Chapter of Slavery, Episode 11: Overload

I looked up at the sky as it grew lighter. The river had turned brown in the rainy season, and it churned loudly with its water level having risen up to the rock I was sitting on. It was flowing with much more intensity than usual, and much of the riverbed had been swallowed by the turbid waters.

I glanced over to see the unconscious Zarish laying in the shade of a rock. He must have had quite a traumatizing experience, considering there wasn’t a single wound on him despite his pale face. Judging by the way he was groaning, he wasn’t having a very good dream. It was about six in the evening in Japan by now. As the thought crossed my mind, a voice spoke to me via Mind Link Chat.

“Hm, it appears you have been thinking of this since the beginning.” The draconian didn’t sound sleepy despite it being dawn already. In fact, there was a gentle, motherly tone in her voice. I felt the fingers around the hilt of my sword tremble slightly at her words.

“I guess nothing gets by you, Wridra. Are the other two asleep?”

“...Indeed. They look quite peaceful. They have been boisterous so late in the night. Hah, hah, their slumbering faces are beginning to make me sleepy myself.” I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t want them to see what I was about to do.

“You have the voice of a man. I thought of you as a runt, but you have grown to be so reliable before I knew it.”

“It’s not like that. It turns out I have a short temper. You never know what a guy like me will do in a fit of rage.” The dragon chuckled, and then we both exhaled at the same time. Our early-morning sigh sounded exactly alike despite the distance between us. She was likely looking up at the white sky along with me. Maybe that was why my next words for her were so full of honesty.

“Thank you, Wridra. For not getting in between me and Zarish that day.”

“I am not keen on the subtleties of human interactions. I merely thought it was a necessary ordeal for you to go through. Though, it was out of intuition rather than any logic on my part.” I truly appreciated it. Had I let him be back then, I probably would have regretted it even now, even as we were out having fun or doing anything else. And even if Wridra had defeated him for me, it still would have stuck with me. The shame of pushing all of the dirty work onto her would have stayed with me the entire time.

So this stage was for me. Maybe what I was about to do was just cruelty for the sake of my own satisfaction. But there was no way I could’ve turned back now.

I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword once again. I set my resolve to end his life once and for all. I slowly drew my sword from its sheath, watching his unconscious face in silence.

“...I have an interesting tidbit for you. They say that there is actually only one condition for a male and female to become a pair.” The fingers around my weapon loosened. My narrow field of view widened again from her words, and I pictured the dragon in my mind as I replied.

“To become a pair? Do you mean the male has to prove his strength or something?”

“No, not that. It is to make the female think she would be fine with dying.” My curiosity grew upon hearing this. At that moment, I thought about Mariabelle, for some reason.

The half-fairy elf was always so adorable, and I thought about how she leaned against me for warmth when reading books. Her light body pressing against mine always filled my heart, whether I was in Japan or the dream world. Wridra continued on with a gentle tone.

“There is danger in giving birth to a child. That is why a female must think it is worth dying with her partner before the two can truly become a pair.”

“So you’re saying I’m not the one who decides. That’s kind of a weight off my shoulders, actually.” We laughed. It was just as it always was. My path was always decided by Marie’s curiosity, and she held my hand by her whim. I suddenly remembered something then, and I looked up at the sky again as I asked another question.

“Wridra, remember what you told me at the theme park that day? You said, ‘The thoughts of evil men will eventually manifest themselves in your mind without you realizing it.’ I think I finally understand what you meant by that.”

Powerful and evil men like him always handled things in highly straightforward ways. I, too, was trying to resolve this issue at its root by taking the life of an unconscious person. This was, indeed, the efficient way to go. But this decision was brought on by my own weakness. Otherwise, I could have chosen another way, like challenging him to a duel.

“Wridra, don’t tell me you believe I could beat him in a fair duel?”

“I do not like to describe it as ‘belief.’ It may sound nice, but I do not operate on blind belief. I simply wish for it to become true, child of man.”

For some reason, I was moved. We may have been far apart, but I felt my mentor’s words in my heart, and I put my sword back in its sheath.

In order to live on without shame, to continue to hold Marie’s hand, and to keep my promise with Eve to resolve this with as little violence as possible, I decided to keep my hands clean of blood.

§

As the sky turned into a lighter shade, the man groaned. I watched him sit up, then spoke to him with a quiet voice.

“Finally awake, Zarish? I hope you enjoyed your night of terror.”

“...”

His face turned into a scowl for just a moment, and then he massaged his brows. His body must have been exhausted from all of the extreme fear and tension, but it shouldn’t have affected his overall fighting prowess by much. He was known as the hero candidate, after all.

“Damn you... Where is this...?!”

“Some place pretty far from the manor of black roses. It’s not so far that you can’t walk back, though.”

He scanned his surroundings to make sure no one else was hiding somewhere. Of course, I was the only one here. Marie and Eve were sound asleep, and I had prepared this place on my own by using Trayn, the Journey’s Guide, my movement skill that could only be used once a day.

Zarish reached for his waist and was surprised to find his sword was still there. He was right to be surprised. Considering how he had been unconscious, I could have killed him at any time. While he processed his shock, I quietly spoke to him again.

“I could have ended this after we had our little fun, but it turns out I can’t ignore my hatred toward you.”

“Hatred? What, for killing you?”

No, I wouldn’t have hated him just for that. After all, I’d been killed by most of the women I knew, and I didn’t know how many times I’d been dissolved by those slime-looking things when I was younger. He could tell what I was thinking just by looking at my face.

“I guess I’m just as much of a kid as I appear. Because you tried to lay your hands on Mariabelle and for all that you’ve done to the many women around you... I’m angry, as rare as that is.”

A wide grin spread across Zarish’s face. As a man who had always taken whatever he wanted, he probably dealt with many people like me. And so, he was probably thinking, “This again?” This was far, far easier for him to understand than the pranks from last night, and the fear inside him began to dissipate. After all, his opponent was the boy who he had stabbed through the heart just a day ago.

“I want to protect the woman who’s precious to me. I won’t let you make her cry like you did to the women around you... Though, I can’t help it sounding so cheesy when I say it out loud.”

“Hah, you’re a lot simpler to understand now that you’re back in the flesh. Well, I’m a man who takes what he wants. You can give up hope until the day I die of old age, Phantom.”

Our fun little horror party came to an end, and I now faced a monstrous opponent with sword in hand. This was for the sake of my own ego, and what the Arkdragon had wanted.

His eyes glinted in the light of dawn like that of a beast, and his murderous intensity made my instincts scream “Run away.” But this was the man who plotted to put Mariabelle through hell. I had to end his journey here and now. I set my resolve to give him no mercy.

My heart pounded in my chest.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of the horrible opponent before me.

A feeling that even I couldn’t understand was deep within me, and I felt like it was taking shape and becoming real in this battle. Whatever it was, I had a feeling this molten “something” inside me was about to be born into this world.

§

Large beads of water came down from the sky, eventually turning into steady rainfall. There stretched a vast expanse of deep brown sand dunes, and more and more greenery could be seen some distance away toward the riverbed. The birds had just awakened with the morning sun, and they flew off to find some fruits and bugs to fuel them for the day.

A metallic clash rang out through the quiet morning. The clang of steel on steel could be heard, followed by the sound of metal grinding against itself. If people or monsters had been around, they likely would have fled out of instinctive fear. There was just that much malice behind the noise.

Eventually, silence fell once again, and there stood a man at the riverbed looking up at the sky by himself. It was Zarish the hero candidate, his blond, rain-soaked hair swaying in the wind. He stood with his sword drawn out of its sheath, its blade slick with blood.

