lowest setting to not destroy the town, got it.”

Still flying low to the ground, Tiamat opened her mouth. Then a beam of light swiped through the air with a roar. Her Laser Breath. A dozen goblins evaporated without so much as a scream.

Dumbfounded, the humans and monsters pause their brawl. While the pause only lasted long enough for a few grains of sand to fall in an hourglass, that’s all Baze and Hieronymus needed.

Ruey jumped off with me in his arms, and the Fenrir sped up faster and ran straight through the group of monsters. A beat later the heads of those goblins flew off, setting off fountains of blood. What was he, Blade Liger? Where was his blade, anyway? Besides, I thought he was a wolf, not a mix of a lion and a tiger.

“Lord Baze puts on quite the show.”

Hieronymus grinned like a mad cat. He waved his right front paw in a swish. That’s all it took for the goblins to turn their weapons against each other. The sudden betrayal sent the enemy battalion in a tizzy, naturally. Hieronymus’ spells were pretty nasty too. Seizing that opportunity, Ruey charged into battle, swinging his sword left and right.

“We came to help! Now’s our chance! Fight back!” he shouted.

The town’s warriors shifted from hopeless, to astonished, and now overjoyed.

With powerful roars, they attacked with renewed vitality. The battle was decided right there. Without putting up much of a fight, the goblins were taken out one by one. It was a matter of time before they were all killed. However, leaving every last one of them dead wasn’t too good for us. We needed to gain some information. Since we could no longer follow the party back to home base, we couldn’t let that information slip away.

“That looks like the leader over there. Let’s take him alive.”

Tiamat, who had been standing beside me, flapped her wings and went. I always wondered how she could fly with those little wings. I don’t think the laws of aviation applied to her.

She went directly to the large goblin she pointed out. A boss goblin, goblin chief, or the like. Dodging the slashes of its sword (dealt with an off-key scream), Tiamat grabbed the goblin by its neck and threw it high up in the air like a volleyball. Of course, a goblin couldn’t fly like a dragon could. It started to descend according to gravity. Tiamat caught the goblin with her tail, and tossed it right back into the air again.

I realized what this was. I read it in a comic book once. It’s the thing brown bears do to their prey to make it completely give up on resisting. After three or four tosses, the goblin boss sulked powerlessly. She didn’t kill it, did she?

As Tiamat was toying with it, the rest of the goblins were annihilated. I doubted that all of them were killed, though. Since their boss was being toyed with, the goblins were cowering, completely in retreat mode. A few goblins weren’t too much of a threat to a town though. The town watch or an adventurer could take care of them.

“Looks like that’s a wrap.”

Tiamat came back, dragging the dizzied goblin boss. What a wild girl she was.

“Let’s tie him up, I guess.”

I didn’t expect the goblin to fight back anymore, but we couldn’t very well leave him to his own volition. I didn’t know any fancy knots, but I figured if I just tangled him up with the rope... That’s when I realized that Mister Donkey wasn’t with us! He had all of my stuff! Right. We had left him behind when we hopped onto Baze.

“What am I going to do, Tia... Donkey gone...”

“You’re a grown man, don’t cry. It’s pathetic.”

“But...”

Mister Donkey had all of my things, including my wallet, food, and water. I’d lost everything.

“He’s headed our way at his leisure. Now that we’ve caught our breath, Baze or Hieronymus can go get him.”

“For real?! He’s not a lost little donkey?!”

“He can handle himself twice as much as you can, Eiji. Don’t worry.”

I didn’t know about those numbers. Only a double of me was still pretty bad.

I turned around to see someone running toward us from the town. It was an old, skinny man, most likely the mayor. He greeted Ruey, full of gratitude. He must have thought that Ruey was our leader. I get it; I would have thought the same!

Assuming that Ruey would explain our situation for us, I went back to keeping an eye on the goblin. Oh, I did have my shortsword drawn from my belt, by the way. I didn’t think I’d hit anything if I swung it, but keeping a weapon drawn would deter the goblin from putting up a fight.

