Announcements at bottom
(Yes, if you don't understand what's going on, you can basically skip this. It has no significance to the plot. Go read Kumo desu ga instead.)
Side Story: Vacation
Side: Oni
"So bored…" muttered Sophia, sprawled on the hard hay-stuffed bed, made bearable only by the fine white cloak spread over it as a makeshift sheet. Though this in was decent by this city's standards, it was incomparably inferior compared to the castle's accommodations they had gotten used to.
At the same time, Wrath – whose cloak was by far the largest of the three, and thus was reformed into a bedsheet – quietly leaned against the nearby wall to rest. The bed was frustratingly small, but at least this way the other two could get a good rest while he slept in a nearby chair.
"Well, of course if you never do anything, it'll get boring pretty quickly. It's a vacation in a new world, what's there not to enjoy?" (Ariel)
Ariel answered cheerfully, sitting at the edge of the bed with a cup in hand.
"-Ariel-san, it's not a vacation if you don't do work to begin with." (Wrath)
"-Actually start working before taking a vacation." (Sophia)
Her argument was rejected without hesitation. Though, this was far from the first time she had heard this, so Ariel herself simply took a drink while smiling.
"New worlds are overrated. Merazophis isn't here. There's nothing to do. It's Goshujin-sama's fault. Everything is Goshujin-sama's fault." (Sophia)
First the four had been meeting in a room in the castle, then in an empty space as Shiro aggressively struggled with some dimensional magic for a few days, and finally they got dumped out onto some empty hillside plains in this world, at which point she, the only member capable of bringing them back, had promptly abandoned them and run off to do something else.
"Well, it's not like Shiro-chan forgot about us – probably – so you just have to find interesting things to kill time until she comes back to pick us up, right?" (Ariel)
She finished off the contents of the small cup, then refilled it from the nearby bottle.
In response, Wrath muttered, "please don't make sampling fine wines into something to kill time," though the way he said it, he was still easily loud enough for everybody to hear.
As for why these three would be spending a night in a shoddy inn, it was of course due to their desperate lack of finances. Neither did it help that apparently half the city had burned down (again) only a few weeks prior to their arrival, plus a large number of nobles and merchants had filtered into the city for some coronation celebration, and the jacked-up prices of any decent inn were still unreasonably high.
Certainly, they had the skills to completely any job and equipment with an ungodly price tag if sold, but when it came to immediately usable gold, they were basically down to loose change collected during the journey.
"Wrath-kun, if you need more money, just go out at night for a bit, a random encounter with some bandits always pops up, they drop gold when defeated." (Ariel)
"…" (Wrath)
He started to open his mouth to retort, but given that this had actually been their primary source of income on the way to this capital city, he couldn't say anything in response.
Needless to say, the appearance of two girls guarded only by one plain-looking swordsman, dressed in matching uniforms of the finest spider silk, was like honey to every highwayman, marauder, and bandit on the long, poorly patrolled road between the kingdom's cities. None of them were particularly wealthy, but the combined assets of half a dozen bandit groups easily added up to a hefty sum, even if they didn't bother lugging the heads to the nearest city for their bounties.
Unfortunately, those savings didn't last long when they were drained on a daily basis. Their appearance was close enough to pass as an exotic race of demihumans, so they were reluctantly allowed into the city. However, though they went to see whether it was possible to register with the local Adventurer's Guild, they were rejected on account of not being human.
"Hm, speaking of things to do, what ever happened to Katana?" (Ariel)
Ariel threw the subject of her own hobbies away. It took Wrath a few moments to figure out what her words were referring to.
"Ah, the man with the katana? I followed along since he was the first person we saw with a katana. Long story short, we ended up fighting a few rounds. He was surprisingly skilled-" (Wrath)
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sophia turn over at attention for the first time from the topic of combat.
"-but it really wasn't much of a fight. As you'd expect, the Status difference was too much." (Wrath)
She lost interest and fell back into the pillow, her own balled-up cloak.
"In terms of ability, he might even be close to the old man I fought on the mountain, just more… natural, his swordsmanship drawn from pure experience rather than being guided by a Skill. I had to hold back quite a bit just to keep it even, so there wasn't much to learn. In the end, his sword was the first to break, so I made him a replacement in exchange." (Wrath)
"Hey, don't just go giving out legendary weapons after a fight like some bad shounen manga." (Ariel)
"It's fine, I didn't add any special abilities, just gave it the same shape and turned the durability up to the maximum value." (Wrath)
"… that value being…" (Ariel)
"Enough that it shouldn't break from anything short of trying to block Shiro-san's scythe?" (Wrath)
"No, that in itself is already…" (Ariel)
Wrath looked back at Ariel in confusion. It was a weapon with no abilities, borderline useless compared to his own, just given enough durability to serve as a solid practice weapon. What was there to take issue with? The recipient himself seemed satisfied enough with the replacement.
"… Nevermind. Was there anybody stronger than that guy?" (Ariel)
"There wasn't. Apparently, he's the strongest left in this country. Of the two best adventurer parties, one went to the Agrand Republic up north, the other to the Sorcerous Kingdom in the east. If you want strong people, the former has dragons, the latter is ruled by undead." (Wrath)
"Undead!?" (Ariel)
Ariel lit up in excitement at that one word.
"Yeah, he got into a fight with this kingdom and destroyed their entire army with a single spell. The Sorcerous King, Ain… something." (Wrath)
"Right, right, they have undead, right? The walking skeletons and zombies? The kind you only see in games?" (Ariel)
"Now that I think about it, we didn't have any of those, did we? Why is that?" (Sophia)
Even Sophia was again interested, her attention binary in nature, depending on the topic.
"It's because of the shortage of souls, in a closed system, they can't just be locked up for an indefinite time in some skeleton, so a vampire progenitor like Sophia-chan is the closest we're going to get. According to Shiro-chan, even though this world also has a system, it's just attached to a stable planet, so there's no internal cycle locking the souls in…" (Ariel)
"Wait a minute. You're saying that like you've spoken to Goshujin-sama since we got here. Pick us up and send us back already!" (Sophia)
"I'm not sure why you're so excited about rotting corpses, but I guess our next destination is the Sorcerous Kingdom then? Well, both countries are supposed to treat non-humans better than this kingdom, so I don't care too much either way." (Wrath)
"Then, we've decided! I'm pretty sure that's the country Shiro-chan is investigating anyway, so it all works out." (Ariel)
"-Hey! Ariel-san, if you already knew where she is, why are we wasting time here?" (Sophia)
In her frustration, Sophia got up to shake the excessively excited Ariel, who averted her eyes.
