Chapter 1

An Unfathomable Homecoming: Suppose Someone Suggested Making a Day Trip to Neverland

A few days after the proposal for this exhibition…

At Marie the Witch’s shop on the East Side, a CLOSED sign dangled on the doorknob in the middle of the day.

“All packed! A bit of a tight fit, but I definitely need all of this, so…”

Marie, the shop’s owner, wore a black robe and hat that just screamed witch. There was an intricate, expensive-looking brooch pinned to her outfit. She was currently struggling with a huge suitcase—getting ready for a journey.

She managed to get the clasps on it closed somehow and moved the thing gingerly to the side of the room like she was afraid it would explode. As she did, someone else came in.

“’Sup! You all ready, Marie?”

A slim woman with beady eyes, dressed in light layers that were little better than underwear, flashed a menacing mechanical arm.

“Oh, Riho! You’re early.”

Her name was Riho Flavin. Hailing from the Flavin district, she put her trademark mithril arm to work earning money as a mercenary. Now she was a military cadet in Azami but always on the lookout for a quick buck—so basically, nothing had changed.

She plopped herself down on a chair like she owned the place, smirking.

“Yeah, I wake up early on days off—earlier than school days, anyway. Heh-heh-heh.”

The habit was not unlike a child jumping out of bed on a Saturday to watch their favorite cartoons.

Marie was distinctly uncomfortable.

Why is she so into this?

Riho was generally the type to roll in at the last moment, looking like she didn’t wanna be there. Oblivious to Marie’s concerns, Riho was rummaging through a small knapsack.

“Uh, Riho, is that all you’re bringing?”

It didn’t even seem full—quite a disparity between her own overstuffed suitcase.

“All I need. I can go a couple of days without a change of clothes or underwear, no problem.”

“H-how very mercenary…,” Marie offered. Not very ladylike, though.

“This is way more important than clothes,” Riho said, producing a harvesting knife out of the knapsack. She ran her finger along the blade, checking it for rust.

Even less ladylike.

“Er.” Marie gulped. “What’s so important about a knife?”

Riho cackled. “Well, we’re goin’ to the legendary Kunlun, right? Even a random leaf from the woods out back might be a valuable item! And…we might find stuff dropped by the high-level monsters that the villagers hunt! Even a single scale would rake in the dough! Mwa-ha!”

Oh, I get it… In Kunlun, even their staple fish is a dangerous monster called the killer piranha, as is their kindling—they use treant wood. That could be a treasure trove.

They were headed to a place called Kunlun—a secret village in a hidden realm, like something out of a fairy tale.

Recent events had left Kunlun’s guardian beast reduced to a shadow of its former self, and their goal was to restore it—but Riho had clearly forgotten all about that.

Marie took off her glasses, rubbing her eyes.

“Just…don’t overdo it,” she warned.

The kid grandma hailed from Kunlun, and if everyone was like her, there was no way Riho’s schemes would go as planned—but Marie couldn’t think of anything that would shake Riho from the scent of gold. She settled for a half-hearted warning.

While Marie was staring in horror at Riho’s lack of luggage, a blond beauty came in—Selen.

She went straight to her knees, her fingertips placed together in a triangle before her, her head bowed low.

“In sickness or in health, I swear—I mean, good morning!”

Marie was already at a loss for words.

Had she spent all night rehearsing marriage vows? Marie’s cheek twitched.

She’s totally convinced herself she’s going to meet future in-laws…

Selen paid Marie’s consternation no heed. Still on her knees, she started drooling, lost in a fantasy. Her brain had likely moved right past the vows, through the ceremony and the honeymoon, and they were now enjoying the slow life in the country with a gaggle of kids.

Riho was usually the one in charge of vicious put-downs where Selen’s delusions were concerned, but…

“I might even sell enough materials from Kunlun to buy a house! Heh…heh…heh…”

…The mercenary was lost in her own delusions.

They were counting different chickens, but neither set of ’em were likely to hatch, and both of Marie’s cheeks were twitching now. Her heart rate had doubled, too.

“I have one set of marriage paperwork in my jacket, one in my skirt, five in my luggage, all filled out and ready! Just waiting for the official seal of approval! I’m perfectly prepped for this trip! Flawless!”

Sounded like she hadn’t brought a change of clothes, either… Unless you could use marriage paperwork in lieu of underwear? Call it a bit avant-garde.

Marie felt like she really should say something. She put her hand on her hip, sighing.

“You do remember why we’re going to Kunlun, right?”

“To meet Lloyd’s chosen family!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Selen. We’re on a harvesting tour.”

“Is there nobody sane left?!” Marie wailed.

A figure loomed over her shoulder, arms dangling limp.

“……Mm.”

“Ack! Ph-Phyllo?!”

How long had she been there? This towering, stealthy interloper was the martial artist Phyllo. As quiet as she was expressionless, she had joined the group unnoticed.

“Geez, if you’re here, say something! My heart can’t take that!”

Marie’s heart had been racing to begin with. If humans had a finite number of heartbeats in their lives, the last few minutes had shortened her life expectancy by several years.

Her heart was racing so fast that the vibrations were making her whole chest heave. Chipping away at her life to deliver some fanservice—you gotta respect her commitment.

Not to be outdone, Phyllo puffed out her own chest.

“…The goal of this trip? …You’ve all got it wrong.”

“Er, oh? Phyllo! You’re the last person I expected this from.”

“……We’re going to battle powerful warriors in the village of legend.”

Phyllo snapped into a karate stance. Ready for combat.

Surrounded by people in a world of their own, Marie was forced to give up in defeat.

“Do none of you remember?” This response came from Selen—or at least from something at Selen’s waist. “Ladies, our purpose here is my restoration!”

The cursed belt—Vritra. The end of the belt reared up, then dipped downward, as if bobbing its head.

Vritra was the guardian beast of Kunlun, a giant snake that had lost his body. To save himself, he’d been forced to possess the belt around Selen’s waist—its leather made from his own skin.

If they left him like this, terrible things might befall Kunlun and the world at large, so the goal of the day was to head to the legendary village and restore him to his original form.

Vritra seemed weirdly on edge—like a caged cat that knows it’s about to get vaccinated.

“Are you okay, Vritra?” Selen asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet lately.”

“Nothing to worry about, mistress. I am merely overcome with remorse, having long neglected my duties as Kunlun’s guardian beast.”

“Oh, that’s right! That’s why I was trying to cheer you up! Shall I tell you the story of how Lloyd and I first met again?”

“Please, don’t! No more! Mistress, I beg you! I can’t handle another night of endless stories about Lloyd, lists of his hundred best features…”

Selen had evidently turned Vritra into a captive audience for her Lloyd monologues. It was like having a radio program you found completely uninteresting blasted in stereo twenty-four/seven.

“Selen, you should never be allowed to get a pet.”

