CHAPTER 3

Reckless

Upon exiting the gate, we find ourselves in a dim room. The floors and walls are nothing more than wooden boards stuck together, and the window has no glass. The room seems capable of accommodating four to five people, but there are holes here and there on the floor, and the tables, chairs, and other furniture are all old and degraded. It appears to be an abandoned shack. Usually, I would want to investigate the place a little more, but something is really bothering me. I turn to the Hero still wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

“Seiya! You just called me ‘Goddess’ back there, didn’t you? And you didn’t say that you were perfectly prepared. Instead, you said, ‘Everything’s gonna be okay.’”

He used to say his catchphrase all the time, which is why the worries in my heart are beginning to swirl around and grow.

“I know this may sound crazy, but…you remember who I am, right?”

“You’re the goddess assigned to guide me, and I’m the Hero summoned to save Ixphoria…right?”

“Y-yeah, but…what’s my name? Can you remember my name?”

“It was something like…Miso Tart, wasn’t it?”

“…?! It’s Ristarte! How does that even sound close to ‘Miso Tart’?! What about Gaeabrande?! Do you remember what happened there?!”

“‘Gaeabrande’? Never even heard of it.”

H-he hasn’t forgotten his objective! He even recognizes that I’m a goddess! But…this is…!

I decide to use Scan to check his status, since interrogating him won’t get me anywhere.

SEIYA RYUUGUUIN

LV: 51

HP: 90,854/145,683…

He lost a lot of HP! It looks like that werewolf’s attack did hit him!

But what makes my eyes bulge is the unfamiliar condition under his attributes.

<Condition: Amnesia>

A-a-amnesia?! Ohhh! So that’s why he can’t remember anything and doesn’t seem all there!

What convinces me, though, is what it says after “Personality” on his status screen. Instead of the usual “Overly Cautious,” it now reads…

Personality: Reckless

I feel light-headed. Of course, what first comes to mind is what the werewolf said before he died. “I’ve already left my mark.” It looks like this is what he meant. He gave the Hero a status ailment, thus reducing our fighting strength. More importantly…this is the first time I’ve ever seen this status ailment! I don’t know if I’d be able to treat it even if I could use my healing ability! Ahhh! What am I going to do now?! It’s not fair! Ishtar let Seiya keep his memories, and we were so in love! After all that…!

Suddenly curious about Seiya’s feelings for me, I used my Love Appraise ability on Seiya.

RISTA’S LOVE APPRAISAL
-Your love rating with Seiya:	40 points
-Seiya thinks you’re:	just there.
-A tidbit of advice:	Hmm… He’s barely even aware of your existence. But if he gets his memories back, maybe…

“…?! His affection level is less than half of what it was?! ‘Just there’?!”

Seiya shoots me a dubious glare as I scream.

“What are you talking about?”

“I-it’s nothing… Don’t worry about it…”

Y-yeah, everything’s gonna be fine! Once his amnesia is cured, he’ll be back to normal! It’s nothing to worry about! Anyway, now that we’ve figured out the problem, we should head back to the spirit world and ask Ishtar how to cure him!

“Seiya, we’re heading back to the unified spirit world for now!”

“Why? We just got here.”

“Just trust me!”

“You’re not making any sense.”

The roles reverse once again, and this time, I grab Seiya by the wrist and drag him behind me. Then I reopen the gate to the spirit world and take a step inside when…

Bam!

I take a powerful blow to the forehead.

“Owww! Ow, ow, ow!”

Holding my head, I see a concrete-like white wall in front of me.

“Wh-what is this?! Why is there a wall inside the gate?!”

Thinking it’s some sort of mistake, I get rid of the gate and create another…only to discover that there’s still a wall inside.

“How are we gonna get back home now?! This is ridiculous! How come we could use the gate to get here but not to leave?!”

This doesn’t make any sense! B-but I learned Appraise exactly for times like this! I stare hard at the white wall until a message appears.

A wall that blocks off other dimensions. It was created by an evil sorcerer’s spell. Looks like it can only be destroyed by defeating the spellcaster or destroying the magic item making the wall.

I customized Appraise to speak like me, but what it says sends a chill down my spine.

“W-we can’t go back to the unified spirit world?! Wait! That means we have to continue our journey in Ixphoria like this?!”