"-Vacation?" (Ariel)
"… I give up. Whatever, let's just go. I'm tired of this kingdom, we could at least try fighting this Ain." (Sophia)
Her complaints were getting nowhere, so Sophia gave up, stepped back and started packing what little supplies they had on them.
"I'll say this just to be sure, but, Sophia-san, you get that he's the king of a country, right? We can't just randomly attack him." (Wrath)
She looked up at him with genuine shock after being told that.
"Eh? Why are we even going then?" (Sophia)
"No, please take it seriously, let's not go kicking any hornet nests… even with Ariel-san's protection, taking on an entire country would be…" (Wrath)
Sophia thought about it for a while.
"… Fine. I'll limit it to proactive self-defense. Can we go now?" (Sophia)
"-No, let's wait until tomorrow before leaving." (Ariel)
Ariel stepped up between the two, and both watched her waiting for further explanation.
"It's not like we're in a hurry, we might as well wait until tomorrow morning before leaving. Wrath-kun, you had a map, right?" (Ariel)
"Yeah, it's not too far, as far as our trips go. I think we could get there in a week, going at a decent pace." (Wrath)
"Right? It's already late afternoon, we wouldn't get far today anyway. I'll go talk to the innkeeper and get dinner, then see if there's anything interesting going on in the tavern tonight." (Ariel)
Summarizing their plans, Ariel rushed out through the door and down the stairs.
As she left, Wrath muttered with a tired expression,
"I hope we don't end up getting kicked out of the city again…"
Sophia tilted her head.
"… Again?" (Sophia)
Side: Ketsu
Several days passed uneventfully.
Unexpectedly uneventfully, actually, considering how their first trip to the Kingdom's capital had been.
"-Well, if I'm reading the map right, we can stop around here for the night and still reach the city of 'E-Rantel' by around midday tomorrow." (Wrath)
"Already? You said a week, it's only been three days." (Sophia)
While the three continued to walk, Wrath looked over the shoddy map they had managed to get a copy of from the castle.
"Sorry. I got the estimate from a merchant, and it more or less lined up with our last trip, so I figured it was about right. Though, theirs was assuming a loaded carriage, and I had assumed that ours would be slowed each time we ran into highwaymen…" (Wrath)
Ariel thought for a moment, then nodded along to agree with his reasoning.
"Yeah, there weren't any random encounters… the road is paved better, too, I guess they improved it recently. Though, we never saw a patrol either, I'm surprised it's as safe as it is." (Ariel)
"Ariel-san, what are you talking about? We passed two not too long ago?" (Sophia)
""Eh?""
Sophia only mentioned them as an afterthought, yet both Ariel and Wrath looked at her in confusion.
"Was there somebody like that? I don't remember seeing anybody on the road except that one caravan…" (Ariel)
"We passed them twice, in the forest, once shortly before the border, then again after crossing it. Those shadow-like things. Aren't you watching for presences? They barely even hid." (Sophia)
It was this comment which resolved their confusion, simultaneously gave both a spark of understanding, and a moment later, left them both averting their eyes from Sophia's gaze.
"… Seriously? It's been weeks, with nothing to do but train. The skill systems aren't all that different once you get used to something as basic as that." (Sophia)
"Right, but it's pointlessly hard to control your strength because of that, yes? Your misjudging by ten percent is wasting some energy, mine blows up half a tavern trying to swat away a drunk guy. Forget magic, even for basic skills, it'd basically mean relearning each of them from scratch. Too much of a bother." (Ariel)
"That's the best part! The system itself gives you free training weights, even if your status won't go up so easily, just targeting yourself with three or four continuous-damage spells at a time is as effective for practicing your magic control as twenty of them back in our world!" (Sophia)
""…""
Her obsession was alive and well, no matter the world.
Certainly, between a system which would automatically compose all magic with a skill and status adjustment, and a system where every spell had to be manually adjusted and fine-tuned to make up for the disparity, it was fairly obvious that practicing magic in the latter would improve one's skill far faster.
Going from one world to the other was like switching between a modern program and one made twenty years ago: Status was slightly distorted, detection abilities would provide false, poor-quality data, and offensive magic of all sorts might misbehave in interesting and unique ways.
Each of them had enough proficiency with their magic and skills to make use of them despite being in another world, albeit with slightly less precision, a variation of perhaps twenty percent. With ordinary fire against an ordinary bandit, this just meant the difference between leaving them medium-rare or well-done. A similar miscalculation while attempting to tear open a [Hell Gate], on the other hand, would be far from pretty.
For similar reasons, it would take a very specific type of insanity or stupidity for somebody to practice by attacking themselves with such unstable attack magic.
Where could you find such a person(monster)?
"-Though, you should probably be able to at least regenerate yourself when you accidentally erase half your body." (Sophia)
There was one right here.
"Please spare me from that…" (Wrath)
"Mm, yep, not doing that either." (Ariel)
"… Whatever. Suit yourselves." (Sophia)
With a shrug, Sophia lost interest in them and returned to her magic. A extremely thin film, barely visible to the naked eye, patches of various colors dyed it with a rainbow like the surface of a bubble.
Underneath the colored spots, her skin would be burned in places, frozen in others, but each would heal over the next instant and return to its pristine state as soon as it was discolored. In her normal state, she would have been able to more perfectly match the damage to be exactly counteracted by her natural regeneration, though bringing it this close to equilibrium was already absurd enough.
"… All of those shadows ran off in a panic the moment our eyes met… maybe this time, we can expect a warm welcome when we reach the city," Sophia muttered with a malicious smile, all while stretching in preparation for the physical side of today's exercise.
Leaving her to her own devices, Ariel began pitching an out-of-place, modern nylon tent, while Wrath set to cooking a simple soup. They could easily make do without for a few days if needed, but these habits, established over years of travel as a group, were more or less ingrained at this point.
"Status really isn't kind to the people of this world…" (Wrath)
"That bad, huh?" (Ariel)
He had merely been thinking aloud, but nonetheless heard a reply from Ariel.
"Right. Strength training alone only goes so far, they can't get any of the growth-boosting skills to optimize leveling like Sophia-san did, not to mention how much harder it is to train without any sort of Analysis to count the fruits of your labor. We can measure experience easily enough, yet I've never heard talk of Levels, only Tier Magic or Martial Arts, everything else is only legend to them." (Wrath)
"Guess I haven't been paying enough attention?" (Ariel)
Ariel dug the tent's last peg into the earth with a finger before hopping over to the increasingly fragrant soup heating over the small campfire, lit up by a crude fire-attribute dagger resting in the core of the fire.
