◇

During my high school years, I’d always thought that all educational facilities were nearly empty during spring break, but a few visits to campus had quickly changed that.

There were lots of people here, even though it was late March. Some went to seminars, some paid visits to labs, while others were busy with club activities. The most passionate people were the ones ready and waiting to invite new members into their clubs.

“Clubs, eh...?” I mumbled to myself.

I was about to become a proper college student, so it might be a good idea for me to join one, too.

To my eye, the people promoting the sports-oriented clubs were the most enthusiastic of all. The mixed martial arts club, for one, was full of men with physiques larger than Shu’s, showing off their muscles as they gave warm, or perhaps heated, invitations to the freshmen.

They also had a banner saying “Aim High! Leave a Mark in the Unlimited Pankration College Tournament!” — their goal, most certainly.

The Un-kra mention intrigued me, mostly due to the memories of Shu from when he’d still been in school.

However, unlike my superhuman brother or my downright inhuman sister, I was completely ordinary. Hell, I hadn’t even been all that much into sports during my high school years, so I really had no business in that club.

“Ah, my high school years...” I muttered and went on a trip down memory lane.

Though I hadn’t been in any clubs during my second and third years, I had been an active member of a club when I was a freshman. It’d been called the “Electronic Game Research Society” or just “EGRS,” and its activities had begun and ended with only one thing: playing video games.

The school must’ve been pretty lenient to allow something like that, but then again, we had also been active in various e-sports, going as far as to participate in several national tournaments.

The club president had won first place in a Verseair (card game) event, while the vice president had been the last survivor in a major War Grounds (FPS) battle royale. I, too, had left my mark in a Stream Fighter (fighting game) tournament, so we’d ended up with three trophies in our club room.

The president and vice president had graduated soon afterward, but I recalled them having been pretty satisfied with the good memories they’d made.

I wonder what they’re doing right now, I thought as I pictured them — the ones who had become college students two years before me. They send me New Year’s cards, but those didn’t say much about what they’re doing. Knowing them, they’re probably still gaming.

“I could try joining a game-related club like I did in high school, but... Oh, whatever, I’ll think this through once I actually start college,” I decided.

I’m too busy with Dendro right now, anyway.

Suddenly, I imagined a college life spent doing nothing but playing online games. I quickly shelved the picture to the depths of my mind and resolved to do my best with both my higher education and my job hunting two or three years later.

◇

I was done with my student card creation and all the other college-related business before the clock hit noon. In fact, all I really had to do was present my fingerprint.

The simplicity had me bewildered, but apparently, this was normal these days.

According to an aged worker, “Things have gotten increasingly more computerized over the thirty years I’ve been working here. Even this procedure has become this simple.”

The schools in the area I’d lived in were pretty advanced, too, but nothing there was this speedy, which went to show that metropolitan higher education facilities were always ahead.

Honestly, if it was this easy, I couldn’t help but wonder why it wasn’t done along with the briefing.

Anyway, though that was over with unexpectedly quickly, it was now past 11 o’clock — a bit early, but still a good time to have lunch. With that in mind, I made my way towards the cafeteria, hoping that the food I’d be eating here over the next four years would actually be good.

“Wow... There are multiple cafeterias here,” I said as I entered one of them, surprised by how different it was from high school.

I looked at the menu and noticed that it had multiple daily special meals and a great variety of noodles. While eyeing the intriguing, yet highly unappetizing, “Miso-Cooked Lobster Special,” I ordered spaghetti with meat sauce — a favorite of mine.

“Hm...” I tasted some of it and concluded that it was normal. No, as far as school food went, it was definitely delicious. Still, I couldn’t help but compare it with something else.

“The taste is... kinda dull.”

It lacked a certain something I’d grown accustomed to.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t cooked much recently, I realized.

I used to help around the house a lot, so I was familiar with basic chores and cooking. Enough for my mom to be certain I wouldn’t have any trouble living by myself. As things were, however, I was barely doing any cooking for myself, and was instead opting to eat basic onigiri or sandwiches from convenience stores, or cup-a-soups sent to me by my parents. It didn’t take me long to figure out what had caused this change in my eating habits.

“It’s all because of Dendro,” I said.

All the food there was better than here in real life, as it had the strange powers unique to fantasy worlds.

To people familiar with RPGs, food was a thing that, for example, healed or raised stats — but in Dendro, a game which had taste, it didn’t end there. There were foods and skills focused entirely on flavor, and restaurants built with certain construction skills gave a taste bonus to all food made inside. By stacking such effects, the popular establishments, according to Shu, could “easily surpass the fanciest places in real life.”

Mind you, I didn’t know how to feel about hearing him say that, considering he could easily surpass the enhanced Dendro restaurants by sense skill alone.

Recently, he’d called me to try his handmade candy, and it had been so good that I’d experienced some indefinable phenomenon called “taste inflation.”

