Chapter 1

It was almost spring, but Goren was still riding the high it had reached during all that Dragon business. Which is to say, even after the Dragon left (as part of the trick), nobody really left. A ton of the adventurers were still there, and some of them even wanted to become villagers themselves. So much so that the Guild was posting forest logging quests to clear space for expansion. Sweet Christ, why is this happening?

And so, I hid myself with {Ultra Transformation} to go around asking people why they were sticking around in Goren. The results won’t shock you.

Third most common answer: Beddhism.

“’Cause I really like Beddhism. They let you read books if you join, y’know. It’s great.” —Villager

“Some real nice people teach you to read there. Even I know my letters now.” —New Adventurer

“The church here is so filled with nice people I just end up spending all my time there.” —Tsia City Resident

“The nuns are cute as heck.” —Farming Villager

“I heard Beddhist weddings are wonderful.” —Woman Adventurer

Second most common answer: Work or Business.

“It’s easy to go to both Tsia and Pavella from here. There’s always carriages going to Tsia, for instance.” —Traveling Merchant

“There’s a lot of unique stuff from here that sells really well, like that ‘sake’ stuff. It’s nice that there are high quality Iron Golems in the dungeon to hunt, too.” —Merchant with a Carriage

“Thanks to the tunnel putting Tsia and Pavella closer together, I’m making tons of money.” —Merchant

“I got hired by the Dyne Company, so yeah. This town’s a real comfy place to be.” —Part-Time Merchant

“I think the strange foods here will be elucidating for me. The purin in particular was something else.” —Chef

“We came here looking for rice. We’re actually spies from Wakoku, so.” —Part-Timer at the Bar

Most common answer: The Dungeon.

“This town’s perfect for dungeon spelunking. There’s the beginner-friendly [Cave of Greed] right around the corner, and veterans can head to the nearby [Flame Caverns] without much trouble. What more could you ask for? There’s the Tsia Dungeon too, if you don’t mind walking the distance. This place is great.” —B-Rank Adventurer

“I heard there was a place that would pay you just for sleeping. How could I not go?” —D-Rank Adventurer

“I’m just here to see a newly-born dungeon grow.” —Dungeonologist

“The beer from this dungeon tastes fuckin’ great. Wouldn’t be wrong to say I’m just here for that sake stuff.” —Beer-Loving Adventurer

“Iron Golems are just a good source of money, y’know?” —C-Rank Adventurer

Bonus answers: Stuff About Me.

“What could be safer than a town with a chief that fought off a Dragon? Ain’t no other towns like that around. Not even Tsia’s archduke could do that, I think.” —Villager Applicant

“I just wanted to meet the Beddhist pope. Are you a Beddhist too, mister?” —Beddhist Disciple

“I heard that the onsen inn run by the Goren pope was something else. And it sure is! I’m staying the night again.” —Inn Customer

“All the workers in the town chief’s inn are super cute. I hope the town chief dies. Don’t you agree?” —Villager

“I heard the town chief here gives land and seeds to anyone who settles down here.” —Farmer Applicant

“Word is that the town chief is a young, single man. I’m gonna make him mine.” —Single Woman

“People told me that the town chief’s friends with Wataru the Hero. I was hoping he could put in a good word for me.” —Person Who Wants to Serve Wataru

“I heard he’s a Dragon-slaying legend. Hope I can wrangle him into giving me a training session one day.” —Warrior

“I used to live in Tsia’s slum, y’know, but she changed everything. Right now I’m on a journey in search of Her. My soulmate.” —Thuggish Guy

...Yeah, those were pretty awkward. Especially that last guy. I’m not sure how he sniffed out that I’m the one who destroyed the slums, but I don’t know about any of that soulmate junk.

I-I mean, I did call that section just a bonus, but there were a lot of answers about me. Maybe things would cool down if I left Goren for a bit. Luckily, I do need to go to the imperial capital to be decorated for my feats or whatever. Surely this Dragon era of Goren’s history will all be over by the time I get back. Surely. Please.

In truth, the best way to deal with surges of activity was to maintain your silence and do nothing. Humans are troubled creatures that soon get bored of things that don’t react to them.

So that was why I went back to sleep after waking up in the still-cold morning. With all the fuss outside, I didn’t want to leave my room if I didn’t have to. And, well, if that meant I had an excuse to chill in my room all day, that was fine with me.

As a nice bonus, I told the church to learn to handle mass without me since I would be leaving town soon, which meant Rei the High Priestess and the Succubi nuns were taking care of all that for me. Kinue and the Silkies were handling the Dancing Doll Inn, while Neruneh and Elulu managed the dungeon. They can make do with all the Golems I put in stock ahead of time. I believe in them. I truly do.

It was hard to deny that the town’s defenses would be hurt by my party and Gozou’s leaving, but, well, not many people out there would attack a town with an Adventurer’s Guild office. Even if a group of bandits or something did attack, pretty much everyone in town was an adventurer. There was a lot of firepower waiting to go off. They’d be safe even if monsters started overflowing from the dungeon. Though I could guarantee that wouldn’t happen.

In short, my current job was to entrust all the work to my subordinates and watch over them warmly. Doing nothing was my actual job! And so, with Niku as my dakimakura (having taken no shifts in work anywhere), I went to go back to sleep yet again.

“Keima! Keima! KEEEEEIMA! I know you’re awaaake! I’m coming insiiide!” Rokuko burst into my room.

“...What’s up?”

“I just got word from Core 219 that Wataru’s at Tsia.”

“Oh, alright. Guess he’ll be coming here the day after tomorrow or so.”

“Niku, be sure to get all your stuff together, okay? Like Kinue’s hamburgers and stuff.”

Niku gave a nod. The good thing about {Storage} is that since time stops inside of it, you can eat freshly cooked food whenever you want it.

Incidentally, Rokuko would be tagging along with us to the imperial capital. It may seem weird that she would be joining us when she hadn’t participated in the Dragon hunt, but consider Haku’s tastes. Yeah, all that confusion just goes away. Gozou and Roppe are coming too, I guess. Better give them a heads up too.

“Don’t forget to bring a lot of DP so we don’t run out,” added Rokuko.

“Good point. We can just stealthily use DP to get whatever we need, whenever we need it.”

“It’s not heavy or anything either, so yeah, we can go wild. DP sure is strange, isn’t it?” Rokuko found physical DP weird, but to me it was just like batteries. “We need to leave some for the dungeon, but the Core we leave here will just keep building up more DP, so... Right. Let’s bring 500,000 DP between the two of us. Surely we won’t run out with that much.” 500,000 DP, huh? Sure going all-out here.

“...Ahahaha, I never thought I’d have so much DP I could talk about storing it like this. I sure have grown, huh!” It was true that she was a far cry from how she used to be, with both an empty DP store and an empty head. I nodded without saying anything. 500,000 actually was enough to build an entirely new dungeon from the ground up somewhere, after all.

“Wait, why did Core 219 contact you anyway?”

“Hm? I mean, I went ahead and made it so we could contact each other easier. You know that, um, meeting room you made with Core 112? I made something Core 219 calls a salon to mimic that. I just finished it recently.” When the...? I checked my map and saw that indeed, there was a room built in between Tsia and Goren. It was locked off in solid matter just like my meeting room, such that it could only be entered through dungeon functions.

I took a closer look on the monitor and saw that one wall was the familiar rocky face of the [Cave of Greed], one wall was covered in vines like the [Garden of Light], and one wall was made of red surface rock like the [Flame Caverns].

“It’s connected to the [Flame Caverns] too?”

“Uh-huh, I wanna drink tea with Redra too. Core 219 loved it. Ahem. There’s nothing more dramatic and fashionable than a tea party with a legendary Dragon! My muse sings at the very thought, she said.”

“Ahhh, I see, I see. Just be careful not to end up owing her any favors,” I said, to which Rokuko smiled and said she had actually made Core 219 owe her some favors. Man, this girl sure has a head on her shoulders now, huh? It’s nice to have someone I can actually count on.

“Anyway, I’m off to tell Ichika to get ready too.”

“Alright. Later.”

“Later!” Rokuko left my room with a nice smile. You should get ready too, Ichika. Oh? You’ve already started packing. Good girl. Have a head pat.

Out of nowhere, Rokuko stuck her head back in my room. “Keima. I forgot to ask, but which do you like the most? Red, black, or white?”

“Huh? Uhhh... Black, I guess?”

“...Isn’t that a little bold?” What is she talking about? I can’t let myself think about it. As a man, that is not for me to know. Probably.

So, the next day, Wataru came. I welcomed him in the parlor of my chief residence. I had Neruneh guide him in like I always did to butter him up, but...

“...N-Nice to see you again, Keima.”

“Yeah, thanks for coming Wat— Who’s that with you?” Wataru had a girl with him today. It was my first time seeing her, so I could assume she was Wataru’s associate. She had loosely bound light blue hair the color of clear water, and bright red eyes that reminded me of someone I couldn’t place. Did Wataru finally get a girlfriend? Maybe I shouldn’t have sent Neruneh to honey trap him, then.