It might sound cute for a girl to tell a pet all about her crush, but if that went on all night, every night—Well, an overattentive pet owner could wear their pet out by overcaressing it. Poor thing.

Selen stroked her belt like she would a cat, and Vritra flinched, clearly terrified. The fact that Selen meant no harm just made it all the more awkward.

Behind Vritra, the closet started rattling.

“Looks like the kid grandma’s here—Kunlun’s chief.”

Marie scowled at the closet. The chief of Kunlun, Alka, frequently teleported to Azami and back using a crystal in Marie’s closet as a gate.

“She’s gonna stomp all over my clothes in there again. That idiot!” Maire muttered as if all hope was lost in the world. But today, things seemed a little different.

There was a flash of light, and then the closet door began rattling even harder, shaking violently. Finally, the hinges smashed open, and a tiny little girl with black twin tails came bursting out.

She bounced all over Marie’s shop like a superball struck by the hammer of a gold medalist. Marie was hit square in the face; then Selen’s belt knocked Alka toward Riho, who dodged smoothly. Finally, Phyllo did a volleyball receive that left Alka’s head firmly lodged in the ceiling.

The martial artist looked up at her, hands still clasped together.

“………………Madness,” she whispered.

Alka’s entrances were always extreme, but this was definitely on a whole new level.

There was a long silence; then Alka started swearing and pried her head out of the ceiling.

“I really didn’t think I’d have this much trouble controlling my power… Morning, folks.”

She sounded like a ghastly monster delivering a surprisingly cordial greeting.

“Oh, that won’t let you off the hook!” Selen yelled. “You were like a living cannonball! If Vritra hadn’t stepped in, I’d have been sent to a hospital!”

“Protection is my middle name, mistress. In return, I merely ask that you stop trying to cheer me up all night long.”

Vritra cowed again, and Alka glared at him.

“You always did get spooked by chatty girls,” she observed.

“Alka! You’ve forgotten what you’ve done to me, but remember the little details? Most vexing.”

Vritra did his best to maintain his gentlemanly tone in the face of provocation.

Now that things have settled down a little, it’s time for her introduction. Her name is Alka. She might look and sound like an adorable little girl, but she was well over a hundred years old. She served as the chief of Kunlun, but it was highly doubtful she ever did anything chief-like. She teleported over to Azami to see Lloyd basically every day…and who could trust a politician who spent all their time goofing off?

Marie was Alka’s student. She was currently clutching her very red nose—injured in the commotion of the kid grandma’s entrance. “What’s wrong with you now, Master? You usually just settle for trampling on all my clothes, but today you decide to stomp on my entire domicile?!”

“Whoopsie-daisy. If you want me to step all over your clothes so bad, I could go back?”

“No! That’s not what I meant just… Hey, I like that one!”

Alka was trampling clothing like a pro wrestler, Marie already on the verge of tears—pretty much the usual deal, so everyone else just watched.

Once she’d stomped everything in the closet, Alka appeared thoroughly satisfied—and explained the reason for her rocket entrance.

“With Vritra not in his true form, my powers have grown unstable! I thought it was still safe, but clearly, we have no time to waste.”

“Unstable?”

Alka sat down on a chair and started scarfing down cookies. Maybe bouncing around like a rubber ball made her hungry. Maybe she just wanted cookies.

“I might have to fly here next time…but that would take, like, a full day…”

Riho blinked at this.

“Wait, does that mean we’re gonna have to fly to Kunlun? Is it really gonna take all day? I thought we were staying the night! I was planning on hauling back so much loot, I could barely hold it! I don’t want to do a lightning round! We’ll have time to harvest, right? I don’t care how bouncy it makes you, if it cuts into my foraging time…”

“Riho, your motives sound suspect! And you’re much too old to be whining like that.”

A sound argument from Alka. A rarity. Riho was normally the one talking sense into everyone, but potential earnings had blinded her. Marie shook her head at this role reversal.

Just as the commotion finally died down, the door was flung open, and the main character, Lloyd, came in—out of breath.

“I’m back! I handed out enough medicine to take care of all your regulars while we’re away!”

A boy with a gentle smile, Lloyd wiped the sweat from his brow, looked around at everyone, and bowed his head.

“Th-thanks for coming! You’re all here early!”

The moment Lloyd’s head lowered, Alka—who doted on him—hurled herself forward like an American football player. Less a hug, more a tackle.

“I missed you, Lloyd! I’m so tired after all that bouncing! Can you give my tired legs and chest a massage? Oh, you must be worn out from running around! I’ll give you a good full-body grope—urp!”

Belt-form Vritra had snagged Alka by the throat.

“…Grow up, kid grandma. Do you wish to be indicted for sexual harassment? And I fail to see how your chest grew tired—you’ve got nothing there.”

“Tch, with Vritra possessing that belt, it’s grown way stronger… How dare you? That last comment is definitely ‘in-dite-able’!”

“You can’t even say the word! Nothing that emerges from that childlike frame could possibly faze me. You accumulate years but have not grown at all.”

Alka snarled, but the belt around her neck wasn’t going anywhere. Everyone but Lloyd gave Vritra a round of applause.

At length, Alka was released. “I could have gone for another few hours,” Marie muttered.

“Bahhhaahh…,” Alka gasped. Once she’d caught her breath, she added, “I was just…kidding. Vritra…are you prepared?”

“In this form, there’s nothing I can do to prepare,” Vritra said, writhing pointedly. “I have steeled my will. That is all.”

Fired up, Riho shouldered her bag. “Let’s go! Time’s a-wastin’!”

The scent of profit sure made her sound manly.

The next voice they heard was the exact opposite—despite coming from a man.

“Heeeeeeeelp!”

A man well over six feet tall came bursting in the front door. His uncouth face was dripping with sweat, tears, and snot. This was a lot, even for Allan.

“Oh, Allan.”

“L-Lloyd! I need your help!”

Allan must have really wanted to get out of this one. He was on the ground, clinging to Lloyd’s feet. It was horrifying, like he’d just crawled out of someone’s TV set when they tried to watch a cursed video.

“Uh, Allan? We’re about to leave. We don’t have time for this.”

“Get your filthy face away from Lloyd.”

“………Mm.”

Each of the girls kicked him in turn. Some might enjoy that.

“Ow! Seriously, that hurts! Especially you, Phyllo!”

Marie gave him the sort of look you reserve for a dying puppy.

“What’s the matter, Allan?”

He looked up at her, snot dangling, desperate.

“Y-you see, because of that dungeon thing, everyone started calling me the dragon slayer! And now things are getting even worse!”

“Tch. Boo-hoo. Cry me a river. Sucks to be famous, huh? Quit rubbing it in our faces!” Riho snarled (in between kicks).

Allan’s brow furrowed further.