Back to the matter at hand... Basically, the food in Dendro was so good that it made real food feel lacking. I wasn’t doing any cooking because I just hadn’t felt that anything I could make would be worth the effort.

Lavish eating in Dendro, basic nutrition intake in real life... I’ve read about this online, I thought as I realized I was unintentionally following the so-called “Dendro Diet,” popular among women and avid players.

“Mh...” I silently continued eating my spaghetti.

By all reasonable standards, it was good food, but it seemed to lack the power to overwhelm my taste buds.

...Let’s try adding this Tabasco sauce and grated cheese, I decided.

“Ahh, I’m finally done with everything I had to do,” said a woman sitting at a table behind me. “What a pain that was.”

“Well done,” said a man accompanying her.

There weren’t many people in the cafeteria at this time of the day, so I could hear their conversation quite clearly.

“It must be nice to have all your stuff done long before the deadline, eh, Kage?” she continued. “You coulda shown me what you’d done, you know?”

“I consider schoolwork to be something you do by yourself,” replied the man.

The woman had a Kansai accent, slightly Kyoto-like, while the man talked in a very polite manner.

Looks like college really is a place for people from all across the country, I thought.

Once done with my lunch, I went towards the cafeteria’s exit and noticed the papers hung on a nearby bulletin board. Surprised that such an advanced college was still using something so archaic, I took a moment to look through it.

While most of the papers were about in-campus contacts and clubs, there were also some leaflets for part-time jobs. There seemed to be demand for cafeteria, shop workers, and even private tutors.

I was living fine on just my allowance right now, but I probably had to consider eventually getting a part-time job for extra income.

Well, perhaps I’ll do it when I’m not as busy with Dendro as I am now, I thought as I walked out.

◇

Once done with my college business, I went to buy some necessities and returned home a little past noon.

As I was handling what I’d bought, my mobile phone began to vibrate as someone called me. The display said that it was Mom, so I didn’t hesitate to answer and bring the mobile phone to my ear.

“Hello? Reiji?” Sure enough, it was my mother, speaking to me with the same voice I’d heard yesterday.

“Hi, Mom. What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The schedule says that it’s the day of the last part of the enrollment process, and I was just wondering if you’d actually gone...”

Yeah, I expected as much, I thought.

My mom was highly prone to worrying, and didn’t hesitate to call me on days when I had something going on. She’d also called me yesterday morning, saying “Today’s the physical examination, isn’t it? Are you ready for it?”

According to Shu, she had always been this much of a worrywart. I supposed I couldn’t really blame her, considering she’d had my sister as her first child.

Ever since my sister was young, even her most basic antics had been outside the realm of reason. Just like in the various misadventures I’d recalled this morning, my sister had a tendency to get caught up in the most absurd of situations and make it through them using nothing but brute force, and because of this, our parents had had a really hard time with her.

To make things worse, Shu had been born soon after her, and though he wasn’t as absurd a creature as our sister, he certainly wasn’t normal, either.

In his younger years, he’d entered showbiz and became both a child singer and actor. Later down the line, during his middle and high school years, he’d dabbled in martial arts and gone on to win Un-kra. And when he’d started going to college, he’d casually picked up cooking and made food so good that it made people pass out.

Basically, he could do just about anything he tried.

As far as I was aware, the only exception to this was art. I recalled having looked at his “works” and thinking that I would probably have to be an alien creature for them to make even a bit of sense.

Anyway, having those two abnormals as their children must’ve been pretty taxing on my parents, and I could totally understand why they would worry about me, as well.

Still, compared to them... no, without any comparisons, I was as normal as people come, so they really didn’t have to mind me all that much.

...Weird. An auditory hallucination bearing Nemesis’s voice had just asked, “Does a normal person fight by eating undead flesh? What about punching people’s faces with a charred arm? Is that normal?”

...Hey, I’m still more normal than my siblings, I replied silently.

“Reiji?” Mom spoke up in a worried tone, returning me to reality. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Uh, no, it’s nothing,” I said to calm her down. “I did all I had to before noon. It’s all good. Now, I just have to wait for the opening the day after tomorrow.”

Which was true. This year’s April 1st, the day when the term would usually start, was a Saturday, so the event had been moved to Friday, March 31st. Still, it would be nothing but a guidance event, and the schedule said that the actual entrance ceremony would be held some time after college began.

I remembered finding it weird that the entrance ceremony would be separate from the actual entrance.

“Well, that’s good to know,” said Mom. “Your dad and I will come see you at the entrance ceremony. If you need anything, you can ask Shu for help. He’s not far from you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Shu said the same thing, I thought.

“But wow... my little Reiji is a college student. Time sure flies...” Though we were talking by phone, I could easily tell that she was turning sentimental. “You were such an easy child to raise... Well, I could say the same for Shu, but he was just too little trouble. Your sister, though...”