Neruneh stood behind me like a maid after guiding Wataru. Which naturally meant that we all ended up facing each other. This is kind of awkward.

“Errr, so.” Wataru, glancing in Neruneh’s direction, forced a twitchy smile onto his face and guided his companion to step forward. “Let me introduce you two. Keima, this is Princess Emmymephy.”

“...Huh?” Princess? Like, the imperial princess? Did I hear that right?

“Took you long enough, Sir Wataru. That is correct! I say, I am Emmymephy, the first princess and heiress apparent of the Laverio Empire. You can call me Mephy!” Oh shit, it’s a princess. She said so herself. There is no way she won’t end up being a huge pain in the ass.

“Well. I’m Keima, town chief of Goren. Nice to meet you.”

“...Wowee! You gave an awful grimace just like Sir Wataru said you would!” Oh, I let it show on my face? That’s no good.

“Wait, what the hell have you been telling her, Wataru?”

“Oh, just that you hate politics and stuff, and that if she introduced herself as the princess you would grimace and consider her a huge pain in the ass.”

“Wow. You sure know me well, Wataru. So why’d you bring her?”

“Hahaha! You’re being rude to the princess, y’know. A member of the imperial family being sent to get people for their award ceremonies adds weight to the whole affair, or something. It was an order from Haku. Ahhh, but uh, between you and me... this is actually her body double.”

“Yes, yes. I’m a body double, so worry not! Relax and call me Mephy!”

A body double. Yeah, I guess there’d be no need to send the actual princess on business like this.

“And I will follow Sir Wataru’s example in calling you Keima! Is that all well and good?”

“Errr, sure, yeah. Call me what you wish, Princess Emmymephy.”

“Call me Mephy. It’s best to distinguish me from the real thing, no?” Doesn’t matter to me. I’m gonna call you both Emmymephy. I don’t want to get close to either of you. Also, wouldn’t it be bad to distinguish between the real thing and her body double...?

“Keima,” began Wataru. “You’ll be better off just giving her what she wants. Otherwise, she’ll be pestering you about her name the whole way to the imperial capital.”

“Gah, seriously?” Right, right. Her coming to get me means she’ll be with me the whole way there. Man, what a pain.

“Fine. Understood, Princess Mephy.”

“There we go. That’s better.” Emmymephy grinned, which reminded me of Maiodore, the archduke of Tsia’s daughter. Maybe all nobles are like this...? Or wait, I guess she’s royalty, not nobility. Actually, as a body double she’s probably a noble’s daughter. Or maybe a commoner raised just for this purpose? Alright, time to stop thinking about this. She’s a princess and nothing more.

There wasn’t much point in talking while standing, so everyone but Neruneh finally sat down on the sofas.

“Wow! I say, it’s so fluffy and soft. I’m surprised a tiny town like this has sofas!” Emmymephy excitedly patted down it down. She seemed too tall to be a child, but maybe she wasn’t the type to act like she looked.

“Hey, Wataru. Is the actual princess like this too?”

“Yep. She sure is. This body double is a lot, LOT like her. So much so you may as well think of her as the actual princess, really,” said Wataru while casually avoiding eye contact. Yeaaah, something’s up here. And it looks like Wataru wants me to notice what’s up, so I’m just going to not think about it. Figuring stuff out usually leads to more work. Curiosity killed the cat, as they say.

“Anyway, everyone here is all packed. When are we leaving?”

“What?!”

“Huh? Is there a problem?” I blinked in surprise at Wataru’s stunned expression.

“No, I just thought that you hadn’t packed and would get all stubborn again about not going.”

“Of course not. I said I’m gonna go, so I packed ahead of time. Why wouldn’t I?”

“...Yeah, I guess you do keep your promises, Keima. Right.” Wataru nodded.

“Alright, wanna get going already? I don’t mind leaving right away. Gozou and the others all said they would be ready to leave as soon as you got there, Wataru.”

Wataru shook his head. “At least let us rest a night. We’re tired from our long journey.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. You can stay for more than one night if you really want, but... Princess Mephy is royalty, body double or not. She’ll be staying in the grand suite, I presume?”

“The grand suite! The First Empress told me all about how wonderful the grand suite is here!”

I had asked Wataru about the suite, but it was Mephy who beamed a smile.

“...The First Empress?”

“Oh. That refers to the founder and First Empress of the Laverio Empire, Haku Laverio.” Right. Haku made the Empire, how could I forget?

“Anyway, I figure that Princess Mephy can have the suite and you can stay in a normal room like always, Wataru. Can you cover the costs?”

“Princess Mephy will be covering her own room, so that’s fine. This bag has a hundred and thirty golds, enough for this month’s payment and everything else. If it’s not enough, ask for more at the capital.” Wataru took out a bag full of gold coins, which I accepted. It was as heavy as every bag filled with coins was.

“Roger. Those thirty extra coins will cover a night’s stay plus dinner.” I didn’t even need to count the coins, considering Wataru’s honest streak. Worst come to worst, I could just have a Register Golem count them later.

“One night’s stay? For a hundred and thirty golds?”

“Oh, a hundred of those coins are for Wataru’s debt. The meal and board are thirty golds.”

“...Sir Wataru, you borrowed money?!”

“Ah, hahaha... Kind of. I lost a lot in gambling.” Wataru gave a pained smile.

“What? You, the Hero of Good Fortune, lost in gambling?”

“That was the day I learned that my {Ultra Good Fortune} is never a guarantee. Really, you could say it was lucky that I learned that in a safe place.”

“...By the way, how much did you lose? Perhaps I could cover it for you.”

“Two thousand and three hundred golds overall.”

“Two thousand...?! That’s more than even I could easily cover!”

“Ahaha, well, I’ve already paid back half of it, and this is something I really need to handle myself, so don’t worry about it. I appreciate your willingness to help.”

“R-Really? I say, you truly are stout of heart, Sir Wataru.” Yeah, Wataru just wants an excuse to come to town and visit Neruneh. Which is something I still don’t get. What does he see in Neruneh when she’s basically a stone cold bitch to him all the time? He must be a huge masochist.

“Anyway, we’ll deliver the A-Rank dinner that Haku prefers to your suite, Princess Mephy. You can do whatever you want in your own room, Wataru.”

“Wait, you will be able to deliver a dinner for us on the day that we arrive, with no prior warning?”

“Uh, well. We are used to dealing with Haku coming whenever she wants.”

“What professionals! The royal will decrees that you are absolutely splendid!”

We’re honored by your praise, and all that. It actually would be pretty expensive to have the food ready to prepare and serve at all times. Hence the price. Though in our case, we can just buy it with DP in a snap.

“...By the way, Wataru... are you okay with this?”

“Well, if I had the money to stay in the suite, I would just use it to pay back my debt.”

I shook my head. “Not that.”

“Huh? Oooh... Er, ah, Neruneh?” Upon noticing my look, Wataru spoke to Neruneh. She was smiling her usual smile while standing behind me. She didn’t respond. Apparently she needed my permission to speak when serving as a maid and standing behind me.

“You can talk if you want to, Neruneh.”

“Mmmmmm, no thaaanks. I don’t think there’s anything to talk abooout.”

“I’m sorry! There are reasons for this, good reasons!” Wataru bowed his head so hard he basically smashed it against the table.

“What in the?! S-Sir Wataru, what has gotten into you?! Keima, the royal will decrees that you explain what you did!” Emmymephy panicked at Wataru’s sudden apology.

“Princess Mephy. This is my fault. Please don’t interfere.”

“But that can’t be! You are the pride of our empire, a true Hero! Surely you are not at fault!”

“Right, right. How could Wataru the Hero, the pride of the Empire, be at fault? I’m sure Neruneh will forgive you. Hahaha.”

“Master. There’s nothing to forgiiive. I’m not mad or anythiiing.”

Yeaaah, I can guess that Neruneh really doesn’t care at all. Honestly, I’m starting to feel real bad for Wataru.

“At least give me an opportunity to explain myself! By which I mean, would you care to have dinner together?”

“B-Rank.”

“Uh.”

“A B-Rank meaaal, for fifty silveeers.”

“R-Right! Consider it on me!”

“What about yooours? We’re eating together, riiight?”

“...Okay, I’ll get a B-Rank too.”

“Masteeer, I got you two B-Rank meeaaals.” Two fifty silver B-Rank meals equated to one gold coin. A pretty expensive dinner that, in Japanese terms, cost one million yen. Though it’s actually just a basic sirloin steak.

As I took the gold coin from Wataru, Emmymephy timidly addressed him. “U-Um. Sir Wataru.”

“Yes, Princess Mephy?”

“...Um, I say, what exactly is going on here?”

“Errr, well. Put simply, I’m making things up to her. I don’t want her to dislike me.”

