Chapter 3 The Adventurer with a Blank Slate

“I hope that’s all it is,” I responded. It would be no laughing matter if I never got to stand again. “In that case, can I leave lunch to you, Machina? There should be some chopped meat and vegetables left over, so put a good mix of both in a pot and set it to simmer. We’ve got powdered demi-glace sauce, so throw that in and make a stew, please. Add a dash of ketchup and honey as the secret ingredients. Éa likes her food spicy, so drizzle some sriracha in her bowl only. Don’t even think of offering any to Lady Mythlanica. Make more than usual so we can have it for dinner, too. If it’s not enough, feel free to open up some freeze-dried bread, instant noodles, and any cans you need. You’re on the job.”

“Understood.” She gave me a thumbs-up and then retracted her arm. Éa left with her.

“Are you quite sure you aren’t a chef?” asked Lana.

“No, Princess. My grandfather just happened to teach me a few good things.”

“Please don’t call me that.” She slapped a cold compress on my face, then lifted up my head and let it rest on her lap. Bit by bit, she covered the feverish parts of my face with the compresses. Without much hesitation at all, she opened up my shirt, and I soon felt the cool sheets all over my abdomen and chest. A couple of round things that could very easily work up my lust pressed against my face, but I kept it together. I’m begging you, body, don’t go getting hot anywhere but my wounds.

After she finished treating my face, Lana put my glasses on for me. To tell you the truth, they looked terrible on me.

“Ow.” The frames hurt where they scraped along my ears.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Hey, devotee. Have you perchance forgotten about me?” asked Lady Mythlanica. I had indeed forgotten about her. I’d totally assumed she’d left the tent with Éa. “Laualliuna. It appears your charms have satisfied this simple man plenty, but they do not suffice for me. Princess of the Heuress Forest, I have a question for you.”

“I pray I may be able to answer it.”

“Why should a member of the elf royalty enlist herself as an adventurer?” I’d been curious to know the answer to Lady Mythlanica’s question, too.

Lana finished removing all the compresses and started wrapping bandages around me. Her hands moved deftly. “After we lost the war, my father offered me and my severely injured sister to King Remlia. It’s common practice to dispatch close but no longer useful relatives as ostensible hostages. Not only am I, as you can very well see, quite homely, but I also burned down my people’s forest with my own hands. Even though I did so to defeat our enemies, my father could not easily justify keeping such a pariah in the country. His subjects would not take that quietly.” As I’d feared, she did not have a happy tale to tell.

“King Remlia treated us very kindly. I fully expected to be locked away somewhere and had prepared myself to accept any fate, even if he decided to overlook my unseemly body and make an exhibition of me having intercourse with a pig. And yet, King Remlia granted us our freedom on the condition that we take up the mantle of adventurers. He did not hand down a single punishment befitting the people of a country defeated in war. Many, including his retainers, and especially the prince, objected to his plan, but none could defy the king’s authority.”

Lady Mythlanica climbed on top of my stomach. She started grooming herself, licking her tongue all over her body. My goddess, please pay attention.

“However, life as an adventurer proved much more difficult than I’d imagined. Since the job requires you earn people’s trust, people such as my sister and I cannot easily carve out a space for ourselves. Tricked by adventurers, scammed by merchants, and cheated by the owner of the inn where we’d stayed, we spent day after day huddled up on the side of the road. If I had been on my own, I may have very well hanged myself somewhere. No, my naïveté would have probably killed me long before it got to that point, my body stripped and deserted in some hidden corner of the city.”

“Hmm, it appears I asked a rather heavy question,” noted Lady Mythlanica. “Forgive me. But after seeing my devotee come so close to death, I was bound to hold at least some suspicion.”

“Of course. I promise I will never allow a repetition of what happened today. Next time, I will be sure to knock him unconscious before I resolve the matter.”

“That won’t work for me,” I protested. “Next time, I’ll be the one to do better.” I’d knocked on death’s door, but I didn’t regret it. If anything, I saw it as a good experience.

“Souya, you don’t seem to realize how angry I am at you. I told you to let me handle it, didn’t I? You even agreed and retreated, didn’t you?”

“I did, technically. But when I took a peek inside and saw you about to kiss that moronic prince’s feet, I couldn’t help myself.”

“If that’s all it took to appease him, there would have been no problem at—”

“Yes, there would’ve been, a very big problem. No self-respecting man could sit back and watch a piece of shit like him exploit a beautiful woman.” Plus, she sold herself far too short. It was a waste. I wished she’d hold her head much higher and stick her large chest out much more proudly.

“What……did you just say?”

“Huh? That no man could sit back and watch that happen.”

“After that.”

“To a beautiful woman.”

“!” Lana stole my poncho and hid her face behind it. Her ears stuck out, and they flushed bright red all the way down to the tips.

“You’re cute. Crazy cute,” I told her.

“S-stop! I hate being teased!”

“I don’t know how you shape up according to elven standards, but in my book, you’re adorable. Ex-treme-ly adorable. It hasn’t been too long since I got here, but I’ve seen quite a lot of women in that time. You’re definitely cuter than most.”

“Aaaiiieeeeeeeeeeh!!” Lana let out a strange scream, then scurried out of the tent. Suddenly bereft of its lap pillow, my head slammed down to the ground. Gimme back my poncho.

I wasn’t a big flirt or anything, but I could at least tell a woman with low self-confidence the truth. If she came to Japan, she’d have her pick of men.

“Hey.” Lady Mythlanica narrowed her eyes. “Heed my words: I’m far more adorable, okay?! You’d do well to remember!!” With that, she left. What in the—?

“Haah,” I sighed.

It was only midday, but I already felt dead tired. Which reminded me, was anyone going to feed me lunch? Just sleeping there felt like a pretty good option, too, but— Oh! One of my fingers moved. I let out an even deeper sigh. At least it looked like I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my life paralyzed. My neck lay in a terrible position, so I readjusted it on a pillow that just happened to roll my way.

Hmm?

“Squad Member Souya. Have you followed even a single piece of the advice I have given you?” It was Isolla Pot.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t.”

“I do not appreciate the Japanese sensibility to simply apologize in response to anything. It disgusts me. However, I will respect your decisions as my owner, atrocious as they may be.”

“Uh, right.” Something felt off with her. A message from Machina flashed across my glasses:

Update: I have finished adjusting Isolla’s settings. As she showed signs of severe stress-related breakdown, I unlocked three levels of her self-control restraints, increased her freedom of speech by one level, and unlocked two levels of prohibited phrases. In short, she will become slightly more willful and sharp-tongued, but there is no reason for concern. Over and out.