I could almost see her place her hand on her head as she recalled something. She was either remembering the same sister-related events I was, or deeds that had happened before I was even born.

Unless...

“Did something happen to her again?” I asked.

“She called me from overseas yesterday and said, ‘I got caught up in a bomb terror plot in Val Verde. You might see my name on the news, but know that I’m perfectly fine. I even caught the one who set it up.’”

“Yikes...”

The fact that she’d caught the terrorist made it obvious that she hasn’t changed at all.

Wait, Val Verde...? She’s in South America again? I thought.

“Sometimes I wonder if she isn’t some sort of Superman or Terminator,” my mom added.

Considering my sister’s love for Western movies, that comparison was very much like her, but...

I told Mom, “Last I asked, she said, ‘Hospital examinations say that I’m an Earthling. Oh, and DNA tests support that, too, of course.’”

“That girl is just so...” my mom said and sighed. “I can understand Shu, since he’s a man without a steady job, but I’d really like to see your sister settle down soon. At this rate, she’ll enter her thirties without anything changing.”

“Well, you’d first need to find someone brave enough to bond with her,” I commented.

I certainly know I wouldn’t do it, even if we weren’t family, I thought.

“What about you, Reiji? Got any sweet stories to share?” Mom asked suddenly.

“...Eh?” I exclaimed, confused as to why the subject had switched to me.

“Have you gotten a girlfriend in college yet?”

“I’ve only been to the briefing and gone through the enrollment process,” I protested. “There’s no way I could have gotten one at this stage.”

In Dendro, I’d become acquainted with Liliana, Marie, and the duel ranker girls such as Juliet or Chelsea, but those were all just friends — far from the “girlfriend” Mom had in mind.

“What about food? Have you had a girl make lunch for you yet?”

“...Nope.”

Sure, Marie had made us a midnight snack while we were heading to Gideon. However, considering the thing she’d made to be food was an insult to all cooking everywhere, it didn’t count... surely.

“Have you at least gone for a drive with a girl?”

“I don’t even have a license to drive cars,” I retorted. “I have one for motorbikes, but I don’t have one of those here.”

Nemesis and I occasionally rode Silver, but riding a horse was different from “driving,” so, again, it didn’t count.

“I see,” said Mom. “I just thought that you were the one best suited for love out of you three.”

“What? Wouldn’t that be Shu?”

As far as I knew, he was extremely popular among girls. I could clearly remember the loads of chocolates he’d brought home on Valentine’s Days when he was in high school.

“Well, he’s unemployed right now...”

“Ohh...”

True enough. These days, he was in Dendro around the clock, so he probably wasn’t as popular as he used to be. Or maybe he was and I just didn’t know about it? To my knowledge, he was only popular among children, and even then, only as nothing more than a bear-shaped jungle gym mascot thing.

“Oh, but Mom,” I argued, “Shu doesn’t have a job, but he has an income, right? I’m sure he’ll be popular with women who marry for money. It’s fine.”

“That seems like a problem in and of itself...”

...Yeah, I realized that right after saying it, I thought.

“Would I be asking for too much if I wanted to see a grandchild within the next ten years?” she asked.

“Well, Shu will be married before he closes in on his forties,” I answered. “Probably.”

“And your sister?”

“...” Deafening silence.

I’m sorry, Mom, I thought. I just can’t picture her ever getting married. That might be a possibility that would have to be seized from far, far beyond the radix point.

◇◇◇

Duel city Gideon, Paladin, Ray Starling

After wrapping up my exchange with Mom, I logged in to Infinite Dendrogram.

First things first: I checked the time and found out that it was right about three in the afternoon here.

As I did that, Nemesis left the crest.

“Are you done with your college business and whatnot?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I went through the last part of the procedure.”

Which means that, today and tomorrow, I can focus on Dendro entirely, I thought.

Then again, I’d start going to college soon after that... but that was something I could think about later.

“So, what shall we do today?” Nemesis asked. “The meeting with Rook and Marie was tomorrow in this world’s time, no?”

Being a party, we regularly went on various quests.

The particularly popular ones were those related to the Jeand Grasslands. The drastic change to the area had affected the local ecosystem, creating conditions that made new monsters come dangerously close to the city. Quests to cull the more threatening ones were becoming more common by the day.

We’d intended to go on such a quest today, but my business with college had ended unexpectedly quickly, giving me lots of free time.

I looked at my friends list and, sure enough, Rook and Marie weren’t online.

“Well... I guess I’ll pay a visit to the knight offices,” I said.

“The usual business, I assume?” asked Nemesis.

“Yeah.”

When I came there, a worker greeted me and led me to the usual place, clearly used to doing this by now. We stood before a heavily sealed door as the worker used some spells to undo the seals.

Once beyond it, I was surrounded by a load of container-shaped inventories, all of which contained nothing but cursed items.