Zarish sighed and returned his sword to his waist without cleaning it, then began walking toward a footpath away from the riverbed. The birds fled from the smell of blood permeating from him, and he pushed the branches away as he stepped onto the footpath that had been created by animals. Just then, someone appeared next to him.

“Hey there, you’re looking a little pale, Zarie.”

“...Ngh!” Zarish groaned at the sudden cheery voice that called out to him. He looked over to find the boy sitting up to the side of the footpath, as if he had just awakened from a nap. They were fighting to the death just moments ago, and there he was, as if nothing happened. Zarish’s head swayed back, and when he faced forward again, his expression was filled with intense confusion and rage.

“...Th-That’s enough! Just how many times do you need to die before you go away, damn it?!?”

The air around him trembled as he shouted furiously, but the boy was unfazed. In fact, he looked downright sleepy as he moved closer. The casual manner in which he walked, almost as if he was going for a morning stroll, further stoked Zarish’s fury.

“Who knows? It’s only been four times. Why don’t you see for yourself if there’s a limit?”

“Fine, then! Die, you little shit!!!” Zarish’s blade rang against its sheath as his sword flew faster than the speed of sound. But as he unleashed the ferocious attack, the boy suddenly vanished. However, it was no illusion. The boy had teleported to a position out of the blade’s reach.

Again! Whenever I use an attack, this brat dodges it the next time I use it! Zarish gritted his teeth as he thought to himself. His swing had missed its target entirely and landed on a large tree nearby, causing it to shatter into splinters. But in that moment, Zarish couldn’t move from his position after taking his swing. The boy had reappeared at his flank before he knew it, but he only showed an eerie smile without delivering an attack of his own.

“Wow, that’s pretty neat. All your attacks are faster than the speed of sound. That’s an impressive Primary Skill, Zarie. I’m really jealous.”

“...Ngh!” Zarish turned red with anger. Not only was the boy annoyingly insolent, but he immediately returned even after getting cut to shreds.

The boy was still beneath him. There were countless others who were at his skill level... but he was starting to evade more and more of Zarish’s attacks, proving that he was unnaturally quick to learn and adapt. Realizing the boy was getting closer and closer to his own level, the hero candidate was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

“You think you can laugh at me, you little shit?!” And so, Zarish activated his trump card: The Divine Finger. He pointed his right hand at the boy, then pointed his pinky slightly upward to make him freeze in place. Not only did this ability disable the target’s ability to move about freely, but it also bent the laws of physics. Making a stone float was a simple task, and it was unbeatable in a fight with another swordsman like this.

The boy was stuck floating in mid-air, rendering him unable to teleport anymore. Zarish slammed the boy against a big tree, causing blood to spurt out and paint the surrounding leaves red. The boy was left battered and bruised after repeating this process several times, but instead of the expected look of fear, the boy flashed a tenacious smile.

“Ohh, so that’s the move you were using on Marie. Too bad you won’t be able to use it again. Don’t worry, I’ll memorize this one, too.”

“Aaargh! Damn you! Die! Just die already!” The boy was slammed hard on his head, and he moved no more. Zarish breathed heavily, still as tense as if he was in the middle of combat. As he looked around nervously, the boy’s body faded into thin air.

§

I woke up in the bed of my condo, then glanced at the dark window.

It was already eight o’clock at night, which meant I usually would have been having a nice dinner with everyone right about now. But tonight, I had something to take care of. I had the important mission of stopping the hero candidate, Zarish, by my own hands.

I flipped the light switch for the indirect lighting and rose from my bed. My throat was parched from the drawn-out fighting, and my body sought refreshment from the barley tea in the fridge. I wanted to eat right about now, but I decided I could have scared him some more by returning quickly and decided against it. And so, I unwrapped a piece of chocolate and tossed it into my mouth instead.

I savored the piece of chocolate in my mouth as I pondered. Zarish was indeed powerful, far more powerful than I had even imagined. I was no slouch myself, but he had killed me five times already. Although I had some defensive countermeasures at my disposal, I couldn’t imagine how I could beat him.

I poured a cup of barley tea and took a swig. It felt good in my heated body, and I exhaled from the sweetness of the chocolate melting in my mouth.

“I need to come up with something. Some sort of attack that could take him down...” I muttered to myself with the cup still in hand. My Reprisal skill was set with evasive maneuvers, and there were very few open slots left. But each of Zarish’s attacks were so powerful that they could have ended me in one hit, so it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

“All right, I’ll have to deal with the stuff that I might be able to dodge manually. The problem now is my own lack of firepower.” According to my observations and what Eve had told me, Zarish had the following skills.

• Bends the laws of physics (Divine Finger)
• Attacks faster than the speed of sound (Spectral Sword of Light)
• Automatically counters any attack slower than the speed of sound (Shield of Seeking Silence)
• Creates a barrier that completely blocks off the surrounding area (Sealed Domain)
• Increases firepower after each attack lands (King of Cruelty)

And finally, his rings. In fact, his rings were the biggest problem of all. They had the ability to turn their target into a slave, seizing their free will along with their levels. I carried him to a place far away so the ladies couldn’t have come to his rescue, but their boss was so powerful already that it hadn’t seemed to make much of a difference.

Now that I had faced him head on, it became painfully clear how powerful each of his skills were and just how hard it was to catch such a high-level opponent off guard. The skill that automatically delivered counterattacks was particularly annoying to deal with, since I could end up on the losing end if I didn’t fully commit to an attack. That was why I could’ve only taunted him without attacking in the previous round.

I quickly discarded the question of whether I could beat him or not. Now that I had set my resolve to defeating him, I had to focus on that singular task. I wished I could’ve said I was fighting him fair and square, but having infinite lives could’ve been considered cheating. The thunk as I placed the empty cup in the sink rang out in the silent room.

“Hmm, this is gonna be a long fight. I’ll keep at it until the morning.” I clenched my fist in front of me and headed back to my bed to fight a man who had a 60+ level advantage over me.

I awakened in the woods and found myself alone again.

The trees in the desert country had a distinctness to them. They were similar to palm trees, but their trunks were as thick as trees that were several hundred years old. There were gnarled humps growing all over the place, and I observed the brown, scale-shaped patterns with great interest as I followed Zarish’s footprints.

It had become much brighter compared to when we started our duel, and I could tell it was going to be a hot day from the shape of the scattered rain clouds. Soon after, a glimpse of Zarish from behind came into view.

He hadn’t seen me yet, so I wondered what to do next.

Even if I teleported and ambushed him right away, the automatic counterattack would’ve killed me right afterwards. I could’ve used the beam attack from my Astroblade, but I doubted it would’ve hit the target from this distance. The only way to prevent the counterattack from triggering was to attack faster than the speed of sound, which I couldn’t do.

“Hmm, maybe I could charge up Astroblade as I teleport and fire it from close range... but then my teleportation would become unstable...” My short-distance teleportation skill, Over the Road, came with many limitations. Its weight restriction was particularly strict, and I had no idea where I would end up if I teleported while power was being charged into my blade. I may be able to get close enough by teleporting several times, but I had to figure out how to deal with the immediate and automatic counterattack right afterwards, or I would end up dead soon after.

“Oh, what if I attack and teleport away before the counterattack? I did memorize the timing with Reprisal earlier... Though, I guess I won’t know until I try it.” I decided to go ahead and set it into a Reprisal slot. Being able to learn through trial and error was one of my strong points, after all.

Attack and teleport at the same time, then evade with another teleport... It was difficult just picturing it. I stepped through the rough sand as I solidified the image in my head, then entered the complex movement patterns into my Reprisal skill. Loading these patterns into a slot usually took no time at all, but the combination of movements was taking some time to process. After several seconds of lag, the pattern was accepted into Reprisal.

