(9:03 AM)
"Ow!"
They woke me up with a hit to the head! What did I do now?!
"Huh?!" I say, confused and startled.
I jump up quickly and see my grandma, Sara, and Alex standing in front of me. M-my grandma looks mad. What did I do now?! I haven't done anything wrong!
"G-good morning… Who hit me?"
"Your grandma did," Sara says.
"I didn't raise you like that. Taking advantage of a girl you barely know."
"Taking advantage?"
What's she talking about? Rem just shared the bed with me; we didn't do anything wrong. I'll ask Rem to clear up the misunderstanding.
I turn to Rem and get nervous. W-what?! What?!
"R-Rem?!" I say, nervous, my face completely red.
Rem's naked next to me! Why did she sleep naked?! Arghhh! My grandma probably thinks I had sex with Rem!
"Rem, wake up and clear up the misunderstanding!"
She slowly opens her eyes.
"Good…"
She yawns.
"… morning."
Uwaaah! I can see her nipples! Daniel, don't look!
I cover my eyes with my right hand.
"W-why… Why are you naked?!"
"When I was alive, I used to sleep naked."
"Sleep naked when you have your own bed, not when you're sharing one with someone else!"
I turn to my grandma.
"I didn't take advantage of her! I swear! It's not my fault she has no common sense!"
My grandma laughs and smiles at me.
"Don't worry, I know you wouldn't do that. I only hit you because I was shocked at first seeing you two like that."
"T-thanks."
I grab some clothes from the floor.
Rem, you're weird! Who sleeps naked with a guy they barely know?! You lack common sense!
"C-changing the subject, Rem and I finished the bathroom."
My grandma and the others go into the bathroom.
"Amazing!" Alex says.
"It's even nicer than the one we had," my grandma says.
Any bathroom's better than ours, grandma; we have to admit it. At least it worked.
I explain how to use it… It was a clear and simple explanation; they understood quickly, and good, because I'm too lazy to drag it out. I'm still sleepy.
"Incredible!" Sara says.
"Now get out; I need to change."
They all leave the bathroom, and I change clothes. Ugh, I feel a bit better now.
"Now I'm more comfortable."
I step out and realize Rem's still naked, so I cover my eyes with my left hand.
Does she have no shame?!
"Rem, put some clothes on!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Rem puts on clothes quickly. I-I appreciate the speed, Rem. Mental note: never share a bed with Rem again; she might try to assault me!
"You can open your eyes now," Rem says.
I uncover my eyes and sigh. This girl needs a lesson in common sense. And I need to make it clear I'm not interested in having a girlfriend or lover! Her flirting attempts will never work!
Ugh, better not think about it anymore.
"The house has three floors; I'll build a room for each of you… Alex, do you have a house?"
"I live in a village near the castle, but I could move here."
Huh? Is Alex that poor?
"The poor village?"
Alex steps closer and looks at me with super soft eyes. W-what? What's she doing?
"Yeah, I was a lone adventurer. When I saw you defeat the Black Demon in one hit, I was amazed, and when you helped our village with money, I realized you're a great and good person. Daniel, you're the person I admire most!"
I blush a bit at her words… It feels nice when people think you're good.
Alex probably trained her whole life to lift her family out of poverty. Alex, I promise your family will never lack money, and if I have extra, the rest of that village won't either.
"S-so… you're moving in with us?"
"Of course!"
"Alright, I'll build four rooms. Sara has her own house, so no need to build one for her."
"I'll go get my stuff!"
Alex runs out of the house.
"And Liz?" Sara asks.
"She lives in the castle; I doubt she'd want to live here."
After all, the castle has luxuries and all that rich people stuff. No one would move here with all those luxuries.
Knock knock knock
Someone's at the door. Oh, visitors.
"Who could it be?"
I open the door and see Liz and Rose standing at the entrance.
"Glad to see you again, Daniel," Rose says.
"Hey, Rose. Good morning."
I see two men with suitcases behind her. What's Rose planning?
"What are you doing here?"
I hope they're not government workers coming to collect taxes, considering I earned a lot of money.
I don't have money anymore! Arghhh! I don't want legal trouble for not paying taxes! I thought those were due at the end of the year!
"My sister told me she joined your group, so she needs to be with you."
Phew. Thank goodness.
"So I'm moving here!" Liz says.
Oh, I'm saved… Wait, here?
"Here? In this house?"
"Yeah. That's not a problem, right?" Rose says.
"I guess not."
"Some servants will come to build rooms. Consider it a thank you from the King."
