Chapter 3: Makoto Takatsuki Speaks with His Goddess
“Morning, lady-killer.”
I awoke to Noah standing in front of me. As I went to greet her, I noticed another woman by her side. This woman had an affectionate smile, hair of pure gold, and was wearing a blue dress. Altogether, she gave off a holy air.
“Hi, Mako,” she said, waving at me like I was an old friend.
It was the second...or more accurately, the third time we’d met. However, I had often seen her visage while traveling around Roses—in the Water Temple, Macallan, Horn, and practically everywhere else in the country, there were statues of her. There were so many, in fact, that one could easily say it was impossible not to know what she looked like. Her name was revered by all that called Roses home.
“Eir...” I murmured. She was one of the Sacred Deities that ruled the world.
Why was she here?
“That’s right, Mako!” she exclaimed with a smile, her eyes shining gold.
The sparkle in her gaze was so beautiful it seemed to pull my soul toward it. I felt like I’d be enchanted if I didn’t manage to avert my gaze from hers. So...is that Charm Eyes, Eir?
“Stop it!” Noah yelled, hitting Eir on the head.
“Owww. So Charm really doesn’t work on Mako,” Eir said brazenly, even as she rubbed her head.
“You can’t let your guard down around her, Makoto. No getting Charmed by anyone but me, got it?”
“I mean, you haven’t done it either.” It wasn’t like I was planning on leaving Noah for another goddess though.
“Noah?!” Upon hearing our conversation, Eir’s expression looked startled. “You’re showing Mako your true form?”
“Yup, what of it?”
Eir seemed dazed by that response. “We might be in a dream, but keeping his sanity while directly seeing a goddess is...”
“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly concerned at the mention of my sanity.
“Normal people can’t look directly at a god,” Eir explained. “The levels we exist on are too dissimilar to a human’s and your brain’ll just pop. That’s why we only use our voice when we’re talking with our priestesses. We don’t really show ourselves at all.”
Ah, that explains things—it was a well-known fact that the priestesses only heard the voices of the goddesses.
The light shining from Eir was dazzling, almost blinding. Was that what it was for? To obscure her true form and protect my sanity? My goddess had shown herself from the start, though.
“Noah...” I began. When we’d first met...had I been in more danger than I’d realized?
But Noah just giggled and stuck the tip of her tongue out cutely.
Th-This goddess...
“Makoto’s got that broken altered perspective from RPG Player, so Charm has no effect on him at all. You don’t need your backlighting either, Eir.”
“Oh, really? I’ll quit with it, then.” As she spoke, the bright light around her vanished. I guess she could just flick the switch on or off however she wanted...
“So,” I said, turning to Eir. “Why are you here?” There were actually things I’d wanted to ask her, so it was a real help that she was in my dream space.
“To speak to you of course.” She giggled. The gleam in her eyes looked just like when she’d spoken through Princess Sophia.
“Roses will fall...” I said, reciting the revelation she’d given. “Can you tell me anything more specific?”
“Well, I’ve looked into it...but I haven’t found anything.”
“So there’s nothing I can do to stop the prophecy then?” I asked.
“Well, it’s probably got something to do with the Snake Sect...”
That made sense—the stronger a person’s belief in their god, the more the god’s protection obscured visions of that person’s future. The Snake Sect were all zealots of Typhon, so even the Sacred Deities found it hard to predict their plans.
“That’s not good...” I murmured. “Actually, how do you even know that it’ll happen?”
“Uh, Ira told me,” answered Eir.
Ira was the Goddess of Fortune and Fate, able to see the future as a whole. Well...I suppose that was a reliable source...and it meant that I couldn’t take an optimistic stance on the revelation potentially not coming to pass.
“I warned Sophie against the Snake Sect as well, so help her out, Mako! ☆”
I gave a sigh at her enthusiasm. “Got it.” If that was the current state of things, then there wasn’t anything I could actually start on yet...
I should speak to Noah next.
“Noa— Uh, Noah?” I’d turned to look at her, but she was just fiddling with her smartphone and not meeting my gaze.
Um...? They had smartphones in the divine realm?
“Hmph, what?” she griped. “You just go ahead and talk to Eir.”
Ack, she was sulking.
“I’m not sulking,” she whined in response to my thoughts. “I’m nooot.”
She really was.
“Y-You know you’re my number one, right? I can’t live without you,” I proclaimed, frantically trying to cheer her up.
“Oh, really? All right then.” She tossed the phone off to the side.