This was definitely gonna be a pain in my ass, especially now that I couldn’t move.

“Squad Member Souya, I have changed my perception of you.”

Drops of cold sweat trickled down my neck. She wasn’t going to try to modify me somehow, was she? Or maybe inject me with some weird drugs?

“But I have accepted that as inevitable. I had prepared to work with extremely qualified squad members, so it is only logical that I would prove of little use to a tiny cicada of a Japanese man knocking on death’s door. Ha-ha, you miso soup weakling.” I couldn’t follow her at all, but she was frightening. “Nevertheless, I do appreciate the passion with which you act if nothing else. In other words, I can overlook your failings as long as I decide to think of you as someone like Ed Wood.”

“Ed who?” She’d compared me to someone who didn’t even ring the tiniest bell.

“Ed Wood. Are you reeeally that ignorant? He’s the Worst Director of All Time. That is how I would evaluate you. You have enthusiasm, passion, and initiative; that, I will give you. However, you lack every other essential quality. In the end, you will die from alcoholism, completely destitute.”

“Isolla, I don’t drink. I don’t get the appeal of the taste, and I’ve only ever had a tiny bit in social settings.”

“Hiiissssss!”

“Yeah, right, sorry.” This is such a pain. I’ll just apologize and get through it. What am I supposed to do with this?

Isolla unleashed a long, drawn-out barrage of off-kilter verbal abuse after that. She had strangely expansive knowledge regarding overseas B movies or even lower-quality films, all of it completely useless information.

Movement returned to my upper body a little after noon. Some of the strange grogginess remained, but I managed to prepare dinner. The sun fell soon afterward, and I set out to practice my bow in the darkness once again.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to talk with Arvin and the others to see if they’ll have me in their party with nothing but this archery skill to offer. I have zero confidence they’ll say yes. Honestly, I can’t see anything but failure in my future.

My inner monologue took a depressing turn, so I stopped thinking altogether. I completely cleared my mind and fired fifty arrows, but they started slipping from my fingers from something slimy. The skin on my thumb had shaved off. I haphazardly wrapped a bandage around it and shot another forty more until my bowstring snapped, then turned in for the day.

[10TH DAY]

I had a dream.

I was in some forest.

I had become someone else.

I sensed a familiar, beloved person behind me. Who it was, I didn’t know, but the person I’d become in the dream loved and trusted this person with every fiber of their being. That much I could feel.

We came to a deep corner of the forest, a special place where we met in secret. Tree branches and leaves stretched together above us to form a canopy. Sunlight filtered softly through and shone all around us.

That’s when I was stabbed in the back.

The knife seemed to have pierced straight through my spine and nerves. I collapsed, unable to do anything but crawl like an insect. I couldn’t understand. Only one person could have stabbed me. We had ridden to certain death together. It had become the stuff of legends. They loved me, and so I had loved them back. We had a child. Together, we showered our little one with love. If they were unable to trust me after all of that, then they were no person but a wild beast.

Perhaps they had mutated into some new, awful form, I thought. And yet, the eyes I stared into looked back clear and lucid as day. No last words passed between us. With another flash of cold steel, our bond severed for all eternity.

It was a terrifying nightmare. I didn’t think I’d forget the face of the elf I’d glimpsed at the end for a long time to come. Cold sweat drenched my sheets. My back hurt slightly where I’d been stabbed. Scratch that—it hurt, intensely so.

“Isolla!”

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

I gave Isolla, near my pillow, an order. “My back…hurts. Scan it, please.”

“Understood.” Her small hand extended out and touched my back.

“Ouuuch!” A current of sharp pain coursed through my body.

“No abnormalities discovered upon tactile or visual inspection. Now administering a nano-scan machine.” A needle sank into my neck. I struggled desperately to control my ragged breath and instinctively curled up into a fetal position.

“Mr. Souya, what is the matter?” Machina lifted the flap to the tent, looking very worried.

“Machina, please bring me a D-type medical kit.”

“Understood, Isolla.” With a clank, she rolled out of the tent and returned almost immediately afterward, kit in hand. Isolla dexterously opened it and withdrew an ampoule.

“Scan completed. No abnormalities detected in your back. Your vitals are unstable, and your condition is unclear. Squad Member Souya, do I have your permission to inject you with a strong sedative?”

“Isolla, I reject your proposal. Redo the scan. This time, perform a detailed inspection of every area but his back.”

“Understood, Machina. Commencing scan…… Abnormal neural impulses detected. A metallic substance has permeated through a portion of his right arm and is assimilating with nerves in the area. Having determined the cause of the issue, I will proceed to remove it.”

Isolla grabbed my right arm, exactly where Lana had put the elven gauntlet on me the day before. That’s right—I had this on in my dream, too.

“I cannot remove the gauntlet due to insufficient power. Machina, if you would.”

“Understood.” Machina’s mechanical arms grabbed hold of mine from both sides. Metal screeched and something ripped. “Mr. Souya, I am terribly sorry. Part of my arm has broken.”

“Let’s cut it off.”

“Understood, Isolla.”

“Hey!” A circular saw protruded from Machina’s torso, spinning dangerously fast.

“Isolla, administer an anesthetic to be safe.”

“I cannot put him under, but I can inject a strong sleeping pill and pain reliever.”

“Understood. Let’s proceed accordingly.”

“Wait, you two!”

“What’s all this ruckus first thing in the morning?” Lady Mythlanica had awoken. She extended her front paws, arched her back, and opened her mouth in a gaping yawn. “So what is all this?”

“Good morning, Lady Mythlanica. Mr. Souya is acting strangely. We have determined this to be the cause and are just about to chop it off,” explained Machina. “It should take only a moment.”

“Yaaawn, I’ll take care of it. Machina, bring me a cup of water. Isolla, blindfold Souya.”

“Understood.” Machina and Isolla got to work following Lady Mythlanica’s orders. Who do you two work for again?

Isolla tied a blindfold around my head. Through the fabric, I saw Lady Mythlanica shoot up in size. I couldn’t see her face clearly, but I did make out the contours of her slender yet curvy body.

“Your water,” announced Machina.

“Mm.” Lady Mythlanica hugged my face.

