Two things were apparent as we reached the top of the hill. First was the mine was more like a small complex. There were four entrances down in the pit that went in four directions. The second was that a decent battle happened here, and the Doom fan lost.

"Wait here." I told them as I walked down the steps into the pit.

There were bodies everywhere, mostly of zombiemen. Like the shotgun guys, these had a small, metal tube as one of their arms. If their weapons weren't tied to stats, they'd be more intimidating. Judging from the scene before me, they probably were about as threatening as their game counterparts.

Near the entrance on the opposite side was a group of four people. Three were armed and armored in different equipment. Not knights, probably adventurers, all human. The fourth person was a demi-human child. It was hard to tell if they were a boy or girl from this distance and with the shade, but they looked to be a dog or fox with orange hair. They were also lying on their stomach, arms and legs tied behind them.

"Hello there!" I called out to the group and waved, though they had already seen me. "What happened here?"

The three exchanged looks while I continued to approach. The sound of a cart drew my attention to the entrance near them. A fairly generic-looking zombie was pushing the cart up the slope to the pit area. The cart was full of ore.

"Just a little mining, with a little help." One man said with a grin.

The demi-human child—a fox, and 80-20 a boy—looked up at me. He was in pretty bad shape. His right eye was swollen, cuts on his clothing had blood around them, and one of his arms looked a bit banged up. I also noticed a length of rope around his mouth to keep him from talking.

"Huh." I watched as the zombie pushed the cart to the side, then started pushing an empty cart back underground. "You made that?"

The man gave a boastful laugh. "I'm pretty talented, aren't I?"

Well, that was bullshit.

"And what about all of these?" I gestured behind me to the swarm of broken undead. A few weren't. Those ones appeared to be normal people, unarmored, and filled with holes.

The man shrugged. "I wanted to test out something. It got a little bloody."

Still bullshit, but I wanted to be sure.

"I have to say, you guys made a lot of demons here." I said. The boy's ears twitched. "I don't doubt anyone who tried to fight them would meet their Doom." The kid's eyes widen.

"Yeah, well, that's nice to hear." The man said. He moved his hand slightly, bringing it closer to the sword at his hip. "Now, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" I said with a laugh. "I am John Romero."

The boy didn't react.

"You supposed to be famous or something?" The man asked.

I ignored him and looked directly at the boy. "Really? The designer of the game? The final boss of the game? Nothing?"

The boy didn't react much, aside from trying to shrink in on himself. What true fan of the game didn't play around with cheat codes and see the severed head of the game's designer behind the wall? Well, given his situation, I could cut him some slack.

"What are you—"

I'd have to do something about that.

"Meteor Axe VI!" In one swift motion, I pulled my axe off and swung it. There was about 10 feet between me and the adventurers, so the closest one—the one who was speaking—didn't have time to stop me.

The energy slash hit all three of them, knocking them back slightly, but they survived. Huh. Their levels must be higher than the knights I've come across, or at least their armor was better. Probably the latter. Rabier's knights had pretty crap armor for ones serving a powerful lord.

"Erst Chop V!" That didn't mean they'd survive repeated empowered skills. The braggart got his armor caved in with my second attack. He fell to the ground, grasping for air.

"Bastard!" One of the others had an axe of his own and brought it over his head.

"Second Chop V!" He was too slow, and paid the price with his arms and head.

The last man stopped his advance. Seeing his two friends on the ground, one dead, he decided to cut his losses and run.

"Whirling Axe III!" The Axe left my hand and spun in an arc, hitting the last adventurer in his side. He was able to shrug it off, but that did slow him down. My axe quickly returned to me, and I was ready to use it again.

"Chief!" Hailey's yell came from behind. She sped past me and body slammed the last adventurer. The second he hit the ground, she tore into him with her talon.

"You didn't need to do that." I said, lowering my axe from its pre-throw position.

"Why didn't you say you were going to fight them?" Atla asked. In the blur of motion, I didn't notice her on Hailey back before.

"I didn't know I was going to." I answered, then brought my axe down on the gasping adventure's neck, finishing him.

