I wake up early the next morning and find Eris already awake, training with the new sword I made for her. It now weighs 100 pounds, and she's swinging it around vigorously, sweat flying everywhere. There's even a small puddle forming under her.

She looks kind of cute when she's training this hard. It's hard not to watch her sometimes, even though she might beat me for being creepy.

"Hey Eris, what are you doing?"

Eris looks over at me and drops the sword. "What does it look like I'm doing? You're always asking stupid questions."

"Sorry, my bad. I just wanted to make conversation."

She takes a break, sitting down on a nearby log. I walk over and sit next to her, stealing glances at her dark red hair shining in the sunlight, her pale, smooth skin glistening with sweat. I'm not a pervert, but she looks so good when I stare at her.

"You're such a pervert, stop staring at me."

I realize she caught me staring while lost in thought. I quickly try to come up with an excuse.

"I was just thinking about our mission later. You know, we should get a move on. I'll go wake up Her and you wash yourself off and get ready. Okay, bye..."

I dash off to the little hut I made for the women. I reach the door and start knocking. A sleepy-looking bandit woman answers, rubbing her eyes and squinting at the early morning sun.

"What do you want? It's so early," she grumbles.

"Me and Eris are ready to leave now. Get ready to go,"

"But it's so early,"

"That's exactly why we need to leave. We're on a tight schedule. If we take too long, the whole plan will go to ruin. Now, get ready."

She looks at me with a sad expression, hoping to change my mind. I stand there, arms crossed, unmoving.

"Sigh, it's weird getting bossed around by a child," she mutters before closing the door to dress.

I walk back to Eris, who's still sitting on the log. "Why didn't you wash the sweat off your face?"

"And please tell me, what was I supposed to wash my face with? You forgot to make some water, dumbass."

"Oops, my bad."

I scratch the back of my head and quickly conjure a bucket of cold water. She takes it from me and begins washing her face, a look of relief spreading across her features as she cleans up.

The bandit girl approached us, still rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Now that you're here, we can finally leave. What direction are we going?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Are we going on foot or taking the carriage?"

"We'll go on foot. It'll be less conspicuous and attract less attention that way. Oh, by the way, what's your name? We should know what to call you on this trip."

I looked up at the girl in front of me, waiting for her response. I didn't remember her from the series, so her name escaped me.

"My name is Sasha."

"I'm Rudeus Greyrat."

She looked at me in surprise, a mix of confusion etched onto her face.

"If you're a Greyrat, why are you all the way out here trying to sneak into the capital?"

"It's a long story. It would be too troublesome to explain."

After getting ready, we started our journey in the direction Sasha indicated. As we walked, we remained vigilant. I kept my demon eye active and ready. We encountered some monsters, but it wasn't a problem; I let Eris deal with them. She seemed to be enjoying herself, seeing the results of her training. It made me happy to watch.

I've been thinking about the Water God I'll have to face one day, maybe even soon. Her technique is really tricky to deal with. It would be best if we avoid facing her. I don't think Hitogami has noticed me yet; he probably has three other people he's monitoring right now.

Once I kill Darius, I'll definitely be in his sights, so I need to kill Darius and leave as quickly as possible. But I really want to go to the Water Dojo. She wouldn't know about me, so I guess it would be safe, but it might prolong my stay. The knowledge I'd gain there would be invaluable.

I've already outlined my plan: smuggle Ghislaine into Ars, meet with Ariel, try to get her on my side, maybe stop at the Water Dojo, and then convince Ariel to help us kill Darius. I know this plan may not go exactly as planned, but it will help us stay on track.

Also, I've made a discovery: the teleportation event didn't just happen out of nowhere. It occurred when Eris made that promise to Rudeus. I think Rudeus changed so many fates that the world became weak enough for Nanahoshi to teleport.

Following that logic, I may have already changed Roxy's fate, and maybe Sylphie's too. I'm not sure about Sylphie; I never really developed strong feelings for her. Maybe it's because I was so engrossed in training. This Sylphie seems stronger; that move she pulled to beat me was pretty smart. I still think about how she came up with that.

To be fair, she didn't know all these spells this early in canon. I taught her how to use spells more effectively. I was holding back a lot and not taking it seriously, but Sylphie is going to be a monster now.

I got sidetracked. Back to my monologue. That means the second Eris falls in love with me, we'll all be teleported, and Eris is already starting to like me. What would happen if we got teleported early? I need to seriously start thinking about my actions; I'm going to mess up the story if I keep diverging so much.