“Eek!” Machina shrieked. Water drizzled down my cheeks. Then—something soft touched my lips. My goddess forced her tongue in my mouth, parted my teeth, and pressed down my tongue. Lukewarm liquid flooded my mouth. Slowly, I swallowed every drop.

“Pfah…… All right. Well, that should about do it.” Lady Mythlanica gulped for air. I was too confused to comprehend what had just happened. It had been a bunch of firsts for me. It had felt so soft, like peeled shrimp. Her tongue—her tongue had—had—had— “Souya, do you still feel pain?” she asked.

“Ah.” The shock had made me forget all about the pain. Actually, it had disappeared. I could now also move freely and immediately took off the blindfold. Already in her feline form, Lady Mythlanica flashed a Cheshire cat smirk at me.

Dammiiit!

“You were being dragged into death. I gave you some consecrated water, which should nullify those symptoms. As you suspected, the gauntlet caused this.” She stepped her paw on top of it. “It’s almost certainly cursed. I can sense overwhelming passion and obsession within it. Remove it at once.”

“But it’s one of the elves’ prized heirlooms, you know?”

“Precisely. Do you now see how that must mean the curse only activates when someone other than an elf equips it?”

“Gotcha.” That made sense. “Machina, stop pointing that saw at me.”

“I wish I could have been of more help.” Crestfallen, she put the dangerous industrial tool away, then left.

“I tried to take it off, but it seems physically impossible. Lady Mythlanica, could you help me with it?”

“Impossible. I have no such power.” She rejected me bluntly.

“In any case, it can’t hurt me anymore, right?”

“For the moment, no. However, curses are made of strong human emotions that do not simply disappear. There is no telling what might cause its effects to resurface. I do not see any good coming from holding on to it. If you go to a master spiritualist in town, they should be able to lift the curse for you. Probably.”

“Got it. May I ask one more thing, Lady Mythlanica?”

“What might that be?”

“Please don’t tell the sisters about this.” Especially not Lana.

“Why not, pray tell?”

“As a matter of personal preference. Please.” Lana would head into the dungeon early in the morning. After all that happened the day before, we now had this to deal with. I didn’t want to put that burden on her.

“Hmph. I best her in both chest size and height, you know.”

“That’s not the kind of preference I meant.” She’d thought I was talking about my taste in body types.

“Very well. I am a tolerant goddess, and my disciples’ wishes do not go unheard. Can I ask one thing in return?”

“Of course, anything you like.”

“If those sisters lead you to your death, I will curse them. You would not object, would you?”

“I will bear that in mind.”

Satisfied, Lady Mythlanica curled up into a ball and fell back asleep. I picked out a change of clothes and a towel and left the tent. A dim darkness still lay over the land. I bathed in the river and washed the sweat off my body. The percentage of women around me had greatly increased, so I took great care getting ready. I knew I fought a futile battle, but it beat doing nothing.

I took a long, hard look at the gauntlet. An ornate foliage design adorned its thin metal veneer, truly stunning workmanship. I couldn’t believe a curse lay within, but dwelling on it wouldn’t change anything. I decided to make breakfast and portable lunches.

I put some whole-wheat flour, as cheap in this world as in my own, into a bowl. Made from unrefined wheat grain, whole-wheat flour was packed with nutrients and had high fiber and iron contents. As an added bonus, a sack of it about as big as an adult’s torso cost only three copper pieces. I’d seen a beastman selling something made of fried whole wheat on a street cart and thought I’d try my hand at replicating that. Into the bowl I added water and oil, and I mixed it all up well with a spatula until it no longer looked floury, then started kneading the dough by hand.

“Is this chapati? Shall I help you?”

“Sure, then can you knead this until it’s nice and smooth? After that, let it rest for a bit, then roll it into golf ball–sized clumps.”

“Okaaay. You go mush, mush, muuuush, and it gets yum, yum, yuuum… ♪”

Leaving that to Machina, I turned to the filling. I heated up some butter in a frying pan, added a little garlic, and fried it until just before the garlic started to brown. After it grew fragrant, I tore up some of the herbs of this world (similar to basil in taste) and added them in to make wild herb garlic butter.

Next, I made scrambled eggs with tomato and cheese, some sweet and spicy stir-fried pork, some sautéed bacon with curry powder, and then shredded up some cabbage.

“Mr. Souya, the dough looks gooood to gooo.”

“Great, time to roll it out.” We each got a rolling pin and flattened the balls. Since I’d never made these before, I didn’t have a feel for portions and wound up making too much.

“And now we fry them?”

“Exactly.”

I lay the dough on another unoiled frying pan above a perfectly medium-heat wood fire. Then I grabbed a pot smaller than the pan and held it up to the flame as well. Once it warmed through, I placed the bottom of the pot on top of the dough and transferred that heat. The dough inflated like a bubble. My first one I grilled too long and burned. The second I didn’t grill long enough, and it inflated unevenly.

“Machina, you wouldn’t happen to know how much heat to use here, would you?”

“But of course.” I followed her instructions. By the third one, I’d kind of gotten the hang of it, and we kept at it together. In the end, we made thirty pieces of chapati. I spread garlic butter over them, sprinkled the shredded cabbage on top, added the fillings, and wrapped them up like a crepe.

And so, we had made our very own chapati rolls. Apparently, some Indians ate this more often than naan. I tried one of the bacon rolls out. It was harder than the one I’d gotten from the street stall. Next time, I’d have to add more water and mix in some white flour.

Still, though, this is pretty damn good. The whole-wheat flour’s unique taste and aroma mix perfectly with the crunchiness of the cabbage and the saltiness of the curry-powder bacon. It was a stroke of genius to douse it all with the garlic herb butter. I’ll have to try it out on other dishes, too. I’m a little worried about how it’ll taste once it’s cooled, though.

“You’re up early.” Lana had woken and joined me. She’d suited up with her staff, her ryvius vials, a bag worn across her chest, a small pouch, and other adventurer gear.

“Morning. This weird dream woke me up a little early. Are you on your way out?”

“Yes, it’s always best to arrive ahead of time.” Good point.

A sleepy Éa also came out of their tent. I wrapped six of the chapati rolls in dried leaves they used to preserve food here and shook some powdered juice into a bottle with water.

“Lana, here. Take this for breakfast and your lunch box.”

“A ‘lunch box’?”

“Portable lunch you can take into the dungeon,” I explained.

“I see. Hmm? Did you make this?”