“That’s not it!” he wailed. “There’s nothing fun about this! Every guild in town is bringing me dangerous quests, I get invited to every major event, important people ask me to dine with them, I never get a second to myself! I’m so stressed that I can’t even taste the roast beef! Do you know how that feels?”

“……You got a nice meal? Good for you.”

Phyllo liked good meals. She started to kick Allan harder. Right in his ribs.

“Gah! Ow, ow, ow! Cut that out! That’s not what this is! I’m getting challenged to duels from everyone looking to make a name for themselves! I won the first few, but they’re getting worse and worse! Now I got people gunning for my life! Someone actually said I was ‘Worth killin’ for the rep alone!’ What did I do to deserve death?! Am I gonna die without ever getting a girlfriend?!”

Allan’s cries did not fall on deaf ears. The heavens might not have listened, but the man chasing him did.

Chrome’s square frame loomed in the doorway, a group of burly soldiers in tow.

“I knew you’d be here, Dragon Slayer Allan! Come! Time to work! You’ve got to meet weapon merchant VIPs for lunch! Dragon Slayer Allan!”

“N—noooo! I don’t want any more tasteless meals from the stress! I’m sick of water being the only enjoyable part! Aughhhh!”

His begging was interrupted by ropes—made of magical water—that dragged him into the air.

“Got him! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!”

“………Mena.”

It was Phyllo’s older sister, Mena, the water magic specialist. She grinned at everyone.

Behind her was Choline, barking orders to the soldiers as they grabbed Allan by the scruff of his neck.

“Come on. Careful with him. He’s got that exhibition match coming up. Hands off his face. Stick to body blows if ya gotta get rough.”

“Leave my body alone, too! L-Lloyd!”

Allan turned to Lloyd, desperate. The boy nodded.

“I know how you feel, Allan,” Lloyd consoled. “Everything leading up to a match can feel stressful. But don’t worry! I’ll be there to cheer you on.”

“That’s not my point! I need help!”

But nobody understood his pleas.

A soldier on each limb, Allan was hauled away like movers handling a refrigerator.

“Well, with a face like his, a few scars won’t hurt him any!” Mena snarked.

“What about the wounds to my heaaaaart?!” Allan wailed.

The door slammed behind him.

Chrome bowed low. “Sorry you had to witness that,” he said. “Pardon the intrusion, Maria…Marie.”

Then he looked around the room, rubbing his chin.

“What brings you all here?” Choline asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Mena chimed in. “Phyllo’s all fired up! Are you going to grab a bite to eat? In that case, count me in!”

“We’re going to Kunlun!” Lloyd said.

“““……Seriously?!”””

All three of them froze to the spot. Can’t blame ’em. Everyone knew Kunlun as the village where the heroes of legend dwelled. This was like saying they were off to Neverland!

And if Kunlun was Neverland, then Lloyd was both Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.

“We’re going to restore Vritra to his true form,” Lloyd explained. “We’ll probably have to ask the dwarfs for help.”

“Huh…,” Mena said, her eyes—for once—all the way open. She was so stunned that she forgot to make a flippant remark. People who play dumb can never handle people who actually are.

Lloyd himself didn’t mean to be stupid… He was just stating the honest truth. Quite earnestly.

“R-right,” Chrome mumbled, trying to make his brain process this. “Have fun!” he said, failing. He turned to go.

Choline’s eyes narrowed. She looked at Alka, then back at Lloyd.

“Kunlun? If I tagged along, could I see him?”

“Him? Ohhh…Merthophan?”

Merthophan.

That name sure got Riho’s attention.

“Huh? Seriously? That dude’s in Kunlun?”

“Mm, paying for his sins,” Alka said solemnly.

“Sorry, Alka—or should I call you Chief? Mind if butt in on this?”

Alka nodded gravely. “I see no reason to object,” she said. “Not like there’s a capacity limit.”

Choline pumped a fist. Chrome shook his head.

“Geez, you’re just gonna let the king prep this exhibition match all on his own?”

Choline winced at that idea.

Then Mena stepped up—sounding completely different from her usual self. Mena spent most of her time playing a goofball, tricking people into underestimating her, but when things turned serious or were beyond her comprehension, her true self emerged. This was definitely one of those moments.

“I’ll handle the exhibition match. Chrome, you join her if you want.”

Choline threw her arms around Mena. After all, Mena had been pretty cool.

“Thanks so much! I owe ya one.”

“I’ll do what I can. Frankly, if I went to a village filled with Lloyds, my mind would be so blown, I’d probably stop breathing.” Mena winced. A whole village of people who don’t know they’re absurd would definitely prove fatal.

Phyllo tugged at her sleeve, worried.

“……Mena.”

“Don’t worry, Phyllo, you can go. I got work to do.”

“…Your personality.”

“—whoops!” Like she’d hit a switch, Mena was back to her old impish grin. “Bring back souvenirs! I demand a full review of anything you eat! Chrome, Choline, you’d better pay me back for this! Next payday’s gonna be a treat!”

She moonwalked out of Marie’s shop.

“Seems like a hard act to maintain…”

“Thanks again, Mena!”

Seeing everything settled, Alka raised her hands high.

“Right, then let’s make way for Kunlun!”

“Uh, Master, nobody’s gonna survive the teleportation if it goes like your arrival. Are we all gonna fly there? Honestly, I really didn’t enjoy it last time when you dangled me above the clouds…”

Everyone except Lloyd winced at that last phrase.

Alka just gave her a cheery thumbs-up.

“Don’t worry! I prepared a safe means of transport. C’mon!”

She traipsed out of the shop like she was leading a field trip. Looking nervous, everyone followed after her.

“What do you think it is, M’lady Selen?” Riho asked. “I’m kinda spooked…”

“She ‘prepared’ something? Are we gonna be riding some legendary bird or…Vritra, do you have any idea?”

“I fear not, mistress! Not the slightest hint of a clue! Pray forgive me.”

Vritra cowed, fearing Selen’s wrath.

“She should never be allowed to have a pet,” Riho muttered.

Alka led the way through the North Gate of Azami—the gateway to the continent—and into the woods beyond. This was totally just a hiking trip now, and Riho was getting increasingly skeptical.

“Is there something in this forest?” she asked.

“Mm! There’s a dwarf waiting for us up ahead. We gotta meet up with her.”

“A dwarf? Here?”

Everyone but Lloyd looked aghast.

Dwarves physically resembled humans but were quite short, like human children. They were strong of body and good with their hands, known for making weapons and works of art, and had gifted the world with any number of advanced ironwork techniques…according to legends.

These days, academics speculated that they’d been a tribe of unusually short nomads or had a unique culture that led to them living in caves… Basically, they were treated the same way modern researchers handled legends of Bigfoot. You know how people just say those are either giant apes or a man in a suit? Same thing.

If this kid grandma hadn’t been the chief of an equally mythological village, nobody would have believed her.

