Chapter 4: A New Companion

Chapter 4:
A New Companion

 

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

“WHERE ARE YOU, Akky? Please come home soon! I promise I’ll never ask for anything again. I’ll even start helping out around the house!”

“Good grief. First your father, now your brother. Why do all the men in my life get up and leave?”

My mother and sister were searching desperately for me. I hadn’t seen their faces in weeks. My mother looked even more disheveled than I remembered and my sister’s eyes were red and swollen from crying. Trust me, I wanna go home too. I’ll do whatever it takes to come back to you guys, I promise.

 

“Oh… It was just a dream… It felt so real, though.”

“Morning, Akira. Can it be breakfast time yet?”

Hearing a weak voice beside me, I half-opened my eyes. Amelia was looking at me and clutching at her stomach with both hands.

“What are you, a serial mood-killer?”

“Did you say cereal?! Gosh, that sounds good…”

I sighed. I was a fool to expect anything more than comic relief out of this girl. I sat up and pulled out some of the bread the commander had collected for me, as well as the tightly wrapped cloth in which I kept my meat reserves.

“Were you having a nightmare…? You were tossing and turning in your sleep.”

“Nah,” I shook my head, picturing my family’s faces again. “If anything, it was the opposite.” I hadn’t seen them in over a month—of course I was homesick.

“Oh. So you were dreaming of your family back in your world or something?”

“Yeah,” I said, toasting the bread and cooking the meat. Drool was dribbling from Amelia’s mouth. Hold your horses. It’s still raw, for cryin’ out loud… Wait a minute. I never told her I was from another world.

“World Eyes can tell me all sorts of things. Like who you were thinking about when you touched yourself last night. You know I could’ve helped you out with that, right…?”

“Hey!” I yelped, my voice cracking. “Don’t use your special eyes on shit like that! It’s none of your business!”

“Oh, I think it’s very much my business,” Amelia responded with a devious smile. “If we ever want to be truly inseparable traveling companions, it’ll have to happen sooner or later.”

Amelia reached out to grab one of the rolls, but I slapped her hand away and flipped the meat.

Detect Presence suddenly alerted me to something coming closer. It seemed the smell of cooking meat had drawn a monster to our position—an anthropomorphic, pig-faced thing, Level 52. Amelia shot to her feet, but I pushed her back down, then took the beast out with a quick throwing knife.

“Wait. Did we just get even more meat?”

“Trust me, you won’t wanna eat that one. They taste awful.”

“Oh. Well, that’s stupid. What’s the point of meat you can’t even eat? Might as well just destroy it.” Amelia then proceeded to use her Gravity Magic to obliterate the monster’s corpse. What an absolute waste of MP. With practically infinite MP, perhaps that was standard practice. She did make a point of casting around my throwing knife so it wouldn’t be destroyed as well, so there was at least some thought behind her actions. However, the entire corridor was left looking like a slaughterhouse, which wasn’t exactly the most appetizing backdrop for breakfast, even if I was mostly used to gore.

“Hey, Amelia. I’ll let you have the bigger hunk of meat if you go dispose of all that shit somewhere else.”

“Be right back!”

Heh. Sucker. I grinned, then turned the meat again. Thank god she’s agreeable.

“Okay, I got rid of it.”

I thanked her for her services, and—being a man of my word—handed her the larger of the two hunks of meat. Her eyes immediately lit up, and I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled my hunk off the fire. Eager to dig in, I clapped my hands together and said a quick prayer, Amelia watching curiously.

“Thank you for this meal.”

“Who are you talking to? Why are you thanking them?”

“Oh, right. You guys don’t really give thanks before meals in this world, do you?”

Elven folk were always hungry for knowledge, I’d been told; they were perhaps second only to Commander Saran. Maybe that was part of the reason she wanted to tag along with me. I told her all about Japan as we ate and she devoured every last bit of trivia I offered along with her breakfast, only taking a break from chewing to ask another question.

“So, wait. You guys have eight million gods?”

“No, no. That’s just a figure of speech. It just means we have a lot—in traditional Shinto, we believe there are gods and spirits living inside of anything and everything.”

I remembered having a similar conversation with the commander. That had been only a few short weeks ago, but it already felt like another lifetime. I found myself wondering if the hero was doing well and whether he’d broken the curse on our other classmates or not.

“I know, Akira! Why don’t you tell me about your family?”

“Well, all right… I live in a one-parent household with my sickly mother. Her name’s Yukari, and I’ve got a little sister named Yui who’s a grade behind me.”

“What happened to your dad?”

Ah, yes. My dad. I clenched my teeth as a vision of him walking out the front door flashed through my mind.

“He left a few years ago, and my ailing mother had to raise us kids by herself.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that…”

Since then, my mom had started working from home, taking on odd jobs, and I’d been juggling multiple part-time jobs with school to help contribute to our family finances. Even Yui was working part-time, despite really wanting to take part in extracurricular activities. I was also doing all the housework and most of the cooking. My mom cooked when she could, but her health kept her from doing it every day. I hoped the two of them were still eating properly in my absence. I worried I’d make it home only to discover they’d died of food poisoning or malnutrition.

“I have a younger sister too, you know,” Amelia offered.

“Wow, really? I wouldn’t have pegged you for an eldest child.”

“Yup. But it kinda feels the other way around, honestly. She’s way prettier than me, and she’s good at everything she does.”

“You don’t say,” I responded. I sensed the conversation was about to take a depressing turn. I looked deep into Amelia’s eyes, which had twinkled like the night sky at the first sign of meat but were now overcast and sullen.

“I’ve never been good at anything. Not cooking, not housework—nothing. But my sister, she can do anything she sets her mind to without even breaking a sweat. She’s my father’s perfect little princess.”

“Is she obsessed with meat too?”

“No, she’ll eat anything. And she’s stronger than me, and she has more skills than me, and… Wait. What does meat have to do with anything?!”

I felt like I was getting a rough idea of Amelia’s situation and why she got so down on herself the moment we started talking about our siblings. It sounded like her little sister was the favorite child and probably got a lot of special treatment. I also guessed Amelia was constantly being compared to her little sister, which would have affected her early childhood development and given her an inferiority complex. My sister and I had no such rift between us, so I couldn’t relate. My family situation may have been unique in a lot of ways, but my mother never would have let that slide.

“Relax, I was just trying to lighten the mood. And, if it makes you feel any better, I think ‘perfect’ people are boring,” I said. Amelia raised her head to look at me. “Like, when you’re perfect, there’s no room for improvement, y’know? If you ask me, it’s our flaws—and how we adapt to and overcome them—that make us interesting. That’s what builds character. That’s what makes us human…or elves, in your case. Anyway, I can tell you right now that if I met this ‘perfect’ sister of yours, I probably wouldn’t like her one bit.”

It was the same reason I couldn’t stand the hero. He did have his fair share of flaws, but they were overshadowed by his success in other areas. He was a perfect little prince looking down on us peons from his ivory tower and it made him boring as hell.

“I see… Well, I’ll make sure you never have to meet her, then.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. We’d better pack up our things and get a move on. This labyrinth isn’t gonna explore itself.”

Amelia’s expression softened a bit, and I started feeling awkward again; consoling people was way outside of my wheelhouse. I ruffled Amelia’s hair and stood up, then went off to sharpen my katana.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

I pretended not to hear.

 

Amelia proved to be quite capable in battle. I sort of assumed that, since she was royalty, she’d start running around screaming when monsters appeared, but I quickly learned I’d underestimated her.

“Amelia! Three hostiles headed your way!”

“Yup, not a problem. Gravity!”

She flattened all three into pancakes with Gravity Magic, just as she’d done at breakfast. All that remained of the giant ratlike beasts was a single viscid pile of flesh. Yeugh.

“Well, they didn’t look very tasty… Did I mess up? Are you mad at me?” she asked, pouting her lips and staring dejectedly down at the ground.

“What? No, of course not. I didn’t even say anything.”

Her face lit up in an instant.

This girl, I swear.

“What floor do you think we’re on now?” she asked.

“Still sixty-two, I’m pretty sure. I was hoping we could make it to the seventieth floor today, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

“We can do it! I know we can! You and me, Akira—we’re an unstoppable team!”

I had no idea where this confidence was coming from, so I just ruffled her hair again. Every time I ran my fingers through her silky locks, she immediately perked up. It also made her eyes shine and her cheeks turn bright red, but I wasn’t so full of myself as to get the wrong idea about that—surely her body was just reacting to the humidity. Yep, that must be it.

“Have you been drinking water?”

“Uh-huh. But why do you keep reminding me to do that?”

“Because dehydration is no joke, Amelia. Granted, we’re less likely to die of dehydration down here than a sudden monster ambush, but it’s still something you need to be aware of.”

“Dee-high-what-now?”

Maybe they hadn’t grasped the concept of dehydration in this world yet. Medical science certainly wasn’t very far along, from what I’d gathered.

“Have you ever started feeling ill on a hot day, especially after you haven’t had a drink of water in a while?”

“I mean, yeah.”

“That’s called dehydration. It can kill you if you let it.”

“There was a time when a bunch of the younger elves got sick and died suddenly on a really hot day, but we always assumed it was some sort of epidemic or something. You’re telling me that was actually this dee-high-drayshun thing? That’s wild.”

I could only hope she understood the importance of proper hydration. Hell, even I’d gotten careless in the past and came down with heatstroke at one of my part-time jobs. That definitely wasn’t fun. My little sister bawled her eyes out at my bedside, and my mom had to do all the housework that day. I’d sworn to never take my health for granted ever again after that.

“So, yeah. Drink well and drink often, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

I flung a throwing knife into a monster’s forehead as it rounded an upcoming corner. My assassin level and individual skill levels were coming right along. The only question now was whether I’d reach my target level before we reached the bottom of the labyrinth.

“Y’know, Akira… That world you’re from? Er, that country, I mean? There’s actually a country in this world I’ve heard of that sounds just like it. Like, uncanny levels of similar.”

“Wait, for real? Was it founded by prior generations of heroes summoned here?”

“Yeah, it actually was. It’s on the edge of humanity’s continent, the one that faces ours, if I remember right. It’s called Yamato. And they’ve even got that rice you keep saying you’ve got a hankering for.”

“Welp. Guess we’ve figured out where we’re going after we clear this labyrinth.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that.”

I was craving rice so bad I could’ve killed a man. I was sick and tired of eating nothing but stale bread and meat. Rice and miso soup were Japanese staples and if I didn’t get some rice in my gullet soon, I wasn’t sure I could go on living. Rice is love. Rice is life.

Whoops, think I got a little carried away there.

“They’ve even got those ‘hot spring’ things you were telling me about, so we could try those out, too! I guess they’re normally separated into ‘men’s baths’ and ‘women’s baths,’ but I’ve heard there are plenty of ‘mixed baths’ we could use.”

“Uh, Amelia? You do know what it is you’re suggesting, right?”

“What, getting naked in a pool of warm water together?”

“And you don’t have any problem with that…?”

“Oh, don’t worry—I’m quite confident of my assets.”

I let my eyes wander down to Amelia’s chest. I hadn’t paid much attention before, but she was right—those were some serious assets she was packing. I fantasized for a moment about what they might look like underneath her clothes but caught myself drooling and snapped out of it. No, it would never work. An average-looking guy like me could never hop in a mixed bath with a babe like Amelia. I wasn’t emotionally mature enough for such a feat, nor for the assuming glances we’d get from all the other clientele.

“Y-yeah, I dunno. Let me get back to you on that one,” I croaked.

“Okay. Just let me know what you decide before we leave the labyrinth, I guess.”

“I-I’ll see what I can do.”

I was suddenly praying this labyrinth would never end. We carried on, butchering our way through hordes of monsters, the awkward tension between us more palpable than ever.

“You know, you’re the first human to reach this level of the labyrinth. The deepest anyone else has ever made it was the fortieth floor, and even that took an entire raid party. You might be stronger than all the other adventurers who’ve come here combined.”

I looked up at Amelia, startled by her sudden assertion. She looked back at me earnestly. I decided to answer that earnestness by letting her in on a secret I hadn’t told anyone but the commander.

“Yeah, I don’t know why, but my stats are way, way higher than even the hero’s.”

Amelia gave a little nod, as though she’d suspected as much, but she didn’t otherwise react . When she finally did respond, her tone was measured and serious.

“Akira. The demons are the strongest of the four races, and even they generally max out at 900 attack power. The last Demon Lord barely cracked 10,000. You are undoubtedly the strongest living thing in this world right now.”

