Heart of Akasha

A/N: Thank you for your reviews, merendinoemiliano and ThatOneGuyUpstairs. Also in response to the latter figuring out some stuff that's important to the story as a while, I've added a post in the forum of this story under World Building for those who are interested.

Chapter 12: Side Side Quests

It was still dark outside when they made it down the next day. It was at a time where only those that had to stand up, did so. Generally that meant owners of businesses that awaited costumers as soon as the sun was up. Luckily the guild doubled also as a tavern, which meant that they were open pretty much all the time. Rightfully, as besides them some other people also had decided to come in for an early breakfast. Kazuma himself on the other hand hadn't shown up, so they did as he had suggested and went looking through the quests.

However…

"I forgot I can't read this stuff", exclaimed Ji-Han as he took a piece of paper with the drawing of something resembling a gryphon with the head of an Egypt pharaoh and a scorpion's tail.

PING!

{A quest has been created.}

{Quest Alert

Heartless Sphinx: Does not bother with the Riddle

Thanks to a General of the Demon Lord's Army showing up, most of the monsters near Axel have fled. In their stead now new black creatures show up.

Defeat a [Dark Sphinx] within 5 days.

Bonus Objective:
Defeat the enemy personally.

Completion Award: +15 000 EXP for every party member.
A payment of 200 000 Munny divided upon all party members.

Bonus Award:
A payment of 200 000 Munny divided upon all party members.

Completion Failure: +2 000 EXP for every party member}

Luckily he didn't need to. As far as the specifications of the quest went, he got them all thanks to his Gamer.

"This is for the Dark Sphinx that Kazuma had talked about", Ji-Han explained as he put the quest paper back. "The payment is 200 000 Munny normally and double, if I defeat it."

"So, halfway into Kazuma's quest after we divide it", Naofumi mused. "And yet we had been explicitly warned not to go after that one. What about this one?"

Naofumi pointed towards one depicting a cartoonish-skeleton of black color with the Heartless-symbol on top of its skull carrying around a spear of sharpened white bone.

{A quest has been created.}

{Quest Alert

Heartless Skeletons: Worse than actual Undead

Thanks to a General of the Demon Lord's Army showing up, most of the monsters near Axel have fled. In their stead now new black creatures show up.

Defeat 15 [Bone Picker] within 5 days.

Bonus Objective:
Defeat as many of the enemies as possible personally.

Completion Award: +2 000 EXP for every party member
A payment of 50 000 Munny divided upon all party members.

Bonus Award:
A payment of 4 000 Munny divided upon all party members for every [Bone Picker] defeated by the Gamer.

Completion Failure: +1 000 EXP for every party member}

"Those are the Bone Picker", Ji-Han relayed. "15 of them go for 50 000 Munny with 4 000 for every one I defeat."

"So between 50 000 and 200 000", mused Naofumi. "That means that after four quests, we have done the minimum requirement for Kazuma's. Unfortunately, we don't know how many days we actually have. What else is there?"

The answers were 7 Killer Bunny for 63 000 Munny 10 Hook Bat for 60 000 Munny, 10 Large Body for the same, 5 Big Jumper for 50 000 Munny, 5 Unlucky Cat for 75 000 Munny and 5 Shaggy Shuck for 100 000 Munny.

"If we go with the amount of Munny one would get for each one", Naofumi calculated. "The danger level goes from Bone Picker to Hook Bat and Large Body to Killer Bunny to Big Jumper to Unlucky Cat to Shaggy Shuck to Dark Sphinx."

"So it's Bone Picker first", mused Ji-Han and he took the quest. Even if getting 15 of them seemed more like a chore, they didn't know how strong any of the enemies on the list were compared to those they already fought. So they had to start small and raise the stakes step by step.

Ji-Han went to the receptionist called Luna, the only receptionist currently behind the counter because of the early hour. A woman with golden eyes and wavy blond hair that, besides the two strands to the sides of her face, had been styled back into a bun. Her white top left her shoulders and cleavage bare, emphasizing her large chest.

"Welcome", she greeted them and Ji-Han's attention wandered to the red ribbon around her neck. "What can I do for you?"

"We would like to accept a quest", he spoke, showing her the piece of paper.

"One of the Heartless quests?" She read. "Even if it is just Bone Picker, I have to ask, are you aware that the danger level of Heartless is above their respective rewards because Heartless cannot be defeated permanently?"

"I know", answered Ji-Han. "That's why I am starting with the Bone Picker in the first place. But speaking of, that does mean we can get a bonus, if we actually defeat them permanently, right?"

Luna looked like she had trouble deciding if he was serious or not.

"Then are you in the possession of a Keyblade?" She wanted to confirm. "It is the only object said to be able to destroy Heartless permanently. And even then we have not been able to find proof of its existence. Do you have any?"

"Well…" Ji-Han summoned Binary Spirit into his hand. "If you'd see me defeat an Emblem-Heartless; that would clear things up pretty easily."

"Why don't you close something?" Suggested Naofumi and Ji-Han's face brightened.

"Right", he acknowledged, "something that has been closed with the Keyblade can only be opened by one. Do you have something you don't mind us using it on?"

But before Luna could respond, black holes appeared around them.

"Heartless!" Luna shouted as she backed away while all around the guild hall people took to their weapons.

"[Power Strike]!" Shouted Ji-Han and obliterated one of the three Soldiers {+23 EXP} while Naofumi used Air Strike Shield to block the attack of one of the two Shadows against a retreating staff member, allowing another adventurer to defeat the black menace.

Shua attacked the second Soldier with a Super Shocker to agro it and later take it down with a well-placed Power Strike of his own {+23 EXP}. Meanwhile the second Shadow and third Soldier were defeated by other adventurers and everybody returned back to business after all the two seconds the fight took.

"Please tell me, you saw that", Naofumi addressed Luna as she returned to her place behind the counter.

"I did", she acknowledged. "Your weapon really does have a different effect on Heartless than anything else." Yeah, a crystal heart floating into the sky was not something you saw every day. "I cannot make any promises yet, but we should be able to give you a bonus for each of the Heartless in the quest Ji-Han himself defeats. Unless you also happen to have a Keyblade?"

"Nope, I am the only one", responded Ji-Han cheerfully. "I am awesome like that."

"You can say that once you are able to defeat a Soldier without a Power Strike", Naofumi commented and Ji-Han bristled. It wasn't his fault that his Gamer decided to separate blunt and slashing weapons. And he still could defeat a Soldier without using a skill no problem. It just took longer.

"We should get some merchandise then", suggested Ji-Han and Naofumi nodded.

"We should", he agreed. "In fact, let's do that now since our last party member has yet to appear."