“It may not taste all that great, but it should be pretty nutritious and filling. I’ll do better next time around, so please make do with these for now.” Before she could refuse out of courtesy, I stuffed them into her bag along with a bottle of water.

“Thank you very much.”

“Want me to walk you there?”

“No, we can’t have another recurrence of what happened yesterday. Please give your body the rest it needs.” You know, it’s exactly because of what happened yesterday that I want to go with you. “If you’ll excuse me.” Lana bowed respectfully, then walked off.

“Have a safe triiip!” Éa called out after her, waving good-bye.

“You’re good not going with her?” I asked.

“If I could’ve, I would’ve. But the request singled her out individually, and it came from another elf, so I can at least trust it more than one from some random heim.” We watched until Lana was just a speck in the distance.

“Hmm?” I saw Éa had squatted on the ground. “Hey.”

“Sorry, carry me to the tent.”

I picked her up, and she wrapped her weak arms around my neck. She felt burning hot. I carried her into their tent, laid her down, and put a blanket over her.

“I wouldn’t be able to resist if you made a move on me now, you know?”

“Do you even hear yourself?” As if I’d do something so awful.

“You don’t find me pretty? I thought for sure I had a good body.”

Though her face looked paler than usual, her fair skin and long, slender arms and legs still held a captivating allure. A little late in the game to point it out, but Éa was drop-dead gorgeous. But I didn’t have the kind of twisted fetishes that would leave me drooling over a young girl in her weakest moments.

“Of course you’re beautiful. Come talk to me once you’re feeling better.”

“Ha-ha, no waaay. I can’t stand heims, you know,” she said jokingly, but tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “A heim almost murdered me, and now here I am relying on another for help. This sucks.”

“It sucks for me, too. Sure, I wanted an archery teacher, but no one told me she’d be an elf with a terrible personality.”

“Shut up.” She slapped my arm. It didn’t hurt at all. “Do you have a crush on my sister?”

“Huuuh?! I-it’s not like that! I think she’s lovely, but yeah. I mean, it’s like—” My voice betrayed me.

This is just, you know, like something dumb middle school boys get in their heads when a girl in their class acts a teensy bit nice to them and they get all worked up over nothing…… And now I’m reliving my past. Somebody kill me.

“Ew, grossss. But it’s fine. Don’t break your brain over it, dummy.” The dummy came out kind of gently. Her verbal abuse was cute in the grand scheme of things. My little sister had once called me a caterpillar with human arms and legs.

“Think you can eat breakfast?” I offered.

“I’m going to sleep for a bit.”

“Call me if you get hungry.”

“Mm-hmm.” I went to leave the tent when a feeble hand caught me. “Stay for a bit.”

“Sure, okay.” I gave in to her request. I could never have turned her down when she was so limp. Sitting at her side, I readjusted the blanket that had come undone. After some hesitation, I started wiping the sweat from her brow with a towel.

“This feels weird,” she mumbled, then closed her eyes and began taking small, quiet breaths. I watched her face, never growing tired of it. It felt as if I were admiring a work of art. Seeing her in her dying moments broke my heart. I couldn’t help but entertain foolish plans of throwing away everything I had in order to save her. But that’s really not my role here.

Close to two hours I sat there, wallowing in my inability to rescue even one girl. Suddenly, something stabbed me in the back. My knees felt about to buckle, but I gritted my teeth and bore it. No, this was an illusion, just like the pain I’d felt earlier that morning.

“Good sir, I have a favor to ask of you,” my own shadow said, in what felt like the setup to a joke.

“Sorry, but who might you be?”

“A nameless spirit. Do not concern yourself with such details.” Now darker than before, the shadow broke free from my silhouette and reshaped itself into the outline of a person. My blood ran cold, and an inexplicable sense of danger washed over me. “Peril draws near one of my line. I would like to request your aid in assisting her.”

With that one sentence, the blood that had cooled instantly boiled. I didn’t need to ask who faced that impending threat. “That ship has already sailed. I’ll help her in any way I can. What should I do? And since you’re asking me, it’s safe to assume it’s something I can do, right?” I glared at the unknown person in the shadow. I felt no fear of them, precisely because they were so cloaked in mystery.

“I, a hero of a hidden name, accept your sacrifice in exchange for my power.”

“Wait, what did I—?”

“O ye weakling, ye strong soul, adventurer from a foreign land, our covenant is now complete.”

Crap. I’ve gone and gotten myself into another contract without properly combing through all the terms and conditions.

The voice crept up right beside me. The shadow stood up, bottomless dark directly beneath the light.

I feel like I’ve seen something like this in a movie before. This is probably the scene right before the main character gets possessed and murdered—

A slight nausea hit me. I took a deep breath and smelled lightly fragrant grass, the wind, the dampness of the morning dew. The pain in my back had disappeared. My unfailingly weak body moved at 120 percent capacity.

“Isolla!” I called, but Machina came instead.

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“Where’s Isolla? I’m off to the dungeon.”

“Isolla is in the dungeon.”

“Huh?” Nothing had prepared me for that response.

“She disguised herself as Ms. Lana’s lantern and accompanied her on the expedition.”

“What the hell does she think she’s doing? Actually, this is perfect. Think you can get a message through?”

“I will attempt it. A short one may be possible.” Static like from an old-fashioned TV appeared on Machina’s screen.

“Isolla, can you hear me?” No answer. Instead, a grainy video feed came through. It showed the inside of the dungeon from the perspective of a person’s hip, likely Isolla’s point of view as she hung from Lana’s waist. I didn’t know exactly how many people they were with, but I saw one beastman and an elf. The party stopped moving to discuss something, but I couldn’t make anything out of the garbled audio. However, the menacing atmosphere came in loud and clear. They met up with another party—which included the prince from the day before. He had a shit-eating grin on his face. They talked, but I couldn’t hear anything. Lana took a step back. Her other party members watched on without a shred of empathy. She started to run. The prince and his group followed. The feed cut out.

“Do you know what floor they’re on?”

“Isolla sent me their data. They’re on the tenth floor. She also included a map.”

“Got it.” I didn’t know if I’d be able to descend five levels in one go, but I’d do what I could. Even if it were pointless, I had to try.

Rushing to put on all my gear, I threw on a stab-resistant shirt and my bulletproof vest over that. I slipped my woodsman’s hatchet into the sheathe on my belt, put an extra knife in my boot, and secured my karambit on my arm. Then I slung on my trusty backpack and covered it all with my poncho, before hanging the coral necklace Ghett had given me and my ryvius from my neck. Lastly, my glasses. And my bow—

“Shit.” My bowstring had snapped. I’d have to get it fixed—no. An image of where I could find a replacement popped into my head. Now I just needed the right kind of arrows, and I had no doubt I could’ve taken down even a giant spider.