“Yeah…I suspected as much. Even before I knew about World Eyes, I could tell there was something different about me. But I made a promise to someone that I’d come down here and grind until I hit Level 100. By the time we leave this place, I expect I’ll be a bona fide one-man army.”

“What happens when you hit Level 100?”

“No clue. He didn’t say why I should level up so high, but I have a feeling something good will happen. Something I’m sure I’ll like.”

If I got this strong back home, they’d give police permission to shoot me on sight. Or maybe they’d keep me in a containment chamber to run experiments on. But one thing was for sure: People like me weren’t supposed to happen in this world. I was an abomination. Just as I thought this, Amelia grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

“Even if the rest of the world thinks you’re a monster, I’ll still stand by your side.”

“Thanks,” I responded, feeling just the slightest bit relieved to hear her say that. I’d had an exchange similar to this once before, though in that instance, I’d been the one doing the reassuring.

I wondered how good old Kyousuke was holding up.

POV: ASAHINA KYOUSUKE

 

I’D KNOWN THE HERO, Satou Tsukasa, for quite some time. He, Akira, and I had all been in the same class since kindergarten. When I first noticed the pattern back in sixth grade, I thought it little more than a bizarre coincidence, but after it continued for over a decade, I couldn’t help but think it must be some sort of curse.

Satou always antagonized Akira, who never really paid him any mind. Being Akira, he never really paid anyone any mind. Thus, as statistical anomaly kept us bound together all the way into high school, the bad blood between them persisted. By that point, I’d accepted it as part of our shared destiny.

Akira and I didn’t start speaking to one another until we were already in high school. Unlike the ever-popular Satou, he and I didn’t stick out from the crowd. We never really spoke to our other classmates, instead preferring to simply take naps or read by ourselves through lunch and free periods. Then, during summer vacation of our freshman year, I stumbled over one of Akira’s secrets while I was out and about.

“You’re…Oda Akira, correct?”

“Hm? …Aw, crap. You’re, uhhh… That guy from the kendo club…”

“Asahina Kyousuke, yes.”

Our school’s code of conduct didn’t forbid taking on part-time work. They didn’t encourage it, of course, but they would approve most applications so long as you had a compelling reason and your grades weren’t already suffering. That said, Akira was the only person I knew who was actually doing part-time work, and he apparently didn’t want anyone finding out about it; I’d just happened upon him taking a break. We simply greeted each other, then went our separate ways. I was surprised to see him working at a construction site, however—surely the school wouldn’t have approved such a dangerous job. It was also surprising that he hadn’t remembered my name, even after being stuck with me for so long.

When school resumed the next day, he approached me as soon as I entered the classroom.

“Could you meet me in the library during lunch, if you’ve got time?”

“Sure.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least he didn’t ask to meet behind the gym. With all due respect to Akira, he certainly didn’t have the friendliest visage, and there were even some rumors that he might be the son of a mob boss. I had a feeling he wouldn’t ask to meet in the library if he were planning to beat me up.

I nodded and took my seat, my heart still pounding. Even after having ruled out the possibility, I couldn’t stop envisioning scenarios where he extorted money from me or something. Although, if he really wanted me to keep his secret, then it should have been him paying me off, not the other way around. At that point, my brain was too rattled to think logically.

When lunchtime rolled around, I ate my food like always, but instead of taking my usual nap, I rose from my seat and headed for the library. Akira had sped out of the classroom as soon as fourth period ended, presumably to take part in the fierce battle for baked goods that occurred every day in front of the student store, where teenage boys whose appetites could not be sated by simple packed lunches congregated in terrifying numbers. I couldn’t imagine choosing to head into such a war zone; Akira was a brave man.

Our school’s library was just past the main entrance, and the female librarian was always on duty. Students were free to visit the library during any free period, but this was the first time I’d come to it outside of our contemporary literature class. It seemed even more out of character for someone like Akira to visit the library, so I had to wonder why he’d selected it for our meeting.

“Hey, thanks for coming.”

I was so startled by his greeting that I almost responded with “Thanks for having me,” but I managed to keep a straight face. I nodded and sat down in the chair across from Akira.

“So, I’ll just cut to the chase. I wanted to talk to you about what you saw yesterday.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” I responded, and Akira’s face immediately lit up. It was probably a much subtler change in expression, but I’d spent so many hours looking at my stone-faced self in the mirror that I was able to pick up even the tiniest change.

“Just one question. Why are you so determined to keep it a secret? It’s not as though it’s against the rules or anything.”

“Yeah, uh… About that…” Akira bashfully turned away and scratching his cheek. “It’s just kinda lame to be that guy, y’know what I mean?”

“Um. No, I really don’t.”

“You know! The kind of guy everyone treats differently because they know that ‘Oh, he’s working real hard to support his family,’ and shit like that. It goes against my aesthetic.”

“What’s wrong with working hard to support your family?”

“Nothing. I just don’t want people to treat me differently because of it.”

In a way, I could relate. I generally stayed late after kendo club to do more practice swings or go for endurance runs, and I kept that a secret from my fellow club members so as not to make them feel inferior to or different about me. “So don’t you dare tell anyone else about this, okay? Especially not my sister.”

“Sister? You have a sister too?”

“Yeah, she’s a year below us… Wait. What do you mean, ‘too’?”

I pulled out my cell phone and showed him a picture of my sister and a friend of hers taken in a photobooth (she’d sent it to me unsolicited). I pointed at the tall, ponytailed girl on the right who was doing some sort of bizarre monkey pose.

“This is my younger sister,” I said.

“Well…then I guess introductions are in order, because that’s my little sister,” said Akira, pointing to the cute short-haired girl making peace signs next to her.

“Imagine that… Our sisters were best friends all this time and we had no idea.”

“No kidding. I can’t believe you’re Keika’s older brother. But now that you’re telling me this, I can totally see the resemblance.”

“Likewise.”

Akira and his sister, Yui, looked so similar that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t pieced it together before. They’d obviously begun to look different after puberty kicked in, but as children they had been almost identical. The only way to tell them apart would have been Akira’s ever-disinterested stare.

“We should talk again sometime, if that’s cool with you,” said Akira.

“Absolutely,” I said, nodding several times. “And please, call me by my name.”

“You got it, Kyousuke. And you can call me Akira, too.”

“Very well. So tell me, Akira—obviously we have summer school this week, but assuming we didn’t, what would you be doing right now?”

“Oh, probably handing out flyers for our little caricature business. My sister had to drop out of art club for family reasons, but she’s really talented, so now she does paid commissions on the side.”

Never had I thought I’d be grateful for having to come into school over summer vacation, yet here I was. Akira and I continued to interact over the following weeks and months, and when our sophomore year rolled around, we were placed in the same class yet again, right alongside Satou. Not long after that, we found ourselves summoned to the world of Morrigan.

Here, I was a samurai class—likely a reflection of my experience in kendo club—and Akira was an assassin. But he’d kept his presence hidden for quite a while after we arrived, so I hadn’t even known he’d been summoned with us until our first group meeting. I hadn’t read many fantasy novels before, but even I could tell there was something strange about the king and princess. Perhaps I owed that little inkling to my Intuition skill.

“Status.”

 

KYOUSUKE ASAHINA

RACE: Human

CLASS: Samurai (Lv. 5)

HP: 400/400

MP: 600/600

ATTACK: 1400

DEFENSE: 800

SKILLS:

Mathematics (Lv. 6)

Curved Swords (Lv. 4)

Dual Blades (Lv. 1)

Intuition (Lv. 8)

Fire Magic (Lv. 1)

EXTRA SKILLS:

Understand Languages

Tactician (Lv. 3)

 

Those were my stats upon exiting the labyrinth after our first expedition. It felt like quite the upgrade to me. I was only slightly below Satou now, who was supposed to be the hero. My Intuition skill, however, was unbelievably high.

Judging from my levels in Mathematics and Curved Swords, it seemed my life experience back in Japan was reflected in my skills here. If Intuition was the same, then it would explain why I’d always had such a knack for sniffing out secrets. Regardless of the reason for this abnormal skill level, I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The King of Retice and his daughter were awfully suspect, but the knights (especially Commander Saran and Vice Commander Gilles) appeared to be good people. Their training regimens were strenuous, but I knew they were working us to the bone for our own good. Meanwhile, Akira conducted undercover operations unbeknownst to any of us. I hadn’t spoken to him even once since we arrived here, but I had a good idea as to what he was up to. If he wanted to talk to me about it, I’d let him broach the subject. I was more than happy to assist in whatever ways I could.

I wished he’d taken me with him when he fled the castle after Commander Saran’s murder, and I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t run away with him. All I remembered was our classmates acting awfully strange, myself included. I remembered being plagued by thoughts like I need to stay here, and I’ll never forgive that villain, that felt as if they’d been placed in my head. My body wouldn’t do what I told it to. This subsided after a few days, but it still felt like something was off.

The strange sense of unease vanished after I destroyed the black crystals in the princess’s bedchambers. I didn’t know why I’d broken into her chambers, or why I cleaved those crystals in half with my sword. Something deep inside told me it was what I needed to do, and I didn’t think it was my Intuition skill either…

The princess heard the sound of me breaking the crystals, and footsteps sounded in the corridor. Though there were twenty-six crystals, I only managed to break six before my pursuers drew near and I was forced to escape out the window. If I’d stayed any longer, I was sure the princess and her attendants would have caught me in the act. I didn’t have the ability to hide my presence like Akira, so that would have been curtains for me.

Later that same day, the hero called a group meeting, and it was decided that a handful of us would be leaving the castle. I chose to accompany the hero on his quest, so I might one day see Akira again.

“I just don’t get it, Asahina. How were you freed from the effects of the curse?” Satou asked as we made our way through the forest, circumventing the city and heading east, starting what might have been our first conversation ever.

“I destroyed a strange crystal in the princess’s chambers, then felt my body grow noticeably lighter. How I knew to destroy it, I couldn’t tell you.”

“If ya weren’t movin’ of yer own volition, then maybe someone else besides the princess was controllin’ ya? I mean, why would she ever wanna bust her own dang crystals?”

Satou went quiet as Ueno spoke. I assumed he was thinking about one of two things: whether there was a greater and more powerful evil than the princess lurking in the castle, or whether the power that had told me to break the crystals came from a potential ally. I’d given a fair bit of thought to the latter question myself and had come up with nothing. Who could it have been…? I remembered being enveloped in a strange light on my way back from training, and then my body started moving on its own. I had been fully conscious the entire time, which only made it more disturbing.

Feeling nauseous at the memory, I stepped away from the group. We’d come quite a way from the castle by this point, so it was no longer imperative that we keep moving at such a brisk pace. We could afford a brief respite. However, we couldn’t let our guards down, as monsters still lived in the forest, even if they were much weaker than the ones that dwelled in the labyrinth.

“Akira… I don’t doubt for an instant that you’re still alive out there, but be safe.”

I whispered these words where none could hear me but the trees, then pulled the katana I’d brought as my weapon out from my luggage. I’d found it lying on my bed when I returned to my room after the meeting to gather up my things. I could tell at a glance that it was immaculately crafted. Even if it were a trap, and the weapon was cursed, I decided to bring it along, thinking I could at least sell it to earn some money for our journey. But when I had Ueno examine it for me, she fortunately determined there was no curse on the blade.

The katana—blade, hilt, and sheath—was pure white and forged in the Kogarasu style with the words “Hakuryuu” or “White Dragon” engraved near the base in Japanese. This wasn’t my Intuition skill speaking, just my normal intuition, but something told me this blade was one half of a pair, and its mate was somewhere out in the world. I was all but certain of it. I knew this blade would come in handy once we joined forces with Akira, and I needed to hone myself into a warrior that could stand at his side before that day came. That was my current objective.

 

We made it through the forest without ever noticing the mysterious individual watching us through the trees. The man turned on his heels and headed back to the castle, his knight’s armor clinking softly.

“…I’m afraid you have all the help I can offer you. I’ve carried out Commander Saran’s final orders… I wish you safe travels, o heroes from another world.”

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

AS AMELIA AND I made our way from the seventy-ninth floor to the eightieth, I had no idea that, somewhere up on the surface, Kyousuke was setting off on a journey of his own with some newfound companions.

We’d spent an entire day looking for the next set of stairs and eventually found them hidden beneath a trap door, atop which had stood another minotaur—a monster I’d grown quite used to fighting.

“Man, that took forever,” I groaned.