Since neither Ji-Han nor Shua had anything against it, that was what they did. By the time they got back to the guild building, they had gained a Shadow underneath Naofumi's mantle, a Wooden Arrow from one of the defeated Bizarre Archers, 2442 EXP each, one surprise-level in High Jump and two levels in Slashing Weapon Mastery. And it seemed Kazuma had already arrived, considering the wailing of "Kazuma!" that greeted them upon entrance.

The origin of this voice was a woman shaking down the aforementioned hero.

The woman in question was so beautiful that it should be impossible, with white fairytale skin, clear blue eyes, long smooth flowing-hair which on top of her head had been styled into a stylistic ring, held there by one large blue and two smaller yellow marbles. She wore an indigo vest, a mini-skirt of a brighter blue, white knee socks mostly vanishing in the high blue boots and white detached sleeves leaving a small part of her upper arms bare.

Yet the most surprising feature of her was the fact that only question marks were above her head:

[-ˀ?ˀ-
LV? ˀ?ˀ]

Just what was Kazuma's relation to such a powerful character?

Ironically, the question was answered right afterwards as the woman continued to shake him.

"How could you do this?!" She shouted while she did so. "How could you just leave us and join another party?! I thought we were friends! Why can you go out adventuring while I have to work at the shop?!"

"We had already seen the signs", exclaimed a tall woman with light blue eyes and yellow hair styled in a ponytail. She wore armor of mostly yellow color that switched between cloth and metal with a feathery-looking shoulder guard on the right.

[-Crusader-
LV22 Dustiness Ford, Lalatina]

"He was saying he tried to catch the latest gossip, but in the end he truly was looking to join another party. This feeling… I don't like it…"

"Hey, Kazuma", finally said the last member of the little group calmly. "I thought you had finally come to understand the greatness of Explosion Magic? Was that all a lie?"

Completing the trifecta of primary colors, the young girl wore red clothes underneath her black cloak with golden trim, as well as her a large black witch-hat with two buttons as eyes and a cloth added around the whole hat that gave it the resemblance of a mouth when looked at from the front. She also wore black fingerless gloves, a chocker, and a loose belt around her waist and a black knee-high stocking on her left leg, while the right had been wrapped in with bandages. Her left eye was hidden behind a red eye-patch with a yellow cross, but the right one was of a red color, both formed by her black hair which at both sides reached further than the trim of her cloak.

[Crazy-Headed Girl
-Arch Wizard-
LV28 Megumin]

It was then that Ji-Han realized, where he knew these names from: They were the people mentioned in the quest as those that would dislike him if he joined with Kazuma! And the reason they would dislike him was because they were Kazuma's original party members. The party members, not able to fight against Heartless.

"Oi, are you finished?" Interrupted Naofumi the quarrel, redirecting their attention towards him. "We have places to be."

The blue-haired girl, Aqua, if Ji-Han remembered correctly, let go of Kazuma and marched towards him.

"So you are the one who trying to steal Kazuma away?" She accused him, making him frown. He looked like he wanted to retort something, but thought better of it. Instead he simply walked past her completely ignoring her. Naturally that enraged her.

"Hey!" She shouted and made to go after the Hero of the Shield but Ji-Han stopped her.

"It's okay", he told her. "We are not going to steal him away. It's just a temporary alliance until we manage to close the keyhole."

"The keyhole?" She repeated confused. "You mean the one that's above the entrance of the guild building?"

WOOOSH!

You could hear the wind being displaced as Naofumi spun around to stare at the blue-haired girl. Ji-Han didn't fare any better.

"You know where the keyhole of the world is?" He asked her incredulous and she puffed her chest out with pride.

"Of course I know", she claimed. "I am the goddess Aqua, after all."

Ji-Han missed how Kazuma groaned. A goddess? That would explain her high level. But why was a goddess not able to defeat Heartless? You would think something holy would at last get rid of them temporarily.

"I didn't see any keyhole when we entered", pointed Naofumi out as he walked towards the goddess. She just huffed in response.

"Of course you wouldn't", she responded condescendingly. "Do you really expect the world to show the keyhole to its heart that easily?"

"But you can tell where it is", he continued. "That means we can directly go to it without having to proof ourselves, doesn't it?"

But Ji-Han wasn't so sure about that.

"I… I don't think that's a good idea", he spoke up hesitantly. Naofumi looked at him questioningly.

"Why?" He wondered. "I thought you of all people would want to close the keyhole as fast as possible."

"The last time I saw someone forcing themselves to the keyhole, my world got destroyed", Ji-Han explained. "And we just had to fight against Heartless inside the building. I don't think revealing it before the world is ready, is a good idea."

"If you think so", conceded Naofumi nonchalantly. "You are the boss. I am just here to make sure you survive."

He turned back to address Kazuma:

"Are you coming?"

"Right", the Lucky Thief broke from his stupor and went to join them.

"I'll be back later", he said his goodbyes to Aqua and the rest of his party as he walked out of the door with Ji-Han's. "Where to now?"

"We've decided on the Bone Picker", the Gamer explained. "Do you know any spots where they show up?"

"That would be the graveyard where we met Wiz", Kazuma suggested. "Let me guide you there."


PING!

{You have entered a different territory.}

"What the-", Ji-Han couldn't help but shout out in surprise.

PING!

{You have entered Aqua's Graveyard Sanctuary.}

{Not having protection against holy, the effectiveness
of all the Soul-, Shadow- and Rot-Elemental abilities of
you, [Iwatani, Naofumi], [Shua] and [Satou, Kazuma]
have been reduced by 99%.}

"Are you guys seeing what I am seeing?" Kazuma asked and Ji-Han looked over to him.

"You got a message, too?" He asked and Kazuma nodded.

"So your Gamer not only shows the effects of areas claimed by other people", surmised Naofumi, "it also gives the information to all party members entering the territory."

"I wouldn't say she claimed this graveyard", noted Kazuma. "But she does send the restless souls of the departed here to the afterlife each morning. But for that to still linger… I guess she is a goddess, after all."

"Speaking of", remembered Ji-Han. "Didn't you say, she is useless against the Heartless? As a goddess, shouldn't she be pretty effective, even if she can't deal with them permanently?"

Kazuma shook his head.

"We thought so, too. But purification doesn't work against Heartless at all. Even though they are supposed to be corrupted hearts."

"Looks like the Keyblade really is the only thing to purify them", mused Ji-Han, only for black portals to open up around them.

"They are here!" Naofumi called out as they gathered in a circle back to back. Four Bone Pickers and two Shadows showed up and Ji-Han instantly used [Observe] on the former.