Phew... So she was back in a good mood?
“What do you want to know?” she asked.
“Undyne hasn’t shown up again.” I’d called out to her every day, but she hadn’t responded at all. Her radio silence was confusing since she’d helped me out in Highland.
“I already told you—normally, you’d need over level 1000 mastery to summon a great elemental like Undyne. She just happened to give you a hand that day because you were in trouble.”
“So...I was lucky?” I asked.
“Yup. Though, the elementals like you, so they might help if you’re in a real bind. Don’t just go assuming they’ll aid you every time—they’re capricious at best.”
Hmmm, so I couldn’t use their power strategically... Luck had too much of an impact. It seemed like Charm wasn’t going to be enough to get hold of Undyne whenever I wanted. What a shame.
“In that case...” I continued, “why could I suddenly see fire elementals?”
“Oh, when you kissed Lucy?” Noah clarified.
“Yeah! I even used fire magic!” I said, feeling agitated. Really, it’d gotten me all riled up.
“Mako...are you more excited about the fire elementals than the kiss?” wondered Eir. “I think you might be a pervert.”
“Hey...please don’t put it like that.” I didn’t deserve to be called a pervert. Kissing Lucy and seeing the fire elementals...were both important...
“You could see them thanks to the Contract.”
“A Contract?” I didn’t have any contract with Lucy, though.
“You know there’s more than one type of contract, right?” As she spoke, Noah snapped her fingers and summoned a whiteboard. I hadn’t seen her in teacher mode for a while. Huh, even her outfit’s changed.
“Firstly, there are Soul Contracts like you and I have. You offer your faith, and in return, you receive my divine weapon and your Elementaler skill.”
“I remember that, great and wicked deity,” I answered.
“Heavenly punishment!” she declared, slapping me around the back of my head.
“But you’re not in heaven,” Eir sniped.
Noah just ignored her utterly and continued the lecture. “Next, there’s the Guardian Knight Contract you have with Furiae. They’re also called Spoken Contracts. You take on the role of her guardian and get the Charm skill in return.”
“Yup,” I said. “Though I can only use Charm on cats right now.”
“W-Well, work hard. ☆” Noah stammered.
Hmmm...I wonder if I could use it to control a griffin eventually. Probably not—it’d be easier to ask Furiae to do that.
“Then there’s the third type: the Love Contract you and Lucy have.”
“Wha?” That’d definitely taken a turn. Love?
“What? Kissing is a sign of being lovers, right?” Noah asked. “They had that whole ‘you may now kiss the bride’ thing in your old world, right?”
Noah was acting like it was obvious, but still...
“I’ve never been to a wedding.”
“Have you seen one on TV at least?”
Oh, right, I had. So...
“I can use Synchro like that since we’re together?”
“While you’re kissing,” Noah explained, “elementals see you as lovers and grant you their blessings.”
R-Right, so that was the logic behind it...
“By the way, it gets stronger as you go from lover to fiancé to spouse.”
“Huh...how romantic,” I mused.
Eir gave me a meaningful smile. “Noah hasn’t explained it all. Your contract with Lucy is also called a Body Contract.”
“Uh? A...Body Contract?”
Suddenly Eir became much more animated. “A Body Contract is a contract that gets stronger as the acts between you and your partner get more extreme. After kissing, there’s petting...then after that...there’s screwing.”
“W-W-Wait, Eir?!” It was that type of contract?
That’s not romantic at all!
“So you get to do the do with Lucy and gain even stronger magic!” Eir cheered. “Not bad, Mako!”
Th-That was terrifying... “The hell’s that contract?!”
“By the way,” Noah added, “you’ll need to kiss Lucy every time to see fire elementals. You don’t have the affinity for her magic after all.”
So kissing was a requirement. I could practically see it now: “Hey, Lucy, I’m going to practice fire magic today. Mind lending me your lips?”
“Hell nah!” What kind of scum was I?! Plus, Sasa’d punt me over the horizon! And I could already imagine Furiae staring me down like I was trash.
“Not gonna happen,” I stated. “I’ll have to give up on the fire elementals.”
“Aww, you’re giving up on them?” whined Eir. “What’s the harm? It’s only a kiss.”
“Yup, you shouldn’t waste such an easy win,” added Noah.
These goddesses... They sure loved messing with mortals. If I could go for it that easily, I’d have lost my virginity long ago.
“It’s about time for you to get going, Makoto,” Noah commented.
Indeed, my vision was starting to waver.