“I say, is there anyone in the Empire foolish enough to dislike you, Sir Wataru?” Emmymephy was talking kind of strangely, just as strange as her quirk of saying “I say” all the time.

“Well, I’m just human, you know. Some people just won’t like me.”

“I could understand a villain or an enemy from an opposing state disliking you, but... Erm, I say, this is just a maid! How could she feel anything but awe and reverence for you?”

“What I can say, that’s Goren for you. To the people here I’m basically just a normal citizen,” said Wataru with a kind of shy laugh that shocked Emmymephy to the bone.

“...The royal will decrees that I say this, Sir Wataru, but this is you we’re talking about. I say, you’re among the top one hundred strongest fighters in the Empire, if not the top ten on a particularly ferocious day. Yet they would treat you as a normal citizen...?”

“Oh, Keima’s stronger than me.”

“I say?!” Now Emmymephy looked at me with utter shock.

“Hahaha, no way could I be stronger than a Hero. Wataru’s just messing around. Am I right, bud?”

“I mean, it’s just a fact that I’ve never beaten you once, Keima. I even lost to you in a fist fight during all the Dragon business that started all this, remember? You should know about that, Princess Mephy, since it was in the report.”

“I-I remember the report. Which reminds me! I say, Keima is the legend that tamed a Dragon!”

Oh right, that’s the story we went with... crap. This is all Wataru’s fault for not taking all the credit for defeating the Dragon.

Suddenly, a realization hit me. “Heeey, Wataru. You say you’re gonna eat dinner with Neruneh, but doesn’t that mean Princess Mephy’s going to have to eat alone?”

“Huh? Oh! Er...”

“I say, Keima is right. The royal will decrees that I will not be eating the First Empress’s beloved dinner alone!”

“Alright, Wataru. I’ll bring your food to the grand suite so you can eat with her. Neruneh’s too, of course.”

“Uh, er. Thank you...?”

I had said all that to be kind, but Neruneh’s eyes suddenly shone. “Aaah, but then Princess Mephy would be the only one eating something different, riiight? I think we should all eat the same thiiing. Right, Princeeeess?”

“That’s true. But I would like to eat the dinner that the First Empress approves of so highly.”

“Weeeell, there’s only one answer to that, isn’t theeere?” Neruneh looked at Wataru with a smile.

“.........”

“One answeeeeer.”

“...Keima, cancel the B-Ranks. I’ll be ordering two A-Ranks,” said Wataru while holding out nine golds.

“...Uh, man. Y’know what, I’ll cover Neruneh’s meal for you.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” he said as I took just four of the golds.

“...Spineleeess? Good for nothiiing?”

“...Keimaaa!”

Don’t tease him too much, Neruneh. If Wataru’s spineless and good for nothing, pretty much everyone in the Empire is good for nothing. Seriously.

Thus, it was decided that we would wait a night, then leave in the morning.

Oh, and by the way.

“I say, I am Emmymephy Laverio. The royal will decrees that you call me Mephy, please!”

“Oh, okay. Nice to meet you, Mephy. I’m Rokuko.”

Rokuko and Emmymephy’s first meeting ended without any fuss. In fact, Rokuko was so unfazed that Emmymephy actually looked surprised.

“I say, I am the imperial princess of the Laverio Empire.”

“I can tell that much from your last name. Right, Keima? It’s obvious.”

Rokuko was so unfazed that Emmymephy had directly stated her status. But Rokuko kept going without blinking. Er, couldn’t you be at least a little more respectful? This is a princess we’re talking about (body double or not), so... Though I guess Rokuko’s actually higher status since she’s the little sister of the First Empress. Niku and Ichika were similarly casual about the whole affair, bowing a bit and introducing themselves.

There Gozou and Roppe came, introducing themselves as politely as they could while apologizing for not being too familiar with fancy words and all that. They definitely were the most polite of the bunch.

“...Sir Wataru, I say, is this town mad?”

“That’s Goren for you.” Wataru responded to Emmymephy’s baffled head tilt with a nice smile.

“Whoa there, Wataru. If you want to be treated a certain way, all you gotta do is give us some advance notice. We’re capable of adjusting to the needs of our guests.”

“What other town chief would be so open about that kinda thing? See what I mean, Princess Mephy?”

“I say, Dragon-conquering legends certainly are in a league of their own...”

In any case, we were all gathered. Me, Rokuko, Niku, and Ichika from the Dancing Doll Inn. Gozou, Roppe, and Wataru from Team Bacchus. Add on Princess Emmymephy the royal body double to that, and all eight members of our journey were gathered.

“Let’s get this show on the road, then.” Eight people sure is a lot, I thought to myself just as someone came to see us off. It was Maiodore wearing a backpack for some reason, along with her maid.

“Kuro! I’m coming with you!” She said before clinging to Niku’s arm, her long drill-tipped hairs swaying like always. Uninvited ninth and tenth members to our party.

Y’know, Maiodore sure did fall completely in love with Niku at some point. What’d you do, Niku? Hm? You don’t remember? Must be some quirk of the nobility. Maybe they’re built to fall in love with whatever fiancée they spend enough time around. Someone please present this situation to academia as evidence of nobles surviving the political marriage hellscape they live in through optimism and adapting to their surroundings.

“I cannot wait to tour the capital with you, Kuro.”

“...Master.” Niku looked up at me, not sure what to do.

“Uhhh, well. Mai, sorry, but you have to sit this one out. Actually, please go back to Tsia while we’re not around.”

“Surely you jest, Keima. It is only natural that I would travel with my fiancée. And despite appearances, I am quite used to traveling.”

“Please understand that I won’t be able to take responsibility if anything happens to you.”

“Hrmph. Responsibility this, responsibility that. You adults are always talking about responsibility.” The fact that Mai acted like a child only when convenient to her, talking about her fiancée and acting like an adult all the other times, showed that she was well on her way to being a proper noble despite her youth. “Kuro, you will protect me, won’t you?”

“No. I will be protecting Master. Please don’t interfere.”

“...I love how dedicated to your work you are, Kuro!” Yeah, she’s a goner. This is just like Wataru and Neruneh. Everything mean they do is just fuel for the fire of their love. It all seems wonderful to them.

I looked to her maid for help. “Errr, Sheena. While we’re gone, could you...?”

“Fear not. I will take Lady Maiodore back to her home in Tsia,” replied her maid, which was a big relief to me.

But it was there that Emmymephy, with a mischievous smile on her face, spoke to Maiodore. “Excuse me, little one. I would like to be on my way soon. Would you be so kind as to give it a rest already?”

“...Ah, um, my apologies. I am Maiodore Tsia, daughter of Tsia’s archduke. May I ask your name?” Maiodore gave the crisp, polite greeting of a noble.

“Oh my, I say, you are quite the cultured little girl. I am Emmymephy Laverio. It is good to meet you.”

“Ngbwuuuh?! P-Princess L-Laverio?!” squeaked Maiodore in a shocked voice as she bowed her head deeply. It seemed that had been enough for her to realize she was speaking to Emmymephy, the imperial princess, though it wouldn’t be too hard for anyone to guess that after hearing someone address themselves using the Laverio Empire’s name. At most someone would question whether they were speaking to a fake or the real thing. Technically she was a fake since she was just a body double, but Wataru the Hero being with her was enough to remove all doubt.

“I-I truly apologize for my unsightly behavior.”

“Worry not, I say. You may lift your head. I would hate for your cute hair to come undone,” she said gently to Maiodore before beaming a smug grin at me that yelled “See? This is how people normally react, I say!” Sure, but I don’t care.

“Mephy. We don’t really have time to play around. Can we go now?”

“...I say, Rokuko, you are bold to be so impolite to me. But I can’t deny how refreshing it is.”

Rokuko was being even more rude to Emmymephy than I was, maybe because she considered them friends already. And it seemed like Emmymephy was kind of happy about that. Yeaaah, yet another case just like Wataru. What, are all noble women infected by the Wataru masochism disease? Actually, I feel like I’ve seen something like this before...

“...Rokuko treats Princess Mephy just like you treat me, Keima,” said Wataru. Ah, there it is. All the puzzle pieces came right together.

“Farewell then, Maiodore. The royal will decrees that we will meet again, hopefully.”

“I-Indeed! I pray that you will have a safe journey!”

“Hold up, you two. Mai can come with us to Tsia. We’re borrowing our carriage from Bonodore anyway, remember?” Rokuko barged into their exchange.

“R-Rokuko...!” Maiodore looked kinda sick, with her eyes begging Rokuko to read the mood, but all that went over Rokuko’s head.

“We borrowed them because you would rather ride in a noble’s carriage than one for commoners, right? Weren’t you planning to use one to go back to Tsia yourself? Just come with us.”