“Hellooo.” Ghett came walking up from the river. He looked different than usual. Hanging from his back was a quiver-like bag packed full of harpoons different from the one he normally used. They jangled as he moved. In one of his hands, he held a net wrapped around a huge chunk of meat. “Feast your eyes on this. I found a giant fish yesterday, you see. A whole school of us from the village went out to hunt it. I wanted to give you a try as soon as I could…… What’s wrong?”

He realized that I didn’t seem myself, but his sudden appearance was nothing short of a miracle. In fact, could running into him have been the luckiest thing that ever happened to me?

“Ghett, I would love to try that and make it into something delicious. But first, I have two or three favors to ask you.”

“Sure, anything you need.”

“Those harpoons on your back—sell them to me, please.”

“These aren’t worth any money. You can have ’em. Only thing is, there’s still some sedative poison meant for giant fish on their tips. Be careful with those. They’ll put a heim out for half a day.”

“That is incredibly helpful.” I took them from him and slung the bag on my back, which had a hefty weight to it. I pulled one of the harpoons out. It looked more like a spear than a harpoon. The sharp, twisted tip was made of some white, crystallized, nonmetallic material. The handle had been carved from bone. A tap confirmed that it was hollow.

“Please carry me into town. How long would it take?”

“Through the canals? About three hundred seconds, if I really go for it.” What a champ; this would save so much time and stamina.

“Machina, all of my devices are waterproof, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, please! Take me right away!”

“R-right.” Ghett looked a bit put off by how quickly I approached him.

“Machina, I’ll be back! Watch over Éa for me!”

“Of course, I’ll take good care of her. Good luck!”

“Let’s go. Hold your breath. This could be a bit rough for a heim, but bear with me.”

I took a deep breath. Ghett picked me up and jumped into the river.

He was unbelievably fast.

I half thought the water resistance would tear my body to shreds. Even with the one quick breath break we took, we made it to town in a flash.

“You arrived in three hundred and thirty seconds. That’s incredible. He’s faster than the most advanced submarines in existence,” Machina announced. Looked like the waterproofing on my glasses had held up.

“I know I was carrying someone, but these old bones don’t go as fast as they used to.”

“Ugh, cough-cough.” I’d swallowed some water, so I crawled out of the town’s river and lay on my side. “N-no, any faster than that and I think I would’ve died.”

“Maybe. I’ll wait for you back at camp. Fill me in later.”

“You got it.”

He disappeared into the river. I tried to stand up but felt so dizzy that my vision blurred. Slowly, I rose to my feet, careful not to lose my balance. That’s when—

“Hey, Otherworlder. Rather odd company you keep.”

—Lord Baafre called out and stared at me curiously. Even with his canine face, he was very expressive. “Have you come to buy me another drink? I still have troves of tales extolling my heroic deeds to tell. Of course, it all depends on how much you’re willing to spend.”

“No, that’s not why I’m here today.”

“Oh, meow! What’s wrooong? You’re soooaking wet!” Tutu recoiled at the wet-rat look I had going on.

“He just cropped up out of the river with a merman,” explained Lord Baafre.

“Hang on just a sec meow!” Ignoring Lord Baafre, who was pointing in the direction of the river, Tutu ran into the shanty. She came back with a shabby towel and wiped me off with it. What a nice girl.

“Tutu, I need a favor.” As she toweled my head dry, I reached into my purse and pulled out a random assortment of coins.

“Meeooooow!” Coincidentally, they were all gold pieces. Tutu trembled at their brilliance. I’d put down five whole coins, but it’d be too lame to take any back. “Wh-what did you want to buy? What kind of scenario did you want to play out? I’m scared!!”

“No, I just want to borrow this.” I fished through the sack, still on the ground where it always lay, and pulled out an aged bow.

“Whoa, there, Otherworlder. You’ve got good taste, I’ll tell you that.”

The fortified bow matched my height in length and curved gently. Leather strips wrapped around the thick, flexible frame, and strength emanated from its every fiber. A deep, darkly gleaming, sinister hatred of those who refused to die possessed the bow. The bowstring tied around it appeared to be crafted from roped fur. I unwound it, used my entire body weight to bend the bow, and attached the string to each end.

“You need cursed energy to draw a lycan bow. No ordinary human can—”

I tried it out, and the bow moaned as it bent. Its violent, immense tension suited its lycan heritage well. But there was more. This weapon bore a curse; it loathed the world to its core. Perhaps for that reason, it strayed slightly from the rules of this world. Forget about giant spiders; with this in hand, I could almost certainly take down a dragon if I wanted.

“A fine bow indeed. I’ll be borrowing this, Master Baafre. Don’t go too hard on the ale.”

“Who…are you?”

I waved good-bye to my old friend and headed toward the dungeon. Nostalgic homesickness hit me at the sight of how much the town had changed. Then, I ran. Though a far cry from the pace I kept at my best, nothing felt quite like running with the wind in your face. The fires burning within my muscles were the flames of life, a fact just as true for even the weakest of hearts.

And then, I once more stood before the dungeon, the fated depths that I had descended in the distant past to chase after Rhora, only to eventually let the Dragon Eater slip away. It stood forever unaltered, no matter how the sands of time might flow. Mere humans could never hope to change this place.

I entered through the opening and headed straight for the portals. A party just back from their expedition passed by me and—

“Hey, handsome.” I swept the legs out beneath the elf who seemed to be leading the pack. Quicker than anything, I nocked one of the harpoons on my bow and aimed its point directly into his face. Caught completely off guard, the rest of the party moved not a muscle.

Weak. Is this what passes for an adventurer these days?

“You lack one member. Explain yourselves.”

“Wh-who the hell are you?! Somebody! Help me!” the elf screamed barbarically. What a failure of a man to begin shrieking like a woman as soon as someone brought him down.

“Souya? What are you—? Whose bow is that? Wha……? Guildmasterrrrr!! Please, come right away!” Evetta walked by, turned pale at the sight of me, and called for the Guildmaster.

“You agaaaain?! What is it this time? Wait, who is that?” His sleepy countenance also suddenly changed into one of alarm.