“A dwarf!” Lloyd exclaimed. “Wow, it’s been ages! For some reason, I haven’t seen any of them in Azami!”

You wouldn’t! Everyone not from Kunlun thought the same thing.

“Oh, right, when you greet a dwarf, make sure you put your eyes on their level. Otherwise, they’ll throw axes at you.”

Lloyd had mentioned this tip before, but they’d all assumed they’d never need it.

“Nah, Lloyd,” Alka corrected. “The one we’re about to meet is a little different, so there’s no need for that.”

“Oh, really? That is different!”

“She makes up for it by being kinda whack-a-doodle. If she says anything weird, just pay it no attention.”

Alka had said this. The Alka. The one who tried to summon a world-destroying dragon whenever she got peeved, who turned people into butterflies and frogs without the slightest trace of guilt. If Alka called her a whack-a-doodle…that was like the heavyweight champion of the world going up before a crowd of reporters and going, “Hell no, I don’t ever wanna fight that dude again.”

It bore remembering, at the least.

Then the belt at Selen’s hips—Vritra—spoke up. “You can’t mean… Not her! That’s the last person alive I want to meet.”

He was shaking like a leaf.

“You okay there, Vritra?”

“I am simply dandy, mistress! Just curb the all-night story sessions designed to cheer me up.”

Vritra was now shaking even harder. Everyone cringed in sympathy.

A while later, the party emerged into a forest clearing, where they found a small cave.

Alka stopped there.

“Huh?” Marie asked. “Is this our destination? There’s nobody here.”

Certainly nobody outside the cave. Just the wind making the grass and trees sway.

But…

“…………There is.”

“We just can’t see them.”

Phyllo and Lloyd spoke at the same time. Both of them were excellent at sensing when people were nearby, so everyone grew tense.

Alka shook her head, sighing.

“We know you’re here!” she called, addressing empty air. “Quit horsin’ around.”

There was a sudden voom…and then a girl was standing there. Everyone let out a silent screech.

“You revealed my trick way too fast!” the young woman exclaimed, scowling at Alka.

She was wearing a sturdy helmet and unadorned glass goggles. There was a lively gleam to her eyes and an indomitable grin on her face that flashed her canines—and the stick of a lollipop dangling out of one side of her mouth.

She was wearing some sort of uniform, a bit military-esque. Over that, she wore a dirty white lab coat, with several scorch marks on it. She appeared to be in her early teens.

“Geez,” she grumbled, smacking loudly on her lollipop. “First, you don’t show up on time, then you bring way more people than you said you would. Of course, I’m gonna hide behind a spatial distortion camouflage.”

“You can’t just bust out lost technology at the slightest excuse, nitwit!”

“You’re the last person who has any right to scold me! Consider me irate.”

Nobody else knew what spatial distortion or lost technology meant, but eventually, the girl realized everyone was staring at her, and she gave them a wave.

“’Sup, I’m Eug. Lena Eug. Dr. Eug is fine! I’m technically the king of the dwarves, so, you know, respect that.”

“Th-the king of the dwarves?! Seriously?!”

“Mm, in name alone! I was gonna abdicate eventually but I’m still the unrivaled number one in craftsmanship, refining, and invention, so I can’t quit no matter how much I want to. Before I knew it, I was a hundred-something old-timer!”

Eug snapped the sucker against her teeth, and the group was stunned into silence again. People said they were thirty-something all the time, but you didn’t get many people living long enough to coin a word for their second century.

“Master’s not the only one…,” Marie whispered.

Eug’s ears caught this, and she was instantly inches from her, closing the distance in the blink of an eye like a martial arts master.

“Please don’t lump me in with her! Consider me aghast.”

Marie yelped, nearly falling over. “No, no,” she protested. “The way you just moved is definitely in the same wheelhouse!”

“Physically speaking, I may be a bit stronger than your average person, but I’m enhancing that effect with these!”

Eug lifted her feet, showing off her boots as if she were bragging about her new sneakers.

“I can only move that fast because these boosts have a repulsion regulation dial built in! My own invention! They let me run real fast or leap giant trees in a single bound! Perfect for everyday wear!”

“You don’t need to jump over trees every day…,” Marie argued.

“I thought you’d say that!” Eug said, grinning. She pointed her lollipop at the witch. “But it’s not exactly true if you’re staying in Kunlun—which I am. They see my hands idle for a second, they expect me to pitch in, and without these, I’d never keep up!”

“We don’t ‘expect’ a thing!” Alka corrected, shaking her head. “She’s just always been uncomfortable with being in anyone’s debt.”

“Sure am! And once I accept a job or research project, I can’t sit still until it’s cleared away. You know that, too, Alka.”

“Such a perfectionist.”

Eug just grinned, clearly enjoying Alka’s reactions. She popped the sucker out of her mouth and pointed it at Vritra this time.

“Vri, baby,” she cooed.

The belt flinched, but Eug ignored this.

“You’re the guardian beast, but you were wandering the wilds outside Kunlun? That really stuck a wrench in my plans.”

“What plans are those?! And the root cause is entirely Alka’s…”

Eug’s boots launched off the ground, closing the gap. She grabbed a fistful of Vritra, glaring at him.

“Like I said, Alka is the embodiment of idiocy, the root of all evil, prone to disrupting everything on a whim carried too far! I told you to guard Kunlun with that fact seared deep into your collective unconsciousness!”

Even Alka got indignant at this one.

“Back up, Eug!” she said. “The embodiment of what? I can’t let that go unchallenged!”

Vritra quickly tried to redirect Eug’s rage.

“Exactly!” he barked. “Why would you want to make an apron out of my hide?! Beyond insulting! The hide of any roaming dragon would have sufficed!”

The idea of a roaming dragon horrified the bystanders, but everyone in the argument failed to notice.

“Mm?” Alka said, as if she’d just remembered something. “Wasn’t that apron your idea, Eug? You said it would be a great present for Lloyd, super durable, last him a lifetime.”

There was a long silence.

“But I digress!” Eug exclaimed. “Let’s all get back to Kunlun, pronto!”

Eug marched off as if nothing at all had happened. Though perhaps she was walking a bit too fast.

“You’ll answer for this, Eug!” Vritra roared. Then he bobbed his buckle to the others. “I’m sorry, they’re always like this.”

“I’d heard the stories,” Choline assured. “But they really are off the charts, Chrome.”

“Mm. That aside…how are we getting there? The back of this cave is a dead end. It doesn’t lead anywhere…”

Chrome knew the local terrain like the back of his hand, so he was particularly baffled.

“Aha! I see,” Alka said, stopping just outside the cave.

“What do you see?” Selen asked, baffled. “How does this get us to Kunlun?”

Eug smirked at her.

“Excellent question! Allow me to explain. I’ve applied spatial distortion to this otherwise ordinary cave—the warp gate rune!”