There were many ways weapons and armor could become cursed. Some got cursed due to the grudge of the dead; some were designed to be cursed by the Dark Knights using them; some were merely left behind by Hexers, a job focused entirely on cursing people and objects; some became cursed due to monster skills; et cetera, et cetera.

Though some curses could be lifted by the common clergyman from the priest job grouping, many were too strong for that, demanding the powers of skilled, max level tians — a rarity in the kingdom, and doubly so in Gideon, since most hardened clergymen were in the capital.

Another problem with cursed items was that they could neither be disposed of — since someone might find them and be subjected to the curse — or destroyed — since the cursed item might react to that by unleashing the curse. There was also the fact that these had once been good items, so people were somewhat reluctant to get rid of them.

Because of these reasons, the long years of “purify or store” handling had created this massive hoard of cursed items. Since the game had started and Masters had entered this world, resulting in an increase in high-level clergymen, the situation here had slowly gotten better, but the cursed items were still great in number.

Many of the items being held here had once been powerful pieces of equipment. Returning them to a usable state would give the people greater power while dealing with events like Franklin’s Game or the wars to come, and because of this, Count Gideon had been pushing to get them uncursed.

But it had been going too slowly, and while they’d been wondering what to do, I’d received and uncursed the CBR Armor using my special reward.

The Count had somehow heard of this — likely from Elizabeth, who’d heard it from Marie — and sent me a request to undo the curses on the items here. I’d accepted, provided I wasn’t bound to any schedule and could do it whenever I had free time.

Thus, I paid occasional visits to the offices and worked to undo the curses on the items here.

It took me about two hours to uncurse a single inventory. That might seem like a long time, but clergymen had it even worse. Due to MP and cooldown limitations on their skills, they had to gradually purify items over the course of an entire day, while my Grudge-soaked Greaves did it much faster with me doing nothing but being close to the inventory. Still, it would be a pretty long time until I was done uncursing everything here.

“The equipment purification will take quite a while, I assume?” asked Nemesis.

“Well, they’ve spent many years hoarding these,” I answered. “Just look around.”

“So it’s a great mess, even for Gouz-Maise the grudge vacuum.”

“...Grudge vacuum? Well, that’s pretty on-point.”

Whatever the case, I was allowed to do this whenever I pleased, so could purify it all at my own leisure.

Hell, doing this was advantageous for me, too. After all, the MP and SP stored in the Grudge-soaked Greaves grew the more grudge it absorbed, and considering the chances of my wanting to use it in future battles, having more of it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

The reward for this activity, by the way, wasn’t monetary. For every ten inventories I purified, they let me pick any one of the purified weapons. These inventories contained sacred swords, mystic blades, and gem brands, and I was allowed to take any one of the ones I’d uncursed.

Considering that there might situations in the future in which I’d have to fight without Nemesis at my side, or with her helping me in human form, I figured that having a spare weapon was a good idea, and I hadn’t hesitated to accept those conditions.

But alas...

“No good,” said Nemesis. “This one is lacking, as well.”

“Tsk...”

When I’d told her about the spare weaponry, Nemesis said that she wouldn’t allow it unless the weapon passed her examination.

She was so strict that none of the ten weapons I’d purified so far had made the cut.

There were some really strong-looking blades, too, I thought.

“I still don’t see a single sword that passes!” she declared.

I knew she’d said, “I’ll have to make sure that it’s fully worthy!” but I’d certainly had no idea she would be so strict.

Does a weapon that passes her examination even exist? I thought to myself.

◇

After purifying one inventory, I left the room, looked outside, and saw that it was evening. Once done reporting today’s results to the person in charge, I went out to the hallway...

“Oh?”

...and saw someone familiar — Liliana.

Her face was red, and she was talking to several people while looking somewhat anxious.

“So she’s no longer in Gideon,” she said before coughing loudly. “I do not think we couldn’t find her if she was anywhere in the city, so we can only assume she went outside...”

The people she was talking to were clad in navy blue shinobi clothing, and wore masks and plated headbands on their heads, making them look like the most standard of ninjas. These days, they weren’t an uncommon sight here in Gideon — you could see them jumping from rooftop to rooftop at noon and midnight alike.

The primary cause of these sightings was one of our party members: Marie.

Count Gideon was really bitter about his city being subjected to the horrors of the Gouz-Maise Gang and the terror of Franklin’s Game. Because of that, he’d decided that he had to be strong on policing and intelligence, leading him to ready his pocket money to set up an intelligence agency.

Since such a group would handle sensitive information, Count Gideon had wanted it to be made up of tians, rather than Masters, but there had been a significant lack of qualified people.