"Really? Thank you so much! We'll need five rooms, please."
Thanks, that'll save us energy and money.
"No problem."
… Rose… I hear she's an expert in magical matters. Maybe she knows something about this new ability I have.
I turn to Rem.
"By the way, Rose, I need to talk to you."
"Sure, what's up?"
"Rem, come here, please."
Rem steps next to me.
"This is Rem; I revived her last night."
"Nice to meet you!" Rem says cheerfully.
"Likewise."
They shake hands.
"The thing is, I saw her ghost, and according to her, no one can see ghosts. Is that true?"
"Ghosts?!" Liz says, excited.
I turn to her.
Liz looks at me with sparkling eyes. Wow. So cute.
"You can see ghosts?!"
"Calm down, sister. Honestly, it doesn't surprise me. Normal people can only hear ghosts. According to a book I read, people with both angel and demon magic can see ghosts."
Oh, that makes sense. I guess it's because angel and demon attributes are tied to hell and heaven, so they're linked to the spiritual.
"Excuse me…"
My grandma joins the conversation.
"I have angel magic. Can I see ghosts too?"
"I assume you're Daniel's grandma; you have the same eyes. You have angel magic? Daniel, your family is weird and fascinating. Interesting."
"T-thanks."
"The answer is no. Only people with both angel and demon magic can see ghosts. Since you have all types of magic, you can see them."
Both? Wow, wow.
"Amazing… Wow, wow, have there been people with those two types of magic?"
"I don't know."
… Huh? She doesn't know?
"Then how do you know only people with those two types of magic can see ghosts?"
"I don't know; that's what the book says. It's a very old book. Want me to show it to you?"
"Maybe later. Thanks."
It could be useful, but I still have a lot to do today.
"The King asked me to tell you he wants to meet with you; he needs to discuss something important."
Ugh, what a drag. I was planning to sleep more and then check out more weird animals. I want to show my grandma the place so she can get used to it.
"Today?"
"If you can, yes."
… I'll probably get new spells or important info if I go… Ugh, the work never ends.
"I guess I can go."
"I'll go with you," my grandma says.
"Of course, grandma."
"I want to go, Dani!" Rem says.
"Sure, I guess it's fine if they come with me, right?"
"When it comes to you, it doesn't matter," Rose says.
"When will the servants come?"
"In a few minutes; they're bringing the materials."
I turn to Sara, who hasn't spoken, probably out of respect or fear of Rose.
"Sara, want to come?"
"Can I?" she says, a big smile spreading across her face.
"Of course."
"Let's go!" Sara says, excited.
How cute.
Ugh… The castle's boring.
I don't know why she's so excited about it.
I step away from them and stand in the middle of the street. I refuse to go in a carriage.
I extend my right hand.
"Divine horse, come to me!"
A circle appears, and the unicorn shows up.
"Amazing!" Rem says, seeing it for the first time.
Rem looks shocked… Well, I guess it's her first time seeing a unicorn… Aren't unicorns common in this world? I'll look into it later.
"You're making a habit of calling me, don't you think?" the unicorn says.
Shit… He's mad at me… I feel bad… I should use him less. He has his own personal life too.
"S-sorry."
"Honestly, it doesn't bother me; I like being in this world."
I sigh in relief. Thank you, Mr. Unicorn.
Sara climbs onto the unicorn… Ugh… I was going to ride him, but fine, I'll fly.
"By the way, do you have a name?"
"I'm Treis, nice to meet you."
Treis… Short but cute.
"I'm Daniel, nice to meet you."
Treis gallops off, and I turn to Rose.
"Alright, let's go?"
King, I just hope you don't waste my time.
•
•
Daniel and Sonia's relationship was quite sweet and pure, at least until Sonia ruined it.
They're childhood friends and have always been best friends.
That's why her betrayal hurt Daniel so much. If his girlfriend were just a girl he'd known for less than a year, it wouldn't have hit him as hard, but Sonia was Daniel's childhood friend, someone very important to him… That's why her betrayal hurt him so deeply.
Sonia, a girl Daniel had known since they were little kids, betrayed his trust, and that's why Daniel can only trust his grandma.
"Daniel, open the door!!"
A girl is pounding on the door of Daniel's house. Next to her is a boy. The boy has black hair, wears black glasses, is tall and thin, and is dressed in a school uniform consisting of a white shirt and black pants. The girl is as tall as the boy, has long black hair, and wears a school uniform with a black skirt and a white blouse.
Cris and Sonia, Daniel's childhood friends.