"Ordinary people aren't too different, but take a good look at a soldier… ten years of training is barely a year of ours, matching me or Sophia would take centuries… and I honestly doubt even the most ancient of beings even come close to your level." (Wrath)
He filled one bowl, handed it over, then another for himself, which he sat to eat. Half a bowl was left for Sophia just in case, though going by recent days, she was unlikely to bother with eating.
"-Unless this world has an Administrator, that is," he finished after a pause.
Those words had the unintended side-effect of freezing the casual mood of the campground.
"Shiro-chan wouldn't bother to be so careful if we were only dealing with pseudodragons at our level… there's a True Dragon behind them… the only question is whether it's bound to the System, or free to stop us." (Ariel)
Wrath nodded back.
"And? Did those words come straight from Shiro-san, or just our theory?" (Wrath)
"Bit of both, last I checked she's still trying to find it, so no confirmation. Just said not to try conquering the world yet, to be safe. At least, until she hears back from above, don't draw the dragons' attention either." (Ariel)
A sigh leaked, a mix of his concern and relief. The unknown was worrying, but far from the worst possible situation.
"Either way, nothing changes in our plans," she concluded.
And indeed, the Sorcerous Kingdom which was their current destination was the single furthest point furthest from the Dragon Lords' influence.
The next day, they reached the gates of E-Rantel.
Side: Maou
"Naga?" (Wrath)
"It's a Naga…" (Sophia)
"Definitely a Naga." (Ariel)
The half-snake old man before them answered with a brief nod, unperturbed by their staring at him like some rare animal. This much was still in the polite half of reactions, as far as his daily interactions went.
"Your assumption is correct. May this one take your reactions to mean that you know of this one's species, however this is your first time meeting one?"
"There weren't any where we are from, as far as I am aware. Right, Ariel-san?" (Wrath)
"Nnnn… I knew the progenitor back in the day, but I'm pretty sure she never had any descendants, so no. Or would she be a Lamia…?" (Ariel)
"Ah, sorry, for bringing it up." (Wrath)
"It's the distant past, we weren't so close. Don't worry about it, Wrath-kun." (Ariel)
"Ahem… that aside… this one is named Ryurarius Spenia Ai Indarun, and has the honor of being an immigration official of the Sorcerous Kingdom. By your attitude, I do not expect we will have trouble, however we must nonetheless go over the rules of His Majesty's city… first and foremost, please keep in mind that no matter the appearance of any beings you might encounter, drawing weapons within the city is strictly forbidden… you came at a slightly unexpected time, I believe that the Death Knight normally by the gate was elsewhere?" (Ryurarius)
"Death Knight?" (Ariel)
"As I thought. A moment, please." (Ryurarius)
Ryurarius half-closed his eyes for a few seconds, then looked away, directing their gazes left towards a wide stone archway.
"Once again, this one would like you to see one of His Majesty's Death Knights." (Ryurarius)
From somewhere deeper in the gatehouse, slow steps thundered with steadily increasing volume. Not long after, a jet-black, colossal moving wall filled the arch, passing into the room. First the tower shield which was only barely smaller than the passage it was meant to fit through, then moving it aside, the rotting titan beneath properly came into view.
"Heh~" (Sophia)
"Well, it's pretty much what you'd expect from the name…" (Wrath)
Sophia looked only half-interested in the mobile corpse, while Wrath's lack of surprise could be summarized as 'not a particularly unique monster design', comparing it to the few games he could recall in his dissociated memories of that distant past.
As for Ariel, she had vanished from her seat-
"-WHA-" (Ryurarius)
-and in that same instant, lifted the massive armored undead with one hand, then started spinning it freely like an oversized action figure, so as to examine every part of its body.
"Ah~ knew this would happen. Why'd she have to get the useless traits from Goshujin-sama…" (Sophia)
Despite her words, Sophia continued resting her head on her hand, evidently lacking any intention of interfering in any way.
With a sigh, Wrath stepped in to try coaxing her out of her newfound obsession.
"Ariel-san, you get that you're basically assaulting a guard now, right? Maybe put it down?" (Wrath)
"Eh? I'm not though? No weapons were drawn, isn't that why it's not fighting back, just struggling to free itself?" (Ariel)
With Ariel's carefree explanation, all eyes turned back to Ryurarius, whose mouth was still gaping from the nonsensical scene they had created.
"Ah, erm, well, to prevent the possible cases of somebody bumping into one of the undead and being treated as an attacker, they do not immediately interpret physical contact as hostility… admittedly, we had never considered that one might appear with… such might." (Ryurarius)
With his shock gradually settling, he was able to return to exposition and explanation, yet continued to nervously glance around while doing so.
"… Sorry. Ariel-san was interested in seeing some undead, but… sorry. It's probably harmless to leave her to it, so could we just continue and pretend that isn't happening?" (Wrath)
"This must certainly be reported to His Majesty afterwards, but I suppose… they are not harming the Death Knight's purpose. However, before that, this one has a question for you, if you do not mind answering: What did you come to this city to do? If by some chance you came with confidence in your strength, seeking to oppose His Majesty the Sorcerer King, please abandon those ambitions immediately. You would not be the first to attempt doing so, and given how there are no end of fools in this world, you would not be the last. All sorts of monsters have passed through these gates in the months I have watched them, and to each I spoke this advice." (Ryurarius)
Wrath easily met the Naga's intimidating stare, as if uninterested in the weight behind his words.
"Of course not. It's as you can see, idle tourism." (Wrath)
"Tourism… travelers without a destination. Such idleness is a privilege reserved for the strong. There was a time when I entertained such thoughts myself, when I thought myself my own master…" (Ryurarius)
"-Enough already. You like talking, we get it. Are we done? Next rule." (Sophia)
His next monologue didn't get far before Sophia interrupted him.
The Naga simply chuckled and said, "I suppose patience come with age," leaving her scowling and irritated.
"Do not worry, there is not much more. The rules I must explain are only those immediately relevant, mostly for human visitors who would otherwise reflexively draw their weapons against the undead in our streets. Aside from that, please be aware that in the event you are investigated in relation to a crime, mind-control magic may be used. Although this is rarely necessary, we make this clear before anybody enters the city to eliminate any disagreements in the future." (Ryurarius)
"Fine, try it if you can. Is that all… or are you still going to try stopping us?" (Sophia)
Again ignoring her provocation, he simply looked over to Wrath and Ariel to confirm that neither of them were objecting – neither did – and nodded.