{Bone Picker Lv12
Status: Unaffected
HP: 100/100
MP: 80/80
Type: Emblem-Heartless.
Elemental Alignment: Bones
Elemental Resistances: Fire (0.5), Water (0.75), Ice (0.5),
Air (0.5), Lightning (0.5), Earth (0.75), Leaf (0.25),
Shadow (0.25), Darkness (0.5), Bones (0.75), Blood (0.75),
Rot (0), Poison (0), Shell (0.75), Time (0.1)
A Heartless commonly found in graveyards. Its funny look
only makes its tendency to impale its prey more disturbing.
STR: 20 VIT: 12 DEX: 15
INT: 10 WIS: 10 LUK: 10}

"Level 12", read Ji-Han out loud. That would normally seem easy, however… "What's with all the resistances?! At last None, and Fight still work." And that was all he could tell his party members, before the Heartless attacked and his focus was needed elsewhere.

"[Guard]!" Activated Ji-Han to block the attack. Unfortunately, since the enemy was stabbing with his spear, Ji-Han failed to bring his Keyblade into the right position and he was impaled.

{-8}

Not that it did much damage.

"[Power Strike]!" Shouted Ji-Han as he bashed in the skull of the skeleton, freeing its heart in the process. {+125 EXP} Then he moved out of their formation towards the next Bone Picker. Kazuma had already activated [Ambush] to skulk around and attacked one of the Shadows from behind. He managed to do so twice, until the Heartless wised up and flattened itself on the ground, forcing Kazuma to disengage and hide himself again.

Shua meanwhile was using his small size to duck under the spear of another Bone Picker and eliminated it with a Power Strike of his own. {+125 EXP} Unfortunately that made him with the second Shadow coming up behind him, but Naofumi whacked it with the rope from his Rope Shield, redirecting its attention towards him. That made it the second Heartless to attack him, but like the third Bone Picker, it didn't really present any danger to the Hero of the Shield.

The last Bone Picker, however, the one that Ji-Han was currently running towards, did not stab in Ji-Han's direction, but towards the ground. Which could only mean one thing.

"Watch your steps!" He send through their voice chat and a panicked "Smeargle" made him look towards his non-human companion in worry. Fortunately his warning had come in time and the cry was not one of distress but surprise at the sudden bone spike coming out of the ground that Shua just barely avoided.

Seeing that everything was alright there, he refocused on the enemy in front of him, who had immobilized himself with the attack. Smirking, Ji-Han did not use another Power Strike on the Heartless, but instead a flurry of normal attacks, to see how much a Bone Picker could take. The answer was two. {+135 EXP}

{+7 EXP}

And that was Kazuma dealing the last blow on his Shadow, leaving only one Shadow and one Bone Picker with Naofumi.

"I'll prep the Bone Picker for Kazuma", Ji-Han called out and with a "Right!" and "Smear!" the other two damage dealer of the party went after the Shadow, Kazuma with his sword and Shua with Super Shocker. Ji-Han attacked the Bone Picker with a normal attack twice and then avoided all the retributive strikes while the other two dealt with the Shadow. {+7 EXP}

But suddenly the Bone Picker stopped following Ji-Han and instead summoned a long spear in his off-hand and threw it towards the surprised Gamer.

"[Dodge Roll]!"

But Ji-Han had still the present of mind to avoid the attack. And then Kazuma was upon the Bone Picker, adding the finishing touches. {+135 EXP}

"Oh", voiced Kazuma. "I've leveled up… wait, 10?! Hadn't I been level 6 before?!"

"From my point of view you always had been level 9", Ji-Han revealed and Kazuma looked at him in surprise.

"Really? It seems like your Gamer operates differently than the mechanics of this world…" Kazuma tipped on the panel in front of him while Shua brought Ji-Han a plastic bag of… Fish Bone Meal (1kg, 3-16-0)? Looks like that is what the Bone Picker drop.

"What are Kazuma's drops?" He asked Shua who pointed at the two plastic bags in front of Kazuma, as well as the two Lucid Shards the Lucky Thief had pulled out upon that question. A quick round of Observe and Kazuma was 7 350 Munny richer. And then Ji-Han gave Naofumi one bag of bone meal to absorb.

"Alright", declared Ji-Han. "Three to five times this and we'll have finished our mission. The Bone Picker are pretty weak, so that shouldn't be a problem unless they get support from a tougher enemy. Otherwise we'll just have to make sure to always move to avoid the spikes from the ground."

"Don't forget the thrown spears", added Naofumi. "In general the Bone Picker are weak but have the ability to attack everywhere on the battlefield." He transformed his shield into the wooden seed cannon. "I'll try to monopolize the attention of as many of them as possible while you deal with the rest."

Ji-Han nodded.

"That sound like the best strategy", he agreed. "Let's do it that way."


Just like Ji-Han predicted, it took them four more battles until they managed to defeat 15 Bone Pickers, though in the end they eliminated 18 in total, exactly half of them by Ji-Han's Keyblade. And when they did, the day was still young, so they decided to get a second job. And to save the travel times, Ji-Han went with Shua, using the teleporters of his spaceship. Something that was only possible this time, as it just so happened that they had defeated enough together without Kazuma. If they needed the adventurer's card from the Lucky Thief as proof of the defeat, they would have had to go the long way.

At that Kazuma had asked, why they couldn't bring him with them up on the spaceship. But Ji-Han hadn't wanted to risk it. Even if Kazuma didn't plan on defeating the demon lord, he was still a hero of this world. And the Keeper of Balance of the last world had announced their displeasure in someone taking away one of their Chosen, no matter for how long. Who knew how this world felt about it?

So Ji-Han and Shua went together instead, getting the awards and then trying to get a mission that was not too far away from their current place. The quests [Desert Bandits: Charge while Large] and [Goddamned Bats: Just as Annoying in Real Life as in a Game] had unfortunately already been taken, so that they had to jump over that level of difficulty and go with [Rabbit of Caerbannog: Don't Dismiss the Bunnies] instead.

Though they decided to take a little rest and eat something first. Which was how Kazuma got his first taste of Half-Burned and Half-Overcooked Oumukade Toast. He was a bit disgruntled that he had to eat something that had "half-burned" in its name, but they couldn't just threw it away. And he got it for free, as Naofumi was sure to remind him. To which Kazuma proclaimed that someone who gave others stuff to eat, should at last taste-test the stuff beforehand.

What followed was an argument about eating, cooking and how it worked with his Gamer. Though Ji-Han was really just arguing for the sake of it and he had a feeling, Kazuma was the same. But he did manage to get Ji-Han to eat some of his half-good stuff to heal the meager HP he had lost in the fights against the Bone Pickers.

As for the taste… let's just say it had been a good idea to mix the good and bad stuff.

After their meal they continued onwards, towards a forest, where Kazuma had heard of the appearance of Killer Bunnies. And soon enough, they were surrounded by three of these things, supported by three Shadows and one Creeper Plant, so Ji-Han quickly used [Observe].