“Wh-Why did you say that, Rokukoooo?! Aaah, my plan to ask for a souvenir in return for being refused is in ruins now...!” It seemed that Maiodore asking to come along was an act all from the beginning. What an actress. That kinda bare-faced lying and manipulation was exactly what I would expect from a noble.

“We were about to leave without you getting an opportunity to ask. And you don’t need to pull any tricks like that. Niku won’t mind bringing you back a souvenir if you ask. Right, Niku?”

“Um... Right. I don’t mind.”

“It’s a promise! I’ll treasure a souvenir from you for the rest of my life, now and forever more! Please pick something that will last! I have a request! Pick a set of matching things so we can be connected!”

“O-Okay.” Niku nodded, overwhelmed. Also, Rokuko didn’t hesitate to call her Niku, but I hope she’ll be willing to call her Kuro during this trip. I’m sure it’ll be a pain in the neck if she doesn’t.

“Well, you can talk about that on our way to Tsia. The carriage should be leaving soon. Let’s hurry,” said Rokuko before heading off for the carriage.

“Um, okay. I suppose I will tag along then... Is that acceptable?”

“The royal will decrees that it is.” With Emmymephy’s approval, Maiodore put her backpack back on. She and her maid would be accompanying us to Tsia.

“Hey, look, the town chief and everyone is leaving. Glory be to the true Hero of Goren!”

“Bring us back some stuff! We’ll be praying for you, man. Oyasuminasai!”

“Oh, who’s that girl with them? A guide to the capital? Bye!”

We left Goren with the nearby villagers casually seeing us off.

The lengthy carriage—a stagecoach, really—bumped along the road. Apparently this amount of bumpiness was on the low side, since it was traveling at a slow pace. I would definitely get sick if I rode in this thing for too long. For now, we were stuck with it until Tsia.

...Most of us were only carrying what we had on our backs. Rokuko only had a single trunk. Thanks to the {Storage} spell in this world, you didn’t need to bring a lot of luggage for a long journey. Well, it was technically a rare skill to have, but six out of the eight people here knew it. I was being generous since if one member of a party knew it the whole party technically did, and since Maiodore and her maid both knew it, the numbers shot up to make us one abnormal party. At a glance, nobody would think we were on our way to the distant capital. Incidentally, Wataru was storing Gozou and Roppe’s stuff.

Though you don’t need changes of clothes in this world thanks to {Purification}. This sure does feel like a journey in a fantasy world.

“Hey, Keima. Uhhh, y’know, how’s, uh, how’s Salamander doing?” asked Gozou, maybe trying to break the ice a little.

“Huh? Oh. He’s fine. Why do you ask?”

“I, uh, I was just kinda curious about how he, er, comes when you call him,” he continued. I blinked in confusion. “How’s it work? Do you send a letter?”

“Huh? No, there’s like a contract thing. Remember the paper he had in the [Flame Caverns]?” Oh right, that’s the story I went with.

“The truth is, he was already in Tsia Mountain. Turns out that he likes the heat there.”

“That so?”

“Yup. He spends most of his time just lazing about in the [Flame Caverns].” I went ahead and made it public that Ittetsu was a lazing-about Salamander... a Lazamander. I mean, even his daughter Igni thinks that, so what’s the problem?

“Huh. Guess that’s how you and him became fast friends. Guess Beddhism is the key to everything, huh?”

“Dunno.” Still, Gozou’s more interested in Salamander than the imperial princess, huh? Guess I might be the same way, really.

Incidentally, said imperial princess was talking with Rokuko and Maiodore, plus Niku, about something. What, is Maiodore talking about their engagement? She sure is jabbering on and on. Is there that much to talk about? Also, Maiodore sure seems used to the rocky carriage. A lot more than I am. But yeah, anyway. Thus began our journey to the capital.

＊ ＊ ＊

We arrived at Tsia without anything in particular happening to the carriage. To think it only took two hours... Back in the day it took me six hours to run to Tsia from the dungeon. I’m guessing a fast horse during daytime could make the trip in less than an hour.

“But man, even just riding a carriage sure takes a lot out of you. That was exhausting.” To some degree I regretted not throwing caution to the wind and busting out my handmade Golem Carriage.

“Ahaha, carriages for nobles aren’t so bad. We can borrow a good one from Bonodore on our way back from Tsia,” said Wataru.

“I’d like one good enough to sleep in, thanks.” I would much rather have Wataru carry me than ride that carriage again. Sheesh.

“But ye know, I never thought we’d get inside for free without any body searches thanks to Maiodore. That’s a noble for ye. Er, I mean, we’re honored by yer presence, m’lady?”

Maiodore laughed off Gozou’s change in tone. “Ahaha. No need to put on airs, Gozou. It really just means that guests we invite into our home need not pay. Both nobles and commoners can understand that, I believe.”

“Riiight,” said Rokuko. “Mai’s the daughter of Tsia’s archduke. That sure is convenient.”

“I say, just who in the world is Rokuko? I am dying to know, for not many could dismiss the daughter of an archduke as being merely convenient. Not even I would do that.” Glad that Rokuko and Emmymephy are getting along well. Also, Rokuko, you’re being way too arrogant. Where do you get off on being more arrogant than the imperial princess(’s body double)?

“By the way, Gozou. Nobles have to pay the entrance fee too. Even I have to pay, yup!”

“Oh, right, Wataru’s a Hero. That means he’s a noble too. I totally forgot,” chimed in Rokuko. Though really, putting all that aside, the Adventurer’s Guild paid out money to cover our entrance fees and all that already. That’s the kind of VIP treatment you get when Haku herself summons you.

“Sigh. I wanted to spend more time with you, Kuro,” said Maiodore with an exaggerated sigh.

“...The archduke’s mansion is just up ahead. You should get ready to leave.”

“Fear not, Kuro. I shall leave such matters to my maid, so that I can stay by your side for as long as possible.”

We rode in a guarded carriage on the way to the archduke’s mansion. Once there, Bonodore Tsia himself welcomed us.

“Keima, Rokuko! It is good to see you after so long. I congratulate you on your accomplishments. Wataru, Princess Mephy. It is good to see you both again as well. Mai, have you been doing well?”

I wonder why he greeted Rokuko and me first? Maybe there’s some meaning to that. Though given that he greeted Mai after Wataru and Emmymephy, maybe he was just going in order of the people who were looking after his daughter. Hmm... I wonder if he knows that’s Emmymephy’s body double. If he prioritized us despite thinking she’s the real thing... Eh, never mind. Nothing good will come of endless theorycrafting when I’m just guessing here. Not like I know much about noble culture anyway.

“Yes, father. I believe I have grown much closer with my fiancée, Kuro.”

“I see, I see! You have even begun to address the honorable Kuroinu with a pet nickname, I see! Ahaha, it sure is nice to see our kids grow together, eh, Keima?”

“Hahaha... Well, I’m just glad I got her back to you safely.” I didn’t really get what he was implying there, so I just brushed it off with a change in subject.

“Er, Keima, are Kuro and Maiodore really engaged?” asked Wataru after all this time for some reason.

“Huh? Yeah, of course.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, but when did Kuro stop being a slave? It looks like she’s still wearing her collar.”

“She never stopped.”

“...Then why is she engaged to a noble’s daughter?”

I went ahead and gave Wataru an ambiguous answer. Even I didn’t really know how it happened.

“There are complicated forces at work here,” I said in a monotone.

“C-Complicated forces, huh?”

“Everyone, a moment please. I must temporarily take my leave now, but please use my family’s carriages and drivers for the rest of your journey. I can promise that the ride will be much more comfortable for you, Keima.”

“Indeed. Each of our carriages are as comfortable as can be.” And so, it came to pass that we borrowed one of the Tsia family carriages. Though judging from that conversation earlier, Rokuko and Maiodore had already organized that ahead of time.

Bonodore and Maiodore guided us to the location where the carriages were parked. There were four of them— two wooden box-shaped carriages and two canopied wagons. One of the sizable box-shaped carriages looked kind of like a house with wheels, while the other was smaller and looked like a treasure chest with wheels. All of the carriages had the Tsia family crest emblazoned onto their side.

“Wow, these carriages are all so nice!” exclaimed Wataru. “They probably won’t be shaky at all... Ooh, and is it just me, or were these made by the Hero Workshop?”

“You have good eyes, Wataru. These carriages are engraved with magic circles that induce floating and pushing, which lessens the load on the horses.” By the sound of that I could guess that a Hero had tried recreating a car’s suspension system by having the carriage not touch the ground. But more importantly... They all have crests on them, huh? The Tsia family crest. Hmm.

I glanced at Bonodore after looking at the crests, which he noticed. “Now, now, Keima. No need to be humble or anything of the like. It is only natural that I would do this much for my daughter’s fiancée.”

“...Couldn’t we borrow a carriage without a crest on it? I feel like they might cause some problems down the line.”

“I would imagine you’d face more problems without the crests. Though if you insist, I can provide some without them.” More problems without the crests...? I wonder what he means by that. I’m thinking about bandits attacking us on the road, I thought, at which point Wataru popped in.

