Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 1

Chapter I: The Grand Gruen Volcano 

Sand stretched on as far as the eye could see. 
Hajime and his companions had finally arrived at the Gruen Desert. The grains of sand were so fine that the whole thing looked like one unbroken brown sheet. The incessant winds had covered the sky in so much dust that even it looked brown. Anywhere one looked, all they would see is sand. 
The only thing breaking the monotony was the dunes that undulated through the desert like waves. The wind pushed them along at a steady pace, giving the desert the semblance of one massive living creature. 
The sun’s harsh rays heated the sand below until it glowed red. It was easily over 40 degrees Celsius. With sand flying everywhere too, it made for an inhospitable environment. 
For normal travelers, anyway. 
Brise tore through the dunes like it was nothing. And because it was completely enclosed, none of the sand or the heat bothered Hajime and the others. Furthermore, the magnetic compass Hajime had installed into the dashboard kept them from getting lost. 
“Thank god we’re not traveling by horse. It looks miserable out there...” 
“Indeed. I’m not so weak that a little heat and wind would hinder me, but... it certainly is more comfortable not having to brave it.” 
Shea and Tio stared out of the window at the unforgiving wasteland they were currently traversing. Tio may have been a masochist, but even she wouldn’t welcome that kind of discomfort. 
“It’s so different this time! Myu’s eyes don’t hurt, and it’s not hot! Daddy’s amazing!” 
“That’s right~ Daddy is amazing~ Myu-chan, do you want some cold water?” 
“Yeah! Thank you, Kaori-oneechan~” 
Myu was sitting happily on Kaori’s lap. She was excited at how different this trip through the desert was compared to the first time, when she’d been abducted. 
Her reaction was only natural. For an aquatic species like Myu, the desert crossing must have been doubly harsh. Considering how young she was, it was a miracle the trip didn’t kill her. However, she was traveling in completely different circumstances this time. Brise was air conditioned, and it kept the wind and sand out. 
Not only that, he’d stocked up on chilled provisions for the trip. It still bothered him a little that his opinion had been completely ignored when Yue had agreed to let Kaori join their party, but he was getting used to having her around. 
Kaori pulled a bottle of cold water out of the mini-fridge Hajime had added to Brise. 
“Hey, Shirasa... I mean, Kaori. Could you please stop calling me daddy? It just sounds really creepy.” 
“But Myu-chan calls you that all the time.” 
“It’s one thing if it’s Myu, but you know, being called daddy by someone my age is pretty weird...” 
Kaori’d always been good at looking after others, so she’d ended up taking on the role of Myu’s caretaker. However, because of that, she’d also taken to using Myu’s nickname for Hajime. 
It was acceptable, if still a little awkward, to have a little girl calling him daddy, but it was another thing entirely when a girl his age was doing it... 
As an aside, the reason Hajime was calling Kaori by her first name was because she’d insisted until he’d finally given in. She’d thought it was unfair that he called everyone else by their first names, but only her by her last name. 
“Really? Alright, I guess I’ll stop... Until we actually have kids of our own, at least...” Kaori trailed off, blushing furiously. 
An awkward silence descended upon the car. Hajime pretended he hadn’t heard anything, but Yue wasn’t about to let this go. 
“Too bad. I’m going to be first. Hajime promised.” 
“Hajime-kun, what’s the meaning of this!?” 
“Is it really that surprising? It’s not like I’m planning on having kids anytime soon, anyway.” 
“Fufu. I’m going to be the first to introduce myself to his parents too.” 
“Wha—!?” 
“I’ve already planned everything out.” 
“Huh!?” 
“Including all the dates we’re going on when we get back.” 
“Ah!” 
Yue’s words were like daggers, stabbing through Kaori’s chest one after another. 
Still, Kaori was a strong girl. She wouldn’t break from just this. She’d spent the better part of her time in this world believing in Hajime’s survival, and had even had the courage to stand up to Yue. If someone hit her, she hit back. 
“I know all sorts of things about Hajime-kun that you don’t! Like what he wants to be in the future, what his hobbies are, and even what genres he likes the most! I bet you don’t know what his favorite anime and manga are, Yue!” 
“Hmph... I... That doesn’t matter. None of those things exist here. I just have to learn about them when we go to Japan.” 
“Oh, but they do. Just look at Hajime-kun. His appearance practically screams anime character.” 
“Gah!?” Though Yue and Kaori were the ones arguing, it was Hajime who was suffering. That last statement had gone right for his jugular. 
“White hair, an eyepatch, even a magical fake eye... I’m pretty sure Hajime’s favorite character had all of those too... Even his weapons, those Cross Bits. They’re definitely based off of the ones in Gundam... It doesn’t matter what world we’re in, Hajime-kun will always be an otaku!” 
“Guh!? K-Kaori...” 
“U-Ugh... To think Hajime’s weapons were based off entertainment...” 
“Hehe. You don’t even know what kinds of things the man you love likes.” 
“You’ve got guts, Kaori. But do you know what kinds of positions Hajime likes in bed?” 
“Wh-Wh-What!? In bed!? Ugh, you’ve already gone that far...” 
“Fufufu. That’s how big the gap is between you and me.” 
Everyone had gotten used to ignoring Kaori and Yue when they started arguing like this. At first Shea had fussed over the two of them, trying to mediate and make them get along. Eventually, however, she’d come to realize it was more trouble than it was worth. Especially since the two didn’t seem to actually hate each other. 
In fact, the only person really suffering because of their arguments was Hajime. As almost all of their arguments were centered around him, many of his embarrassing secrets were turned into ammunition to make a point. All the things he was self-conscious about were poked and prodded at until he couldn’t take anymore. 
Kaori covered her ears, trying to shut out the truths Yue flung at her. Painfully gripping his heart, Hajime tried to break the two of them up. However, before he could do anything, Myu spoke up. 
“No, stop fighting Yue-oneechan, Kaori-oneechan! I hate it when you fight!” Myu hopped off of Kaori’s lap and crawled to the back where Shea was sitting. She glared, pouting all the while at the two girls in front. They both looked at each other awkwardly. Having a little girl tell them she hates them was a surprisingly effective weapon. 
“Sheesh, you two. You could at least stop when Myu-chan’s around. You’re a bad influence on her. I can understand getting worked up about Hajime-san, but you could at least act like adults about it.” 
“Unbelievable... To think I would be scolded by Shea...” 
“I-I’m sorry, Myu-chan, Shea.” 
Never in her wildest dreams had Yue thought she would sink so low that Shea would be scolding her. 
While Shea was Yue’s best friend, Yue also treated Shea like a younger sister. Though she was also vying for Hajime’s affections, Shea loved Yue just as much. It was a slightly different relationship than the one Yue had with Kaori. 
On the other hand, Tio was just a pervert. 
In a sense, Kaori was the first true love rival Yue had ever encountered. 
Yue was confident that her bond with Hajime was stronger than anything. She had unwavering faith that only she was special to him. That was why, at first, she’d seen Kaori as a mere challenger. And she’d believed that it would be easy to beat her down. 
And while her confidence remained unshaken, Yue had noticed Hajime and Kaori reminiscing about the life they’d had in Japan from time to time. 
This was the one advantage Kaori had over Yue. She’d known him for longer. 
And it was the one thing that let her fight Yue on equal footing. 
For her part, Kaori was jealous of the fact that Yue was Hajime’s current lover, but she was too honest and good-natured to try anything underhanded. 
Because neither of them wanted to “cheat” their way to victory, their squabbles never escalated into anything truly serious. However, they were so frequent that they grated on the rest of the party. And today, Myu and Shea had finally had enough. 
Normally, Hajime put an end to most arguments by professing his love for Yue, but he’d taken too much damage in a short span of time. He simply stared off into the distance, ignoring everyone else. 
“Hm? What could that be? Master, there appears to be some commotion to your right.” 
Hajime, who’d been muttering “I’m not an otaku” to himself over and over like a dead fish, suddenly returned to his senses and turned to his right. Kaori and Yue stopped trying to show Myu how well they really got along as well, and turned to see what was happening. Shea too, craned her neck to get a better look. They all spotted something in the distance. 
A large number of sandworms, earthworm-like desert monsters, were congregating on a sand dune to their right. Their heads poked out of the top of the hill. 
Sandworms were twenty meters long on average, and some of the really large ones grew up to 100 meters. They could only be found in the Gruen Desert. Normally, they lived underground and only surfaced to swallow their prey with their triple-layered jaws. Travelers who crossed the desert lived in fear of their nigh-imperceptible sneak attacks. 
Fortunately, the sandworms didn’t have very good perception abilities themselves either. Unless someone was unlucky enough to walk over their lairs, they wouldn’t be spotted. If they’re all surfacing now, they must have found some unlucky sap to prey on. But from the looks of it... 
“Why are they circling around like that?” Had they just come up to feed, Tio wouldn’t have considered it something worth pointing out either. Hajime’s skills let him sense incoming attacks himself, and Brise could easily outpace a sandworm. What was strange about this particular colony was that they’d surfaced, but were hesitating to attack their supposed target. They simply circled around the hill. 
“They seem uncertain, as if they are unsure of whether their prey is safe to eat.” 
“Looks like it. Does that happen often?” 
“Not to my knowledge. They can eat most anything, so they normally don’t hesitate...” 
Tio might have been a masochist and a huge pervert, but she had also lived longer than even Yue. And since unlike Yue she hadn’t been sealed for most of her life, her knowledge of the world was vast. Including the habits of obscure monsters. So if this had even her confused, it was definitely something worth taking note of. 
However, it was also true that there was no reason for Hajime to get involved. He decided to leave before they got wrapped up in something troublesome. 
Just then— 
“Wha—!? Hang on tight, guys!” Hajime gunned Brise’s accelerator. A second later a giant brown creature erupted from the earth, grazing Brise’s rear. A sandworm had just tried to swallow them whole. It looked like Hajime and the others were on the menu too. 
Hajime swerved sharply, zigzagging through the dunes. Sandworms erupted one after another from the ground, each of them coming out from the spot Brise had been seconds before. 
“Kyaaaaaa!” 
“Hiii!” 
“Wawawawah!” 
Kaori, Myu, and Shea all screamed. Worried about Myu, Kaori turned around to check up on her. At the same time, Hajime made another sharp turn. Kaori lost her balance and tumbled forward... right into Yue and Hajime. She collapsed with her butt in Yue’s lap and her head in Hajime’s. 
After a few surprised blinks, Kaori blushed slightly and clung to Hajime’s waist. Much to Hajime’s chagrin. His expression stiffened, and he tried not to think dirty thoughts. The lower half of Kaori’s body was still sprawled across Yue’s lap. 
“Hey, Shira... Kaori! What are you doing!?” 
“It’s dangerous, so I’m hanging on to you for safety!” 
“Kaori, you vixen. To think you would stick to Hajime while sealing my movements at the same time... You’re craftier than I gave you credit for.” 
While they were fleeing for dear life, Yue and Kaori were still only interested in winning points with Hajime. Yue spanked Kaori’s defenseless behind, but Kaori refused to loosen her grip. Instead, she buried her face in Hajime’s crotch. 
Having failed their initial ambush, the three sandworms began an overland pursuit of Brise. They moved far swifter than their size would suggest. 
Had Hajime and the others been riding in a normal carriage, they would have been toast. However, Brise was an artifact with all of an otaku’s ingenuity poured into it. Even if they managed to swallow it, it wouldn’t suffer a single scratch. 
Moreover... 
“Come to think of it, this is a good chance to test that thing out.” Hajime drifted so hard that he was driving in reverse, and then began pouring mana into another one of the attachments he’d put on Brise. 
A series of metallic clunks reverberated throughout the car. Brise’s hood slid back to reveal a quadruple rocket launcher. 
The launcher swiveled back and forth, seeking out its prey. After a few seconds, it locked on to the nearest sandworm. With a flurry of red sparks, the launcher unloaded its salvo. 
A glowing trail of orange followed in the rocket’s wake. It sailed through the sandworm’s open mouth and exploded. Chunks of flesh rained from the sky, spattering across Brise’s windshield. 
“Bleh... Shea, cover Myu’s eyes, please.” 
“Already on it~ Ah...! Myu-chan I know it hurts, but don’t pinch me there.” Shea had buried Myu’s head inside her ample bosom to shield her from the horrors Hajime was inflicting on the monsters. However, Myu had found it too suffocating, and pinched Shea in a rather sensitive spot. Hajime did his best to ignore the moaning coming from the back. Dealing with his own comrades was more mentally draining than fighting monsters. 
It didn’t help that Kaori was still clinging to his waist either. After a herculean effort, Yue finally pulled Kaori off and strapped her into her seat belt, locking her in place. She was blushing bright red, surprised at her own boldness. 
“U-Umm, Hajime-kun. Sorry about that. I just acted on instinct... I wasn’t purposely trying to do something dirty. I just wanted to know what it would feel like to hug you once...” 
“And if you saw your chance, you’d push him down then and there?” 
“Exact... No! Yue, please don’t say such strange things. I’m not as lewd a woman as you.” 
“You’re calling me lewd? Well, I suppose I can’t really deny it, considering the things we do at night.” 
“Could you two shut up for a second? Also Yue, quit talking about our sex life.” 
Hajime blasted the remaining sandworms to bits with his rocket launcher. Hearing the explosions, the other sandworms atop the dune turned to look at Brise. He steeled himself for another fight, but Kaori and Yue’s arguing distracted him. Their constant bickering was wearing away at his mental fortitude. And now he’d finally hit his limit and snapped at Yue. 
Though nothing she’d said had actually been false. Hajime doubted anyone could beat Yue when it came to sexiness. Kaori could tell what he was thinking about, and tears welled up in her eyes. 
Yue smiled victoriously and licked her lips. Kaori groaned, lamenting her defeat. Hajime’s annoyed outburst had only fanned the flames of their feud. 
Shea leaned forward and sympathetically patted Kaori’s shoulder. 
“I know how you feel, Kaori-san.” 
Hajime ignored the lot of them and gunned Brise toward the sand dune. He could tell there were more sandworms moving around underground. The ground bulged slightly at their position, so it was clear they weren’t trying to be stealthy anymore. Right now, speed would avail them more than stealth. 
Hajime retracted his rocket launcher and activated a new weapon. This time, a long rectangular box came out of the hood. Metal grated against metal, and the box transformed into a long-range rifle. It looked strikingly similar to Schlagen. 
Red sparks ran down the length of the gun barrel. The robotic arm it was attached to adjusted its aim and fired. A dazzling streak of red cut through the muddy brown air. 
A plume of sand rose into the sky as it slammed into the ground. Chunks of flesh and droplets of blood rose up with it. Hajime’s bullet had found its mark. 
Hajime reloaded and fired again, then again. Each bullet created another eruption of sand and blood. The sandworms were obliterated without even a chance to surface. 
“Hajime-kun, look over there!” 
“Is that... a person?” 
As Hajime retracted his rifle, Kaori suddenly shouted and pointed to a spot in front of them. 
Yue’s guess was correct. Some distance away lay a humanoid figure clad in all white. It was likely they were the person the sandworms had been trying to eat. However, from this distance, they couldn’t make out anything out of the ordinary. Nothing to indicate why the sandworms had hesitated, anyway. 
“Please, Hajime-kun. I’m a Priestess... I have to at least try and help him.” 
“Might as well, I guess. I’m kinda curious, honestly.” 
Kaori looked pleadingly up at Hajime. As he was interested in why the sandworms hadn’t attacked the man himself, he saw no reason to refuse. 
It was possible he had some unique item that warded off monsters, or knew some unknown form of magic. After all, if things like verdren crystals existed in the sea of trees, who knew what other strange wonders existed in this world. It might even be that whatever this man had been using possessed more potent effects than those verdren crystals. 
Hajime made a beeline for the collapsed man. 
He was wearing something resembling a jellabiya, a traditional Egyptian dress back on earth, and a big hooded overcoat on top of it. The hood was covering his face and he was lying face-down, making it difficult to discern his features. 
Kaori hopped off Brise, dashed over to the man, and rolled him onto his back. 
“What on...” Upon taking off his hood, Kaori discovered that he was young, probably in his early twenties. However, what had surprised her wasn’t that. It was the state he was in. 
His face was locked in a painful grimace, sweat beaded down his forehead, and his breath came in short, shallow gasps. He was so feverish that steam was rising off his body. His blood vessels were all straining against his skin, as if they were being pushed out from the inside. Furthermore, blood was dripping from his eyes and nose. There was obviously something wrong with him. And it wasn’t just heatstroke. 
Hajime was worried Kaori might get infected with whatever this guy was suffering with, but as she was the healer, he left handling the situation to her. 
Kaori cast Magical Diagnostics on the man. The spell used her mana to investigate the condition of her target, and displayed its findings on her Status Plate. 
The results that came back were unexpected. 
“Mana overload? The poison in his body is causing his mana to go berserk?” 
“What’d you find, Kaori?” 
“L-Look. This is what it says...” 
Kaori showed her Status Plate to the rest of the party.

Status: The target’s mana has overloaded and he is incapable of releasing the excess. 
Symptoms: Fever, fainting, body pains, and ruptures of the capillary vessels. 
Cause: A foreign liquid in the target’s body.

“My guess is he drank something poisonous and that’s what’s causing his mana to go berserk. And because he can’t get rid of any of it, it’s destroying his body from the inside. At this rate all his blood vessels will rupture and he’ll die. Even if that doesn’t kill him instantly, the blood loss will... Heaven’s providence, grant succor to the doomed— Renewal!” 
Kaori cast the healing spell Renewal. It was an intermediate-rank healing spell that dispelled status debuffs. 
However... 
“Oh no, it barely had any effect. How come? This spell can cure almost all status effects... Does that mean the poison is too deeply ingrained into him now?” 
Though it had succeeded in preventing the poison’s spread, Kaori’s Renewal had been unable to actually cure him. The man groaned feebly in pain. His bleeding hadn’t stopped either. Kaori ground her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t think of a way to cure him, so for now she began to perform emergency treatment measures to keep his condition from worsening. 
“May the grace of light bless you in this holy sanctuary. No evil shall pass so long as I hold the gates— Sanctorum!” 
The high-level light spell Sanctorum allowed everyone within a set area to transfer their mana to one another. Normally, Kaori used it to transfer her mana to her allies and support them if they didn’t have enough left to continue casting large-scale spells. 
However, there was no restriction on who could transfer mana to whom. Furthermore, the caster could forcibly transfer mana from one target to another, if they so wished. In other words, it could function as a mana drain. But it took more time to drain mana from a target than it did to transfer mana to them. Because of that restriction, it wasn’t suited to be used as a drain spell in combat. 
Thanks to Kaori’s extensive training, though, she’d shortened the incantation to the point where it was fast enough to be practical even in combat. Hajime could tell just how hard she’d worked to reach that point. 
With Sanctorum in place, Kaori could begin siphoning mana from the young man. Though the Status Plate had said it was impossible to release his excess mana, Kaori hoped a powerful light spell would be able to forcibly drain it out of him anyway. 
Purplish-white light enveloped the young man, making him look ethereal. 
It made for a wondrous sight. Kaori closed her eyes and placed her hands over the man’s chest. After a few seconds of furious concentration, Kaori too began to be enveloped in the same lavender light. 
Yue and Tio murmured in exclamation at Kaori’s impressive display of skill. As fellow mages, they were even more appreciative of her abilities than Hajime. 
“So pretty...” Myu muttered in Shea’s arms. 
Kaori didn’t even notice her new comrades praising her. She was focused fully on her task. She diverted the mana she drained from the man into the mana-absorbing bracelet Hajime had gifted her with. It appeared Kaori’s magic was able to overcome whatever symptoms were preventing him from venting mana normally. 
As an aside, Hajime had given her a bracelet and not a ring because he didn’t want to be misunderstood again. 
The man’s breathing began to sound less labored. The swelling of his blood vessels stopped, and he stopped bleeding from his eyes and nose. Once she’d siphoned off most of his mana, Kaori dispelled her Sanctorum and cast Heaven’s Blessing on the man to heal his internal injuries. 
“He should be good for a little while, but I’ve only alleviated the symptoms. I still don’t know how to cure him. If I took too much of his mana he would’ve died from exhaustion, so I could only drain a little bit. It’s possible his mana might surge up and go berserk again... Or he might start leaking mana until he dies. I’ve never seen these symptoms before, so I’m not sure, but... Yue, Tio, do you two have any idea what this could be?” 