During the attack by a SUBM called the Tri-Zenith Dragon, Gloria, and the war that had come later, the kingdom had lost many of its battle-focused tians, leaving the country’s forces underleveled and underskilled. Most of the few capable tians were in the knight orders and other groups rooted in the capital. Thus, to form an intelligence agency that could double as police, the Count had first had to acquire the right people, and he’d chosen Marie to help him with this purpose.

After Franklin’s Game, Elizabeth had introduced her to the Count, and Marie had taken the opportunity to sell him the Jewels storing the monsters that only attacked Masters, which had gone on to be used to train and powerlevel tian knights.

She’d also revealed to him that she was the Superior Killer and the Death Shadow — the Superior Job of Tenchi’s onmitsu grouping. Upon hearing that, the Count had wondered if he could use Marie’s connections to hire some Tenchi ninjas for his intelligence agency, since they were known to be highly capable operatives.

Marie had accepted his request and contacted the Tenchi ninja group she was still connected to, which was the shinobi village where she got her onmitsu jobs, apparently.

As luck would have it, a civil war in Tenchi had destroyed their employer’s household and left them wandering, searching for a new boss.

Count Gideon’s wants and the ninja group’s wants had matched perfectly, and soon enough, the entire village had moved to the city.

“Soon enough” was a bit of an understatement, actually, considering they’d come all the way here from Tenchi — the other side of the continent — in less than a week’s time. It was a speed impossible for most Masters, let alone tians, and naturally, the Count had been absolutely dumbfounded.

When he’d asked about it, however, they’d merely said, “It’s a trade secret. Nin-nin,” in a manner as questionable as it was ninja-like. Apparently, not even Marie knew how they’d pulled it off.

Whatever the case, true to their reputation, the ninjas were highly skilled.

Tenchi, the land where the Gideon Shinobi Force had originated, was known as the country with the strongest tians. For Tenchi’s battle-focused tians, reaching level 500 was more like a starting point than anything else, since they would then begin to hone their techniques until they became true martial artists worthy of the name. Because of this and other reasons, Tenchi was often referred to as the “land of strife.”

Luckily or unluckily, depending on your perspective, the country’s current state was much like that of Japan during the Sengoku Era, so almost none of their great power was directed toward other countries.

It’s not like a constant civil war is all that better, but still, I thought.

Anyway, the highly stereotypical ninjas were all max level stalwarts, making them simply perfect for the job. Count Gideon had quickly hired them and set up the Gideon Shinobi Force, an information agency answering directly to him. And thus, we now had a Rome-like city in which ninjas were a common sight.

Also, Marie had made big bank for her role as mediator, and she’d gone on to treat us to some food.

So yeah, the ninjas were a normal part of Gideon by now, but Liliana’s panicked expression as she talked to them certainly wasn’t.

“We will split up and search Gideon’s surroundings,” said one of the ninjas.

“Please do so,” replied Liliana and coughed yet again. “I’ll join you soon.”

“Do not overdo it.”

The ninjas kicked the floor beneath, dashed away, and vanished like shades in sunlight.

“Ah, Ray!” Liliana cried as she saw us nearby, again looking somewhat anxious.

“Are you okay, Liliana?” I asked.

Her pallid expression made it evident that she wasn’t in good health.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” she said and coughed again. “Her Highness escaped today. Have you seen her, perchance?”

She showed little intention to answer my question, instead revealing that she was caught up in more Elizabeth-related trouble.

“...No,” I said, shaking my head in response.

The kingdom’s second princess was a very free and brazen character, as well as a genius escape artist. Though she refrained from doing it on days with official business, her leaving the Gideon residence she was staying at had become a nearly daily occurrence by this point.

The fact that she was able to escape while being observed by the Royal Guard and several max level ninjas spoke volumes about the extent of her skill. It was hard to believe she was just a child who didn’t even have a single job.

...Well, the primary reason why Elizabeth had become so good at escaping was the coaching from Rook, who, for reasons unknown, had been trained in such things in real life.

Our party is full of eccentrics, I thought.

“And you’re no exception,” Nemesis commented telepathically.

...I can’t really deny that.

“Well... I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but isn’t that a common thing at this point?” I asked Liliana.

“Indeed it is.” She nodded. “But things are slightly different this time.”

“In what way?”

Elizabeth had sneaked out, and the officials had gone out to find her. What could be different there?

“A short time ago, as a countermeasure against her antics, we gave Her Highness a Jewel.”

Jewels were items that allowed the storage of tamed monsters that obeyed their owners. Even if they couldn’t fit the monsters into their minion capacity, children and low-level humans could use them by putting them in party slots.

“I see,” I said. “Since you can’t prevent her from escaping, you decided to give her a means to protect herself.” As far as safety was concerned, that was perfectly reasonable.

“Yes,” Liliana said and coughed again. “Count Gideon used his connections to procure a Pure-Dragon and presented it to her.”

“Well, that’s something...”