“All right, no time for rehearsals. Let’s do this. Here goes nothing!”

The view around me distorted, and then Zarish’s shocked face in the distance appeared right in front of me... Then, I heard a metallic clash, and I was surprised to find myself flung into the sky.

“Whaaaaaat?!”

I flailed about in the air, then landed on my hip onto the rain-hardened sand. I endured the dull pain as I quickly rose and scanned my surroundings, then found Zarish watching me from afar. Judging from his distance and position, he must have moved there immediately after attacking.

I guess I got hit by his automatic counterattack. That must’ve been what sent me off course. But it only grazed me, so I was able to dodge most of it. There was a cut running through my clothes under my armpit with blood seeping through. I had to speed up the timing a bit more. I reconfigured the image in my head and modified my attack to a thrust to keep the range of motion as tight as possible.

This was completely unfamiliar territory for me. It felt like I was straying pretty far from the act of swinging my sword and defeating him that I had imagined originally. Though, it would be difficult to put up a fight against him without using some sort of unconventional fighting method.

“Okay, attempt number two... Here we go!” I immediately closed the distance between us. A metallic clang rang out behind me, and I nailed the landing this time. I drew a long line in my wake and turned around to find Zarish holding his sword up far away.

Hmhm, so this was about the right distance. By the looks of it, I didn’t hurt him much at all. In game terms, this would’ve probably been worth about 1 damage.

Just then, I noticed Zarish was shouting something from over where he was. He seemed to be complaining about me wasting my time and calling me an insect, which wasn’t information that was all too useful, so I decided to ignore it.

“All right, then let’s try increasing the number of attacks a bit.”

Maybe I could optimize my evasion and attacks by dealing smaller bits of damage while constantly moving clockwise around him. I would move to a spot that wouldn’t get hit by his counterattacks as I attacked and evaded, attacked and evaded. I could even activate Acceleration immediately after teleporting. This would slow the passage of time for me, which would allow me to easily deal with the condition of having the destination of movement within sight. It would remove the need to escape far away after each attack and make it easier to dodge.

“Yeah, I’ll try that. Okay, time for round three.” My view spun around as sparks flew and the sound of clashing blades filled the area.

I moved in a circle with Zarish at the center, delivering eight consecutive strikes. I had never teleported so quickly and accurately as this before, and my vision was in complete chaos with less than a second between each shift. My view looked like it had been animated with a low budget, and I was hit with a wave of dizziness that made me reel back as soon as I landed in my original position.

Meanwhile, Zarish swung his sword at nothing but air. There was a cut in his clothes, but he must have blocked it right before it reached his flesh. Well, I hardly had the mental capacity to even laugh about that.

Urgh, I feel sick... My head was swimming, and my heart was beating erratically. Maybe I just needed to get used to it. I remembered going through similar symptoms when I first learned how to teleport.

In any case, the main problem was still the fact that I was lacking firepower. At this rate, I could’ve swung at him all day and still only managed to mildly annoy him. My vitality would’ve reached its limit before I could’ve ever hoped to defeat him.

“I really need to use Astroblade’s ability to the fullest.” Astroblade, the sword of stardust, could unleash a powerful blast of energy by charging it up through multiple levels. But due to the force field generated by its power, even I couldn’t predict how it would affect Over the Road.

So what if I kept the energy charge to a minimum? I could contain its effect as much as possible while moving around, then unleash it as soon as it became full.

I got right to it and took Astroblade in hand, then charged it up to the minimum power level. It made a noise like a horse’s whinny, and when I unleashed it, it fired something the size of a pebble deep into the ground and sprayed sand everywhere. It could’ve probably punched a hole through thin sheet metal, at best.

“Hmm, can I pull it off? Attack and defend at the same time, and fire it as soon as it’s charged. All these patterns won’t fit in Reprisal... Maybe if I separate them and... Oh, it fits.” I used one set for movement and attack, then another set for Astroblade’s charge attack. I had never set such intricate movement patterns like this before, so I had no idea how it would’ve turned out. This was getting so complex that I didn’t really want to think about it anymore. Come on, me. Show some effort once in a while.

Zarish watched me with a puzzled expression, but seemed to sense something and raised his ornate sword. He didn’t raise his barrier of perfect defense, likely because he wouldn’t be able to attack at the same time. To be honest, that was the most troublesome skill to deal with, but luckily for me, his pride was getting in the way of its usage.

“All right, let’s try this again. Attack number four... Here we go.” I felt an awkward sensation, as if I were sliding sideways, and my teleportation ended up short of Zarish. The force field generated by Astroblade was affecting my control, as I suspected. Not letting that deter me, I leaped forward with my sword still aimed at the target. I had to repeatedly and unintentionally teleport to the left and right, but I gradually made my way toward Zarish. Maybe my movements were creepy from his point of view.

Clang! Astroblade’s projectile attack was unleashed automatically, likely because my Reprisal skill had determined it was ready to fire and likely to hit the target. Zarish’s sword deflected the attack as if it was nothing, but I closed in on the monstrous opponent anyway.

Crk! I circled around him to evade the automatic counter, and then I unconsciously activated Astroblade’s lowest charge attack. The projectile was fired from a mere thirty centimeters away, and even Zarish’s eyes widened with surprise. The attack was faster than the speed of sound. Zarish deflected the speeding piece of stardust with godly speed, which created a small opening.

I felt like my brain would overheat as it processed my complex actions and repeated the cycle of teleporting and attacking over and over. The tip of my sword surrounded my foe like peculiar petals of a flower, and the occasional blasts of stardust provided a nice accent to the battle. After doing two or three rounds after running out of oxygen, I finally retreated from the battlefront.

Then, I fell to my knees.

“...Ngh!” Having reached my physical and mental limits from using my skills so many times in such a short period, sweat poured from my body like a waterfall. More importantly, I noticed strange signals being emitted from my nearly melted brain. Whatever it was beeped incessantly, which I assumed to be coming from a headache at first. But then I saw that the bracelet around my wrist was blinking and sending me an alert.

“Would you like to fuse Over the Road and Reprisal?”

I felt my heart skip a beat. At the same time, I thought this was my chance.

When trying out new paths through trial and error, there were extremely rare times when skills would transform like this. I had experienced it before, but never had I been prompted to fuse two Primary Skills together. There was a chance that it could backfire, and there was no turning back once the decision was made. If it ended up being useless, I would be wasting two valuable Primary Skills for nothing.

“Well... this is the only chance I have anyway. Of course I’ll accept.” As soon as I responded, a strange sensation ran through me. It felt as if something important had been extracted and mixed together inside me. I let out a sigh. Heat was expelled from my body, and I felt as if I could breathe fire.

My vision wavered like a heat haze. Zarish must have sensed something, because he came dashing right for me. Pillars of sand erupted in his wake, his raised sword like a speeding arrow, quickly closing the distance. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t move. Fusing skills wasn’t something that was normally done in the midst of battle. I watched him gaining on me, and all I could do was wait.

I let out another hot breath. I could even hear the sound of change and a wall before me breaking down, like a cracking egg shell. Then, a voice of indiscernible gender rang out in my mind.

“Your skills have been fused, and you have acquired Overload.” My brain felt a shock at the weight of something being dumped into my body. There, I felt a power greater than what I had lost.

What is this? What power lies hidden within? I had many questions, but now that I was at my limit, all I could do was find out the true nature of this skill for myself. The moment Zarish’s blade was about to sink straight into my heart, my eyes shot wide open.

§

A herd of about twenty animals were slowly moving along the river together.

They were quadrupeds known as nuus, and they were herbivores fit for the desert environment they inhabited. With their thin legs and gourd-like build, they had a rather strange-looking anatomy, but they boasted a sense of smell that was several thousand times superior to that of a human’s. This allowed them to detect predators right away, but they were odd creatures that were extremely slow when it came to running. It was said that even as they were eaten alive, they would cry out, “Nuu,” as if they had given up.