“You can say that again. I think that was the longest floor yet. Never thought we’d have to dig through a huge pile of monster viscera just to find the staircase.”

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t have taken so long if someone hadn’t crushed that minotaur into a fine paste with their Gravity Magic and covered up the entrance.”

“No comment.”

If my Luck skill hadn’t kicked in, we could’ve been wandering aimlessly for days. That skill was turning out to be a real lifesaver.

“Wonder what the next boss’ll be,” I mused.

“A dragon, maybe?” Amelia posited excitedly.

“Nah, I feel like they’d save that for the very last floor, know what I mean?”

“I can’t say I do.”

“Slaying a dragon is, like, the ultimate heroic feat. You can’t really top that.”

We made our way through the next floor, dodging deadly traps left and right.

“Did you want to head straight for the boss arena?” asked Amelia.

“Yeah. I want those sweet, sweet level-ups ASAP.”

“But if you don’t actually work on your technique, your body won’t be able to keep up with your stats.”

Wow, Amelia’s actually making a good point for once, I thought.

Amelia narrowed her eyes and glared at me.

“Is it just me, or did you just insult me internally?”

“It’s just you. So? What’s your master plan, then?”

“You’ll map out this floor first using only your physical abilities. No skills.”

Ah, yes. “I tried that once. Didn’t work out so well. Almost died; would not recommend.”

“Well, that’s probably because you were by yourself. With two of us here, we can watch each other’s backs and take action if the other person gets themselves into a sticky situation,” said Amelia, reaching out a hand toward me.

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Spellcraft… Seal Skills!”

“What the…?”

A pale blue light enveloped me, and my body felt significantly heavier. My Detect Presence skill was forcibly shut off, and it felt like I’d just had my security blanket stripped away. Right, I forgot about her Spellcraft skill. Certainly wasn’t expecting her to use it to hinder me.

“Um, Amelia? I can’t use Detect Danger anymore. Or Detect Presence. Or Conceal Presence.”

“I’m aware. You’ll be fine, trust me.”

I would’ve liked to know what made her so sure, but I wasn’t really in the mood to find out.

Amelia looked up at me, straight-faced.

“Listen, Akira. There are three giant goblins coming from our right. See? You don’t need skills if you just learn how to pick up on all the little signs.”

“Hmph.”

Sure enough, the giant goblins came barreling around the corner not three seconds later, wielding swords and axes likely pilfered from some unfortunate adventurers. I drew my katana from its sheath on my back (I’d placed it there because it kept jangling about at my waist) and lunged at the first of the three.

“Fine. Have it your way.”

 

In the end, I couldn’t take down a single one. Amelia had to dash in and squash ’em for me right when it looked like they might kill me.

“Cheer up, Akira.”

“Ugh…”

I sat against the labyrinth wall and sighed. I probably looked like a pouting child who hadn’t gotten what they asked for on their birthday. All I wanted to do was run in and kill the next boss, but my technique was so bad, I couldn’t even kill a giant goblin. Amelia’s reassurances didn’t do much to make me feel better.

“The Adventurers’ Guild recommends being no less than Level 70 before taking on giant goblins, you know, and you were at a massive disadvantage.”

Apparently, she was still trying to cheer me up. But it was hopeless. Nothing could make me feel better after that.

“Really, Akira. What are you so upset about?”

“Can’t believe I had to get saved by a girl.”

I stared down at the ground to avoid Amelia’s indignant gaze. But it was true. I was most upset that I’d needed Amelia to save my ass. Call me petty all you want, but it won’t change facts. Those things almost killed me, and she took ’em out with a single cast of Gravity Magic. I wish I was dead.

But we didn’t have time to sit here and let me stew in my feelings.

After a brief respite, I asked Amelia about something she’d said that had piqued my curiosity.

“So there’s an Adventurers’ Guild here, huh?”

“Yeah. Adventurer is one of the most sought-after professions among the four races. As long you’ve got the strength, you can make a solid living for yourself.”

The trade-off was that they often died young. Amelia’s tone was cold and spiteful. I stood up straight, now deeply interested. Commander Saran had mentioned a particular line of work in this world that was extremely lucrative, but with an equally extreme casualty rate—he must have been talking about adventurers. Amelia clearly had some complicated feelings about them.

“Are you an adventurer, Amelia?”

“Yes. I’m licensed to do work for them, at least.”

She pulled out a pair of dog tags from under her collar.

Not the sort of thing I’d expect royalty to have around her neck. So that’s proof of membership, eh? I’ve gotta admit, they look pretty badass.

“Sorry, you can’t have them.”

“Yeah, no duh! I was gonna make my own! God!”

“Well, you were looking at ’em like you really wanted ’em. What’s the matter, li’l greedy-grump? Are we wanting what we can’t have again?”

“Please stop talking like that. It’s obnoxious.”

From what I could see, the first tag had Amelia’s name, race, and class written on it, while the second was blank. My puzzled expression gave my curiosity away, and Amelia explained the purpose of it. I was impressed every time this girl seemed to have her act together; I assumed she’d be nothing more than an airheaded comic relief character. Perhaps it was her sister’s influence—though I had a sister, too, so what was my excuse?

“This tag is for displaying your adventurer rank. Different ranks get different colors, so there’s no need for engravings.”

“Ohhh, gotcha. So what rank are you?” I asked, and her face stiffened up a bit. I’d just tripped a land mine. Whoops.

But she answered anyway.

“Second from the top. But the difficulty varies by race, so being a top-ranked human isn’t the same thing as being a top-ranked elf.”

“Dang, so you’re at the second highest possible rank for elves? That’s pretty incredible, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so. But my sister’s at the highest rank.”

It always came back to her sister, didn’t it? Every time she came up, Amelia looked on the verge of tears. I wanted to ask more about this girl, but it felt inappropriate to pry, so I didn’t. I’d met Amelia only a few days ago, though we already had a surprisingly good rapport. I was usually an awkward mess this far into the process of getting to know somebody, but perhaps fighting alongside her through battle after ruthless battle helped to break down those barriers.

“If your tag’s silver, I’m guessing the top rank would be gold?”

“Correct. And only four people in the entire world have gold tags. They’re the strongest warriors in all of Morrigan. Or they were.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked knowingly, inclining my head.

“Well, now you’re the strongest. For the record, there’s always been another rank above gold.”

“Yeah? And what color is that one?”

“Black, if I recall correctly. It was the Hero of Legend’s favorite color. But there hasn’t been a black-rank adventurer in over a century, so most humans and even elves have forgotten it’s even a thing.”

Right—elves lived longer lives than humans, though they had children less frequently.

“How old are you, anyway?”

“Akira! You never ask a lady her age!”

She punched me in the gut at the speed of light. Guess that’s one topic that no amount of rapport can make up for.

Thankfully, her low attack stat meant the blow didn’t hurt. At 400, she was already four times stronger than the average human, but it felt like a mosquito bite to me. I was starting to grasp just how weak the humans of this world truly were in comparison to me. I could scarcely believe they’d beaten back the beastfolk to take the continent. Must have won through numbers alone.

“Yeah, yeah. My bad. Anyway, you wanna get going?”

“You still wanna keep moving? Are you sure your body can handle that?” Amelia asked, looked at me with concern.

I hopped to my feet.

“Sorry, but I can’t stop getting stronger. I’m just going to have to grin and bear these trials and tribulations, even if it kills me.”

I smiled down at Amelia.

Her face turned red as she crammed her dog tags back into her shirt and stood up to join me.

“Well, then I’m coming with you… I mean, I did p-promise to stick with you.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

That probably sounded like a fairly cold response, but it was the most affection I could muster. I could already feel myself blushing up a storm, so I turned my back to Amelia and headed deeper into the labyrinth.

“Looks like a white bat up above.”

“I see it.”

A few steps later, Amelia called out to me again, but I heard its wings flapping well before she pointed it out— the fruits of my skill-sealed labor. It was worth mentioning that a white bat wasn’t just an ordinary bat that happened to be white. It didn’t travel in a colony, and it was about the size of an adult human man. It had jagged claws and razor-sharp teeth that could chomp a person right in half. The one before us was a high-level specimen.

“It has no sense of smell, sight, or hearing. It perceives its targets’ movements via a sixth sense of some sort,” Amelia explained.

“Gee, that sounds real fair.”

I drew my katana and swung it down in a diagonal slash. For a moment, I thought I’d chopped off the beast’s head, but I’d barely scratched its white fur.

“White bats have the ability to distort their opponent’s perception too. Pretty much the perfect enemy for our current purposes, eh, Akira?”

“You could’ve told me that before I started slashing at it, y’know.”

I hadn’t fought anything that had disrupted my hearing or vision before. Though I had fought a few monsters that could turn invisible, which was a struggle. I’d had to resort to Shadow Magic just to snuff ’em out.

“I’ve only sealed your skills, not your mana. And mana resides in all of us, whether we’re cognizant of it or not. If you can learn how to draw from that power, you can use it to enhance your physical capabilities.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t exactly in a position to pay close attention to Professor Amelia’s lecture, but I tried my best to answer regardless.

“So I…just need to…use that power…and condense it into some sort of…makeshift strengthening spell?” I panted out the words as I struggled to keep up with my foe. I’d avoided its most deadly attacks thus far, but my body was already covered in cuts and bruises from the skirmish. “All right, mana… Let’s see what you can do…”

It was like I was manipulating my mana separately from the rest of my body. Ever since my first attempt to hide my presence from others back in my world, I’d felt there was some kind of power deep inside me. When I came to this world, I’d finally figured out what that was: the feeling of attuning the mana inside me to the mana floating in the air, of achieving harmony, then stretching that coalesced mana out to cover my entire body. That’s what Conceal Presence really was. But what if I were to unleash that gathered mana into the world instead? Almost like a mist. Or an energy field.

“Worth a try, at least.”

“Akira?! What are you closing your eyes for? That thing’s gonna kill you!”

But I’d already closed off my mind from the outside world. Amelia’s voice didn’t register in my brain; nothing could break my focus. I channeled my energy, resonating my mana with the world around me, then unleashed it.

“Aha! There you are!”

I could now perceive the white bat’s true form—not just the illusion it was projecting—as it looked around, trying to figure out where I’d disappeared to. I hadn’t been fighting like an assassin recently, so it had been a while since I last sized up a target from behind. What a disgrace I was to the assassin name, having forgotten what the sensation felt like. I swung Yato-no-Kami with all my might and the bat’s head tumbled to the ground.

“Well? Whaddya say to that, Amelia?”

“How…? How could he be capable of that?”

“Amelia?” I asked again, but she just kept muttering to herself, her beautiful face twisted in vexation. I clapped her on the shoulders, and finally she looked up at me. “Are you okay? You can take a rest if you’re not feeling up to this right now.”

“N-no, I’m fine. Akira, what was that just now?”

I tilted my head in confusion. Did it really look that strange to the outside observer?

“I mean, I just made my mana resonate with my surroundings, then unleashed it into the air around me like you said. Why do you ask?”

“Akira. Normal people can’t achieve mana resonance like that, let alone control the mana that surrounds their bodies. I’ve only ever heard of one exception.”

I was confused. How could it be impossible if I’d just done it?

“Can you control the mana around you?” she asked.

“Hm? Well, yeah. Come on back here!” I called, and the mana shot back into my body.

Amelia looked at me like she’d just seen a ghost.

“What? Is that so weird?” Suddenly I felt very self-conscious. I didn’t realize I’d just done something abnormal.

What Amelia told me next didn’t help my anxiety—no, it shook me to my core.

“The only person in history who’s ever done what you just did…was the Hero of Legend.”

“Say what?”

Apparently, I’d just put myself on level ground with the strongest person Morrigan had ever seen.

POV: AMELIA ROSEQUARTZ

 

NEVER IN MY LIFE had I felt sorry for myself, yet all the grown-ups closest to me had always treated me like I deserved pity. Why, I couldn’t say. Maybe it was my silver-white hair. Or red eyes. Or that my sister was superior to me in every possible respect. I honestly didn’t know anymore.

It was true, of course, that my sister was more beautiful and extremely powerful. Over the years, she’d charmed everyone and taken everything from me. First my parents, then my friends, then even the man I was engaged to marry. Sooner or later, they all took her side and treated me as though I was the villain harassing her. She cried fake tears and went on long tirades about how heartless I was, how abusive. They believed every word.