Their rarity on the market made Pure-Dragons quite a luxury. While Demi-Dragons went for about 1,000,000 lir, Pure-Dragons were often over ten times more expensive.

I figured the Count hadn’t hesitated to fork up the money for something so costly because he’d felt responsible about Elizabeth getting kidnapped during Franklin’s Game.

But man, Count Gideon sure is rich, I thought.

He’d rewarded the Masters, given money to the families of those that’d died, paid for city repairs, created the Gideon Shinobi Force, and he’d still had more funds to spend. His wealth might’ve been another reason why Franklin had picked Gideon as his target city.

“And, well... the Pure-Dragon’s name is ‘Stealth Dragon,’” Liliana added.

“Oh, ‘Stealth Dragon,’ eh?” I said. “Wait... Stealth?”

I have a bad feeling about this.

“Stealth Dragons have the ability to hide themselves and the people riding them,” she explained.

...I more or less see how it is.

She went on, “Count Gideon assumed that this quality would make it an optimal bodyguard, since it could hide Her Highness and take her away from trouble, but...”

“...it was also an optimal escape partner,” I finished her sentence.

The escape artist princess had been given the perfect ally: a monster that was basically a huge, flying Marie. Sure, it didn’t have Arc-en-Ciel, but that wouldn’t stop it from being stupidly troublesome.

“Yes.” Liliana nodded. “We’ve been searching for Her Highness and the Stealth Dragon ever since they disappeared in the morning, but we can’t find them anywhere in Gideon, so we assume that they might’ve left the city.”

“That’s... plausible,” I said.

Among the ninjas, there were many people from the onmitsu grouping, just like Marie. That grouping excelled at both hiding and finding hidden things, so if they’d had no luck finding Elizabeth in Gideon, it was likely that she’d gone outside the city.

Thanks to the Gideon Shinobi Force, the city was now considerably more peaceful and safer. However, the same couldn’t be said for the city’s monster-ridden outskirts. Even if you had a Pure-Dragon bodyguard, this was a world where you could easily be ambushed by something even more powerful.

“I had the Gideon Shinobi Force extend their search to the outside of the city,” said Liliana as she walked towards the exit. “I’m about to join them and—”

She cut her words short and coughed so heavily that she staggered.

It had been bothering me ever since I’d seen her today. The red face, the coughs — it was clear that she was ill.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Do you have a Cold?”

“...Yes, but it’s just a normal Cold, rather than the Epidemic they had in the capital.”

In Dendro, illnesses were classified as disease-based debuffs. However, unlike the basic poisons and the like, they could be significantly more troublesome, as many of them couldn’t be removed by your standard Elixirs or Antidotes.

The Food Poisoning I’d once gotten had disappeared after I’d taken just one drug, but there were Epidemics that could only be cleared by healing skills from Superior Jobs. Alas, not everyone had access to people with such skills, so most had to settle for slowly healing themselves with medicine made by people in the doctor grouping, simply waiting for the illness to go away, or...

“Liliana,” I said slowly. “Have you met with Her Majesty before she ran away today?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “But she disappeared soon afterwards...”

I’m starting to see what’s going on here, I thought.

“All right, I’ll search for her, too. But you have to stay in Gideon and rest.”

“But I...!”

“Leave it to me,” I said while looking her in the eyes. She momentarily hesitated before giving me a light nod.

“Very well,” she said. “I leave Her Majesty to you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find her no matter what.” I nodded confidently and left the knight offices.

[Quest Received: Search — Elizabeth S. Altar, Difficulty 5]

[Confirm the quest details in the quest window]

The message I received was highly reminiscent of an event I’d experienced a month ago.

◇

After leaving the offices, I took Silver out of my inventory and jumped on him, and as I made my prosthetic left arm hold the reins, Nemesis climbed up behind me. Then I activated Silver’s Wind Hoof skill and dashed through the air towards my destination.

“You know where to find Elizabeth, Ray?” asked Nemesis.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m almost completely certain that she went out to look for a food that works on Colds.”

Dendro had loads of foods that made people healthy, and some of them were effective against Colds. One such food were Clearberries — a type of berry often found in the areas surrounding Gideon. However, Clearberries also weakened the symptoms of the Epidemic that had attacked the capital recently, so most of Gideon’s Clearberries had been sent there. Alejandro had told me that the storage was completely empty.

This morning, when she’d seen Liliana suffering from a Cold, Elizabeth had clearly wanted to do something about it and decided to get her some Clearberries. And if she hadn’t found any of them in Gideon’s shops, it was entirely possible that she’d used her mount-bodyguard to go forage for them directly.

“Well, she’s a proactive girl, after all,” said Nemesis.

Thanks to a quest I’d done not long ago, I knew where I could find Clearberries. They grew in the area southwest of Gideon, the Saudade Woods.

“The monsters there aren’t particularly high level, so it’s not too dangerous,” said Nemesis. “A little girl with a Pure-Dragon at her side should fare just fine, no?”