“Er, Lord Bonodore. We would like a canopied crest wagon, please! Keima, you really want a canopied wagon for a journey like this, trust me.”

“Truly?” asked Bonodore. “In that case, I will prepare a canopied wagon. Does that sound quite alright, Keima?”

“Uh, sure. I don’t know much about carriages, so I’ll just leave it to you two.” A journey on a canopied carriage, huh? Reminds me of a certain RPG. I can already imagine monsters we defeat getting back up and joining us as party members. That said...

“Hey, Wataru. Why’d you ask for one with a crest?”

“Goren is close to Tsia, isn’t it? You want to make your connection to Lord Bonodore clear to everyone watching. There will be more nobles than you can count rushing to form a friendship with the heroes who defeated a Dragon.” Ah. The crest is there to ward off interference from other nobles. I see, I wasn’t thinking from a political perspective.

“That sounds like a pain. I’m already getting my fill of nobles from Bonodore.”

“Exactly. You’ll be better off just borrowing a carriage with a crest.” Haaah. What a pain... Guess I don’t have a choice, though.

“Keima. Would you care to come inside for tea while the driver and horses are being prepared? I must inform you of important matters regarding the lending of this carriage. Your companions may join you,” said Bonodore while looking at me with a smile.

“Aaah, the royal will decrees that I shall talk with Maiodore instead.”

“The Guild actually asked me to deliver some paperwork elsewhere. I might as well take this opportunity to go and grab a delivery quest from the guild.”

“Bro, count me in. You’re gonna need one of Keima’s party members to make it a dual quest for both of us, yeah?”

“Uhhh, I’m gonna go prepare a bit more fer the journey. Keima, ye can handle this.”

“I’m gonna go buy some beer with Gozou. Seems like this carriage will have a lotta space for it. Wataru, go ahead and take the quest in the name of team Bacchus.”

Everyone scattered like baby spiders, and before I knew it I was almost the only one there. Rokuko and Niku alone stayed behind with me. Seems like everyone else ran away so they wouldn’t have to deal with this political stuff. Yeaaah.

“...Well, let’s go in and have some tea, Keima. We might as well, hm?”

“Yep...”

Incidentally, after telling me what I needed to know about borrowing the carriage, he taught me a surprising amount about the rules of noble society and what manners I needed to show. It was a more productive discussion than I had expected.

＊ ＊ ＊

The carriage was fully prepared while the archduke was teaching me what I would need to know, so we went ahead and carried our slight amount of luggage over. We took stuff that would be fine suffering the passage of time out of our {Storage} and stashed it in the carriage’s storage space beneath the floorboards. That let us put more food and such into the time-frozen {Storage}.

Also, about eighty percent of the stuff we stashed seemed to be beer that Gozou and Roppe bought. They even went and bought a whole barrel of beer. The mad lads.

It was finally time to leave.

“Everyone, please do be careful. I hope to see you again soon, Kuro... Mmm.”

“Mm. Okay, bye.”

Whoa, she gave Niku a goodbye kiss on the cheek... Not bad, Maiodore. You’re pulling off what not even Rokuko could manage. Guess that’s what a noble upbringing does for you.

“Bwuh?! Y-You’re bold, Mai.”

“Ahaha. If that much is beyond you, Rokuko, then Keima will surely be stolen away from you.”

“I-It’ll be fine! Keima and I are bound together until death do us part! It... It’ll be fine, right?” Yeah, totally. Probably.

“Mmm? I say, Rokuko, it may not be fine at all! Keima is now a warrior of legend who defeated a Dragon, after all. He will be endlessly popular with the ladies when he arrives at the imperial capital!”

“That won’t change anything, Mephy. Keima will still belong to me. And I’ll still belong to him. Right, Keima?” asked Rokuko while flashing the red ring (on her left ring finger) at me.

“...Yeah? Definitely?”

“Why the question marks?!” Bonodore’s right there, and this is still part of Core 219’s dungeon territory. I can’t say anything too extreme or it might go straight to Haku.

And so, we left Tsia. All I did was drink tea with Bonodore, but well, I could go to Tsia whenever I wanted. No need to make a big event out of it.

...But what waited ahead would be mostly new to me. A journey across lands unseen. Man, kinda crazy that I went to a whole new world and haven’t gone on a journey yet.

“Hey, Wataru. How far away is the next city?”

“Probably about five days by carriage.”

“...That’s pretty far away.” Well, at least this noble’s carriage won’t bounce all over the place. I’ll take the time to chill for a bit.

＊ ＊ ＊

So yeah, it was a five-day journey by carriage to the next city. Our carriage advanced down the road, passing through endless plains. To the far right of the road we could see forests, and to the far left we could see mountains. It was a different mountain range from the one Tsia Mountain was a part of.

...To be honest, I was bored of the unchanging scenery. I couldn’t even get some shut-eye, since there were too many people in the carriage for me to lay down. Maybe I should have asked him to lend us another carriage. Meh, guess I’ll just try to sleep while sitting.

“Hey, Ichika. What’s the name of the next city we’re going to? I just realized I never asked that.”

“Next stop’s gonna be Mikan. It’s right in the middle of these grassy plains, so they’ve got tons of sheep and that kinda junk.”

“Sheep, huh...? Alright. We shall feast on lamb tonight, my friends.”

“Dude, they’re there for the wool. Though sometimes they get eaten too. Also, they kinda get some farming done, though not as much as Tsia. What else are they gonna do with all this land, y’know?” Interesting.

“Anyway, point being, traveling by carriage is boring as hell.”

“Master, y’know we’re in a noble’s carriage traveling on a flat road, right? Think back to that hella poverty carriage we were just in. Those shake so bad it’ll make your ass feel like it’s breaking, and people not used to that junk will start vomiting buckets eventually. What I’m sayin’ is, being bored is a luxury in carriages.”

“Yeaaah, the motion sickness is pretty bad. I would hate to ride one of those for days at a time.”

“Right, right. We’re only not miserable right now cause the carriage’s been modified not to shake.”

“Hey, hey, mind if I interject for a moment?” Wataru asked cheerily, forcing himself into my conversation with Ichika. “This carriage actually has a suspension system on it.”

“Wow, a suspension system. Uuuh... Is that the shake-stopping modification Ichika was talking about?”

“...Yes. You can contain the shaking by putting the right sized springs between parts. They’re produced in the capital’s Hero Workshop.” Whew, that was close. Wataru was trying to casually bait me into revealing I’m a Hero. And here I thought he had given up on that theory already.

“This carriage also uses magic circles to add a magical suspension system that could never be possible in Japan! It looks like a normal canopied carriage on the outside, but it’s actually the stunning result of science and magic being fused into one!” He was getting a little too excited about it, but at least now I knew that Wataru liked gimmicky inventions like this.

“Gonna change the topic here, but... How do you travel to Goren, Wataru? By carriage? Or {Teleport}?”

“Nah, no way, I can’t use {Teleport} that casually. Only Haku and her party can just bust out a {Teleport} at the drop of a hat. I want to learn the spell too, but the scroll for it is incredibly rare. Which means, yes, I travel by horse usually. I leave the horse at Tsia, then walk the rest of the way. Though this time I traveled by carriage since Princess Mephy was with me.” I wonder if Wataru’s walking would be faster than a horse. I feel like it just might be.

“...Wait. So where’d you leave it this time, then?”

“Oh, I actually rent my horses from the Adventurer’s Guild. It’s convenient since I can just leave them with the Guild in whichever city I go to. Not to mention that swapping horses at every city is better for not exhausting them.”

“Neat.”

“Which reminds me, how did you first get to Goren? Before you started building the town there, that is.”

“...I walked.” The actual answer is Rokuko summoned me there with the 1,000 DP gacha, but well. I didn’t ride on anything on the way there, so you could say I spiritually walked there. I didn’t lie.

“And Ichika?”

“I rode a slave carriage to Tsia, duh. Master bought me there, and you know the rest of my totally tragic yet inspiring life story.”

“Oh yeah, that explains your dudebro Pavella accent. What illegal stuff did you do over there?”

“Mmm, I just went kiiinda overboard in the capital. Y’know, you borrow a little too much money, pull a little nonsense, and the next thing you know there’s a collar on your neck.”

“Ah, you’re a debt slave. Guess you’re planning to buy your freedom back from the reward money you’re about to get?”

“Nah, no way. I’m never gonna quit being Master’s slave, nuh-uh. You gotta feel me on this, Wataru. You know how baller that inn is. Hardly even feels like I’m a slave when I’m working over there.”

“Yeah, I can see that. Keima’s place sure is nice.”

“Heck yeah it is. Also, the truth is, I’m not actually a debt slave.” Wait, really?

“Then what kind of slave are you?”

“A convict slave, actually. Kinda messed up big time,” she said without a pause. She said she “pulled some nonsense,” but now I wonder what that nonsense actually was.