There seemed to be a lot of injuries to the people of the town too, as Hieronymus was over there casting healing spells. He really was a jack of all trades. No wonder girls liked him. Soon the man from the town was brought to us by Ruey.

“Master Hermit. Thank you for saving our town from certain death.”

He dove to the ground. Not kneeling, but completely flat on the ground.

“Please, stand up. Of course we would help anyone being attacked by monsters. Anybody would, Hermit or human.”

I sheathed my shortsword and gave him a smile. I had passed on the duty of goblin-watch to Ruey. Baze walked past us, apparently to go get the donkey.

Godspeed, good man! That donkey has everything of mine!

As I thought of those things, I helped the man up. There were rushed introductions. His name was Dolitos, the mayor of the town of Wulds, which was about a tenth of the size of Mostail. I thought that would make Wulds a village, but in this world, the population of a settlement didn’t determine its classification. If the people called their settlement a town, it was a town. With how small it was, of course, there was no army there.

Dolitos was another representative, appointed by the noble that owned these lands. If I delved into this representative system it would get really complicated, so the short version is that powerful people in a village or town are usually the ones appointed for the job. So, most of the time, a representative was also the mayor.

What the town had was a town watch. Sometimes adventurers would join in, but there was no one officially trained in a military or specialized in strategy. They were at a level where they might have been able to deal with goblins of the same number as them.

The total number of town watch members and adventurers in Wulds was only sixteen. They wouldn’t have stood a chance against a horde of a hundred goblins. There was no option to run, either, as their town was being attacked. Mister Dolitos had resigned himself to death, too. That’s when we came in.

“Lord Eiji. Everyone has been treated. Fortunately, no one was embraced by death.”

No deaths. That was the best news we could get. I remember seeing some people with very serious injuries, but Hieronymus took care of them.

“That’s great. Then we just have to make him talk and tell us where their home base is.”

“Indeed.”

“On the other hand, we are a bit worn out. I think we can wait ’til tomorrow to restart our chase,” Tiamat said.

I agreed. Since we came upon a town, I certainly wanted to sleep in a bed. A little expectantly, I glanced at Mister Dolitos.

“In that case, please stay in our town.”

He returned a generous smile to us.

9.

Having safely reunited with Mister Donkey, we were going to spend the night in Wulds. I was a little worried that this small town wouldn’t have an inn, but to my surprise, we were invited to stay in the mayor’s manor. The VIP treatment.

With food and booze, it was a party. He had even brought out the pretty ladies to serve us. Which was definitely unnecessary. I had a fiancée, and the very lady was sitting next to me. Under the guise of her human shell, she was a dragon. If I dared cheat on her, she could very well eat me raw. Head first. Crunch crunch. Without even any seasonings.

In any case, the safe bet was to redirect that kind of service to Ruey. I stuck to conversing with Mister Dolitos.

“I must confess, I don’t know how to act in such an extravagant welcome, Mister Dolitos.”

“Please, Sir Eiji. You’ve already refused a reward. At least let us do this much, for our sake.”

That being said, I wasn’t going to rob this not-so-affluent town of any money. Especially when the battle earlier had caused some damage. There were no deaths, but fixing up fences, buildings, and farms could be pricey. No one in his position should be handing off a small fortune to some adventurers who dropped by.

“I appreciate the offer, but please mind your own time. Winter is fast approaching, and you can’t have enough food stocked.”

If he gave us too much food, they might struggle to make it through winter. In fact, no rice was served to us. As a town by a forest, I imagined that they hunted for their food a lot. With lots of meat on the table, their main source of food was rye bread. Dry, crumbling rye bread. Like the ones we packed on our travels. When that sort of thing is served, I couldn’t help but think that they didn’t yield much rice that year.

“Actually, we don’t grow rice in Wulds,” Mister Dolitos smiled, having picked up something from my expression.