The nuus continued moving along the path by the river with their usual slow pace.

Tch, tch, tch.

A sun-tanned child wearing a round hat urged them forward from behind. Perhaps the white-haired man some distance behind him was his grandfather.

Once the herders ensured their nuus got enough nutrition and were properly fattened up for the coming rainy season, they would have much to do upon returning to their village.

They moved between the interspersed grassy areas, so it would take at least half a year before they arrived at the kingdom. But nuus were an important source of protein, and they could turn a hefty profit. This made bandit attacks all the more likely, and despite being under the kingdom’s governance, herders were still under the risk of losing their lives on the job.

Herbivores tended to travel in packs. Doing so made it easier to birth and raise children while also making it less likely for the individual animal to get attacked. Many considered it to be a way of life for the weak, but this could have been said for the nuu herders themselves, as well. By Arilai’s rather cruel calculations, they only needed 80% of the herders to come back alive to make the endeavor worth it.

But now that they were this close to the royal capital, they were unlikely to get attacked. Sensing that they would be safe for another year, the boy and grandfather shook their sticks with light footsteps.

Just then, the boy noticed one of the nuus had strayed from the herd and wasn’t moving. The timid creatures preferred to stick with the group, so it was highly unusual for one of them to be alone atop such a conspicuous hill. Perhaps it was a particularly curious nuu.

“What are you doing?”

The creature seemed to have heard the boy’s question and waved its little tail side to side with its back still towards him. The tail was only as long as the palm of a hand, so each swing was rather small.

The boy huffed and slowly made his way up the hill. The riverside path was lined with palm-like trees draining water from the ground. The boy looked up at its burnt brown, scale-like patterns and slapped the nuu’s rear with his stick as soon as he caught up. But his eyes widened in surprise when the creature didn’t even flinch.

With his hand on the nuu’s head, the boy looked in the same direction. Then, he noticed the strange sight in the distance at the path by the river. There stood a man holding up a sword with sparks and the sound of clashing metal whirling around him. The boy stood agape at the shocking sight.

“Whoa! The heck is that?!”

“Nuu.”

The young nuu herder didn’t know that this was the duel between the hero candidate and Phantom.

§

When there was a 60 level difference, I could have easily gotten a chunk carved out of me just from being grazed by my opponent’s sword point. The only thing I had to worry about was whether or not such a wound was fatal. The blade sank a mere centimeter into the spot where my heart was, but I immediately teleported away, causing it to leave a cut in a horizontal line. Blood spurted out, followed by a sharp pain. Then, his blue eyes tracking me came into view. Time moved at a crawl, and it seemed I had activated Acceleration out of instinct.

Blinking at the edge of my vision was the name of the skill I had just acquired. I had no idea what this skill was, and I had to figure it out for myself and start from a blank slate... but at the same time, I was elated. This was an opportunity to use a brand-new skill against an opponent I was furious with. How wonderful it was that I didn’t have to hold back.

Anyway, just what was this Overload? I didn’t understand how it was different from Over the Road. The names were similar, but they were quite different in meaning.

Vwoom! Zarish’s sword swept by over my head, sending out a shockwave surpassing the speed of sound. His sword was fast. The way it changed trajectory after a full swing without losing its momentum was nothing short of astonishing. If I’d have blocked it with my own sword, it would’ve left my hand unusable for some time.

I moved only my upper body and continuously evaded the incoming attacks, and I was surprised to find that the slots set in Reprisal were still in effect. I thought Reprisal had been merged into Overload...

“That must mean it evolved with this fusion.”

“What?! Stop muttering to yourself while dodging my attacks, you creepy brat!” Zarish bared his teeth in front of me with murderous, uninhibited rage. His body seemed greater in size from his intensity, and the flurry of his blade brought on a sense of despair. And yet, I had no fear of the death looming before me. I trusted that my movements were still slotted and teleported without panic.

Clang, clang, clash!

“Whoa,” I said in surprise. I went around in a full circle, then backed off after going around another half circle. The extreme fatigue on my brain from trying to process my moves was now gone.

“Ah, it must have optimized the parallel processing somehow. Incredible... I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Blood seeped out of my chest, telling me that I didn’t have much time left. It was a bad habit of mine to speak with such aloofness despite the gravity of the situation. But really, it wasn’t only during the accounting period when the company decided my bonus that I wore a serious expression on my face.

Now, this was my theory.

Up until just recently, I was using my two skills, Over the Road and Reprisal, to automatically execute my attacks. But due to abusing them outside of their original intended purposes, it was greatly taxing on my mind and body, and it was made painfully clear how difficult it was to control.

It seemed like this newly-acquired Overload had merged my skills to optimize this process, allowing me to accomplish what I wanted to do. Maybe this meant I would be able to do what I couldn’t before: charge Astroblade to full power and fire it at point-blank range. Astroblade’s firepower could have been greatly heightened by absorbing energy. Maybe an attack akin to a colliding meteorite would’ve been able to defeat even Zarish... maybe.

But there were many issues facing me. First, considering the amount of vitality I had left, I only had one full-powered shot left in me.

Next, if I charged up Astroblade more, there was a greater startup time before I could fire, leaving a wide opening. The hero candidate could evade such a delayed attack with ease. And any attack slower than the speed of sound would’ve been countered automatically. Not to mention, he had that pesky barrier to protect him.

Now, how was I going to make sure I could hit my target? I probably would have given up by now under normal circumstances. But after spending a whole night tormenting Zarish, I had come to figure out how he thought, acted, and desired. So maybe I could take advantage of that and nudge him in the right direction to make him do what I wanted. And so, I decided to use my words as a weapon rather than my sword.

“You really are a coward, aren’t you, Zarish? I can’t help but worry that you’re gonna pee your pants again.” I could hear the sound of his teeth grinding from here. Unbridled fury could be seen on the great future hero’s face. That wasn’t very gallant of him.

“Hah, trying to provoke me, brat?! I...”

“So you defected to the neighboring country of Gedovar, huh? You seem to be trying to keep it a secret, but you shouldn’t have let me find out. I mean, you can’t kill me no matter how many times you try. What if I tell Sir Hakam and Great Aja about this?”

The moment the words left my mouth, rage erupted from Zarish’s entire being. He must have never had anything stand in his path like this before. His was the face of a child who had always whined to get everything he wanted.

“You want your own country? That’s hilarious. I figure you’re hoping to get one as compensation for destroying Arilai, but... you should probably reconsider. Can you really handle investing in things like tax revenue management, commercial development, military defense, facility installation, disease prevention, sanitary management, and magic development?”

I went on without giving him a chance to respond and watched as his face grew dark. As soon as he opened his mouth to give a retort, I went on further.

“Oh, you’re going to leave it to someone else to handle? Are you sure about that? If you let everyone else handle the real work, why would they need you? No one will consider you a king if you give all your authority to others. You really think you’re up for this?”

“Aaaaaargh! Shut uuuuuup!!!”

Good, he came charging right at me. It seemed he was very easy to manipulate, and there were several things I’d figured out through both this battle and the night of horror.

“I’ll say it again: you’re a coward, Zarish. All of your techniques are designed to protect yourself. They’re for making others do your bidding. And such skills can only be activated from close range, so you need to run to your target like this.” I teleported backward right before he reached my position. The surrounding trees grew more sparse, and soon there would only be sand dunes around us.

I could hear shouts of “I’ll kill you!” and “You’re the coward!” from a distance, and I couldn’t help but pity his meager vocabulary. He was going to have to get a little more creative, unless his goal was to make me yawn.