Eventually, I was forced to leave the Holy Tree and banished from the elven domain entirely. Not one person believed my testimony or my innocence; I couldn’t trust any of them. I was chased from the forest by my sister, and though my memories were a little foggy after that, I recalled falling into the ocean from a steep cliff, after which I must have washed ashore on the human continent of Kantinen. I woke in an unfamiliar forest and, before I could get my bearings, was swallowed by a black slime. I was prepared to die in that monster. Heck, I thought I already was dead.

Then I arrived deep inside a major labyrinth—the Great Labyrinth of Kantinen. I was saved by an unsophisticated (but seemingly good-natured) human boy with deep black hair, who watched over me while I was unconscious and made food for me once I woke.

I assumed the slime had been designed to abduct elves. Such abductions had caused a bit of a stir in recent months, and it was suspected a group of elf traffickers had made the genetically modified slimes specifically for their purposes.

I believed I’d almost fallen victim to them for two reasons.

First, I could sense the presence of humans nearby shortly before I was devoured—and not just one or two of them. No, there had been a whole village in close proximity. It made no sense for a monster to go after a side dish like me with a buffet so near at hand. The slime would have made short work of so many noncombatants and any low-level adventurers.

Second, the slime dragged me down into the depths of the Great Labyrinth of Kantinen—far below where you’d normally find slimes of its level. Labyrinth monsters generally didn’t move between their respective sectors, so it was rare to find low-level monsters on deeper levels and vice-versa. The only exceptions were the rare occasions when monsters would flow out of the labyrinth to assault neighboring villages, but that only happened once every few years.

My only hypothesis to explain the beast’s odd behavior was that it had been planning to abduct another person before returning to its master. Its body had more than enough room to fit another person. Furthermore, if the perpetrator was not, in fact, looking to kidnap elves specifically, but instead people with abnormally high levels of mana, then the boy who rescued me would certainly fit the bill. That still wouldn’t explain why the kidnappers were releasing their slimy minions on the human continent, since humans generally had far less mana than elves, but perhaps there was something about this boy in particular they wanted.

Luckily, I had the ability to see through anyone and everyone, a skill the other elves had always resented. I used World Eyes and took a peek at the boy’s stats.

 

AKIRA ODA

RACE: Human

CLASS: Assassin (Lv. 68)

HP: 23000/23400

MP: 8400/9100

ATTACK: 15600

DEFENSE: 10400

SKILLS:

Mathematics (Lv. 5)

Negotiation (Lv. 5)

Assassin Tools (Lv. 8)

Assassination (Lv. 8)

Curved Swords (Lv. 9)

Short Swords (Lv. 5)

Conceal Presence (Lv. MAX)

Detect Presence (Lv. 9)

Detect Danger (Lv. 8)

Intimidate (Lv. 7)

Roar (Lv. 3)

Dual Blades (Lv. 3)

Mana Control (Lv. 8)

Illusion Magic (Lv. 1)

EXTRA SKILLS:

Understand Languages

World Eyes (Lv. 2)

Shadow Magic (Lv. 7)

Luck

 

My heart skipped a beat. Something wasn’t right. The human boy’s stats were impossible. He was far more powerful than even my sister, who was supposed to be one of the four strongest individuals in the entire world—a gold-rank adventurer. His attack power alone was already far beyond that of the last Demon Lord. Yet his presence left almost no impression at all. He didn’t give off the aura that normally accompanied such power.

Perhaps sensing my gaze, he whirled around to look at me, and I pretended I’d just woken up. Though clearly annoyed to be babysitting me, he asked me how I was feeling, and I responded in a panic. My voice immediately cracked, still hoarse from having gone without food or water for so long. He must have picked up on this, as he quickly offered me some roasted monster meat and bread. My stomach grumbled at the sight of it. Unable to quell my bodily functions, I snatched it out of his hands and dashed off to devour it in a corner of the corridor.

Thus began my first interaction with Akira. He provided me with food and water, and he was perhaps the first person who ever looked me straight in the eye without a hint of scorn or disdain. He even said he hated “perfect” people and fully accepted me, the most imperfect elf there was. I had no gold hair nor azure eyes like the rest of my people, yet he thought nothing of it. After being cast out from my own species, that meant the world to me.

“Hey, Akira. Is my hair weird to you? Or my eyes?” I asked.

Even then he didn’t avert his gaze.

He looked baffled that I would even ask, then answered confidently, “What the heck are you talking about? I’ve never met anyone with hair as beautiful as yours. And your eyes are striking too.”

Granted, he hadn’t met my sister and couldn’t compare us, but I felt like it wouldn’t change anything—like he would still choose me. Just being around him made my heart race, and whenever his skin brushed against mine, I felt an electric current coursing through my body, my knees quaked, and my heart skipped a beat.

There was no doubt in my mind: this was love at first sight.

I’d never once blushed for any of my handsome noble suitors, nor even at the sweet nothings my ex-fiancé would whisper in my ear. But when this boy ran his fingers through my hair, I turned redder than a tomato. I wanted to stay by his side forever, to be his steadfast ally through thick and thin. Even if everyone else in the world had it out for him, I wouldn’t abandon him. Such was the oath I made to myself. An oath I knew in my heart I would never break.

“Let’s stick together forever, Akira. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Something tells me I couldn’t get rid of you even if I wanted to.”

“Nope!”

For perhaps the first time in my life, I couldn’t help but be grateful to my sister. If she and the other elves hadn’t betrayed me, I never would have met Akira. With a gentle smile, I said a silent thank-you to Kilika, and to all the other elves who’d spurned me.

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

AT LONG LAST, we reached the eightieth-floor boss arena. We’d found the door about twenty-four hours prior, but we decided to take a day to recuperate before heading inside for a couple of reasons. The first was that Amelia’s Spellcraft ability had a two-day cooldown period during which she couldn’t create any new spells. We knew we might not need the skill to fight the boss, but we wanted to be ready for anything. One might have guessed the other reason for resting would be so Amelia could recover her MP, but since it was nearly infinite, recovery wasn’t needed. The second reason we waited was so I could get in some additional sword training while my skills were still sealed.

“Okay, Amelia. You ready for this?” I asked as I did some warm-up stretches.

Amelia, who had been meditating to focus her mind, opened her eyes and nodded.

“Ready as I’ll ever be. Go ahead and open it whenever.”

“All right. Here goes nothing,” I responded, opening and closing my fists a few times to loosen up the joints.

“C’mon, this’ll be a cinch. With our combined powers, the boss won’t even know what hit it.”

“Sure hope you’re right about that,” I said, drawing my katana and placing one hand on the massive door. I opened the door slowly and it shut itself behind us.

“What the?! Akira, watch out!”

Just as I was scratching my head in confusion at the seemingly empty boss arena, Amelia cried out with a terror I hadn’t heard from her before. I felt the presence in the next instant and leapt back. Not a second later, scorching flames rained down where I’d just been standing.

“What the hell was that…?”

My entire body broke out in goosebumps. Amelia searched frantically for the source of the flames.

“Look alive! More flames incoming!” she cried, and I jumped deftly to the side.

This time, I wasn’t able to dodge the attack completely, and the flames singed my right thigh.

“Ugh!”

“Akira, did you see it?!”

“Just barely. Definitely not a kind of monster we’ve fought before,” I said, grimacing.

Amelia gazed up at the ceiling, and her face went deathly pale.

“Maybe you haven’t, but I have. That’s a dragon. My sister and I had to fend one off to protect our Holy Tree a long time ago. But this one looks way different from the one Kilika slew.”

“Wait. That thing’s a dragon?!” I gasped, looking up at the ceiling along with her.

“GRRRRRAAAAAAAGH!”

Though the ceiling was high above us, I could easily make out the shape of something massive clinging to it—a shadow so large, it made the high ceiling seem like an optical illusion. It was indeed the fabled fearsome beast. According to Commander Saran, dragons were nearly extinct, and only a few species could match them in ferocity.

“Did I jinx us with my dragon-slaying fantasy a while back…?” Amelia murmured.

The black dragon sized us up with glimmering golden eyes. I’d figured we wouldn’t have to fight a dragon until the final level of the labyrinth, but I was obviously way off. Amelia had been right on the money.

“Hey, Amelia. Think you can drag that sucker down to earth with your Gravity Magic? Don’t think it’s a good idea to let it keep sniping us from above.”

“I could probably do that, but we don’t know how big it really is, so we’d run the risk of being crushed beneath it. I wouldn’t recommend it,” she said, looking at the burn on my right leg.

The dragon didn’t wait for us to finish our conversation and continued spitting fireballs one after another.

“Don’t worry about me. I can walk this off. But we’re sitting ducks down here. Sooner or later, one of those fireballs is gonna hit its mark.”

“All right.” She pursed her lips and nodded. Then she reached her hands skyward and said, “Gravity! Get down here, you stupid dragon!”

“GRAAAAAGH?!”

The black-scaled beast’s body trembled with the force of Amelia’s gravitational pull. One by one, its claws lost their grip on the ceiling, which was beginning to crack. As the dragon fought to resist her Gravity Magic, it ceased throwing fireballs and tried to spread its wings. Amelia quickly used Gravity to force them closed, and a few moments later, the dragon plummeted toward the ground. Gripping Yato-no-Kami in hand, I braced myself to receive the beast. Just before it hit the floor, it twisted its body, landed on its feet, and glared down at me.

“Sorry, big guy.”

I drove my blade deep into the dragon’s neck, through its hard black scales, and sliced down the length of its throat. I stood there, stunned at how easily my sword had carved through the beast’s hide, then withdrew it and leapt back to where Amelia was standing. “Akira, watch out!” she yelled as I neared her.

“GRRRAAAAAAGH!”

“Argh!”

Her warning came too late. I just managed to push her away before I took a direct hit from the dragon at point-blank range. It swatted me like a bug with its powerful claws, and sent me flying across the room.

“Akira!” I heard Amelia shriek from the other end of the arena.

I was glad to hear she was okay, even if I felt bad for shoving her. A stinging pain shot through my back—my spine was probably badly bruised from crashing into the wall. Luckily, my katana was intact and unscathed, just coated in dragon’s blood. Amelia rushed over as I tried to get back on my feet.

“Akira, are you okay?”

“Mostly… How the hell is that thing still standing, though? I carved its damn throat open.”

“When it comes to monsters, dragons are in a league all their own. You can’t compare them to anything you’ve fought before,” Amelia asserted, running her hands over my body to make sure I didn’t have any particularly grievous wounds.

I regained my footing and looked over at the dragon. Its gold eyes pierced the dim light as it glared at me.

“Not sure how I can do any better than that, but okay,” I responded.

“Well, it’s not flying around anymore, and my magic’s worn off, so it’s not like we haven’t had any effect. If anything, I’m impressed by how sharp that blade of yours must be to have pulled that off,” Amelia said, looking at the katana in my right hand.

I raised it up a bit. I hadn’t slain a dragon before, so I had no frame of reference, but it did feel like the blade had cut through its scales too easily.

“Well, it is a special sword, I guess,” I mused, recalling the smile on Commander Saran’s face when he gave it to me. Maybe it wasn’t so strange for a sword forged by the Hero of Legend to be able to do what it could. “Anyway, are you all right, Amelia?”

“I’m fine, thanks to you. Pretty dreamy how you protected me.”

“I recall doing no such thing, sorry,” I said quickly. My pushing her out of the way was more reflex than anything, but I was glad she was unharmed. Way to go, me. “Anyway, what do we do about this mangy reptile?”

“I don’t know, but something doesn’t seem right about it.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well…it’s strong, but nowhere near as strong as a dragon should be. I know your stats are ridiculously high, Akira, but you shouldn’t have been able to harm it that easily.”

The battle had felt a little anticlimactic compared to what I’d always imagined a dragon fight would be. I was amazed the beast could still stand after having its throat carved open, but it was disappointing for one swipe to nearly take out the supposed “king of all monsters.” Its stat page indicated that it was indeed a dragon, but I agreed with Amelia that something felt off about the whole encounter.

“Hrm. Let me try something.”

“What are you gonna do?” Amelia tilted her head.

“I’m gonna try attacking that thing head-on,” I said before dashing off.

“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

The dragon resumed its long-range assault the minute I started toward it, as if trying to keep me from getting too close. I dodged and weaved through the fireballs despite my injuries and finally arrived at the beast’s feet. The fireballs stopped once I got too close and the dragon tried to stomp on me instead. I expertly side-stepped the attack, then jumped onto its legs and clambered up its body.

“GRAAAAAAGH?!”

I had to stab the dragon’s side repeatedly in order climb the slippery scales as the dragon flailed about in an attempt to throw me off and stop the nonconsensual acupuncture.