“W-Well, thank you for telling me all of that,” I replied, kneeling toward the two goddesses. They had shared a lot of info during the conversation.
“Bye, Mako. Look after Sophie as well.”
“Take care of yourself,” Noah said as I faded out.
◇
I woke up alone. Furiae had cursed us all to slumber last night, but Lucy and Sasa weren’t here anymore. I headed down to the first floor to wash my face.
I wonder if Furiae’s mad...
When I stepped into the living room, I saw Furiae, though she wasn’t alone—Lucy and Sasa were both there as well.
“Morning,” I called out.
Lucy and Sasa both turned to me and offered their own greetings.
“Did you sleep well?” asked Lucy.
“Yeah, thanks to—wait, what’re you doing?” Lucy had sidled up to me and entwined our arms.
“It’s my turn today,” Lucy murmured, “so just wait until tonight.”
“F-For what...?”
I vividly remembered the conversation I’d just had with Noah and Eir. A Body Contract...
“Are you really gonna make me say it?” Lucy asked. “Makoto, you perv.”
“Hold on, Lu,” interjected Sasa. “You interrupted us last night, so I’m coming too.”
“You are? Well, whatever. I guess it’ll be the three of us.”
Where had this all come from?
“You three,” Furiae glared at us steadily, “if you’re going to spend the night rutting, would you at least go to a hotel?”
Well, this was a sticky situation. “Let’s not interrupt the princess’s sleep tonight,” I said evenly.
“Aww.”
“That’s a shame.”
But in the end, I managed to convince the pair, and then we had breakfast. The menu was rice and miso soup, grilled fish, and eggs. There were even pickled vegetables. Sasa had apparently made all of it. She’d pulled off a full Japanese breakfast...
“How do you eat with these?” Furiae asked, looking quizzically at the chopsticks.
“You can use a fork,” Lucy told her. “We can’t eat like Makoto or Aya.”
“Hmmm, otherworlder cutlery...” pondered Furiae. “Oh, this soup is strangely delicious.”
“Really? You can have seconds if you want, Fuu,” Sasa chimed in.
The table devolved into the general bustle of mealtime, and even Furiae seemed to enjoy the Japanese food.
After we finished, we drank some tea, and Furiae spoke to me. “Incidentally, my knight—why are you constantly using Charm?”
“What?” I was? I hadn’t expected that.
“I’m not, am I?”
“Go look in a mirror,” she commanded.
I craned my neck to do so, and when I caught a glimpse of my reflection, I saw the faint orange light glowing in my eyes.
“Uh? H-Huh?” I hadn’t realized I was doing that...not at all. This could be bad...
“Well, your level of Charm would only work on small animals,” Furiae added.
Ah, well I guess it was fine then.
“Although,” she continued, “it could affect people if they have powerful positive feelings toward you...or if it’s nighttime because of the stronger connection to the moon. Watch out for that.”
“That’s awful!” I cried. If that was true...
I looked toward Lucy and Sasa, and they peered questioningly back. I suppose they didn’t understand the implication...
“S-Sorry, Lucy, Sasa. It looks like I used Charm on you yesterday...maybe.” I could only hang my head for doing something like that to my friends.
“What do you mean? We love you. It has nothing to do with you using a Charm skill,” Lucy insisted.
“That’s right, Takatsuki. We didn’t do that last night because of Charm.”
“Right...”
That was great—at least they weren’t worried about it. Hang on though. I couldn’t just keep going around with Charm active all the time.
I turned to Furiae. “Princess, how do I control this?”
“Hm, well, I’ve been able to use it for as long as I’ve known, so turning it off’s unconscious... Look into my eyes for a minute.” At that, she got right up in my face and peered into my eyes. Then, she moved even closer so that our hair was touching.
“You’ll have to practice fine control with a mirror...” she explained. “But for now, try and hold back the mana around your eyes. That should pull it back.”
“Mhmm.” I tried to do as she’d instructed while staring into her onyx eyes.
“D-Did that do it?” I asked.
“It did. They’re black again. You got it.”
“Phew. Thanks, Princess... Wait, what are you doing?”
Her eyes were now shining gold. “I thought it might finally work on you from this close-up.”
“Charm just doesn’t work on me,” I said
“I can’t accept that—Wait...mage, warrior? Why are you grabbing my arms?”
“All right, back away from Makoto.”
“Fuu, no tempting our Takatsuki.”