“Oh, Eve is doing fine, by the way. Isn’t that nice? That’s one more person who can testify against you.” Even though Zarish was a quick runner, his speed suffered from climbing the sand dunes. I crouched and recovered my energy as I looked down at him.

“Are you okay, o great future hero? If you can’t make it up here, I could come down and get you.”

“Aaaaaaaargh! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, damn it!”

Sand flew into the air behind him as he climbed with an agility befitting of someone with an estimated level of 140—no, now that he wasn’t wearing Eve’s ring, he was probably more like 135 or so.

Another burst of sand erupted behind Zarish, and he leaped high into the air. His pace had been slowing earlier, but it seemed he had just gone around me in an attempt to outmaneuver me and cut off my escape route. He exhaled deeply, and then his rough breathing settled down into a more relaxed pace. Apparently, his exhausted expression was an act. It was... quite a cute little plan on his part, I guess.

“Phantom, I’m going to capture you alive and torture you for all eternity. First, I’ll cut up both of your legs.”

“Oh, did you finally catch on? You made it really easy for me by killing me each time.”

In contrast to Zarish’s growing rage, I felt serene as I watched the sand dunes around us. Perhaps the rainy season was behind us. The rain had weakened considerably, revealing the blackened sand dunes. Maybe the little plants that could be spotted here and there were just going to wither. No, they would’ve surely spread their seeds again for this time next year. Then, they would wait for the season when the rain would bless them with water once again.

Suddenly, we clashed. Sparks flew between us, and Zarish’s automatic counterattack struck at my blows and Phantom Image. This was quite interesting. It felt as if the pages of his predetermined script were turning one at a time.

My blade struck at him head-on again with a clash. This would be my final attack. There was no need to conserve my energy now, so I would go all out.

I attacked and teleported once again, and Zarish furrowed his brows.

It seemed he was taken aback by the sound of Astroblade, which sounded like the whinny of a horse, and the fact that I was able to activate it immediately, unlike before.

“You little...!”

“Now, how much do you think I can charge this up?” I circled around him as we clashed blades, but my attacks were meant to buy time and apply pressure rather than deal damage.

Whirrr... Astroblade greedily absorbed my energy, its sound changing to something more akin to a flying meteor. I didn’t let my mocking smile waver, but I had to admit, I was starting to worry about how much it was draining out of me. If only it was a gentler weapon that would go easier on me.

All of my attacks were deflected by the automatic counterattacks. This came as no surprise. Considering his level was estimated to be around 135, the difference in our power was massive. But for now, I only had to trust in the platinum glow surrounding the blade of my weapon. There was no time to think about it anyway.

Rrrrrr...!

Zarish’s face twitched. It seemed that when the weapon was charged to this level, the force field generated was enough to distort the air around it. Before, I wouldn’t have been able to control something like this. I had no idea where I would have teleported while wielding the humming sword. But it was a different story with Overload. When I decided on a destination to teleport to, it seemed to calculate the influence of the force field and take me there with pinpoint accuracy.

Judging by Zarish’s expression, he must have been under the impression that he would take big damage if he received a direct hit. I hoped he wasn’t just faking it again, but... he was a big coward, after all. I decided he really must have been afraid.

Oh, good.

I saw that he started glancing around his surroundings. He must have noticed that there were no more obstacles or escape routes. It was a good thing he’d chased me all the way out here, though it must have been the first time in a while that the thought of fleeing crossed his mind.

“Huh?!”

And so, he easily fell for an illusion of me getting my foot caught in the sand. He swung with all his might to slice up my illusion... Wait, hadn’t he declared that he was going to cut both my legs first? My sword was drawn to the opening at his armpit but was promptly deflected with a metallic clash. For some reason, no counterattack came. Aha, he must have switched from automatic counterattacks to automatic blocking. If he was falling back to safety, it meant it was time for me to attack with full force.

Rrrrrrrrr!

There was so much pressure built up that the sword felt like a bomb in my hand. But I couldn’t let myself panic. My heart had to remain calm and focused. All I had to do was concentrate on ramping up the barrage and breaking down the iron wall of defense before me.

I gripped my sword as it rang hysterically, not relenting on my continuous offense while I circled my opponent. With no time to even take a deep breath, there was a sense of purity in this moment. I didn’t even think about the copious amounts of sweat pouring out. I had never seen Astroblade charged with this much energy before. Zarish’s automatic defense held off my aggressive barrage, but I was still leaving numerous wounds on him. His panic was visibly increasing, likely out of fear of my glowing weapon.

The moment I was sure I could break through his defense, he began to scream.

“You bastaaard!!!” A powerful flash of pale blue light filled my view. He had finally activated Sealed Domain, his ultimate defensive barrier. A confident grin spread across Zarish’s face as I quickly braked in front of him.

“Hahaaa! Blow yourself up and die!” I had no time to even consider what he meant before his finely ornamented sword fell to the sand within his protective domain. He had dropped his own sword. And with my Acceleration-enhanced vision, I saw his right hand slowly point toward me with its pinky raised... The gesture for his Divine Finger. A cold shiver ran down my spine.

Divine Finger allowed him to bend the laws of physics and disable the target’s freedom of movement. Several scenarios for the consequences of getting hit by this move flashed through my mind. He could absorb the meteor projectile into the barrier and render it useless... No, considering what he had just said, he would likely immobilize me so he could take my weapon and use it against me.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of death itself. This world was a dream to me, so the concept of death didn’t apply to me here. But I was by no means invincible. Just like how my tattered clothes wouldn’t mend the holes in them, my items were a different story. If I lost my sword, I would lose my means of defeating him even if I returned to this world again.

Zarish probably hadn’t come to this conclusion himself. It was just a coincidence. He just so happened to come across the method that would have been terrible for me, and I began sweating profusely at the thought. As blood and sweat flowed from me freely, the words of my mentor came to mind.

“Keep your wits about you, and burn what lies ahead into your memory.”

Come to think of it, she had shattered the ultimate defensive barrier with ease. She had even told me, “That which is created by man can be destroyed by man.” I watched as he slowly raised his hand toward me and remembered the events of last night without fear. Over and over, the sight of the vanishing barrier replayed in my mind.

My first thought was, “Maybe I was wrong?” It was supposedly a perfect barrier that was neither physical nor magical in nature. This was why I’d assumed it was the most troublesome skill of all. I had feared it as an invincible, unbeatable defense. But what if I had been wrong? What if it was because it could block anything that it was broken so easily by the draconian’s hands?

“So, it must work by offsetting energy...” I muttered to myself and decided against giving up. I left a Phantom Image for his Divine Finger. I watched it get distorted out of the corner of my vision and racked my brain to figure out what I could do in my critical state. Then, I stood behind his unprotected back and spoke to him in my usual, calm tone.

“Oh, good. Everything finally fell into place. Considering how cowardly you are, I trusted that you would put up your barrier when cornered.”

“...Huh?”

This was a bluff, of course. I wanted him to think this was all part of my plan. I had to admit I was exhausted, so my smile ended up looking pretty weak, but maybe it was intimidating in its own way. Actually, my face looked sleepy by default, so that was probably hoping for too much.

Now, it was time for one last push.

My teleportation technically wasn’t an instantaneous warp from one point to another. I could run into any obstacles that were in the way, so it was actually more like high-speed movement. If he could block any attack that was slower than the speed of sound, perhaps this would work.

I teleported everything from my wrist to the tip of my sword in an angle from a lower right position to an upper left position. It left a straight slice in the barrier along its path, and I repeated the process in the opposite direction to create a large “x”. Then I pressed the Astroblade against the center of the cuts, the weapon glowing with a platinum light.

