Time passes way too quickly and there's not sufficient amounts of it. It's always in constant demand and life can't stock it fast enough.

That's what I've been reminded of once again when I spent this past month being lazy. It's crazy.

ER-47: Glad to hear you like it.

Hirote

It's been around 3 weeks since we've started heading to Kyuu's house. Kira is in a pretty bad mood and it's obvious why. When Kyuu said it would be far, she really meant it. And I'm not entirely sure what's going on with her as well. She helps us sometimes, yet impedes us at others.

Kira distrusts her and so do I, but that's exactly why we have to do what she asks. She has the power to do anything she wants to us. Plus…

Those faces. The look of terror on her victims, their skin all shriveled up from all the blood being sucked out of them, like some sort of milkshake. The fact that the one who did that is traveling with us is terrifying. I've been doing my best to hide it, but it's hard. Harder than you'd think. I can't help but wake up feeling a bit panicked ever since that day.

Even without that however, this is turning out much worse than I could've imagined. We were forced to take a roundabout path in order to avoid anybody, but from the few times we risked going through society, there were some very unfortunate things being said about us.

The vanishment of forest guards had caught the kingdom's attention and they were pinning the blame on us (which ironically, could truthfully make sense as we were with the one who actually did it). The knight's that had attacked us when we first left, were now giving a rundown about how they were assaulted as well, and barely escaped with their lives. Even the one we saved was saying stuff about us.

They were also referring to us with some silly nicknames like 'The Shield Demon' and 'The Assassin's Blade'.

The main issue was that now they had a legitimate reason to catch us, as opposed to just being offended, something that I had really wanted to avoid.

We haven't even had time to really kill any monsters due to having to run away a few times from search knights, so our levels didn't go up much either. We did unlock a few more skills from Kyuu, one of the few good things that have happened.

"Air Strike Shield."

As I said that a large, green shield appeared in the air, floating a few inches off the ground and in front of me. It looked strong and sturdy, like it would take quite a few hits to bring it down. An intricate design covered its surface and I was surprised at the detail.

Kira smirked at me and tried out a skill of his own after seeing I was shielded. "Fear Reaction!"

The gem on Kira's dagger shined a bright red and sent out a wave of smoke around the area. I saw several insects and animals scurry away hurriedly, and I felt a small shiver go down my spine. I dispelled the shield after a few seconds and smiled.

We were currently trying out the skills that we had obtained most recently, something that we both relished in. It was a visual representation of the strength that we had obtained, a small bit of comfort that we might be able to survive here.

Kyuu walked over to us, seeming excited. Testing out my treats I see! I'm awfully generous aren't I?

Kira scowled. "You're the one who demanded we earn these by being good. And it's not like this is the first time we've done this. What do you want?"

Well, I figured it's time to break the news. She started. We have officially arrived at our destination!

Me and Kira looked at her confused. "Kyuu, we're in the middle of an empty field." I told her.

She looked me in the eyes and laughed. I'm aware of that. The house is hidden.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Kira demanded.

Kyuu backed up and put her hands up. I had to find where it was obviously! I haven't been here in a few centuries. Sorry if you expected me to have a memory of an elephant.

"Wait, so are you actually like...?" Kira began while looking disgusted.

Kyuu opened her mouth into an O.

You were just thinking I'm an old hag weren't you? How rude! It might be true that I've been around for a while, but we vampires maintain the maturity and physicality of when we were first changed, meaning that I'm still a young and supple girl.

She winked at the two of us. That also means that if either of you are interested it's perfectly fine.

Kira's face shifted to become even more disgusted. I just ignored her and motioned to take us to the house.

Kyuu nodded, seeming amused and turned around. We watched as she took a dagger out of the sleeve of her robe and rolled it up, before proceeding to pull across it her arm.

Blood splattered onto the grass turning it red. Apparently it wasn't enough because she pushed deeper and more blood spurted out. After she was satisfied, she focused on the pool that had now formed. The blood started curling around and splitting into several strands. It eventually formed a circle with several runes, probably this world's language.

The moment it was finished the ground began shaking. It was subtle and not really strong enough to notice, but it started to grow in intensity until it eventually became a full on earthquake.

"W-What the hell?" Kira asked, stumbling around staggeredly.

I was surprised as well, but not at the earthquake. In fact, I was so surprised that I didn't even notice being slammed into a tree, though that might have been due to my defense.