Apparently, Furiae still wasn’t willing to admit that Charm didn’t affect me. While I repented for not learning how to properly use the new skill I’d gotten, Lucy stood up.
“Hey, Fuuri, Aya and I are going shopping today. Want to come with?”
“Uh... You wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course not. Lu showed me around before. There are more shops than you’d expect in Macallan,” said Sasa.
“I see... I’ll come with you, then.”
I guess the three of them were going shopping together.
“What about you?” Sasa asked me.
“I’ll practice my magic.”
I didn’t want to be the third—or fourth—wheel, so I decided to pass. Considering I was Furiae’s guardian knight, I should probably have gone with her, but she was safe enough with Lucy and Sasa. Honestly, she was safer with them than with me alone.
Oh, there is one thing I should warn her about...
“There’ve been a lot of guys after you lately, Princess,” I informed her. “Take care.”
She was a well-to-do young lady that had suddenly arrived in Macallan from abroad. (That was the story we were going with, at least.) According to the rumors, her awe-inspiring beauty had already captured many hearts in Macallan.
Furiae just huffed out a laugh. “I will be fine. There were endless men who saw me as an easy mark in the ruins of Laphroaig. The worst that’ll happen here is I’ll be hit on, no? That’s nothing.”
Every time I heard about her past it felt heavier. Still, she seemed to be enjoying herself now.
“R-Right... But even so, look after yourself.”
With that, the three of them bustled cheerily out the door. Left behind on my own, I worked on my magic in the garden. When noon rolled around and they still hadn’t come back, I guessed they were eating out somewhere.
Cooking...was just too much effort, so I decided to do the same. But as I was wandering around deciding where to eat, I noticed something strange.
I don’t recognize a lot of these people...
I’d lived in Macallan for a long time now. While it might be a fairly big town, I still recognized the people in the neighborhood. Macallan did have a lot of adventurers, so new faces weren’t unusual. However, the people around now weren’t adventurers. They were civilians, but not the same people that had lived here up until now... Maybe they’d simply moved in, but it felt like there were too many new faces for that.
Compounding the strangeness, I could feel them watching me.
Eir warned me about the Snake Sect...
Just as I was just making a mental note to talk to Fujiyan and ask if there was anything dodgy about the newcomers, the sharp sound of a ringing bell split the air. An atmosphere of tension instantly seemed to grip the town.
It was just like in Symphonia.
What? This has never happened in Roses before.
“Monsters!” a soldier on watch suddenly exclaimed. Residents of Macallan swiftly fled and hid away in their homes. And yet...no one seemed to show any signs of actual fear. Their expressions looked more like they were saying, “Seriously, again?”
The hell? This peaceful town had become a hotbed of danger...
As the town moved, I remembered something Mary had told me when I’d first become an adventurer: the third rule of the Macallan Adventurer’s Guild was that if monsters appeared, we were to cooperate with the soldiers and Temple Knights to protect the town. Roses had a deficit in their armed forces, and Macallan in particular was close to one of the biggest dungeons on the continent—the Forest of Fiends. Both of these factors meant that the members of the guild were often called to action.
Still, I thought monsters only showed up once a year or so... They seemed to be more prevalent now, probably due to the general increase in monster activity.
I rushed over toward the western gate where the monsters had been spotted, and I saw other adventurers on the way.
“Makoto! You’re here!”
“Jean!” I called out to my friend. He was in a party of four with Emily, a male martial artist, and a female mage.
“Where’s Lucy?” Emily asked. She was an adventurer of Macallan as well, so she surely knew the rules about pitching in during monster attacks.
“We were doing our own things today,” I answered. “She was shopping with Sasa.”
I wished I’d been able to meet up with the girls along the way, but my group arrived at the west gate before long. There were already a dozen adventurers there, along with the guards and some Temple Knights.
“Oh, the hero’s here!” someone called.
“Makoto, there are about five hundred monsters,” someone else added.
“It’s a group of goblins, orcs, and ogres.”
“Hurry with the orders.”
“You pick the formation.”
What...?
The adventurers were all staring at me. Actually, it wasn’t even just the adventurers—everyone else was as well.
“W-Wait a minute!” Why was I the one making the decisions?!
As I floundered, Jean explained. “Makoto, the most senior official takes command during emergency situations like this. None of us are more senior than a hero.”
O-Oh, right! The eighth rule... I’d barely thought about it since I was sure it would never affect me.
Seriously, though? I was going to have to command everyone. Their stares were all focused on me.
I’m awful at large-scale strategy, though!