“Runes?!” Choline pounced. She was a mage studying runes but had never heard of a warp gate.

“Yes, the lost wisdom of the ancients. If you’ve heard of them, I gather you’re an academic of some kind?” Eug said, as if she were praising a bright child. As she did, she charged some marks on the rock face with magic.

The marks were part of a mural that seemed to depict a person passing through a hole.

“Clever disguise, right? You’ve gotta be real precise about the destination or who knows where you’ll end up. Alka’s the wrong choice for that sort of detail. She’s the personification of slapdash, after all.”

“Slapdash, my foot!” Alka yelled. “Still, given how little magic you have, it’s hard to believe you can use runes on this scale.”

“I’m a perfectionist, remember? Give me a few days, and this is entirely doable.”

This got Marie’s interest.

“Why spend all this time making a gate in a cave, though? Is the teleport not an option? What about the world’s worst magic spell that lets trouble drop in with no appointment or announcement?”

There was a lot of spite behind this last remark, but, well, given how often Alka showed up out of the blue demanding food or tea or harassing Lloyd, who could blame her?

“Yeah, about that,” Eug said. “That teleport crap is something only an off-the-scales inhuman creature like Alka can use. And Alka’s gonna be weakened and unable to use her magic for a while, so we figured it was best to secure an alternate route.”

“Inhuman is certainly the right word for it. Even by that standard, she’s off the charts—Wait, she won’t be able to use any spells?”

No one was prepared for a weakened Alka.

“I figured she hadn’t mentioned it!” Eug shouted. “Witch lady, while we’re restoring Vritra, Alka’s physical abilities will plummet, and she won’t be able to use any magic at all.”

This was an astonishing revelation. And the most astonished person…was Alka.

“Huh? Wait, Eug, you never mentioned this!” she yelped, horrified.

“How do you not know?” Eug replied, giving her a look of contempt. “The guardian beast of Kunlun—Vritra—is storing the power in you. Even just having him stuck in belt form already has your notoriously ludicrous abilities going haywire, right?”

“Oh, right,” Alka said. “We wrote it into the ancient script that I could use the power.”

“Yes.” Vritra nodded. “Going from a hideous monster to a belt would disrupt the function of my Words.”

“Yup, and restoration will leave you stuck in an egg for a few days, shutting off Alka’s power entirely. It’s like how virus protection software doesn’t function fully while the update’s running—same thing.”

“……Ancient script? Virus? Up date?” Phyllo muttered. This string of unfamiliar terms was making her head spin.

“Eug!” Alka screeched, preventing her from answering.

“Whoops…uh, pretend I didn’t say that.”

Eug made a show of licking her lollipop.

“…Geez, well, fine,” Alka accepted. “Point taken. I totally forgot.”

At this point, Lloyd stepped forward. “I see!” he said, bowing. “Since the chief can’t use her teleport, you had to do a lot of work! Thank you so much.”

“More or less,” Eug acknowledged, nodding. She got back to the task at hand.

“My head hurts already,” Marie groaned, slumping over. These people talked about advanced technology (like ancient runes) as if they’d called a carriage for you.

Chrome and Choline were frozen to the spot, in the exact same frame of mind. The grown-ups had had way less exposure to Alka’s antics, meaning they were far less equipped to handle this sort of thing.

Eug shot them a sly grin, then held her hand up to the cave entrance.

And the back of it vanished, as it had been plunged into water.

The grown-ups gulped, and Eug spun her sucker, looking satisfied.

“See? Here’s the entrance.”

Riho stepped forward with a sinister grin. “All right! Let’s hit this legendary village up!”

“Oh! I can finally meet Lloyd’s family!”

“……And people stronger than me.”

Riho, Selen, Phyllo (and Marie) had spent enough time with Lloyd and Alka that they didn’t even bat an eye at this feat.

Meanwhile, the older two were staring at the warp gate like it was their first encounter with civilization.

“Um…so if we go through that,” Chrome said, “we’ll be at the furthest reaches of the continent?”

He approached with caution—like a thief sneaking up to a watchdog.

Chrome was usually barking orders, so it was rare to see him cringing.

Riho slapped him on the back, as excited as a kid the day before a picnic. Not a pat or even a donk, but a straight-up thwack.

“Don’t chicken out now!” she said. “You think you can score any loot with that attitude?”

She had so lost track of their goal here.

“I’m not chickening out!” Chrome roared. “Hey! Don’t push! No pushing! I need a moment!”

“Get a move on!” Selen said, helping Riho push. “You’re blocking the line! And my love for Lloyd!”

“……She has no notion what this is about, does she?” Vritra muttered. “My mistress is nothing if not consistent.”

He may have come to regret possessing her belt. He was definitely trying to mime a wince.

Finally steeling his nerve, Chrome took a deep breath, as if he were about to dive into water, and stepped into the cave.

“Hngg?!” he grunted. A sudden floating sensation had washed over him.

One after another, the rest of the party followed him and found themselves face-to-face with an incredible view.

“Wow…,” Riho gasped, speaking for everyone.

A field was covered in flowers, their smell so sweet, everyone wanted to take some home.

They were surrounded by snowcapped mountains that rose so high, it was hard to believe this was the same continent. A river flowed down from those mountains, snowmelt water so clear, you wanted to scoop up a mouthful.

Everyone spread their arms, taking a deep breath.

It felt like airing out the inside of your body.

“Such clean air! Crisp and refreshing!” Riho gushed, feeling amazing. Then she turned to Alka. “So where do we go to find the lucrative monsters?”

Her candor was definitely refreshing! In a sense.

“Uh, Riho, this is just a normal village,” Lloyd remarked. “There’s no monsters, lucrative or not. My hometown is right over there!”

He pointed at a tiny settlement surrounded by fences.

The larger house at the top of a hill was probably Alka’s home. She was the chief, after all.

Beyond that, wheat swayed in the fields.

“So pastoral! Exactly the sort of place where you want to spend time with the one you love until death do you part.”

That last part sure took on a sinister vibe when Selen said it.

“R-right,” Chrome gasped, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. “Given the fairy tales, I’d expected something more horrifying, but…mm, pastoral is way better.”

The village, mountains, and forests all looked totally normal, and this was a huge relief.

Mind you, that forest was filled with treants, a terrifying plant monster. And the fence around the village was made of treant wood. A rare, valuable resource… It was basically like building a barricade out of ivory.

There were definitely signs of outlandishness around, but…nobody noticed.

“This takes me back!” Alka said, grinning at everyone. “I remember when I first brought Marie here… She was so young and innocent.”

“It really does look normal,” Marie emphasized, memories draining all color from her face.

“Princ…I mean, Marie? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, Colonel Choline. I…was just remembering how I…may have kicked this horned rabbit…”

“Wow, that could be rough. Hurts if you get stabbed!”