An inescapable enclosure. You’re the one who trapped yourself, Zarish. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have even been able to graze him. Because it was so powerful, it also would have left me wide open when firing. If the barrier offset energy rather than deflecting or nullifying it, I just had to deal an immense amount of damage beyond its capacity into one concentrated point. And I happened to have just the thing right in my hands.

The air I exhaled was so hot that it felt like I was blowing fire. My shoulders felt like they would fall out of their sockets from teleporting so recklessly. I had already passed the limits of my body, but I had to deliver the final words according to battle etiquette.

“Umm, feel my rage, or something like that.”

“Sto—”

Boooooom! The ground of the desert trembled as if a meteorite had crashed into it.

§

The gentle breeze howled softly as it blew by.

Ah, the wind from the east felt nice. Remnants of the rainy season could be felt in the humid breeze. It whisked the heat away, finally allowing my exhausted body to move again.

I leapt down into the crater left in the dunes and landed on the thick cushion of the sand below. At the burnt epicenter of the explosion laid a blond man half-buried in the sand... the hero candidate, Zarish.

The ultimate defensive barrier. It was during our little horror show at his manor when I first witnessed it. I was able to take a long look and analyze it along with Wridra beforehand, which was fortunate for me and the cause of his demise. This ability detected the existence of any who entered the set domain, then emitted a force field to offset any physical or magical disturbance. And to “offset” meant that the barrier was also damaged whenever it rejected any attack. But due to his extremely high level, it was likely that most things would not have been able to deal enough damage to breach its defensive capabilities.

It was a different story for someone like Wridra, but this was a huge hurdle for me.

I had created a cross-shaped cut into the barrier. There was a need for me to surpass the speed of sound to avoid his automatic counterattack, and by drawing out my energy to the brink of death, Astroblade was able to create an explosion of power that could punch through the defensive capabilities. Marie was the one who had taught me that the enclosed space within the barrier would’ve caused the force to be trapped inside, greatly amplifying the damage dealt. This was probably the only way to defeat a foe with such a massive life force and stalwart defense.

“Boy, I’m surprised by how tough you are.”

Half of Zarish’s body was left blackened, and he looked up at me with his one remaining good eye. His pleading expression was full of fear, but was he really begging me for mercy?

“Don’t worry, I made a promise with Eve. I won’t kill you. But I’ll be taking something dear to you instead.”

“Nn...? Ungh...? Ah!” I stepped onto his right hand, and he screamed as I touched the golden ring on his finger. I watched as he clenched his fist tightly, then I cocked my head at him.

“Oh? Do you want me to cut off your finger along with it? Now, open your hand.”

“Hngh... Hngh... Hnnngh!” His trembling fingers uncurled as ordered. I already knew what to do with the four rings—no, eight, including the other hand.

I removed them one by one. They were created by his evil skill that had bent so many women to his will with their terrifying power. This was my main objective in the first place. I could have removed them while he was unconscious... but if I’d done that, he would have frantically chased me down to no end.

That was why I had to defeat him utterly and completely in order to break his spirit and achieve peace for us. He managed to croak out his plea with a tormented voice.

“Stop... Without those, I...”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be handing these to your subordinates. What they do with these is up to them. Maybe they’ll return them to you if you’ve been treating them well.”

“Hngh...?!” I figured they would destroy or throw them away, though. Come to think of it, I thought Wridra mentioned that she wanted one. Oh well. I had done what I could.

Taking all of the rings in hand, I stood up. There were no more clouds in the sky, and the rainy season in this world was coming to its end. I saw the bright, blue desert sky for the first time in a while, and I couldn’t help but be entranced, despite being covered with cuts and bruises.

My foot sank into the sand as I took a step forward, and I thought about how sand would have scattered all over the place if it hadn’t been weighed down with water like it was now.

§

I went back to the riverbed from earlier to retrieve my bag and froze in place. The three others were waiting beside my belongings.

I was surprised, but I sort of expected it at the same time. I gave Wridra a look as if to say, “You tricked me,” but she shrugged as if to say, “Look who is talking.” She was right; I had tricked them first.

We made a promise that I would have a discussion with them before making any moves. But there was no way I could’ve discussed this with them beforehand. I had merely made the decision to take out the unconscious Zarish in the most efficient way possible. I had, in a sense, tricked and betrayed them the moment I decided to go through with it.

It was hard to stand there with the guilt swelling inside me. There stood Marie with her long hair shimmering in the sunlight, her clear, pale skin, and her amethyst eyes—which looked tired from lack of sleep. She must have been watching my battle from afar.

The sky was beautifully clear after the rain, and a humid wind blew by. The air was nice and refreshing in contrast to how I felt inside. Sand crunched under Marie’s foot as the elf girl stepped toward me. My heart ached to see her eyes were swollen from crying so much.

“Welcome back,” she said.

“Thanks.” We made the exchange from about a meter or so away. But the distance felt enormous compared to when we were holding each other’s hands.

“I...”

Zarish was a person who had no qualms about beating on the weak. Unless I broke his spirit by myself and took away his rings, he would have continued to do so. No, that was just an excuse. The truth was, I simply loathed him. That man who had touched Mariabelle as if he knew her and plotted to make her his object.

But as I struggled to find the words, Marie turned her face to show me her cheek. Her skin was red where she pointed, but I wondered what it was supposed to mean. As I tried to figure it out, she parted her lips to speak once again.

“There’s no need to apologize. I was watching footage of the events at the riverbed as they occurred, but I was shouting for you to cut off Zarish’s fingers as he lay unconscious. Eve and I got in a scuffle then.”

“...Huh?”

I quickly looked over at Eve. It was hard to tell at first due to her darker skin, but one of her eyelids was swollen. It seemed her displeased expression was because their fight had ended in a draw, with each of them sustaining those injuries. Wait, had it really ended in a draw, even with Marie’s small stature? I stood there flabbergasted, and Marie’s pale purple eyes looked directly at me with a bit of a somber expression.

“I mean, there wasn’t going to be a better opportunity than that. He treated those women at the manor so terribly, and he even tried to kill Eve. If you didn’t take drastic measures there, he would have continued his atrocities.”

“That’s true, but... Oh, I see. So that’s why Wridra stopped me.” I looked over at her, but the black-haired beauty shrugged her shoulders and played dumb. She had done so to stop her friend Eve from fighting with Marie and to lead me to a better path.

“So there’s no need to apologize,” Marie said as she smiled at me. Then, I was surprised by how quickly the guilt in my heart dissipated. I had done such a shameful thing, but these two had made the uneasy feeling in me vanish completely.

The wind blowing from the east really did feel refreshing, and I stared at the girl with hair as white as the clouds. Her purple eyes met mine, her long, white lashes meeting as she blinked.

She was so precious to me. And there was one thing I realized through all of this. Even when facing the hero candidate himself, I couldn’t just stand still. I had recklessly plowed forward, and what seemed to be an obstacle that was impossible to overcome was now gone.

It seemed Mariabelle was far more important to me than I’d thought.

Maybe I loved her. No, I’d loved her for a long time now. Ever since the day we had held hands in Japan and started walking together. Before I knew it, I was speaking my honest feelings out loud to her.

“Mariabelle, I’ve always had feelings for you. I’d like you to go out with me, if that’s okay with you.”

“Hm? What do you mean? We’re always together already.” Her straightforward response left me frozen for a while.

Whaaa...? Was the phrase “go out with me” was a bit too difficult to understand? Maybe I should have asked her to officially date me instead? It took quite a lot of courage to get the words out, so explaining what I meant was going to be incredibly difficult. My face was hot enough as it was. Marie cocked her head, completely oblivious, with the other two ladies looking up at the sky out of second-hand embarrassment.