“Wh-Where’s Lucas?!” I asked. He was a veteran, so surely he could lead properly.
“Lucas went to help the next town over when a dragon showed up,” Emily explained regretfully.
N-No way...
“Makoto! We want a real hero here!” Jean’s male fighter said passionately. “We’ll follow your commands!”
I-I can’t...
Though I was a senior figure in Roses, I didn’t feel like acting that way in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know... The crowd’s collective gaze grew even heavier, putting pressure on me to get started.
I-I wanna run...
“All right, everyone’h! I’ll act as his rep’h!” shouted a loud voice. It drew everyone’s attention.
Across the crowd, I saw the bunny-eared fighter raising a hand. “Nina?” I asked.
I could hear the other adventurers talking as well.
“It’s Nina.”
“She made gold rank, right?”
“I thought she’d gotten married... Isn’t she the Fujiwara company head’s wife now?”
“Didn’t she retire?”
Amongst the murmuring, I heard Lucy and Sasa calling out to me, followed shortly after by Furiae.
“Takatsuki, you don’t mind leaving it to Nina, right?” asked Sasa.
“N-Nah... That is, if you don’t mind either, Nina?”
“Leave it to me’h!”
In an instant, she briskly started giving orders. She was always dealing with a bunch of subordinates while managing retail, so she was good in these types of scenarios.
“Thanks, Sasa...”
“Nina told us about the guild’s rules on the way. You’re not great at leading strangers, are you?”
I wasn’t, and she’d really saved my bacon. Sasa knew me really well...
Just then, an adventurer pointed and exclaimed, “The monsters are here!” Where his finger indicated, there was a group of monsters kicking up dust. I saw goblins, orcs, and ogres, along with the odd man-eating giant.
This group honestly didn’t have the sheer force of presence that the five thousand ancient monsters in Highland had.
On the other hand, our forces in Roses were vastly lower as well, so even this smaller swarm of monsters was still a significant threat to Macallan.
“Mages’h! Fire’h!”
At Nina’s command, the mages all launched their spells. We were starting off with ranged attacks, which was basically the same as the Soleil Knights’ strategy had been.
Then, I heard a familiar voice.
“Meteo Rain!”
Massive boulders plowed into the monsters and left huge divots in the ground, making the earth shudder beneath us. Dozens of the monsters screeched as they were launched away.
That spell had been cast by a very familiar redheaded elf.
“What do you think?!” Lucy asked, puffing out her chest. Her Meteo Rain was incredible every time I saw it.
“There are still many of them left, though,” Furiae pointed out. And she was right—the long-range attacks had taken out about a hundred monsters, but most were still on their feet.
“Shielders, form up’h!”
The people holding shields were a mix of Temple Knights and soldiers. There were about fifty of them in total. In addition to the twenty mages, there were about thirty close combatants. Most of those groups were adventurers. In total, there were about a hundred people defending Macallan.
Was this it? There weren’t many of us...
Over three hundred monsters were bearing down on the town. At least numerically, that made their forces three times stronger than ours. And...the terrifying part of mass battles like this was that numbers could definitely overcome you.
The soldiers’ faces were grim. If they couldn’t stop the charge, the city would soon be overrun.
Right, time to try and create a wall like I did in Highland. That’ll buy us some time.
As far as elementals were concerned, I was in a much better position now than then.
“Elementals,” I called out.
“Hi!”
I was on good terms with the water elementals in Macallan since I’d been practicing here all this time. Though I might not be able to call the greater elementals, Macallan was still the best place for me to use elemental magic.
“I’m in a bit of trouble here. Can you give me some help?” I asked, doing my utmost to get through to them. I also activated Charm like Furiae had taught me.
A pleasant chorus of their voices answered. “You can count on us!”
Mana from all the water elementals in the area swirled around me.
“M-My knight, that mana...”
“Takatsuki’s sparkling...”
I could hear my friends muttering to each other. All the mages stared my way in shock.
The elementals were in good form today. I lifted my right hand and then yelled.
Water Magic: Ice World!
The mass of mana surrounding me morphed into blue light as it avalanched over the monsters. I didn’t create a wall of ice—rather, I froze the monsters themselves into a wall. This was a two-birds-one-stone approach; I could get rid of some of them, and make a barrier.
And it worked. Almost too well...
There was silence as the front line of monsters solidified into ice sculptures.
That’s what I was going for...
Everyone’s eyes found me... And I knew exactly what they wanted to say.