Atla hopped off of Hailey and stood, hands on her hips. "That's not true." She said with a pout.

"Heh. Alright, you got me." I stowed my axe and held up my hands. Yeah, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that I'd end up killing them. I just wanted to get some answers first.

Everyone else started making their way over, with Fohl in the lead to get to her sister. I looked back to the bound boy near me. As I got closer, he tried to shift his position and say something, but the rope prevented both.

I got in front of him and knelt down. He looked terrified. As a reincarnated, he probably knew what my appearance here would mean.

"I'm going to take your gag off." I told him. "Try anything funny and you won't like what happens. Understand?"

He nodded vigorously in response.

Rather than try to untie his gag, I opted to use my dagger to just cut it off. The moment it came loose, the boy coughed and worked his mouth.

"So, Doom Kid, you made all these monsters?" I began my questioning.

"Y-Yeah." He nodded, his eyes down.

"And I assume we both know what each other is?"

His eyes glanced up at mine for a second. "We're both reincarnated."

"We were both brought here by a god." I corrected him. "Tell me, how old are you?"

"Ten."

"Total."

He hesitated before answering. "Twenty-Three."

I sighed. This would make killing him kind of hard on me. It wasn't like I'd ask someone else to do it for me, either. But there was one last question I wanted to ask, mostly because of his total age.

"Do you know what god brought you back?" I asked.

"Um…Pahadron." He said.

Yeah, I figured that was the case. What was with that? First Khana, then that crazy girl-woman in Faubrey's Wave, and now him? Was this world really so entertaining? Well, this kid was in Melromarc as a demi-human, so there was that. This god just seemed to want to piss me off.

"What are you going to do, Mister Dante?" Atla stood next to me and asked.

"Something I hope I won't regret." I said. I made sure the boy was paying attention. "You aren't going to make me regret untying you, right?"

The kid quickly shook his head. "H-Hey, I'm not going to fight someone who can throw around Getsuga Tenshous."

I was a little surprised to hear that. I figured he was American, or at least a westerner. He still could be. When was that show translated again? Eh, didn't matter. I was more surprised at how I heard those words. I knew the general translation, but I still heard it in Japanese. The translation feature on my axe was weird.

"Alright." I began cutting the ropes off of him. "What's your name, kid?"

"Rolf." He said. His body relaxed as his arms were no longer pulled back. "Or, did you mean before I was born here? Nagashima Reiko."

"Reiko is your personal name?" I asked. He nodded as he rubbed one of his wrists.

So, Japanese. A Japanese boy who liked old American video games.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Naofumi asked from behind me.

"Good question. I haven't thought that far ahead." Honestly, I just didn't want the kid to stay tied up. "How'd you end up here?" I asked as I stood.

"I hid here after the Wave." Reiko said, taking my offered hand to stand as well. He favored one leg over the other.

"Rato?" I called over our party healer. "What about the monsters?"

Reiko fidgeted as he looked around him, his eyes falling on everyone in the party. "Um…you're a hero, right? And that guy?" He pointed at Naofumi as Rato cast a healing spell.

"Good eye." I was a given, but Naofumi hadn't done anything to identify himself.

"Those mercenaries talked about the Shield Hero a little." Reiko said. "They said he raped his first companion."

"I didn't rape that lying bitch." Naofumi said through gritted teeth.

"Okay!" Reiko stepped back and winced.

"Anyway," I wanted to get the conversation back on track, "I assume you lived in Lurolona?"

"Ronota." Reiko said. "There isn't anything left there, if that's where you're going. Those mercenaries ransacked what was left."

"You've been watching them?" I asked.

"Just a little. I was trying to get more bodies to make more…" His eyes widened as he covered his mouth.

"Too late for that." I smirked. "So, judging by what you said, and all the dead monsters around us, I'm assuming you turn dead bodies into monsters?"

"Y-Yeah." Reiko lowered his head. Well, admitting to basically being a Forge Master probably wouldn't earn him any friends. Not that he was alive when that Castlevania show came out.

Didn't this world have vampires in it? The activation event places were all named after vampires. I didn't think any actual vampire demi-humans were introduced even in the web novel. Eh, something for later.