“And I didn’t think Kunlun horned rabbits would be eleven yards long and shrouded in lava! I thought it was a boulder, and then I saw the ears…”

Regular horned rabbits were more like eleven inches, and basically the same as normal rabbits—a super-weak target new adventurers used for practice.

Well, in Kunlun, they had horns like drills made for boring through bedrock and wrapped themselves in molten rock found deep below the crust. When they fell asleep, they looked just like boulders with ears, but they’d attack anyone who approached and could easily take out even a veteran adventurer in the blink of an eye.

“…………Ha-ha-ha, no way,” Choline said.

“Oh, right,” Alka piped up, pointing into the distance. “There’s a burrow over that way.”

There were a number of huge holes in the rock. Normal horned rabbits burrowed into dirt, only deep enough for your ankles, so people warned kids not to trip over their tunnels. They were almost cute.

But this was more like a mine where all the ore had long since been excavated. These holes were gonna catch a lot more than ankles.

“Those…are their burrows?”

“Yup! No rabbits in them now, but they’re like pitfalls. One of you lot fall in, you’ll never get out on your own. Even the villagers don’t go near the place without good reason, so better look out.”

Choline took another look around her, finally realizing there was no telling what was actually a monster.

“But that rabbit was really tender and tasty! The villagers hunt them just like ordinary rabbits,” Marie stated, eyes going out of focus.

“You know,” Lloyd said, “I don’t think I ever saw you here, Marie.”

“I was only here for about six months, on the edge of town,” she explained, pointing. “Mostly training with Master.”

Lloyd was very surprised.

“Really? The chief told me there were terrifying monsters in there, and I should stay away.”

“Wha—?” Marie gasped, then turned and glared at Alka.

“I did say that!” Alka chuckled, not the slightest bit guilty. “A boob monster, growing way too fast!”

“What the hell is a boob monster?!”

“Given your situation, I figured it would be better to keep the villagers away. That was my excuse!”

“R-right…”

Marie winced at this.

Her father had fallen into the clutches of a demon lord, and she’d barely escaped Azami with her life. Alka had found her, and while her usual behavior betrayed no trace of this, she actually did think things through sometimes, even if this was literally impossible to tell… Anyway, Marie raised her opinion of Alka slightly.

However…it was Alka.

“But it was just an excuse! I knew I had to keep Lloyd as far from you as possible to avoid any unwanted sparks flying.”

“I take everything back!” Marie yelled, grabbing a fistful of Alka’s shirt.

Alka just grinned at her. “Don’t be ridiculous! Why would I let a boob monster like you anywhere near an innocent young man? You’d warp his sexual preferences in the wrong direction! I can’t have that! Chance encounters at a young age are just setups for later reunions, and what if he mistakes that for the hand of destiny?! I thwarted that with all my might!”

Alka’s perspective wasn’t entirely without merit. A boy on the cusp of adolescence coming face-to-face with a pair of very large breasts could give him a permanent preference. It was almost inevitable.

…Not that avoiding this would really increase the odds of him preferring them small. Even freshly hatched chicks were unlikely to imprint on an extreme sexual preference like “flat as a cutting board.”

“Listen, kid grandma…mm?”

Before Marie could unleash her rage, she saw Selen, Riho, and Phyllo all clapping their hands, sinister smiles on their lips—quietly celebrating Alka’s triumph like the blacksuits from a certain famous gambling manga.

“““Thank you.”””

Lloyd’s harem would hardly have welcomed a fated reunion with a childhood crush.

Meanwhile, Lloyd was deep in the throes of his typical misunderstanding.

“I see! Marie was training against terrible monsters! That’s Azami’s secret hero for you!”

By this point, he was basically just wrong about everything Marie did.

Faced with his look of unvarnished admiration, Marie coughed awkwardly and got back to the point.

“Uh, so I only went into the village proper a handful of times…but each of them was…memorable. Oh, look, villagers.”

Marie was gazing into the distance. A whole crowd of townsfolk had come out to greet them.

“Oh, Grandpa! And…you all came!”

Lloyd darted off, delighted.

“Lloyd!”

“Welcome back!”

“You look so happy!”

Normal villagers greeting a boy come home. A typical sight was unfolding before everyone’s eyes.

Only Riho seemed disgruntled by how normal it all was.

“I mean, they’re definitely all as dangerous as Lloyd is…but more normal than I expected?”

When Lloyd first sat down next to her, she’d believed herself in mortal peril, so she sure had come a long way! Or maybe just got used to it.

Chrome was every bit as good as her at detecting strength. His square frame had gone even squarer, and he’d stiffened up like a block of stone ready for carving.

Meanwhile, the martial artist, Phyllo, was fully on guard, sweat running down her brow.

“You hanging in there, Phyllo?”

“……………I feel like I’m standing on a battlefield.”

Choline gave her a worried look. Phyllo was standing on the windswept field, on full alert like a scout deep in enemy territory.

Riho shook her head, disappointed.

“Maybe I got my hopes too high…I was expecting houses made of gold and out-of-place artifacts lying in the streets.”

Marie gave her a pat on the shoulders.

“…………You say that, but…your eyes are about to pop out of your head.”

“Seriously? Eye-popping fortunes?”

“Well, if you took a photo, you might be able to sell it for a pretty high price. Look there.”

“There?”

She followed Marie’s finger. To a perfectly ordinary two-story country house.

A family was chatting outside. Kids were running around.

“Heartwarming pastoral scene, sure,” Riho noted. “Some people might call that a priceless treasure, but I’m more looking for—”

But what happened next silenced her.

“Oh, I forgot something upstairs!”

“Oh? I’ll get it, Mom!” The kid jumped right in through the second-story window.

“Thanks!”

“……………Come again?”

Residents of reality all made the same strangled grunt.

That child wasn’t even five years old but had jumped ten yards. Like someone had dangled a rope out the upstairs window and yanked him up. No one could believe their eyes.

“Ah-ha-ha,” Lloyd chuckled, totally not getting why everyone was surprised. “Yeah, country folk don’t have the best manners.”

He described vaulting to a second-story window the way you would detail closing a door with your feet. No one knew how to respond to this.

Looking closely, villagers were running across roofs, bounding from one to another…

“I do that myself,” Lloyd admitted. “Out here, we all run across roofs when we’re in a hurry. You can go straight to your destination, but…well, it’s a little embarrassing to do when people are looking.”

Leave it to Lloyd to treat roofs like a shortcut.

…Kunlun’s strangeness was only just beginning to sink its teeth into everyone.

“Oh, look out! Don’t stand in the way.”

“Huh?”

Alka was pointing at what looked like a bale of hay—the kind you use for target practice. Judging by the condition of it, many an arrow had been fired at it.

“Uh, right,” Selen said, but didn’t seem sure why.

If this was a target, it wasn’t in use—there were no archers in sight.

Selen took a half-step back, still confused…and something flew past her at an alarming speed.