“This crazed heim pulled an arrow on me out of nowhere! Do something about him, quick!” protested the elf.

“This is not about you. It’s about the woman on this Otherworlder’s team.” He completely ignored the elf. I had no time to explain, so I started interrogating my catch.

“You were meant to have Laualliuna Raua Heuress in your party today. Tell us what you did to her, now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’ve never had someone like that in my party!”

“Hang on; I’ll look into it.” The Guildmaster suddenly produced a staff made of human bones that stood as tall as him. “Winds—twirl round, spiral, fly, and gather the dungeon expedition request forms for today.” His staff struck the ground, and immediately papers fluttered all around him. “Mertar of the Heuress Forest, correct? Hmm, there is indeed no such record here.”

“Right?! So please, hurry up and get this guy off me! This heim’s gone mad!”

“No, I mean to say we do not have any record of your entire party’s expedition,” he explained. “What is the meaning of this? What were you doing?”

“I saw them coming out of the portal. Shall I contact their counselor?” Evetta asked.

“Wha—? No, uh…” The elf shut his mouth under the Guildmaster and Evetta’s added pressure.

“Want me to explain it to them?” I offered. “You—”

“Poe will tell you.” One of the beastmen in the elf’s party spoke up. Some sort of canine, he had a childish face and pointy ears. Though he wore light armor over his lean body, he carried an enormous shield. “Mertar got money from prince and sold elf princess. Counselor knows. Prince’s beastmaid stole record paper.”

“Poe!” exclaimed the elf. “You little—! Do you know what this will do to us?!”

“Shut up. Don’t care. I can’t trust someone who sells their own kind. Poe might be next. I never party up with you again. Good-bye,” he announced, then left.

“Sorry, we’re going to go, too. Don’t ever speak to us again, former leader, okay? You’re absolute scum.” The other members followed suit. I toyed with the idea of sending arrows through their backs but let them go for the moment. My arm had grown tired, so I released the harpoon. It drove straight into the ground with a sharp, heavy thwack.

“Ah! Ahh!” Perhaps thanks to the harpoon that scratched his cheek, the elf soiled himself.

“Guildmaster, arrest this man at once. I’m going in to save Lana.”

“You know where to find her?” he asked.

“Only that she’s on the tenth floor.”

“What’s the deepest level you’ve reached?”

“The fifth.”

He rammed the elf with the butt of his staff. Is that magic? I thought for a second, but he’d simply knocked the elf out with brute force.

“Evetta, go call Pops. Quickly.”

“Yes, sir. Souya, please don’t do anything rash while I’m away. Promise me.” She raced off as fast as a wild beast on four legs.

“Come on, idiot,” ordered the Guildmaster. “I’ll help you, but just this once. Moron.”

I pulled the harpoon out of the floor and followed after him. He stopped before the portals.

“This will only happen this one time as a very special exception. I personally feel for the princess, so I will assist you for her sake. I’m not doing this for you. Don’t get the wrong idea, got it?” As if.

“Just hurry up.”

“I’m going to open an emergency portal that’ll get you down to the tenth floor in one go. I have a few pieces of advice for you. Will you hear them?”

“Make it short.” I hadn’t expected to have access to the tenth floor so quickly. It was a happy accident, but even that might not me get there in time.

“If you realize you cannot save the princess, run. Forget her. The king may be kind, but he is that prince’s father. Also, the Guild will leave no record of our assistance, so do as you please. Adventurers are nothing if not free.”

“I’ll kill that prince if I catch him with his pants down. Does your advice still stand?”

“Never mind the prince. He employs formidable guards. Do not throw your life away.” The Guildmaster lifted his staff and tapped the portal, which turned red.

“And one last thing.” He leaned in to pose a question. “I am Saorse the Small-Winged, a diminutive miracle born from the ends of St. Deimast’s madness. O fierce, wandering, wavering soul, would that I might record thy name in my mind.”

“I am Lümidia of the Hidden Name, the terrible fool who shot and killed the Giant Spider, then let the Dragon Eater escape. You have my thanks for your assistance, young man,” the great hero inside of me answered without my permission.

You are never to do that again. My body, my will, and my life are my own. Who I kill and who I save are crimes for me to commit. So lend me nothing but your archery prowess. I don’t need anything more, and I won’t ask for anything else.

Very well. Her will resounded in my heart, and she disappeared.

I ducked into the portal. A torrent of light enveloped me for a moment, and then I stood in darkness. The dungeon’s structure was no different from that of the fifth floor, and a dim darkness covered the stone walls from which it was built.

“Isolla, answer me.”

After a bit of static, Isolla’s voice came through. “Squad Member Souya, exactly how did you manage to come all this way?”

“I’ll explain later. Tell me Lana’s current location.”

“Sending you the map data.” A map of the floor marked with a red dot appeared on my glasses’ screen. “I must apologize. I attempted to help while Ms. Lana fled but scared her, and she threw me away.”

“Got it. Find me.”

“Understood. I’ll rendezvous with you at the target destination.” Another red dot tracking Isolla’s location showed up on the screen, along with a GPS path directing me down the shortest route to my goal. Following the provided course, I moved ahead.

Keeping my body low to the ground, I sprinted through the dungeon as quietly and quickly as I could while not alerting anyone to my presence. The lycan bow had power, but it could not cure me of my weakness, so I couldn’t afford to waste energy fighting monsters right now. I turned a couple of corners and passed by walking human bones and lumps of meat arranged into blasphemous designs. The floor was bigger and longer than I’d imagined. The agitation urging me to hurry, hurry! piled up and sent cold sweat flowing down my cheeks. At the same moment, my stamina and nerves wore out. I thought about checking my ryvius but figured there’d be no point in seeing a fingertip’s worth of anything.

After what felt like an hour, though it actually didn’t even take five minutes, I finally approached the rendezvous point. But then—

“Ah.”

“Meow.”

—I ran into a dark-brown feline beastmaid.

“The area up ahead is occupied. Run along, meow. Huh? Didn’t I see you at the bar with—?”

Jingle, jangle, jiiingle ♪, rang several gold pieces as they tumbled to the floor behind the beastmaid.

“Mrah?!”

She turned around, only to find Isolla disguised as a lantern. It gave me the perfect shot. I took out a harpoon, swung it hard at the beastmaid, and clubbed her over the head.

“Eep!” she squeaked. I wasn’t going to hold back against more advanced adventurers.

“Bravo,” I told Isolla.