"Daniel, please open!" Sonia says.
"Sonia, he's not going to open; he's really mad at you. I highly doubt he'll want to see you again."
"I have to talk to him and explain what really happened. What he saw was a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? Don't fool me; I'm the one who told Daniel you were cheating on him. You really think I didn't notice?"
"You're an idiot, brother!!"
"I'm the idiot?! You're the idiot who lost Daniel by trading him for a manipulative guy with money! Let me guess, he convinced you to cheat on Daniel because he shares the same tastes as you, right?"
"W-what?"
Sonia's naive look confirms Cris's suspicions, and he clicks his tongue, irritated.
"I can't believe you fell for his trick… Sister, Daniel's my best friend; he doesn't deserve this. Just accept you lost him and leave him alone. You screwed up, sister."
"I'm sure he'll believe me!"
"Tsk. You have no shame."
"Daniel, open!"
Sonia tries to open the door and realizes it's unlocked.
"It's not locked."
Sonia opens the door.
"Daniel, I'm coming in!"
"Hey, we shouldn't go in without permission."
"Don't be a coward. Come on, Cris."
Cris steps in and locks the door behind him.
"Fine, let's go."
Sonia and Cris search the house. There's hardly anything—just a few plates, cups, and a chair. The walls aren't painted… It's really a poor person's house… Nothing valuable.
"It's been days since I've seen him; he must still be really depressed," Sonia says.
"Let me refresh your memory. His grandma died, you cheated on him, and he sold what little he had to pay for her funeral. Of course he's depressed, idiot!"
They enter a room and are startled by what's hanging there.
"Huh?!" Sonia says.
They see the rope hanging and come to the same conclusion: "Daniel wants to commit suicide."
"Daniel wants to kill himself?!" Cris says.
"Or maybe he already did!"
"There hasn't been news about a suicide; we'd have heard about something that serious."
"Now I feel bad."
"Poor guy, he must be more depressed than I thought… Huh?"
A small spark comes from the rope.
"Huh? Did you see that, brother?" Sonia says, confused.
Sonia touches the rope with her right hand and gets a small electric shock.
"Arghhh!"
Sonia pulls away from the rope.
"What's wrong?" Cris says.
"The rope shocked me."
"The rope?"
Cris touches the rope with his right hand and gets a massive electric shock, leaving him stuck, unable to pull his hand away.
"Arghhh!!" Cris screams in pain.
"Brother!"
Cris is stuck, unable to let go, scaring his sister, who doesn't know what to do.
"Brother!"
Sonia tries to help him but starts getting a massive shock too.
"Arghhh!!" they both scream in pain.
And as they suffer, a bright light bursts from the rope.
"What's happening?!"
The light is so intense they have to close their eyes to avoid burning them.
"I'm scared, brother!"
The light fades, and they appear in a forest.
Slowly, they open their eyes, freaked out by the sudden change of scenery.
"What happened?!" Cris says, confused and scared.
"Where are we?!"
"Why are we here?!"
And so, Cris and Sonia ended up in the same world as Daniel, due to a mistake by God.
•
•
(POV - Daniel)
I'm standing in front of the King, trying to process the information I just got. Did I hear that right?
"You want me to do what?"
"I want you to join our army; with your power, we could easily defeat those filthy demi-humans and take their territory," the King says.
They do exist… I knew it! There are demi-humans! Though I'm worried about this war against them.
"Demi-humans? You mean humans with animal tails and ears?"
"Most are like that; some of those monsters even have animal heads."
… Monsters?
I admit it sounds weird, humans with animal heads, but why call them monsters? What have they done to earn the humans' hatred? I need to find out first before deciding.
"Where are they?"
"Hundreds of years ago, they fled the country and formed their own."
"Give me the history lesson later. What's the country called?"
"Soular."
It's pretty close; it won't take me long to get there.
"And why are you fighting?"
"They're a threat to normal humans, and besides, we believe they're helping the demons with a job."
A job?
"Helping the demons?"
"Yes, that's why we need to kill them."
If it's true they're helping the demons, then yeah, I think we should stop them, but…
Honestly, it seems unlikely. Why would demons need help from demi-humans? What do they have that demons don't? I need to investigate first.
"Wow, wow. I see… I refuse. I don't want to."
"What?!" the King says, angry.
Did you really think I'd agree? Yeah, I want to kill demons, but don't think you can trick me by saying demi-humans help demons just to get me to fight in your stupid war.
"I can't help you without confirming your story. I'll go to that country and investigate on my own."