“Argh!”

“Gravity!”

Right when I thought was about to get flung off, Amelia shot out a controlled wave of Gravity Magic to stop the beast’s movements. Its massive body sank slightly into the dirt. Right on time, Amelia.

The dragon continued trying to shake me off after a moment, even though it was struggling to stay upright. That it could move at all under the weight of Amelia’s magic was a testament to its strength, but I wasn’t convinced this thing was a dragon anymore. “All right, you big bastard. This ends here.”

I leapt up to the dragon’s head and drove the tip of my katana deep into one beady golden eye.

“GRRROOOOOOAAAAAGH!”

The dragon wailed, thrashing about far more tempestuously than it had before.

I put all my weight behind my katana and jammed it in even deeper.

“Now! Shadow Magic, activate!”

The shadows burst out in a torrent from my katana, quickly covering the entire boss arena and enveloping the dragon in their shade. They raged and ravaged through its internal organs, churning its brains into a pulpy purée before exiting through its eye sockets and returning to the blade.

The dragon, defeated, sputtered out its final breath. As it began to fall, its corpse started glowing. I’d never seen a monster glow upon its death, yet the light the dragon emitted was almost blinding in the dimly lit arena. I withdrew my katana and hopped down from the dragon’s head before dashing over to Amelia, who watched in disbelief. She appeared unharmed.

“Are you okay, Akira?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Got nicked a few times by that thing’s super-sharp scales, but otherwise I’m all good.”

“But the burn on your leg looks like it’s starting to fester…”

I took a quick glance down at my thigh and waved off her concern.

“Eh, I’m running on pure adrenaline right now, so I’m sure it’ll heal right up.”

“Adrena-what?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

We had more pressing matters to attend to right then. I looked back at the dragon, and, as the glowing light faded, I was surprised to find the dragon replaced by a giant black cat.

“So this was the monster’s true form?” asked Amelia.

“I guess so,” I replied, looking around the room and failing to find any other beasts. “I noticed on its stat page it had the Shapeshifter Extra Skill, so it must’ve been using that.”

“That skill lets the user transform themselves into anything they’ve encountered in the past, and since it’s an Extra Skill, it could manipulate the stat page as well to make the change indistinguishable from the real thing. But you can’t emulate the attack power of what you’re changing into without taking some hits and getting a real sense of what it’s capable of.”

In other words, it could have just as easily transformed into me or Amelia after taking a quick glance at us, but for example, it wouldn’t have been able to mimic the texture of our skin until it had touched it and knew what it felt like.

“So what you’re telling me is this big kitty wasn’t stupid enough to take on a dragon all by itself, and that’s the only reason we’re still breathing.”

I cautiously approached the beast. Its stat page now displayed the name “Black Cat.” Did you name it that, Eiter? I mean, it’s fitting, I guess, but a little more originality would be appreciated, Mr. Creator.

Amelia followed tentatively after me. After a minute, the black-furred beast opened its golden eyes and gazed at us. There was life in it yet.

“No human has ever made it to this floor before. It seems I may have been a bit overzealous.”

The sound that leaked out of the creature’s barely opened lips didn’t match the booming voice Amelia and I heard in our heads. It didn’t sound like a creature about to die either. Amelia and I looked around, confused, but we couldn’t find another source.

“Up here, you fools. Good lord, how could I have let myself be beaten by such utter buffoons? I shall never live this down.”

“Who are you calling buffoons, you stupid cat?!” I shot back.

“Yeah! Only stupid people call other people stupid!” Amelia chimed in.

The black cat squinted at us following this one-two punch of witty retorts. It didn’t appear injured, let alone on the verge of death.

“By that logic, your friend there is the stupid one. Regardless: I have been given a message to convey to you from His Majesty the Demon Lord. Shall I recite it now?”

The black cat stared straight into my eyes. I could scarcely hide my confusion; I hardly knew the first thing about the Demon Lord, but apparently, he was already quite familiar with me.

“And what business could the Demon Lord possibly have with a guy like me?”

“I know not. I am not privy to his inner thoughts.”

“You’re actually going to listen to it, Akira?” Amelia asked anxiously.

“It’ll be fine,” I said, ruffling her hair. “As long as we’ve got each other, what do we have to fear?”

“You’re right.” She smiled sweetly.

Perhaps uncomfortable bearing witness to this sappy display of sentiment, the black cat loudly cleared its throat. Ahem.

Indignant rage burned in its eyes. It seemed even monsters were fairly judgmental when it came to public displays of affection.

“His message is thus: I await you in my castle, deep in the land of Volcano. Come and find me if you dare.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. That is all I was asked to convey.”

“And how in the hell did you receive that message, if you’ve just been chilling down here on the eightieth floor of the labyrinth?”

The black cat seemed confused by this question.

“All we monsters are of His Majesty’s creation. We are his eyes and ears, his scouts on the ground. We are ever aware of his will, whether he conveys it to us directly or not, but this message was delivered directly to me by His Majesty.”

“Hang on a minute. I was told that Eiter made all monsters as punishment for the four races after they started fighting each other.”

“Whoever told you that was mistaken. I can assure you that I was created by His Majesty’s own hand; I remember it as though it was yesterday.”

The black cat’s boastful tone gave me pause. I saw no reason for it to lie about its origin, but I couldn’t imagine Commander Saran lying to me either. I didn’t know what to believe.

“Now go on, boy. Kill me.”

“Huh? Why would I do that?”

“I have no value to His Majesty now that my Shapeshifter ability has been exposed. Though I do think I made for a rather convincing dragon,” said the beast with a hint of sadness in its voice.

I cocked my head. “So, not to change the subject, but how come you’re just lying there?”

“Because of your lady friend’s Gravity Magic, obviously. Trying to resist that last wave of it broke nearly every bone in my body, and now I can’t stand up.”

“Oh, so you understand how gravity works, eh?”

“His Majesty knows all.”

Perhaps the Demon Lord had been summoned from our world as well, then, as there was no such thing as science in Morrigan. That’s what the commander had told me anyway, and my talks with Amelia had seemed to confirm as much. I was initially taken aback by Amelia’s knowledge of gravity as well, but I figured maybe the elves had some record of it, or had intuited the concept from the magic. Or maybe a previous visitor from my world had taught her about it. It certainly wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. Hell, there were streetlamps and security cameras back in Retice, and while the technology hadn’t reached the common folk yet, someone must have taught the nobles about it.

“Hurry up and kill me, already.”

“Nah. I don’t think I will.”

“Why not?!” the black cat hissed, baring its fangs.

Taking advantage of the fact that the beast could no longer move, I kneeled down and ran my fingers through its fur. It was warm and fluffy, and my hand sank into it.

“I could never kill a cat with such a beautiful fur coat.”

“Yeah, Akira never kills feline monsters. He just pets them like crazy.”

“What?!”

It was true—I was a huge cat lover. I loved how they played hard to get, and I could spend years nuzzling their fuzzy-wuzzy fur. Ever since I’d taken the chance to pet a friendly stray on my way home from elementary school one fateful day, there had been no room in my heart for any other animal. Only cats. And yes, I knew they said black cats were bringers of evil and misfortune, but I couldn’t bear the thought of treating any cat like a villain. Any misfortune that befell me would be my own fault.

“This can’t be happening to me. If I go back to His Majesty after this, I’ll be the laughingstock of the entire castle.”

“Then why don’t you come with us instead? That way the Demon Lord can keep his eyes on us at all times, and I can cuddle you whenever I want. It’s a win-win!”

I turned to Amelia for approval, but she was too entranced by the cat’s fur coat to notice. I had a feeling I knew what her answer would be.

“I suppose I don’t mind. But I won’t assist you in killing any of my monster brethren.”

“Of course not. But you’ve gotta let me nuzzle you at least thirty times a day.”

“Me too!”

“You two are so bizarre. But very well. I shall accompany you for the time being,” the black cat said, as though it was doing us some massive favor.

“Yeah, well. You don’t really get a say in the matter anyway. Amelia and I won the battle, so we get to decide your fate. Capisce?”

And so we gained a third party member via rather unconventional means.

 

“Um, Akira? I’m not seeing a way to the next floor.”

“Huh?”

We’d just finished cuddling with our new companion and were getting ready to leave, but Amelia was right. There was only the door we’d come in through and nothing else.

“I suppose I might be to blame for that,” said the black cat after letting out a great yawn. Amelia and I both glared at the beast, demanding an explanation. “This is a boss arena, you see. And I am its boss. It is not in the labyrinth’s will, written by the first Demon Lord, for both challenger and boss to leave this room alive. Nor was it His Majesty’s intent for his underlings to leave their posts at all. I am trapped on this floor, fated to either fight or die.”

“So the labyrinth does have a will of its own. Man, that’s spooky.”

According to Commander Saran, beneath the lowest level of each great labyrinth was a “heart” or “core” of some sort. If the heart was destroyed, the whole labyrinth would crumble to dust. As no one had successfully reached the bottom level of a labyrinth before, let alone destroyed one, there was no telling if the commander’s words were true.

“Hence why I told you to kill me in the first place. Or would you rather starve to death down here? I knew you non-demons were lesser beings,” the beast muttered.

I looked at the ground, struggling to come up with a solution. I didn’t want to let the Demon Lord have his way.

“You’re not wrong. Killing you would probably be the easy way out,” I admitted.

“But it’s too early to throw in the towel just yet,” said Amelia, and the cat and I turned to look at her. She was staring the black cat directly in the eye. Red versus gold.

“Have you any other ideas?”

Amelia turned and fixed her gaze on me.

“You have to give it a name, Akira.”

“A name?”

I didn’t understand what the significance of this gesture would be, but apparently I was missing something, because the black cat was nodding in agreement.

“Of course. That way, I would cease to be merely the boss of this arena, and we could all leave this room! Even so, creating such a pact is no mean feat…”

“Akira can control his mana at will just like the Hero of Legend. If anyone can pull it off, it’s him. Plus, I think you’d make a great monster companion—all you have to do is use Shapeshifter to transform into a normal-sized cat and no one will even know you’re a monster.”

“Very well, then. Give me a name, boy, and be quick about it!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can someone explain to me what I’m signing up for here?” I asked, flustered.

The black cat looked like it might pounce on me in its excitement. It was smaller now than it had been as a dragon but still big enough to crush me.

“You are going to become my new master.”

“Uh… Could I get a bit more information than that?”

I turned to Amelia for guidance, figuring the black cat was too giddy to speak sensibly. Amelia’s cheeks were red for whatever reason, but she was still a better option than the feisty feline.

“Only demons can control monsters,” she began. “But once every few centuries, someone from another race is born with the ability to create monster pacts. The last one came well before even I was born. It’s not usually an elf,” she said with a sigh. “It was the Hero of Legend who came up with the idea of naming monsters—by giving them a name, you create a tangible bond between yourself and the monster.”

This Hero of Legend guy sure got around. It was starting to feel a bit like he was the only one who’d ever accomplished anything in this place.

“And what does this ‘tangible bond’ do for me?”

“Well, for one thing, it lets you keep track of where your monster is at all times.”

I guess that could come in handy. No more getting separated. But I suppose that also means the monster loses a certain level of freedom…

“Also, you both gain access to a type of magic called Telepathy.”

“As in, the ability to communicate with each other without opening our mouths?”

“I’ve never used it myself, but I think that’s how it works.”

I was starting to get as excited about the prospect as the cat. I mean, what a deal! Obviously, our black cat could already speak just fine—weird as that was—but most monsters lacked the ability to communicate verbally. Telepathy was probably for monsters like them. “A bond cannot be made unless both parties consent to it. You cannot threaten or coerce a monster into a pact or vice versa.”

“But once the pact is made, it also cannot be broken without either the consent of both parties—or their deaths,” the black cat continued.

“So it’s ’til death do us part, eh?” I asked, though that sounded a bit ominous.

The black cat nodded, seeming almost amused by the prospect.

“And if one member of a pact dies, the other dies too. That’s just how it works,” Amelia said.

“Well, damn. That’s a little intense.”

Guess that’s better than having to suffer the pain of loss. I’d rather die than be forever in pain, personally.

Amelia looked at me with concern, but I was fine. Death was terrifying, but I knew I wouldn’t bite the dust so easily with her by my side. And that wasn’t just sentiment—if I died, she could use her Resurrection Magic on me, and I’d be fit as a fiddle again.

“How peculiar. An ordinary human would falter and flee upon hearing such conditions. On top of that, I can feel your mana resonating… Are you certain you’re merely a human?”