“The monsters there were below Demi-Dragon-tier, so it wasn’t too dangerous,” I replied, emphasizing certain words.

“...Past tense, eh?”

“Yeah. Things are different now.”

Following Franklin’s Game, the ecosystem in Gideon’s surroundings had slowly begun to change. The most noticeable difference was that the more powerful monsters that had once lived farther away had started coming closer to the city.

When I’d been searching for quests to take with my party, I’d learned that the southwestern woods was now a habitat for Pure-Dragon-tier monsters and above.

◇◆◇

Southwest of Gideon, Saudade Woods

In the middle of Saudade Woods, there was a girl and a Pure-Dragon.

“Phew, this should be more than enough!” The second princess of the Kingdom of Altar, Elizabeth S. Altar, nodded in a satisfied manner while looking at a basket full of Clearberries.

“KYULULU.” The white Pure-Dragon with rabbit-like fur released a voice, as if agreeing with its owner. It was a Stealth Dragon called “Kyululu” — named so by Elizabeth because of the sound it made.

“Let’s go back, then,” said Elizabeth. “It’s already evening. If we don’t come back now, they might start to worry.”

Little did she know that they were already worried. The girl’s standards regarding this were quite unlike those of the people responsible for her.

Elizabeth climbed up on Kyululu’s back and, just like when they’d arrived here, had it use Optic Camouflage and Presence Block to hide them both and leave the Saudade Woods.

Kyululu spread its wings, ready to take flight...

“Kyu?!”

It jumped to the side in surprise. A moment later, something large broke through the surface and burst out of the ground.

“SHAAAAAAH...”

It was a large monster bearing the head of a cobra-like snake and many centipede-like legs.

It bent its head and looked directly at Kyululu and Elizabeth as though Optic Camouflage had no effect at all.

“Wh-What?!” Elizabeth cried.

“KYULULULU!”

As Elizabeth got frightened, Kyululu began jumping away from the monster, careful to not throw the girl off.

The snake-head creature went after Kyululu with a precision so great, it was scary.

“Kyululu! Can’t you fly?!” shouted Elizabeth in desperation.

“KYULULU...!”

Despite having wings capable of flight, Kyululu was running on land. Its instincts were telling it that flying would instantly kill them both.

The monster chasing them was a Viperhead Dragon Worm. It was a Pure-Dragon-tier monster bearing Poison, the worm-like ability to dig underground, and the snake-like skill called “Heat Perception.”

It was much like thermography, and it allowed the creature to see Kyululu despite its Optic Camouflage.

“SHAAAAAAH!”

Though Kyululu was a Pure-Dragon, too, its focus on camouflage and surprise attacks made it have relatively low stats.

The Viperhead Dragon Worm not only had greater stats, but it also nullified Kyululu’s prime merit, Optic Camouflage, by using its Heat Perception.

The creature was basically the Stealth Dragon’s natural predator.

Its only way out of this predicament was to fly, but it would all be over if the Viperhead spat its Poison over Kyululu when it stopped to take flight. It had to increase the distance between them, but the creature was gaining on it with frightening precision.

Soon enough, the Viperhead’s poisonous fangs reached for Elizabeth, but then...

“Counter Absorption!”

...a barrier of light appeared in the creature’s way.

“Eh?” the girl exclaimed in confusion.

“KYULU...?” the Stealth Dragon cried as it and its owner both tried to turn around and see what caused the crashing sound behind them.

“Don’t turn around! Just run! Get some distance, fly, and get out of here!”

Urged by the loud order, they both looked forward and continued running.

Kyululu quickly created the necessary distance and flew up into the sky.

That was when Elizabeth turned around for the first time.

There, she saw a dark-red knight on a silver horse fighting the snake-headed insectoid.

◇◇◇

Paladin, Ray Starling

Upon hearing dragon wings flutter behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“That was uncomfortably close,” said Nemesis.

“Seriously.” I couldn’t help but agree. I dreaded to imagine what would’ve happened if I’d been just a second late, and I was really glad I’d made it.

“Now, we just have to do something about this snake-head,” Nemesis added.

“True.”

The snake-head before me — a “Viperhead Dragon Worm,” apparently — seemed to be quite irritated. I could only assume it was upset about me getting in the way and letting its Pure-Dragon feast escape.

It threatened me with snake-like movements and sounds.

“Well? Should we escape it?” asked Nemesis.

“We saved the princess, but if a monster like this lives near Gideon, it might eventually kill someone else,” I answered.

And that would leave a bad taste in my mouth, so...

“...we’ll kill it,” I finished aloud. “Here and now.”

“Understood!”

Thus began the battle.

“SHAAAAAAH!” Treating us as enemies to be killed, rather than prey to be eaten, the snake-head opened its mouth, not for a bite, but to release a Poison breath. The green smoke buried my vision and afflicted me with Poison, which quickly drained my HP.