"Well then, I think I have an idea for what you can do for us." I said. "Since I can't, in good conscience, let you go off on your own."

Kid or not, Reiko's 'cheat' power involved manipulating dead bodies. Having him collect more on his own wouldn't lead to anything good.

"Is he going to be one of Chief's mates, too?" Hailey asked.

"What!?" Reiko and Atla yelled simultaneously. Reiko took another step back while Atla looked at me with judging, blind eyes.

"Where on earth did you get that idea?" I asked my ditzy filolial.

"You have sex with Martin, and they're kinda similar." She said.

"God damn it…" I would need to explain the nuances of that situation. Really, I was just glad Keel wasn't afraid I'd try making advances on him. If anything, he found it more funny than scary. "Anyway…"

Just as I was about to calm Reiko down, I noticed something I wished I hadn't.

"Why are you blushing like that?" I asked him.

"I'm not!" He responded instantly and turned his head away. "Your talking filolial just made me a little nervous, that's all!"

I was certain that wasn't what that blush was about at all. I just scratched the back of my head. "Well, 13 is old enough to start having those thoughts, even if that was from your first life. And old enough to realize you like boys over girls." I wasn't judging, and I had no room to talk.

"I was a girl!" Reiko yelled up at me. "In my last life!"

"Ah…no further questions." I nodded.

"And I liked foreign men on TV! And you look cool like them! That's all!" He continued, blushing furiously with every word.

Now probably wouldn't be a good time to remind him he was, essentially, in a world full of 'foreign men' now. My coolness also wasn't up for debate, since Keel practically had stars in his eyes when Atla exaggerated my fights.

Was it the beard? Did Reiko like men with beards? Maybe I should shave.

Sadeena slid up next to me and leaned close to my ear. "At least now you won't have to worry about little Reiko trying to kill you~."

"Gee, thanks." I sighed. This was a backhanded victory and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Come to think of it, I've had a lot of those. Collecting Raphtalia's and Rifana's souls after killing Rabier was the most recent one.

"Anyway, again." I tried once more to steer the conversation. "I don't plan on sleeping with you, Reiko, so don't worry about that."

"Okay." The disappointment in his voice was completely ignored.

"How many monsters do you have right now?" I asked.

"There's 10 mining and 5 pushing carts." Reiko said. "And 4 of those are out delivering ore to the mercenaries. That cart was supposed to go next. Oh, it's back."

I looked up where he was pointing and saw another nondescript zombie pushing a cart; well, more like keeping it from rolling down the slope from above the mine.

"I'm supposed to have them delivering ore every time a cart is ready. If I don't, they'll know something's wrong." Reiko went on, rubbing his hands gleefully. "So, if you don't want them showing up…"

"Have that zombie take the cart like normal." I told him. He stilled and deflated. "I've been jumping into too many fights unprepared recently, and I'd like to know a little more. Besides, we can always take the ore back when we kill them all."

Reiko grinned sadistically at that. He probably didn't realize I wanted to know more about him, too.

"There a place here to sit?"

~The Right Man~

And so, we sat. There was a spot inside one of the mining areas that was dug out and furnished. It would have been nice if it wasn't trashed, curtesy of the mercenaries. A bookshelf that once had ingredients and such was knocked over. A desk was cleared off, its contents spilled onto the floor. The same was true for a table that had beakers and such on it at one point. A couple torches were set up to light the room.

Since Reiko didn't really entertain guests, we improvised. I was sitting on the back of the tipped bookshelf while Reiko sat on the table, making him sit a little taller than me.

"Um…" Reiko muttered uncomfortably as he looked to his side. Sitting to his left was Fohl, who had her arms crossed.

She was there because Atla was to my left, which was why I wasn't using the chair from the desk. She had her arms wrapped around one of mine, almost protectively. Hailey's little comment really got to her, it seemed.

Reiko shifted a little closer to Fohl, if for no other reason than to scoot away from Sadeena, who sat on his other side. I had a guess why she was here and not looking for anything of use with the others.

"What can you do with your power from Pahadron?" I started the conversation.