The patch at the circle was cracking open and pushing up a mansion.

It was the most amazing and beautiful looking building I've ever seen, bright and sparkling with an ornate gate surrounding the whole thing. It was shocking to see how large it was even though it wasn't fully exposed yet.

We kept getting hit into things and falling for a while until it was finished. I stood in awe while Kira pretended to be unfazed.

Voila! Here it is!

I raised my eyebrows at her. "You call this a house? This must have been extremely expensive. Don't tell me you used..."

Yup! You'd be surprised at how much people carry on them. And the dead have no use for money so why not?

I felt my stomach begin to turn and I pushed it down. Kira didn't seem to really care though and just sighed something about being overdramatic.

We entered the gate that was surrounding the mansion and walked over to the door. I sunk everything into my eyes, taking in the beauty. While I had seen other places that were as impressive and big, like the place we had met the king, this mansion had more of a natural and beautiful feeling to it as opposed to the impression of pure wealth I had received there.

And when we entered, I was even more amazed. This place had been taken really good care of here as everything sparkled. But what caught my attention the most was... the warmth. Even though I had only just arrived, it felt like home.

Home.

Since we had been summoned here we Kira and I were forced to live in the forest, constantly aware that we were being sought after by monsters and people alike. It was daunting to say the least. And now, just a little bit of burden had been lifted off our shoulders.

Possibly. We can't forget that this might be a trap after all.

"I guess this is fine." Kira said, smiling a little despite his efforts, seeing how cozy it was. Kyuu pouted and then stopped to put her hand to her face, like she was thinking.

By the way, one more thing before you get all comfortable, I have to mention something.

We both looked at her a little concerned, but mostly annoyed.

"What is it?" I asked.

I forgot all about this but... There's someone else living here.

Kira snorted at this. "We already know that. It's pretty sad that you forgot about your own dad. You should go apologize to him."

Huh? My dad? She started, looking confused. After a little bit she seemed to realize what he was talking about. Ohhhh, my dad! He doesn't exist.

This caught Kira's attention and he looked like he was about to lash out before relaxing, as if he was tired. "What's even the point in lying about that?"

Makes me seem more normal to say that I have parents don't you think?

Kira blinked, his black eyes looking sorry for a few seconds before they filled with contempt. "You might seem more normal if you talked. Anyways, then who's the person living here?"

That doesn't matter. All I wanted to say is that she hangs out in the basement, and that you want to avoid her. She'll definitely object to you two staying here.

I nodded my acceptance. "If that's true, then we'll do that. Right Kira?"

"Yeah, sure." Was his response.

Hearing this from both of us Kyuu smiled. Good. Now then, feel free to do whatever you want. I won't disturb you.

After this the light around her bent and she went invisible leaving me and Kira alone.

We spent a large amount of time exploring the place afterwards. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous or suspicious, which relaxed us a little bit more. Nothing really stood out from our search except for one thing, a drawing (no cameras here) of Kyuu with two people, a boy and a girl.

The boy was cheerful and had a wide smile plastered on his face. His eyes were a rather surprising shade of purple, and his hair was a dark black. One of his hands was holding a sword, pointing it towards the sky while he held a shield in the other. It was a rather generic pose and it seemed like he was doing it on purpose as a sort of joke.

While the guy looked like he was around high school or college, the girl looked much younger, maybe around eight years old. Her hair was silver, with small streaks of blue at the ends and her eyes were a pink-red. Amazingly, she had small wings coming out of her back, giving her an uncanny resemblance to an angel. She was laughing happily as she got hugged on both sides.

And Kyuu. She looked exactly the same as she did now, the only real difference being her smile. I had never noticed until now, but her smile was always over exaggerated and stretched. Here it looked genuine, like she was truly happy. It was intriguing to say the least.

We pondered about who the other two people were for a bit before giving up. We could ask Kyuu whenever we saw her.

After that, we tried to head outside when we found that the mansion had sunk back underground. It made sense, given that it would be awfully strange if a building of this size suddenly appeared here. Just because there we weren't many people around doesn't mean we could take chances.

If we wanted to go back up, all we needed to do was think about it and the mansion would rise back up. It was similar to changing weapon forms. And thankfully the earthquake wasn't something that was actually needed, simply something Kyuu set up.