That was surprising. This was our first meeting with non-rice-eaters.

“I see. Everyone I’ve met on my journey ate rice, so I assumed that was the norm.”

“We buy rice from traveling merchants when they bring it, but they’re not on a schedule. We stick to these.”

Tearing off a piece of the rye bread with his teeth, he washed it down with a wine-like liquor. Good thing he had healthy teeth and jaw.

“Is there a reason why you don’t grow rice? I think it’s a very efficient crop.”

“We don’t get much water. Our wells are enough for us to get by, but not nearly enough to manage rice fields.”

“Really?”

I raised my brow, but also understood. There had been several rivers and springs in the forest we passed through. It must have been my modern mind that gave me the idea of digging a canal from one of those water sources. That would be a major project. Not something they could start at the drop of the hat, and they would need some knowledge of hydrological engineering.

“So that’s why you grow rye?”

“Before my time, we used to grow wheat, but rye grows in worse soil, at the end of the day.”

With a nod, I glanced at Tiamat to request an explanation. I didn’t know the difference between growing rye and wheat.

“Both rye and wheat are harvested from the same field. Since it was similar to wheat, the rye plants were left untrimmed. Then, the ones most similar to wheat continued to survive. Over dozens of generations, rye evolved to become similar to wheat.”

And, since rye plants were weeds to begin with, they can apparently grow in soil too weak to grow wheat in. Rye was amazing! Talk about an underdog.

“Long ago, when the entire world was burned to ash by the Demon Lord, our hero gave us rice. However, when our ancestors were lost, having discovered that our land was unfit for growing rice, they found a grain sprouting in the burnt field. Rye.”

I hadn’t heard of this tale before. So that was the background for my brother-in-law popularizing rice. He didn’t just bring over Kirara 397 for his personal preference. Now, co-ed bathing was definitely introduced only for his personal interest. He was a teenage boy, after all.

“Now it makes sense. Your fighters are healthy because you don’t constantly eat rice.”

With that, I told him of the beriberi epidemic in Azur. Not to scare him, but to basically illustrate that everything should be had in moderation.

“Mm. Brumotactillophobia is bad for you.”

Tiamat jumped in for the assist. But what was with the technical language? Mister Dolitos was staring back at us blankly. I tried to rephrase it, but I couldn’t come up with an alternative. This was the fear of one’s food touching another kind of food. Eating one dish at a time at a meal is considered rude in Japan, and it really didn’t improve one’s health either.

“AKA being an isolationist.”

“Right. If you knew the layman’s term, I wish you would have opened with it.”

“But did you know the layman’s term?”

“Touché.”

I’d never heard of the non-technical term.

“In any case, overeating is not healthy. I see,” Mister Dolitos laughed after watching our comedy routine. We are the beloved Hermits. Damn it.

Wulds was a small town, but they had a jail. Of course they did, I should say. Any settlement needs a facility to keep criminals captive. This world wasn’t so la-la to say that there were no criminals in a small town.

A shadow approached said jail. It was the dead of night after the sun had completely set. The figure was in all-black, hiding their face with a mask. Noticing the figure, the goblin leader approached the bars of his cell. A rescue, he must have thought.

Just as he was about to cry in glee, the figure in black stopped him by holding up a single finger of his left hand in front of his face. Catching the drift, the goblin covered his mouth with his hands. The next moment, the figure’s right hand seemed to blur. With the goblin’s hands still where the mouth used to be, his head fell to the floor of the jail cell with a ludicrously light note.

With a glance at the pitiful goblin, the figure in black turned to leave... and froze, as they locked eyes with me, who had been watching this event unfold. This fly on the wall was found out.

The figure acted quickly. They sprinted without a word, a charred dagger flashing in their hand. The weapon they just used to kill the goblin. The figure charged me, trying to kill me, too. We were just a few steps apart. I had no way to dodge the attack.