I didn't know too much about Pahadron other than what little my goddess told me. It wasn't that she was holding back, more that she just didn't know all that much. If a god wasn't getting in her way, she didn't concern herself with them too much.

"Oh!" Reiko's eyes snapped back to me. "Well, um, what do you want to know?"

"How many monsters can you make? How strong are they? What can you do with them?" I asked.

"Well…" Reiko rubbed his wrists. "I don't think there's a limit to the number, but the rest depends on my level."

"Which is?"

"…Four." He answered, a bit nervous.

All this at level four? That was impressive, and also confusing. I saw how many corpses were up there. Dozens. Over a hundred. If they were weak, it would explain how he was overwhelmed by mercenaries.

"I assume you can't form a party with them?" I asked. It was the only reason I could think he wasn't already at level 40.

He nodded, confirming my thought.

"What's the strongest monster you've made?" I asked next.

"I can show you if you want." Reiko said. I took the Axe off my back and he quickly started waving his hands. "It's not a trick! Really!"

"I believe you." I said, leveling the blade of the Axe parallel to the ground. Out of the gem dropped the corpse of some guard or something, I couldn't remember exactly.

"Oh…" He calmed down when he saw that, and when I returned my axe to my back. "Well, I mean, I can demonstrate for you, but I was just going to call back one that I made."

He had a strong monster already? Well, that got me curious. I nodded.

Reiko looked to the side for a moment. The sound of breaking earth echoed down the halls of the dug-out section of the mines. I had to hold back a laugh when I heard the familiar sound something elephant-like straight out of Doom, followed by the sound of a roaming enemy. This kid was pretty dedicated to the game, even if he didn't know the true final boss.

In less than a minute, his monster entered the room. Small green flames on its hands, gray-brown body, cloven hooves, goat horns on its head. Yep, just like I remembered. It was a hell knight.

"You are just adorable. You know that?" I joked with him. In retrospect, that probably wasn't a good idea.

Reiko blushed and lowered his head, gripping his pants and wearing a goofy smile. In response, Atla squeezed my arm more tightly. Following that, Fohl grumbled and Sadeena smiled.

"Get all of your minds out of the gutter." I sighed.

"I-It acts a lot like the enemy from the game." Reiko stammered out. "It took a few days to make it, since it's so strong. If I had to guess, it's maybe around level 20 in stats. For a monster. For an adventurer for a monster. I mean…"

"I get it." I held up my hand. It was a monster that was about as strong as an appropriately equipped level 20 adventurer. "How do you make them?"

Reiko stopped his blushing—actually, he was still blushing, but he wasn't grinning anymore—and pointed at the corpse on the ground. I nodded. He hopped off the table and knelt next to it, placing a hand on its back.

I was sort of expecting dark magic to flare around him or the body, or some vile chant to begin. Instead, I was a little disappointed to see the corpse just sort of start changing. Within a minute, it was replaced with another zombieman, complete with arm-gun. It stood up and stared at the wall.

"Impressive~." Sadeena leaned over and started rubbing Reiko's head, much to his embarrassment.

"I could beat it with a touch…" Atla muttered next to me.

"Can you?" I asked.

Atla nodded and sprang from our makeshift seat. She stood before the walking game reference and poked its chest. The zombieman promptly fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Reiko stared wide-eyed at his dead monster before he turned to Atla. "How…?"

Atla puffed up her chest and placed her hands on her hips. "You're a thousand years too early to earn Mister Dante's respect like that. Right, Mister Dante?" She turned to face me, dull blue eyes looking for a reward.

"Where do you even learn these phrases?" I asked, patting her head.

"Hee~." She didn't answer, just swaying her head so my hand rubbed against her ears.

Atla wasn't a master at combat or life force, though she could hold her own in a fight. She probably disrupted whatever energy was holding Reiko's monster together. We'd have to test that against some of his stronger ones.

"Can you make monsters even stronger?" Fohl asked, looking away from the show of affection. "You had all this stuff for a reason. Does it make your monsters stronger?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sort of." Reiko looked at her. "Some of it was just to make MP potions. Part of what takes so long is not having enough MP to make them, but stronger monsters take more time anyway."