An ordinary human wouldn’t go slaying dragons either, now would they? Despite my knee-jerk defensiveness, I really didn’t like being treated like an anomaly because of my stats, and I slumped my shoulders dejectedly.

“I mean, maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m some mythical beast that’s right up there alongside dragons and whatnot.”

“Well, let’s not get cocky, now. Though, in all honesty, I’d prefer that. Imagine my embarrassment if I’d lost to an ordinary human brat,” the black cat chortled, and I laughed along with it.

As we regained our composure, we met each other’s gaze. Our minds were made up.

“Okay, then. Put your hand on his paw,” Amelia instructed, and I obliged. “Now, Akira. Give the black cat a name.” I nodded, looking deep into its golden eyes. Instinctively, I knew what to say.

“My name is Oda Akira. From this day forth, I will be thy new master. To commemorate this new pact, I shall grant thee a name,” I said, reciting the words as they floated through my mind.

“Oda Akira, my new master. I shall follow thee to the ends of the world and be thy steadfast companion ’til death do us part.”

“I dub thee Night, after thy beautiful fur coat, which so resembles the starless sky on moonless nights.”

“Night… ’Tis a fine name. From this day forth, I swear I shall answer to no other name, and serve no other master.”

“I pray we’ll serve each other well, Night.”

A warm, bright light enveloped our bodies, and we had to close our eyes for fear of going blind. Even with my eyes closed, I felt an invisible connection had just been made between me and Night. This must have been the “bond” Night and Amelia had spoken of. Amelia stepped forward and placed her hand on top of ours. The blinding light receded.

“Glad to have you on the team, Night.” She smiled.

Night’s demeanor softened, perhaps due to Amelia’s calming aura.

“Likewise. I’m sure your abilities will prove invaluable, Lady Amelia.”

“Yup, that’s what I’m here for! I gotta say, that mark on your forehead looks good on you. As do the ones on your arms, Akira.”

At her words, I looked down at my arms to discover both my wrists had been branded with the same golden emblem that now graced Night’s forehead.

“Think of them as visible signifiers of your bond,” Amelia explained.

How did I stumble upon a partner who knows so much about all this stuff?

“Isn’t it great, Master? Now I’m officially yours to command,” Night said with glee.

“Yeah, except you still answer to the Demon Lord, right?” I grumbled.

“So I have two masters—what of it? Don’t sweat the details.”

I could only facepalm at this cat’s lackadaisical take. But then, I sensed a change in the dank air of the arena and looked over to see a magic circle had appeared in a corner of the room, glowing with pale blue light. It looked an awful lot like the summoning circle that had brought me to this world in the first place. I couldn’t recall every detail, but I was sure they were nearly identical.

“Looks like you were right—the way forward has just opened.”

“But Night’s still not well enough to move on his own,” said Amelia, looking at Night with concern. Now that he was our companion, I felt awfully guilty for the injuries we’d inflicted on the poor feline.

“Not to worry. One facet of the Shapeshifter magic that His Majesty entrusted to me is that any fatal blows suffered while in a transformed state will not kill me, merely render me unable to move for two or three days. Hence why it costs such an immense amount of mana to use.”

This was reassuring, but I still felt bad, even if being able to survive a fatal blow felt a bit OP to me. Then again, you could just deliver the true finishing blow after it reverted it its normal state and was incapacitated, so it evened out.

I tore into my emergency food supply. After joining up with Amelia, we’d quickly plowed through the food the commander had provided for me, so now all that was left was a bunch of monster meat I’d smoked to preserve. It was a clever tactic, if I said so myself—monsters were drawn to the smell of the smoking meat, and we killed and smoked them as well. Amelia had been snacking on the meat from time to time, but there was still a ton left.

“Well, we’re safe here at least.” I shrugged. “Let’s just take it easy for a couple days. I can tell you guys all about how I ended up here in the meantime.”

“Yeah, me too!” offered Amelia.

“Then I suppose I should tell you my story as well,” said Night.

Though we had been enemies just moments before, I was sure we’d become fast friends once we knew each other’s stories.

POV: NIGHT

 

THAT DAY, I gained a new master. Though perhaps calling him “my new master” wasn’t quite accurate. His Majesty the Demon Lord was still my master—that much hadn’t changed—so the boy I now called Master was more like a secondary master.

My eyes were still the eyes of the Demon Lord, as were my ears and nose. But my heart and mind, they no longer belonged to him, but to Master. At every moment, His Majesty was still monitoring Master through my eyes.

According to His Majesty, the boy was not of this world, and he had been summoned to Morrigan as a hero. The art of summoning heroes from another world to defeat the Demon Lord was an ancient rite of magic most foul. As far as His Majesty was concerned, Master was his archnemesis. One would think Master’s primary goal would be to cut down His Majesty’s forces wherever he could, yet it seemed he had no intention of defeating the Demon Lord at present, and he even told me I was free to take His Majesty’s side if it ever came down to a choice. That was my master for you—truly an enigma.

Speaking of hero summoning, I couldn’t believe my ears when Master shared he’d been summoned in a group of twenty-eight total heroes. As far as I was aware, there had never been more than four heroes summoned at once, not that I’d been around long enough to check all the historical records myself.

His Majesty had only created me a hundred and some-odd years ago, so I was still relatively young compared to most of my fellow monsters. I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn I was quite a bit younger than even Lady Amelia, my new high elf companion, but I kept that thought to myself.

Though Lady Amelia was quite smart, her breadth of knowledge was somewhat biased, likely due to her sheltered upbringing. Master, being a newcomer to this world, was fairly clueless about its intricacies as well. I supposed that made me the wisest member of the group, and as such, I spent most of my time recuperating answering various questions from the two of them, though we’d agreed I wouldn’t answer any questions that might give them an edge over His Majesty. Not that I would have minded much—there wasn’t an awful lot His Majesty could do to stop me from so far away, even if he was the Demon Lord. But Master insisted he “didn’t want any major end game spoilers” or some such nonsense I didn’t quite understand. I did however understand why His Majesty had taken such an interest in the boy—he was by far the most bewildering yet fascinating human I’d ever encountered.

“So how come you can talk but other monsters can’t?”

“Why, that’s simple. I was created to convey His Majesty’s words unto the masses. Whenever one of the other races was plotting an invasion into demon territory, it was my job to go there and deliver His Majesty’s warning.”

“Fair enough. But then, why did you transform into a dragon? You could’ve killed us, and then how would we have gotten your message?”

He had a point; it was generally poor form for the messenger to kill the intended recipient of their message. However…

“If a simple minion like me could kill you, then there’d be no need to convey the message, now would there? Such weaklings wouldn’t have the slightest hope of ever reaching the Demon Lord, much less defeating him.”

Lady Amelia pursed her lips, apparently unsatisfied with my answer. I laughed at this, and Master chuckled as well. My initial impression of Lady Amelia was that she was a rather inexpressive girl, but our continued conversations had proved me quite wrong. I still couldn’t get a read on Master’s facial expressions, though.

“Oh, yeah, and I wanted to ask you about Mystic Eyes,” he said, changing the subject.

“Well, now. That’s an awfully obscure and specific thing to want to know about.”

“My old mentor had one, before he was murdered.”

As soon as the word “murdered” left Master’s lips, a powerful black aura began emanating from his body. His bloodlust was so strong that it hurt to even breathe around him. I didn’t think he was doing it intentionally, but it was clear an immense amount of mana was flowing out from within him—enough to make his aura visible to the naked eye. I noticed Lady Amelia break out in a cold sweat. If someone didn’t teach him how to control the immense power of his rage soon, he would be unable to live around other people for the rest of his life. The sheer power… It was unlike any I’d ever seen.

“Akira, I know you’re in pain, but I can’t breathe…” Lady Amelia choked out.

“Hm? Oh, crap. My bad.”

I was grateful to her for having the strength to speak in the suffocating atmosphere. Perhaps she was used to such outbursts, but it seemed she was his companion for a reason. I decided I’d ask her once it was less difficult to breathe.

“Mystic Eyes are a phenomenon that only occur when someone takes magical damage directly to the eyes from the Demon Lord or one of his strongest minions. This mentor of yours must have been quite the fearsome warrior,” I said. I wasn’t lying either; I’d only ever encountered one person who had the affliction.

“Yeah, Commander Saran was stronger than even the hero of our group, though I never did get a chance to see him use his full power,” Master lamented. I didn’t know how powerful the current hero was, but if Master was singing his praises, then this Saran fellow must have been quite strong indeed…

Wait. Saran? Where have I heard that name before?

“This ‘Commander Saran’ of whom you speak… He wouldn’t happen to be Saran Mithray, would he?” I asked.

Akira tilted his head and scratched his chin.

“Hmm… Was Mithray his last name? I’m pretty sure it was…”

I was glad to be in an animal form right now. Were I transformed into a human, my furrowed brow and pensive expression would have given away how I truly felt about this revelation.

“But Akira, wasn’t Saran Mithray the—”

Lady Amelia cut herself off, presumably for the same reason I was keeping mum on the subject. She and I made eye contact and wordlessly agreed that it would be best to change the subject before it was too late. But goodness, I hadn’t heard the name Saran Mithray in many years. Judging from the way Master spoke of him, he must have respected the man quite a lot. There was no need for him to know the truth yet. For now, it was best he remained blissfully ignorant as to just how cruel this world could be.

“So, Akira, didn’t you have a question about how attack power works?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, right. Hey, Night? Got another question for you…”

“What is it, Master?”

“Doesn’t the Attack stat seem a little weird to you? I mean, I know there must be some logic to how stats work, but that one in particular feels awfully strange to me.”

“Strange in what way?”

This was the first time I’d ever heard anyone question the sanctity of stats. Even if something seemed bizarre, most people would just write off any confusion as a peculiar intricacy of the Creator’s design. Only someone from another world would question the very foundations of ours, I suppose.

“Like, my Attack stat is really freakin’ high, as Amelia can confirm, but even so, there have been times in this labyrinth when that ridiculous power hasn’t been enough to kill even basic monsters. It just doesn’t make sense, y’know?”

After our battle in the arena, I was keenly aware of just how unbelievable Master’s attack power was. When I asked him for an example of a time he’d struggled, he recounted a battle when he was still a fairly low level and couldn’t put a single scratch in a minotaur’s hide.

“Now, wait one minute, Master. You mean to tell me that you attacked a minotaur with your sword alone? In this labyrinth, no less?”

“Yeah. Well, it was less of a sword and more of a dagger, really. Not that I had it for very long. Damn thing shattered to pieces when I tried to slash the minotaur’s throat.”

I was dumbfounded. People often said you couldn’t teach common sense to a man who had none, and now I understood what they meant. From the sound of it, Lady Amelia hadn’t been able to answer this question either. I could understand Master not knowing the basics of how this world worked, but what was her excuse?

“Master… Blades will never work well on a minotaur, no matter how strong you are. To be quite honest, I’m amazed you’ve found success with that method at all, even at your current high level.”

“Commander Saran and Sir Gilles were landing hits with their swords just fine,” Master retorted, seeming genuinely perplexed.

I nodded, thinking I’d finally uncovered the root of this misunderstanding.

“Yes, and they presumably had magic enchantments on their weapons. That’s one way to get around a high Defense stat. But barring that, you’d need an astronomically high Attack stat to put a dent in a defense-oriented powerhouse like a minotaur. Of course an ordinary weapon would shatter to pieces.”

It made sense now. Master’s current katana was enchanted, and no knights worth their salt would delve into this particular labyrinth without first enchanting their weapons. I assumed they’d probably given the hero and his companions suitable weapons, too, and it was only Master who’d been foolish enough to try using an ordinary dagger. Anyone who knew anything about the Great Labyrinth of Kantinen knew purely physical weapons wouldn’t work well. I decided to cautiously test the waters to confirm if my suspicions were true.

“Did you, by any chance, notice during any of your encounters here that magic seemed to work far better on a particular enemy than your sword did?”

“I guess the Chimera fight was kind of like that, yeah,” he responded after mulling it over a bit.

“That is because one of the distinguishing features of this labyrinth is that nearly every monster within has an extremely high resistance to physical attacks. You may be able to muscle your way through the first few dozen floors or so, but it’s practically impossible to make it through the later ones without relying on magic and mana-based attacks.”

Master froze as he took a moment to process this new information. Then his jaw dropped. I could empathize with his shock. Imagine learning the place you’d chosen as your training grounds was actually working against you—though in another sense, that made it the perfect place for a trial by adversity.