Still, the attacker’s blade never reached me. After a whish, the figure in black backflipped. More accurately, Tiamat’s tail slammed into their face straight-on, flipping the figure and dropping them on the ground headfirst.

The nightscape shifted as the rest of my party emerged. Ruey rushed over and tied the figure behind their back after making sure that they hadn’t been killed.

“Came to tie up loose ends. Rather thorough of them,” Hieronymus chuckled, his mustaches dancing.

It was a simple trick when it came down to it. We had been concealing ourselves with his spell. Invisibility, he called it. We went through the trouble because the goblin we had captured was too unyielding. He gave up no information and didn’t fold to any of Baze’s threats, despite the fact that, accordingly, monsters usually can’t disobey a creature above them.

Guessing that the goblin was confident of an incoming rescue, we set out a trap. We thought that the goblin would finally break if his rescue team was captured too. However, the one who appeared wasn’t a rescuer but an assassin. I couldn’t help but move to try and stop the act, which caused the spell on me to break and our eyes to meet. I had no excuse for myself.

“We simply have a dark elf prisoner instead of a goblin one now. This one may be a little more reasonable,” Tiamat said, as if to reconcile my mistake.

Ruey tore off the assassin’s mask, revealing bright silver hair that flowed in the wind.

10.

“Grr! Kill me!”

The dark elf glared at us as she was bound by Ruey. Her skin was as black as night, contrasting her silver hair. She had onyx irises in her elongated eyes. She was ridiculously beautiful. That being said, I never thought I’d hear that line in real life. Please. That made it sound like we’re the bad guys.

“Now, now. Don’t get yourself excited.”

I tried the understanding approach.

“Don’t touch me! You filthy human!”

I didn’t touch her, nor did I even try to. What a false accusation. This was her reaction for me taking a step towards her? She was treating me like some sort of virus. What was she, five?

I wasn’t too immature as to become enraged at that poor excuse of an insult, but I had to acknowledge the difficulty level of our negotiations to come. She had no intention of hearing out anything we had to say. That being said, if I went and said something like ‘I have no tongue to speak to you with!’ there would be no negotiations to speak of.

“I have no intention of torturing a prisoner of mine, but I don’t appreciate the insults. We may be standing on opposite sides of the matter, but I don’t think any civilized person would insult their opponent for that. What do you think?”

“Wha...?!”

The dark elf flapped her mouth after I said this to her face. Hm. Susceptible to common sense, it seemed. Then there was room for discourse. There are people in this world that counter logic with rage. You can’t negotiate rationally with those people, but only appeal to their emotions. We were fortunate that this dark elf was not one of them.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Eiji.”

“...Cielz,” the prisoner answered after enough time passed for light to travel three million kilometers.

She must have had quite the internal conflict. I didn’t mock her in any way, of course. I only wore a gentle smile and made a suggestion.

“Let’s talk somewhere else. No one can feel comfortable talking next to a dead body.”

Inside the manor, it was as silent as... well, that wasn’t a good start to the simile. In the hall where the party was hosted, a bunch of drunks were snoring in a dog pile. A horrendous display of naivety.

“Where are you headed, Sir Eiji?”

Mister Dolitos, who was still awake, approached us. Good. With a brief summary of the event, I explained that we were going to ask our prisoner some questions, and asked him to take care of our ex-prisoner’s body. Everyone would surely be surprised to find a dead goblin there in the morning.

“Understood. I’ll tend to it immediately.”

Mister Dolitos agreed, albeit surprised. He kicked one of the town’s watchmen to wake him up. Kick. Kick. What a hostile work environment. Chuckling, we entered the room provided to us. To be accurate, it was Tiamat and I’s room.

Come to think of it, I had spent most of my time in this world sharing a room with her. I mean, there was nothing wrong with an engaged couple sharing a room, but perhaps there was something wrong about us not having acted like it at all. I was over two months into celibate life. Since this hadn’t really bothered me, I must have been more beta than I thought.