Kaori turned to Yue and Tio for help. A temporary fix like this was pointless if they couldn’t cure the underlying cause of his symptoms. 
The two girls searched their vast memories, but nothing came to mind. In the end, they still didn’t understand what was wrong with him. 
“Kaori, could you check us too, just in case? It’s possible whatever he’s sick with is infectious. Well, if it’s something that just makes your mana go berserk, at least Myu’s safe.” 
“Yes, that should be the case.” 
Kaori nodded and began diagnosing the rest of the party. Fortunately, it seemed none of them were infected. Whatever the disease was, they were certain it didn’t travel through the air. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. 
Around the same time, the young man groaned and opened his eyes. It seemed he’d recovered enough to regain consciousness. He looked around slowly, his gaze stopping on Kaori. 
“A goddess? I see, you’ve come to take me...” he mumbled to himself. 
He reached out a shaky hand toward Kaori. Annoyed, Hajime kicked him in the stomach. The heat and sand had made him even more irritable than usual. 
“Urgh!” 
“H-Hajime-kun!?” Hajime ignored Kaori’s outburst and asked the man what had happened to him. 
From what Hajime remembered, the man’s clothes were the traditional garb of the Ankajians. Ankaji sat at the largest oasis in the desert. All that knowledge he’d amassed when he’d still been “useless” was starting to come in handy now. If Ankaji had been struck by some unknown disease, that made Hajime’s crossing much more perilous. He was a lot more interested in the man’s circumstances now. 
Hajime’s kick brought the man back to his senses, and he took a closer look at his surroundings. Seeing Brise almost sent him into shock again, and he didn’t calm down until Kaori explained what was going on. 
“I thought both me and the dukedom were doomed, but it seems god hasn’t abandoned me yet.” The man muttered quietly. 
I wonder what he’d think if he learned that god of his was actually a heartless monster? Hajime looked up at the sky. If anything, that disease of his was probably a “present” from his god. 
“Hajime-kun. Let’s move him to the car for now.” The poor man was having difficulty even standing. The heat of the desert had left him dehydrated. Hajime still had questions he had to ask the man, so he couldn’t have him dying just yet. 
Sighing, Hajime nodded. He tossed the young man over his shoulder and carried him to Brise. When he laid him down in the air-conditioned backseat, the man exclaimed in surprise, “Is this the land of the gods!?” 
Looks like he’s still got some life left in him. 
After chugging down a few bottles of water, the man had finally recovered enough to speak coherently. His expression grew grim as he began to talk. 
“First, let me thank you for saving my life. Had I died back there... Ankaji would have been finished. My name is Bize Feuward Zengen. I’m the son of Ankaji’s duke, Lanzwi Feuward Zengen.” 
Well that’s a surprise. Didn’t think he’d be royalty. 
The Dukedom of Ankaji was responsible for transporting all of the marine goods that came out of Erisen. And Erisen was where 80% of the northern continent’s marine products came from. 
In other words, Ankaji had a near monopoly on humanity’s supply of seafood. Their nobles were highly respected even within the Heiligh Kingdom. 
Bize was just as surprised to hear the credentials of the people who’d saved him. Kaori was one of Ehit’s warriors, while Hajime, Yue, Shea, and Tio were all gold-ranked adventurers. 
“I see now, God! You sent your messenger down to save me!” The man exclaimed upon learning who Kaori was. 
She stared at him blankly. She hadn’t realized he was addressing her. 
Hajime activated his Intimidation and once again pressed Bize to explain what was going on. Sweating profusely, Bize cleared his throat and began explaining. 
According to him, this was what had happened: 
Four days ago, many people in Ankaji succumbed to a fever of unknown cause. It had come out of nowhere and struck 20,000 of the city’s 270,000 people on the first day alone. Of those 20,000, 3,000 had symptoms so severe they’d lost consciousness. Doctors worked around the clock to try and figure out what the cause was, but it eluded them. All they could do was delay the symptoms like Kaori had. 
As the days passed, more and more victims appeared. Worse, many of the doctors fell prey to it as well. Soon, there weren’t enough doctors left to look after all the patients. Finally, casualties started appearing. The remaining doctors were unable to siphon all of the patients’ mana, and those who went without treatment for too long died. The city despaired. No one had heard of a disease that killed within two days of symptoms first appearing. 
On a hunch, one of the city’s pharmacists cast Appraise Liquid on the city’s water supply. 
Upon doing so, he discovered the wells had been tainted with a poison that made its victims’ mana go berserk. Fearing the worst, they quickly assembled an investigation team to examine the oasis. As they’d expected, the oasis too had been poisoned. 
For desert cities like Ankaji, oases were their lifeline. They were guarded twenty-four seven, and maintaining them was the city’s highest priority. It would have been nigh impossible for an intruder to sneak past the guards and poison the oasis. 
The investigation team couldn’t fathom who’d done such a thing, or why. However, they had bigger problems to worry about. This meant that the only drinkable water in the city was whatever they’d gathered before the oasis had been poisoned. Plus, they still had no idea how to save the people already infected. 
Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. They knew of one way that might save those already infected. 
A mineral known as stillstone. It was a special mineral that could silence mana near it. It grew in small quantities inside the Grand Gruen Volcano to the north, and was extremely valuable. Magical researchers often used it as a safeguard against accidents. By crushing it into a powder, they could feed it to the patients and calm their rampaging mana. 
However, the distance between the city and the volcano was great. A round trip would take one month at the least. And all of the adventurers skilled enough to delve the Grand Gruen Volcano had already been knocked out by fever. Most adventurers didn’t even possess the strength to make it past the eternal sandstorm that raged around the volcano. 
Besides, even if they had capable adventurers left, they didn’t have enough water to outfit them for the journey there. Their only remaining option was to ask the kingdom for help. 
Of course, hoping the kingdom would provide Ankaji with enough water to slake the city’s thirst for a month was a long shot. However, hoping they would dispatch adventurers capable enough to harvest stillstone in the meantime was even more of one. Ankaji may have been a vital outpost for the kingdom, but it would still be normal procedure for them to send an investigation team first. But by then it would be too late. 
Hence why it was necessary for someone of the influential Zengen family to personally relay the situation and ask for immediate aid. 
“Father, Mother, and even my sister were infected on the first day. We used what little stillstone we had left to cure them, but they still haven’t fully recovered from the ordeal. They’re definitely in no state to travel. Which is why I left Ankaji with my guard yesterday to head to the capital. Since I hadn’t shown any symptoms, I thought I hadn’t been infected... but I guess they were just delayed for me. I guess how long it takes for symptoms to appear varies from person to person. I had been so preoccupied with the events happening in the city that the possibility had never even occurred to me. I should have taken some stillstone too, just in case. Every second wasted is another precious Ankaji life gone... I can’t believe I was so foolish!” He slammed a fist against his knee, lamenting his own helplessness. 
Worse, his guards had died protecting him from the sandworms. Nice to see that the next duke of Ankaji is someone who cares about his people. 
In a way, Bize had lucked out by being infected. It was the only thing that had kept the sandworms from eating him too. The poison had made him collapse, but it was also what had kept him alive, and what had led Hajime to investigating his location. Fate truly was a fickle mistress. 
“I would, that is to say, the dukedom of Ankaji would like to formally submit a request to you. Please, lend me your strength.” 
Bize bowed his head low. Silence fell inside the car. 
The sound of sand hitting the windows felt unnaturally loud. As the son of a duke, Bize knew bowing his head to others wasn’t to be done lightly. However, this might have been his only chance to save his countrymen, so he couldn’t afford to let pride get in the way. 
Everyone turned to look at Hajime. Though they were leaving the final decision to him, it was obvious Kaori and Shea wanted to help. Kaori especially. As a Priestess, she felt duty-bound to assist those in need. Tio and Yue didn’t seem to care one way or another. Myu was even more direct than the others. 
“Daddy, we’re going to help him, right?” Myu asked with all the innocence of a small girl. She honestly believed that Hajime could do anything, no matter how absurd. He was basically her hero. Seeing how both Myu and Kaori were clearly in favor, Hajime shrugged his shoulders helplessly. 
“Guess that settles it.” 
Shea and Tio giggled happily. Hajime turned his gaze to Yue and found her staring at him with the same deadpan expression as always. 
No matter what Hajime chose, Yue would always wholeheartedly support his decision. Even if she didn’t say it, he knew that was what she was thinking. He gently brushed Yue’s cheek before turning to Bize and accepting his request. 
Hajime had been planning on visiting the Grand Gruen Volcano anyway. Plus, he’d been planning on leaving Myu behind at Ankaji while he did so. Strong as he was, he didn’t want to bring a four-year-old girl somewhere that dangerous. He could easily pick up the stillstone Bize needed during his quest to reach its center, and since Myu was from a beastman tribe, she was safe from the epidemic that was ravaging Ankaji. She didn’t have any mana after all. Either way, all of Bize’s problems were something Hajime could solve without going out of his way. 
“Hajime-dono, as you are a gold-ranked adventurer, I have no doubt you could easily procure the stillstone that I need. However, we also need to solve my city’s water problem. Can anyone operate this Artifact, or only you, Hajime-dono?” 
“Well, everyone here except Kaori and Myu can drive it, but... There’s no need to go to the capital. I’ll do something about your water problem, so let’s head back to Ankaji for now.” 
“What exactly do you mean by ‘do something about it’?” Bize had no doubt of Hajime’s prowess, but he doubted even a gold-ranked adventurer could procure enough water to sustain hundreds of thousands out of nowhere. His doubt was to be expected. However, there was one way to procure water that Bize hadn’t thought of. Using strong water magic to collect the moisture in the atmosphere. 
Of course, most mages wouldn’t be able to draw nearly enough water for that many people, but Hajime had a genius magician within his party. 
Yue. 
And because she had multiple ways of restoring her mana quickly, she wouldn’t even tire doing it. At the very least, she’d be able to provide the town with water long enough for Bize or his father to appeal to the kingdom for aid. 
When Hajime told Bize as much, he was skeptical. However, it was also true that he was in no condition to make it to the capital. So with a little persuasion from Kaori, one of Ehit’s trusted warriors, he finally gave in and agreed to return to Ankaji. 
Bize was shocked to see how much ground Hajime could cover with Brise. However, at that point, it was just one surprise among an endless parade of them. He had no idea why a warrior of Ehit was traveling with these adventurers, why they had a Dagon girl with them, why she called Hajime daddy, why a rabbitman was traveling with them, or why the black-haired woman seemed so happy to be insulted. What he did know, though, was that there was still hope left. And that very hope was what allowed him to hold his head high as they continued their journey... 
After a short drive, the walls of Ankaji shimmered into view. They were truly a sight to behold, towering higher than even Fuhren’s impressive ramparts. The walls and buildings were all built from the same milky-white material, a stark contrast to the brown that surrounded them. 
One other thing of note was the pillars of light that jutted from the walls at regular intervals. The pillars of light curved into each other and converged high in the sky, creating a dome that covered the city. Whenever anything hit the dome, ripples spread from the point of impact, as if someone had thrown a stone into a pond. It made for a wondrous sight. 
From what Hajime could tell, the dome seemed to protect the city from the elements. The desert experienced fierce sandstorms every few months, so the dome was a necessity for the people living there. It turned raging storms into merely a cloudy day for the city’s residents. 
Hajime and the others approached the city gates, which were enshrouded in the same veil of light. It stood to reason that even the gates would need to be ensorcelled if they wanted to be sure of keeping sand out of the city. The gate guards had been mildly surprised to see Brise, but their reactions had been far more subdued than most people who saw it for the first time. 
Ankaji’s plight was likely occupying most of their attention. They were barely focusing on their job. When they saw their lord sitting in Brise’s backseat, however, they instantly snapped to attention. 
Ankaji’s gate stood at a higher elevation than the rest of the city. Apparently that had been done on purpose so that the first thing visitors would see was the entire city in all its splendor. 
The great oasis lay to the east, sparkling in the early afternoon sun. Great big palm trees grew all around it. They were the first bit of green Hajime had seen since entering the desert. Small canals branched out from the oasis, crisscrossing the rest of the city. Though it lay in the middle of the desert, it seemed most people traveled by boat. More trees dotted the streets, and there were entire squares that had been converted into gardens. 
To the north was the city’s agricultural district. Hajime had read before that many fruit species thrived in Ankaji’s warm climate. And it seemed that had been no exaggeration. The fruit groves stretched on past the horizon, further even than Hajime could see with his Farsight. To the west was the royal palace. Unlike the milky-white stone that seemed to be favored in the rest of the city, the palace was made of pure white marble. It set it apart from the rest of the city, which likely had been the intention of the architect. However, the effect was ruined somewhat by the crude rectangular buildings that surrounded it on all sides. Hajime assumed they were other administrative buildings. 
Despite being in the middle of a desert, there was more water here than Hajime had seen in any other city. 
“It looks... amazing.” 
“Yeah... It’s a beautiful city.” 
Hajime and Yue muttered, stunned. The others all exclaimed in awe as well. 
“But... it feels empty,” Myu said quietly. She was right. Despite its magnificent appearance, an air of gloom hung over the city. 
Normally, the city squares would be bustling with traders haggling over fruit and fish prices and tourists exploring the city’s marvels. Right now, however, the streets were practically empty. Everyone was hiding in their houses, as if waiting out a storm. An eerie silence filled the streets. 
“I wish I could have shown you what the city looked like before the plague struck. At any rate, my apologies, but we have no time to waste. I promise I’ll show you around the city once this crisis has been averted. For now, though, we must make for the palace. I need to report to my father.” 
Hajime nodded, and the party headed toward the palace.