"Very good, very good. Please be mindful of the possibility that your presence and abilities may be of interest to His Majesty or his subordinates, and so you may be asked to appear at the castle in the coming weeks. With that said, we are indeed finished, and you are free to pass into the city. This one welcomes you to the Sorcerous Kingdom of Ainz Ooal Gown." (Ryurarius)
Wrath gave up and released a long sigh as soon as he passed into the building.
"Fourteen minutes, thirty-nine seconds. It's my win." (Sophia)
From just behind him, Sophia's voice rang out clearly, a perfect opposite of his own.
"… Yeah, I'd figured we'd at least go look for an inn or the Adventurer's Guild or something first, she didn't even hesitate once… how did she even know where to go, none of us have been in the city before." (Wrath)
"Don't underestimate Ariel-san's looseness once you strip away what little responsibility there is." (Sophia)
"Our travel log has completely turned into a wine-tasting tour…" (Wrath)
"Are these even any different? They all taste awful to me." (Sophia)
"If I had to say, there's far more variety available in this world, compared to our own. Although the quality you get asking for something higher-end at a local bar is comparable to what Ariel might have had back in our world, the real difference comes from how expansive this world is. Rather that the habitable region being limited to just a single continent with a mostly uniform climate, here we can find exotic products imported from distant countries. Most likely, the novelty of trying each of these is what's drawing Ariel-san's interest… I'm not an expert, though." (Wrath)
"… No, you've been getting into this just as much as her, haven't you…" (Sophia)
"Now, there's no need to argue, sit down, start ordering!" (Ariel)
As they continued to stand at the entrance, Ariel called for them across the room, oblivious or perhaps unconcerned by the numerous stares already being directed at the pair of girls who each appeared to be individually dropping the average age in the tavern by a few years.
Of course, this was the Sorcerous Kingdom, and no small number of visitors passing through this tavern wouldn't be human. Such visual appraisal would be entirely meaningless if, for instance, the girl in question had horns growing out of her head. However, even discounting her age, the girl's choice of outfit was already more than enough to attract an equivalent amount of attention.
Still, nobody complained. In another city, another country, or another world, some drunkard might have risen up to complain about kids in the bar, but that development would be premised on the nonsensical idea that drunk men would for some reason not want to have cute girls in the tavern, and anybody drunk or foolish enough to utter those words would be beaten up by his fellow patrons before she was so much as given a chance to respond.
To begin with, barfights of any form were already a rarity within the Sorcerous Kingdom. Though Death Knights would not come rushing to break up a mere fistfight, alcohol and prudence rarely went hand-in-hand. Men too drunk to remember where they would think themselves clever and pull a knife on their opponent, only to be bisected by a guard the next instant. It didn't take long for the regulars to learn the value of keeping things civil.
However, no matter the country, patrons of a tavern had their own way of fighting.
Ryurarius passed into the castle, slithering with the appropriate haste to move quickly, just short of rushing and appearing disrespectful.
"… Excuse me. Is there anybody present to receive a report on behalf of His Majesty?" (Ryurarius)
"I'll take it, what is it?" (Tanya)
"Ah, Tanya-sama, you were in the city?" (Ryurarius)
"Just passing by, I was planning on heading back out soon. Is it an emergency?" (Tanya)
"This one is uncertain. A group of travelers passed into the city, who possess extraordinary strength. As they are not immediately hostile, it may not exactly qualify as an emergency, however this one wished to report and ask for instruction on how to proceed." (Ryurarius)
"Alright, I'll check it out. Good work." (Tanya)
"Thank you very much… should we have the patrolling undead search for their location?" (Ryurarius)
"That won't be necessary, keep them at a distance. With a volume of mana that ridiculous, I can feel out the general direction even from this distance. They won't be hard to pinpoint. I'll take care of everything." (Tanya)
It was a scene of carnage.
Bodies littered the floor, tables and chairs scattered or overturned, throwing mugs into the air, empty or half-full alike, their contents splattered across wall and floor. To simply walk from one side of the room to the opposite would mean wading through fallen combatants, taking care not to step into puddles of unidentified liquid.
This was no battlefield. No, it was a massacre, the inevitable outcome of the arrogant and foolish challenging the impossibly powerful using the weapon they thought themselves proficient with, yet learning themselves mere novices who would have a better chance of winning a match of arm-wrestling against a dragon.
Was it the pride of men, which made them refuse to surrender, unable to accept defeat at the hands of somebody so much smaller than themselves, to continue fighting until the end, even when this outcome was already certain?
So the battle raged on.
Sophia was the first to taste defeat, falling unconscious at the table before the first round had concluded. It was an obvious outcome, but one would be a fool to misunderstand this as a sign that the others would be similarly weak.
Several rounds later a few more followed: Humans, Orcs, Goblins, one by one they fled or fell, the number of combatants dropping by the minute.
Wrath chose to withdraw not long after, while he was still mostly sensible. Though a few of the survivors were groggy and barely hanging on, he knew full well the futility of continuing, and saw no need to go further, having already tried one of each unique offering which had piqued his interest.
He sat back and watched as two Dwarves struggled, then drank their last. A huge man who wouldn't look out of place in a pack of Ogres, carried this far by his confidence, finally collapsed backwards, shaking the building with the impact of his landing. And lastly, a green-scaled Lizardman, a veteran of a hundred such battles, succumbed before the boundless potential of his opponent.
As he fell, Ariel unceremoniously set another barrel on the ground, having finished drinking.
And then there were two. Three, if the bartender busy carefully writing up tabs was included – his ability to ignore everything tempered daily until he simply concluded that monsters were, at very least, great for business – and so he faded into the shadows, looking the other way no matter the developing chaos.
"… Well, we knew it would end up like this." (Wrath)
"It always does~"
-And where there were two, then there were three.
"Ah, Shiro-chan, when did you get here?" (Ariel)
She appeared on the next seat, unnoticed until her first words, half-full glass of red wine already in hand.
"Eh~ I've been here the whole time, testing applied dimensional magic to isolate myself for imitation invisibility…" (Shiro)
"Uh, Shiro-san, how much have you been drinking?" (Wrath)
"Like- I- Said- I saw you entering the city and walked in with you, but none of you ever noticed…" (Shiro)
Draining the glass, she set it on the table with an exaggerated pout.
"Too much then…" Ariel muttered while slowly sliding away.
"Don't be silly, I'm completely normal, see," she replied with a laugh, flicking her hand. The next instant, a gash tore from one corner of space, across the tile and tables, passing past her fingertip before digging into the ground beneath them.
"Ah…" the table fell into two pieces. Looking down, the few meters of flooring which had been removed similarly extended downwards, a void passing through foundation and earth alike.
