'Where am I... Am I dead? Did I die?'

Kazuma tried to understand his current situation.

He struggled to open his eyes, but once he managed to get them open, he was blinded with a bright light.

He shielded his eyes from the bright sun that was peering through the window.

He focused his eyes and saw he was in his room, in his bed.

Confused, he got up and out of his bed.

"What am I doing here?" Kazuma asked himself, inspecting his surroundings.

He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, so he exited his room in search for the others.

"Where are they? They must know something about this."

He quickly moved his way down the halls until he opened the door to the living room.

He saw Aqua lazing on the couch while Darkness and Megumin were playing chess on the dining table.

"Everyone-" He called out, but was cut off when he felt something tug at his wrist.

He looked to see his right hand in a handcuff.

"Wait... why am I..?" Kazuma questioned before he saw the unusually long chain. He followed it before he saw the person on the other side.

It was Sena.

"Stop right there, terrorist!" She shouted as she tugged at the handcuff, pulling him closer to her.

"Stop it! Guys, help me!" He cried out to the girls. But none of them noticed. He kept calling out to them, until the door had slammed shut.

"No..." He fell to his knees in despair.

Just when he thought it couldn't get worse, Kazuma felt several arrows impale themselves into his back, causing him to scream out in pain.

Right as he sat there in agony, he felt a pair of knives stabbing into his arms, causing him to collapse onto the floor.

"What a shame." Said a female voice.

He looked up to see a fireball headed right for him.

"No..."

The fireball got closer to him.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"


Kazuma woke up with a cold sweat. His breathing was uneven while his heartbeat was elevated.

'Where... Where am?' Kazuma questioned.

He looked around to see he was in an unfamiliar room. He was laid in a bed and under covers.

He tried to get up but his body refused to comply, responding with only pain.

He looked at his arms to see them bandaged. While inspecting himself, he noticed that his top was off, revealing his torso to have some bandages as well.

Suddenly the door opened and man and woman walked in.

"Oh! You're awake! Welcome back to the land of the living." The man said.

He saw that the man short brown hair and brown eyes, and wore iron armour, similar to the guards he saw before. The woman had long blond hair with blue eyes, and was dressed in blue robes, round glasses and had a hat like some of the mages back in Axel had, so Kazuna presumed she was a mage of sorts as well.

"Who..." Kazuma asked weakly, but he was unable to finish his sentence.

"Ah, where are my manners! My name's Dale, this one here is Lily. I am a guard at the border gate, Lily is a mage and she came by to deliver something to me."

"How... How did I get here?"

"Careful now, save your energy. But to answer your question."


Dale was standing on the top of the gate. He was one of the people who were meant to spot enemies coming from a long distance.

"Dale!" Called out a voice.

Dale looked to the side to see Lily walking over to him.

"Lily! What brings you here?" He asked.

"I stopped by the weapons smith who said he had finished repairs on your weapon. He asked if I could deliver it to you so I agreed." She said, presenting his sword to him, which he gladly took.

"Ohhh thank you! It feels so much better to use my weapon than one of the standard ones here.

"It's no problem. Now I must be on my way- Wait... what is that?" Lily asked looking out into the forest.

"What?" Dale asked before looking towards the forest.

They saw a few small orange balls flying in the air. They didn't think much about it until they fell down and set off an explosion each.

"Explosions?!" Dale activated his farsight skill to see further down the road.

There he spotted a young man waving his hands, as if he was calling out to them.

"There's someone on the road!"

"What?! An enemy?" Lily asked.

"No, he seems to be running from the explosions." Suddenly the person fell over.

After a moment he saw him shoot a small fireball into the air. It flew for a moment before dissipating.

'A flare?' Dale thought to himself.

Suddenly, more fireballs appeared, all seemingly targeting the fallen man.

"Lily! Summon a barrier! Protect him!" He said Lily nodded in response.

"Barrier!" She raised he hand out, summoning a bubble around the person. The explosions went off, which drained some of her mana.

While she was able to defend him from the brunt of the attack, he still got blown away from the blast, which got him closer to them. The barrier shattered as he hit the ground, but the guards nearby rushed over to defend him.

They spotted three bandits who seemed to be targeting the man

"Stop right there! You will not get any farther." Dale shouted.

"Tch, we were so close... No point in getting captured here." Said the female of the three before they ran off.

They all relaxed before the turned towards the passed out man on the ground.

"What should we do with him?" One of the guards asked him.

Dale and Lily looked at each other before nodding.

"We'll take him into the city, from the looks of it he could use some healing."


"And that brings us here. We're currently at Lily's place since my house is usually a mess. Since she knew restoration magic she was able to heal most of your wounds, but you better take it easy to make a full recovery." Dale said, finishing his explanation.

"... Thank... you..." Kazuma said weakly.

"Oi, I said save your strength. You can thank us once you can get back on your feet."

Kazuma slowly nodded before he passed out again.

A moment of silence passed before they heard his soft breathing, indicating he was asleep.

"Where do you think he came from?" Lily asked.

"If I had to make a guess, possibly Belzerg. It's the only thing thats across the forest."

"Then why would he go through the forest? It's extremely dangerous to pass through there."

"We can ask him when he wakes up, until then, just help him recover."

"Alright. Are you heading out?"

"Yea, I have to report this incident."

"Okay, be careful."

"No worries!" Dale said before leaving the room.

Lily watched him leave. When the door closed she turned her focus to the unconcious man.

"Why were you in the forest?" Lily asked quietly.