“Father!” 
“Bize! What happened... Wait, what in Ehit’s name is that!?” The party had been able to head straight to the audience hall without being asked any questions thanks to Bize. Though he was still weak from the poison, it seemed Lanzwi had forced himself to continue working, using a combination of healing magic and guts to maintain consciousness. 
His son had gone out to request aid just yesterday. That wasn’t nearly enough time to make it to the capital and back. However, what surprised Lanzwi’s more than his son’s early return was the state he was in. 
It was only natural. After all, Bize was floating in the air. 
To be precise, he was lying on a Cross Bit that was floating in the air. 
Though he’d managed to recover a little during the car ride to Ankaji, he was still in no state to walk. 
Kaori had offered to lend him her shoulder, but he’d refused, giving excuses like “I couldn’t possibly ask one of Ehit’s chosen warriors to carry me...” Hajime hadn’t liked the bashful look he was giving Kaori, so he’d interrupted them by forcibly putting Bize on a Cross Bit. 
Hajime wasn’t jealous of Bize. That was what Kaori had thought, but in truth he just didn’t want to have to deal with people being jealous of her affection for him. He’d already had enough of that with Kouki and Hiyama. 
Bize clung to the Cross Bit, afraid of falling off, as he explained what had happened to his father. Once he’d explained the situation, a butler came and gave him a small vial of powdered stillstone. The stillstone, combined with Kaori’s healing magic, was enough to get Bize back on his feet. He wasn’t fully recovered just yet, but it was still a far cry better than how he had been minutes ago. 
The biggest issue was that this still hadn’t cured him. The stillstone could suppress the symptoms, but the root cause of his mana going berserk, the poison, was still running through his veins. Though it was possible his body would eventually be able to expel the toxin. All they could do for now was wait and see. 
“Alright, let’s get moving. Kaori and Shea, you two go check up on the patients. Take all the empty magic stones with you. The rest of us are going to get the city some water. Lord Lanzwi, is there a wide open space anywhere in the city? At least two hundred square meters large, if possible.” 
“Huh? Oh yes, there’s one in the agricultural district...” 
“That’s where we’re headed, then. Shea, once the magic stones are saturated, bring them over to Yue.” 
Hajime swiftly gave out orders. His plan was simple. Kaori would use her Sanctorum to drain the infected people’s mana just like she had to Bize. Then, she’d siphon that mana into the empty magic stones Shea would bring her. Once they were full, Shea would pass them to Yue, who’d use the mana to create water. 
Hajime would then use his Transmutation to create a makeshift reservoir to store all of that water in, after which he would start investigating the oasis. If he could analyze the poison he’d solve the city’s problem first. If he couldn’t, he’d head to the volcano like he’d originally planned. Simple, but efficient. 
Everyone set about their respective tasks. 
Kaori and Shea headed off to the makeshift hospitals that had been set up near the palace, while Lanzwi, along with his guards and attendants, led Hajime, Yue, Tio, and Myu to the largest open area in Ankaji. 
The open field was over three times as large as Hajime’s minimum specifications had been. The area was normally used to grow crops, but it had been left fallow this year to let the soil replenish. 
Lanzwi still wasn’t convinced Hajime could do what he claimed. If it turned out it was all some sort of elaborate trick, he would order Hajime executed on the spot. 
His town was in desperate need of water, and he had no time to waste on charlatans. He’d only agreed to this crazy idea at all because he had no better options. 
Fortunately for everyone involved, Lanzwi’s suspicions proved unfounded. 
Though there was no wind, Yue’s hair started to flutter. The air became so saturated with mana that it glowed gold. 
Yue was using one of the spells she’d created with the ancient magic she’d acquired. 
“Asura.” A swirling black sphere appeared above the empty farmland. 
The sphere stretched and flattened until it had morphed into a rectangle 200 square meters in size. After a brief pause, the rectangle silently sank into the ground, crushing the earth beneath it. 
A massive depression formed where the rectangle had been. 
Asura had gouged the earth with such force that it caused a localized earthquake. The shaking stopped relatively quickly, the earth’s cries of protest fading away. 
In an instant, Yue had created a massive reservoir to store all the water she was about to summon. 
Hajime snuck a glance at Lanzwi and saw that his jaw was nearly hitting the floor. Him and his attendants were flabbergasted by what had just happened. They were all at a loss for words, which was the only reason they weren’t screaming in shock. 
Yue breathed a tired sigh. She’d only unleashed Asura at half strength, so it hadn’t drained all of her mana. However, it had still taken a lot of effort to cast. 
She could replenish her mana using the jewelry set Hajime had given her, but she wanted to save what was stored in there for the volcano. There wouldn’t be any time to restock in between, so the more she used now, the less she’d have later. And since she wasn’t in the middle of a fight, she had the time to replenish her mana using an alternate method. 
Yue let her body fall backward. She didn’t bother taking a falling stance or anything. After all, she knew she wasn’t going to hit the ground. As she’d expected, Hajime caught her in his arms. 
He lifted Yue up and turned her around. Yue smiled faintly and wrapped her arms around Hajime’s neck. 
She brought her face close to his— 
“Thanks.” Then bit into his neck. 
Drops of blood spilled forth. Yue ran her tongue down Hajime’s neck, making sure to lap up every last bit of his blood. Yue had always acted more mature than her appearance would suggest, but she looked downright seductive when she was drinking Hajime’s blood. 
The bloodsucking went on for a good few minutes. The way Yue moaned softly between gulps made it almost seem like a sexual act. Despite the fact that having your blood sucked should have been something to fear, most of the men were watching Hajime with a look of longing on their faces. 
Only Lanzwi had the presence of mind to maintain an austere expression. He recovered from his surprise and organized his thoughts. His breathing was labored and his eyes slightly bloodshot, but surely he wasn’t thinking of anything lewd. 
Off to the side, Tio watched with an ecstatic expression on her face. She at least still had the presence of mind to cover Myu’s eyes, though. Some things were too stimulating for a four-year-old girl to see. 
Myu squirmed and complained, but she couldn’t break free from Tio’s boob prison. 
Once her mana was fully replenished, Yue removed her fangs from Hajime’s neck. She looked up at him and kissed him, her lips still stained with his own blood. 
The two gazed deeply into each other’s eyes for a few seconds until a loud cough brought them back to reality. Lanzwi couldn’t bear to see much more of this or his self-control would crumble too. Hajime and Yue smiled awkwardly at each other... before turning away from the group and kissing again. 
“Wait, wait, wait, wait. Whether we can see you or not isn’t the problem here. There’s a mountain of things I’d like to ask about the bloodsucking and all, but first could you get us that water you promised!?” 
Lanzwi was so nonplussed that he dropped his regal facade for a few seconds. Hajime and Yue shrugged their shoulders and reluctantly got back to work. 
Hajime hopped down into the reservoir and brought Brise out of his Treasure Trove. He drove it around the reservoir, using his Ore Desynthesis skill to separate out the components of the soil that could absorb water from those that couldn’t. Once that was done, he coated the surface of the reservoir with a thin layer of metal. 
After he finished coating the floor, Yue stuck her arms out and cast a high-level water spell. 
“Tidal Wave.” As the name suggested, Tidal Wave was a spell that blasted its opponent with a wave of water. 
Normally, the wave wouldn’t be that huge, but Yue’s spells were on a completely different level than those of an average mage. She summoned forth a wave 150 meters wide and 100 meters tall. It flowed into the reservoir, filling it up a few centimeters. The reservoir was large enough to hold 200,000 tons of water. Yue repeated the process multiple times, stopping every so often to suck Hajime’s blood. But he didn’t have an infinite supply of blood, and by the time Yue had gotten the reservoir half-full, he was starting to get anemic. 
If he lost any more, he’d probably faint. Fortunately, it was then that Shea came running over. Her arms were laden with magic stones Kaori had filled. Though she’d only drained a little from each patient, she’d already gone through thousands of people. Altogether, it was quite a lot of mana. What was even more impressive was that it had only been two hours since Kaori had started draining people. It was easy to forget because of how ridiculous Hajime and the others’ abilities were, but Kaori was pretty overpowered herself. 
Shea handed Yue all of her magic stones and ran back to help Kaori. A few hours later, the reservoir was filled to the brim with pure, drinkable water. 
“This is unbelievable...” Lanzwi muttered to himself. He was staring at a reservoir of water nearly as large as the oasis itself. And it had been made from nothing in the span of a few hours. He didn’t even know what to say. 
“This should last you guys for some time. All that’s left now is to investigate the oasis... If we can’t purify it, then you should send a messenger to the capital for help. The water here should be enough to sustain you until then.” 
“O-Okay. There’s still a mountain of questions I have for you, but... thank you. Truly. You’ve saved my people. Let me guide you to the oasis.” 
Lanzwi still hadn’t completely recovered from his shock, but he knew now that Hajime and his friends were people he could trust. He no longer suspected them of having ulterior motives. 
The party headed east, toward the great oasis. 
They arrived at a vast sparkling expanse of pure blue water. It was hard to believe something that looked so clear was poisoned. However... 
“Hm?” 
“Hajime?” 
Hajime narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze on a certain location. Yue tilted her head, noticing the slight shift in his demeanor. 
“It’s just, my Demon Eye sensed something... Duke, what areas did your investigation team check?” 
“According to the report, they examined the oasis itself, the rivers that split off from it, and the nearby wells. They also examined the underground reservoir. I’m sure my son already told you what we found. The underground reservoirs were the only places that hadn’t been poisoned. Basically, we examined everything within a few meters of the oasis. Though we haven’t explored the bottom of it yet.” 
“Is there an artifact or anything sitting at the bottom of the oasis?” 
“Huh? No. We use a few artifacts to secure the oasis, but nothing’s been placed inside the oasis itself. Normally, the barrier artifact we have in place would make it impossible to pollute the oasis. This is the first time something like this has ever happened.” 
The barrier artifact Lanzwi was referring to was known as the Judgment of Truth. It was also the source of the dome of light that protected Ankaji. 
It allowed things essential for life, like air and water through, while keeping sand and other nuisances out. The wielder of the Judgment of Truth decided what could and couldn’t pass through it. Not only that, it could be used as a sensor. Like its barrier component, what it was set to detect was up to its wielder. As it incorporated dark magic into its design, the Judgment of Truth could even be set to react to certain thoughts. 
In other words, if Lanzwi had set it to detect anyone who meant the oasis harm, it should have reacted when the person who poisoned the oasis entered the city. That was if Lanzwi had set it like that. Only he knew how he’d formatted the Judgment of Truth. At present, security around the oasis was thin. It had already been polluted, and so many people were going to and from the oasis that Lanzwi had seen little point in keeping a tight guard around it. 
“Huh. So what’s that, then?” 
Hajime turned away from Lanzwi, who was clenching his fists in frustration, and pointed to the center of the oasis. His Demon Eye had sensed something emitting mana from the bottom of the oasis. 
Lanzwi looked up in surprise. He couldn’t believe there was something he wasn’t aware of inside there. 
Hajime walked up to the water and pulled out something shaped like a water bottle from his Treasure Trove. He then started pouring mana into it. Once he was done, he casually threw it into the oasis, backing up toward Yue as he did. Lanzwi shot him a questioning stare, but Hajime didn’t say anything. Just as Lanzwi was about to run out of patience, there was a huge explosion and a massive pillar of water erupted from the center of the oasis. Lanzwi’s jaw dropped open. 
“Tch, it’s faster than I thought... Or wait, maybe its defense is just really high?” 
Hajime pulled out a dozen more of his water bottle-shaped explosives and tossed them into the oasis. A few seconds later, another massive spout of water erupted from the center of the oasis. 
What he’d thrown were actually custom torpedoes that he’d designed. He’d made them in preparation for their expedition into Melusine. According to Miledi, the sunken ruins were, shockingly, underwater, so Hajime had designed a few prototype torpedoes. And this mystery object had seemed like a perfect test dummy. So far, it appeared while their firepower was sufficient, his torpedoes were lacking in speed and tracking capabilities. Guess I need to refine my design. 
Hajime had added ore enchanted with Sense Presence and Tracking into his torpedoes. Once they locked onto a target, they would chase after it until they got within the blast radius and then explode. Right now he’d had them lock onto whatever that mysterious thing in the water was. 
“Hey! What are you doing, Hajime-dono!? Ah, you just destroyed the pier! I can see chunks of fish floating up from everywhere! The whole oasis is turning red!” 
“Tch. Still not good enough? Fine, maybe fifty will do the trick...” 
Hajime ignored Lanzwi’s anguished screams and stepped forward, preparing for an even grander attack. Lanzwi’s guards clung to Hajime, begging him not to do it. 
They couldn’t see the thing Hajime was trying to destroy, so to them it looked like he’d just suddenly started throwing explosives into the oasis. He’d already destroyed the pier and killed countless fish, and they needed to stop him before the damage got any worse. 
As the Judgment of Truth didn’t react, Lanzwi could tell Hajime wasn’t trying to harm the oasis. However, that only made his destructive actions more confusing. Regardless, Lanzwi and his guards had a duty to protect the oasis. 
Annoyed, Hajime brushed Lanzwi’s guards off. But before he could throw his next batch of torpedoes— 
“Ah!?” Countless tentacles of water suddenly shot out of the oasis and headed straight for Hajime. 
Hajime pulled out Donner and Schlag and started shooting them down. Yue froze as many of them as she could, while Tio evaporated the rest with fire magic. 
Lanzwi stared, slack-jawed at the surprising chain of events that had unfolded one after another. Infuriated by Hajime’s constant bombardment, the water rose up. Seemingly defying gravity, it created a mound ten meters high. 
“What... in Ehit’s name...” Lanzwi’s hushed voice carried surprisingly far. 
The water morphed from a mound into a horrific creature. Numerous tentacles wriggled all over its body, and there was a glowing red mana crystal at its center. It resembled the slimes Hajime had seen in video games. 
However, its size was on a completely different level. It was ten times larger than any slime Hajime had ever seen. Also, the slimes Hajime remembered hadn’t possessed the ability to manipulate water. Nor had they shot water tentacles at people. 
“What... What kind of monster is this? Some kind of... Bachulum, maybe?” Lanzwi tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Bachulum was the scientific name given to the slime species of monsters in Tortus. 
“Well, it doesn’t really matter what it is. That’s the thing that’s polluting your oasis. Its unique magic probably has something to do with releasing toxins or something.” 
“That would certainly make sense. Still, how are you going to defeat it?” The Bachulum had been attacking continually, even while Hajime and Lanzwi had been talking. However, Yue and Tio had kept its tentacles at bay. 
Hajime, too, had been firing Donner and Schlag continually while talking. He was trying to find an opening to shoot the Bachulum’s core, but it kept moving around inside the slime, making it hard for Hajime to get a clear shot. It was as if it had a will of its own. 
Lanzwi had gotten so used to being surprised that Hajime’s insanely powerful artifacts, his guns, didn’t even faze him. Instead, he calmly asked whether or not Hajime had a plan to deal with the Bachulus. 
“Hmmm... Ah, don’t worry. I’ve got it.” 
Hajime barely registered Lanzwi’s question and gave a perfunctory reply. His entire focus was on the whizzing mana crystal inside the slime. After a few seconds, he holstered Schlag and held Donner with both hands. 
Then, he wrapped his left arm around his right, bent his left elbow, and spread his feet slightly apart, with his right foot slightly in front of his left. He was copying the Weaver Stance he’d seen back on earth. If he wanted to get the mana crystal, he’d need ungodly precision. 
Hajime’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk, and he’d finally grasped the crystal’s movement patterns. 
He held the stance for a few seconds, silently waiting for the perfect opportunity. 
Bang! A single streak of light trailed through the sky. The mana crystal moved directly into the bullet’s path, as if it had been magnetically pulled toward it. 
It was a clean hit, and the crystal shattered into a thousand pieces. With the slime dead, there was nothing left to control the water. It fell back into the oasis with a splash. Waves of water rippled out from the point of impact, as if signaling an end to the town’s pollution problem. 
“Is it over?” 
“Should be. I don’t sense any mana in the oasis anymore. Though I don’t know if getting rid of the monster also purified the water.” 
Lanzwi couldn’t believe Hajime had solved their crisis so easily. Ankaji had been on the verge of ruin and he’d just waltzed in and fixed everything. One of his attendants hurried over to the water and appraised the oasis’ quality. 
“How is it?” 
“The water’s still polluted...” 
Lanzwi had been hopeful, but his attendant shook his head. People who’d drank directly from the oasis had gotten sick as well, so everyone had known it was poisoned from the start. Still, it was disappointing that killing the slime hadn’t also purified the water. 
“Now now, there’s no need to feel so depressed. Now that the source is gone, poisoned water will stop spreading everywhere. The underground reservoir should still be clean, so if you dispose of all the infected water you can replace it with that. Then, you’ll have your old oasis back.” Tio tried to comfort Lanzwi and the others. Their gloomy expressions perked up a little, and they started thinking about how to revive their city. Their determination and unity showed Hajime just how much the citizens and their lord cared about the city. Even in these dire straits, no one was thinking of abandoning Ankaji. 
“But just what kind of monster was that Bachulum-like thing...? Was it some new species that found its way to the oasis through one of the underground tunnels?” Lanzwi tilted his head and stared at the oasis. 
Hajime was the one who provided him with an answer. 
“It was... probably the work of the demons, right?” 
“Demons!? Hajime-dono, you must have some basis for making that accusation, right?” Lanzwi quickly recovered from his initial surprise and pressed Hajime for more information. After seeing how swiftly Hajime had dealt with both their water issue and the monster, Lanzwi had a lot of respect for him. Never again would he doubt Hajime’s abilities. 
Since the Bachulus they’d encountered was a type no one had seen before, Hajime had guessed it must have been some new species the demons had created with their ancient magic. The slime had a lot of peculiarities that had matched up with the monsters that had attacked Ur and the ones that had attacked Kaori in Orcus. Chances were, the demons were building up their monster army still. And they wanted the humans as weak as possible before the war started in earnest so they were striking preemptively at the most important assets. Aiko had the potential to revolutionize the kingdom’s agriculture, while the heroes the Holy Church had summoned were the humans’ strongest trump card. They were definitely people the demons would want to eliminate as soon as possible. 
Ankaji, too, was an important lifeline for the kingdom. It was a major crossroads where almost all of the northern continent’s seafood passed through. Best of all, since it was in a desert and all it was comparatively isolated. It made for a perfect target. That was why Hajime’s first thought was that demons were responsible. 
When Hajime explained as much to Lanzwi, he groaned. 
“I’ve heard about the other monster attacks. We did conduct our own investigation into the affair, but... we never thought they’d be able to launch an attack like this... We were too naive.” 
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. Even people in the capital couldn’t have guessed they’d be making new species of monsters. The hero party was attacked barely a few days ago. The whole kingdom’s probably in an uproar and hasn’t had time to properly spread information.” 
“I guess the demons are finally making their move. Hajime-dono, you said you were an adventurer. But given that inhuman strength of yours, and those artifacts you carry, I can only assume that like Kaori-dono, you too are one of Ehit’s warriors.” 
Hajime simply shrugged. Lanzwi guessed that Hajime had his own reasons for not elaborating, so he didn’t pry. Regardless of what secrets he was hiding, Hajime was still Ankaji’s savior. Besides, there were more important matters that had to be dealt with at the moment. 
“Hajime-dono, Yue-dono, Tio-dono. I, Duke Lanzwi Feuward Zengen, humbly thank you for saving the city of Ankaji and its people. We will forever be in your debt.” Lanzwi and his attendants bowed to Hajime and the others. 
It was rare for the duke of a city to bow their heads to anyone, but Hajime had definitely earned that honor. It didn’t matter if he was one of Ehit’s warriors or not, his actions had saved thousands of lives. Hajime hadn’t known Lanzwi for long, but he could tell the duke cared deeply for his people and his country. His attendants knew that as well, which was why they didn’t try to stop him when he bowed to Hajime, electing to join him instead. Hajime could tell where Bize got his personality from. Even their mannerisms were similar. 
Hajime grinned to himself and addressed Lanzwi. 
“That’s right, you guys owe me now. Don’t forget it.” 
He could make use of their gratitude here too. When it came to turning things to his advantage, Hajime had no shame. 
Lanzwi had been expecting Hajime to be humble about it while covertly trying to curry favor with him, so he was taken by surprise when Hajime just laid it out like that. Still, he’d been planning to repay his debt regardless, so it wasn’t a big deal. 
Honestly, Hajime didn’t feel he did anything all that altruistic. Saving Ankaji had been Kaori’s request, and he’d had a personal stake in ensuring the city’s safety. After all, he would need to leave Myu here while he explored the Grand Gruen Volcano. 
However, if Lanzwi was showing him gratitude, he would’ve been a fool not to capitalize on it. The more allies he had when the time finally came to deal with the Holy Church, the better. Lanzwi had been planning on returning Hajime’s good faith regardless, but as a politician he understood that it was important to officially promise such things. 
“Y-Yeah, of course. I’ll never forget the service you did us... Unfortunately, my city is still suffering. Could I request your help in healing the patients?” 
He’d grown accustomed to dealing with odd people in his time as a politician, and so he recovered from his surprise relatively quickly. Then, he smiled ruefully and agreed to Hajime’s demand that they pay him back. Though he wanted his citizens restored to good health before he would do anything. 
“I was planning on heading to the Grand Gruen Volcano anyway, so I don’t mind. How much stillstone do you need me to harvest?” 
“Thank you so much... Hey, someone get me the medical reports.” Lanzwi sighed in relief and ordered one of his attendants to get him the reports on how many patients there were, and how much stillstone they’d need to cure them all. It turned out they needed quite a bit. 
“We’ll be needing quite a lot. Would you like me to send porters with you?” 
“Nah, no need. I’ve got a transportation artifact that merchants would kill to have.” 
“At this point you could tell me you command the heavens themselves and I’d believe you. It must be the blessings of Ehit that guided you to us.” 
Lanzwi threw his arms up in amazement. Is there anything this boy can’t do? he thought to himself with a wry smile.

Around the same time, Kaori and Shea were working frantically to treat the patients. 
Starting with the ones in the worst condition, Kaori absorbed their mana in batches, her Sanctorum reaching everyone within a radius of ten meters. Her area of effect healing spells had about the same range, so she could cast healing magic on them at the same time. 
Meanwhile, Shea carried away the patients Kaori had already treated and carried in new ones. Shea would fill an entire cart with people and transport them en masse. And instead of running through the buildings, she’d hop over their rooftops to save time. It was faster to bring patients in critical care to Kaori than to have her running around to each and every makeshift hospital that had been set up. 
It was quite a sight, watching a diminutive girl carry entire carts of people across rooftops. Many of the patients thought the disease had made them start hallucinating, and a fair few of them started panicking. Because of that, a few of the hospitals descended into chaos. 
All of the doctors were amazed at how effortlessly Kaori juggled multiple high-level healing spells at once. Before long, she’d taken charge of the entire treatment operation and all the healers were taking orders from her. 
Kaori was still in the middle of healing patients when Hajime and the others showed up. When they saw Lanzwi following behind Hajime, the patients and healers tried to bow to him. However, he raised up a hand to stop them. 
“Listen to me, everyone! Just now we eliminated the source of the poison! It will still take some time, but we can get our oasis back! Not only that, we have secured a new source of water! Furthermore, it’s large enough to sustain us until relief arrives. Best of all, this gold adventurer here has agreed to harvest stillstone for us! Hang on for just a few more days, everyone! Together we’ll weather this storm!” His deep voice echoed through the room. Hajime could see why the kingdom had entrusted such an important city to his rule. He possessed both wisdom and charisma. 
At first the patients were confused, but Lanzwi’s smiling face convinced them that this was no joke, or a white lie to raise their spirits. 
Cheers rang out throughout the hospital. The citizens had been in despair, but now hope colored their faces once more. This ordeal could end without more lives being claimed. Families hugged each other, weeping openly. The healers patted each other on the back, relieved that their efforts would not be in vain. A number of people thanked Hajime and Kaori for saving them. 
Lanzwi glanced over at Hajime. Noticing his gaze, Hajime turned over and grimaced. 
“Duke, you...” 
“Don’t look so concerned. If you don’t come back, we’ll just fall into despair.” 
The implicit message of “If you don’t save us, we’re all dead, so you better not let us down. You promised you’d fulfill my request, so you better hold your end of the bargain,” hung in the air. Though he was grateful to Hajime, he had no one else he could rely on. He wanted insurance that Hajime would keep his end of the bargain. Hundreds of thousands of lives were on the line, after all. And so, Lanzwi had appealed to Hajime’s conscience. He’d hoped this would make Hajime feel too guilty about running away to try it. 
“You’re a crafty one, huh?” 
“You have to be, if you want to survive as a noble.” 
Hajime smiled ruefully and Lanzwi shrugged his shoulders. Though in truth, Hajime wasn’t really mad. He’d expected something like this. In fact, if the duke hadn’t tried to secure some kind of insurance, Hajime would have begun to doubt his competence. Though Hajime wouldn’t feel terribly guilty even if he did flee. The destruction of Ankaji and the death of its citizens wouldn’t really have weighed on his conscience. 
Hajime turned away from Lanzwi and walked over to Kaori. 
“Kaori, we’re gonna head to the Grand Gruen Volcano now. How long do you think you can keep this up?” 
“Hajime-kun...” Kaori smiled when she saw Hajime, but then her expression grew serious and she ran the numbers in her head. 
“Two days,” she replied once she’d done the math. That was the longest she could keep the patients alive for. 
“Hajime-kun, I’ll do everything I can here to heal the patients, so please bring the stillstone back as soon as possible. Also, I’m sorry... I know you don’t care about the people of this world, but I still...” 
“It was pretty much in our way, so it’s not a big deal. Besides, I agreed to help. I can hardly leave Myu behind in a city filled with corpses.” 
“Hehe, that’s right. She’s relying on you. Don’t worry, I’ll look after Myu-chan while you’re gone.” 
Hajime had explained everything he’d been through to Kaori while they’d driven through the desert. She knew about the mad gods and the fact that Hajime prioritized going home over everything else. He’d told her that if she couldn’t accept that she was free to return to Kouki’s party. But of course she’d elected to stay with him. 
Even if he’d decided to abandon Ankaji, she still wouldn’t have left his side. She would have tried to persuade him of course, but if he’d insisted she would have accepted his decision. 
That being said, she had still wanted to help the people of Ankaji. Fortunately, her puppy-dog look had been enough to get Hajime to agree to help. She wasn’t conceited enough to think that she could manipulate Hajime with her charms, but she was glad to know that her opinion at least had some influence on his decision-making. 
At the same time, though, she felt bad for basically forcing Hajime to go along with her own selfish desires. 
That was why she’d apologized. However, Hajime apparently hadn’t been all that bothered by the decision. He had seen through Kaori’s worries, which was why he’d told her that it had been his decision in the end. Kaori, too, could tell Hajime was just trying to be considerate. She smiled at him, her gaze full of trust and love. 
“I’ll do my best here, so come back safely, alright? I’ll be waiting.” 
“G-Gotcha.” 
She sounded like a housewife sending her husband off to war. It was surprisingly touching, and Hajime was at a loss for words. 
Even back in Japan, Kaori had always been straightforward. She’d talked to Hajime every day in class, ignoring Kouki’s warnings and the jealous stares everyone shot Hajime. Eventually, Hajime had gotten used to it, but she’d grown even more bold since confessing to him. 
Hajime blushed and looked away, only to find himself face to face with Yue. 
She was giving him an intensely cold glare. Hajime shivered. But when he turned back, he saw Kaori smiling at him again. Hajime despaired, trapped between two predators. It was then that Myu went and complicated things. 
“Kaori-oneechan, are you going to kiss Daddy like Yue-oneechan did earlier?” 
“Oh, you could see that, Myu?” 
“Hweh? I could see through the gaps in your fingers, Tio-oneechan. Yue-oneechan looked really cute. Myu wants to try kissing Daddy too.” 
“Hmm... Even I have not kissed Master yet. Myu, you’ll have to wait until you get older before you can do such things.” 
“Aww...” 
Hajime glared at Tio, though there was no way she would have been able to stop Myu from peeking. As always, Tio derived immense pleasure from being glared at. However, Hajime didn’t have any time to spare for her. 
That strange sword-wielding demon had appeared behind Kaori again, and it looked angrier than ever. The arrival of her logic-defying stand was always bad news. 
“Whatever could Myu be talking about, I wonder? Didn’t you go out to fix the oasis, Hajime-kun? So how come you were kissing Yue? What happened to doing your job? Or was kissing her part of your job? Don’t tell me you two were off having fun while I was working myself to the bone treating patients. You couldn’t possibly have done something so cruel to me, right? You didn’t just leave me to get some alone time, did you?” The darkness in Kaori’s eyes terrified Hajime. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead. He hurriedly tried to explain himself, but before he could say anything Yue stepped forward. 
He mistakenly believed that Yue would solve the misunderstanding for him, but expecting anything from Yue when she was like this was a mistake. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out, grinning triumphantly. 
“It was great.” That was all she said. 
“Ahahahahahahaha.” 
“Fufufufufufufufu.” 
Kaori and Yue’s laughter echoed through the hospital room. Until that point, the other doctors and patients had all seen Kaori as some kind of saint. But now that they’d seen her true colors, they backed away, pale-faced. 
It was only natural. It was impossible to believe someone who had such a demonic spirit in their possession could be a saint. Worse, a giant thunder dragon had started forming behind Yue as well. Everyone was too scared to see what would happen next. 
Sighing, Hajime walked between the two of them and flicked both of them on the forehead. It was just a flick, but he put quite a bit of force behind it. Kaori and Yue crouched down in pain, nursing their foreheads. They looked up at him reproachfully. Exasperated, he tried to explain. 
“Kaori. I didn’t suggest we split up so I could spend time with Yue. You should know that. Besides, Yue’s my lover. You don’t have any right to complain about what we do. You agreed to those conditions when you decided to come along.” 
“Um... I know, but... I can’t control my feelings...” Kaori hung her head, but she still tried to argue back. Hajime sighed again and turned to scold Yue. 
“And you, stop picking fights with her every chance you get.” Upon hearing his words, Yue turned away, sulking. 
“This is a fight between women... You have no right to interfere, Hajime.” 
“Is it just me, or am I being ignored more often now?” Shea lamented to herself as she watched. Tio was still lost in the throes of ecstasy, so she’d missed the confrontation entirely, but Myu wasn’t happy to see Kaori and Yue fighting again. 
It took some time before Hajime could calm everyone down, but finally they were ready to depart for the Grand Gruen Volcano. As Kaori would be busy tending to all the patients, Hajime asked Lanzwi to help her look after Myu. Lanzwi was still stunned at how convoluted the relationships between everyone in Hajime’s party were. Regardless, he happily agreed to help. 
Hajime had already told Myu beforehand that he’d need to leave her behind for a bit while he explored the volcano, but she still wasn’t happy about it. He bent down and patted her on the head. 
“I’m going now, Myu. Will you be a good girl while I’m gone?” 
“Hic... I will. So please come back soon, Daddy.” 
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” 
Myu clung to Hajime’s shirt, trying her best not to cry. The way he comforted her was just like a real dad. People began to relax again. Hajime gave Myu’s back a little push, and sent her off to Kaori. Then he turned to Yue, Shea, and Tio, telling them to get ready. 
Before he could leave though, Kaori stopped him. 
“Ah, Hajime-kun... Stay safe.” 
“Will do. Take care of Myu for me.” 
“I will. Also, umm... Could you give me a kiss? A... goodbye kiss?” 
“Definitely not. Where’d that idea even come from?” 
“Not even on the cheek? Please?” Kaori blushed, but her voice remained firm. She knew that in order to stand any chance against Yue, she needed to be bold. She’d been relatively bold even back in Japan, but all of her restraints had disappeared after her confession. 
“Oh, give me one too!” Shea tried to grab Hajime’s attention, but he ignored her. He opened his mouth, planning to refuse, but Myu butt in before he could. 
“Myu wants one too. Myu wants Daddy to kiss her!” 
She had decided she wanted to join the fun as well. Hajime tried to explain why he couldn’t, but his words didn’t get through to her at all. 
“Do you hate me, Daddy?” 
Hajime could feel his heart melting at that. 
In the end, he ended up kissing Kaori, Myu, and for some reason even Shea on the cheeks. The doctors and patients all watched on fondly. Feeling too awkward to remain even a second longer, Hajime hurriedly left for the Grand Gruen Volcano. 
Tio had asked for a kiss as well, but Hajime had ended up just slapping her. Her panting had creeped him out way too much.