"Eh, that happens sometimes, it's fine, it's fine, they'll put some plywood over it!" (Shiro)
She laughed again, filling up another glass. Leaning back, she brought it up to her lips, but before she had the chance to start drinking, the door opened – or rather, was blasted open by the girl who flew straight through it, into the tavern.
Splinters of wood scattered across the floor, revealing the girl, fully armed for combat and in the early stages of mana exhaustion from rushing in response.
Their eyes – did not meet.
As one began to stare with her mouth agape, uncertain of how to proceed with the situation; the other kept drinking without minding the shrapnel scattering around her table.
A few quiet seconds passed with confused glances exchanged all around.
"-What the hell happened-"
The crack of glass striking wood interrupted her attempt at a question.
"-If you're a magical girl, why don't you dress up cuter once in a while!?" (Shiro)
She cried out, slamming the again-empty wine glass against her half of the table, still standing upright in defiance of gravity.
"-?" (Tanya)
Silence fell. All eyes moved to her.
"-alright, let's do just that!" she continued, standing up.
One took a step forward, delighted; the other took half a step backward, sensing impending doom.
Before her foot landed, she froze in place.
No matter her struggling, whether through raw strength or with magical enhancement, she could no longer move a muscle below her neck. She was left stuck, able only to look forward, with a single half-open scarlet eye watching back.
Immediately, she began trying to work a formula to interfere with the binding, but gave up just as quickly. Breaking out might not be impossible, however doing so in a timely manner certainly was.
Giving up, she switched to teleportation, seeking to get out of the building, but that too was obstructed. The single open eye widened slightly as soon as she began to try, crushing her under a maelstrom of magic power. Every effort to continue writing a formula scattered faster than a design drawn using food coloring in an ocean midway through a hurricane.
In other words, her power had been stripped, blocked off and washed away on a whim.
She could only watch in unease, tinged with growing dread.
Step by step, the girl drew closer. Her hand stuck into a void in space, and from within, she pulled out a small, white, decorated dress, covered in an uncountable number of frills.
Screams echoed through the night.
Tanya hung in the very center of the room, suspended by strands of web, her limbs locked loosely into a shape halfway between a T and a Y.
The armor she had worn coming here was laying around, pieces scattered across the floor and tables. In its place, she had been dressed in a delicate dress of pure white. At the very top, an obnoxiously large ribbon, aside from which nearly the entire surface of the fabric was covered in frills and trimmings, extending down to just above her knees with an intrusively wide layered skirt. Even her socks and the pieces which shouldn't be seen had been replaced to match.
Newly dressed, she continued to hang limp, gazing into the distance with a thousand-mile-stare. Without magic, she could neither resist nor interfere with her own consciousness, perceiving everything being done to her with the perfect detail awareness granted by [Detection], unable to tone it down.
More than any battlefield, it tore open the sealed trauma of her past, the terror of being forced to film propaganda for Public Relations. So she hung, that experience of the past mixing with her present situation to create a new, inescapable hell for her, until she grew numb to the point of dissociation, separating herself from the doll being stripped and dressed by the drunk god.
That was over an hour ago now, though Tanya had lost track of exactly how long it was. The culprit had since left, falling asleep on the spot before getting carried out by the still-conscious girl, who carried the two unconscious girls, walking out with a simple, "Sorry!"
Blaming her wouldn't really be fair, there wasn't too much she could do to help, and neither had she asked in her half-conscious state. Rationally she understood this, yet the casual nonchalance with which she left irritated her nonetheless. Thus, Tanya was left alone with the sole male, the oni trying to clean up after them.
There wasn't much he could do about the gaping void torn into the foundation, but he could at least pick up the tables, gather the wood splinters and glass shards of anything broken, and lift the door back onto its hinges, carefully avoiding the wires of webbing crossing the room.
"… hey…" she muttered, barely louder than a whisper. He paused for an instant, but immediately resumed his cleaning.
"Hey. Do something about this already." (Tanya)
"Sorry… there's nothing I can do." (Wrath)
"Are you wearing those swords as a decoration? Cut me down from here." (Tanya)
"No, but it's impossible to cut through her web, no matter what I tried… I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait for her to wake up again." (Wrath)
She looked at him in amazement.
"Forget the web, cut at the arm, just above the glove." (Tanya)
"Are you sane?" (Wrath)
"I can regenerate it as soon as the web is removed, the damn thing is getting in the way of my magic. Do it." (Tanya)
He looked at her with suspicion.
"Wouldn't those undead guards rush in if I did that? What are you trying?" (Wrath)
"I ordered them to stay away from this area to keep it civil. Besides, you aren't considering them as a threat, are you?" (Tanya)
Just as she said, despite the chaos they had already caused, not one person – living or dead – had entered after her.
"Fine, don't blame me for the results," he said with a sigh, drawing one of his katanas and raising it to her level.
At that point he thought about asking again to make sure, but seeing her already watching and waiting in resolution, Wrath raised the sword and swung down.
His sword cut cleanly and easily through her thin arm, her skin being hardened beyond an ordinary human's, but nowhere near enough to stop a sword of the highest quality. Dark blood poured out, staining the floor below.
Tanya grit her teeth from the acute pain, a single tear pooling in her eye from feeling every nerve cry out without being able to numb it using a magic formula.
Pushing it aside as best she could, she concentrated her magic on the missing arm, the one part of her body where magic was no longer being obstructed. With some effort, the stump glowed, then rapidly regenerated into its original form, scattered blood and separated hand alike dissolving into nothingness.
The strand of webbing fell away, having lost its connection, sticking to the floorboard on which it landed. Only the white glove which had been placed onto her mysteriously followed, reforming on her freed hand.
"You weren't kidding, that's some impressing healing speed…" Wrath muttered seeing this display, though her focus was elsewhere.
Pushing magic through the one hand available to her, she slowly reconstructed the spell needed to access her inventory space, using it to pull out the sharpest thing she had lying inside – the sword, Razor's Edge, which had been gathering metaphorical dust ever since it came into her possession.
Without hesitation, she swung it first through her legs and tail, then, pulling herself upwards to get some momentum, cut off the other arm. She landed a couple seconds after that, her limbs already fully healed by the time she reached the ground. Immediately, she began stretching out the stiffness while mumbling complaints.
Wrath, for his part, had his attention focused exclusively on the sword in her hand.
"If you don't mind, could I examine that sword?" He asked without a second thought, knowing full well that asking to borrow her weapon was a long shot, especially with their working relationship starting out as roughly as it had.
She, however, shrugged and flipped it over, passing him the handle indifferently. Were it her primary weapon it might be different, but in her hands it was nothing more than a needlessly sharp butter knife.