We noticed some more things that were inside the gate along with the mansion like a garden, a stable, and a training section with some dummies. Kira took out his stored up anger for a while as I examined the garden. I had never actually gone through with it, but once I had considered having one of my own and did some research. Maybe that information could come in handy now.

The stable was empty except for some straw that looked to have been used for bedding long ago. What kind of animals people keep in this world anyways? I've seen some people having these Chocobo rip-offs to pull carriages in town and that's about it.

Kira started talking. "We're doing it, huh?"

I looked at him, questioning. "What do you mean?"

He grinned and started tossing his dagger back and forth. "I mean that we're doing it! We're surviving! We're managing to do things our way!"

"I suppose we are." I looked up at the sky. "How do you think Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu are doing?"

Kira rolled his eyes. "They're probably doing just fine. I mean, unlike us they know pretty much everything."

Hearing this made me freeze.

That's true, isn't it? We were both at a severe disadvantage from the moment we came here. Me even more so, ending up with this worthless shield.

My fists clenched and I realized for the first time how tired I was. I kept pushing myself to grow stronger and yet I'm still weaker than everyone else. Why was I ever so excited about my new skills?

Kira laughed nervously at my sudden mood change. "Well, while they all got on my nerves a little bit, they seem to be alright people. Try not to get too mad at them."

I released my grip and tried to control myself. "You're right. I'm can't let my emotions through." I brushed my hand over the shield, and then remembered something important. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a while, how are you throwing your dagger?"

"Huh? Uh, I let it go as I-"

"No, what I mean is, don't you have a restriction on removing the weapon?" I interrupted.

He looked at me strangely and answered slowly. "I don't. Do you? Is that why you never take off your shield?"

I nodded. "In my help screen there's a notice saying so. It's next to the other limitations."

Kira stared intently in the air, presumably checking to see if what I said was true and shook his head. "There's nothing in here about that. I guess it's another thing I'm free from like the EXP nullification."

"That explains how I was able to use your dagger to make food that one time as well..." I scratched my head. "Alright, I say we go over the things in the help screen so we can stop having these kind of conversations once and for all."

We already knew about not wielding other weapons, EXP nullification, and now removing weapons, so we went over everything else. Strangely though, it seemed like there was nothing more that differed, meaning that we had already found out what we needed. Unless there were things not listed in the help screen for whatever reason, we were safe.

"My dagger is pretty great then!" Kira said, pleased. "I've got some extra abilities!"

"Yeah. It sure is." I made my way back to the entrance. "I'm going to get some sleep. Wake me up if you need anything."

He nodded and I went back inside, closing the door behind me.

...

Walking over to the bedrooms, I laid down. There was one single thought that remained in my head.

Not fair.

When I woke up the first thing I did was check around.

No knights. We were safe.

I sighed in relief and got up slowly off the bed before searching for Kira. Instead, the first person I found was Kyuu.

Sheesh, what took you so long to wake up? It's been a whole day, you know?

"Considering we've had to wake up at around three in the morning for the past few weeks, I believe that's justified. Where's Kira?"

He's lounging around in the living room. I'm surprised at how lax he is considering the time remaining.

I started walking towards there, and she followed. "Time remaining? Do you mean until the waves?"

Kyuu nodded, looking impressed. Yup. They come about every month, so time is almost up. You two never mention them, so I thought that you two had completely forgotten about them.

I laughed a little bit. "Of course not. The waves are the key to returning back to our world." I looked back at her from the corner of my eye. "You do have a valid point however. Now that we can stay in one area without being seen or you having to kill, I want to spend as much time possible grinding for experience. We're on a time limit, and given the fact that Melromarc's entire army could barely fight off the last wave, I'm not entirely confident. Once Kira is done resting we'll be outside."

Is that a way of saying you don't want me to come along?

"Sorry."

Hmm... I'm coming anyways. You two didn't have to deal with me yesterday that much, so you should be fine with that today right? She smiled innocently at me. And you'll need me in case you two get hurt.

I hung my head for a few seconds. "Alright. But please don't try anything. We-"

You don't have to worry! Now, let's eat breakfast! Kira got some food hunting while you were asleep.

She skipped away forwards, humming(?) a song. I stood in silence for a little, feeling uneasy. These past few weeks, Kyuu hasn't acted up or done anything too absurd. This might be the time where she does.

I just need to make sure we don't die. That's it.

I rushed after her. I didn't want Kira to deal with her on his own. And more importantly, I was starving.

I need a nap now. Pathetic, I know.