Shunk!

A massive arrow sliced through the air.

“Wha?! Enemy attack?!” Chrome braced himself.

A middle-aged woman came strolling over.

“Oh, my, sorry about that,” she apologized.

“…Erm. That’s okay…”

The woman unwrapped a piece of paper from the arrow’s shaft and looked it over.

“Lesse…,” she mumbled. “‘I’ll be home in an hour, so make sure dinner’s on the table’? All righty.”

Everyone realized the arrow had just been a message.

They looked in the direction it had come from and saw nothing. Just clouds around distant mountain peaks.

“Uh, no way…”

Had someone shot an arrow from that mountain peak and hit this target, just to send a message?

The idea crossed everyone’s mind, but they all had a trace of common sense lurking in the corner of their mind, and it instantly dismissed the idea.

No waaay.

But even as they rejected it, the woman wrote a reply.

“I’m making your favorite stewed potatoes…”

She picked up a rock from the ground at her feet and wrapped the paper around it.

“Hup!” She lightly tossed the rock toward the mountains…

Ultrasonic fastball.

The rock shot high into the sky, slicing the very clouds and starting a small avalanche where it hit the snowcapped peak.

While everyone gaped, the woman smiled faintly, looking down at her wrist.

“Oh, dear, I hit the snow! Nothing good comes with age.”

“Ah-ha-ha,” Lloyd said, stepping in to explain. “Out here in the boonies, we still use old ways to communicate… We don’t have phones or magic stones like the army.”

He seemed convinced everyone was horrified because this was somehow old-fashioned.

“……No, Master, that’s not it,” Phyllo assured him. Even she was on the sensible side today. Treasure this fleeting moment, dear reader.

Their stupor was interrupted by the raspy voice of an old man.

“Pardon me, travelers. Mind letting me pass?”

“Oh, sorry…er, what the—?!”

Slung over the old man’s shoulder…was a cannon. A surreal sight, indeed. A look of fear flashed in their eyes—what crazy shit was gonna happen next?

The man lowered the cannon to the ground with a thud that shook the earth. It must be really heavy.

“A-are you going to shoot that at the mountains?” Chrome asked.

The old man looked at him like he was nuts.

“My son forgot his canteen, so I’ve gotta take it to him!”

“Canteen? Uh…”

The elderly man aimed the cannon at the mountains, then climbed inside. With only his head poking out, he called out to the rock-throwing lady.

“Neighbor, can you charge the magic stone for me?”

“Oh, sure!” She gave him a huge grin, approached, and started doing something.

“Magic? Er…oh!”

There was a magic stone on the side of the cannon, likely an explosive one.

The amount of magic the middle-aged woman poured into it was bonkers.

“………That’s more magic than either Mena or Rol has,” Choline muttered.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than there came a loud explosion, and the old man rocketed off toward the distant mountains.

“Oof, I shoulda put a little more in… Nothing good comes with age.”

That…that wasn’t enough? Could that elderly guy survive this?! As everyone gaped in horror, Lloyd stepped in to explain once more.

“Here in the boonies, when we want to get to the mountains fast, we all use cannons to fly. But you can’t carry much with you because it’ll mess up the aim and you’ll end up in the wrong place entirely. Also, they just slide all the way down the side of the mountain to get back.”

“Oh, um…but that looks pretty perpendicular…”

Normal skiers considered a thirty-degree slant a pretty difficult course. Angles like this weren’t really “sliding” so much as skydiving without a parachute.

One shocking sight after another had slowly robbed the Azami contingent of their capacity for speech.

With the gang still reeling from the grandpa cannon, a group of woodcutters shuffled into sight.

Every one of them had the same face, the same clothes, and the same ax.

“““““Don’t push yourself, lady.”””””

Oh, and…they all spoke in unison.

“Come on now, merge back together before you come home!”

“““““Oops, sorry.”””””

With this helpful reminder, one woodcutter raised his hand, said, “Release!” and his clones vanished in a series of smoke clouds. The one remaining logger shouldered his bundle of wood again.

“Whew… Oh, Lloyd! Welcome back!”

“Woodcutter! It’s been ages, huh?”

When Lloyd ran over to him, there was another puff of smoke, leaving a log where the man had been.

“Ah!”

“…Heh-heh-heh, still can’t see through that one, huh?”

The woodcutter appeared behind Lloyd, emerging from his shadow, and clapped him on the shoulder.

“If you were a treant, you’d be lumber by now, Lloyd!”

“Argh, come on!”

“Fooled again! I bet there’s nobody in the city using proper tree-felling techniques! You would get out of practice, ha-ha-ha.”

Everyone thought the same thing.

This wasn’t a lumberjack. He was a ninja—just like the legends said.

At the least, he had to be using ninja-like techniques…

None of the ordinary humans could keep their jaws closed.

“…I take it back,” Riho croaked. “Nothing normal here.”

“R-Riho! L-look!” Selen yelped, pointing across the street.

There…was a fish monster! A killer piranha!

Everyone grabbed their weapons…but something seemed fishy here.

The tyrant of the depths was floating belly up with its eyes rolled back.

Beneath it, carrying the killer piranha, was Lloyd’s grandpa Pyrid. Judging by the beads of water dripping from what remained of his hair, he’d just dived in to catch it.

They’d all lost count of how many surprises they’d had that day.

“Hello, everyone!” Pyrid boomed with a pleasant smile. “We’ll be having this for dinner tonight! C’mon, Chief, show everyone around.”

“Working on it, Pyrid. Get moving, people, get over the culture shock, and let’s head for my house.”

Did this even count as culture shock? They all questioned that concept…

Except for Phyllo. A whole different set of emotions banished that thought from her mind.

“………Heh-heh.”

The moment she saw Pyrid carrying the killer piranha, her aura changed completely. Her lips twisted into a rare smile.

“Phyllo?” Selen squeaked. “What’s wrong? Why are you so weirdly happy?”

The two had been going to school together long enough that this was actually the biggest curiosity of the day. Phyllo smiling was enough to surpass all Kunlun legends.

Phyllo slid one foot forward, shifting her weight so she could attack at any time.

“Mm? What’s up, girlie?” Pyrid said.

In that instant, it was like there was a line in the sand between the two of them.

If either crossed it, a battle would start—like the border between two countries in conflict.

“…Pyrid the Fierce God, I believe. May I request instruction?”

Phyllo raised her hands. When he saw her stance, Pyrid smiled, like it brought back memories.

“Oh? Oh! That’s the stance from the martial arts style I founded! No one could handle the training, and I was forced to close the place in tears.”

“…Training by dropping off a cliff to shatter boulders was certainly punishing.”

“Basic defensive skills.”

“Gh! ………that was basic?”

“I never manage to teach beyond the fundamentals… These days, the villagers use those as simple workouts or morning calisthenics.”