“Pleasure to be of assistance.” I crouched down and gave Isolla’s tiny hand a high five.

Removing all the weapons the beastmaid carried, I gagged her and tied her hands behind her. Then I bound her legs together, too, and pulled them back to connect with her hands to complete the hog-tie. That would probably keep her out of battle.

“Isolla, don’t get too close, but don’t stray too far, just in case.”

“Understood. On another note, the knight in the prince’s envoy defeated all the monsters in this area on her own, so you need not worry about them.”

“Got it.” So I’m gonna have to go up against that knight, plus two other advanced adventurers?

“Squad Member Souya, I have a battle plan.”

“Of course you do, partner.” Well, I’ve also got help. No problem. In any case, we’ll either get them, or they’ll get us.

I nocked a harpoon and drew back the bowstring. Taking deep, quiet breaths, I shuffled forward. Don’t you dare rush this. You only get one chance at a surprise attack.

I stole through the darkness like a worm. Eventually, a bright light came into view, emanating from two lanterns lying on the ground. There, before a dead end in the path, stood the lady knight, flawlessly vigilant. She peered through the darkness like a guard on the lookout. Her helmet made it impossible to track her gaze. Though I’d completely blended into the dark, I thought she met my eyes at one point, and my heart raced like crazy. The mage leaning against the wall appeared to be some sort of aristocratic woman who was clearly bored. She held her own staff along with another whose owner I knew very well.

Then I saw Lana. The prince had thrown himself on her and was holding her down to the ground. My emotions threatened to burst in a fiery explosion but immediately did a one-eighty and turned ice cold. If Lana’s clothes had been in even more disarray, and if the prince had already whipped out his royal member, I would have almost definitely shot an arrow right through his head without a second thought.

“Oh, come now. No girl has ever put up this much of a fight before. The king is blessing you, a vile wench, with his favor, you know? I can’t imagine what reason you have for resisting so.”

“U-unhand me! Is this how the son of the king behaves?!”

“Adventurers are nothing if not free. The son you’re speaking to can at the very least take his pick of women to bed. Not to mention, you’re a wretch who burned her own people to death. How much lower could you sink? Just surrender already.” The prince insolently grabbed Lana’s thigh, but she flailed her legs and shook his hand off. Maybe she had more strength than I realized, because she struggled with all her might and seemed to keep him from carrying out his deed.

“Rgh! Lanceil, help me.”

“I must refuse, Lord Prince. We are in the dungeon. No one knows what lurks in the darkness. I cannot imagine why you would insist on this location.”

“What other choice did I have? Uncle Medîm’s been harassing me, so I haven’t even been able to frequent the brothels lately. You saw what happened yesterday. And before that, he dared punch me in the face merely for teasing some beastbrat. Simply unacceptable insolence, don’t you agree?”

“……”

I trained my arrow on the silent knight. Do I go for it? Or should I aim for the prince first? As my arrow wavered with my resolve, the disinterested mage spoke up.

“Now, now, dear Prince. If you like, I can work my exquisite magic for you and turn this bumbling princess into a wild harlot. Tee-hee, she’ll beg for you like a dog in heat. Only her brain might get just a teensy bit mushy and vacant, but you don’t mind, do you?” She placed the butt of her staff close to Lana’s head. “This must be so hard for you, Your Highness. First falling into an unfamiliar world, then having one of the heims you elves call garbage ridicule you. But do not fear; that all ends today. I’ll help you forget it all. Everyone and everything will become no more than a dream. Your soul will sink into a lustful illusion, and you’ll become a pathetic dog who shakes her ass at every man she sees.”

“Stop this.” Lana grimaced in pain.

“Ha-ha! A dog, huh? Perfect. I’d been thinking about getting another one anyway. Maybe I’ll have them lick each other up first.”

“Lord Prince?!” the knight turned around and exclaimed in reproach. Just then—

—I released a shot in the dark. The harpoon pierced the mage through the side of her torso and pinned her to the wall, and she lost consciousness without fully grasping what had happened. A beat later, both staves dropped to the floor.

I held my bow vertically, nocked another harpoon on the right, and pulled the bowstring back to maximum tension. In that moment, I was confident that I could land that arrow wherever I pleased.

“Lord Prince! Get down!”

I let the arrow fly from my fingers; the bowstring cracked like a whip and hit the sound barrier. The knight responded in a flash. She took the arrow barreling at her like a cannon directly on her shield. It contorted, and my arrow bounced off and broke. The impact sent the knight flying back a few paces. The spirit in me and I exulted in the shot from the bottom of our heart and readied the next arrow.

The knight hesitated, unsure whether to go forward or defend. But no such uncertainty overcame me. I drew back the bowstring and released the restraint on the arrow. A cacophony of metal rang through the dungeon, but the knight did not take a step back like after my first assault. Instead, she slanted her shield and diverted the arrow’s force; she’d already learned to work around them. This woman’s the real deal. She’s better than an exceptional swordswoman; she could be a burgeoning hero.

“Why don’t you show yourself?! You coward!” she shouted, unaware of the irony behind her request, but I used it to my advantage anyway.

“I’d much sooner call the band of trash ganging up on a single woman cowards, wouldn’t you?”

“You—you’re the man from the bar who—”

“Souya!”

Both the knight and Lana cried out in surprise as they saw me in the light.

“It can’t be. The petty weakling that I pummeled back then would never manage such a feat.”

I ignored the prince.

“But if you insist on calling me the coward, I have no problem crushing you to your face. I’ve got four more of these arrows—these harpoons made for hunting great fish—on me. Make it through all of those and you win, my lady knight. I’ll slink off into the dark once again. But if you fail, I’ll pulverize your precious prince’s balls. He gets off to dogs, right? Probably best to castrate him.”

“You bastard, you’ll—!”

“I accept your challenge,” agreed the knight, cutting her prince off.

“Good. Let’s begin,” I announced, then immediately began firing arrows in quick succession. None had much force to them. The knight effortlessly blocked every shot and closed in on me. Composing myself, I drew, aimed, and released. She ducked and dodged. The unsuccessful arrow lodged itself in the wall right next to the mage. Evidently, the knight had predicted my target from my line of sight.

I see. Still glaring at her, I shot an arrow into the ground. It bounced off the floor and rammed straight into her shield. She couldn’t deflect its force from this angle. In a second that moved in slow motion, the arrow smashed through the shield and grazed against her helmet. Her skirt fluttered, and I saw something silver flicker beneath.