I freeze in blank amazement as if I’ve just lost my soul, unlike Seiya, who is standing by the window, enthusiastically waving me over.

“Hey, Goddess. Come over here. Check that out.”

Still stunned, I drag my feet across the creaking wooden floors and look out the glassless window.

The first things that catch my eye are the purple sky and demolished buildings. The stagnant air greets my nostrils. Galvano is in such ruin, it’s hard to believe this is the first town of our journey. After that…I gasp. Slightly in the distance are two beastkin stalking the streets! One has the face of a dog while the other looks like a cat! In their hands are chains, which are tied to naked humans walking on all fours!

“Wh-what is going on?!”

It’s the complete opposite of any normal world! The beasts are walking humans like pets!

More importantly, they’re the first monsters we’ve encountered in Ixphoria. I make sure to remain hidden while I use Scan.

BEASTKIN (DOG TYPE)
LV: 35
HP: 56,274	MP: 0
ATK: 28,754	DEF: 27,895…

BEASTKIN (CAT TYPE)
LV: 37
HP: 58,887	MP: 0
ATK: 30,008	DEF: 29,574…

“What?!”

Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me! We just got here, and we’re already running into enemies with stats like this?! Oh…wait! They must be high-ranking enemies like the four generals in Gaeabrande! It looks like we’ve already run into two mini bosses!

But…

“Yo. I see you’ve got yourself another filthy pet.”

“Still better than that wretched thing mew keep at home.”

“Are you two even feeding those things? They’re nothing but skin and bones. At this rate, they’ll be dead in no time.”

A beastkin with a bird’s face, a beastkin with a boar’s face—beastkin speaking human tongue begin to gather in the streets one by one. There’s even another group of beastkin talking slightly in the distance! To make matters worse, they’re all at an extremely high level! The place is crawling with enemies who have around 50,000 HP and over 30,000 ATK!

“I was wrong…! Even the small-fry enemies in this world are superstrong!”

And there are so many of them, to boot! Even though I just took a quick glance so I wouldn’t get caught, I saw a few dozen! There are probably hundreds of them living in this town!

“Wh-what a terrifying world!”

My body begins trembling, and I look to the Hero for guidance, but…Seiya isn’t there.

“…Huh?”

Seiya already has a hand on the door. Eyes popping wide and startled out of my wits, I scream:

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Seiya calmly replies:

“I’m gonna go fight them. Do you seriously expect me to watch them chain up humans and treat them like pets? Those monsters are dead.”

“But you’re unarmed, and you don’t have any armor!”

“What’s wrong with fighting with my bare hands in jeans and a T-shirt?”

“Everything! You’re not going to a friend’s sleepover! This is an SS-ranked world! There’s no way you can take on a powerful horde of monsters like that without any equipment!”

I peel Seiya away from the door, dragging him back to the center of the room.

“Relax for a bit, will ya?! You’re severely ill! So just sit back and wait until your amnesia has healed!”

“I’m fine. I don’t have amnesia.”

“You can’t even remember my name!”

“Yeah, I can. Rice Tart, right?”

“Ristarte! You weren’t even close!”

I get a terrible headache as I raise my voice. With a hand on my temple, I shake my head.

“Listen, Seiya. The werewolf did a number on you, and you’re not at your best. Not only do you have amnesia, but your 140,000 HP is now barely at 90,000. I want to heal you, but I can’t use any healing spells this time. So come on…just rest for a while, okay?”

“I don’t think it matters how much HP I have, but…sigh. You’re one cautious goddess.”

What the…?! I—I can’t even describe how annoying it is being called “cautious” by Seiya! The old Seiya would have immediately healed himself even if he had lost only one HP!

Regardless, it looks like he gave up trying to leave. Instead, he’s busily looking out the window.

“H-hey, if you’re gonna keep looking out the window like that, do you think you could be a little more subtle about it? Someone’s gonna see you if you keep sticking your head out the window.”

I watch the reckless Hero with bated breath until his eyes light up as if he found something.

“There’s a new beastkin.”

“What…?”

I approach the window and slowly peek outside. Just as Seiya claimed, a massive beastkin boldly stands with his arms crossed before the group of monsters walking their naked human pets.