“Um, Night? Are you telling us that this place was designed for people to hone their magic skills, specifically?” asked Lady Amelia.

“I suppose you could say that, yes,” I responded, and Master looked like he’d taken a dagger straight to the heart. He hung his head low and Lady Amelia rubbed his back reassuringly. My eye twitched at even this small display of affection, though at least it felt more warranted this time.

“So the labyrinths each have their own specific themes and characteristics, huh? This is the first I’ve heard of such a thing.”

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised. But yes, there’s a labyrinth that’s the exact opposite of this one, where every monster is virtually immune to magic—The Great Forest Labyrinth in the elven domain, as I recall. Perhaps you’d be better served to temper your sword skills there.”

“And you’re sure of this, Night?” asked Master.

“Indeed. His Majesty told me so himself. Apparently one of the previous Demon Lords set the four labyrinths up that way so you lesser races would have a way to hone your skills and potentially pose an actual challenge to him one day. And I have never been given any cause to doubt His Majesty’s words.”

“Fair enough.” He sighed, then whipped his head up as if remembering something. “Wait, but then how do you explain the way I killed that white bat?”

“Akira, sweetie… You had to use your mana to do that. Remember?”

“Oh. Right…”

Master became crestfallen once again, and I noticed the corners of Lady Amelia’s mouth curled into a little smirk at the sight of it. She seemed docile on the surface, but perhaps she was actually one of those “sadists” His Majesty told me about.

“In any event, you could have just used Conceal Presence and none of this would have mattered. No matter how tough a foe might be, it’s awfully hard for them to put up much of a fight when you catch them unawares. You’re an assassin, remember—so why don’t you try fighting like one?”

“Fight like an assassin, huh…” he repeated.

Being around Master was ever so entertaining. One would think any assassin worth his salt would be sneaking up behind his enemies and slitting their throats left and right. Yet for whatever reason, it seemed Master had been trying to fight them head-on with brute force, like a hero or a berserker or something. The thought amused me to no end.

I was able to move again, but I was enjoying our conversations so much that part of me wanted to just stay here for a bit longer.

POV: ODA AKIRA

 

AFTER SPENDING another night in the boss arena, we finally approached the magic circle in the corner.

While we were waiting for Night to be able to move again, we got to hear what Amelia had to say about herself. Most of it was just silly stories from her childhood and whatnot, but there was one part that stood out to me. She’d told it as though it were a nursery rhyme or a fairy tale, yet something told me it had been about Amelia herself…

“I’ve heard people once used these pale blue magic circles as a form of transportation, long ago. They can teleport the user to wherever they most wish to go, or, if multiple people try to use it at once, the circle will choose its destination based on whoever has the strongest will out of the group.”

My train of thought was cut short by Amelia’s explanation. I snapped back to my senses and looked over at her. We needed to focus on the magic circle and choosing our next destination. Apparently even Night had no idea where this magic circle would take us.

If it really was the same as the summoning circle that had appeared in our classroom, then maybe Amelia was right. Maybe people from our world only ended up here because they wished they could be whisked away to another world. In retrospect, maybe many of the kids in my class had nursed that desire. Hell, even I’d wished I could get away from it all once in a while. I’d been suffering through my daily routine for my mom and my sister’s sakes, but to be completely honest? I was sick and tired of my life being all work and no play. Maybe it had been my will that the summoning circle picked up on.

Now that I knew the labyrinth was actively hindering the progression of my swordsmanship, there was no reason to stay here any longer. It did feel weird stopping on the eightieth floor and not a nice round number like one hundred, but none of us could see a route leading any deeper, so we all assumed this was where the labyrinth ended.

Personally, I couldn’t have cared less where the magic circle took us. If it happened to select my will, the three of us would probably end up back in Japan. I would have found that delightful only a few weeks ago, but now things were different. I couldn’t just leave my classmates behind, or steal away with Amelia while she was still estranged from her family. Of course, I would have loved to check in and make sure my family was safe, but I also wasn’t ready to go home just yet. I could only pray the magic circle would select someone else’s will and not mine.

With Night shrunk down to the size of a kitten on my shoulders, I gripped Amelia’s hands tightly. If the three of us were to become separated, Night and I would know through our bond where the other one was, but Amelia would be on her own. I was confident I could find her no matter the odds, but I still wanted to take whatever precautions I could, even if holding hands probably wouldn’t do much.

“Okay, guys. Are we all set?” I asked.

“I’m good to go,” said Amelia.

“Ready whenever you are,” said Night.

My companions’ voices were tinged with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. While I certainly hadn’t minded traveling by my lonesome, at times like these I was surprisingly grateful to have some friends along for the ride.

“All right, here we go!”

We stepped into the glowing magic circle. As we did, the gentle light grew brighter and brighter, until eventually we had no choice but to close our eyes.

POV: SATOU TSUKASA

 

WE WERE PERHAPS more clueless about the vast new world we were journeying into than even its most illiterate, backwater bumpkin. Because we’d been forbidden from reading books at the castle, we hardly knew the first thing about this land. I still didn’t understand why they’d been so adamant about that particular rule. Money, politics, geography, history, customs, culture, religion—all fell under the umbrella of the common knowledge everyone needed to get by in life, and we had none of that information about Morrigan at our disposal. The castle guards had made sure of that, and we hadn’t made any efforts to dispute them. Far from it, in fact—we never even questioned it.

I wondered if Akira had been any different. Knowing him, he’d probably noticed something was fishy from the beginning and immediately started working against the royals and the guards. I couldn’t stand him as a person, but I had to respect his perceptiveness and resourceful nature. Meanwhile, here I was, up a creek without a paddle…

“Wha… Hey, Satou!”

A sudden voice snapped me out of my little reverie. Asahina had appeared before me, his pure white katana slung around his waist, and he was shaking me by the shoulders.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry,” I responded.

I must have nodded off. I was trying my best to stay alert, but even heroes needed their shuteye.

“Try to keep it together, would you? We’re in another world here, remember. If the hero slips up at the wrong moment, it could mean curtains for the rest of us.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the exaggeration, but I stood up from the rock I was sitting on anyway. We had long since left the realm of Retice and were now making our way across the other human territories in search of the peace-loving country of Yamato. For the moment, we’d made camp in the woods just off the beaten path.

According to a traveling merchant we’d encountered along the road, Yamato bore a striking resemblance to Japan…and in fact had even been founded by heroes summoned from Japan. They did not, of course, have the same level of science and technology as modern Japan, but were almost culturally identical to Edo-period Japan. Perhaps most importantly, they had rice.

For the record, it wasn’t specifically because it resembled Japan so closely that we’d decided to seek it out, but we’d grown so tired of eating bread all the time that we were desperate for a bowl of home-cooked rice. Which was not the most valid reason for making an intercontinental trek, but it was on the way to demon country, at least!

“By the way, Asahina…I’ve been meaning to ask: why did you decide to come along with me?” I asked as we walked back through the thicket to our other party members. Asahina’s expression turned stern and he went silent. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I clarified. “I was just curious.”

“Are you sure you want to know? You may not like the answer,” he finally replied. I smiled, surprised a boy as tall and intimidating as him would be so considerate of something so trivial. A stark contrast to Akira, who never cared one bit about how other people felt. I assured him it was fine. “It’s because I want to find Akira,” he went on. “I thought since the two of you have so much in common, I’d be bound to bump into him sooner or later if I came with you.”

Asahina seemed somewhat afraid of how I might react to this answer, yet it didn’t enrage me whatsoever. Instead, I followed up with a hesitant question of my own.

“And what exactly do you think we have in common?”

“Well, if I had to say…I guess it’s just that you both give off the same general vibe, maybe?” Asahina said, clearly still mulling it over himself.

That’s it? You can’t think of any more concrete examples than that? I wanted to scream. Then goosebumps prickled up on my arms. Wait. Oh god. Could it be that…I only hate Akira so much because I see myself in him? …No. No, it can’t be.

“Wait a minute. What if you only hate Akira because he reminds you of yourself?”

“Huh?!”

Asahina’s words hit me like an arrow straight through the heart. Just when I’d shrugged off the possibility in my mind, he threw it right back in my face.

“Y-you really think I’m so petty that I’d hold a grudge against a fellow classmate over something as silly as that?”

“Well, what other explanation is there?” Asahina asked, purely out of innocent curiosity.

For the first time in my life, I feared his inability to read social cues.

“Heck if I know. Okay, break time’s over! Let’s keep moving, people!”

“Hm? Well, if you say so.”

Desperate to dodge the question, I called out to our other classmates, most of whom were either replenishing their water supplies or taking naps. They all begrudgingly got up. I felt bad, but Asahina didn’t seem fazed by my sudden change in attitude whatsoever. He simply went with the flow.

“So where’s this Yamato place supposed to be, again?” asked Hosoyama as she walked up next to me.

Just behind her was Ueno; the two of them were getting along quite well on this journey. I’d hardly ever seen them exchange words back in the classroom, but apparently they had more in common than either of them had realized. Guess that’s at least one positive thing to come out of this mess.

“It’s on the very easternmost tip of Kantinen, right across from the elven continent. But you’ve gotta remember the Kingdom of Retice was situated right smack-dab in the middle of the continent to defend against invaders, so we shouldn’t have that much further to go. Maybe another day or two, if I had to guess,” I said, trying to picture the map the traveling merchant had shown us in my head.

Ueno looked less than pleased with this answer.

“I did not sign up for all this walkin’, y’all. I know these folks ain’t got cars or planes yet, but can’t they at least get off their rear ends and invent a dang bike already?”

“Really makes you realize how much we took technology for granted.”

“Man, I wanna go home,” lamented one of the boys. “Not that I hate this world or anything, but it’s just like…Japan’s where we belong, y’know? Nowhere else will ever feel like home.”

I gazed up at the sky and echoed the sentiment internally. I wanted to go home too. I wanted to sleep in my own bed again. All the more reason to go defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace to this world ASAP. That was my duty as the hero. Not Akira’s—mine. We were going to go strike down the Demon Lord, then be greeted as heroes back at the castle before linking back up with our other classmates (who I’d left in Sir Gilles’s care) and going home. If the denizens of this world wanted to gather round to see us off and express their gratitude, that was fine by me, but I wouldn’t lose sleep if they didn’t.

I assumed only the royal family knew how to get us back home. Either that, or the Demon Lord held the key. Akira was free to walk his own path in this world, just as I was going to walk mine. But it would be me that won in the end. I’m gonna wipe that lackadaisical smirk right off your face, Akira. Just you wait.

 

Seeing vast numbers of pedestrians bustling up and down the city’s busiest thoroughfares wasn’t exactly an uncommon sight—if anything, the throngs of people we were looking at were nothing compared to those on a busy street in Japan’s big cities. Yet we were standing in the middle of the street, mouths agape and utterly stunned. Not by the amount of people, mind you, but by the way they were dressed. It seemed we had arrived in the country of Yamato.

“Uhhh, wasn’t there a theme park like this somewhere back home? Where they let you throw fake shuriken and stuff?”

“Samurai Village?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

I half-listened to the exchange between Asahina and the wind mage Nanase Rintarou, who was one of Akira’s only other “friends” in class, and who I’d noticed was the only one speaking to Akira after we were first summoned. In fact, he was the one who’d first told me Akira was an assassin.

The men of Yamato were dressed in either hakama or kimono with swords around their waists, and the women were dressed in either kimono or shrine maiden attire with ornate hairpins. It was like a scene straight out of one of those late-night Edo period TV dramas. The shrine maiden attire seemed a bit much, but it appeared all of the women wearing it were heading toward a familiar-looking building (that will not be named), so I could only assume it was their work uniform.

“That building looks just like Himeji Castle,” Asahina pointed out.

“Ugh, thanks a lot… I was trying to pretend it didn’t exist,” I groaned.

“Oh. Sorry.”

Leave it to Asahina to completely miss social cues. I sighed and looked up at the behemoth castle.

It did bear a striking resemblance to the recently renovated Himeji Castle back in Japan, famous for the ghost story of the murdered servant girl haunting its well. The shape of the castle itself was different, but the white exterior walls were nearly identical. From a distance, it was by no means as gaudy and lavish as Retice Castle, but it was still just as imposing and impressive. Just looking at it made chills run down my spine and a cold sweat break out on my forehead…almost as if I could sense a malevolent spirit lurking within. Or perhaps I’d just come down with a fever.

“Whoops! Pardon me,” I said as a random passerby bumped into me.