{Killer Bunny Lv22
Status: Unaffected
HP: 300/300
MP: 300/300
Type: Emblem-Heartless.
Elemental Alignment: Fight
Elemental Resistances: None (0.8), Fight (0.75), Stone (0.5), Bones (0.5)
This Heartless may look cute, but it has a mean hook.
It's a cheap fighter that attacks with any of his long body parts.
STR: 20 VIT: 24 DEX: 36
INT: 10 WIS: 23 LUK: 25}

"Careful Shua", warned Ji-Han the Pokémon of the white bipedal bunnies with long ears and a brown Heartless-Emblem on their back, "they are Fight-elemental Heartless with high DEX and resistance to Fight and normal attacks!"

Not only were these guys "super-effective" towards Shua, they were also resistant towards their best attacks. They were quite dangerous for the Smeargle, so Ji-Han went on the attack in haste. He swung down his Keyblade onto the nearest Killer Bunny – and promptly got one bad surprise as the attack failed to do any damage.

The Heartless had brought both his long ears down in a cross-formation, completely stopping the Keyblade in its tracks. Then it pushed against the Keyblade and threw it back, as well as his arm, leaving him completely open when the bunny jumped and rammed its knee into his chin. {-17}

While the damage was pretty negligible, the force of the attack knocked Ji-Han off his feet and flying onto his back. Which wouldn't have been that much of a problem, if a second one hadn't decided to jump up and dive towards his head with the right leg outstretched.

"[Guard]!" Shouted Ji-Han and now it was his turn to block the enemy's attack and throw the opponent off his feet.

But before he could capitalize on the opportunity, pain seared through his chest and three wooden spikes pierced through it from the ground.

PING!

{Critical Damage!}

{-215}

{You have been afflicted with [Impaled 40].}

Wood? The Creeper Plant! {-8} The wooden spikes vanished, freeing Ji-Han in the process, but he still could not get up as a Shadow jumped at him. So he quickly rolled to the side instead, pushed himself up and lunged at the Shadow, eliminating it in one strike and dropped a Lucid Shard. {+7 EXP}

"Smeargle!"

But Ji-Han completely forgot about that when Shua shouted out in distress. As Ji-Han turned in his direction, he saw how two of Bunnies had decided to change targets towards the Pokémon. And while Naofumi had managed to block one attack with an Air Strike Shield, the second came from behind with a flurry of strikes with his ears, while the third one attacked the Hero of the Shield himself.

Kazuma had gotten the attention of the two other Shadows, but seeing that the others needed support, decided to [Ambush] the Killer Bunny blocked by Air Strike Shield. But that made this one jump into the air, make a somersault backwards and then drop an axe kick down onto the Lucky Thief's head, sending him sprawling on the ground.

But when Ji-Han went to help him, he was, once again hit by wooden spikes from the Creeper Plant, he had forgotten about. {-43} Since he was on his feet, he could use High Jump to get off them unlike the time before, but it still stalled him coming to help.

"That's it!" He decided. "[Inventory]!"

This would only kill one of them, but that one was one they wouldn't have to bother about anymore!

"[Card Summoning]!" He called out and pointed the item in his hand, the Nameless Class Card towards the Killer Bunny near Naofumi. But one thing about it was different. The black scar on the front was gone, revealing the profile of a female archer with a red dress, aiming towards the left side.

And as soon as Ji-Han spoke the words, the card glowed and on the ground in front of the Gamer appeared a red-glowing magical circle. Then an actual person materialized instead of it and instantly all the Heartless stopped in their tracks and turned towards the new figure.

It was a young man with spiky white hair, a black top and trousers leaving his chest bare, white baggy pant sleeves, hold up only by suspenders. But most interesting where his eyes, as they held to emotion in them, like they were just painted on.

The new figure then threw his swords into the air and the Heartless moved. But only one Killer Bunny went after him. The other Heartless decided to continue their assault on Ji-Han's comrades. Which was when the newcomer rushed to meet his designated foe. Only he did so with twice the speed and a sword in each hand.

Before the Killer Bunny could defend itself, the newcomer had already stroke at it with his right sword while passing it, then spun around to the left and while doing so, hit the Killer Bunny backwards with the other sword, evaporating it. Then he threw both of the sword towards the Creeper Plant, eliminating it, jumped up to grab the two of the airborne swords closest to the ground and brought them down onto the second Killer Bunny, leaving only one of them.

That one was still trying to harass Shua and was thus completely unprepared when the summoned guy pierced through its back with both of his weapons. Which left only the Shadows, who were hounded by the newcomer and quickly disposed of.

Once the last Heartless had been defeated, the figure stopped dead in their tracks, just keep standing there. The swords it had brought with them, some of them even yet to hit the ground, vanished into golden motes of light one after another. And then he himself, dispersed like that, too, casting an eerie silence into the forest.

"What was that?" Exclaimed Kazuma finally. "You can summon some sort of guardian, too?"

"That was Tyr", Ji-Han explained. "I've got this [Archer Class Card], which allows me to connect to a specific Heroic Spirit, as in a person who was famous in their life. With the skill Card Summoning I can summon them to help me. But… he didn't do this the last three times. Normally he's jumping with the swords and lets them all drop down on top of a single enemy. That's the first time he went in close-quarter combat against all of them. And he was faster, too. I wonder what happened…"

"Smeargle, smeargle", Shua added enthusiastically and gestured with his hands through the air, the right one holding his tail.

"Yeah?" Asked Ji-Han. "What is it? Your level is still the same…"

Shua stared at Ji-Han, before rolling his eyes. Then he looked like he got an idea and began to smirk. He walked over to Ji-Han and motioned for him to bend down. The Gamer did so and Shua instantly colored Ji-Han's forehead indigo.

"Wha-", explained Ji-Han surprised, before Shua happily skipped a few places away, before drawing something on the ground. The symbol was like a small square standing on its tip surrounded by a pointy "C".

Ji-Han looked at the symbol but…

"…What was that supposed to mean?"

He had no clue.

"Shua probably wants to tell us that this symbol appeared on top of Tyr's forehead", Naofumi guessed and Shua made happy Smeargle-noises while nodding.

"Huh, so that's what you meant. You didn't need to paint my forehead though, did you?"

Shua just smirked at him.

"Does that mean you'll be using this summon more often?" Kazuma changed the topic. "Now that it's turned out to be more powerful?"

"It still cost me nearly all of my MP", Ji-Han pointed out. "And I am sure you noticed, but we didn't get any EXP from it. And as long as we haven't figured out why it suddenly got stronger, I can't depend on it."

"Don't tell me you can only is it once a day", Kazuma nearly pleaded and Ji-Han shook his head.