“It’s hard to understand when you don’t specify where you want to ‘go out.’ Come to think of it, you mentioned going to the beach. Of course I’d like to go with you. I’m interested in those so-called swimsuits, too... What? That’s not it? So what did you mean?”

The other ladies made a face as if to say “Oof...” Then, they alternated between looking at me and each other. This was basically torture. Unable to handle it anymore, Wridra discreetly whispered into Marie’s ear. Though, she whispered loud enough that I could hear her saying “He is asking to court you.”

Yup, this absolutely was torture.

“Court...? Huh?!” There was a blank look of surprise on her face, and then her eyes widened into saucers, and she looked straight at me. She looked adorable as her pale skin turned bright red... Oh boy, this was embarrassing. I never would’ve guessed I would confess my love for a woman for the first time at twenty-five years old, never mind to an elf girl.

I had a hard time meeting her stare, but then I felt something touch me. It felt smooth and soft to the touch, and I looked toward the source of the sweet, feminine scent to find Marie staring right at me. She was close enough that I could’ve embraced her if I reached out. She let me move up closer to her. I felt the tip of her nose touch the side of my neck, and she whispered to me.

“D-D-Did you, try to court me just now?”

“Uhh, I-I did... Um, I’ve felt this way for a long time, but I like you a lot.” I felt myself grow so hot that smoke could’ve come out of my head, and Marie’s eyes and mouth opened wide. She pressed her little forehead against my shoulder, and it was so warm I could almost hear it sizzle against my skin. Marie stayed in that position as she muttered.

“I, I, like you, too. When we first saw those cherry blossoms together and you supported me while I was dozing off on that bench, I thought... maybe it would be nice if we could be together.”

Ohhh no, our faces weren’t just on fire now. We were getting so hot that we were both sweating profusely. We probably should have hugged for the sake of romance, but that would have ended up being a pretty sweaty embrace. We both knew this, so we just stood there with our eyes spinning as we hesitated.

Our fingertips touched. It just happened by chance, but then both of us consciously reached out to intertwine our fingers with the other’s. Her fingertip felt warm and soft as I rubbed it with my own. We touched fingers some more, and then Marie’s shoulders twitched, and she let out a heated breath onto my neck.

“For cryin’ out loud...”

“Hyes!”

“Yes, what is it, Ms. Eve?!”

We immediately backed away from each other, then looked toward Eve, who had just spoken for the first time since coming here. The dark elf woman pointed in the direction of the royal capital.

“We get it already, so why don’t you go back to the room we stayed in last night and have sex the— Yeooow?!”

She screamed in pain as she ate a headbutt from Wridra. I never thought I’d see someone get headbutted by a dragon. Eve’s scandalous comment had taken me by surprise, and I slowly turned around... to find Mariabelle standing there with her face red to the tips of her ears, her mouth flapping wordlessly.

Uh oh. This was bad. I was probably beet red myself, and when she held onto my finger with her small hand, I nearly passed out from the level of cuteness. We each stared into the distance and eased our tension over time. After taking several deep breaths, the redness in my face began to subside. I finally took Marie by the hands, and our memorable moment had come.

“So, would you like to go out with me, starting today?”

“Yes, I would. I’m your lover from now on.” We smiled at each other.

And so, my relationship with Mariabelle had officially begun.

§

As the sun began to set and the day turned to evening, a straight groove was being dug through the sand dunes. Zarish the hero candidate crawled forth on the brink of death.

Everything he had built up had been lost. Only the burning desire for vengeance moved him forward as he gripped the sand with fury in his face. Now that his rings were gone, his collection would never return to him. He had spent half of the day thinking about how this was all because of that strange black-haired boy.

But this wasn’t over. With how much he had contributed to the neighboring country, he should have been able to regain authority after making certain arrangements. He did lose a massive number of levels, but he simply had to achieve victory through power unrelated to levels. Yes, there were plenty of methods to get the job done, like hiring an assassin.

“Kill... Kill him... I’ll kill him!!!” He was so lost in his rage that he didn’t even notice someone had approached him. Zarish saw someone step up in the corner of his vision and trembled. His gaze fearfully inched upward to find tanned thighs, and then they met a dark elf’s blue eyes.

“Ahh, Eve... You came for me!”

“Yeah, of course. You know, I did end up getting killed, but I got to have so much fun in Japan because of it. So I don’t really hate you now. I’m letting you off just this once, okay?”

She smiled, and Zarish felt a wave of relief wash over him. He couldn’t understand what she was talking about, but he was elated to see she had come to help him despite all of the abuse he had given her. Having been with her longer than the rest of his collection, a bond must have been formed between them before he even realized it.

“Here, have some water. Drink slowly.”

“Right... Thanks...” He took big gulps from the canteen she handed him, just now realizing how close to death he was. Vitality began to return to his body, and he began to shake. He truly was in a critical state.

“I’ve been with you for so long. I guess I like you after all, Zarie.”

“‘Zarie’...? No, that’s fine, call me what you’d like.” He felt a small urge to kill growing inside him. Seeing her acting up just because his rings were removed, an overwhelming impulse to trample her underfoot threatened to take over. But he had to endure it for now.

The dark elf crouched down and pulled out what seemed to be a piece of precious metal from her waist. It was a ring gleaming in the sunlight, the manifestation of Zarish’s skill. Known as Engagement, it brought the subject who wore its matching ring under the wearer’s control.

“Eve... are you... giving this back to me?”

“I thought about it for a long time. But I like your face after all. And the old you, when you were so nice to me.”

Huh, I don’t recall ever being nice to you. Perhaps he had done so out of necessity when he was starting out and it had been just the two of them. He knew full well that his face was attractive, so it was highly likely that he’d given her such treatment as a strategic choice.

“But I want you to promise one thing,” Eve said. “Will you promise not to do any more horrible things to me?”

“Of course. I’ll be kinder to you than anyone, and I swear I’ll love no one but you,” Zarish replied. Eve smiled. The foolish girl was easily swayed by his lie and slid the ring onto Zarish’s finger. It stalled a bit at the first joint of his ring finger, then was moved up toward its base.

“You know, I’ve been with you for all this time, so I know certain things about you. Like how your eyes look when you’re lying.”

“Ngh...! I’m not lying...”

Just be fooled for a little while longer! All I need you to do is to slide the ring on all the way and put your life on the line to take me somewhere safe. Then, he would have been able to sell this useless dark elf to a brothel. After all, this was the only one remaining of his precious rings. As Zarish considered this, his wide eyes shifted over. He stared at the ring that Eve was trying to place on his finger and screamed.

“This... is the wrong one! This is the ring you’re supposed to wear!”

“Whaaat? This is the right one. Oh, did you already forget what happened back then? You know, the day you first tricked me.”

Back then? What was she talking about? Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember much of the days he’d spent back when they were a duo. But his memories had been getting more and more clear since he had removed the ring...

“I mean, this ring was mine in the first place. I guess my luck ran out when I believed you when you said you’d still love me even after taking the ring off.”

A chill ran down his spine at the look in her eyes. Cold sweat erupted from every pore in his body, and he couldn’t understand why those eyes struck such instinctive fear into him. Just who was this dark elf? And why had they ended up pairing up in the first place?

“I’ll tell you one more important thing, Zarie. You’re my slave, and I’m the master.”

“I’m... your slave?” He tried to laugh it off, but his body began to tremble. It was almost as if his body instinctively knew that her words were true.

“But I learned a lot after going to this place called Japan. There’s this cool boy who’s really kind and easygoing, but he never gives up on what’s important. Say, Zarie, it sure would make me happy if you turned out like that, too.”

“N-No... No! Stop, don’t touch me!”