He looks twice as big as the others. He’s stout, with the horrific face of a pig. Unlike the other unarmed beastkin, the colossal orc is wearing a steel breastplate. Every time he moves, I can see the giant ax-like weapon on his back. The orc’s imposing aura is clearly different from the others. He glares at the cat and dog beastkin.

“What is wrong with you twooo? Ya need to take better care of yer slaves. Look how skinny those poor things are. Are ya feeding ’em enooough?”

After the orc speaks in a drawling voice, the cat and dog beastkin look at each other before bowing.

“F-forgive us, Lord Bunogeos.”

“How many times are ya feeding them a daaay?”

“I—I feed mine once a day…”

“Meow… I only feed mine once at night as well…”

“Ya numbskulls. Ya need to feed ’em three times a daaay. Make sure to give ’em a bath every once in a while as well. Neeever forget that it’s our job to make good slaves for the Demon Lord.”

Despite his appearance, he seems to care more about the humans than the other beastkin. He must be a pretty high-ranking orc, given how the surrounding monsters respect him. He’s still an orc, though. I doubt he’s much stronger than his furry friends.

When I casually use Scan just to make sure…I’m speechless.

BEAST BUNOGEOS
LV: 67
HP: 338,547	MP: 0
ATK: 300,019	DEF: 258,344	SPD: 77,777	MAG: 794	GRW: 674
Resistance: Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Holy, Dark, Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Instant Death, Status Ailments
Special Abilities: Dark God’s Blessing (LV: MAX), Total Magic Nullification (LV: MAX)
Skills: God Chopper, Vacuum Shredder
Personality: Short-tempered

Th-th-this can’t be happening! He has basically the same stats as the powered-up emperor who Seiya barely managed to defeat! And Total Magic Nullification?! It seems we can’t count on using magic to damage him! Th-this can’t be real! Gaeabrande looks like a joke compared to this place! Common sense means nothing here!

The naked humans being walked by the dog and cat beastkin appear to be adults. Their rib cages are sticking out. They’re filthy, and they look weak. They’re probably being treated like garbage. Tears roll down the woman’s face, and the man clings to the kind orc.

“Oh, Lord Bunogeos! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

The orc’s expression clouds over the moment the unclothed man touches his foot while expressing gratitude.

“…Ya touched me.”

“Huh?”

“Ya touched me.”

Suddenly baring his fangs, Bunogeos screams:

“Ya filthy humaaaaaan! How dare ya touch me with yer shit-stained haaands!”

“Eek!”

The man yells and removes his hand, but Bunogeos has already lifted the giant ax on his back into the air. An ominous black aura radiates from the weapon.

“Th-that’s Chain Destruction! He has a weapon that can destroy our souls, too?!”

I shudder. The slave outside pitifully begs for his life.

“Forgive me! Please forgive me!”

But his words do not reach the reddened orc through his rage. Bunogeos mercilessly swings his ax, blood spraying as he splits the man in half.

“Ahhhhhh!!”

The woman screams before hiding behind her owner’s—the cat-faced beastkin’s—legs. As if her scream brought Bunogeos back to his senses, he suddenly puts on an embarrassed expression.

“Whoops. Looks like I killed another one. Ah, whatever. There are plenty more where that came from.”

After witnessing the terrifying event, the man to my side begins trembling with rage.

“He’s going to pay for that.”

Seiya’s usual calm expression is twisted with rage as he starts heading for the door.

“S-Seiya?! Calm down! This isn’t like you!”

“Someone was just killed right in front of me. There’s no way I’m going to sit back and watch.”

“Listen, Seiya! If you go out there, you’re going to die! His stats were slightly better than yours, you know?!”

“It’s fine. I can take him.”

“Based on what?! Check his stats! Not even your beloved fire magic is going to do much damage to him!”

“I saw his status, which is exactly why I feel I can take him.”

“…Huh?”

“Goddess, did you notice something when you saw his status?”

“‘Notice something’?”

Seiya lets out his usual “Hmph.”

“Think back to his speed.”

“W-well, it was lower than his attack and defense, so I don’t think focusing on his speed is a bad idea. But even then, your speed is only sixty-five thousand. All your stats are lower than his.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Seiya gives me a piercing gaze, and I swallow air.

O-oh! He must have a plan! Seiya always comes up with unbelievable strategies to defeat powerful enemies! He may have become more reckless, but he has still got a good head on his shoulders!