"Thanks." he accepted the blade. Bringing the edge to his eye, he began to carefully analyze the weapon.
His eyes went wide.
"To think something like this actually existed here, just where did you get this…" (Wrath)
"It used to be a national treasure belonging to the Kingdom to the west, though as for where it actually came from, I couldn't say." (Tanya)
"Calling it a 'national treasure' doesn't begin to describe it… if you had something like this, you could have just cut the web." (Wrath)
"Are you kidding me? It's a bit late for that now, isn't it? You said it couldn't be cut." (Tanya)
Instead of arguing, Wrath reached over, picked up one of his swords, and in one smooth motion, attacked one of the strands of web stuck to the floor.
The speed of the blade was incredible, to the point where Tanya could barely follow its trajectory. A gust of air shot out, rattling every table in the direction he had swung. Yet, the blade paused abruptly the instant it made contact with the web, stuck in place without the latter so much as vibrating from the impact.
He gave it a good tug, but it refused to budge, so he let go, leaving it stuck perfectly in place.
"My swords are among the sharpest blades in existence. Their quality is incomparably higher than that treasure sword. And yet-" (Wrath)
Placing the crystalline blade against the web, he smoothly poured magic into the blade before swiftly drawing it across the web. Without resistance, the thin strand was cut and fell to the ground, allowing him to pull both swords free.
"-it can cut. To put it simply, it's a different sort of existence, to be able to interact with materials which exist outside this world's magic system, in ways an ordinary weapon like mine can't. It's a property I've only ever see once before, that being on her – Shiro-san's scythe. Whoever made this is an abnormally dangerous being." (Wrath)
As he explained, he sheathed his own sword, and then, reluctantly, returned her sword. She brought it to another pieces of web as he had, cutting it down and collecting it for herself.
"Hah, for 'her' to be called Shiro, that's one hell of a coincidence…" (Tanya)
"Coincidence?" (Wrath)
"Hm?" (Tanya)
"?" (Wrath)
"… I already thought it was strange, but with that name… could it be that you're all originally Japanese?" (Tanya)
"Ah, there it is, they're here too…" (Wrath)
Having reached a mutual understanding, the two shared a sigh of disappointment, before starting to exchange names, pleasantries, and information.
"Then, those other three are as well?" (Tanya)
"No, Shiro-san and Sophia-san – the smaller one – are, but Ariel-san isn't. Our entire high school class was blown up some six years ago, but we're doing fine now. Ariel-san thought it'd be fun to push a random button, and here we ended up… what about this country? Are this Ainz-san and everybody the same?" (Wrath)
"Ainz is, yeah, but it's just him. The rest are what he called NPCs." (Tanya)
"Ah, so it's a game setting this time…" (Wrath)
"So I've heard, admittedly I'm not too familiar with the details. To begin with, I was originally a salaryman, then spent over a decade in another world entirely having to fight a magical world war." (Tanya)
"Salaryman? Uh, what can I say, my condolences…" (Wrath)
"It's as you say… well, long story short, he offered some employment benefits I needed, so I ended up like this." (Tanya)
"I understand. Should we try meeting with Ainz-san, or would that be impossible?" (Wrath)
Tanya thought about it, mentally simulating the possible outcomes.
"I won't say it's entirely impossible, but… Ainz himself aside, the rest of the NPCs would lean towards getting rid of threats as soon as possible. This time, I was only here by coincidence, otherwise you might already have been attacked." (Tanya)
"That's a shame. Well, since Shiro-san hadn't already made contact, I figured there was a reason. Rather, didn't you recognize her when you flew in?" (Wrath)
"I found her once before, we ended up making a deal, but…" she fiddled with the ribbon on her chest, choosing her words carefully, "…she seemed much more enigmatic last time, the whole divine image is ruined now." (Tanya)
Wrath bowed deeply.
"I'm very sorry for our Shiro-san's behavior. She was drinking before we noticed, we failed to stop her." (Wrath)
Tanya smiled maliciously. "It's fine, I'll voice my complaints directly to the person in question… we're overdue some vital communication, it seems…" (Tanya)
"Do what you want, I didn't hear anything here." (Wrath)
"Yeah. And I didn't find anybody threatening here. It won't work a second time though, if you're planning on staying here, do it without picking up any half-ton monsters." (Tanya)
"I'll tell Ariel-san that… if you need us, we'll probably be killing time at the Adventurer's Guild." (Wrath)
"Sure. Things are still hectic with the war, but ask for me at the castle. Might take a few days to get back to you, though." (Tanya)
Even if she was only physically present one day in a month, there were always at least a couple magic casters who could send a message in an emergency. While it was doubtful whether they would ever actually need help from her, excluding the possibility of political issues they might get themselves caught up in. Offering this much was her insurance, on the off chance that a trivial conflict would otherwise turn into a world-ending fight between semi-gods.
Tearing away the last web, she stowed it for future use before starting to fill the gaps in with magic. The bar would forever have a vacant gap of unknown depth hidden beneath it, but some shifted dirt and imitation floorboards matching the appearance of the existing flooring meant nobody else had to know of its existence.
"Are we done here?" Wrath said, looking over the end result.
"Yeah, nothing happened here. Back to work." (Tanya)
She nodded and vanished without another word.
Tanya stepped into her room. Placing her hands on the dress, she tore, desperate to finally get herself out of it.
She tore, but the silk did not budge. Letting magic flow into her muscles, she tore again, yet the result did not change.
After a few more seconds of exerting herself until her arms were sore and her face was red, she gave up and let go.
"… How does somebody take this off…?"
The next hour was spent attempting to figure out how to undo the intricate process of putting on the monstrosity of a dress she had been made to wear.
"…"
She took a glove and tried to tear it in half. Not the slightest deformation.
She set the dress on her desk and stabbed a knife into it. The blade bounced off. Once again with mana applied, not a scratch.
"… Dammit. I can't think of an excuse not to wear this…"
Side: Shiro
I have discovered a serious issue. An earth-shattering flaw, one whose existence I have long since suspected, yet only now confirmed.
I… don't have enough firepower.
Now, I'll admit, dropping meteors is fun and all, but that much is just base-level endgame magic, the sort of thing any ordinary black mage can learn. That spell you teach your pets because they get unlimited uses. The evolved form of solving all of life's problem by throwing the bigger rock.
Sure, it's functional enough for flattening a colony of elves into that unrecognizable mush you can't show on TV without a mosaic, but having to wait for a rock to accelerate and impact just to squish a Robo-Potimas is… unfortunate.