“Nn, you’re so cute when you struggle like that. Let’s go apologize to everyone and work hard together, okay?” She pressed the ring on all the way. Zarish felt his skill disappear from inside him at the same time. And so, his Engagement skill was reborn into Commitment. No, it only returned to its original owner, to be precise.

That’s right... I stole this skill from Eve and intended to keep her alive until I could make it my own. If I killed her, the skill would have vanished. That was why I wanted to gain complete control of it, and once I was able to control multiple people at once, I was finally going to kill...

...

...

...

“Lady Eve, I am terribly sorry, but my wounds are too severe for me to move my legs. May I ask for your assistance?” Zarish asked.

“You don’t need to talk so formally. Turns out I like being on more friendly terms. Here, hold on to me. Let’s go say sorry to everyone first.” Zarish looked at her apologetically, and Eve’s cheeks turned a shade of red.

Yes... She is my master, and the woman who I will serve for life. Zarish was deeply regretful about forgetting his own past until now, and he felt gratitude as Eve helped him up with the kindness of a goddess.

§

When we returned to the manor of black roses, we were met with quite a bit of chaos.

First of all, the mistress of the manor, Puseri, was like a raging demon now that she had been released from the ring’s control. I couldn’t blame her, considering all the years that Zarish had used her manor like he owned the place, tarnished her family name, and physically taken advantage of her...

Next, Eve, who they assumed to be dead, suddenly appeared without a scratch on her. The women rose to their feet, demanding Zarish’s head, but the venom in their eyes was immediately replaced with surprise as they saw Eve. They all piled on to hug her until she screamed for mercy. Taking Zarish out of the equation, these women were all dear friends who had spent many years together.

And finally... Zarish, who had been waiting outside, made his appearance.

Puseri’s hair bristled up like black roses coming to life, and Zarish looked more horrified than he had ever been. I almost expected his blond hair to turn completely white with fear. Come to think of it, we used her to scare him so many times that she may have turned into a symbol of fear in his mind.

Zarish prostrated himself, but he was met with explosive wrath. Not only did Puseri hurl all manners of verbal abuse at him, but she punched, kicked, and punched him some more in a tempest of violence. Seeing this, the malice in the other members seemed to dissipate... In fact, they were backing away from her a bit.

“Wow, that’s impressive. Puseri is like a demon. Maybe Eve was right, and this all could have been resolved just by taking his rings off.”

To be honest, I didn’t really want to get involved in all of this, so I decided to take a stroll through the garden of beautiful roses in bloom. Her response was only natural. That man had wiped out her entire family. He could have spent an eternity trying to make amends, and it still wouldn’t have been enough. This was why I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d killed him then and there.

“Boy, would you look at that. You can’t find black roses like this anywhere in Japan.”

“They’re glistening like black pearls. Have you heard? It’s been four whole years since they bloomed like this. Maybe it’s because we taught that man a lesson,” Marie replied. I was impressed to hear that. I heard loud crashing noises from the manor even now, but I kept my distance from their business. It was scary, and I really didn’t want to poke my nose into all that.

“But I was surprised to find out Eve was the original owner of the rings.” Little did she know, Eve had secretly told me about this at the park on the way home from Grimland. She had told me it would’ve been fine if I injured him, but I had to leave his fingers intact and return his rings to her.

“Yeah, maybe the main issue with materialization skills is that they can be stolen, like in this case.” This meant there was a chance that Zarish could have become her master again, but it was unlikely that Eve would let her guard down after what she had gone through. In a sense, she may have been the ultimate keeper, and she was like the master of a rabid dog.

But this whole commotion wasn’t very fitting of the elite Team Diamond. I caught a glimpse of Zarish earlier, half naked in his tattered clothes, but maybe they would go easy on him, considering he had just lost an eye... Well, probably not.

Maybe I’d give it some time and show them the footage of the horror show we put on later. It was pretty hilarious, so it may have helped calm their anger somewhat. Though, this would probably have to be several weeks later.

I walked through the garden of flowers, maintained with love and care.

At the end of the footpath was a shaded area where one could enjoy the sun filtered through the foliage, as if it was a resting area for anyone who was strolling about. We had gotten permission to stay at the manor of black roses, in addition to Zera’s mansion, and we let Shirley guide us to our seats as she glided over with her semi-transparent feet. She was wearing a servant’s outfit that Team Diamond had been wearing, but maybe someone had let her borrow it. Wridra joined us after going around on a stroll of her own, and three fragrant cups of tea were set on the table before us, along with some baked snacks and red fruits.

“Ah, they really do use some nice tea leaves. Mmm, I can enjoy it just from the smell,” I said.

“Hmm, it has such a strong, unique scent. It’s so light and easy to drink, despite its strong fragrance... Oh, how I envy rich people. Let’s become rich ourselves one day, okay?” Marie said before taking a sip of tea. This tea was meant to be enjoyed by taking in the smell and drinking small sips over time. I glanced up to find Shirley looking at everyone with her sky blue eyes and smiling gently.

There were many dresses in this manor, but Marie ended up picking a pure white one piece in the end. It wasn’t too different from what she wore in Japan, but it was fitting for the adorable elf girl.

As for Wridra, she was sniffing the fruit that had been prepared for us. Then, she glanced right at me... Man, she caught on quick.

“Oh, the fruits in this region aren’t very good,” Marie warned, but Wridra tossed it into her mouth without letting it deter her. She groaned, “Hnnngh!” and chewed for a bit, but then her eyes sparkled in delight.

“This is delicious! Its sweet, yet tart juices are overflowing with every bite!”

“What? That can’t be...” Marie said doubtfully as her eyes met mine. It seemed she caught me smiling at her, and she reached for the ruby-red fruit in a fluster. She placed the plump fruit up to her mouth and punctured its skin with her teeth, and then her eyes widened as its juices seeped out, filling her senses with a sour-sweet flavor and refreshing scent.

Marie let out a sigh with a dreamy expression, her cheeks slightly pink. She began to chew and swallowed with the same blissful expression on her face the entire time.

“It’s so sweet! Mmm, I love this sweet tartness. Where did you get this?”

“Hehe, these are cherries that were sent from Aomori. Grandpa must have really wanted us to enjoy some delicious ones. It’s pretty rare for them to be so big.”

The two women “Oooh”ed cheerily. It seemed Japanese products were highly trusted, even by residents of the fantasy world, and they enjoyed the flavors of early summer to their heart’s content. Though, cherries were actually quite pricey. It may have become a bit troubling if they started asking for more. I did have some left in the fridge in my room, so I decided to take some pictures of us eating them to send to my grandpa later. Suddenly, I felt Marie poke my shoulder.

“Look, the cherries your grandfather gave us are about to run out.”

I was looking up at the sky, then turned to look from Marie’s prompting. She held up a cherry and told me to open my mouth, so I obeyed.

I waited with my mouth open, but then something covered my vision. I felt her soft hand over my eyes, and a cherry touched my lips after a delay. The sun-blessed fruit left a sour-sweet scent, and I felt a soft sensation cover my lips. I heard the chair creaking, and I could feel myself growing hot from the soft “something” and sweet fragrance.

Did she just...?

My vision suddenly returned, and there I saw an elf wiping fruit juice from her lips. Then, she flashed a smile as brilliant as the sun itself.

“Hehe, did it taste good?”

Uh, I, well... To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention to that. But I nodded without really thinking about it, as if guided by an invisible force. The elf who lived in my room was so attractive that it was troubling. I chewed on another one of the remaining fruits, and it was indeed sour-sweet and delicious.

Beads of water could be seen on the surface of the plump fruits, and they glimmered in the sunlight leaking through the foliage. It was almost as if they signified the end of the rainy season and official start of summer.

Chapter of Slavery END