“Tell me the strategy you came up with, Seiya!”

Seiya smugly replies:

“His speed is 77,777. In other words, a matching set of sevens. Plus, seven is a lucky number.”

“…Huh?”

“You get it now? …I can handle him!”

“…?! Wait, hold on! What kind of stupid reasoning is that?! If that’s all it took to win, then everybody would be doing it!”

I’m gonna win ’cause seven’s my lucky number! is something a stupid elementary school kid would say. I feel beyond disgusted and just want to cry. Regardless, the reckless Hero heads to the door.

“I can’t let that pig get away with this. I’m gonna end him.”

“Stop! You can’t! He’s going to kill you! Listen, Seiya! He has a weapon that can destroy our souls! Normally, the Hero will return to their own world if they die, but if he kills you, you’ll never be able to return to your world! You could die.”

“So what? Death isn’t something to be feared. Death is an inevitable part of life, so why not face it head-on and accept it? All right, I’ve made up my mind. This is where I die.”

H-how reckless can you get?! How am I gonna stop him now?!

Seiya is worked up after seeing Bunogeos kill the slave. He heads for the door, paying no heed to my calls.

“Stooooooooop!”

I manage to attach myself to his waist, but he doesn’t stop.

Ahhhhhh! Why?! Can things get any worse?! I’m starting to miss when he used to be overly cautious!

“I’m not kidding! Stop! Pleeeease!”

Driven into a corner, I scream and beg as tears flow down my cheeks. Seiya looks at me, then shows a hint of concern.

“What’s wrong, Goddess? Why are you crying?”

“B-because…sniffle…you won’t…sniffle…listen to anything I say…!”

Seiya scratches his head.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to trouble you. It looks like I got a little too worked up.”

Huh…? S-Seiya’s apologizing?

Seiya regains his cool and takes a seat on the floor.

H-huh, I guess Seiya’s naturally just kind when his personality is reckless, unlike when he’s overly cautious…

While I wipe away my tears, Seiya lowers his head to me.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do whatever you think is best.”

“Good. As long as you understand, then we won’t have a problem. Thanks, Seiya…”

“Please forgive my behavior, Racetrack.”

“…?! How many times do I have to tell you! It’s Ristarte! You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?!”

I cried, got angry—I’m an emotional wreck.

Rattle! Rattle! Rattle! I suddenly hear the floor begin to rattle, and my body starts to violently shake.

“Wh-wh-wh-what’s going on?!”

Thereupon, the floor in the corner of the room starts to rise until someone in filthy, tattered clothes comes crawling out.

“A-an enemy attack?!”

Seiya gets into a fighting stance, and I promptly hide behind him. But the filthy person simply stares. Before long, they remove their hood, revealing an old man with white hair.

“Hurry. This way.”

The old man points to the hole in the floor from which he came.

“There aren’t any terrifying beastkin in here. Now, come. You must hurry.”

The old man urges us to move, but I’m hesitant. I mean, he just randomly came crawling out from beneath the floorboards. There’s no way I can trust him that easily. But Seiya wastes no time.

“He seems like a good guy. Let’s go.”

“H-hold up! Seiya?!”

I whisper:

“Don’t you think this is just a little suspicious?! He came crawling out from beneath the floorboards! You shouldn’t trust people so easily!”

“He could have jumped down from the ceiling for all I care. Everything starts with trust.”

“Sure, but this is an SS-ranked world, so—”

“It’s going to be okay. Look at that old man’s clear eyes.”

I sense no hint of evil when I take a hard look at the old man’s eyes. If anything, they’re…

As I hesitate, the mysterious visitor takes out a pendant of a cross that hung under his tattered clothes.

“There is no need to worry. I am Luke, Galvano’s priest. Well, I was a priest until the town turned into…what I’m sure you saw.”

The priest’s lips slightly curl.

“I experienced a faint yet divine revelation a few days ago. The Lord told me that a Hero would appear in this ruined world to save it… And then you two appeared in this shack, which leads to our underground shelter.”

Th-there’s a secret underground shelter below this shack?! That sounds a little too conven— Oh! Ishtar adjusted our starting point so we would end up in this shack! Then she gave divine revelation to this priest!

Father Luke cheerfully smiles as he waves us over.

“Now, come. Join me in our underground settlement, Little Light.”