The Grand Gruen Volcano. It was approximately 100 kilometers north of Ankaji. It was around 5 kilometers in diameter at its base, and rose to a modest height of 3000 meters. It wasn’t conical like most volcanoes, but shaped more like a dome. Its summit was flat, however, unlike most domes. Its slope was so gentle that it seemed more like a hill than a mountain. A really, really big hill. 
Though the Grand Gruen Volcano was one of the only well-known labyrinths aside from the Great Orcus Labyrinth, it wasn’t nearly as popular. It was more dangerous than the Orcus Labyrinth, and the monsters that roamed its depths had less valuable mana crystals inside them. However, the main reason for its unpopularity was how difficult it was to reach. 
It wasn’t just that it was in the middle of a desert. 
“It looks like Laputa.” 
“Laputa?” 
Yue and the others of course had no idea that Hajime was referencing a famous movie. Hajime just shrugged his shoulders and stared at the whirling sandstorm surrounding the volcano. 
Just as Laputa had been surrounded by a veil of thick clouds, the Grand Gruen Volcano was surrounded by a massive sandstorm. The wind and sand was so thick that it looked more like a spinning wall of dust than a tornado. 
However, that wasn’t all. Sandworms and other deadly monsters lurked within the storm. Fighting them off would prove difficult with how low visibility was inside. Hajime could see why most adventurers weren’t qualified enough to even make it past the sandstorm. 
“I’m so glad we didn’t decide to do this trip on foot.” 
“Even someone as sturdy as me wouldn’t enjoy marching through that.” 
Shea and Tio murmured their appreciation for Brise as they stared out of the windows at the howling storm before them. 
They wouldn’t be able to take their time conquering this labyrinth. The stillstone deposits on the surface of the volcano weren’t large enough to cure all of Ankaji, so Hajime would need to harvest the stone deep below as well. If this was anything like the other labyrinths, there’d be a shortcut leading outside at the center of the labyrinth. It’d be faster to conquer the whole thing than to fight their way halfway down, then double back. Once they were out, making it back to Ankaji would be easy. 
Hajime wasn’t that invested in saving the lives of Ankaji’s citizens, but if it was possible to save them without risking himself, then that sounded good to him. If nothing else, it would spare him from having to see Kaori’s and Myu’s tears. 
Hajime gunned Brise’s accelerator and charged into the storm. 
Once inside, their vision was blocked by a wall of brown that surrounded them on all sides. Just like the mist they’d seen in the Haltina Woods, the sandstorm cut their visibility to practically nothing. And since the sand could physically harm them, unlike the fog, it was even more dangerous. Even with magic barriers and good equipment, breaking through this wall of sand while surviving attacks from monsters was no easy feat. 
The sun’s rays didn’t penetrate down here either, so the only illumination was the green glowstone headlights Hajime had turned on. He slowed down to about 30 kilometers per hour. At that speed, he estimated they’d be out of the storm in another five minutes. 
Shea’s bunny ears suddenly perked up, and a second later Hajime’s eyes narrowed. 
“Hang on tight!” he yelled, before gunning the accelerator. 
Seconds later, three sandworms burst from the ground behind him. Hajime swerved from side to side, dodging their attacks. Once he was clear, he started speeding up again. 
With Brise’s speed, it made more sense to push straight through the sandstorm than try to fight all the monsters that got in their way. 
Two more sandworms erupted from the ground on either side of Brise, bearing down in a pincer attack. Their aim was perfect, and they were headed straight for Brise’s side doors. While the impact itself wouldn’t have been able to break the car’s armor, Hajime wanted to avoid getting flipped over. He was just about to turn hard into a drift when Yue and Tio stopped him. 
“Hm, leave this to us.” 
“Indeed, we can handle this, Master.” 
Hajime nodded and straightened the steering wheel. The sandworms were so close that the party could see them with the naked eye. 
However, just before they slammed into the truck, they were stopped. 
“Wind Blades.” Yue summoned a barrage of wind blades that cut through the sandstorm, heading straight for the sandworm on the left. The blades sliced right through it, cutting it in half. Blood spurted everywhere as the sandworm was split down the middle. 
The sandworm on the right suffered a similar fate as it was torn to shreds by Tio’s spell. 
“A wonderful display, Yue. You executed your magic magnificently.” 
“You’re pretty good too, Tio. I didn’t think you could use the sandstorm’s winds like that.” 
Wind Blades was a beginner level wind spell, but the amount of mana Yue and Tio had poured into theirs had given them the force of intermediate spells. On top of that, they had utilized the sandstorm’s winds in different ways to further increase its force. Skilled magicians didn’t just have vast amounts of mana, they also knew how to utilize their environment and pick the best spell for the situation. While it sounded simple, it was easier said than done. Yue and Tio had both spent years practicing these skills. 
The three sandworms that had popped up earlier caught up to Brise. Their underground speed was truly impressive. Annoyed by their persistence, Hajime activated one of Brise’s weapons. There was a loud clang from the back of the truck, and a couple of black, round objects rolled out from underneath it. 
The moment they got close to the sandworms trailing behind Hajime, they exploded. The ground shook from the force, and chunks of sandworm flesh flew through the air. Hajime threw out another handful of grenades, finishing off any survivors. One of the sandworms was blown in half, and its head whirled through the sky before it was swallowed up by the sand. 
“Wow, that was amazing. Hajime-san, how many different things did you add to Brise?” 
Shea watched from the rear window as Hajime’s grenades decimated the sandworms. He grinned wickedly as he responded. 
“It can also transform into a giant human-shaped golem to fight.” 
“......” 
It sounded unbelievable, but knowing Hajime he might really have actually done it. Shea, Yue, and Tio all started looking around the car, searching for hints as to how it would transform. 
“I’m kidding. Even I wouldn’t go that far... Though I did want to,” Hajime added with a smirk. The girls were certain he’d do it eventually, even if he hadn’t already. 
As they drove further into the storm they found themselves being attacked by giant ants and giant spiders as well. But the combination of Yue and Tio’s magic, and Brise’s built-in weapons, made short work of all of them. The monsters didn’t even have a chance to fight back. 
Shea sulked in the back, lamenting her own uselessness. Hajime and the others ignored her, breezing through the sandstorm that was the bane of so many adventurers. 
After a few more minutes, Hajime and the others burst through the other side of the sandstorm. Up close, the volcano looked an awful lot like Ayers Rock, just scaled up. The center was surprisingly silent. Without the wind whipping the sand everywhere, they had a clear view of the dazzling blue sky. So this is what the eye of a storm is like, then? 
The entrance to the volcano was at its peak, so Hajime began driving Brise up its gently sloped side. The dark red rock sizzled and sputtered, vapors of steam rising here and there. Though it was an active volcano, it had never once erupted. Chances were, it had something to do with the fact that it was a labyrinth. 
Finally, the mountainside grew too steep for Brise, and Hajime reluctantly put it away. They’d have to finish the trek on foot. 
“Whoa... I-It’s hot.” 
“Mhm...” 
“Yeah. The stone’s even hotter than the sand was. Even if we didn’t have a time limit, this is one place I wouldn’t wanna spend much time in.” 
“Hmm, personally I find this temperature quite agreeable, but... it certainly is a shame I cannot suffer the heat as you can.” 
“Want me to drop you in some magma? Then you can suffer too.” 
Everyone except Tio found the volcano’s temperature suffocating. The effects of the heat were made even worse because of how stark a contrast it was from the air-conditioned car they’d been riding in so far. I probably shouldn’t have spent all my life in Japan holed up in my air-conditioned room. You reap what you sow, I guess. 
Aware that the clock was ticking, the group hurried up the mountainside, complaining about the heat all the while. They reached the summit in less than an hour. 
At the top they found a disorganized mess of boulders strewn all about, creating a complex rock maze. The juxtaposition of jagged, glossy boulders with polished, smooth ones made it look like a rock exhibit in a science museum. Also, the sandstorm looked close enough to touch. 
One boulder stood out far more than the other among the mass of stones. It had been shaped in the form of an arch, which was at least 10 meters high. 
As he approached it, Hajime spotted a staircase heading deeper into the volcano right beneath the arch. He stopped at the top of staircase, looked back at Yue, Shea, and Tio, then gave each of them a confident nod. 
“Let’s do this!” 
“Okay!” 
“You got it!” 
“Very well!”

Hajime had thought the insides of the Great Orcus Labyrinth and the Reisen Gorge had been ridiculous, but they both paled in comparison to the absurdity of the Grand Gruen Volcano. The monsters weren’t tougher or anything, but its construction was absolutely awe-inspiring. It was like nothing he’d ever seen, and what he was most surprised by was... 
The sight of magma floating in the air, which filled up the whole space in front of him. It wasn’t like the treetop aqueducts Hajime had seen in Verbergen. Instead, there was quite literally a river of magma floating in the air. It snaked and swerved like an actual river, making it seem like a giant red dragon was flying through the volcano. 
The passageways and rooms had magma flowing here and there as well, so challengers to the labyrinth had to be wary of lava both beneath and above them. 
Furthermore— 
“Kyaa!” 
“Whoa, you okay?” 
“Hawawa, thank you, Hajime-san. I didn’t think lava would spew out like that... It took me by surprise.” As Shea had said, there were spouts in the wall from which magma erupted at irregular intervals. 
There was no warning either, so it was hard to prepare for. Nature had provided the perfect traps for this labyrinth. Thank god I have the Sense Heat skill, Hajime thought to himself. Without it, they would have had to take the labyrinth very slowly. 
However, what really made this labyrinth grueling was the heat, not just how hot all the surfaces were, but the atmosphere itself. Because of the abundance of magma everywhere, it felt like they were inside a superheated sauna. This must be what an egg feels like when it’s getting cooked. That was the most dangerous part of the Grand Gruen Volcano. 
Sweat poured off the party in buckets as they headed deeper into the volcano’s bowels. They had to be careful to avoid drops of falling magma from above and spouts of it from the side, but they made steady progress. After some time, they arrived in a room that was clearly man-made. The room had been hollowed out by a rough tool, likely a pickaxe, and there was a glowing pink jewel slotted in one of the walls. 
“Hm? That’s... stillstone, right? That glowing thing?” 
“Indeed it is, Master.” Tio answered, drawing upon her vast library of knowledge. It appeared this was the excavation site most adventurers used to harvest stillstone. 
“So small.” 
“All the others are only as big as pebbles, too...” 
Indeed, all of the remaining stillstone that the party could find came in chunks no bigger than their pinkies. I guess that means this section’s been almost completely harvested. There was no way they’d be able to get enough in time only searching the upper floors. And so, their best bet was to make it all the way to the bottom and find a large stash of it somewhere. 
Hajime used his Ore Appraisal on the stillstone just in case. His magic confirmed what Tio had said, and the party grabbed all the stillstone that was easily obtainable before hurrying onward. 
They descended another seven floors, their irritation at the heat growing stronger with each new passage downward. According to the records Hajime had read, the seventh floor was as far as any adventurer had gone. Or at least, as far as any adventurer had gone and returned alive. Steeling themselves, the party descended the staircase leading to the eighth floor. 
As they stepped into the eighth floor, the party was buffeted by a searing gust of wind. A second later, a massive gout of fire bore down on them. It shot toward them in a spiral, illuminating the corridor’s orange walls. 
“Spatial Severance.” Yue instantly reacted with a defensive spell. A swirling black sphere materialized in front of Hajime and the others. This was another one of Yue’s gravity spells. However, this one wasn’t used to attack anything. 
The conflagration, hot enough to melt even bones, was sucked into Yue’s sphere and vanished without a trace. Actually, “vanished” wasn’t the proper term for what had happened. Yue’s big, black gravity sphere had exerted a gravitational field strong enough to suck its surroundings in. Yue had calibrated it so it wouldn’t affect those she was trying to protect, making it an ideal shield. 
With the flames no longer blocking their line of sight, Hajime and the others were able to see who’d shot those flames at them. 
It was an ox monster. Magma covered its entire body, and it was standing in a pool of the stuff. Its two curved horns were wickedly sharp, and each breath it exhaled was accompanied by a small gout of fire. I don’t care how strong you are, nothing should be able to survive being slathered in magma. 
The Magma Ox kicked angrily at the ground, sending drops of magma flying. It prepared to charge, angry that its flames had been repelled. 
Yue snapped her fingers. Her gravity sphere sped toward the beast. Once it got close, it shot out the flames it had sucked in back at the monster who’d cast them. Those flames had been compressed by Yue’s gravity sphere, and they came out like a barrage of flaming lasers, with far more force than the cow had sent them. 
Yue’s flame bombardment spoiled the Magma Ox’s charge. It was rather ironic that it would be stymied by its own flames. 
There was a loud boom and the magma the cow was standing on was blown away by the force of Yue’s bombardment. The ox was blown away with the magma, and it flipped through the air a few times before crashing into the wall behind it. It screamed in pain, but quickly got back up and charged again. It wouldn’t let these intruders live. 
“Mrgh... I guess fire won’t work on a fire monster.” 
“I mean it’s already surrounded in magma, so... yeah?” 
Yue sounded unhappy. Smiling wryly, Hajime made to pull out Donner, but Shea stopped him. 
“Leave this to me, Hajime-san!” Shea had already unsheathed Drucken, and her breathing was rough. 
She’s being unusually assertive today. Hajime’s Demon Eye picked up which part of Drucken Shea was sending her mana to, and realized she wanted to try out the new feature he’d added to it. After a moment’s hesitation, Hajime nodded to her. 
“Alright, say your prayers you cow!” Shea leaped fearlessly at the charging ox, which had closed a good bit of the gap between them already. Then, she spun around in the air, adding centrifugal force to her swing before coming down on the charging ox. Her aim was on point, and Drucken slammed into the Magma Ox’s skull. Ripples of blue mana spread out from the point of impact, each one a powerful shockwave. The Magma Ox’s head went flying as if it had been blown off. 
Shea used the force of her swing to flip over the headless beast, who was still carried forward by its own momentum, and landed safely on the ground. 
“W-Wow. Hajime-san, that was amazing. I’m the one who did that and I can’t believe it just happened. This upgrade is crazy!” 
“Yeah, looks like it. I wasn’t sure how well the shock converter would work, but this is...” 
Even Yue and Tio were impressed by the attack Shea had just pulled off. Her increased strength was all thanks to the shock converter Hajime had added. 
Shock Conversion was a derivative skill of Mana Conversion that Hajime had acquired from one of the new monsters he’d eaten. It allowed the user to convert their mana into pure force. 
It had come from the horse-headed monster Hajime had saved Kaori and the others from back in the Orcus Labyrinth. When he’d recovered his pile bunker from its corpse, he’d taken some of its meat with him as well. 
Normal monsters had long since stopped giving Hajime new skills, or even improving his stats. But as the horse-headed monster was something Kouki hadn’t been able to defeat even while he was using his Overdrive, Hajime had guessed it must have been stronger than most others. And as he’d expected, it had indeed possessed a new skill for Hajime to absorb. His stats hadn’t seen too much of a jump, but the new skill had been worth it. 
Then, with his creation magic, he’d added Shock Conversion to Drucken. 
Hajime wanted to examine the ox’s head that Shea had knocked off, but Yue hurried him onward. 
As they continued down the floors, the monsters grew more varied. They encountered bats that shot burning hot magma from their wings, eel-like things that swam through the walls, melting them as they passed, porcupines that fired flaming spines, chameleons that attacked with whip-like tongues from inside the magma, snakes that swam in the magma rivers and could ignore gravity... The list went on. Not only did their magma coating provide an excellent defense against most lower-level spells, they could use the magma as camouflage to launch surprise attacks. What made them truly dangerous, though, was that just touching one would kill most humans. And because they could utilize the magma in their surroundings, everything was a potential weapon for them. On the off chance the battle went poorly for them, they could use the magma as a cover to hide in, too. 
Even adventurers who could clear the sandstorm wouldn’t stand a chance against magma monsters like this. Now Hajime understood why no one had made it past the seventh floor. Not only was it dangerous, but the reward didn’t match the risk. The monsters themselves were no stronger than the ones found on the 40th floor of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, they just had magma to enhance them. However, that meant their mana crystals weren’t that large, and the amount of stillstone to be found wasn’t that much higher than what was harvestable on the higher floors. 
Worst of all, though, was that the heat kept growing. 
“Haaah... Haaah... It’s so hot.” 
“Saying that out loud will only make you feel hotter, Shea. Just imagine that we’re swimming through water... Nice, cool water. Hehehe.” 
“M-Master! Yue’s finally snapped! Her eyes have glazed over!” 
Aside from Tio, everyone was taking most of their damage from the heat. Hajime had taken out all of the cooling artifacts that he possessed, but it was like trying to push back a storm with a fan. Drenched in sweat and barely conscious, Yue, Shea, and Hajime were nearing their limits. We’re going to need a break soon, Hajime thought to himself as he wiped sweat off his chin. 
In the next room they found, Hajime went to the wall furthest from any magma and transmuted himself a hole. Once everyone was inside, Hajime closed it up, leaving just a small hole for air to come in. He then used Ore Desynthesis and Compression Synthesis to coat the walls with a superdense metal. That way stray eels or jets of magma had no chance of getting into the room. 
“Phew... Yue, can you make some ice for us? We’ll take a short break here. If we keep going like this, we’ll probably slip up sooner or later.” 
“Mmm... Okay.” 
Though her eyes were still glazed over, Yue easily summoned a massive block of ice in the center of the room. Tio then cast some basic wind magic to circulate the cold air around the room. The temperature quickly began to drop. 
“Haaawaaah... It feels so good~ I feel alive again!” 
“Fwah~” 
Yue and Shea sank to the floor, enjoying the cold breeze wafting over them. They looked like half-melted snowmen. 
They look cute like that, Hajime thought to himself as he pulled towels out of his Treasure Trove and passed them out to everyone. 
“Yue, Shea, you can relax all you want, but wipe yourselves off first. If you don’t, you’ll get too cold.” 
“Okay~” 
“Roger~” 
Once he’d passed out the towels, Tio walked up to Hajime. 
“You don’t seem to be having that hard of a time, Master.” 
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re probably the only one who’s not affected by it at all. Man, this heat’s killing me. I should have made some better cooling artifacts.” 
“Hmm, if it’s bad enough that even you’re suffering from the heat, then... it seems to me that heat is the theme this labyrinth was built around.” 
Even Tio, who hadn’t been affected by the heat at all in the beginning, was starting to sweat. She wiped herself off with the towel Hajime handed to her as she talked. 
“Theme?” 
“Indeed. From what you told me, Master, the labyrinths are all trials, correct? Trials to determine who is worthy to challenge the gods... From the way you described them, it seemed as if each had its own theme. For example, the Great Orcus Labyrinth is filled with a large variety of monsters, and is designed to help challengers obtain different kinds of battle experience. The Reisen Gorge is designed to force challengers to clear obstacles without the aid of magic. And it appears this Grand Gruen Volcano is designed to see how well challengers can keep their focus and respond to constant surprise attacks while under extreme stress. In this case, that stress is heat.” 
“I see. I figured I’d have to clear them all eventually, so I didn’t give it that much thought before, but... now that you mention it, the trials certainly seem like lessons the Liberators left behind for us.” Hajime nodded in agreement. Underneath her perverted exterior, Tio was quite the scholar. On top of that, she was exceptionally beautiful, with her golden eyes and long black hair. It’s a shame her personality puts all of that to waste. 
Hajime watched as a bead of sweat trailed down Tio’s neck and vanished into her voluptuous bust. Embarrassed, he turned away. Unfortunately, on the other side sat Yue and Shea, their clothes so drenched with sweat that he could see the skin underneath. This time, he was captivated by Yue’s alluring figure. 
She’d unbuttoned the top of her white shirt to wipe off the sweat underneath. Because of the heat, her skin was slightly flushed. Glistening with sweat and panting slightly, Yue looked extremely seductive without even trying. 
  

Hajime found himself unable to look away. After a few seconds Yue looked up, and her gaze met Hajime’s. Hajime mentally berated himself for letting his lust distract him and tried to look away. 
However, Yue’s captivating smile held him in place. He couldn’t turn away even if he wanted to. Shirt still unbuttoned, Yue crawled toward Hajime. Her back was arched like a cat’s. Hajime’s eyes darted between her inviting gaze, her flushed cheeks, and her nearly exposed breasts. Once she was next to him, Yue looked up and said something in a pleading voice. 
“Will you clean me up, Hajime?” Those were dangerous words. Hajime silently accepted the towel she offered him. He still couldn’t look away. 
Crap, I’m screwed now. There’s no way I can get myself out of this one. Hajime smiled bitterly to himself and moved his hand toward Yue’s neck. But before he could do anything, Shea interrupted them. 
“YOU TWO! This isn’t the time or the place for this! We’re in a hurry, and this is a labyrinth! Sheesh, I can’t believe you guys!” 
“Uhh, well, I mean, it’s not my fault. Yue’s just too seductive. How am I supposed to refuse her?” 
“Hajime’s cute when he’s staring at me like that.” 
“Reflect on your actions! Also, how come you don’t look at me like that, Hajime-san? I was sitting right next to Yue, all drenched in sweat too... Hic... I’m starting to lose confidence in my looks. Come on Tio-san, you say something too.” 
“Hmm, those two seem quite deeply in love with each other to me. I’m not sure there’s anything to say. After all, I too wish to be berated no matter the place or time. Besides... it seems as if Master is at least a little interested in my breasts. For me, that is more than enough. Gufufu.” 
As always, Tio’s masochistic nature shone through. However, she had shrewdly noticed Hajime’s interest in her breasts. 
“But he didn’t even glance at mine!” Shea wailed, and began stripping then and there. It seemed she’d already forgotten what she’d yelled at Yue for. Wanting to join in on the fun, Tio started stripping as well. Hajime stopped them both with a rubber bullet from Donner. 
Thank god Kaori isn’t here to see this. Shea was writhing on the ground, her breasts in plain view. Meanwhile, Tio was squirming in pleasure as Yue continued wiping herself down.