Not very godlike, is it? Having the demon loli upstage you by adding an energy bomb to her meteor just for style points. I mean, you can already reach and sustain yourself in orbit, store items in an inventory, and drop them with pinpoint accuracy. Anywhere else you'd have terminal velocity and drag and all that to think about, but here you just drop rocks and watch cities transform into craters. Surely you've done the math?
Yet you go for the option of making up some advanced magecraft to use a small rock instead.
Aren't you just showing off!?
…
Okay, yes, obviously, there is also the option of just looking at something and just willing it to cease to freeze in space, or collapse internally, or lose all its energy and cease to exist, but… yep, it's too plain. Effective, but plain.
But then, the question becomes, what does a spider's ultimate attack look like? Giant interdimensional webs? Atmospheric venom effects? Disintegration wave? DIY anti-god magic? A portal to the realm of unlimited spiders?
Argh, why aren't there more references to work from?
… Okay, pull back. Think about the Queens… Whether it's them or the dragons, it's got to be the trademark attack that destroys everything, Breath? The repeated trauma I got from it still hasn't faded, so something about it must be working.
Actually letting that out of my mouth is a little… no.
Though, I guess I don't have to? Let's try it out.
A wild Ogre (x2) appeared!
Ogre A uses [Intimidating Roar]! It has no effect!
Shiro-chan uses Summon: Pocket Mother!
Mother appears from a tear in reality!
Mother uses [Breath]!
Ogre A receives 9999 damage! Ogre A is vaporized!
Ogre B receives 9999 damage! Ogre B is vaporized!
Mother's head returns into the tear in reality!
Shiro-chan is victorious! Received 2 EXP!
… I probably didn't need to narrate that. More than a few sources got mixed up there, but let's ignore that.
Pros: It certainly does work, both the ogres and the next kilometer of forest behind them have been thoroughly erased.
Cons: Insufficient Queens exist to scale up. Crossing worlds to bring one over each time is a pain, and Maou would probably get mad if I keep borrowing them without asking.
Okay, I should put her back where I found her.
Farewell, Queen #3, until we meet again.
…
Okay, enough of that.
The forest… I have no idea how the earth and trees were torn apart. Must have been like this to begin with, yes. Look the other direction, and it's an ordinary undamaged forest. Not my responsibility.
What's next? Should I play around with that super magic or what was it? … Nah, I can't think of a single good use for it. On top of being tied in too closely with this system to become practical, isn't it just ordinary high-tier magic with more restrictions? Pass. Too slow and weak to bother hacking the System. Unfortunate.
Summoning magic? Another fantasy trope, another pass. Everybody knows that spiders are better than zombies or skeletons. Plus, it's a pain to copy it in such a way that it'll work in worlds outside this one, not much point otherwise.
Dressing up in red and blue spandex and punching things? Hard, hard, hard pass. Whose idea was it to even call that a spider? What a waste of research.
Aside from those, the only thing that comes to mind is combing the world for any more of D's artifacts – the World Items or what was it – and picking out the useful ones. From the few I've seen, they aren't terribly different from the rest of the crap I got from our house, evil playing cards and one-shot baseball bats and all that.
If I had to guess, the ones left behind there are miscellaneous rejects, whereas the ones used for the game which exist in this world are the successes: a club with infinite power scaling, a temporary unlimited pool of magic, the idealized concept of a chain, a literal delete key… Some pretty unreasonable items, all things considered.
At least a couple of them would be a boon to own, and since they're each built around a small fragment of divinity, they should at least partially work outside any system.
Ideal in every way, really, but there probably aren't more than a dozen of them scattered around the world. The ones in the tomb… well, they aren't going anywhere. No need to steal them immediately, it'd just reveal my position and turn them all hostile. Yet.
Who else has them, then? The dragons? They probably have a couple hidden away, assuming I can find them to begin with.
Even D went out of her way to suggest hunting them, she rarely bothers to interfere that openly. Not sure how they managed to annoy her enough for that order to come down…
Oh well, what's important is that I'll finally get a chance to find out what ancient dragons taste like. Priorities, priorities.
Just have to watch out for the Dragon Emperor. Those miscellaneous lords are descended from a True Dragon, even if they only inherited tiny fragments of its original strength. In the worst case, there's another Gyuri here, one who I very much don't want to get involved with.
Sigh.
…
Hm? Something's approaching?
I look up to the sky to watch a comet of magic slowly approaching.
Clarification: It's not slow, that's just perspective. Just how far away did that come from?
For the time being, let's just take a few steps in this direction.
No sooner had I done that than the ground behind me spectacularly exploded. Dirt, grass, rocks, and even trees were blown apart by the pressure from the blast.
Well, I don't want to get dirty, so let's just block all of that…
How could you!? This brazen destruction of nature, such shameless disregard for the forest, take responsibility!
Who is it? Who would be so rude as to start shooting at me? Don't think you can hide just because you're firing from space! I'll drag you back down here along with that very space!
From the exact opposite direction the shot came from, to the edge of the atmosphere, search for any magic responses.
There's only the one, all the way up, with nothing around. Convenient.
Dimensional magic, bring that region of space down to earth.
The displaced air collapses back into the region of vacuum I created with a sharp clap, at the center of which is… a dazed Demon Girl.
Okay, that's not much of a surprise. Not really anybody else it could be, but… why?
Watching her, she recovers surprisingly quickly for somebody unexpectedly thrown off by sudden teleportation. Haven't your lungs collapsed from the pressure change or something?
Now that I think about it, your choice of dress is rather… eccentric. Mahou Shoujo cosplay? Never thought you were the type… or wait, is that one of mine? Where'd she get that?
She looks up at me defiantly.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Shiro-san… why don't we have an overdue discussion?"
…?
Is she mad…? I wonder why.
Wait, how does she know my name…?
I feel like I'm forgetting something here… doubt it's anything too important.
So, why are you here? Can't you show me some interesting magic or something? You went and start a conversation with a warning shot, so it's fine if I reply in kind, right?
Based on the amount of magic power she's putting into her barriers and physical reinforcement… add the defensive value of pseudodragonscale layered with some of my silk (assumed), the force required would be… eh, forget the calculation, let's just leave it to instinct.
Step forward, and… Shiro-chan Punch.
Overwhelming force shatters her magic defenses in an instant, leaving a visible indent and at least a few broken ribs. Exactly half-dead, more or less. Perfect.
She flies off at a speed which draws a smooth line instead of a parabola, right through one large tree, then gets stuck halfway into another.
More reckless destruction of nature, how could you!
Leaves and splinters fly everywhere around her, half-embedded into a huge oak.