Undaunted, the knight tossed her shield aside but refused to stop and closed the gap between us in the blink of an eye. Only six meters of separation remained. You would never know she wore a full suit of armor by the savage speed with which she ran. In a race, she and Evetta would be closely matched. One more breath and I’d be in the range of her sword.

Unwavering, I aimed. If she dodged this, it would hit her prince dead-on. This match would last a fraction of a second. The knight unsheathed her sword. At that exact same instant, I unleashed my arrow. In a superhuman feat, she cleaved it down the middle and both halves fell harmlessly behind her. She then assumed a stance much like Shuna’s, though different in thrust and without the same twist. The knight crouched down low, swung her blade at my neck and—stopped a hairbreadth away.

“You’ve lost. You have incredible skill with that bow. I have never witnessed a marksman with the power to destroy the shield the king bestowed upon me. Truly incredible.”

“Kill him! Lanceil! He drew his bow on the king, you know?!”

“Retreat. Advocating for an elf doesn’t make you a good person,” she said, ignoring the prince once again.

I’ll bet she’s not a bad person, though she does seem pretty stubborn.

“Thanks. But we’re not done yet.” I walked straight through her body and shot at the prince. It pierced his shoulder and pinned him to the wall.

“Eeeyyeaaaaaaaaah!” A gnarly scream.

“Wha—?!”

I shot another at the knight, whose focus had now completely shifted. It didn’t cleave all the way through but did deal great damage to her chest armor.

“You can stop now.”

Isolla’s hologram of me disappeared. Then I stepped out of the shadows for the first time. For the record, I’d also lied about the number of arrows I had. I fired another one at the knight’s legs. Again, it found no purchase but crushed her armor. The damage from the blow got through to her. Next her shoulder, her knee, and her elbow, but I still couldn’t seem to make her bleed. She was a much more advanced adventurer than me, so I couldn’t afford to let my guard down for a second. I shot at her, prepared to use all the arrows on me, continuing even after she had stopped showing any sign of resistance.

Though I reached back to grab another arrow from my quiver, I found only air. Kicking up one of the arrows lying on the ground, I drew the bowstring back, way back, then released it. It pummeled into the knight’s head. Her helmet shattered and her head hit the floor. Long silver hair spilled out, and I saw her flattened beast ears. Then, finally, she bled. Good, now I can definitely kill her.

“I beg you.”

“Wow, I gotta hand it to you. You’re still conscious?” I’d have died thirty times over by this point.

“Do as you please with my body, but the prince—”

“Screw that.” I gave her a kick in the head. She would say no more. And I wasn’t about to lick my lips that easily or relax until the very end.

Strong warriors make me nervous even if you’re left with nothing but a head. That’s why I’ll kill you as quick as I can. Hurry up and die already.

After retrieving my arrows, I once again stood before the knight. Just as I notched one—

“Souya, stop this. She’ll die if you do any more.”

—Lana stayed my hand. I hesitated but then, strangely enough, did as she said. However, just to be sure, I turned so Lana couldn’t see and stuck the snapped-off tip of a harpoon into the knight’s thigh. Once the poison started flowing, it would probably put her out of commission for a while.

“Lana, are you hurt? Did he do anything to you?”

“No, I’m all right.” Though thinly covered in dirt, she didn’t seem to have any injuries that would leave a scar. Still, just for good measure—

“Answer me, Lord Prince of Remlia. Did you do anything to her?”

—I asked, an arrow trained on him. I thought it best to hear both sides.

“Do you understand what you’ve just done? My father will not stand for this. And of course, all my retainers will make sure you and that bitch, and anyone who helped you, pay for this.”

That sounds hella flimsy. There’s not much use in arguing this, but I might as well hit him with some reason.

“I’m just a new adventurer who hasn’t gone any farther than the fifth floor. An emergency portal brought me down here, but the person who opened it for me has said they’ll forget it ever happened. In fact, nobody else saw me use it.” The Guildmaster had knocked the traitorous elf out, and even if other staff members had seen me, they wouldn’t know where I’d gone. “And as for Lana, one of your party members stole the permission request form, the one I happen to have right here.”

I showed him the slip I’d pinched off his beastmaid, then set it on fire with my lighter and watched it burn until nothing but ash remained.

“I’m going to make all the other party members who betrayed Lana disappear, too. Every last one. Then I’ll feed your corpse to a monster until not a scrap of you is left, and then it’s good-bye forever. Where exactly would your little revenge come in? After all, who would ever believe a single initiate adventurer took down all your super-mighty party members on his own?”

“Y-you…” Even this imbecile finally realized where he stood. It sure is hard teaching a dumbass anything. Dogs and cats learn a hundred times quicker.

“I will only ask you once more. Think, very carefully, and answer me. Did you do anything to her?”

“I—I tried but didn’t get to. I didn’t do anything yet!”

I decided to take the moronic look on his face as proof he spoke the truth.

“Okay, next—”

“Souya, you’ve gone too far. That’s enough. Enough.” I hadn’t put it past Lana to say something like that, but it still surprised me to actually hear it.

“Lana, this man was about to do something so awful to you that I’m afraid to say it out loud. How can you just forgive him so—?”

“But he didn’t because you saved me. Everything is fine now.”

“Sorry, I can’t back down on this one.” I knew very well how stubborn she was, but it didn’t matter. Spare this kind of person from punishment and they’d mistake that mercy for good luck and do it all over again. He needed to feel some pain.

“At the very least, the very bare minimum—I know. Let’s have you apologize to Lana.”

“You’re telling me to beg forgiveness while I’m stuck to the wall?”

Seriously, what a piece of shit. After a good old-fashioned fistfight, I could befriend almost anyone in the world, but even if we had that fight on the most picturesque sunset riverbank, I would never get along with him.

“Squad Member Souya, movement detected. I assume it’s another party.”

“We’ll have you apologize another day. But I’m telling you now, I will make a living pincushion out of you if you dare lay another hand on Lana, starting with, as I promised your lovely knight, your balls.”

“……” He said nothing.

I put down my bow and quickly retrieved all the arrows, then removed the one sticking out of the mage and left her body lying carelessly on the ground.

“You bast—!” the prince protested as I held his face down with my foot and pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. “What’s this? My body’s…”

“It’s paralyzing poison. Don’t worry; it won’t kill you. Probably.” The poison seemed to have really sunk in. “Isolla, anything left that could be used as evidence?”

“Negative.”