Also, I have a rough idea of how my sword style is going to be. I'll need a different kind of sword to use it; I'll need a sword with a mana crystal inside so I can cast spells with the sword as my wand. Also, my gravity magic has been improving. I've started lifting things instead of just pushing them down, and it's really effective. Using my demon eye, if I concentrate, I can even start to force choke someone like Darth Vader, but it takes a lot of effort, mana, and precision. If I'm not 100% focused, it stops, so it's pretty much useless.

"Rudy… Rudy…. I KNOW YOU HEAR ME!"

Eris smacked the back of my head, interrupting my inner monologue.

"God, what do you want?"

"You know, if you paid attention instead of zoning out, you'd have heard her say we're getting close."

I looked at Sasha to confirm this information. She looked back at me and nodded, affirming it was correct.

"Well, how much longer until we get there?"

"I think we should arrive in about 4 minutes or so," Sasha said, scratching the top of her head as she tried to calculate the time.

She's not even sure. I guess I was cursed to be on a team with two idiots.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?"

"WHAT? I DIDN'T SAY THAT OUT LOUD!"

Eris started to chase me with a sword, and I dashed off, not wanting to be cut into pieces.

But seriously, it feels like she can tell every time I make fun of her in my head. That's the only thing that idiot is good at.

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT!" Eris looked at me with murder in her eyes and started to unconsciously use touki in her strikes.

"GET OUTTA MY HEAD!"

"We're here."

Eris and I stopped our little game of me running for my life to see Sasha running up to a secret latch by a tree. She knocked on it in a special way, and after a while, a shady-looking man appeared and stared her down.

"It's me, Sasha. Ive brought customers."

Sasha pointed at Eris and me as the customers. I waved to the sketchy man, who looked at me with confusion in his eyes.

"Fine. Well, let them in, but make sure those brats don't touch anything."

We followed the man down the hatch and into a secret tunnel. It resembled the one where the slaves were kept when Rudeus saved the Beast Folk.

I wonder if that means anything. Maybe they're connected. I don't see any slaves around, just sketchy people dressed in black cloaks. Also, it really stinks down here; it smells like a sewer.

"We're here. The boss is in that room."

The man who led us there left us in front of an office. We walked in to see a chair and two guards on each side, each holding a sword.

The chair slowly turned around, revealing a man who looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Also, why was he trying to be so overly evil? Nobody actually turns around slowly in a chair. The only thing he's missing is a cat to pet and an evil mustache to twirl.

"So, I've been informed that you two need our assistance in smuggling something."

"Yes, sir. We need you to smuggle a person into Ars."

He narrowed his eyes, looking at me suspiciously, trying to discern my motives.

"Why would a kid like you need to smuggle a person into Ars? Who are you?"

"Well, my intention is unrelated. I just came here for business. My name is Rudeus Greyrat."

Both guards and the boss gasped in shock at my name.

"You're a Greyrat? Are you mocking me? Why would a Greyrat need to smuggle a person into Ars? Is this a setup?"

The guards tightened their grip on their swords, ready for action. Eris gave them a menacing stare and drew her weapon as well.

"Everyone, chill out. It's hard to explain, but I'm not really associated with the Greyrat family in Ars."

"Hmm. How can I trust you?"

I stared back at him and his guards, assessing them.

"Because I could easily kill everyone in this hideout if I wanted."

Upon hearing that, the guards rushed me, but I exerted my gravity on both of them. They knelt, struggling under its weight. I used earth magic to restrain them further.

"See? If we wanted you dead, you'd be gone. Even this little girl here could kill every single one of you."

Sasha looked on, sweating nervously.

"Um, Rudeus, I think that was a little over the top. My cousin works here, so I don't think you need to go around threatening everyone."

"Sigh. It wasn't my intention to get to this point. I just needed him to take me seriously and stop asking so many questions."

I stared deeply into his eyes. He flinched under my gaze.

"Okay, okay. We don't mean any harm. We just wanted to protect our business. So, tell me, who are we smuggling?"

"Finally, we get to business. You'll be smuggling the Sword King, Ghislaine."

At my words, I sensed his anxiety. He looked pale at the prospect of smuggling a Sword King into Ars.

"May I ask what your purpose in Ars is? We have many clients there. It would be a great shame if something tragic were to happen to the city."

"I told you to stop asking questions and do your job. You're pissing me off."

I used a bit of gravity magic, enough to make him feel the pressure.

"Okay, okay! If we're taking on such a client, we'll need 15 gold coins."

"WHAT? 15? THAT'S LIKE ALL MY MONEY!"

My jaw dropped. I hadn't planned for that. I had only brought 20 gold coins, thinking we'd only be here for two weeks then leave

"Man, inflation even chased me to this world."

"Like a balloon."