“…Seriously, Master?” Phyllo turned to Lloyd with an uncharacteristic yelp.

“Uh, yes. Grandpa thought up some healthy exercises for the whole village. How is it you know them, Phyllo?”

The legendary style left by the Fierce God Pyrid.

Phyllo had absorbed that training, honing her body beyond that of mere mortals.

It was the core of her identity—and it was being treated like pre-workout stretches. Uh-oh, her eyes just rolled back in her head. She was totally breaking character now.

“Interesting girl.” Pyrid chuckled. “Been a while since I got a formal request for instruction! Gimme a second, though. I gotta toss this fish in the kitchen.”

Riho instantly appeared next to him, rubbing her hands like a craft merchant.

“I’ll help carry that thing! I’d love to help! Please let me help.”

“Oh, how nice of you…cat-eyed girl.”

Evidently, Phyllo wasn’t the only one whose emotions overcame all other thoughts.

Naturally, in Riho’s case, she wasn’t being nice—she was out for profit. Her plot was to peel off some scales from this high-level monster to sell later.

Her eyes morphed into the shape of gold coins. Riho hefted the killer piranha like precious cargo.

Phyllo must have assumed she was doing this for her because she smiled faintly and said, “……Thanks, Riho.”

“Pfft, whatever. We’re friends!”

A magnanimous gesture, but those eyes were still gold coins… She was so transparent that you couldn’t really call her a liar.

Oblivious to that, Phyllo beckoned Pyrid to the town square.

“Pyrid,” Alka said. “She’s our guest. Careful with her.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not as bad as you. I’ll just put her through some basic kata sequences, fit for any martial artist.”

“Just that, huh? Well, Phyllo can probably handle it. Long as you don’t do anything fatal, we can always heal her later.”

And with that terrifying remark, Alka waved everyone toward her house.

Alka’s house stood on the top of the hill.

She led them to a room with a view of the wheat fields.

There stood a set of legless chairs made of bamboo and linen—a common choice in the boonies when the weather was nice, but only Lloyd and Eug seemed comfortable. Everyone else entered the room like they might have hidden traps—like if you opened a drawer, it might explode.

Alka plopped herself down in the chair at the head of the seating arrangement.

“Relax, people!” she said.

“Uh, Master…that’s a tall order.”

After all the surprises, everyone was on edge. Selen was studiously whispering, “I’ve gotta get used to it somehow…,” but that was probably the best any of them could manage right now.

A plump woman—who seemed like Alka’s housekeeper—took the killer piranha from Riho, waving them all toward the seats.

“Thanks for coming so far… Chief, we finished cleaning up.”

“Well done. If you could be so kind as to bring us tea?”

“Oh, where are my manners? I’ll bring it right away!” She hustled off to the kitchen. Riho tried to follow.

“Let me help!”

“Thanks so much!”

“Not at all!”

Riho wasn’t being helpful or anything. She just figured this would help her harvest killer piranha parts. Those eyes weren’t going back to normal anytime soon. Major greed, indeed.

“That Riho kid is going places!” Eug said, watching Riho smoothly worm her way into the kitchen. “Boundless curiosity and hustle—even if it’s all for money, I respect it.”

Then she sat up, getting down to business.

“I wanna start Vritra’s revival right away, but…you all look exhausted.”

“Uh, yeah…,” Marie said wearily. If the sole person who had visited Kunlun in the past was in this state…everyone else had probably shed a few pounds.

“I need to make preparations, so let’s do it tomorrow,” Eug suggested.

“That’ll work just fine!” Alka agreed. “You came all this way. Kick back and have fun!”

Selen’s expression immediately brightened.

“Sleepover! I get to be under the same roof as Lloyd! In the same bed!”

Being in her crush’s hometown had Selen at max enthusiasm. Despite the three-digit age difference, Alka’s love for Lloyd was just as strong, and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Please! You think I’d allow your shenanigans?!”

She was seated at the head of the circle and, for once, actually seemed like a village chief.

“S-sorry,” Selen mumbled, cowed.

“That pleasure is mine alone!”

Never mind. Chief’s chair or not, Alka was Alka.

Riho and the housekeeper emerged from the kitchen, bearing tea. “She up to this again?” the lady said. “I do apologize. She’s been like this since Lloyd was a child. Took the whole village watching her to make sure no crimes went down.”

Everyone turned and glared at the kid grandma. There’s an old expression that goes, “A leopard never changes its spots.” Fitting for a predator.

Their glares were fierce enough that even Alka grew uncomfortable.

“Ahem,” she coughed. “These guests will be staying here tonight. Can you get rooms ready for them?”

“Oh! We’ll have to get the futons out. Where did I put those?”

The housekeeper put her hand on her chin, thinking. Finally, she remembered.

“Oh, that’s right! When Merthophan arrived, I dragged them out of the back room.”

Merthophan.

That name got Choline up on one knee, looking grim.

“Oh, where’s Merthophan at?” Alka asked.

“Still in the fields. He’s a hard worker!”

“E-excuse me!” Choline said, jumping in. “Would it be possible for me to see him?”

She seemed flustered. Next to her, Chrome bowed his head as well.

“I’d appreciate it if you could point us in the right direction.”

Catching on, Alka smirked. “How sweet,” she said. “He should be working the fields ’round back today. Can’t see him from here, but he should be right over that hill.”

“Sorry, I’m just gonna go see!” Choline ran out of the room, yanking on her boots. Chrome bowed and followed after her.

“Merthophan wound up here?” Riho asked, handing out teacups.

“Sounds like Abaddon charmed him and put him up to all manner of things. He’s working the fields here to pay for his sins. Should be pretty well cleansed by now.”

Alka glanced at Marie.

Looking grim, Marie took a sip of tea…like she was swallowing the last traces of resentment.

“Yeah, I suppose so. In a weird way, he did lead me to meet you, Master…and Lloyd.”

“Huh?” Lloyd said, confused. “Why are you the one forgiving him, Marie? And this is Colonel Merthophan? The drunk?”

Marie just smiled, happy to have met him.

Just then, two village children came stomping into the house. They must have been playing outside because their hands and knees were covered in dirt.

“Hey! Don’t track mud into the house!”

The children ignored the fussy housekeeper, making a beeline for Alka.

“What’s the rush?” she said, smiling at them.

“Chief! Hurry!”

“A monster!”

Riho’s eyes flashed, and she dove in.

“Really? Where?”

“Over there!”

“Oh no!” Riho exclaimed. “We’ll go on ahead and slow it down!”

Riho sprinted off, the children leading the way.

“Oh, dear… No need to make such a fuss. Well, her heart’s in the right place, at least.”

It wasn’t.

She was just hoping to pick up the scraps left once the high-level monster got taken out.

Everyone watched her go.

“…She’s forgotten this is Kunlun,” Alka muttered with a sigh. “It won’t be an ordinary monster…”