Hajime guessed that the Grand Gruen Volcano was likely fifty floors deep. 
Coincidentally, that was about how many floors they’d gone down already. As for why he only thought it was “likely” despite having gone down that far, well, that was because their current situation was a little unique. It was hard to tell exactly what floor they were on. 
Why? Because currently Hajime and the others were riding a dark brown boat down one of the volcano’s magma rivers. 
“This must be what Indiana Jones felt like on his adventures.” Hajime muttered to himself as he marveled at the absurdness of his situation. 
As for how they’d ended up like this, well, that had been Hajime’s fault. A little while ago, they’d been progressing through the floors, harvesting stillstone wherever they found it. At some point, Hajime had noticed the magma that was surrounding them would occasionally move in strange ways. 
Despite the fact that there were no boulders, the rivers parted around the air as if there were, and at places the flow slowed, though there was nothing to slow it down. Plus, it dripped down from above only in certain places. 
Normally it had only dripped in places away from the path, where it wouldn’t be an obstacle to their advance, so Hajime hadn’t paid too much attention to it. However, at one point he’d used his Ore Perception skill near where a section of river was dripping and he discovered that it was stillstone that was causing such unnatural behavior. The magma was being propelled through the air with mana, and the stillstone neutralized that mana whenever the river got too close to a deposit of it. That was what was causing it to act erratically. 
Of course, it then stood to reason that places where the river was dripping was where there were large quantities of stillstone. Upon investigation of those locations, Hajime found out his idea was right on the money. Thanks to this new discovery, the party was able to quickly collect enough stillstone. In order to get a little more so they’d have enough to spare, Hajime and the others headed to where they assumed another deposit was. 
They’d seen the river giving this section of wall a wide berth, so Hajime figured it contained stillstone. He had transmuted a makeshift staircase toward that section of wall and his Ore Perception had found that there actually was a large quantity of stillstone in the wall. 
Hajime quickly used his Ore Desynthesis to take the stillstone out of the wall. However, the constant heat, and the routine way in which previous extractions had gone, caused him to drop his guard. He hadn’t been paying attention to what was inside the wall. 
It was only after he’d put the harvested stillstone into his Treasure Trove that he realized his mistake. Without the stillstone to stop it, a huge fountain of magma burst through the wall. 
He’d instantly jumped out of the way, but there had been a lot of magma dammed up on the other side. More and more started bursting through the walls, flooding the area. 
Surrounded by magma on all sides, Hajime and the others had acted fast. Yue had erected a barrier to protect them temporarily, while Hajime fashioned a boat for them to all ride the flood in. The magma’s extreme heat burned through the boat at a fast rate, but Hajime used Diamond Skin’s derivative skill, Diamond Protection, to strengthen the rock. With that, the boat was able to ride the magma without melting. 
The flood of magma joined up with the magma river, and soon the party was taking the express route down to the volcano’s center. After braving a few magma rapids, Hajime and the others arrived at the section of the river they were traversing now. 
On a side note, when Hajime and the others had first started riding the magma, the boat had threatened to sink, so Shea had used her gravity spell, Fluctuator, to make it float. Fluctuator let Shea regulate the gravity of anything she touched, much like she did with her own weight. 
“Ah, Hajime-san. Look, it’s another tunnel.” 
“By my calculations, we should be nearing the volcano’s base. It’s likely we’ll find something on the other side.” 
Hajime looked over in the direction Shea was pointing and saw a massive hole in the wall, which had the magma river running through it. The magma doubled as illumination, so everyone could see that the tunnel was angled downward. So far every time they’d gone through a tunnel they’d found themselves one floor lower. One good thing about riding the magma river was that it was much faster than descending normally. 
The party nodded grimly to each other as the current carried them through the tunnel. On the other side they found their floating magma river snaking its way down the center of a massive cavern. The magma’s flow continued to slow as they descended, until finally it stopped at a curved section... where it suddenly turned into a magma waterfall. 
“Not this again... Everyone, hang on tight!” The girls nodded and hung on to the edges of the boat, or to Hajime. Hajime’s stomach churned. It was just like riding a water coaster, except the water here was fatal. Finally, they reached the end of their slow descent and plunged down the falls. 
The wind roared in their ears as they fell. Shea’s gravity magic and Tio’s wind magic kept stray splashes of magma from pelting the party. They found themselves accelerating at a breakneck pace, even though magma was supposed to be viscous. 
Hajime transmuted the bottom of his shoes into spikes to hold him in place as he examined his surroundings. He didn’t want to be caught off guard by anything. Knowing the Liberators, this was the point where they set up an ambush. 
“Tch, I knew it.” Hajime clicked his tongue, pulled out Donner, then quickly took aim and fired. There were three loud bangs, and three streaks of red light shot out from Donner’s barrel. A flock of magma bats had swooped down to attack them. 
On their own, the bats weren’t much of a threat. They could fly pretty fast and fire magma fireballs, but that was about it. For Hajime and the others, they were basically small fry. 
In a group, though, they became somewhat more of a threat. Where there was one, there was sure to be more. They swarmed out of the walls like cockroaches, dozens of them appearing from every crack and crevice. 
Hajime had shot down three of them, but he heard many more flapping toward them. There was enough of them that the sound of their wings drowned out the roaring of the wind. 
“Hajime, leave the left and the back to me.” 
“You got it. Shea, Tio, make sure our boat doesn’t fall apart.” 
“Roger!” 
“Leave it to me. May I ask for a spanking as a reward?” 
Hajime couldn’t figure out if Tio was being serious or joking, so he ignored her. Yue and Hajime stood back to back, angled diagonally from the sides of the boat. As always, they were in perfect sync. 
The flock of magma bats bore down on the party in a single coordinated rush. They were so close to each other that they looked like one giant flaming dragon. Their burning red wings melded into each other seamlessly. 
As they approached, the bats split into two groups. One attacked from the front, while the other circled behind them. Weak as they were individually, when they came en masse like this they made for a formidable foe. Most people wouldn’t have enough ammunition to take them all down even. 
Unfortunately for the bats, they were facing one of the most overpowered parties in existence. They’d fought a far larger group of monsters back in Ur. 
“Fight numbers with numbers. Eat lead, you flaming freaks.” Hajime pulled his gatling gun, Metzelei, out of his Treasure Trove. Then, he braced it against his hip, took aim, and pulled the trigger. 
The distinctive ratatatata of machine gun fire echoed throughout the cavern as Hajime mowed down the magma bats. The deadly hail of gunfire pierced through even the waves of monsters furthest back. Metzelei fired with such force that the wall behind the bats was riddled with holes. 
However, there were more magma bats than even Metzelei could handle, so Hajime pulled out Orkan with his free hand and started firing rockets into the bunched up group of monsters as well. The rockets left a trail of sparks as they struck clumps of magma bats, blowing dozens of them into smithereens. 
The bats never stood a chance. A torrent of bat chunks fell to the ground. Hajime had quite literally made it rain blood. 
The magma bats behind him suffered a similar fate at Yue’s hands. 
“Storm Serpent.” A giant green globe of wind appeared in front of Yue’s outstretched hand. The globe elongated and sprouted wings, transforming into a dragon. The dragon eyed its prey for a moment before opening its maw wide and charging forward. 
The bats split up into smaller groups, trying to avoid the deadly storm dragon. They pelted it with fireballs as they flapped out of the way. However, Yue’s dragon was composed of gravity magic. It couldn’t be hurt by fire. Wind blades swirled around inside the dragon, trapped there by Yue’s gravity magic. Once it had set its sights on something, it wouldn’t let it escape. 
Like with Yue’s Draconic Thunder and Sapphire Serpent, Storm Serpent exerted a gravitational field that drew enemies to it. The magma bats were sucked into the dragon, where the wind blades ripped them to shreds. Yue had chosen a wind dragon this time because the bats were resistant to heat, and ripping their wings off with wind seemed the most efficient way of dealing with them. 
Once the dragon had swallowed up most of the bats it flew to the center of the room and burst apart. The trapped wind blades flew out in all directions, cutting down the few bats lucky enough to avoid being sucked in. 
“No matter how many times I see it, Yue and Master’s ability to annihilate hordes of enemies never ceases to amaze me.” 
“Yeah, they’re amazing.” 
Tio and Shea exchanged a glance as they continued to steer and fortify the boat. Hajime put Metzelei and Orkan back into his Treasure Trove, patted Yue, who was puffing her chest out proudly, on the head, then turned to see what lay ahead of them. Meanwhile, Yue once again started keeping watch. 
Tio and Shea were pouting, angry that Hajime had taken yet another chance to flirt with Yue while ignoring the two of them. Feeling a little guilty, Hajime sheepishly scratched Shea’s bunny ears and pinched Tio’s cheek. 
It seemed rather odd to Hajime that such simple acts were enough to pacify the two of them. 
Hajime and the others had little difficulty dispatching the monsters that tried to attack them as they made their way down the magma rapids. After a few minutes, though, something changed. The magma river began angling upward instead of down. 
After climbing for a few dozen meters, the party could make out a light in the distance. It was the cavern’s exit. Unfortunately, the river came to a dead halt right before it. 
“Hang on, guys!” Everyone once again clung to the edges of the boat. They fell down their steepest drop yet as their boat rushed toward the cavern exit. 
Their descent was so fast that Hajime felt weightless for a few seconds. However, he quickly reoriented himself and examined his surroundings. The room they’d found themselves in was even vaster than the floating arena they’d fought Miledi in. 
But unlike that arena, this room wasn’t spherical. It seemed to follow the natural contours of the rock, making it difficult to grasp the exact size of the space. The floor was covered in magma, with a few boulders jutting out here and there to provide footholds. 
The walls also had protrusions large enough to stand on, and in other places the wall had sunken in to form alcoves. Numerous magma rivers crisscrossed each other in the sky, each of them spilling into the sea of magma below. 
Fountains of magma occasionally spewed from below. If there was a cauldron in hell, chances are it was based off of this. Hajime and the others exclaimed softly in wonder. 
Still, what was even more amazing than this marvel of nature was the island sitting in the center of the room. It was made from the same rock as everything else, and rose a good ten meters above the boiling magma. That alone didn’t make it anything special. What was special about it was the fact that there was a giant dome of magma on it. From afar, it looked like the island housed a mini-sun. It certainly wasn’t a sight one saw every day. 
“Updraft!” The fall had tossed the boat nearly upside-down, so Tio righted it with her magic. Once it was in place, Hajime and the others leaped through the air back onto the boat. Then, Yue adjusted the boat’s speed with her own Updraft. 
As they floated across the magma sea, Hajime and the others warily examined their surroundings. 
“Is that where this labyrinth’s Liberator lived?” Yue pointed to the island with the magma dome. 
“Considering how far we’ve descended, it seems likely. But then that also means...” 
“This is where we will have to face the guardian of this place?” 
Tio finished Hajime’s sentence, her eyes scanning the room like a hawk. Sometimes Hajime almost forgot that she was a hopeless pervert. Shea didn’t let her guard down either, but she tried to take a more optimistic view of their situation. 
“Maybe we skipped past it because we took a shortcut here?” 
Hajime turned to where Shea was looking and saw a staircase that ended at one of the raised platforms above the magma sea. Chances were that was where they would have come out had they taken the normal way down. 
As unthinkable as it might have been for the labyrinth’s designer that anyone would try and ride the magma rivers, Hajime doubted they would have been careless enough to let anyone skip the final guardian. Even Shea didn’t really believe they’d somehow slipped past it. 
Unfortunately, Shea was right to be skeptical. Without warning, bullets of magma shot out of the sea, heading straight for the boat. 
“Hmph, let me handle this!” Tio summoned her own balls of magma from the sea and fired them at the oncoming bullets, neutralizing them. 
However, that first attack had just been an opening volley. As the shattered magma bullets dropped to the ground, another salvo came at them. This time they came not just from the sea, but also from the rivers above. 
“Tch, everyone scatter!” If they stayed on their boat they’d be burned to ashes in no time. Hajime and the others leaped off the boat and onto nearby boulders. A second later, their boat was bombarded with magma, and sunk into the fiery ocean. 
As the party landed on their respective footholds, they began beating back the barrage of magma balls. While the waves of bullets weren’t so numerous that they couldn’t handle them, Hajime and the others soon began to grow irritated at the endless hail of magma. Part of the reason for their irritation was the heat. The sky had grown so thick with magma that it had begun to blur. 
Hajime knew he needed to do something fast. He finished reloading his revolvers and, without turning around, aimed Schlag behind him. He fired a buckshot from his artificial elbow to clear the bullets closest to him, while also shooting down the ones that had been closing in on Yue behind him. 
Yue realized what Hajime wanted her to do without him having to say anything. She used the reprieve he’d granted her to cast one of her gravity spells. 
“Spatial Severance.” A black sphere materialized at a spot directly in between where the four of them were standing. It then began sucking in all of the magma balls the room was shooting out. Once inside the sphere, the magma was crushed by the immense pressure. 
Now that he no longer had to worry about fending off magma bullets, Hajime was free to move. He leaped through the air with Aerodynamic, heading for the central island. 
The most dangerous thing about this endless barrage was that they could see no obvious way to halt it. This was obviously the final trial of the Grand Gruen Volcano, but unlike the other labyrinths Hajime had conquered, there was no actual guardian to defeat. Because of that, he had no idea what they needed to do to clear this one. Their only clue was the strange island in the center. 
As he sped toward the island, Hajime spoke to the others via Telepathy. 
“I’m going to investigate the central island. Cover me.” 
“Mmm... Okay.” 
As Hajime left the effective range of Yue’s Spatial Severance, magma bullets started heading toward him again. Yue shot them all down with her own magma balls, maintaining her Spatial Severance all the while. 
Tio backed her up, supplementing Yue’s magma balls with a few of her own. Shea helped as well, shooting down the bullets with Drucken’s shotgun mode. 
With everyone’s help, Hajime was able to progress quickly. However, just before he could make the final leap onto the central island, he was interrupted. 
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” 
“Ah!?” 
A bestial roar shook him to the very core. A second later, a giant magma serpent flew out of the sea, its jaws open wide. 
Because of how hot their surroundings were, Hajime’s Heat Perception hadn’t been able to sense it at all. And because the entire magma sea was filled with mana, his Mana Perception skill hadn’t been able to sense it either. For the first time since leaving Orcus’ labyrinth, he’d been caught truly by surprise. 
Hajime reacted with superhuman reflexes. He twisted to the side and just barely managed to dodge the serpent’s jaws. It flew past him, its mouth closing over the spot he’d just been in. 
Hajime used Aerodynamic to flip himself around in the air and fired at the serpent as it passed. His bullets sped toward the serpent’s head, each one finding its mark. 
“What the!?” Hajime yelled out in surprise. The serpent should have died, but it hadn’t. 
Hajime’s bullets had passed straight through the serpent’s head, dislodging a bit of magma as they’d done so. The thing was hollow. All of the other monsters Hajime had faced so far in the volcano had possessed physical bodies underneath their coating of lava. This was the first time he was facing a creature created purely from magma. 
He quickly recovered from his surprise, and tried shooting at other sections of the serpent just in case. Unfortunately, the rest of its body was hollow as well. As he’d feared, the whole thing was made only of magma. 
“Man, what a pain. I don’t have time to be dealing with you.” 
Hajime fired enough bullets through the serpent so that it could no longer maintain its shape. Once it was rendered impotent, he slipped past it and once again sped off toward the central island. 
Still, the serpent wasn’t done with Hajime yet. Though the magma comprising its head and much of its body had been shot away, it could still move. It lurched toward Hajime, trying to tackle him. 
Hajime used the recoil of his elbow shotgun to push himself out of the way. Just then, chills ran down his spine. Trusting in his instincts, Hajime fired a second and third shotgun blast, pushing him even further backward. He augmented that with an Aerodynamic-powered leap, trying to gain as much distance as possible. 
Not even a second later, multiple magma serpents shot out of the sea below, each of them chomping down where he’d been nanoseconds before. 
Hajime beat a hasty retreat and landed on a nearby platform. Yue alighted next to him. The storm of magma bullets had stopped once the serpents had shown up. 
“Are you alright, Hajime?” 
“Yeah, I’m fine. Looks like this is gonna be the real test.” 
Yue placed a hand on Hajime’s arm. He kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, but he did put his own hand on top of hers. More and more magma serpents popped up. 
“I guess that basically confirms the center island’s our goal. And if we want to make it there, then we’ll have to destroy all the serpents.” 
“But the one you destroyed is regenerating already. How are we going to get rid of them?” 
There were more than twenty of them now, and they had Hajime and the others surrounded. Just as Shea said, the first one Hajime shot holes through had already begun to regenerate. Back when they’d found the regenerating golems in the Reisen Gorge Shea had been in a panic, but now she had enough experience to calmly think the problem through. Her rabbit ears flopped back and forth as she considered their options. Hajime smiled, proud at how far Shea had come. Then, he offered a suggestion of his own. 
“I think they’re like that giant slime we fought. There should be a core somewhere that’s controlling the magma. But because there’s mana in everything, I can’t use my Demon Eye to search for it... We’ll probably have to smash everything and hope we get it.” 
Everyone nodded at the same time the twenty-plus snakes attacked. 
The magma serpents spat out fireballs that shone as brightly as a solar flare. The fireballs closed in on them from all sides, followed closely by the serpents themselves. Any normal party would have been swallowed by the flames and burnt to a crisp. 
“It’s been some time since I was able to go all out! Behold my power!” Jet black mana swirled around Tio’s outstretched hands. She compressed it into a single point and fired off a pitch black laser. She was using her prized dragonbreath. 
It was the very same ability that had managed to force Hajime on the defensive. The black stream cut through the fireballs and vaporized the magma serpents in front of her. She slowly turned, her breath cutting through everything like a massive black blade. Within seconds eight serpents lay dead. 
Hajime and the others used the opening she’d created to escape their encirclement. 
They had thought that if they vaporized the serpents in their entirety, then they’d be sure to destroy the mana crystal powering them too. Sadly, things were never that easy in a labyrinth. 
The remaining serpents crashed into the platform the party had been standing on seconds before, pulverizing it, and sank into the sea. When they emerged once more, their depleted numbers had been replenished. 
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. I saw their mana crystals shatter. Does that mean defeating them’s not the goal?” 
Hajime tilted his head as he thought. He’d used Riftwalk to watch the moment Tio’s breath ripped through the serpents in slow motion. He’d definitely seen a mana crystal inside each one, and he’d definitely seen her breath vaporize them. 