"My MP regen is 11 per minute and the Card Summoning cost 500." He revealed. "So if I don't do anything else, I'll be good in under 50 minutes."

"Which still makes it a last resort that has to be used before Ji-Han uses any other ability", Naofumi pointed out. "And since he just had to use it on common mobs, I fear for his survival in this world."

Ji-Han flinched.

"They surprised me", he defended himself. "Normally Heartless are not that coordinated or good in close-quarter combat!"

"That is actually a good point", conceded Naofumi. "Heartless are beings of instinct. That is the first time we met one that is able to guard and counter to this extend. Just hitting them won't be enough."

"I could try Guard Break", suggested Ji-Han and Naofumi agreed.

"As long as you learn to use it only when the enemy is blocking", he added. "Otherwise its Fight-element will make it weaker than a normal attack with your Data sword. You also might want to use up some of your points for DEX to keep up with them."

"Right", acknowledged Ji-Han and opened his [Status Window]. The Killer Bunnies had around 36 DEX, so if he used 11 points for DEX to bring it up to 40, he should be set for now. He then, since he was at it, used 1 point for WIS, bringing it up to 30 to increase his MP regen by 1. With that he was ready to take on the next group of Killer Bunnies.


"[Guard Break]!" Shouted Ji-Han as he brought the Keyblade onto the Killer Bunny. With it he was able to easily cleave the Heartless in half, freeing the heart inside of it. {+412 EXP} Increasing the DEX and activating Guard Break when they were blocking, really did the job. It was still a bit difficult to deal with them when they were on the attack, but as soon as they decided to block him, it was an instant game-over for them. After all, whenever Guard Break broke through a defense, it always turned into a Critical Hit.

Ji-Han turned around to see Naofumi blocking the attacks of another Killer Bunny, the last of the current group of Heartless as well as the last one needed for the quest.

"Oi, Kazuma", he called out. "I'll weaken him so try and get the last attack!"

Ji-Han did as he said and went after the Killer Bunny. As soon as he hit the Heartless, it changed targets from the Hero of the Shield to him. Ji-Han [Dodge Roll]ed and [High Jump]ed out of the way of its attacks and slashed at it in return as soon as the opportunity arose. Once he did so twice, he completely disregarded attacking and let Kazuma whittle away the last of the Killer Bunny's HP instead. However…

"…No drop item?" Exclaimed Ji-Han in surprise as the Killer Bunny vanished. He already knew that these Heartless dropped items, heck, both he and Shua had gotten Angora Rabbit Wool (500g, 70%, white) after defeating one and their LUK was pitiful compared to Kazuma's.

"Looks like the Killer Bunnies don't like you", claimed Naofumi and Kazuma gave him an angry look.

"Just you wait!" He proclaimed. "I will get a drop item from them!"

"Then let us continue for now", Ji-Han suggested. "I don't think we can start another quest today, so we might as well stay here until Kazuma got the drop items."

Which turned out to be the right decision, as Kazuma managed to get 100% pure Angora Rabbit Wool by defeating his next two Killer Rabbits, which Ji-Han didn't. He just got another 70%, which the Lucky Thief also did.

After paying Kazuma for his drop items, they decided to stop. They had already completed the conditions for the quest and currently Ji-Han had barely over 1000 Munny, meaning that even if Kazuma got them more item drops, they would not be able to buy them off him, until he got some Munny back. Either through the reward money or by selling the drop items.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just go to Traverse Town and sell them there. Even if the journey of four hours to and back was acceptable, they had no idea when an event where they could proof their intentions to the world would happen. It would be bad if something were to happen while they were away and they had to wait for the next one. Not to mention the still didn't know how fast the time flied in this world compared to Traverse Town. So they couldn't risk it. Luckily this was a Western Fantasy world, so they had all the shops Traverse Town had if they got to the city of Axel.

Which of course meant that on the way back, they ran into enough Heartless for Kazuma to get too many drop items. Which meant that they had make a list of the items which of the items in Ji-Han's inventory still belonged to Kazuma halfway. Naofumi decided on this, because if they could not sell enough items in this world, Kazuma would have to pay for their half of the items and take the items instead, or completely forgo his right on them.

But first came the reward for the completed quest:

"Here you go", spoke Nox, the receptionist. "63 000 Munny for the completion of the quest, as well as 108 000 Munny for defeating 12 Killer Bunnies permanently."

Twelve? So the bonus objective didn't cap at the original number? Good to know. Still, had he really defeated that many Killer Bunnies himself? Seemed a bit much…

Nevertheless, if they said so, it was most likely right. Ji-Han gave Kazuma his cut and then let the Lucky Thief lead him to the first of many shops. The bulk they sold at a Smithy, meaning most scrap metal and the arrows. The bone meal they sold at a flower shop as fertilizer and the rabbit wool at a clothes shop. That only left the Creeper Root and the elemental shards, the former which did not really sell for much in the first place and the latter which only Zelretch had wanted to buy. And he had yet to come back to them and tell them for what they were good.

They did find a Leon Shop to their surprise, but a sign at the front said they only bought stuff naturally occurring in this world and that people travelling through the multiverse were supposed to go to Traverse Town instead.

That meant that they had done everything that they could do for the day.

"What are we going to do now?" Kazuma asked afterwards. "Fighting against random Heartless like yesterday? Just like yesterday it is still too bright to call it a day but too late for another quest."

Ji-Han hesitated.

"No", he finally replied. "I'll have to… study."

"What?" Kazuma exclaimed dumbfounded and Ji-Han had to smile at that.

"I can increase my INT when I study", he explained. "It's incredible boring but doesn't take any of my stat points. And with a higher INT, my Max-MP increases, too. And if that is high enough, I can actually use other abilities and still have enough for Tyr."

"I see", mused Kazuma. "Then see you tomorrow."

"Bye."


"Alright", declared Ji-Han, "let's see what they have today…"

The Gamer stood in front of the notification board and looked at the available quests, specifically the ones with Heartless. There was nothing that would stop him from taking on one of the normal quests, except the fact that the Keyblade was the only thing that could deal with Heartless permanently and that he didn't want to take away this opportunity for the people of Axel.

From the day before the quests for Big Jumpers, Shaggy Shucks and the Dark Sphinx were still there. But they added one for a [Wyvern] worth 150 000 Munny, one for 10 [Houseless] worth 50 000 Munny and…

"Oh, my god", Ji-Han exclaimed exited. "They've got Two-Story Toys!"

…One for 5 [Two-Story Toy] worth 45 000 Munny.

"Seriously?" Voiced Naofumi exasperated. "You are still fixated on those stupid plushies?!"

"It's not my fault my ability decided to put collectables in it", Ji-Han defended himself. "The way these things work, I'll definitively get something once I've collected enough of them!"