“Form Shift — The Flag Halberd!” I shouted.

And so, the damage was reversed.

Right as Nemesis became a halberd, I activated Like a Flag Flying the Reversal, the skill that reversed the effects of debuffs. With that, the Poison began healing me.

The snake-head, surprised by me still standing strong upon taking its Poison, slightly backed away from me.

Not missing the opening, I held my right hand in front and made my Miasmaflame Bracer release its Hellish Miasma while also activating Silver’s Wind Hoof barrier to protect me from the three debuffs.

The monster was staggered. It had a resistance to Poison, but Weakness and Intoxication worked on it just fine.

“The stage is set,” I said. “Let’s go, Nemesis!”

“Certainly!”

My strategy was the same as with Gardranda. I repeatedly let it damage me and healed myself with the reversed Poison, accumulating the damage needed to end it with a well-placed Vengeance is Mine.

It was safe to assume that, unlike the demon, this one wouldn’t turn more powerful once I took its head.

“Still, even though it’s Weakened, its stats are far higher than yours,” said Nemesis. “Mess up one time too many, and you might die.”

“True,” I said, acknowledging that my own stats were equal to or less than Demi-Dragon-tier. “Our chances of winning are about... forty percent?”

“Ha ha ha! Forty percent, you say?” she laughed. “That’s much higher than any of our previous encounters!”

“Damn right!”

Recalling the battles we’d gone through, we charged towards the enemy.

With Silver as my steed and Nemesis in hand, I clashed with a creature far stronger than myself.

Just like we’d done before, and just like we would be doing from this point onward, we struggled against adversity while reaching for the possibility we wanted to seize.

As the enemy’s fangs ripped into me, as my blade sunk into the enemy, as I narrowly avoided death from its lethal attacks, and as its unexpected actions caught me off guard, we continued fighting until the end.

And so, after an hour-long battle...

“Vengeance is Mine!”

...we launched an attack that obliterated its head.

◇

After the battle, we returned to Gideon.

“...Man, am I tired,” I sighed.

“That’s only natural,” said Nemesis. “You’ve been fighting for so long.”

The Poison I’d received had gone away with just a healing item, but sadly, the exhaustion wasn’t so easy to get rid of. I hauled my somewhat-heavy body through the city’s streets.

“Still, I’m glad Elizabeth’s okay,” I said.

After killing the monster, I’d gone to the knight offices to see whether she’d made it back safely, and found her being scolded by Liliana.

They’d decided that the Pure-Dragon she’d used to escape — “Kyululu,” apparently — would have its ownership switched to another person. Elizabeth would still be allowed to keep it as a pet, but that was it. The knights looking after her would take turns owning Kyululu until it was clear that she wouldn’t escape anymore.

The scene reminded me of the times my mom had confiscated a toy when I was a child.

Though Elizabeth was sad about being scolded, she seemed to understand that she’d deserved it for making Liliana and the others so worried, so she definitely wasn’t a bad girl.

Also, the moment when Elizabeth fearfully presented Liliana with a basket full of Clearberries, bringing Liliana to the verge of tears, left a pretty big impression on me.

“This is very much a happy ending,” said Nemesis.

“Yep. Glad it all worked out.”

But man, a quest from Liliana where I look for a girl and fight a worm...

It was just like the first quest I’d done upon starting Dendro.

In the first battle, the one in which Nemesis and I had first met, I’d faced a Demi-Dragon Worm and narrowly seized the possibility with Nemesis at my side. And today, Nemesis and I had fought a monster far stronger and still ended up seizing the possibility.

It felt somewhat easier than the first time, though, I thought.

“That’s because you’ve grown since then,” said Nemesis.

I’d changed quite a bit during my month in this world, but I didn’t think that me becoming stronger was the biggest difference. The biggest difference was that I’d had Nemesis with me right from the start this time.

On my first day, I’d protected Milia until I was beaten to a pulp, had to beg for a possibility, and had Nemesis answer. Today, Nemesis had supported me right from the start, and if that wasn’t the biggest difference, I didn’t know what was.

Hm... I silently pondered.

It was likely that, just like everything before now and just like today, I’d be at the center of many various incidents. Some might be far worse, more intense, or scarier than any of the ones before. But...

“Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?” Nemesis asked.

“No reason...”

No matter what came my way, I felt that I could overcome it as long as I was with my partner. Thus, my everyday life would go on with Nemesis and me clearing all the trouble we get caught up in.

“Anyway, it’s late,” I said. “Should we go get something to eat?”

“Certainly,” said Nemesis. “The snake-head’s Coffer contained nothing but items you convert into money, so let’s use that new wealth to have a feast!”

“...Don’t overdo it, though.”

And so, Nemesis and I walked through the late evening streets.

The End