“Mister Takatsuki...you froze them all’h...” Nina said with a rueful smile.
Yup. All three hundred of them were on ice. Our close combatants had all been raring to go, but now, they had odd looks on their faces.
I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kill-steal!
“Eh, it’s fine, right?” Lucy asked. “We’re all safe thanks to that spell.”
“Yup. I might not have gotten my turn, but as long as we’re all safe—brrr.” My spell must have been too strong because Sasa was shivering from the cold now.
“Luuu, warm me up!” she exclaimed, grabbing hold of Lucy.
“Fiiine,” Lucy teased, hugging her back. I could almost smell the yuri.
“Well, it’s over before it even started,” one of the other adventurers commented. Now that the tension had broken, everyone was chatting.
“What about the reward from the guild?”
“Who knows?”
“Makoto, that was incredible!”
“It was really something!”
At least Jean and his fighter friend were impressed.
“I wonder why they showed up out of nowhere,” I heard someone say.
“There were more of them than last time.”
“It’s almost like they were being chased...”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
That comment about them being “chased” stuck out in my mind...and it was immediately followed by a roar that shook the air above us.
I looked up.
“A green dragon!” someone yelled.
A massive dragon entirely covered in green scales stared back at us. Its huge frame had appeared, accompanied by the thunderous beating of its wings. This monster was infamous...it was known as the lord of the Great Forest.
“Scatter’h!” Nina yelled. “We’re targets if we’re together’h!”
At her command, the adventurers all separated. Mages launched magic toward the dragon, but...
“Nothing’s hitting,” said Sasa.
She was right—it was too fast to pin down.
“Lucy, what about a Meteo?” I asked
“I can try, but it’ll fall on us if it misses...”
“Ack, no good then.” The damage if it missed would be too great.
Just then, the dragon roared, and something rolled off its wings.
“It’s attacking!” someone yelled.
“Run!”
Dozens of...spears...were falling from it?! That was Wood Magic: Wood Lance!
“Fuu, Lu, watch out!” Sasa yelled. She leaped up, kicking away the spears that looked like they’d hit our friends.
Dodge! I thought hurriedly, using the skill to evade.
After that wave subsided, I peered around. Several people had been struck by spears. It didn’t look like anyone was dead, but... This was bad. We couldn’t hit the dragon, but it could definitely hit us.
“It’s...using the sun at its back,” Lucy realized, looking up. The green dragon was right above us, positioned almost directly in front of the sun.
Was that on purpose...? That strategy was very intelligent for a monster... Because of the light shining behind it, the mages couldn’t target it properly. The swordsmen were out of range, and even Nina looked to be at a loss.
What was our next move? I looked around to see if anyone had an idea.
There were normally veterans other than Lucas in Macallan, but all of them were away right now. We’d gotten unlucky...
Shall I try a water dragon for the hell of it? I wondered. Lessons at the Water Temple taught me that Water Magic skills weren’t very effective against green dragons since they were wood-aligned creatures.
I didn’t have any other options though, so I decided to give it a go.
But just as I opened my mouth to call to the elementals, I heard a light tinkling noise. Suddenly, a huge blue beam of light lanced out across the sky.
The light struck the dragon, splitting its body in two, and the beast roared its last breath.
That was water mana...
There were no spellswords in Macallan that could cut a dragon in two with a single slash. Hell, there were only a few in the whole country.
I recognized that mana. However, the mana I remembered had been much weaker.
Someone landed on the ground with a slight thump. They were wearing white traveling clothes and a girlishly beautiful smile. In their hand was a gorgeous magic sword.
“Makoto, are you okay?” he asked brightly.
The voice came from none other than the Hero of Ice and Snow—Prince Leonardo.
What’s he doing here?
◇ Christina Macallan’s Perspective ◇
We were in an office in the Macallan estate. By “we,” I meant myself and my older sister, Violet.
“Chris, I will be the next Lady Macallan,” she declared with a graceful laugh. “I have the backing of the Pulteney family after all.”
I gritted my teeth. The Pulteneys were one of the highest-ranking noble families in Roses. How in the world did she form that connection?
Violet chuckled. “Younger sisters can never beat out their elders.”
“Y-You haven’t won yet, Violet! I will not give up!”
I inferred that the Pulteney backing indicated that Violet had spent a vast amount of money for her own political gain. That would be bad at the best of times, but with monster activity increasing in Roses, we needed the money to stockpile military force and provisions. Becoming the liege of the land was one thing, but it was all pointless if the person in power financially ruined Macallan.