"That doesn't mean it will be something useful", Naofumi pointed out. "And besides, for Kazuma to get the advantage of his high drop rate, he first had to defeat the Heartless. Did you forget how high the VIT of the Two-Story Toy is?"

Ji-Han grumbled. But Naofumi was right. While the idea of grinding for Plushie Coupons with Kazuma's high LUK did sound appealing, it wouldn't work if Kazuma couldn't harm the Heartless in the first place.

"Alright", conceded Ji-Han. "Let's forget that idea for now. Which leaves... the Houseless or the Big Jumpers. Though the Big Jumpers seem to be even more dangerous than the Two-Story Toys… Houseless it is."

It was a bit disheartening to see all these different kind of Heartless that Ji-Han could not yet go against. Maybe he would be able to deal with them if he came back later. For now he sat down to study until Kazuma came while Naofumi went to the counter to register the quest and Shua joined him. The day before he had managed to level up his INT twice. At 25 it was still his weakest stat, but at last his Max-MP was now at 525.

Half an hour later and Kazuma arrived, signaling the end of the study-period and the start of their quest. The rest of the day was just like the last one. They would look for Heartless, fight against them and defeat them. Once they had enough to complete their quest, Ji-Han and Shua would go back to the guild building, cash in their reward and then come back with a second quest, the quest for Two-Story Toys in this case.

Naofumi had rolled his eyes, but at that point it was the quest with the least highest danger level and Kazuma had leveled up and put his points into STR, so he couldn't complain. Unfortunately that still didn't help too much against the Two-Story Toys so in the end it was Ji-Han and Shua who took down most of them. Not to mention that Ji-Han had also gotten a level up and, with Keyblade Mastery reaching level 40, the skill Stealth. It was like his Gamer wanted to tell Kazuma how much better it was than him.

Regardless, they ended up fighting against those Heartless until it got dark and they were forced to stop. The results were, besides a bunch of Vendor Trash and Ji-Han getting another level, 6 additional Plushie Coupons. When asked by Kazuma, what the deal with him and stuffed animals was, Ji-Han explained about the collectables-aspect and proudly presented him the [Gamer's Agumon Cotton Plushie (25 cm)]. Like its name told, an item that was literally only available thanks to his Gamer-ability and so far the only one of its kind.

But when asked to show off the use of one of the Plushie Coupons, Ji-Han was hesitant. The reason for that was, because the current world was just around 2 hours from Traverse Town away. If he used up all the Plushie Coupons, he could easily get back to this world opposite to what would happen if they ran out in a place a lot further away. That was the same reason why he had not yet used one in Traverse Town, too.

And besides, he already planned to come back later once he got some more levels under his belt and deal with the special Heartless he was too weak to fight now like Dark Sphinx and Wyvern. Especially the Underground Monkey, which seemed to be unique for this world, similar to the Guard Armor in Traverse Town. Getting rid of that should help the people in this world a lot. And give him some good loot like most Bonus Bosses.

Unless it wasn't a Bonus Boss in the first place, but then he better have some strong support because they were currently still at the weaker half of the Heartless of this world. He wasn't ready yet to go after the top dog with just his current party members.

But that was a thought for later. At the moment they just had to finish up the day. Which meant getting the quest rewards, selling their drop items and eating dinner. Since they had stopped fighting later than the day before, they did not have any time before bed and just went straight to sleep.

And then the next day…

"Kazumaaaaaaaaa!" Could the voice of the goddess Aqua be heard as they walked into the guild building. "Please take me on a quest, any quest! Even a hard one!"

Apparently it turned out that she was sick of doing part-time work and wanted Kazuma to team up with her again so that she could get some money by completing a quest. And while her friends Megumin and Lalatina, who went by Darkness for some reason, had not the same monetary problems, they would not mind helping Aqua out. But without Kazuma, that would be close too impossible.

As it turned out, while Megumin had a strong skill, able to beat any foe, that was really all she had. And after using it once, she used up so much MP that she would be useless for the rest of the day. So Kazuma, the one with the standard class "Adventurer", was actually the main DPS of the party, discounting those enemies caught in Megumin's Explosion-spell for the day.

"No wonder you thought, he would decide to leave your party for ours", quipped Naofumi, making Aqua stomp angrily towards him.

"You!" She declared. "It's your fault Kazuma isn't helping me! Take responsibility!"

"Oh, shut up", he rebuked her. "The reason he is not partying with you is because you are useless against Heartless. Even though you are supposed to be a goddess."

"How rude", she responded. "I am the goddess Aqua!"

"Really?" For some reason Naofumi smirked. "Then if you are really a goddess and you only want to do a quest to get some money, why don't we do some business instead?"

"Business?" Repeated Aqua. "What kind of business could you have in mind with a goddess like me?"

"I want you to sell us a piece of your hair."

"You are after my body?!"

"Are you even listening? I said I want a piece of hair. Or blood if you prefer that."

"What? Why? What kind of demonic rituals are you planning to do with that?"

"One that gives me a new shield."

Ji-Han was thoughtful.

"You think that will work with Aqua?" He inquired and Naofumi shrugged.

"There is no reason it shouldn't. She's not human. And while I did not get the opportunity to try it with a god before, it worked with Hitomi and Takashi's three little monsters, not to mention Shua himself." At that he summoned the Smeargle Shield to support his point.

"Oho? So you actually want a piece of my hair that badly?" Commented Aqua. "Very well, I might be able to be persuaded to part with some. Just for 10 billion Munny-"

Naofumi interrupted her.

"Get real. No one would pay that much for a single shield that they didn't know the specs of before. Seriously, with how useless you are against the Heartless, your shield might as well be worth just 1000 Munny."

"Hey! At last let me get enough money as I would get from a quest!"

"And how much do you usually get?"

"1 million", she answered. "But that's normally. Now thanks to that stupid Dullahan all the quests that don't involve Heartless are around 5 million! And that's the amount I would need to get if I don't do a quest with Kazuma."

What the- did they really get that much money is this world for completing quests? Ji-Han's current amount of Munny had just once reached over 3 million and then dropped below that when they paid Kazuma for the drop items they couldn't sell just yet like the Lucid Shards. And most of that was from the drop items that they got thanks to Kazuma's high luck. To think one could get so much Munny from completing a single quest in this world…

"1 million is something we could deal with, even if I still think it's too expensive. But 5 million is more than what we can effort. And you have to remember that we need the Munny to save many more worlds from the Heartless Do you want countless people on your conscience because you were greedy?"

"Then… then… got it! You can help us with a quest! You let me keep the reward and only need to pay the difference!"

"Half the difference", Naofumi cut in. "And only if we find a job that we are actually capable of completing. Otherwise you'll have to give us the hair for free!"

"1 million if I can't find a job and you have a deal."