“...You know how I mentioned I was on a lotta people’s bad side? They led me into a trap. I’m innocent, but y’know, nobody’s gonna listen to something like that.” Oh yeah, I feel like she mentioned that when I bought her... Wait. I wonder what kind of slave Niku is, then. I doubt she’s a debt slave, so maybe a convict slave? She was being dragged around by bandits.

“Niku’s gotta be an illegal slave, considering her past and all. She’s probably on the record as a war slave. The kind that get caught in wars and all that. Whenever people kidnap kids to turn ’em into slaves, they usually roll with that.”

“Ahhh, yeah, a lot of adventurers love to have war slaves. I’ve never used one myself, though.” It seemed that male war slaves were the ones that adventurers used as meat shields and the like. The regularly occurring wars kept their numbers up, apparently. The Laverio Empire sure is a harsh place, huh?

“You know,” continued Wataru, “I think it’s way too hard for slaves to earn back their freedom in this world. Anyone that’s not a contract slave is pretty much stuck there forever most of the time.”

“Right, contract slaves. Those really exist?”

“Yeah. Those are the ones who sign contracts with explicit terms decided ahead of time. There are lover contracts too, by the way.” The terms varied, like a time limit, establishing a payment, and having the contract end if the master died, just to name a few. Hmm, putting aside Ichika for now, maybe I should shift Niku over to a contract slave? I could set it up so she gets passed to Rokuko if I die.

...But that shouldn’t be a problem for a while, so no need to rush it. I couldn’t add a condition like “Don’t talk about the dungeon to other people” without the slaver conducting the change figuring out our secrets, after all. I feel like that condition would be pretty important to have, efficiency wise. I could ask Haku to do the deed, but I’m actually terrified of owing her favors.

“Actually, why do I know more about slaves when you’re the one who has two of them, Keima? Didn’t you have all this explained to you when buying Ichika?”

“...Uh, well. I figure that’s because you’re actually a pervert on the inside and did a lot of research on how to get sex slaves.”

“No! No way! That’s definitely not true, no. I was just thinking that an S-Rank adventurer should know these kinds of things, like, it’s just common knowledge, it’s stuff everyone should know, alright?” Yeah, judging by that panic, I am right on the money.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell Neruneh about this.”

“...Strange. I haven’t done anything wrong, but I feel like I should thank you for some reason. Thank you.”

Still, there sure is a lot more to slaves than I first thought... I glanced at Niku. Rokuko was hugging her while patting her ears and fluffy tail. Roppe and Emmymephy were watching on with a smile. Hmm... I feel like I remember Ichika saying something about beastkin tails being equivalent to human boobs. In other words, I am witnessing an extremely yuri scene right now.

I made eye contact with Niku. Her expression was flat, but I knew her well enough to see the conflict in her eyes. She wasn’t sure what she should do.

Well... Skinship is an important part of friendship. I prayed for her success in battle.

“Keima,” asked Wataru, interrupting my thoughts. “Is your tamed monster going to be okay without you feeding it?”

“Huh...? Oh, that thing.” For a second I’d had no idea what Wataru was referencing, but then I remembered I had told him the Jelly holding the sign deep in the dungeon was a monster I had tamed. “The Jelly, right. Don’t worry, I got someone else to feed it for me while I’m gone.”

“...Huh? But it’s as deep into the dungeon as you can go.”

“So what?”

“Er. Is that someone a super skilled adventurer? Is anyone that skilled still in Goren?”

“It’s someone you know, Wataru. I can always count on Narikin to help me out in a pinch.”

“Uh...” What? It’s Narikin, the mysterious adventurer. Why do you look so confused, Wataru?

“Heeey, we’ve got some monsters out front. They’re small fries. What’re we gonna do? Go hunt them?” asked Gozou, who was keeping watch beside the driver. Wataru hopped to the front of the wagon with a single step. Seemed that he had finished his questioning.

“Yep, those sure are small fries. I’ll go hunt them to keep the roads safe, anyway. We can use the opportunity to take a toilet break.”

“I-I’ll go,” said Niku.

“Oh. Bye bye, Niku. Let’s continue this later.”

“I think I’m gonna go too, then. Gozou! Stop the cart,” yelled Roppe.

Everyone was completely on board with stopping for a toilet break despite there being monsters. They’re pretty chill about all this. Must be some really weak monsters like Goblins or something.

“They’re just Orcs, Keima. Five of them. About as small fry as you can get.” Wataru was being pretty casual about it, but were orcs really small fries? Maybe they were to Heroes.

“This is the first time I’m seeing Orcs. How strong are they?”

“In terms of extermination quest difficulty, they’re a bit beneath Iron Golems. A party of newbie adventurers will always wanna run from them, but I wouldn’t lose even if a hundred of them came at me at once. I can beat Dragons, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess they are small fries compared to Dragons.” Niku could take them all on herself if they were a little weaker than Iron Golems. Though we’d probably have to leave it to Wataru if there were a hundred of them.

“The royal will decrees that I shall go as well. I could never sit still while my cute little Kuro risks herself outside!”

“...Ah, Princess Mephy, please stay seated.”

“But why?! I say, I can fight just as well as any of you!”

She may have been a body double, but we still couldn’t let an imperial princess fight on the front lines. I could understand Wataru’s point. Heck, I could agree with him.

“Okay, let’s go get this over with.”

“Alright. Kuro, you can handle this, yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Heck yeah! Orc meat’s back on the menu, my dudes. Let’s do this thing!” Wait, Ichika, you eat orcs...? Pig-faced or not, they’re bipedal humanoids, y’know? Wait, now that I think about it, I ate Red Minotaur meat that Igni cooked for me. That stuff tasted great.

“Orc meat tastes great, Keima. It’s like pork.”

“Yeah dude, it’s even better than boar meat.”

Hmm... Yeah, now I’m a little hungry too. Let’s get this hunt done.

Incidentally, Niku and Wataru knocked it out of the park so hard there wasn’t anything for me to do. Nothing tastier than cooked Orc meat I didn’t have to work to get. Though, to be fair, I guarded our back from any ambushes. None came, but I did! It’s true.

＊ ＊ ＊

With all that happening, we reached the next city after Tsia, known as Mikan. It wasn’t as big as Tsia, but it was still a sizable city surrounded by a towering wall. It was also surrounded by farms, and one could see sheep and shepherds dotting the fields.

“That was a long road... I thought I’d be able to sleep in the carriage, but too much stuff kept happening.”

“There are a lot of monsters that show up on these roads. I thought there might be some bandits, but nothing that interesting showed up this time.” Apparently, when you had a carriage with a noble crest emblazoned onto it, only bandits very confident in their skills would dare attack. That was understandable, since not many people wanted to be on the bad side of nobles.

“Too bad. I thought we might be able to bait them out by taking a single carriage and having no guards following behind.”

“Wait, was that part of your plan?”

“Bandits are good prey. You get money whether you kill them or capture them. You won’t find easier money around these parts.” Man, Wataru sure has adjusted to this world’s way of life. Would definitely be hard to go back to Japan with that kind of mindset.

“By the way, we sure slept on the road a lot, huh? I thought there’d normally be a bunch of smaller towns for us to stay in. Like farm town inns, or something.”

Gozou took it upon himself to answer my question. “Farm town inns? Those exist, but yer only gonna find ’em in places without so many damn monsters. They’d be run over in a day out here.”

“...What about all the towns close to Tsia?”

“Tsia’s frontier land. Ye could say it’s standin’ on the line between society and nature. Not to mention, with so many towns with inns this close there’d be less guard quests, and a lotta adventurers put outta decent work.” Guess that’s one way of looking at it.

Personally, the fact it was hard to sleep outside and we had to keep getting up for night watch made me regret ever going on this journey. Yeah... Wait. Aren’t I technically hiring Wataru as a guard? I could probably have just left all of that to him and slept more... Ehhhh... Well, whatever. At least I got to hear some cool stuff from the driver. Like how he feeds the horses on nearby grass, and when there’s a faction war among carriage drivers over whether they should use {Call Fodder} to make some or {Grow Weed} to grow some feed when there isn’t any grass. There was also the stuff about how any animal used to pull carriages can be called horses, probably due to them initially being called horse-drawn carriages. Yeah, I lied, all of that was boring and not cool at all.

“C’mon, dudes, let’s get our sweet asses to that city. I’m dying of hunger over here.”

“Heh, save all the food begging fer Keima, Ichika. Anyway, we should use the noble’s gate if we wanna get in fast. Guess we’ll be fine using it since we’re gonna be B-Rankers soon, eh, Roppe?”

“Oh, but that gate has a higher entry fee,” noted Wataru. “That fee won’t be covered by most normal quests, so I usually stick to using the commoner’s gate.”

“...Being able to choose is what makes being a noble adventurer so great. Ye can even leave at night, yeah?”