Shea pointed to the central island and shouted, breaking Hajime out of his musings. 
“Hajime-san, look at that! The boulder’s glowing!” 
“What?” 
Hajime turned to look and saw that part of the boulder was indeed glowing. He hadn’t noticed before, but there were some strange rocks buried within the island’s boulder, a few of which were now shining bright orange. 
Hajime used his Farsight to examine the island more closely. It seemed there were more of those rocks buried at regular intervals within the boulder. They were almost the same color as the island, so it was hard to make out the ones that weren’t glowing. The island was cylindrical in shape, and Hajime guessed based on its circumference and the distance between each rock that there were around one hundred in total. Of those hundred, eight were glowing right now. And Tio killed eight of them earlier. 
“I see... So we have to kill a hundred of these things to clear this trial.” 
“So it’s meant to be a battle of endurance in the heat. It seems I was correct about what this labyrinth’s theme is.” 
Anyone who made it this far would have been exhausted from the constant surprise attacks and the ever-present heat. And yet, this final trial required more concentration and focus than any up to this point. It was just like the Liberators to ramp up the difficulty at the very end. 
Even Hajime and the others, overpowered as they were, were beginning to grow weary. Still, they were all smiling. As long as they knew how to clear the trial, they were confident they could beat it. 
Knowing what the goal was had revitalized everyone. They readied themselves for the magma serpents’ next charge. The barrage of magma bullets began once more and the serpents began acting unpredictably, keeping the party on their toes. 
Hajime and the others split up again, deciding it would be easier if they all counterattacked individually. 
Tio sprouted dragon wings from her back and took to the skies. She then unleashed a tornado that shot out wind blades in a deadly barrage. She’d cast the intermediate-rank wind spell, Infinity Gust. 
“That’s the ninth one! It looks like I’m in the lead, Master! If I destroy the most, will you please punish me? Of course it will have to be just the two of us, all night long!” Tio shredded her ninth serpent with a smile. Hajime tried to tell her he wasn’t going to do that even if she did destroy the most, but Shea cut him off. 
“Wha!? It’s no fair if only you get a reward, Tio-san! Let me join the contest too! Hajime-san, if I win you have to spend a whole night with me instead!” 
Shea leaped into the air as she said that and smashed Drucken down on the head of one of the serpents. Blue ripples spread out from the point of impact, creating shockwaves. The force of the blow was so great that even some of the magma sea below was blown away. Glimmering fragments of the serpent’s mana crystal floated in the air for a few seconds before falling into the sea below. Shea’s shockwaves had been enough to shatter it. 
A magma bullet hurtled toward Shea, who was still hanging in mid-air. However, she fired Drucken’s buckshot and used the recoil to dodge out of the way. Still, one of the magma serpents had predicted she would leap backward and was waiting with open jaws, putting her in danger. 
But Shea didn’t seem worried. She focused her mana into her boots. The metal plates inserted in her soles began to glow, and shockwaves of pale blue light spread out from under her feet. Shea leaped off the mana platform she’d created and soared through the air. 
Since Shea was the only one who couldn’t fly through the air naturally, Hajime had created boots enchanted with Aerodynamic for her. And because she could render herself weightless with her gravity magic, she could utilize it to even more effect than Hajime. 
The magma serpent passed harmlessly by. As it did so, Shea took aim with Drucken and pulled the trigger. It wasn’t her usual buckshot that came out, but instead a high-caliber shotgun slug. 
It wasn’t just any shotgun slug, either. Hajime had crafted it out of a special material and enchanted it with Shock Conversion. It unleashed powerful shockwaves on impact. In terms of pure power, it was more destructive than his grenade launcher. 
The slug round slammed into the serpent, blowing off both its head and body in a massive explosion. Fragments of another shattered mana crystal flew through the air. 
“Hey, you two. Don’t just go deciding that on your—” 
“Then if I win, you have to go on a date with me.” Yue interrupted him before he could finish, stating her desire to participate in the competition as well. With how many comrades they had now, Yue rarely had the chance to spend time alone with Hajime. She had him all to herself at night, but she wanted to spend a day with him too. 
Smiling faintly, Yue once again proved that she was a mage to be feared. She pulled out her favorite spell, Draconic Thunder. But instead of just one dragon, she summoned seven. Her practice was finally beginning to pay off. Each dragon picked a target and flew off. Their howls shook the walls. The hunter became the hunted as the magma serpents heading toward Yue all found themselves swallowed up by dragons larger than them. Their mana crystals were all burnt to a crisp. 
“I knew Yue-san was the one I should have been watching out for!” 
“Now that’s hardly fair! Yue is far too strong to compete against!” 
Grumbling to themselves, Shea and Tio began launching even more ferocious attacks. They were not going to let themselves fall behind. 
“I guess it’s fine. Everyone looks like they’re having fun at least.” Hajime shrugged his shoulders and sighed. He shot down the magma serpent closing in from behind without even turning around. 
The bullets all landed at once, their shockwaves blowing away the serpent’s magma body. Its mana crystal flew through the air, exposed. Hajime nimbly dodged its head as he shot the falling mana crystal with Donner. 
He had loaded shockwave shells similar to the ones he’d given Shea into Schlag. These ones lacked Drucken’s power though, as he’d had to make them small enough to fit into Schlag’s chambers. If he’d wanted power, he could have always pulled out Schlagen. However, he’d wanted to see how well these new bullets worked with his handguns first. 
His revolvers didn’t have enough force to blow away the serpent’s magma body and destroy their mana crystal at the same time, so he’d adopted a two-shot strategy. He used Schlag to get rid of the magma, then he sniped the mana crystal with Donner. Schlagen would have been able the pierce both the magma coating and the mana crystal in one shot, but it had too much piercing power, which made it hard to do pinpoint shots. 
Hajime flipped through the air, dodging two more magma serpents that tried to attack him. Then, he took aim with Schlag while upside-down, and fired. 
There was only a single bang, but Hajime had fired four times. The serpents didn’t even have time to notice Hajime wasn’t there before Hajime’s bullets scattered their bodies. 
Hajime fired Donner twice, accurately destroying both of their exposed mana crystals. 
He glanced down at the central island and was surprised to see that they only had eight more serpents to kill. Barely ten minutes had passed since they’d begun fighting. 
If, as Tio had suspected, the theme of this labyrinth was to see how well challengers could handle a prolonged battle requiring intense concentration under strenuous conditions, then Hajime and the others must have completely surpassed the creator’s expectations. 
Tio’s breath mowed down another pair of magma serpents. 
Six more to go. 
Shea’s shotgun slug took out two serpents at once. 
Four more to go. 
Another team of serpents tried to pincer Yue. One came up from below, while the other bore down from above. They found themselves stopped short by another one of Yue’s thunder dragons, which had coiled itself around her. Then, they found themselves surrounded by four more of Yue’s dragons and were summarily destroyed. 
Two more to go. 
A magma serpent rushed up to Hajime and fired a barrage of fireballs at him. Hajime danced through the air like a leaf riding the wind, dodging the fireballs. He fired on it with Schlag as it opened its maw to swallow him. The serpent was blown back, and Hajime shot down its mana crystal without even looking. 
The last remaining serpent tried to launch a sneak attack from beneath the magma sea. Hajime leaped up with Aerodynamic and fired Schlag into its open mouth. 
Red shockwaves spread out from the point of impact, pushing the magma serpent back. Its mana crystal glinted in the red light. 
Hajime took careful aim with Donner. Yue and the others watched with satisfaction as Hajime finished off the trial. 
“And now it’s over.” Hajime glanced over at the others before pulling the trigger that signaled the end of the Grand Gruen Volcano’s trial. 
A second later, an aurora of light poured down from above. 
What the!? Crap, I won’t be able to dodge in time— Hajime’s eyes were glued to the light. It looked just like the rainbow-colored light that had nearly killed him back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. 
Judging by how bright this is, it might be even more dangerous... It felt as if the very air was being torn apart by the light. The labyrinth’s creator had purposely timed this trap to activate when everyone was at their most defenseless... right when they thought they’d won. 
The light of destruction swallowed Hajime whole, and he vanished without a trace. 
“H-Hajimeeee!” 
Yue let out a bloodcurdling scream. 
Shea and Tio had just been standing in place, stunned. It was Yue’s scream that had brought them back to their senses. They’d never heard her so much as raise her voice before. 
The giant wall of light swallowed up the remnants of the magma serpent Hajime had just killed and crashed into the sea below. The impact sent magma flying everywhere, and for a second, the base of the volcano was visible. 
The light grew fainter as it bore through the rock. Eventually, it faded entirely, vanishing without a trace, leaving not a speck behind. 
Yue flew through the air, rushing to see what had become of Hajime. As the light faded, she saw him, still floating in the air. His clothes were a tattered mess. He’d used his arms to protect his face and torso, keeping his vitals intact. However, he no longer had the strength to remain airborne, so he plummeted toward the magma. 
“Updraft!” Yue used her magic to keep his limp frame afloat. From the looks of it, he’d lost consciousness. Once she got close, she grabbed him and carried him over to a nearby platform. 
“Hajime! Hajime!” 
Shea and Tio had never seen her so panicked. Yue fumbled through her pockets and pulled out a vial of Ambrosia that she quickly fed to Hajime. 
He was in pretty bad shape. So much of his right arm had been burned off that bone was showing. Plus, his artificial left arm had melted together. His eyepatch had been ripped off, and the right side of his face was bleeding profusely. Worst of all, though, his stomach had been burnt black. The fact that his organs were intact was a testament to how much he’d grown since fighting the Hydra. 
In the moment he’d had before the aurora struck, Hajime had twisted his body away from it while simultaneously activating Diamond Skin’s derivative skills, Focused Hardening and Diamond Protection. Thanks to that he’d been able to protect his head with his hardened left arm, while at the same time he saved his lungs and heart with his right. His stomach had been protected with monster leather that he’d enchanted with Diamond Protection. Most importantly, his ridiculously high Magic Defense stat kept the aurora from melting right through him. His wounds were certainly terrible, but not fatal. 
“Mmm... It’s taking too long to heal.” Yue’s impatience showed on her face. The Ambrosia was barely healing Hajime. 
Back when they’d been fighting the Hydra, Hajime had been demolished by this same light when he was protecting Yue. She’d sworn to herself on that day that she’d never let something that terrible happen to Hajime ever again. And yet, it had happened again. This was the exact same situation. Her mouth twisted in grief, her frustration at being unable to save Hajime spilling over into her expression. Unfortunately, their enemy wasn’t going to give her time to grieve. 
“Fool! Above you!” 
“Ah. Oh no—” 
Just as Tio shouted out her warning, countless beams of light rained down on Yue. They were all miniaturized versions of the first blast that had hit Hajime. Most of them had hardly a tenth of the strength the first one had, but even that was enough to kill most people. 
Yue had been too caught up in feeding Hajime Ambrosia to notice the attack. It was only when Tio screamed out her warning that she looked up. There wasn’t any time to cast a spell, as the light would have hit her far too quickly. If only I had three... No, one more second... Yue desperately tried to cast a defensive spell anyway. 
“I won’t let you! Cloudburst!” Fortunately, Tio managed to buy the time Yue needed. Cloudburst was an intermediate-rank wind spell. It created a compressed wall of air, which Tio used to hold back the deadly light. The wall of wind bent inward as the light hit it. Normally, it would rebound whatever attack struck it, but when faced against an attack this powerful it was all Tio could do to keep the wall from shattering. Even then, she could only hold the wall for a few seconds. 
Still, few seconds was more than enough. 
“Hallowed Ground!” Yue cast the strongest barrier spell she knew. If she’d had the time she would have used Spatial Severance instead, but forming the image she needed for gravity magic still took her longer than all the other elements. Practice had shortened that time, but casting Hallowed Ground was still faster. That was why it was the best option for Yue. 
A bright barrier of light appeared in front of her outstretched hands. It spread out into a dome, protecting Yue and Hajime. A split second later, Tio’s Cloudburst shattered, unable to hold back the barrage of mini auroras. Their fury unabated, the beams of light slammed into Yue’s barrier. 
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! A hailstorm of light pounded against Yue’s Hallowed Ground, making it crack. 
“Gwaaaaaah!” Realizing the barrier wouldn’t last at this rate, Yue transformed it from a dome into a shield that only covered the area above them. The less area her barrier had to cover, the stronger it would be. 
No longer protected by Yue’s shield, the ground around them was pelted by rainbow-colored light. The auroras destroyed all of the boulder they were on except for the spot where Hajime and Yue stayed. 
The light attacks seemed to be focused on Hajime. A few beams fell toward Shea and Tio as well, but only enough to keep them busy while the bulk attacked Hajime and Yue. That being said, it took a lot to keep Shea and Tio busy. Being able to keep Tio, Shea, and Yue on the defensive simultaneously was no small feat. 
“Hajime-san! Hajime-saaan!” 
“Calm yourself, Shea! If you leave my barrier, then you’ll just end up killing yourself!” 
“But Hajime-san’s in trouble!” 
Tio tried to hold Shea back while simultaneously maintaining her Cloudburst so that they wouldn’t be drowned in deadly rainbow light. 
Tio was just as worried about Hajime as Shea was. She understood her feelings of wanting to run over and help him, but she also knew that jumping out in the middle of a barrage of light powerful enough to nearly kill even Hajime wouldn’t do anyone any good. Tio grabbed Shea by the collar and pulled her back to the safety of her Cloudburst barrier. 
Time slowed to a crawl. Tio couldn’t tell if ten seconds had passed, or a minute. 
After what seemed like an eternity, the barrage finally abated. Most of the boulders had been pulverized, and white smoke rose from the few that hadn’t. 
Yue and Tio were both panting heavily, their mana nearly spent. They used the respite they’d been given to drain their magic accessories’ reserves. 
As they were recovering, a man’s voice spoke to them from above. He sounded almost impressed. 
“Your strength is certainly formidable. Ambushing you here was the right choice. You four are too dangerous to let live. Especially that man over there...” 
The three girls looked up at the ceiling. Their eyes opened wide in surprise. A massive number of dragons filled the sky. One of them was far larger than the others, and was pure white from snout to tail. Riding atop it was a red-haired, dark-skinned, pointy-eared demon. 
“To think he could survive even a direct hit from my Uranos’ breath... Plus, those strange weapons of his that were mentioned in the report are even stronger than I imagined... You girls as well. It’s amazing you were able to withstand a concentrated barrage from fifty Ash Dragons. Who on earth are you people? How many ancient spells have you already acquired?” 
His eyes glowed golden, like Tio’s. He met the girls’s gaze and glared pointedly at them. He seemed to be under the misconception that Yue and the others’ strength came from the number of labyrinths they’d cleared. 
“How about you tell us your name first before asking questions? Or do all demons have no manners?” 
The person who replied was Hajime. The demon furrowed his eyebrows. Before he could answer, though, Yue shouted, 
“Hajime!” 
“Hajime-san!” 
“You’re alive, Master!” 
Hajime had managed to prop himself up, but it looked like he was ready to collapse at any second. Yue rushed to help him. Tio and Shea leaped over to what remained of the crumbling platform to get a closer look at his condition too. 
Hajime smiled to reassure everyone and rose to his feet. He was in no condition to fight, though. The effort it took to stand had left him sweating. But even so, he looked the demon in the eye and smiled fearlessly. 
“I have no reason to give my name to those who are about to die.” 
“I know what you mean. I just figured I’d play out the cliche. To be honest, I don’t care who you are. By the way, how’s your friend doing? I did him a favor if you ask me. It was a pretty ugly arm.” 
Hajime was only talking in order to buy time until he healed, which was why he purposely tried to goad the demon. From the demon’s mention of a report and the fact that he’d been waiting to ambush them here, Hajime had already guessed that the demon who’d barely escaped with his life back in Ur had told this one about Hajime and the others. He was the one who’d been sent to deal with them, presumably. 
The demon’s eyebrows twitched, and he growled in a low tone. 
“I’ve changed my mind. Carve this name into your memories, scum. I am Freid Bagwa. A faithful apostle of god, sworn to bring divine judgment to the heretics.” 
“An apostle of god, huh? Someone sure thinks highly of themselves. What, you think knowing some magic from the age of the gods makes you good enough to be their apostle? That magic doesn’t let you control monsters, does it? There aren’t enough monsters in the world that can shoot out those auroras. It must let you create them somehow. If you could create an unbeatable army with that, then maybe you’d be qualified to call yourself their apostle.” 
“You’re a sharp one. That’s right, it was when I obtained the ancient magic that god spoke to me. They told me I was their apostle. It was then that I decided to devote my all to them and work to see their wish granted. I denounce you, who dares to stand in my lord’s way.” 
He reminds me of that pope, Ishtar. Only a fanatic would denounce us for a reason like that. 
Hajime’s smile didn’t waver. The Ambrosia was still working slowly, but Hajime augmented it with one of Mana Conversion’s derivative skills, Healing Conversion. Thanks to that, he’d at least stopped the bleeding. His left arm was useless for now, but though his right arm had been burned to the bone, it hadn’t broken. He could use it if he really had to. I can still fight! 
“Stole the words right from my mouth. Anyone who stands in my way is an enemy. And... I kill all of my enemies!” 
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Hajime swung Donner up and fired at Freid. 
His arm screamed in pain at the recoil, but he ignored it, focusing his energy only on killing the enemy before him. He activated Riftwalk as well, and sent out his Cross Bits. Yue, Tio, and Shea all attacked at the same time as him. Yue sent out her Draconic Thunder, while Tio fired her breath and Shea shot another one of her shotgun slugs. 
A number of the things Freid had called Ash Dragons flew in front of him and created multiple layers of triangular, dark-red barriers to defend against the attack. 
The barriers shattered one after another in the face of Hajime and the others powerful barrage, but more Ash Dragons flew in and supplemented the defense with their own barriers. With so many shields to break through, even their best attacks began to peter out. Hajime noticed that there were turtle-shaped monsters riding atop the Ash Dragons. Their shells were glowing dark red, which led Hajime to assume they were the ones casting the barriers. 
“Did you think I only brought dragons with me? You won’t be able to break my defenses that easily. Now let me show you the other power I’ve obtained. This is the true might of magic from the age of the gods!” 
Freid began chanting a spell, falling into an almost trance-like state. If it’s something he just recently got, that means it’s probably whatever magic you get for clearing the Grand Gruen Volcano. Hajime and the others knew firsthand just how dangerous magic from the age of the gods was. They focused their attacks, determined to stop Freid before he could finish chanting. 
But every time they destroyed a barrier a new turtle appeared to craft one in its place. Normally, Hajime would have charged forward to attack Freid directly, but he still wasn’t fully recovered, so he limited himself to ranged attacks. He ground his teeth, frustrated that he couldn’t do more. 
He holstered Donner and pulled out Orkan instead. Then, he unleashed all four of its rockets, but all they managed to do was kill a few of the dragons. None of the explosions reached Freid. His Cross Bits were too weak to even penetrate the barriers. 
Before he could set up any other attacks, Freid finished chanting his spell. Their time was up. 
“Cosmic Rift!” 
“Behind you, Hajime-san!” 
Freid and the white dragon he was riding on disappeared. Specifically, they vanished inside a veil of blinding light that had appeared. 
Hajime whirled around, reacting to Shea’s warning. 
Directly in front of him was the white dragon, its gaping jaws inches from his face. Freid was glaring coldly down at him from atop it. There was a massive amount of heat and mana radiating from the dragon’s mouth. 
Hajime instantly held Orkan in front of him, shielding himself from the point-blank aurora blast. 
“Gwaaaaaaaaah!” 
The force of the light sent Hajime flying backward. Injured as he was, his body wouldn’t be able to take much more of this. He screamed in pain as the aurora’s shockwaves buffeted him. 
“Hajime!” 
Yue and the others tried to attack the white dragon, hoping to distract it from Hajime. But before they could, the Ash Dragons up above fired a barrage of light at them, forcing them to defend. 
Though he hadn’t taken a direct hit, the force of the blast had reopened Hajime’s wounds. Blood soaked the ground beneath his feet. 
Fuck, that hurts. At this rate we’re done for. 
Hajime came to a decision. There was no point in holding anything back since things were this bad. It was time to use Limit Break. 
Dark red mana swirled around Hajime’s body and he could feel his strength multiply exponentially. 
“Raaaaaaaaah!” Hajime wrenched Orkan upward, deflecting the aurora burst toward the ceiling. He was unable to deflect it all though, and a few traces of the aurora slammed into him, gouging into his wounds. 
The white dragon followed up with a barrage of mini-aurora balls. Its attack patterns were almost identical to the Hydra’s. But the dragon’s aurora was more powerful than the Hydra’s had been, which meant its mini-auroras would be as well. Hajime couldn’t afford to take any more hits. 
“Cross Bits!” Hajime’s concentration was so intense that the world around him passed by in slow-motion. He weaved through the aurora balls with expert precision, sometimes dodging them by only a hair’s breadth. He felt some of them scrape past his clothes, but he didn’t let himself get distracted for even a moment. He knew he needed to stay focused if he wanted any hope of mounting a counterattack. 
Hajime tossed Orkan, which had been mostly destroyed by the aurora, back into his Treasure Trove and pulled out Donner. Then, he fired a short burst while summoning his Cross Bits to him. They also fired at Freid, supplementing the barrage. 
“Such persistence! To think you can keep barely dodging for so long!” Freid retreated behind the safety of his turtles’ barriers once more. He hadn’t expected Hajime, wounded as he was, to put up such a tough fight. He continued flying backward while he started chanting another spell. 
“Not this time!” Freid had been so focused on keeping his distance from Hajime that he’d forgotten about the rest of Hajime’s party. He turned in surprise as a deep voice roared next to him. Before he could see what was happening, something crashed into his side. 
He clung to his dragon, barely keeping himself from falling off. The shock was enough to break him out of his chant. When he saw what had hit him, his jaw dropped open. 
“Impossible. A black dragon, here!?” 
“Don’t be so proud of those mock dragons of yours! I will not allow you to hurt Master any longer!” 
Tio had transformed into her dragon form. She knew it was dangerous to expose her existence to a demon, but she’d taken the risk anyway. Tio was smaller than Freid’s white dragon, but the pressure she exuded was far greater. 
Tio had joined Hajime’s party because she liked him, but she’d also done it to get a better idea of what these people who were summoned from another world were like. In order to do that, she had needed to hide the fact that she was a dragonman. 
If the world found out dragonmen still lived, her village would be in danger. Though each dragonman was strong individually, they were helpless against humans’ sheer numbers. Tio had learned that lesson the hard way, five hundred years ago. 
But Hajime, the one person she’d believed utterly invincible, had almost died. Seeing him crippled from the aurora’s light had shaken Tio. 
She’d been a fool. Strong as Hajime was, he wasn’t invincible. A moment’s carelessness could get him killed too. 
How could she have forgotten something so obvious? It was only now that she realized what her oath had really meant to her. She’d sworn to serve Hajime. Not just because she found him interesting, and not just because he was her Master. 
No, it was because Tio didn’t want to lose him. He was an irreplaceable friend, and the man she loved. 
That was why she’d thrown caution to the winds, choosing to reveal her dragon form. If she prioritized her mission over the lives of her friends, then she had no right to travel with them. Nor did she have any right to call herself a Guardian. Even if this decision led to her clan being persecuted, she had to do it. More than anything though, Tio Klarus would never put her own safety before the lives of her friends. 
“Behold, boy. This is what a true dragon’s breath looks like!” Deadly black light gathered in Tio’s mouth. 
She unleashed it with a roar. The black light closed in on Freid with unbelievable speed. 
The white dragon turned to face Tio and countered with its own breath. White and black clashed, sending massive shockwaves across the room. Waves of magma spread out from beneath the point of impact. 
At first the two beams of light seemed evenly matched, but eventually Tio’s started pushing the white dragon’s back. 
“Gah, to think I would run into the remnants of the dragonman clan here... It seems I have no choice. It’s somewhat dangerous, but I’ll have to blow this entire—” 
“You won’t be doing anything.” 
“Ah!?” 
Freid was genuinely surprised that Tio was a dragon. That hadn’t been mentioned in his reports. He began chanting a new spell, hoping to create an opportunity to retreat, but was stopped once more. 
He felt something hit his back, and stumbled forward. 
He turned around to see Hajime, who was bleeding from multiple wounds, leveling Donner at him. In a short few seconds, Hajime had gotten behind him. Hajime fired another six rounds. They all landed at once, each with pinpoint accuracy. 
The turtles surrounding Freid put up a barrier, but it was no match for six bullets fired at point blank range. The barrier shattered, leaving him defenseless. Hajime leaped forward, closing the distance between the two of them. 
He wreathed Donner with a Gale Claw and swiped at Freid. 
“Gwaaaaaah!?” Freid stumbled backward, narrowly avoiding being cut in half. Hajime’s claw still gouged deep into his chest though, leaving him severely injured. Hajime didn’t let up his attack, and followed up with a Shock Conversion-enhanced roundhouse kick. 
“Gaaah!” Freid blocked it with his left arm, but he wasn’t able to kill the force of the attack. Hajime’s kick shattered Freid’s arm, damaged his internal organs, and sent him flying off his dragon. 
Distracted by what was happening to its master, the white dragon let up its aurora attack. That allowed Tio’s breath to punch through. 
It slammed into the dragon a second after Hajime jumped off its back, sending it flying. 
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!” Though it had been injured heavily, the dragon managed to straighten itself and fly up toward the ceiling. Freid was waiting there for it, riding one of his Ash Dragons. Once the two were level with each other, Freid hopped off the Ash Dragon and onto the white one. 
Hajime tried to chase after him with Aerodynamic, but— 
“Ngh!? Gah!” 
The red mana swirling around him vanished, and he coughed up blood. His Limit Break was up. His injuries had made it last shorter than usual, and there was also more recoil as well. Unable to keep his Aerodynamic going, Hajime plummeted toward the magma sea below. 
“Master, get ahold of yourself!” 
“Guh T-Tio...” 
Tio soared down and caught Hajime on her back. Hajime was barely conscious, but he managed to struggle to his knees. His eyes still burning with determination, he glared up at Freid. 
The Ash Dragons that had been attacking Yue and Shea clumped around him. 
“Hajime!” 
“Hajime-san!” 
Free from the barrage, they rushed over toward Hajime. Tio landed on a nearby platform and let Hajime down. Considering the state he was in, she couldn’t fight with him on her back. He’d likely fall. Shea and Yue arrived at the platform Tio had landed on and helped him stand. 
“Your combat prowess truly is impressive. And the women you have with you are quite strong themselves. The dragonmen should have died out, and yet one travels with you. Furthermore, you have a mage who can cast spells without incantations and a rabbitman that has some strange precognitive powers. I didn’t think anything could press me this hard now that I have ancient magic at my disposal. Had my surprise attack not succeeded, I likely wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Freid spoke quietly, but there was a fire in his eyes. His breathing was ragged, and he covered his wounded chest with his good hand. 
“You say that like you’ve already won. I’m nowhere near done yet.” Hajime frowned and glared at Freid. Though he could barely stand, his bloodlust remained undiminished. 
“So it seems. No matter how badly I injure you, your determination doesn’t waver. What’s truly frightening about you isn’t your physical strength, but the inexorable persistence you show in killing your enemies... No, perhaps it would be more apt to call it your will to survive.” 
Freid looked down for a moment, steeled himself, then turned back to Hajime. 
“I didn’t want to have to use this. But if that’s what it takes to get rid of someone as dangerous as you, it’s a price I’m willing to pay.” 
“What are you going on about?” 
Freid didn’t respond. Instead, he whispered something to the bird-shaped monster sitting on his shoulder. 
A series of loud noises followed. Dundundundundun! Thud! Crash! The entire volcano shook, and the magma sea began to seethe. 
“Whoa!?” 
“Hm!?” 
“Kyaaa!?” 
“Nuoooh!?” 
The impact knocked all four of them off-balance, and they struggled to regain their footing. The rumbling increased, rising to an earthquake of at least 7 in magnitude. Pillars of magma rose up from the sea. 
“Hajime-san, the magma’s rising!” 
Hajime looked down. The magma was indeed rising, and the amount of rock left for them to stand on was rapidly shrinking. 
“What did you do?” Hajime yelled at Freid. It was obvious he was behind this. Freid flew over to the center of the room, directly above the main island. 
“I just destroyed the keystone.” 
“The... keystone?” 
“Didn’t you ever find it strange, looking at all this magma? The Grand Gruen Volcano is clearly an active one. And yet, it’s never erupted. That can only mean something in the volcano is controlling the magma’s flow.” 
“And that was the keystone... Wait, don’t tell me—!?” 
“It is as you suspect. Now that I’ve destroyed the keystone, the labyrinth will be submerged in magma. It’s a shame I cannot share this ancient magic with my comrades... but this is the only way to destroy you. Sink into the depths along with this labyrinth!” 
Freid held up the pendant hanging from his neck and glared coldly down at Hajime. Cracks started appearing all along the ceiling of the room. It opened up near the center, revealing a circular passage heading straight to the summit. 
That pendant was probably what he got for clearing the labyrinth. And that’s the shortcut back out... Freid looked at Hajime one last time before turning his dragon around and flying through the opening. 
The sea of magma had turned into a raging whirlpool, and magma pillars erupted from the center one after another. Magma started pouring down on the boulder they were standing on. It was as if they were watching the world end. 
Hajime closed his eyes and considered his options. After a few seconds he came to a decision and struggled to his feet. 
Though Freid had gone up, he’d left behind his Ash Dragons. They once again started bombarding Hajime and the others with aurora balls. He wasn’t taking any chances. 
Yue cast Spatial Severance to keep the aurora balls at bay, while Tio prepared to fire another breath attack at them. Hajime grabbed his Treasure Trove and tapped Tio’s cheek to get her attention. 
“Tio, listen to me. Take this and escape through that passage in the ceiling.” Her expression went from confused to hurt as she realized what Hajime was saying. She growled at Hajime in a voice full of rage. She would not abandon her comrades and escape alone. 
“Master, are you saying I alone am not worthy to fight with you until the end? Are you truly asking me to abandon you all? I will not—” 
“That’s not it, Tio. We don’t have much time, so I’m only gonna explain this once. I haven’t given up. We’re still gonna get the ancient magic from this labyrinth, and we’ll get back at that bastard soon enough. We still have to keep our promise to bring stillstone back to everyone, too. But I can’t do it all alone. I need your help. Only you can get back to Ankaji in time. Please, Tio. I need you to do this.” 
Hajime stared into Tio’s eyes. This was the first time she’d seen him look at her so seriously. Hajime, who’d always been so confident in himself, was asking someone else for help. In order to fulfill all of his promises, in order to come out ahead, he needed her help. Without Tio, they’d fail. 
Hajime had no intention of giving up here, and this wasn’t part of some noble self-sacrifice. 
When Tio realized that, her face lit up with joy. The man she’d fallen for had entrusted her with an important mission at this critical point in time. If she couldn’t live up to his expectations, then she didn’t deserve to travel with him. 
Filled with determination, Tio nodded. 
“Leave it to me!” Hajime stuck the Treasure Trove into a gap between Tio’s scales. He positioned it so that when she transformed back into a human it’d already be in her hand. 
After making sure it was secure, Tio nuzzled Hajime’s head. In this form, it was all she could do to show her affection. Hajime patted her gently one last time, and she took to the skies. Before she left, she glanced down at Yue and Shea. They nodded back at her resolutely. They hadn’t given up either. 
“Tio, tell Kaori and Myu that we’ll see them soon. I’m counting on you.” 
“Fufu. I shall.” She smiled at how casual Hajime’s message was. A second later, she wrapped herself in a gust of wind and shot up toward the ceiling. The Ash Dragons focused their fire on her, but she avoided the aurora balls with a barrel roll and slipped past them. Realizing how dangerous it would be to let her escape, the Ash Dragons turned to chase her. 
Tio deflected the next barrage with her breath, but the continuous bombardment made it difficult to keep all the balls at bay. Before their attacks could overwhelm her though, a good chunk of them were wiped out by a beam of their own light. 
Yue had sent a powered-up version of their attacks back at them by using the light she’d absorbed into Spatial Severance. Shea followed up by a wave of shotgun slugs. Their shockwaves blew apart quite a few of them as well. 
The passage Freid and the white dragon had left through began to close. Realizing she didn’t have much time left, Tio shot forward, focusing only on speed. Now that she was no longer holding the Ash Dragons back, some of their aurora balls started hitting her. 
“Hmph, this is nothing! In fact, it feels good! Bring it oooooon!” Tio sped up even more, the aurora balls giving her a boost. She was using one of Draconfication’s derivative skills, Pain Conversion. It transformed the damage she took into a boost to her stats. She’d learned it back when she’d first met Hajime, and it was the first derivative skill she’d acquired in centuries. She really had opened the door to a world of new possibilities when Hajime had beaten her senseless. 
Even the Ash Dragons were astonished by her speed. Tio broke through the storm of aurora balls and shot through the opening just before it closed. Above her, she could see a faint light. That was the surface. There were a number of doors she’d have to pass through first, and they were all closing. 
Tio poured all of her remaining mana into the wind that was pushing her forward, leaving only enough to maintain her Draconification. 
She flew faster than the raging wind, faster than she had ever before. 
She blew past one door, then another, then another. There was just one door left between her and the summit. She blasted forward, surrounded by a storm of jet-black wind. A wall of rainbow-colored light rained down on her from overhead. 
It seemed Freid had noticed she was trying to escape and had launched one last attack to slow her down. The door was already mostly closed. She had to decide now if she was going to dodge out of the way or take the hit and push through. 
The white dragon had burned through most of its mana, so the aurora didn’t have as much strength as before. Tio guessed it was only half as powerful. 
But even so, it was far more devastating than the aurora balls the Ash Dragons had been firing at her. If she tried to intercept it or dodge it, she’d lose speed. In turn, that meant she wouldn’t make it through the door in time. 
“Let’s see what you’ve got!” Tio prepared herself to take the hit and convert the pain into speed. 
But just before it reached her, a few small shadows flitted past her and interposed themselves between her and the light. 
Tio recognized those shapes. They were Hajime’s Cross Bits. He’d sent them to follow after her. 
Three of the Cross Bits glowed dark red and angled themselves to deflect the blast. The light quickly melted through them, but they held on long enough for Tio to push through. The remaining four stuck close to Tio, protecting her as she flew. 
“What a surprise! Master, I truly love you!” Even when he was surrounding by a rising sea of magma, Hajime had managed to control his Cross Bits to protect Tio. 
She’d never met anyone who’d been strong enough to protect her before. Even among her village, she’d been the strongest. Until now, she’d always been the one who’d protected others. She’d never known just how wonderful it was to have someone else protecting her. 
“Graaaaaah!” The white dragon let out a mighty roar as Tio slipped through the final door. A swirling black gale shot up into the sunlight. Though the sandstorm raged all around Tio, the eye of the storm was calm. 
“You managed to escape under those circumstances!? You truly are a pack of monsters. But even a black dragon of your caliber must be weak after sustaining all those injuries. I’ll have no problem—” 
Freid hurriedly tried to prepare a follow-up attack, but stopped short. The remaining four Cross Bits had Freid and the dragon he was riding on surrounded. 
He instantly ordered the turtle he’d brought with him to create a barrier. He’d learned earlier the Cross Bits couldn’t break through it. Had Hajime loaded his Cross Bits with the same exploding shells he’d put into Drucken, Donner, and Schlag it might have been different, but he hadn’t had time. His and Shea’s primary weapons had taken priority. 
But what Freid didn’t know was that the Cross Bits had one other powerful attack available to them. Freid was certain the Cross Bits couldn’t harm him, and therefore let his guard down. It was in that instant that Hajime chose to activate his Cross Bits’ trump card. 
Freid had only a second to ponder why the Cross Bits were glowing even brighter instead of firing before they all exploded. 
There was a huge bang. 
Shockwaves assailed Freid from all four sides, followed by a hailstorm of bullets. The explosions had released all of the Cross Bits’ remaining ammo in a deadly barrage. 
“Gaaaaaah!” 
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” 
Demon and dragon screamed as they were blasted into the distance. With the last of her mana, Tio added her own powerful tornado into the mix. She wanted to make doubly sure they got him. She’d wanted to use her breath to guarantee the kill, but she no longer had the mana left for it. 
Tio observed the direction Freid had fallen in for a few seconds in case he miraculously got back up. 
Once she was certain he wasn’t coming back, she looked back down at the oddly silent volcano. 
“I believe in you, Master, Yue, Shea.” 
Tio turned toward the sandstorm, her whisper carried away by the wind. 
Her destination was Ankaji. She needed to deliver what had been entrusted to her. 
She vanished into the sandstorm... 
A few minutes later, the Grand Gruen Volcano shuddered. 
The shaking was followed by a massive eruption. The force of it blew away the surrounding sandstorm for a short while. Black smoke rose from the volcano’s peak as it spat out gouts of magma and chunks of white hot rock. Forks of lightning flashed within the smoke released from the volcano. 
This was the first eruption of the Grand Gruen Volcano in known history. The historic event faded from view as the sandstorm veil covered the volcano again a few minutes later. 
Though the volcano itself was obscured, the plume of smoke rising from its peak could be seen as far away as Ankaji. 
The two girls who were waiting for Hajime’s return watched it anxiously.