"Deal."

PING!

As Aqua went over to the quest board, Ji-Han was distracted by a panel appearing in front of him.

{A quest has been created.}

{Quest Alert

Exploration Quest: Purify the Riverhead Lake

The lake from where the town Axel gets most of its water from has been contaminated.

Purify the Riverhead Lake.

Bonus Objective:
1: Kill at last 2 Brutal Alligator.
2: Kill at last 4 Brutal Alligator.
3: Kill at last 8 Brutal Alligator.

Completion Award: +2 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
You can buy [Water Goddess Hair (1cm³)] from Aqua for 1 000 000 Munny.
Increased reputation with Aqua, Satou Kazuma, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.
Decreased reputation with Mitsurugi Kyouya and his comrades.

Bonus Award:
1: Manatite Crystal (inferior).
2: Manatite Crystal (normal).
3: Manatite Crystal (superior).

Completion Failure: +1 000 EXP to you and every party member not from the world.
Decreased reputation with Satou Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Dustiness Ford Lalatina.
Decreased reputation with Mitsurugi Kyouya and his comrades.}

"Lake Purification?" Ji-Han wondered out loud and Aqua perked up.

"Lake Purification? Where?"

Ji-Han was stunned. Did she just decide to pick out a certain quest, because of an outburst that he only had thanks to his Gamer mentioning the quest?! Did his ability just create a time paradox?! Or did it knew that out of all the possible quests, there would only be one fitting for their circumstances?

Now that he thought about it, how did his Gamer know which people would like which of his actions and which people did not? Often some he had never even heard about. Did, did it do something like a world-wide scan that included the personality of every person every time he got a new quest? He already knew that his power could reach the whole world thanks to the party system but to display such a power for such a simple purpose as to make quests… his Gamer might actually be even more impressive than he originally thought. It made him wonder what would have happened if he got a different power. Would he already be warping space or stop time?

"Here it is!" Exclaimed Aqua as she took the quest and showed it to Kazuma and Naofumi. "Cleaning a lake for 3 million Munny!"

"I see", responded Naofumi. "As a water goddess you should be an expert in purifying water. And with a payment of 3 million, we would only need to pay you 1 million.

"But couldn't Aqua technically do the mission all on her own", Kazuma pointed out. "What does she need you for? Or even me."

"Y-yeah… I guess I could… But those monsters probably won't just sit by and watch me purify their lake. I need someone to protect me until I am done."

"How long do you expect that to take?" Inquired Naofumi. While he most likely could survive any monsters himself, if there were too many, it might become difficult to keep them off Aqua. Especially since besides the monsters there could also appear some Heartless.

Aqua thought about the question.

"Maybe half a day?"

"It might as well take forever!" Shouted Kazuma in rage as he punched the paper violently back onto the board and Aqua begged him to allow the quest.

"How do you even to the whole cleansing thing, anyway?" He asked.

"Huh? I just touch the water and keep using purification magic… Why?"

"All right, Aqua. I think I know how you can do your ritual – no risk, no problem. Wanna give it a try?"


"This is a cage", noted Aqua blankly and Kazuma nodded.

"Exactly. A cage used to transport monsters, in other words something build to withstand their attacks. If we put you within the cage inside the lake, the water will be purified just from coming into contact with you while you will be completely protected from any attacks the monsters might throw at you. It's perfect!"

"Unless the monster are literally throwing stuff at her", Naofumi pointed out. "Or just teleport into the cage like Heartless are fond to do."

"Actually, I have an idea regarding that", voiced Ji-Han. "[Heart Key: Close]!"

Ji-Han pointed with the tip of the Binary Spirit at the lock of the cage. Light gathered in an orb at the tip, before a beam of light shot towards the keyhole, filling it with light. The sound of something being locked and the glow vanished.

Ji-Han ignored the message saying {[Heart Key: Close]'s Level has risen by 1.}, moved to the cage and pulled back his left hand.

"[Death Claw]", he activated, a black spectral claw surrounded his whole hand and Ji-Han stabbed with it in between the bars. Or at last he tried to, but an invisible barrier stopped his hand.

Ji-Han looked smugly at the surrounding people with Kazuma's party staring at him in awe.

"See?" He asked them. "Keyblade-bullshit for the win!"

"Good", spoke Naofumi. "Just two questions: Can you open it again and does it stop air and water, too?"

Ji-Han stared at the Hero of the Shield in horror. He had yet to develop the counter skill! Imagine if he had done that while Aqua had already been inside! He could have killed her!

Luckily it wasn't that hard to develop a skill if you knew one that did exactly the opposite and had all the tools you needed. So [Heart Key: Open] was born. Furthermore, their testing revealed that air and water, as well as food still could pass through the bars, even if no one could destroy the cage or open it without his help. It seemed when he closed the door, he still left intact all the functions the cage was supposed to have: Keeping things contained inside and protected from the outside while keeping them alive.

So they had no problems with putting the Keyblade-closed cage with Aqua – and Shua for the company – in the lake. Though they had also got a chair to prevent Shua from sitting in the water – he didn't have the immunity to sickness and death from water that Aqua had – and a cart with a horse as well as some sturdy chains so that they could pull Aqua out any time.

While they were waiting for her to do her job, Ji-Han decided to keep Hidden Key active to stall the appearance of the first Heartless. To do that he also meditated at the same time to increase the time it would take for his MP to run out.

After a while Naofumi shook Ji-Han out of his Meditation, signaling that his MP was full again and he should activate Hidden Key again, which had deactivated itself automatically when his MP reached 0.

This they did four times and yet no enemies showed up so far. Even though Hidden Key was not always active and it did nothing to dissuade monsters. Was this place so out of the way that even Heartless did not expect someone to be here?

"Hey, Aqua! How's the cleanup going?" Kazuma shouted towards her during one such pause in Ji-Han's Meditation. "Not getting cold in that lake water? If you want to go to the bathroom or anything, just tell me! I'll let you out of there!"

"It's going fine!" She shouted back. "And I don't need the toilet! Arch-priests don't go to the bathroom!"

Ji-Han snorted. If she had claimed it was because she was a goddess, he would have believed her. But her class? Yeah, no, that was definitively just an excuse.

"It looks like she's doing all right", noted Megumin. "Incidentally, the people of the Crimson Magic Clan do not use the bathroom, either."

Ji-Han couldn't help himself. That was just too perfect.

"I'll have you know that as The Gamer my body is that of a video game character, which means that all food is automatically transferred to HP. Thus since I have received this ability, I have not gone once to the toilet, either."

Naofumi and Kazuma turned to give Ji-Han a look that clearly said "Why the hell are you joining them?!"

"Well, Crimson Magic Clan members were magically engineered, so there!"

Huh, they were? Interesting.