“It seems that our contest has already been—”
Suddenly, my husband opened the door and interrupted Violet’s victory speech. “Lady Chris, we must speak.”
“Sir Fujiwara?” I asked.
“Prince Leonardo has arrived in Macallan,” he stated
My sister and I uttered confused noises. This is so abrupt... Why did the prince come here?
“Prince Leonardo is...in Macallan?” Violet murmured to herself vacantly.
Leonardo Eir Roses was the prince of Roses and the eldest son of the reigning king. The rules of succession in Roses dictated that he would inherit the title after his father.
“Wh-Why?!” Violet squawked. “He shouldn’t be able to leave the capital!”
Her earlier composure was nowhere to be seen and had been replaced with distress. However, this level of panic was no surprise—Prince Leonardo was such a high-ranking noble that the idea of him traveling to a border town like Macallan was practically unthinkable.
Sir Fujiwara did not answer Violet’s question but addressed me instead. “Lady Chris, I have been charged with Prince Leonardo’s escort,” he explained. “What will you do?”
“I-I will join you!” I exclaimed before turning to Violet. “Sister, we will continue this at a later time.”
She didn’t reply.
◇ Makoto’s Perspective ◇
“To Macallan’s great Hero of Ice and Snow, Sir Leonardo!”
“Cheers!”
The area around the guild entrance was in the midst of revelry. In other words, it was business as usual.
“Wow, so this is the guild where you spend all your time?” the prince marveled, looking around with shining eyes at the adventurers as they partied away.
“How come you’re here, Prince Leo?” Sasa asked.
“Well, about that...”
It seemed that Leo was touring the country and training—he regretted just how close Horn had come to being overrun when the blight monster attacked.
“Macallan’s right out in the sticks, though,” Lucy pointed out. “Surely there are bigger towns you could have visited.”
Lucy...you’ve got Chris—the lord of the land’s daughter—right next to you... Choose your words a bit better.
“Um, well... This is where Makoto lives...” Prince Leonardo said, looking up at me through his lashes. He blushed slightly, his cheeks becoming pink.
Cute...
By the way, there were knights guarding the prince, but they were all keeping watch outside. They could have come in and eaten too...but they’d all firmly refused. Meanwhile, the Macallan adventurers were celebrating. After all, the people we cared about had escaped harm from a swarm of monsters.
Fujiyan, Nina, and Chris had all joined us at the table, and Fujiyan had apparently provided lodgings for the prince. Well, the term “lodgings” might not have been quite accurate... In actuality, Prince Leonardo had been offered a guest room in my house. I still wasn’t entirely sure about making the prince of my country stay at a commoner’s house...
Speaking of nobility, apparently, Chris had managed to surpass her older sister. She’d thought that would be her biggest hurdle. This was great news, and according to Fujiyan and Nina, Chris’s place as Macallan’s next lord was almost set in stone, so she would be the next person to rule over this region. That sounded fantastic to me.
Still, though, it sorta felt like I hadn’t actually done anything to help... Fujiyan had just told me not to worry about it.
Well, if he said so. Anyway, I had something else to ask him.
“Oh right, Fujiyan—I’ve seen a lot of new people in Macallan...ones that I’ve never seen before. Know anything about them?”
“I do,” he replied. “They are here because you are.”
I stared blankly at him.
“Many people wished to move to Macallan because the Hero of Roses lives here,” Chris explained.
“The Fujiwara company also provides work for those that have none’h,” Nina added.
So...I was the reason that there were more strangers around? And on top of that, I was the only one who didn’t know about it?
“See!” exclaimed Lucy. “It’s so cool that you’re a hero!”
“When I’m walking around town, I occasionally hear people talking about you,” Sasa said.
For real? Well, at least the pair of them seemed happy.
After that, we spent some time talking about what Chris would be doing to develop Macallan, then moved on to discussing Fujiyan’s next business ventures.
While we were talking, Jean’s martial artist friend came over to us. “Makoto! Good work today! I’ll pour you a drink!” Though he was a new adventurer, his body was pretty built, so he must have trained himself up.
He soon introduced himself as Tony.
“Thanks, Tony,” I said as he passed me a massive glass of ale. I had no idea how I was going to drink all of it.
“Makoto, he really wanted to chat,” Jean interjected. “Play nice.”
I guess Jean was really taking the mentor thing seriously.
“Makoto! That spell was amazing!” gushed Tony. “How did you do it? Can I look at your muscles?”