“Don’t worry about it, kid. Just don’t stand in the middle of the road, all right?” the man said.

I apologized profusely, and he laughed it off before trotting away at a brisk pace. I looked over at Asahina, who continued staring at the man as he ran away. Then, he glanced at me as though an idea had struck him before he started chasing after the man.

“Hey! Somebody stop that man! He’s a pickpocket!” yelled Asahina.

“Huh?” I sputtered, before frantically patting my pockets to check for my wallet. To my despair, I discovered it wasn’t where I’d put it. As I thought about it, I realized it was strange that he’d bumped into me when I’d been standing still—either he was totally oblivious, or he’d done it intentionally.

“What’s the matter, Tsukasa? And where’s Asahina runnin’ off to?” asked Ueno. It seemed she and Hosoyama had realized something was up.

“My wallet got stolen. Asahina’s chasing down the perp. Do you guys still have yours?” I asked my fellow party members, and they all checked their pockets before breathing a collective sigh of relief. It was only mine that had been stolen. Great… The hero who lost his wallet to a common thief. I’ll never live this one down.

“Thankfully, there wasn’t really anything of value in there. It was just my regular wallet from back in our world.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good. Hope it wasn’t a gift from someone or anything,” said Nanase, seemingly quite invested in my lost wallet. He and I had never really talked before, and I’d assumed he didn’t like me for whatever reason, but it appeared I was mistaken.

“It was, actually. My older brother got it for me for my birthday,” I responded wistfully. Though my brother and I weren’t on the best terms at the moment, it was still a memory I treasured.

Shortly thereafter, Asahina came running back with something in his hand.

“It seems there are plenty of Good Samaritans in this country,” he said, and I gasped as he held out my newly retrieved wallet.

I breathed a sigh of relief upon verifying that all of its contents were still packed neatly inside.

“Thanks so much. Man, you’re a fast runner. Surprised you managed to catch that guy,” I said.

“Well, as soon as I yelled the word pickpocket, it spread through the crowd like a game of telephone, and some group of local law enforcers that looked a bit like the Shinsengumi apprehended him for me.”

So they even had samurai police forces here to keep the peace. Whichever hero founded this place must have been an awfully big fan of Bakumatsu-era Japan.

“Did they have them fancy turquoise haori jackets, too?” asked Ueno.

“Indeed. And the armored headbands as well. For a moment, I honestly thought they were just a group of cosplayers,” Asahina responded, and Ueno groaned with jealousy.

She was a big Japanese history buff and had always gone full fangirl whenever the Shinsengumi came up in class. Her depth of knowledge was honestly quite impressive. She was a borderline savant.

“Okay, I think we’d better start looking for an inn that’ll put us up for the night. We can worry about hitting up the Adventurers’ Guild after that.”

“Roger that.”

I was a little surprised there were still pickpockets in such an orderly society as this, though I supposed that even the most perfect utopia would always have its fair share of crime. The thought saddened me a bit.

The inn we eventually settled on was less of an inn and more of an Edo-period traveler’s lodge, though I was too shaken from the pickpocketing incident to think about much of anything when we first arrived there. I’d never had anything stolen from me. I tried my best to shake the negative thoughts from my mind, however, and remain a steadfast leader for my companions.

 

At Ueno and Hosoyama’s insistence, the innkeeper of the Nightingale’s Roost lent us each a set of traditional clothing to change into, so we all went off to our respective rooms to get suited up before gathering back in the reception area.

“Man, do us guys really have to go along with this?” I complained to Asahina.

“Don’t let the girls hear you say that. It’s poor form not to comply with dress code at inns like this. And what are you complaining about? You look great.”

He and I made small talk in an out-of-the-way corner of the reception area as we waited a long time for the girls to finish getting ready. The proprietress had insisted on giving me a blue yukata with a red koi fish pattern and Asahina a black one with a fireworks pattern, while the other boys were allowed to choose plain navy yukatas. Asahina was blessed with a fine physique, so his looked good on him, but I couldn’t imagine anyone thinking mine looked good on me. His time in the kendo club had made him used to wearing traditional Japanese garb. I let out a sigh as I looked down at my shrimpy body. I may as well have been draped in a fancy curtain.

Even if I was technically stronger than Asahina, it was only because of my litany of skills. There was no way I could beat the captain of the kendo team in a sword fight. Even if I was allowed to use my skills, I was pretty sure I’d have a tough time beating him at close range. I’d learned quite early on here that the only way I could possibly beat Asahina in a sparring match was through the use of magic. Ugh. I need to stop being so down on myself. It’s getting me all pessimistic.

“We’re here!” announced Hosoyama.

“Sorry for makin’ y’all wait up for us. These darn things are harder’n heck to put on. Had to get the innkeeper lady to help us out,” Ueno added.

“Wh-whoa,” I said, taken aback.

“Well? How do we look?” Hosoyama asked with a devilish smirk, twirling around to give us a nice view of every angle.

Ueno held out her sleeves to show us too, tilting her head with an adorable sheepishness. Hosoyama’s pink butterfly kimono fit her perfectly—and I’d thought a girl with Hosoyama’s curves wouldn’t look good in traditional Japanese clothing. Ueno’s, meanwhile, was deep blue and patterned with morning glories. They were both wearing their hair up, revealing the napes of their necks, ever so slightly moist with sweat. I had to admit, it was pretty alluring—especially for sexually frustrated high schoolers like ourselves. And these were undisputedly the two hottest girls in our class, no less. Us boys could hardly contain our excitement.

“Oh, thank you, universe! Praise all that is good in the world! I’m so grateful to be alive,” whimpered one of the boys, tears welling up in his eyes.

“Well? Do you like it?” asked Hosoyama.

“W-we don’t look peculiar or nothin’, do we?” added Ueno.

The girls were fishing for compliments, as though our initial impressions weren’t obvious enough. Every boy aside from Asahina was now weeping tears of joy. Asahina looked around, unsure as to what was going on. The guy truly was a brick wall.

“Goddammit! Why’d I have to be born with such an ugly face?!” cried one of the boys.

“If only we weren’t so ugly… Wait! Isn’t there magic that can change your appearance in this world?!” said another.

“By god, you’re a genius! We need to look into that, quick!” exclaimed a third.

Refusing to associate myself with those three, I gave a sheepish smile and decided to take the girls’ bait.

“You both look great. If we weren’t in such a sticky situation right now, I’d have a hard time deciding which of you to fall for,” I said, and the girls swooned. It seemed I’d landed a critical hit. Guess I made the right choice. I’d gotten myself in trouble with other girls in the past by only giving them lip service when they really wanted something more, but I knew Hosoyama and Ueno weren’t like that.

“Now, who’s ready to go eat some rice?!” I cheered.

A short walk from the Nightingale’s Roost was a restaurant by the name of The Holly Tree. Asahina (our tallest member) had spotted a banner advertising hefty protein-and-rice bowls on our way to the inn. It was quickly agreed that this would be our dinner for the evening, and the seven of us crammed ourselves into the restaurant in a less-than-orderly fashion.

“Oh my god! They’ve even got eel bowls?!”

“And seafood sampler bowls, too!”

“Thank you, universe… I’m so glad we left that horrible castle…”

Yet again, my companions were tearing up, this time at the sight of other customers enjoying traditional Japanese food. The food didn’t look quite as fancy as a higher-end Japanese restaurant back in our world, but right now, we were so desperate for a little taste of home that we would’ve shed tears of joy for just about anything familiar. They could have served us a bowl of nothing but rice and little fried bits of tempura batter like my mom made before payday, and we wouldn’t have cared.

“What can I get ya, travelers? I can tell yer not from around these parts, but it sounds like yer already familiar with our local cuisine,” said the friendly old woman who came out from the kitchen to take our orders after we sat down. Her hair and eye color were nothing like ours, yet she was dressed in the garb of our ancestors, and her demeanor was patently Japanese. Yes, this was classic Japanese hospitality. Seeing so much love for our home country nearly brought a tear to my eye.

“Could we peruse your bill of fare?” asked Hosoyama, her language veering toward old-timey speak, perhaps in an attempt to fit into the Edo-period setting.

“Bill o’ what? Sorry, not sure what that is.”

“You know, like a menu or something!”

“Oh, a menu. Why didn’tcha just say that to begin with? Here ya go.”

This looks far more like a traditional bill of fare to me, I thought to myself. It seemed the hero that founded Yamato did a rather slapdash job of it. Loanwords like “menu” hadn’t existed in the common vernacular during the Edo period.

“Thank you. Let’s see… I think I’d like the seafood sampler bowl,” I said after giving the menu a once-over. Even though it wasn’t written in Japanese, we were able to read it without issue thanks to our Understand Languages skill.

“That’s what I’ll have too.”

“Could I get the wasabi bowl with bonito flakes?”

“Jeez, you sure ’bout that, Shiroi? That’s gonna be spicier’n heck. Oh, and I reckon I’ll have the tuna bowl, thanks!”

Everyone proceeded to give the nice lady their orders. Only Hosoyama’s order struck me as a bit strange. The fact that such a thing was on the menu implied there were others like her out there in this world. She’d been eating some rather strange things ever since we left the Kingdom of Retice, come to think of it. She kept sprinkling this foul-smelling blue seasoning (which I assumed she’d brought from the castle) over everything… No, let’s not dwell on that. My mind can’t reconcile the image of a cute girl enjoying disgusting foods. Let’s just try to forget about it. I was probably just tired and hallucinating all those times. And that canister full of the stuff she brought with her to the restaurant must be a figment of my imagination, too.

“And I’ll have the fatty tuna bowl with green onions. Think it’s only Asahina who hasn’t ordered yet.”

“Oh, my apologies,” said Asahina frantically. “I suppose I’ll have the chicken-and-egg bowl.”

“You got it, hon.” The old lady smiled before scurrying back into the kitchen.

As we sat there waiting for our food, my mind wandered back to Akira. I wondered if he was keeping himself properly fed. Not that I was worried about him, mind you—I just didn’t want to compete with someone malnourished. Wouldn’t want to have to be the one to tell his mom he died of starvation after we finally make it back to our world, I thought, making excuses to myself as I watched Nanase and the others chatting and laughing.

Akira’s mother could be awfully scary when she was angry. Granted, so could anyone, but she was in a league of her own. I knew they said it was always the sweet and unassuming ones you didn’t want to piss off, but I remembered how shocked I was the day after Akira and I got in a fistfight. I got a huge earful from both my mother and his. Akira might have trouble remembering me, but his mom sure didn’t. In fact, it was his not remembering me that enraged me enough to throw the first punch that day. I remember being way more afraid of how his mom might punish me than my own. Akira’s mom sat me down and told me in no uncertain terms what I’d done wrong and how I should’ve acted instead, all while wearing an eerily composed smile. I was too young at that point to understand how someone could stay so upbeat while furious, and that only made me even more afraid of her. Even now, I didn’t know if I had the emotional maturity to not get scared and run away if she ever got angry at me again. The only way to truly escape her wrath was to never incur it, so I could only pray Akira didn’t get himself killed before I could rescue him from whatever sorry ditch he’d run off and fallen into.

“Okay, kiddos! Dinner is served! Now, who ordered a seafood sampler bowl?””

“Oh, that’s me!”

Right as I finished my reminiscing, our food arrived. I decided to set my thoughts of Akira aside for now and just focus on enjoying my first rice in over a month. We all gave a prayer of thanks for the meal, then proceeded to dig in.

“Yep, that’s rice, all right!”

“Thank you, universe…”

“Is that all you ever say? I mean, I’m not knockin’ you for being excited, just sayin’.”

“Man, this is just what the doctor ordered.”

Everyone seemed to be greatly enjoying their rice bowls (aside from Asahina, who never showed a hint of emotion). I couldn’t help but be reminded of Akira again. He loved rice, so I was sure his travels would bring him to this country sooner or later. If Asahina’s ultimate goal was to meet up with him, then I’d have to make sure we accomplished what we set out to do first. Perhaps we could do a big circuit: head east from Kantinen and hone our skills as we made our way through the badlands of Volcano before taking on the Demon Lord and heading back here to Yamato.

After all, I was the hero here—not Akira. This was my job. No offense to Asahina, but I had no intention of letting Akira join up with us before we’d slain the Demon Lord. I wasn’t going to risk him stealing all the glory. I would slay the Demon Lord, and then we’d all be able to go home thanks to me. Everyone would be forever in my debt—Akira included.

Such were the thoughts that passed through my mind as I greedily devoured my rice bowl—which, I had to admit, was quite good.