"I'm a Crusader, and we… we… hrr…"

"Don't get into a not-pissing contest with these three, Darkness", Kazuma cut her off. "One of these days we're gonna get a quest that takes more than a few hours. Then we'll see who does and doesn't go to the bathroom."

"P-please stop it! Crimson Clan members really do not use the toilet. But I will apologize, so please stop… Strange, though, that there seems to be no sign of the Brutal Alligators. Well, we can only hope they leave us alone."

"If this world has any sense of irony or humor, you just made it so that they will appear right now", Naofumi pointed out and soon enough, ripples appeared on the surface of the lake. Ripples which came closer to Aqua and soon revealed purple crocodile – sorry, alligator – heads.

"K-Kazuma! Something's coming! A wh-whole bunch of somethings!"

"Calm down!" Ji-Han tried to reassure the distressed Aqua. "Remember what we all tried to get the cage to open? You're safe!"

Still, even though they were currently focused on futilely trying to get into the cage, violently disrupting the water, his quest did have as bonus objectives killing some of the monsters. He might as well see how easy that would be.

"[Observe]." Damn, 54 VIT and 4250 HP? It would be not that easy to defeat them. Maybe it would be better to not to try to go for the bonus objectives.

"Do you think the rest will attack us if we try to take them one by one?" He asked his party member who shrugged.

"How high is their STR?" Naofumi asked back.

"62."

"Then there should be no problems even if they do. And I can use the extra shields."

"Good. But with so many around, it'll be hard to damage them enough without getting into danger. We've got to stick to ranged attacks. [Inventory]!"

Ji-Han took out Tyr's card and with [Card Summoning] he appeared. This time he did what they had expected of him, throwing nine swords into the air while jumping with the tenth and then landing on top of the nearest Brutal Alligator at the same time as the sword impaled it.

The reptile screeched in pain and struggled, only deepening the gashes while the others around it attacked the sudden newcomer, actually biting into him as if he had a physical body. But since Tyr always vanished as soon as his job was done, Ji-Han couldn't tell if the alligators actually managed to inflict enough damage to disperse him some milliseconds earlier. And with him all the sword vanished, too. As for the results…

"2570 HP left", read Ji-Han. "Not even Tyr can get eliminate one of them on his own. Heck, even using him twice would not be enough… they would have still around… 900 left."

"But they aren't coming over", pointed Kazuma out. "And with the two hours the purification already too, I bet it'll still take some more. You should be able to take down at last one of them, if you just mediate."

As if to prove him wrong, black portals appeared around them.

"Heartless!" Naofumi called out and took lifted his shield in front of him. Shadows, Houseless and Blue Rhapsodys. The latters were an issue for the Hero of the Shield as they could freeze him despite his defense. Now Ji-Han wished they would have kept Shua's Fire when he last leveled up. But it had been the weakest of his skills at that point and not the only one not needing MP. They still had Super Shocker for that. Even if its Lightning-Element was not the best idea against the flying Final Fantasy-rejects.

"[High Jump]!"

{+312 EXP}

So instead it was him who had to pick up the slack. Luckily his Slashing Weapon Mastery was already high enough that he could kill one of them in one single normal hit. And with High Jump it was easy enough to reach them, unless they decided to randomly dart around. So letting his comrades deal with the enemies one the ground, Ji-Han quickly went towards the next one.

"[High Jump]!"

Already on the way up, Ji-Han cut the Heartless in half with the power of the Keyblade alone, no overhead-swing necessary for these guys. {+312 EXP} Ji-Han turned around to look at the next target and suddenly came face to face with a young child around six years with fair skin, golden hair, blue eyes and a pair of pointy ears which pointed to the side, slightly flopping downwards instead of reaching towards the sky as Ji-Han was most used to with pointy ears.

Ji-Han's surprise made him loose his balance and he landed hard on the ground, which was not dirt but stone covered with red carpet and a lot closer than before. And as he lay there on the ground, he also noticed that he was not anymore under the open sky but a chamber with the four walls covered in red worn-down curtains with a bunch of people surrounding him from all sides, but still leaving enough space in the middle where he was.

PING!

{You have received a new message.}

Ji-Han was completely confused. Yet before he could do or even think anything else, an old guy stepped forward – the little girl having hurried back and taken cover behind a voluptuous woman – and said the following words:

"Are you the hero who has been summoned to defeat the Demon Lord?"

Ji-Han could only stare at him blankly.

"What?"


A/N:

Hi, guys and gals.

And that's one of the things I really wanted show as it was something that only could be used in this kind of story: Ji-Han suddenly being summoned into another world as a hero. So far I have yet not seen any story where the MC, a hero on a quest, suddenly gets summoned into another world for a different quest. Rightfully so, as constant changing the world like that would make it difficult for the readers to build any attachment to the world and its people. And conflicts would stay unresolved way too often and lose any meaning once the MC repeatedly goes to a different place.

For example, one of the strong points of Tate no Yuusha is everyone making Naofumi's life difficult and how he hardened himself in response. If he suddenly up and vanished, all those conflicts would get pointless at ones. Not to mention the MC would never get to the "defeat the demon king"-part of the story.

Which is why I've been forcing myself to sit down and continue despite the large set-back that forced me to rewrite the whole thing. Because I really wanted to show this stuff only interesting in this setting where getting summoned is more a short side quest than the whole story.

Now as for the summoning itself, why pick this particular world? Because for the first summoning – after all, until he finds out why he gets summoned, there will be more – I wanted a summoning that was pretty straight-forward: You are the Chosen One, defeat the demon king. Guess how often that one shows up outside of the Hero Union BBS. It's actually pretty hilarious when you read an Isekai and the MC goes "oh, summoned like in these Isekai-stories" and you go like "example, please". Maybe I've been born too late but the straightforward summoning that those guy's talk about is something I have yet to see outside doing it for a side character.

I mean, in the have-fun-in-the-new-world-with-your-new-powers-Isekai, the MC at most times does not get summoned but somehow ends up in the world through other means, even if the world has hero summoning like Tensei Slime, Death March, Ore to Kawatz and Where is the way home. Probably because the expectations of a hero would go counter against the do-whatever-you-want kind of mentality as shown in Two Saints where they have to travel in secret.

And the other most common form of Isekai, the welcome-group-of-heroes-where-the-MC-is-the-outcast, gets already disqualified by the group of people-fact. But most importantly, those stories have generally something shady going on with the MC as the outcast by choice or force being the only one working against those. Like Tate no Yuusha, Arifureta, Word Master and Instant-Death Cheat.

Thus I chose a world of the first kind, where the OP-MC actually witnesses a hero summoning. And that the people can't control who they summon helped a lot in choosing this particular one, too.

Gashadokuro Amanojaku