In the end, Ichika was so hungry that we went through the noble’s gate for speed purposes. The search was over in no time, and our entry to the city was as smooth as Maiodore said it would be.

Within Mikan’s walls, it felt a lot more like a quiet farming town than Tsia. The buildings and walls themselves weren’t that different, but there was more space between them. There were also so fewer people that it made me question if this really was closer to the capital. Though there were still plenty of people.

“Livestock needs a fair amount of space, which means there’s less room for people. Tsia has a higher population than Mikan thanks to that. Also, I heard a lot more people used to live here when the parchment industry was in full swing, but the demand for parchment plummeted when the Hero Workshop developed paper. Most of the craftsmen who lived here moved elsewhere, too. Nowadays the demand for it can be met without using Restoration to make more.” Interesting. That explains where there’s a lot of land but not so many people. Also, holy shit, peeling off sheep skin to make parchment then using Restoration magic to heal their skin and peel it off again is actual torture. This world was not kind to sheep.

“Let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild first. Driver, you know where to go.”

The carriage set off, and we could see food stands here and there.

“Oh lookie, some salad roll stands. That’s a Mikan classic.”

“Salad rolls? What’re they like?”

“They bake a thin slice of wheat flour, then roll up sliced veggies and lamb in it.” That sounds simple but delicious. That sounds like a spring roll, or I guess more like a vegetable crepe? Though wait, I’ve heard those are sometimes called shish kebabs. This must be the word of Ishidaka the Hero.

“I want to try some,” said Rokuko. “Go buy me some, Keima! I’ll pay! I really want to try some lamb skewers too.”

“The royal will decrees that you take my money and buy some for me as well. Oh, though I would like just the salad rolls.”

“Dudes, I got this. Always count on Ichika when you need to buy some grub.”

“I want to try lamb skewers,” said Niku.

“Mind grabbing me some too? Lamb’s good with beer. Oh, and Kuro, you’ll need to eat vegetables if you want to grow.”

All the girls lightened up over the prospect of eating lamb. Are you really fine with having standards like that, girls?

“...Yeah, yeah, you can all have some, but later. We’ve gotta go to the guild first. Dropping by a humble food stand in a crest emblazoned carriage might cause some problems.” Bonodore had made the importance of maintaining a noble image while using the carriage clear.

Also, I wanted to get to our inn as soon as possible. I had spent four nights sleeping outside... The girls slept inside the carriage while we guys made tents outside. I was about ready to sleep in an actual room again. I was in the same tent as Wataru, Gozou, and the driver, which meant there hadn’t been enough space to bust out my futon. The sleeping bags we had were from the dungeon and thus high quality Japanese goods, but that didn’t help when I got woken up for the night watch. Sheesh, I’m gonna use my futon tonight if it kills me. Also, with Niku as my dakimakura.

“Wataru, let’s stay in this city for about two days. I want to catch up on my sleep.”

“Don’t worry, that’s the plan. We gotta stock up on supplies.” Perfect. I won’t be leaving my inn room at all tomorrow, then.

Incidentally, Wataru would be paying for Emmymephy’s room. He was covering all her costs on the way to the capital. Wait... Hold on a second. If we’re going to the capital because Haku ordered us to, why do any of us have to pay to travel there at all?

“...Being capable of traveling to the capital on your own is an important duty of nobles, apparently.”

“Oh, it’s that kind of political thing.” I guess any adventurer strong enough to be a noble won’t have need to pay for guards or anything. It costs less from them to go to the noble. Doubly so for battle hardened warriors that took down a Dragon like us.

Anyway, it wasn’t long before we reached the Adventurer’s Guild. It was actually pretty busy.

“A lot of adventurers come here for extermination quests, since there’s always a lot of monsters going after the livestock.”

“Ahhh, I can see that.”

“We’ll go store the carriage with them. You can go report that we’ve arrived. Oh, and here’s the packages I took a quest to deliver.”

“Roger. And... Wait. Where’s Rokuko and Ichika? Also, Princess Mephy.” They had all vanished without me noticing. For a second I wondered if they had gotten lost, but then I realized that was pretty unlikely since we had all arrived here by carriage together.

“They saw a stand nearby and went off to buy food. They should be back soon.”

“...Eh, I guess they’ll be fine with Ichika around. Alright, Niku, help me carry the stuff.”

“Okay.”

I took the packages from Wataru and went into the guild with Niku. The moment we were inside, I felt people giving us appraising looks.

“Uhhh, where’s the counter for delivery quests? I’ve got some packages.”

“Oh, over here. Welcome to Mikan’s Adventurer Guild.” A receptionist-looking lady guided us to the counter without issue.

“Alright, this and this. Have a look.”

“Okay. Let’s se— Ah?! Um, ah, ummm, Wata— Mmm, nmm. These are indeed the packages. Shall I equally distribute the reward to all those who participated?”

“Yeah, sure.” She faltered kind of hard there for a second, but we got the delivery over and done with in no time at all. At which point Wataru entered the guild. A hush fell over the room.

“Huh? Wow, looks like you’re fine.”

“Whaddaya mean by that? Did you think I’d start a fight delivering these or something?”

“Oh, no. It’s just that when I first went to this guy, a bunch of people ganged up on me saying they’d help me with questing for a fee. I really think it’s because we Japanese people kinda have baby faces compared to rough and tough adventurers here. Isn’t that right, Bor?”

“I-I, er, a-apologize for my rudeness, a-and not realizing that you were a Hero.” The muscular adventurer that Wataru had called out to averted his gaze awkwardly. It seemed he had tried to scam an easy target only to realize it was an S-Rank adventurer. He must have been a real jerk for kindly ol’ Wataru to drag him through the mud like this.

“If he had tried that again he’d already be realizing his mistake. I’m guessing he learned not to mess with black-haired adventurers? Either way, thanks to you I finished my quest without getting hassled.”

“Good to hear. You’re lucky you didn’t go after him, Bor. I’ve fought this guy several times now and haven’t won a single time.”

“Wha?! He’s stronger than a Hero?!” I mean, we’ve fought in rigged gambling matches and duels with handicaps, but never for real. He’s not calling me strong in that way.

“Not to mention, these two challenged a Flame Dragon and managed to capture it without getting a scratch on them.”

“He brought a kid with him to fight a disaster class A-Rank monster?!” He’s referring to our beer plot with Igni before she went crazy. Although true, that was all a farce we could only pull off thanks to the Flame Dragon being Ittetsu’s daughter, so...

“Hey, Wataru, quit it. You know I don’t like this kind of attention.”

“Nothing wrong with a change of pace. Not like you ever leave your home base anyway.” Judging by the fact he wasn’t using my name or saying the name Goren, I could tell Wataru was being considerate while having his fun. And Niku seemed happy with the attention I was getting, too. Her tail was swinging.

“...By the way, this little girl’s waaay stronger than me.”

“M-Master?”

“A loli stronger than the guy who’s stronger than the Hero?”

I pushed Niku forward a bit. Looking worried, she pointed at Wataru.

“Um... H-He’s stronger than me.”

“A Hero that’s stronger than the loli who’s stronger than the guy who’s stronger than a Hero!” These guys sure have a good sense of humor.

“Ahaha, now that it’s looped, who knows who’s strongest anymore?” Wataru laughed, in a good mood.

“Heh. Yeah, sorry about all this. My companion sure gave you a hard time. Lemme buy you a drink.”

“Oh? Did you hear that, Bor? My pal’s gonna buy you a drink.”

“R-Right, thank you! I’ll appreciate every drop!” The adventurer swung his head down in a bow. I slid a large silver (worth ten coppers) over the Guild’s built-in bar and ordered a drink for the guy. Anyway, with that out of the way... Uh... What were we doing again?

“While we’re here, let’s see what delivery quests we can take to our next destination. Though we’ll have to take them the day after tomorrow when we leave.”

“Huh? Why bother with that?”

“It’s better than taking the packages to the inn room and risk losing them before we leave. And if someone else wants to take them, that’s no real sweat off our backs. There’s pretty much no reason for us to take the quests now.” Good point. Not like any of us are dying for money... except Wataru and his debt, I guess.

Anyway, I wonder what kind of quests they have here? I took a look at the billboard. Most of the good quests were gone thanks to the morning rush, but I could still learn the general trends from the ones that were left.

Hmm... There sure are a lot of extermination quests here. I don’t see many gathering quests, and most of these quests are D-Rank or above. The only ones that are E-Rank or below are stuff inside of town.

“Tsia has herb gathering quests for beginners, but since this city is surrounded by grassy plains for livestock, quests like that would make adventurers travel all the way to the forest. That’s dangerous enough that only once people hit C-Rank and get some experience do they start taking forest quests. Adventurers starting out here either go all the way to Tsia or stick to quests inside the city,” explained Wataru. Apparently there used to be towns near here, but once Tsia broke new ground, all the people either moved there or moved into Mikan, leaving their old homes to vanish.