“Now, we actually only have one question for you, Miss Cielz,” I said, sitting down on the bed.

Miss Cielz still had her hands tied behind her back. Even though my wild friends had my back, I couldn’t very well untie her in this situation. The dark elf stared back from her seat.

“You have a leader, don’t you? We would like to meet them. Will you tell us where they are?”

I went straight to the point. In truth, we weren’t sure that there was such a being as a Demon Lord. However, it just wasn’t feasible for stray monsters to act that organized. To split up their army and execute a coordinated retreat? No one without experience in war would have come up with that, to be honest.

And it probably wasn’t a coincidence that the goblins attacked the town either. It must have been one of their strategies to slow down the trailing army, with even someone to keep an eye on the battle to keep it somewhat under control. I shuddered, realizing how thorough they were.

“...And then what, human?”

Miss Cielz answered with a question after another long pause. A natural question.

“I wanted to speak with them.”

“About?”

“Things that have happened. Things that will happen,” I said, in a slightly showboaty way.

The dark elf wore a thin scowl.

“Humans and the Dark Side speaking of the future? Ludicrous.”

A full-blown mocking tone. Perhaps the divide between us was wider than I’d thought.

“So much so?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how humans have treated us.”

She glared at me. Hmm. I never knew that to begin with.

“My apologies. I am a Hermit, and don’t know much about the turmoil of this world.”

I intentionally used my title because our conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Until this point, people had usually reacted to the title of Hermit. I was expecting a similar reaction here.

“Hermit?! You accursed Hermits!”

Miss Cielz’s reaction, however, was the opposite of what I had expected. She stomped the ground, widened her eyes, and enraged like she was going to bite me. In fact, if Ruey hadn’t kept her restrained, she would have definitely attacked me. And literally bit me, since her hands were tied.

“You Hermits! Who decimated us nearly to extinction a hundred and fifty years ago?! What could you possibly have to say now?!”

Oh. I got it now. The Demon Lord was vanquished by Shizuru, the hero. When he did, he could not have just gotten rid of the Demon Lord, isolated. The Demon Lord’s henchmen/women must have been destroyed too, or at least nearly destroyed. Guessing from the context clues I had so far, Miss Cielz and the other dark elves were on the Demon Lord’s side. Of course she was holding a grudge. And the hero was a Hermit too.

Oops. I really messed up, bad. I should have known that not everyone would be welcoming of Hermits with open arms. That was a no brainer, and it still slipped my mind. Those Isekai fantasies are the only worlds in which affirmation is given unconditionally. I had made a similar mistake in the past with Tiamat too. I hadn’t learned anything from my mistake. I was pathetic.

“Hm. That may be true, but who are the dark elves to play the victim? Nearly to extinction? Who massacred all of the elves in this world, again?”

Tiamat came in with this sarcastic question. She had come to my rescue after I had fallen silent. I shot my trusty partner a quick glance. She gave me a little nod.

“...”

Miss Cielz had no response.

“I’m not blaming you for it. Both sides are at fault. I only mentioned it to prove the stupidity of war.”

Still in her dragon form, she managed to shrug. In an attempt to destroy the world, the Demon Lord had made many species extinct. Erased many nations from the world map. Then, a Hermit appeared. Shizuru, the hero, stood in the way of the Demon Lord’s army in order to save humanity.

By the time the human army he led had vanquished the Demon Lord, both the Demon Lord’s army and the human army had suffered much. Most of the world had turned to ash. In the century and a half since then, humans managed to regain this much prosperity.

That’s what Tiamat explained to me, and gave me a look that said ‘I bought you time, now wrap up the negotiation.’ Got it. I didn’t fumble that ball with writing on it.

“Miss Cielz... We don’t want to recreate the war of old. I want to speak with your leader in order to prevent such an event from happening again.”

I stared directly into her pitch-black eyes. I was going to make it or break it.