"What other abilities can you give them?" Fohl quickly asked.

"I made a cacodemon. It was a lookout and got killed by those mercenaries." Reiko said.

"A what?" Fohl tilted her head at him.

"A flying tomato." I answered and retrieved my hand, much to Atla's dissatisfaction. "It can shoot fireballs from its mouth."

Reiko snickered, then nodded. "Yeah, that."

"That sounds more impressive than this thing." Fohl gestured to the hell knight. "If you make more things like that, I'm sure you can get Dante to sleep with you."

If I was drinking something, I would have definitely spat it out.

"W-W-What are you talking about!?" Reiko practically shrieked. "We're both guys! It would be weird!"

Fohl shrugged. "Dante doesn't seem to mind it."

"That's…um…" Reiko glanced at me and immediately turned away. His blush was back in full force.

I was starting to wish Atla didn't mention me sleeping with Martin now.

"Sister, what are you doing!?" Atla stood in front of Fohl and yelled.

"What? They seem to have stuff in common, and they're from the same world." Fohl answered without missing a beat.

"Reiko's too young for that!" Atla said. Was she the pot or the kettle in this situation?

"Then we'll just get him XP until he grows. Most demi-humans grow to be at least Martin's age." Fohl answered simply.

"Sister! Why do you keep interfering with my relationship with Mister Dante?" Atla demanded.

Wow. She wasn't even trying to be subtle about it anymore. I should punch Khana the next time I see her. She was partly to blame for this, I was sure.

"Now, now, little Atla. There's no need for that." Sadeena said soothingly, motioning down with her hands. I was glad to have a voice of reason— "There's no reason you and little Reiko can't share~."

Scratch that. Sadeena was the worst.

"But I'm curious what else little Reiko can do~." Sadeena hopped up from the table and knelt next to Reiko, ignoring the still bickering sisters. "What else can you make?"

"I can't really do anything else…" Reiko averted his gaze. If Sadeena's chest wasn't right next to his head…well, that's all that needed to be said.

"Can you make anything you want?" Sadeena continued softly, soothingly.

"If it's a monster…" Reiko also spoke more quietly for an entirely different reason.

"What about a person? Can you make something that looks like a specific person?"

"M-Maybe." I couldn't tell if he was just mature for his age—physiologically, being a boy and all—or just nervous about the extra attention from someone.

"I think I'd like you to try soon." Sadeena said, though her eyes were on me. She wasn't forceful or anything, still looking as carefree as usual, but I knew what she meant.

"I'll ask her about it." I said. Sadeena wanted Raphtalia, and Rifana, back as soon as possible, and I couldn't blame her. We would just never tell the girls what their bodies were made of.

"Perfect!" Sadeena shot back up and started petting Reiko again. "So, was there anything else you wanted to ask, Dante?"

"I think I'm good for now." I said.

We had plenty of time to go about this properly. I would check with my goddess about the specifics, and Rato could examine some monsters Reiko made. In fact, I was almost certain she was doing that instead of looking for supplies. It wasn't like I thought there would be much here to use that wasn't in this room specifically, aside from ore. Well, I was already wrong about that.

Humming Axe
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: skill "Silencing Axe"

That was revealed by this weird rune-etched stone. It had a similar effect to what Nelshen had in her office, so I could guess what the skill did. Reiko gave me one and had three more, so Naofumi could get a shield form too. I already revealed one from the ore here as well.

Spellcobalt Ore Shield
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: magic 3
Equip Effect: magic dampening

If I had to guess, I'd say the effect would weaken the magic of anything it hit. Either the stat of the target or the effect of any active spell, I couldn't say for sure. It would need some testing.

"So," I decided to shift topics, "about these mercenaries. I've already got an idea on how to deal with them."

Author's Notes:

Originally, I was going to have them assault the mercenary camp this chapter, but I decided I shouldn't just rush a new character like that. The next chapter won't end how I wanted it to, but I think it'll flow a bit better.

Just a reminder, I crosspost on AO3 and Wattpad, since this site is acting wonky again.