While we talked, the receptionist came over to us holding a quest slip.

“U-Um, S-Sir Wataru. We would be honored if you would grace us by accepting this quest.”

“Oh, what kind of quest is it? Hopefully it’s one I can finish in a day.” Wataru took the slip and looked over it. “An extermination quest, huh? Shouldn’t be too hard. Keima, want to come with?”

“Nah, I’m gonna be sleeping in my room. You can bring anyone who does want to go.”

Incidentally, I looked at the quest and saw that it was an extermination quest for an Elk Bear. Apparently those were bears with elk horns growing out of their heads. The Elk Bear in question was larger than a normal one, and several C-Rankers had already failed to take it down. The reward was one gold coin. That sounded like a lot considering it was equivalent to one million yen, but it would drop down fast as you split it with every party member that pitched in to help.

“Actually, you should go on your own. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Aww. C’mon, let’s go together. It’d be boring if I went alone.”

“No thanks. I told you I wanted to catch up on my sleep, didn’t I?”

Wataru frowned, puffing out a cheek for some reason.

“Anyway, I’m going to the inn. Got any recommendations?”

“There’s a good one called the Ripened Fruit nearby. You’ll be fine there. Oh, and sure, I’ll take the quest. I’ll be back with some partners later.”

“U-Understood! Thank you very much!”

He took the quest anyway. Truly a Hero, always willing to take a quest to help other people.

We left the guild with the head-bobbing receptionist seeing us off. The second we were out, we met up with the Rokuko squad, all carrying food.

“You sure took your time in there. Oh, want a salad roll? I have lamb skewers too, you know, like sheep.”

“...Yeah, sure. But don’t wander around so much. We’re new here and there’s a lot we don’t know.”

“I’m fine, Ichika and Roppe are here with me. This isn’t their first time here.”

“I say, it’s my second time being here!” said Emmymephy while biting on a salad roll, but Rokuko just said “Sure, sure” while wiping off meat juice from her cheek. Yeah, I guess Team Bacchus are pretty experienced, and Ichika was a C-Rank adventurer before being enslaved. They should be fine as bodyguards slash guides in more peaceful towns like this.

“I’m going to go on an Elk Bear quest tomorrow, anyone want to come? Keima’s ducking out this time.”

“Count me out. I gotta start chugging beer.”

“Same. I’ll be sticking with Gozou. We can meet up afterward.”

“Awww. I’ll be the only one from Team Bacchus going, then.” Wataru slumped over after both Gozou and Roppe had turned him down in quick succession.

“Sh-Shall I go, then? I-I believe I would like to!” Emmymephy rose a hand and jumped in place to make her position known.

“Err, I appreciate the thought, but... Actually, alright. Sure. Feel free to join me, Princess Mephy.” Wait, you’re really gonna let Emmymephy go? That seems kind of bad. But, well... I guess it’s better than leaving her alone and risking whatever comes from that?

“I want to keep looking around town,” said Rokuko. “Keima, want to join me?”

“Nah, I’m gonna sleep in the inn. Niku’s gonna be my dakimakura too, so bring Ichika if you go looking around.”

“Grr...”

In conclusion, none of my party were going with Wata—

“Okay, Niku, I’ll be Keima’s dakimakura instead. You go help with the Elk Bear quest,” Rokuko said.

“...Master.” Niku looked at me. Yeah, I can see in her eyes that she wants to go hunting. Her dog girl hunter instincts must be aching.

“Ahhh... Niku, you can go hunting if you want to. May as well take this opportunity to learn from a Hero.”

“Ah! Okay. I’ll go, then.”

“Alrighty, dudes, I’ll go cook us some dinner with the driver then.”

Thus was the schedule of my party settled. Niku must have really wanted to go hunting. Her tail was wagging like crazy. Though it drooped whenever she looked my way. Don’t worry, I’m not mad. Go and have your fun.

“Okay, that means I’ll be your dakimakura tomorrow, Keima!”

“...Ehhh, actually, don’t worry about it. I don’t need a dakimakura. You can go with Ichika and the others if you want to look around town.”

“Um, well. That was just an excuse I made up to go on a date with you, I don’t actually want to see it that much. So, um, d-dakimakura! Let’s go with the dakimakura plan!” said Rokuko with her cheeks bright red. Yeaaaah, Haku’s going to kill me once we reach the capital.

“Hey, Wataru. What are you grinning about?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how I’ll need to report this to Haku.”

“You want me to die, is that how it is?! Monster!”

“Don’t worry. You won’t die, she’ll just have more work for you to do.”

I sure hope I just have more work to do. I don’t want my new job to be getting my head removed from my neck and my torso cut in two.

“Wait, ye really haven’t married Rokuko yet, Keima? Ye gotta get on that already.”

“Yeah? Well what about you and Roppe, huh? Huh, Gozou? What, nothing to say now?”

“Ahhh, er, well, ye know. There’s timing for these things. Right.”

Gozou tried to tease me, so I countered with lethal force. “No better time than when you both turn B-Rank if you ask me. You guys want a Beddhist wedding, right?”

“Keima. You and I can get married whenever we want, remember? Just say the word when you think the timing’s right.”

“...I’ll think about it.” Sadly, I was caught in the crossfire of my own lethal blow, thereby killing two bachelors with one punch.

Anyway, Rokuko actually came to my room the next day, and after some intense mental debate I decided I really couldn’t risk embracing her as a dakimakura. We were pretty far from Tsia, but the Laverio Empire was built on dungeons. Every big city in the entire Empire had a dungeon nearby. In other words, Mikan too was the territory of another dungeon. I couldn’t act carelessly. Anything I did would be leaked straight to Haku.

Though, when she asked if she could stay in my room even without being my dakimakura, I went ahead and said sure. Surely there’s nothing interesting about being in the same room as me while I’m sleeping, though... (I thought with a thousand yard stare).

＊ ＊ ＊

Alright. Having slept an entire day and caught up on my rest, it was time to leave Mikan. I honestly could have used some more sleep, but given that I had finally been able to use my futon and sleep with Niku as my dakimakura (once she got back from hunting Elk Bears), I couldn’t complain. It had been like sleeping at home again, if only for a single night.

Incidentally, on that second night we had Elk Bear stew. Man, fresh bear meat sure does have a wild taste! And since we sold the leftover meat to the guild, we got some pretty pennies for it too.

“By the way, shouldn’t we have greeted the local archduke or something?”

“Nah,” replied Wataru. “I don’t know the archduke here well enough for that.”

According to him, just using the noble’s entrance and dropping by the guild was enough for the archduke to have received a report of our arrival. The fact he didn’t approach us himself meant he didn’t particularly care to see us. On top of that, if we had gone to see him without being summoned, it would have been like openly saying we were of lower status than him, which would make him look down on us as weak. Especially considering the Tsia family was involved thanks to the Tsia family crest on our carriage. Yeah, to sum all that up: Nobles are a pain to deal with.

“But hey, Wataru. You’re actually a big deal Hero, huh?”

“Yes? What’d you think I was?”

“A Hero, but y’know, not a big deal.”

“All Heroes are big deals.”

And now I know how true that is. Wataru at least never felt like anyone that special to me. He’s in tune with the common folk, or something?

“To be honest, only people in Goren stay casual with me once they learn I’m a Hero.”

“What, Wataru, you want us to be uber polite? My sincerest apologies, oh honorable Hero.”

“Pff.” Wataru laughed. What’re you grinning about, huh?

“My bad, sorry. It just sounded so bizarre to hear you say that.”

“Rude. I know how to be polite to visitors.”

“Now that you mention it, I guess that’s true...? Well, one of your good points is knowing the right ways to deal with the right people.”

“Heck yeah, time to brag about a great Hero praising me. Heeey, Rokuko. Wataru gave me a compliment. Pretty awesome, huh?”

“Oh? That’s nice. What for?” Rokuko casually played along with our jokes.

“See? Your compliments mean nothing to me or anything. Nothing.”

“That’s true for Goren people, anyway.” Wataru gave an amused smile. “Anyway, make sure you’re not forgetting anything. The next town is three days away. This time we’re going down a safe route, so we’ll be dropping by the inns you wanted so much.”

“Oh, so no more camping outside, huh...? Nice. But wait... What do you mean ‘this time’ we’re going down a safe route?”

Wataru ignored my question. “Has anyone seen the driver, by the way?”

“Wataru. Bud. Pal. Are you telling me there was a route to Mikan that had inns?”

“Ahaha, whatever are you talking about?”

After executing some interrogation techniques, I learned that the forest we had been traveling alongside the entire time was called Hell’s Forest. The road by it was the shortest route, but there was another route through the mountains that was much more safe. It would have taken twice as long, but there were inns along the way.

So that’s why Orcs that can just barely be beaten by a C-Rank party showed up along the way! I knew that was strange! You’ve got balls acting out of character and tricking me like that, Wataru!