Well, that's an appropriate penalty for shooting me, even if you knew it wouldn't be effective. Others have gotten eaten for less, consider this my generosity.
Now, show me something interesting!
She collapsed forward out of the tree, half-conscious, and began to regenerate.
… Okay, fine, healing first is fine. Probably can't do anything else when half of your organs are in the wrong cavity.
Now, show me something interesting!
"[Greater-"
Nope to that. I'm not letting you just teleport away after all this. You chose to follow me here, now pay for it with a fight.
Crushing the magic invocation simply by washing over it to break the spell, I started walking forward. Slowly. Ominously.
If you don't do anything, I'll hit you again, you know?
From a few meters away, I drew back a first for a telegraphed right straight.
Before I could actually attack, she struck out, shooting once, diving to the side, then rapidly ascending.
The mana bullet I just caught in hand, letting it impact, just to see what it is, since the damage was negligible anyway.
As expected, it's basically just energy? You're not filtering it through the System as a spell, just operating MA Energy in tiny amounts.
I figured that's what it was, but actually getting confirmation is nonetheless amazing. It's a minuscule amount compared to what D's systems or even Potimas's machines use, but it's properly cycling it back to the world instead of burning it outright.
Does that technically make each and every one of her world's mages gods of the lowest tier? No wonder D would be interested, that's one hell of a war potential if you actually nurture them. That, or she just found the whole situation amusing. Let's be real, it's probably the latter.
Ah, got distracted. She's trying to fly away. I'll just lock everything within 200 meters down with some webbing and a barrier, though.
You can't escape from a boss battle, you know?
She suddenly hit the brakes and stopped with just a light impact against the barrier instead of splatting against it. After briefly assessing the situation, she backed up and started putting together all sorts of magic in parallel.
Yes, fight! I'll take you on in full challenge run fashion, no evil eyes, no summons, no webs, no offensive magic, no damage, and just 5% power. Hahaha!
Her opening move is… raining down explosives? The sound and vibration is pretty intense from the number, but each of them is weaker than even the first shot, so it's not as though they would do damage.
What's the point? A smokescreen? We both know Detection doesn't care about something like that. Clearing the trees? You've gotten rid of any cover, sure, but…
I sweep aside an incoming high-velocity bullet with the back of my hand.
… You need to throw more than pebbles if you want to do anything to a lake.
A few more rounds like the first, each perfectly aimed, but by the same token, taking only a light sidestep to avoid entirely. The last one I catch in a miniature portal, the output set up to send her attack straight back – which she narrowly avoids.
Come on, keep going, we've all seen bullets. Try something novel.
After that, she again starts scattering explosions, filling the entire arena with smoke and fire.
How is she fueling all that, anyway? Her energy levels have been really inconsistent this entire time, spiking to twice her regular limit each time she starts attacking, yet the amount she actually possesses barely changes.
I can tell that she's retrieving it from the System as some kind of seal but the numbers don't add up… or wait, I see it. She filled a seal with a whole bunch of pure, unassigned energy and told the System to just seal it as-is, pretending it's a spell. Basically the same trick as that crystal, just with more versatility in exchange for less total energy stored.
Interesting to watch, but not really useful for me, it's not possible for me to store anywhere near enough energy to be useful.
Oh, well.
I put a little bit of magic into my hand, swiping it to clear the air, letting just smoke filter through the barriers and dissipate.
Well, by now, everything within 200 meters of where I'm standing has been cleared out, it's basically just bombed-out dirt all around.
Looking up at the flying little girl- oh? Ohoho?
I teleport straight up in front of it, grabbing it to take a closer look.
This really is quite something, one of those 'decoys', but you've taken it to a new level, haven't you? Giving it mass, radiating energy of its own, imitation body heat, even going so far as to program in some independent movement so it can attack, or struggle, as in this case.
I honestly didn't notice when you switched them out, with the distraction in play.
Can you even still call this a decoy? Some kind of mana golem? You've invented something insane, oi.
As for the real one… she was invisible and charging towards me from the side.
… You do know that I can still see you, right? I mean, you're kinda fast, but Maou can just kick off the ground at twice that speed, so it's not too exciting.
I suppose this is enough entertainment for now, let's just end this.
Turning around slightly to look over at her, I look at her just as she's about to make contact, freezing her in the air.
… Or at least, that's how it was supposed to go?
I'm holding the tip of a sword between two fingers, right above the center of my chest.
Again, that's not quite right.
Down the tip rolls a single drop of crimson, a point of blood sliding down the edge a few centimeters before breaking off, falling straight to the ground below.
To be precise, I am indeed holding the sword, but I failed to quite catch it in time.
Let's back up a little, what happened?
She was moving here at full speed, and I stopped her a couple meters away. That definitely happened, but at that exact time, a sword came out of nowhere, still flying at full speed straight towards me.
I didn't notice her activating anything to create or shoot it… how?
Let's take a good look at the sword – it did cut through my clothing, after all. It's not something I would have overlooked if she was just hiding it, yet it just came out in that instant. If she had any other items… ah.
Again, such a simple trick?
I stuck a hand forward, reaching into the attached space – her inventory, assigned by the System. Not too difficult to tear open when you know what you're doing. It's a linked space, tied to move alongside the owner so they can conveniently pull items while moving.
Did she have the inventory open, the sword ready to fly out as soon as she was frozen? Seriously impressive timing, damn.
Shiro-chan receives 1 damage!
So much for a no-damage run… this is humiliating…
It's at times like this that you use those magic words to pretend you didn't lose.
"… You pass."
"Huh? What?"
I can make use of you, right? You did say you were working for the highest bidder, didn't you?
"… New orders, find the Dragon Lords."
Confused look.
"… You will receive payment, Elementary Dimensional Magic."
I have an inventory too, you know. I reach in for a can of coffee and place it in her hand.
Yes, you understand what that means, don't you?
What you truly want, only I can sell you…
Now then, Undead is calling you for a meeting, you should get back soon.
Let's get out of here before the conversation continues.
One more job successfully pawned off.
Mission accomplished.
So concludes another volume. Continued on a whim, honestly surprised this finished in a (relatively) timely manner.
Yes, a third volume is in planning. However, it will most likely be delayed by at least a month from the "regular" releases. Prologues might need to get rewritten repeatedly to fit with the first chapter, and I'd rather not lock anything in until I'm satisfied with the entire first chapter.
In other news, I'm opening a small discord server if you want to point out errors, complain about issues, or just get spoiled about the direction of the story. Invite code is at WZr7tET, don't be surprised if you find it empty.
