When Naofumi touches the Dragon Hourglass at Cal Mira, he somehow ends up in L'Arc's world, his LVL reset.

This world is like a Western-Eastern mix of Japan to him.


When he sees L'Arc again, he's glad to see him. But when he gets close, he notices that something's not right. L'Arc's tense, but why?

Naofumi asks, "What the heck happened while he was gone? Are Raphtalia and Filo alright?"

L'Arc smiles, "They're fine. We'll talk more inside."

L'Arc leads him to a room with a bed. They sit down and L'Arc tells him about the Wave…and that the other heroes were so weak…they ended up dead.

Naofumi gulps, "Dead?"

Then, Naofumi finds himself with a scythe to his neck.

L'Arc sighs, "You're very lucky. You escaped getting killed…but your luck's run out."

Naofumi glares, "You killed the other heroes?"

L'Arc nods, "Sorry…but to save my world and destroy yours, all four heroes have to die."

Naofumi blinks, 'What? That doesn't make sense. If all four die, they'll just summon others! Is he being tricked by someone?'

Just as L'Arc was about to bring down his scythe, Naofumi yells, "L'Arc, wait!"

L'Arc pauses, raising an eyebrow, "What?"

Naofumi quickly explains, "If all four heroes die, new ones will just be summoned…you sure you want to go through killing them again?"

L'Arc's eyes narrow, "You better not be lying…"

"I'm not! It's what I was told when I first got summoned."

L'Arc looks into Naofumi's eyes, looking for any signs of lying…and found none. Sighing, he lowers his scythe, letting Naofumi breathe a sigh of relief.

Naofumi asks, "Who gave you the idea to kill all four heroes?"

"The Vassal of the Book, Kyo."

Naofumi contemplates, "He tricked you then. Something else is going on…"

L'Arc nods, "I agree…but first… What to do with you?"

Naofumi stiffens, frozen like a cat meeting a dog for the first time, "What do you mean?"

L'Arc smiles, "I don't want to kill you, Kiddo…but I will if I have to."

Naofumi yells, "You don't have to! You seriously don't have to!" He sighs, "and honestly… I don't like that world either."

L'Arc blinks in surprise, "You don't?"

Naofumi shakes his head, "Of course not. It's not worth saving…it should be destroyed…but there are still some people I want to save, so…"

L'Arc smiles, "I see… Then, how about this Kiddo? You help me with Kyo, I won't kill you, and I'll help you get those you want to save into my world. I guarantee they'll be safe here."

Naofumi looks at him, a tiny bit hopeful, "Really?"

"Really."

Naofumi smiles, "Then, it's a deal."

They shake hands on it.


Omake:

Then Naofumi finds out that L'Arc's a freaking King, so there's that.

He doesn't believe it first if only because...it doesn't suit L'Arc at all! But he finds that it's true...

"L'Arc..."

"Hm?"

"Let me punch you, at least once," Naofumi growls.

Knowing that it won't hurt him much...L'Arc sweat-drops, "OK...go ahead, Kiddo," as he braces himself.

Naofumi punches him in the face...but it still doesn't do minimal, if any damage at all to him...so in his frustration, he keeps punching a few times. Until L'Arc catches his fist in his hand.

Temporarily caught, Naofumi just glares at him. L'Arc just smiles back and pulls him into a hug.

Not expecting that, Naofumi's frozen stiff...but eventually relaxes due to L'Arc's coaxing, his hands rubbing soothing circles into his back.

They stay like that for a while.