“There’s just something cool about going out in a blaze of glory.” 
“Hajime?” 
“Hajime-san?” 
Hajime grinned, prompting Yue and Shea to stare at him in confusion. They were still being assailed by the Ash Dragons’ aurora balls. Hajime just shook his head and, with Shea and Yue’s help, managed to leap onto the central island. 
In the few minutes since Tio had left, the magma had gotten even more violent. Only the central island was still above the writhing sea of death. In another five minutes, even the central island would be submerged. 
Yue’s Spatial Severance was doing a perfect job of dealing with the aurora balls, and the Ash Dragons were starting to get desperate. They began diving down, trying to attack the party directly, but Shea swatted down any that got close. Another ten dragons fell. 
The magma dome that had been covering the center of the island had vanished, revealing a jet-black building. Next to the building was a disk that was floating a few centimeters off the ground. It seemed that was what was normally used to transport people through the shortcut back to the surface. 
There were so many magma pillars shooting out now that the remaining Ash Dragons had to cut their attacks short to keep out of their way. Hajime watched them out of the corner of his eye as he walked up to the building. 
There didn’t seem to be any door, but one of the walls had the familiar Liberators’ crest on it. 
The party stopped in front of it, and the wall fell away to reveal an opening. 
They stepped inside just as the magma started flowing over the central island. The door closed behind them seconds before the magma reached them. 
The party watched the door warily for a few seconds, but it didn’t seem like the magma was melting through it. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Hajime had guessed that if they’d built their house in a place like this, they’d have made it impervious to magma in case something happened to the volcano. It had still been just a guess though, so Hajime was relieved to discover the building really was magma-resistant. 
“Looks like we can rest for a bit now. I can’t believe this room even dampens the shaking...” 
“Mmm... Hajime, there.” 
“It’s a magic circle.” 
Hajime marveled at how well the building nullified the volcano’s shaking. His musings were interrupted by Yue pointing out the magic circle. It was more complex than most he’d seen. Stepping into it would likely grant them this labyrinth’s ancient magic. The three of them nodded to each other and walked into it. 
Just like the circle in Oscar’s room, this one read their memories, tracing their path through the labyrinth. Once the circle had confirmed they’d defeated all the magma serpents, it imprinted the knowledge needed to use this magic onto them. 
“So this labyrinth was spatial magic.” As Yue had said, the Grand Gruen Volcano’s magic was spatial magic. Looks like this magic’s pretty crazy stuff too. Hajime wasn’t even surprised anymore at how ridiculously powerful it was. 
“We can teleport with this.” 
“Yeah, that’s what he used to get behind us, isn’t it?” 
Yue thought back to their earlier fight. Shea nodded, remembering his sudden appearance. 
He’d probably used that magic to launch the first surprise attack, too. Hajime would need to test it some more before he could be certain whether it actually allowed teleportation or just the warping of space. Either way, it was still unbelievably powerful. Had it not been for Shea’s Future Sight, that first attack would have likely killed Hajime. He really got me good. 
As the magic circle’s glow faded, there was a dull clunk and a section of the wall fell away, revealing a small alcove. Glowing letters appeared inside it. 
I pray the day comes where people can be free. —Naiz Gruen 
“Short and sweet, I see.” Hajime gave his honest impressions. Looking around, they noticed Gruen’s hidden hideout was rather Spartan. Unlike Orcus’ place, there wasn’t even any furniture or household appliances. There was just the magic circle. 
“I guess he put his affairs in order before coming here.” 
“Yeah, it looks like the only thing Naiz-san left for us here was the magic circle.” 
“Come to think of it, Oscar’s diary mentioned Naiz. It said he was a pretty quiet guy.” 
Yue left Shea to support Hajime and walked over to the alcove. She groped inside it and pulled out a pendant. It was slightly different than the things they’d received so far as proof of clearing a labyrinth. The pendant was circular, inlaid with an ornate pattern. Yue walked back and put it around Hajime’s neck. 
“Alright, we’ve got the magic and we’ve got our crest. Now we just have to figure out how to get out of here.” 
“Any ideas?” 
“You have a plan, right? The whole place must be filled with magma by now.” 
Both Yue and Shea were confident Hajime could get them out of this mess. Happy that they trusted him so much, he began to outline his plan. 
“We’re going to swim through the magma.” 
“Hm?” 
“Come again?” 
Has the blood loss finally gotten to him? the two girls thought at the same time. His suggestion definitely didn’t seem sane. 
“Hold on, I’m not crazy, I swear. I’ll explain it all, so don’t give me that look. Okay, so the truth is, I left a submarine outside. I figured it made sense to make one since Melusine comes next. I wasn’t sure if it’d survive the magma, but since our strengthened boat could, I’m sure it’ll work. Glad I tried that out.” 
“When exactly did you have time to...” Shea stared at Hajime in shock. Even Yue widened her eyes a little in surprise. 
When Freid announced that he’d destroyed the keystone, Hajime had instantly pulled his submarine out and dropped it into the magma. If it had melted, Hajime would have told everyone to ride Tio out and forced his way through. He tracked its movements with the spirit stone he’d put in it and saw that it was perfectly fine. 
However, with how chaotic things were getting there was a possibility they wouldn’t make it back in time to save Ankaji. They would’ve had to take risks to make it back in time, and Hajime wanted to avoid that. And so, he’d sent Tio on ahead just in case. He knew she’d be able to make it back with time to spare. 
“As for the route we’re going to take, we have the shortcut Freid took. Yue, I’m going to need you to make a barrier to hold back the magma until we’re in the sub. Can you handle that?” 
“Yeah... No problem.” Yue nodded and deployed a tri-layered Hallowed Ground. The shimmering dome surrounded the three of them. They nodded to each and other and walked up to the door. Hajime clutched the handle and slid it open. 
Burning hot magma rushed into the room. Yue’s barrier protected them from it, but they couldn’t even see two inches in front of their faces because of how much of it there was. Though he’d planned for the situation, Hajime was still amazed. They were seeing what a volcano looked like from inside. Chances were, the three of them were the only people in the whole world to have experienced something so strange. 
“It’s not far. Let’s go!” 
“Okay.” 
“R-Roger!” 
At Hajime’s command, the three of them slowly walked forward. Though they couldn’t see anything, the submarine really was only a few feet from the room’s entrance. Yue extended her Hallowed Ground to make them a path. 
The three of them ran over to the entrance hatch and hopped inside. Once they were safely inside, they all relaxed. 
Just then, a massive quake ripped through the volcano. And, at the same time, the magma began rushing violently toward something. The submarine was carried by the flow, and Hajime and the others rolled around inside it like bowling balls. 
“Gwaaah!?” 
“Hwaaa!?” 
“Hawawa!? Owww!” 
They cried out in pain as they slammed into the sub’s walls, floor, and ceiling. Yue deployed a miniature version of her Spatial Severance to keep everyone from flying around. The contained gravity field stabilized them enough that they could regain their balance. 
“Th-Thanks, Yue.” 
“Thank you very much, Yue-san.” 
“Mmm... Anyway...” Yue manipulated her Spatial Severance to drop Hajime off into the cockpit. Hajime began pouring mana into the submarine’s control system, but he made little headway trying to steer it. The thickness of the magma and the speed of its flow made stabilizing the sub very difficult. 
“Tch... If only this meant the volcano’s erupting. We would have had our express ticket out.” 
“It’s not?” Yue tilted her head quizzically. 
“Yeah, it’s not. I added lodestones to the Cross Bits when I sent them out. That way, I’d always know what direction we’re going in. I dropped them on the summit before I made them blow up, so I know where the shortcut comes out... But we’re getting further from there, not closer.” 
“Wait, does that mean the magma’s taking us further underground?” 
“Yeah. It’s going at a slant, but we’re still descending. I wonder where we’re heading... Yue, Shea. It looks like we won’t be making it back anytime soon. All we can do is see where this takes us.” 
Yue and Shea smiled gently and sidled up to Hajime. 
“All I want is to be with you. If I can have that, I don’t care what else happens.” 
“Hehe... So this is what ‘through hell and high water’ really means... As long as I can be with you two, I don’t care where we go!” 
“I see. Fair enough.” Hajime smiled back. 
The three of them huddled together in the submarine as the ocean of magma pushed them along.