“Uh, magic’s got nothing to do with muscl—”
“Wow, so these are a hero’s muscles,” Tony said, squeezing me. “They feel so nice!”
Hey, look with your eyes! I shuddered and backed up a bit.
“So, would you consider partying up with me at some point?!” he asked, immediately closing the distance between us until he was in my personal space again.
“Uh, yeah, at some point.”
“We can go to the hot springs after! I’ll wash your back!” he offered.
My backside prickled slightly for some reason.
“Makoto! I’ll come adventure with you too!” the prince added.
“S-Sure, Prince Leonardo.”
I wasn’t sure why he’d joined in the conversation. Did he even have the spare time to come adventuring?
All the while, Tony closed in oppressively while Prince Leonardo did so cutely. Is this what they call being popular with the guys? All their zealousness might not be so bad after all.
I downed the whole glass of beer.
My eyes soon found their way over to Lucy and the others.
“That Meteo Rain spell was incredible!” exclaimed the mage girl from Jean’s party. She was clinging to Lucy. Her hair was reddish-brown, and she had round eyes. I think they said her name was Monica?
For once, even Lucy seemed overwhelmed. “Um, Monica? I think you’re holding a bit too tight...”
“You’re so strong,” said the fawning Monica. “Would you go on an expedition with me at some point?”
“Y-Yeah, we can go with Emily and the others.”
Lucy was being invited as well... Maybe we could all go together and just call it a joint exercise.
Monica had started breathing heavily. “Your skin’s so nice and clear. You’re really warm as well. I want those arms around me...”
“H-Hey! Emily, I think she’s drunk,” Lucy said, looking for help from her friend.
“She is? Well, she’s a good girl. You’re in the hero’s party, so you should help your junior mages,” Emily replied before turning to Sasa. “By the way, Aya, I heard you know a lot about Labyrinthos? Do you?”
“I mean...I guess so?” Sasa answered vaguely.
Guess so, my foot—that’s where Sasa grew up in this world.
“We’re thinking of giving it a go,” Emily continued. “Mind giving us a rundown? I’ll tell you about a secret dessert shop in exchange for info.”
“Sure!” Sasa cheered.
Looks like they’ve agreed on a contract already.
“Lucy, I feel kinda dizzy,” murmured Monica. “Can you take me back to my room?”
“Calm down and have some water first.”
Lucy seemed to be on the receiving end of quite a bit of affection from her own junior. I realized that, at some point, we’d become the mentors. It made me miss the days of competing with Jean’s party as a novice group of adventurers.
We all chatted for a bit longer before I foisted Tony off on Jean and moved away. Mary had finished work for the day, so I went to sit next to her. The prince followed.
“Oh, Makoto. Good work to...day.” Mary suddenly looked startled. “Prince Leonardo?! We are honored that you would visit such a—”
The prince cut her off with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine with things being casual.”
“Thanks, Mary,” I said. “Today was a huge pain. Have monsters been coming at the town like that more often lately?”
“They have. This is the third time this month...” she lamented. Usually, Mary had a cheery expression when she drank, but now, she was gloomy.
If fights like the one today were happening constantly, then things were really bad. Prince Leonardo had luckily been there to help us, but usually, Macallan’s defense forces would have to figure things out with Lucas and the other veterans.
Unfortunately, a lot of those veterans had stopped showing up.
She glumly tilted her glass. “We’re also seeing more people get wounded... Things here aren’t good.”
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.
She looked blankly at me for a second and then suddenly started to smile. “When did my little Makoto get so reliable? I should’ve called dibs earlier.” She reached up and started giving me a noogie.
“Ow, jeez.” Yup, that’s more like the Mary I know.
At that, her mood seemed to perk up. “Right, then let’s drink! To Makoto, the hero!”
“We’ve already celebrated that a dozen times,” I complained.
“You two are close,” Prince Leonardo remarked as he sipped his soda.
Whoops, I’d been neglecting the prince...
“We are, Prince Leonardo,” Mary replied. “I was the one that issued Makoto’s adventurer license when he first came to Macallan. Then he got famous for hunting goblins and—”
“Quit it, Mary,” I griped. I just knew she was about to reveal that embarrassing old nickname.
“I want to hear about Makoto’s adventures!” said the prince enthusiastically.
“I’ll tell you everything then!” Mary cheered back.
Damn, she’s in chatty mode. We’ll be here for a while.
Well, whatever—the night is still young.
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