I see Eris smiling proudly, thinking she just understood the big word I said. Man, I never thought she could get dumber.

"I heard you."

Eris lunges at me, but I dodge and she falls down, hitting her head.

"Sir, is there any way we could lower the price?"

"Sorry, but no. We have to take into consideration her size, build, and weight. I've personally seen Ghislaine; I challenged her to a sword battle when I was at the Sword Sanctuary, and she beat me badly. That's why I'm here now."

He starts to look off into space, probably reminiscing over his old dream of being a swordsman.

"Um, sir, we asked to lower the price, not the mood."

"Oh, right, I got sidetracked. But no, we can't. She's very big, tall, and muscular, so we will need 15 gold coins."

Man, what if I just killed him right here?

"Okay, fine. I'll pay you the 15 gold coins, but we need to know, how long would it take?"

He puts his hand to his chin and looks up at the ceiling.

"Hmm, maybe a day or so because she's pretty heavy."

"Sigh, it hurts my pockets to do this, but here are the 15 gold coins. We will be here tomorrow with Ghislaine."

"Okay, well, it's a deal. Come back tomorrow we will be ready. Also, can you untie them from the ground?"

The two bandits on the ground squirm around and yell at me to free them. I release the Earth magic, and they get up, glaring daggers at me. We turn around and start to walk out, but I notice something: the clothes they are wearing are really similar to the ones that tried to kidnap Tina.

"Wait, I have a question."

I turn around and look up at the boss.

"Do you also do kidnappings? And do you know anything about Darius?"

He looks down at me, meeting my gaze. He has a serious expression on his face.

"So you killed them."

I start to see all the smugglers pull out their weapons and surround us. Eris pulls her sword out.

"Um, Rudeus, what's happening?"

"Sasha, stay behind me and Eris. We will handle this."

"I can't believe I just gave 15 gold to a kidnapper like you. Guess I'll have to kill you to get it back."

Four men in black coats rush us. Eris launches at two of them; they start to fight, but she quickly overpowers them, leaving a big gash on their chests. They fall to the ground, slowly dying.

I see two men approaching me. I use absolute zero, freezing the whole ground and turning the temperature below freezing. I put an earth dome on Eris and Sasha to protect them from the temperature. The men rushing at me have their feet stuck in ice. I use gravity magic to levitate so I'm not caught in it. As their body temperature drops, the ice slowly starts to spread up their bodies until they are encased in ice. I shoot an earth bullet at both their bodies, shattering them into a million pieces. I look around, waiting for everyone to attack me, but everyone is frozen. I kind of forgot it was an AoE move; I wanted a cool battle where they all come one at a time so I could test out different moves.

I look down and see ice starting to form on my body. I put down the earth dome.

"We have to leave. I can't control this yet; I haven't really mastered it fully, so I can't stop the ice from forming."

Sasha starts to shiver, but Eris looks strangely okay. She's a monster; even I'm shivering. We all run out, and before we leave, I charge a fireball. I keep feeding mana into it until it turns white. I fire it into the hideout, and the whole ground explodes.

"I think I overdid it a bit."

Eris looks at me with sparkles in her eyes.

"Teach me that!"

"When we get back, I will."

I look at Sasha, and she has a solemn look on her face.

"Um, I don't know if your cousin was in there, but I'm sorry if I killed him."

"It's fine. I didn't know he was kidnapping children. At the end of the day, we weren't that close."

"Well, I guess we aren't going to have smugglers; this was all for nothing."

We start to walk away, but I suddenly remember something.

"He had my 15 gold coins! Nooo, I just nuked my money!"

"It's okay, Rudy. It was only 15 gold coins; Grandfather can give you more."

I instantly lock in after realizing my employer is rich.

"Ah, yes, I forgot; I can just ask him for 20 gold coins."

"I thought you lost 15."

"It's called interest."

Sasha deadpans.

"I don't think that's how interest works, Rudeus."

After we get back to camp, it's nighttime, and everyone is already in their houses.

"Man, I missed out on lunch; I'm starving."

"Rudeus, there's still leftovers by the campfire."

"You girls can have it; I'll just go to bed. Goodnight."

I walk off. Well, that was all for nothing. I guess we will just have to walk in with Ghislaine. At least Ariel will be backed up by Boroas now.

I wonder how this is going to affect their house because we are definitely going to be framed.

Oh well, hopefully, I at least get a cool fight at the dojo when we get there. That smuggler's fight was anticlimactic.

Tomorrow, the first thing I'll do when I get inside of Ars is go to the water dojo to challenge the Water Gods disciples.

A/N: Give me a review I need to know what to fix