While Hajime and the others were being pushed along by the magma, Tio was flying through the sandstorm. Her silhouette was the only thing that wasn’t brown in the sky. 
“Mmm. This does not bode well. Unbelievable, to think that charlatan’s breath would... I suppose I have no choice. Master, please forgive me.” Even with Hajime’s protection, some of the white dragon’s aurora had hit her when she’d pushed through. And now, its insidious poison was eating away at her wounds. At the rate things were going, she would collapse long before she reached Ankaji. She reached into the Treasure Trove and pulled out one of Hajime’s few remaining Ambrosia vials. Then, she popped the whole thing, vial and all, into her mouth with a muttered apology for taking it without permission. 
The vast amount of mana she’d spent casting multiple breath attacks and speeding through the volcano regenerated at an alarming rate. Her wounds didn’t start healing right away due to the poison, but the aurora’s effects were diminished. 
After flying for a few hours, she finally spotted Ankaji in the distance. If she got any closer, Ankaji’s lookouts would spot her. Tio considered changing back to her human form. 
“Well, now that the white dragon tamer’s seen me, I guess there’s no point in hiding it.” Besides, if I’m going to continue traveling with Master, a time when my dragon form will be needed again will surely come. In the end, Tio decided not to stop. 
Her hidden village wouldn’t be found that easily. Even if it was, her clan was notoriously hard to kill. More than anything though, she had Hajime. If by some chance the whole world turned against them again, then she could count on him to have her back. He tried to act tough, but Tio knew he’d do anything for those he cared about. 
Only a few kilometers remained between her and Ankaji. When she looked down, she spotted the lookout panicking and pointing in her direction. Tio didn’t want to have to deal with them accidentally attacking her, so she angled down toward the main gate and landed there. 
She kicked up a massive cloud of dust as she landed. A contingent of Ankaji’s soldiers were waiting for her. She glanced up and saw another squad of soldiers aiming their bows and staves down at her from the walls. 
The wind began to sweep away the dust cloud and soon Tio’s silhouette was visible. The soldiers gulped nervously. However, when the sand finally cleared all they saw was an exhausted woman. 
A girl pushed past the bewildered soldiers and ran up to Tio. It was Kaori. 
Bize and the soldiers tried to stop her, but she ignored them. She only stopped when she was next to Tio, who was doubled over and panting. 
Kaori had known Tio was a dragon, so the moment the lookout had reported that one had been spotted she’d run to the main gate. 
“Tio, are you alright!?” 
“Oh, Kaori. Despite how I look, I shall be fine. I’m just a little tired.” 
Kaori paled when she saw how hurt Tio was. Every inch of her was covered in wounds. Kaori kneeled down next to Tio and began examining her injuries. When she realized the damage had been caused by an unknown poison, she quickly cast a cleansing spell, followed by a healing spell. 
“How come... Why can’t I purify you?” The aurora’s poison was so potent that even Ambrosia took some time to flush it out. Kaori’s skills weren’t nearly good enough to get rid of something like that. 
Though, she was still far better than any other healer. The combination of her magic and the Ambrosia healed most of Tio’s more serious injuries. Tio smiled and patted Kaori’s head. 
“Don’t worry child, the rest will heal soon enough,” she said. 
Kaori smiled in relief as she saw Tio’s wounds begin to close up. It seemed there really hadn’t been any need to worry. Still, her expression grew worried again as she noticed no one else was with Tio. 
“Tio... Umm, where’s Hajime-kun? Did you come back alone? And what was that eruption...” 
“Calm yourself, Kaori. I will explain everything. But first, can you please calm those soldiers, and find somewhere we can talk privately?” 
“Oh, uh, of course.” Kaori turned back, as if she’d only just noticed the army of soldiers behind her. Still a little worried, she nodded and began reassuring them. The only reason she wasn’t panicking was because Tio didn’t seem sad. 
Kaori explained the situation to Bize and Lanzwi before taking Tio somewhere they could talk in peace.

“So then, Hajime-kun and the others are...” 
“Indeed. They should be joining us soon. Master didn’t seem worried at all. I didn’t have time to ask for details, but I am certain he has a plan.” 
Kaori clenched her fists, looking pale as a ghost. The worry she’d felt when she’d first seen the eruption returned with a vengeance. 
Tio gently placed her hands over Kaori’s and gazed sternly into her eyes. 
“Kaori, I have a message from Master.” 
“From Hajime-kun?” 
“Yes. Well, technically, he said it was for both you and Myu... Regardless, the message is ‘we’ll see you soon.’” 
Kaori had expected him to say something reassuring like “Don’t worry” or “I promise I’ll come back.” Not something casual like “We’ll see you soon.” He made it sound like he was just going out for a bit to get groceries. 
An image of him smiling fearlessly flashed in the back of her mind. She could just imagine him saying “Come on, this isn’t even worth getting worried over.” He was the kind of person who’d overcome any hardship thrown at him with a big grin on his face. Kaori smiled wryly to herself. He must have said something lighthearted like that because he knew it’d reassure me more than a serious promise. 
“I see. Well, I guess he’s fine, then.” 
“Precisely. Master is the kind of man who can overturn any kind of hopeless situation and make it look easy. You can’t help but trust in him...” 
“Yeah... As long as Hajime-kun’s there, they’ll be fine. I should focus on my job here while I wait.” 
“That you should. Allow me to assist you.” 
Though Kaori felt the same despair she had when Hajime had fallen into the depths of the Orcus Labyrinth, she told herself Hajime would be fine and decided to focus on what she could do. She wiped her eyes and stood up. Lanzwi and his attendants had likely finished crushing the stillstone Tio had brought them and would be distributing it to the patients. In the meantime, she needed to heal all the people in critical condition so that they could recover quickly. 
On her way to the hospitals, Kaori stopped by the palace and explained what was going on to Myu. Lanzwi’s daughter, the fourteen-year-old Ailee, was taking care of her. 
Myu started crying when she learned Hajime hadn’t returned, but Tio shushed her by saying Hajime’s daughter had to be a strong girl and strong girls didn’t cry. And so, Myu held in her tears and tried to be strong. 
Though Myu was a Dagon, everyone had treated her kindly. There was, of course, the fact that she was part of Kaori’s party, but that wasn’t all. Once they got to know her, everyone couldn’t help but be moved by how adorable Myu was. Ailee especially had taken to Myu immediately. 
Lanzwi and the others had been surprised to learn Tio was a dragonman, but they didn’t seem to hate her for it. In the end, she’d risked her life to save theirs, and they owed her for that regardless of who she was. 
Two days later, Hajime still hadn’t returned. Kaori had been busy healing patients, but she knew she couldn’t distract herself with work for much longer. 
Tio had flown back and forth from the volcano multiple times, but she hadn’t found any trace of Hajime or the others. 
The evening of the third day since Tio’s return, Kaori made a suggestion. 
“I finished healing all of the patients that were in critical condition. The ones left will heal naturally given time or can be looked after by Ankaji’s doctors. So... I think it’s time we start looking for Hajime-kun.” 
“We’re going to find Daddy?” 
“Hmm, I suppose we should. I was thinking of going to look for him myself.” 
Myu leaned forward eagerly, while Tio lapsed into thought. 
“But we can’t really take Myu with us to the Grand Gruen Volcano, can we?” 
“Indeed. Master left her here because it was too dangerous to bring her along. Besides, searching the area will be difficult now, since it just erupted.” 
“Yeah. I agree. I think we should get Myu to her mom in Erisen first, then turn back to look for Hajime-kun.” 
“Hmm, that does sound sensible... Very well. It will be faster if you ride on my back. Through the air, Erisen is only a day’s journey from here. We should arrive tomorrow evening if we leave early enough in the morning.” 
Myu watched the two of them with a puzzled expression on her face. The conversation was moving too fast for her to follow. Kaori kneeled down and explained what they were talking about to Myu. She frowned when Kaori said they couldn’t go look for Hajime right away. However, she really wanted to see her mother again too. Reluctantly, she agreed to go home first and wait for Hajime there. 
Tio and Kaori smiled ruefully at how calculating Myu had been in her decision. She’d picked between Hajime and her mother, just like Hajime would have done in her position. 
They set off the next day. Lanzwi seemed reluctant to let them go, while Bize saw them off with tears in his eyes. Kaori and Myu got on Tio’s back and the three of them headed off to the west. The townspeople cheered them as they went, their voices resounding through the desert. 
Kaori was determined to find Hajime. She’d done it before and she could do it again. 
Little did she know they’d be reunited very soon.

Around the same time back in Heiligh, Kouki had thrown himself wholeheartedly into training. 
It wasn’t because he wanted to improve his skills, though. He still didn’t know if he could really kill someone when time came for it, so he’d tried to find the answers in his training. 
However, there was no way just training would hold any answers. Though his skills improved, Kouki was no closer to knowing. 
In a way, even he knew he was just trying to distract himself from facing the problem head-on. His irritation at himself grew with each passing day. Though he knew he had to make a decision soon, he couldn’t bring himself to take that step forward. 
And since their leader was feeling this way, the other students, even the ones who hadn’t participated in combat since the Orcus Labyrinth incident, began to feel more stressed as well. A gloom hung over the castle. 
Training had ended for the day, but there was still someone present at one of the less-used training grounds. 
“Hmph, faster.” A series of sword strokes cut through the air. The jet-black sword moved so quickly that it was back in its owner’s sheath before the afterimages had disappeared. A second later, it shot back out with such speed one couldn’t even see the drawing motion. 
Each stroke was sharp enough to cut steel. Every time Shizuku Yaegashi swung her blade, her ponytail swayed from side to side. 
She was training alone in the deserted practice grounds, swinging the sword Hajime had given to her. 
After she finished her flurry of strokes, Shizuku took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 
A woman’s face appeared in the back of her mind. Red hair and dark skin. The demon who had nearly killed them all. She’d controlled a horde of monsters and could use powerful earth magic. 
She had been a member of the army that had driven the humans into a corner. Shizuku could still remember every detail of that fight vividly. When she looked down, she noticed her right hand was trembling slightly. 
I’ll cut them down. The next time one shows up, I’ll do it. If I don’t kill them, it’ll be my friends who end up dead instead. Shizuku tried to steel her resolve. Back then, a miracle had saved them. Hajime had swooped in, like a fairytale hero. However, miracles didn’t happen that often. Shizuku couldn’t count on one to save them again. She knew she’d lose someone precious to her if she didn’t take this seriously. That was why she was training. 
“Haaah!” She let out a yell and slashed at the air with all her might. Her sword cut through where the imaginary demon was standing. Still, that wasn’t good enough. She knew that her own weakness had made her hesitate. Had that been a real fight, her slash would have been too slow to be fatal. She couldn’t afford to be weak, so she struck again. 
“Go forth... Gale Claw!” A faint breeze began to blow along the blade’s length. This was the skill imbued into the sword Hajime had given her. Originally, it would have been impossible to invoke without being able to manipulate mana directly. However, the kingdom’s best alchemists had worked tirelessly to modify it into a usable state. 
The masterfully crafted black sword transformed Shizuku’s image into a spell, and this time she cut through the image of the demon without hesitation. A second later— 
“Ugh...” She groaned. Shizuku dashed over to a corner of the practice grounds and threw up. 
“Bleh... Haaah... Haaah... Sheesh, I can’t believe this happens every time I train. What a waste of good food. Though I guess eating only healthy foods that look and taste like crap isn’t really a good thing, either.” Shizuku sighed and smiled bitterly at herself. 
She tottered over to the sandwich and water bottle she’d left underneath the shade of a tree. Honestly, she’d been expecting to throw up. Still, even if she wasn’t hungry, she needed to replenish her body’s energy or risk collapsing. She’d force the food down her throat if she had to. 
She sat down on a protruding root and took a big gulp of water. The refreshingly cool water washed away the bitter taste in her mouth. 
“Haaah...” She breathed another sigh and looked up at the sun setting in the west. 
Just then, she heard something unexpected. 
“Meow...” 
“Huh?” Looking down, she spotted a chestnut-colored cat purring next to her. It seemed cats in Tortus looked just like cats back home. They were just as prevalent too. 
“Where’d you come from, little fella?” The practice grounds was inside the palace complex. In other words, it was surrounded by tall walls on three sides and the mountain behind it. There was no way a cat should have been able to find its way in. Shizuku tentatively reached a hand out to it, and the cat didn’t shy away. It seemed content to let Shizuku pet it. Its fur was clean and well kept. 
“Must be some noble’s pet... Did you run away from your master?” 
“Meow~” 
Shizuku scratched it lightly on the neck. The cat purred happily and nuzzled against her. It seemed to be enjoying Shizuku’s petting. Surprised, Shizuku muttered something lightly. 
“S-So cute...” Then, she smiled. Both her irritation at herself and her burning bloodlust vanished. She was totally absorbed by the cat. 
The constant training had exhausted her, so it was understandable. Shizuku, who prided herself on her reputation as an aloof and mysterious beauty, had allowed herself to cut loose. 
“You’re so cuuute... But you can’t be running away from your owner. Bad kids like you need to be punished.” Right, she started a conversation with a cat. If any of the noble ladies who’d taken to calling Shizuku “Nee-san” had spotted her they would have likely doubted their sanity. Or possibly break out in a nosebleed. 
Shizuku continued petting the cat as she talked to it. 
Remember, Shizuku was exhausted from the constant training. 
After a few more minutes of petting, the cat padded over to the basket holding Shizuku’s sandwich and poked its nose inside. 
“Oh? Do you want meow sandwich?” The cat gazed longingly at Shizuku. 
  

Its cuteness melted Shizuku’s heart. She started cooing. Naturally, she wouldn’t refuse the request. However, her sandwich was too big, so she would need to cut it into smaller chunks. 
“Wait just a little bit. I’ll cut it up meowcely for you.” There was no one around to ask why she was cutting it with her sword and not just ripping it with her hands. Or even why she was getting in a battle stance to cut it. She got into the same stance she had when she was practicing cutting imaginary demons. She threw the sandwich into the air and prepared to draw. 
It was rather clear by this point, but to repeat once more... Shizukat was extremely tired. “Go forth... Gale Claw!” Hajime could never have guessed his sword would end up being used to cut a sandwich. But cut one it did, and splendidly too. 
The sandwich still looked whole when it fell back into Shizuku’s hand, but the moment she sheathed her blade it fell apart into evenly cut squares. 
Shizuku struck a pose, as if her swordsmanship would somehow impress the cat. 
“Meow that’s what I call a cut.” Shizuku turned around— 
“......” 
“......” 
And locked eyes with Princess Liliana. Liliana was staring at Shizuku with a dumbfounded expression on her face. 
Shizuku’s smile froze in place. The princess didn’t say anything. Silence stretched on for a few minutes. The cat finished its meal and ran off somewhere. 
After an ominous gust of wind, the princess finally broke the silence. 
“Meow that’s what I call a cut?” She asked. To which Shizuku replied, loudly. 
“M-Meoooooow!” She was still talking like a cat.

“Don’t look at me. Please, don’t look at me! In fact, just kill me right now.” 
“C-Calm down... It’s not that big a deal. In fact, I thought you looked rather cute, Shizuku.” 
Shizuku buried her face in her hands. Liliana squatted down next to her and tried to console her. 
It took some time before Shizuku was willing to look her in the eye. Once Shizuku had finally calmed down, she glared at Liliana and asked her something. 
“So, what were you doing here, Liliana? Did you have some business with me? I can’t think of any other reason you’d come to this practice ground.” Liliana grimaced. 
“It’s true that I also had business with you, but... I didn’t see you with Kouki-san and the others.” It seemed she’d been worried that Shizuku wasn’t with her comrades. Shizuku smiled at Liliana. 
“Thanks for worrying about me, Lily. But I’m fine, don’t worry.” 
“Then why were you here alone...” 
Because I wanted to be alone. Shizuku swallowed those words. Unfortunately for her, Liliana had grown up in the ruthless world of court politics, which meant she’d gotten very good at reading people. 
“Shizuku, you always push yourself too hard. Perhaps it’s presumptuous of me to say this when I’m one of the people who’s making you fight for our cause, but...” 
“I don’t think it is. We all know just how hard you’re working for our sakes, Lily. And I’m not pushing myself. It’s just that Kouki and the others can be a bit difficult at times. Sometimes I just need to get away from them for a while.” 
Liliana knew that couldn’t be everything, but she also knew pressing any further would just make things harder for Shizuku. And so, she decided to go along with the change of topic. 
“They can definitely be a handful sometimes.” 
“Yeah. It’s not easy to get over the defeat we suffered in the labyrinth. It’s worse for Kouki because there’s what happened with Kaori, too.” Shizuku stared westward, thinking of her best friend. 
“Are you lonely?” It didn’t show on Shizuku’s face, but Liliana guessed how she was feeling from the way she looked off into the distance. 
“I’m not exactly lonely. Even if she’s not here, I’ll always be connected to Kaori. Yeah, I’m sure of that. Besides, I have a princess who’s worried about me right here, don’t I?” Shizuku smiled playfully, and Liliana blushed. She felt like those noble girls who thought of themselves as Shizuku’s little sisters. 
“You really are like everyone’s big sister.” Shizuku pinched Liliana’s cheek. She wasn’t happy about everyone else calling her Onee-sama. Though most of the other girls considered a pinch from Shizuku a reward. Liliana could imagine how jealous the other noble ladies would be. 
“So, what is it you needed me for?” Tired of talking about herself, Shizuku brought the topic back to why Liliana had come. Liliana blushed again and answered. 
“I was wondering about the change in the demons, and about Nagumo-san.” 
“I should have known. Have the king and the Holy Church come to a decision?” 
Ever since the heroes’ return from the labyrinth, the country had been in an uproar. It was only natural. Their report had stated the demons could control an army of extremely powerful monsters. Strong enough that they’d defeated the hero party once already. If that was true, humanity was doomed. 
Hajime was another reason everyone was in a panic. Supposedly he’d annihilated monsters that had driven the hero party’s strongest into a corner. 
Also, reports had come in from Ur about Hajime destroying an entire monster army even before the battle in the labyrinth. Though, most people hadn’t really believed them. The events at Orcus had lent far more credence to those tales, however. 
Everyone was interested in the boy who had once been labeled “worthless” now. His unbelievable strength, along with his unknown artifacts, likely held the key to saving humanity. 
Yet he hadn’t returned to his old comrades. Instead, he had struck out on his own. 
Neither the king nor the pope were happy about that. They’d been spending the past few days discussing how to deal with Hajime. However, they had yet to come to a conclusion. 
Shizuku had hoped Liliana might have come with news about a verdict, but Liliana sighed uncharacteristically in response to Shizuku’s question. 
“They still haven’t made a decision. All they’ve been talking about is how they need Kouki-san and the others to get stronger as fast as possible. I think they want to reexamine everyone’s jobs, too. They’re hoping if there was one student who could control monsters there might be more. They don’t understand the problem is mental and not physical. They think because you were chosen by Ehit for this mission that you should be happy to fulfill it. To them, the idea of killing demons isn’t a big deal.” 
Like all other humans, Liliana was a devout follower of Ehit, so it surprised Shizuku that she would speak so irreverently of her god. 
Sensing the unspoken question, Liliana smiled bitterly. 
“I think it’s important to be able to separate your emotions and your beliefs when examining a problem objectively.” That was one thing the princess was good at, and a core part of her personality. Shizuku was amazed a girl as young as fourteen could be so mature. 
“Also, I feel the priests weren’t this radical before... Perhaps it’s a sign of how cornered they feel. Regardless, you should be careful. The Holy Church may try something drastic soon. Kouki-san and the others are still feeling uneasy, so the pope will probably take the opportunity to push them in a dangerous direction. I thought I should warn you ahead of time.” 
“That certainly makes sense. Okay, we’ll be careful. Thank you, Lily.” 
Just being ready for something made a world of difference. Knowing it was coming when it came would let you ride it out, and keep your thoughts from getting muddled. 
“What about Nagumo-kun?” Liliana hesitated for a moment. Shizuku suddenly had a very bad premonition. One that turned out to be true. 
“They’re considering declaring him a heretic. 
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” 
They were thinking of making him a heretic. That would mean any human was allowed to legally kill him. He’d be branded an enemy of Ehit, which would mean he no longer possessed any rights. Worse, any humans would be forbidden from aiding him. The world would have effectively turned against him. 
“It hasn’t been set in stone yet. They’re still just considering it at the moment. They can’t just brand him one because he refused to obey the Holy Church’s orders. It takes more than that. Still, rumors are going to spread. Even if it was something one of the bishops said in the heat of the moment, word will get out and people will talk. The mere fact that he was considered by the Holy Church as a potential heretic will ruin his reputation.” 
“So you want us to stop those rumors before they get too far?” 
“Yes. The fate of the human race was at stake, and one of the bishops became too heated and made a careless remark. That was the only reason Nagumo-san’s name was brought up at all. Please try and keep the story to just that. I suspect the official decision of what to do with Nagumo-san will come after Aiko-san returns and gives her report.” 
Shizuku understood why Liliana was trying so hard to save Hajime’s reputation. She wanted to make sure Hajime had a place to return to. Not just for his sake, but for Kaori’s too. She didn’t want Kaori to suffer the pain of seeing her loved one become a hunted man. 
“Thank you so much, Lily.” Shizuku spoke sincerely. 
“Though it may have been Ehit’s decree, it’s still our fault you’re wrapped up in this. If I don’t do everything I can to help you, then how will I ever face Ehit in the afterlife? Besides... you and Kaori are my friends.” Liliana blushed and turned away. Shizuku hugged her and said some rather embarrassing words. 
“Not just any friend... You’re one of my best friends!” 
Liliana’s face grew even redder. 
After getting all of the heavy stuff out of the way, Shizuku and Liliana began talking about more trivial matters. Liliana had to support a nation, while Shizuku had to support her troublemaking classmates. They both had no end of worries. Still, it was precisely due to those duties that they could talk so candidly with each other. 
Those healing conversations came with a price, however. Namely, the dignity of all the people they talked to each other about. 
For example, Liliana complained about how Lundel came to her crying every night because the love of his life, Kaori, had run off with Hajime. 
On the other hand, Shizuku regaled Liliana with tales of the time when Lundel had run up to Kouki and accused him of being a coward for letting Hajime steal Kaori from him. The conversation had left Kouki writhing on the ground. 
Liliana followed up by telling Shizuku how she’d left Lundel on the ground afterward by saying the exact same things to him. At some point, the conversation shifted to Hajime’s appearance. 
Had Kouki or Lundel or Hajime been present for the conversation, they likely would have cried themselves to sleep that night. 
Conversations between girls was something the men of the world were destined never to know about. 
“Well, Shizuku. I should be heading back now. Please don’t overdo it.” 
“Mhm, I know. I think I’ll go back to my room, too. Thanks for everything, Lily.” 
The sun had long since set, and the stars were twinkling in the night sky when the two girls finally finished talking. They were both smiling, glad to have had an opportunity to let off some stress. 
They walked back to the castle together, then parted ways at the corridor that forked in the direction of their rooms. Shizuku watched the closest friend she’d made since coming to this world vanish down the hallway. Feeling content, Shizuku turned the other direction and started walking back to her own room. 
“Ah!?” For the briefest of moments, she felt a terrible chill fill the room. 
She placed a hand on her sword and fell into her battle stance. She observed her surroundings for a few seconds, but she saw nothing in the dimly-lit corridor. 
“Was it just my imagination?” She tried to use magic to sense for other beings, but discerned nothing. 
I’m probably just nervous because of what Lily told me. Shizuku sighed and took her hand off her sword. 
She once again began walking toward her room, her pace far faster than before. 
It was as if something was pushing her onward.