"You can't go! It's forbidden; that's an order from the King!"
"Fufu. You're funny. I don't even have citizenship in this country. You can't forbid me because you're not my King; I never swore loyalty to you. You can't give me orders."
"Of course I can!"
"No, you can't. I'm not a legal citizen of this country."
I'm from another world. You're not my King.
"Of course I can give you orders, filthy peasant!!"
"Wow, wow. Listen, I bathed last night… Ugh, you're kind of annoying. Bye. Let's go."
I walk away, and my grandma and companions follow. I'll go to that country and try to confirm the King's story. If he lied, I'll do everything I can to stop the war. Our enemy is the demons; we should focus on them, not kill each other.
"I won't allow it!"
The King stands from his throne.
"Guards, kill Daniel!"
Huh? This has to be a joke.
The guards surround us, and Sara gets nervous.
Do you really think you can stop me? Me? The guy who defeated Sandro? You really think simple guards will stop me? Intelligence clearly isn't your strength, is it, King?
I knew you were evil.
You've lost a powerful warrior blessed by God forever because of your idiocy, and one day you'll regret your mistake.
"We're dead; we made the King angry!" Sara says, scared.
"Kill those adventurers too!" the King says, furious.
You threatened my grandma? Tsk. You're lucky I don't kill innocents, so I won't fight the guards seriously, and I can't kill you either because it'd probably cause me a ton of problems that would ruin my stay in this world.
But one day, you'll regret trying to kill my grandma, idiot.
"Don't worry, I have a plan. Everyone, hold onto me. Muslar asio!"
My grandma grabs my right arm, Rem grabs my left, and Sara hugs my chest.
"Arches Nexus!"
I start floating and extend my right hand, pointing at the ground, as the guards try to attack me.
"Crea!"
I turn the entire floor into ice.
"See ya!"
The guards try to approach and slip. Wow, wow. It actually worked. Improvising isn't always bad.
"This is fun," I say, smiling, because it's amusing watching them try to stand and slip.
But sorry, I can't stay to watch; I gotta go. Bye.
I fly out of the castle through an open window.
"Dani, I'm gonna fall!" my grandma says.
"Me too!" Sara says.
"Not me; I'm holding on tight!" Rem says.
"Rem, don't pull my hair!" I complain.
We get far from the castle, and I start descending so my grandma can rest—and me too! It's tough carrying all three; they move too much.
"I can't hold on anymore."
I land on the ground. I need some extra help.
"Divine horse, come to me!"
The unicorn, Treis, appears, and I sigh in relief.
"Alright… Get on!"
The three climb onto Treis quickly.
"Get to the village, find a carriage, and grab your stuff! We're outta here!"
They nod, and I pat Treis.
"Please don't leave until I tell you."
"No problem."
Treis gallops off, and I turn to look at the castle.
I know in fantasy stories, demi-humans are discriminated against by humans.
I won't help the humans.
And I won't help the demi-humans either.
I'll find a way to bring peace… Our main enemy is the demons; we don't have time to fight among ourselves.
"There's something fishy about this country; I shouldn't trust the Kings. Arches Nexus!"
I fly off.
"Treis is as fast as me, but he has to avoid rough paths… I think we'll escape quickly."
The guards are weak. I'm confident in my abilities.
The only thing that worries me is if there are more powerful adventurers like Sandro who could give me a fight in this place.
I can't and shouldn't let my guard down.
•
•
In the village
Sonia and Cris are walking nervously through the village, completely disoriented, as they don't recognize anything.
"Are we dead and in paradise?" Cris says.
Sonia watches men fighting and women walking nearly naked in the street like it's nothing.
"I think we're in hell."
"What is this place?!" Cris says, scared and worried.
"Excuse me, miss."
Sandro approaches Sonia.
"If I ever did anything inappropriate to you, I beg you to forgive me."
"Huh? But I don't know you," Sonia says.
"Well, I don't want to bother you. Bye."
"Wait, where are we?"
"You're in Central Village 1."
"Central Village 1?"
Sandro walks away.
"I have to finish apologizing, or Daniel will kill me again. I have to finish apologizing, or Daniel will kill me again," he says, clearly disturbed.
"Daniel will kill him?" Cris says.
Cris approaches Sandro.
"Wait!" Cris says.
Sandro turns to them.
"Yeah?"
"Daniel will kill you again? What do you mean by that?" Cris says.
"Yeah, I have to apologize to all the girls I treated badly, or he'll kill me."
"Daniel?" Sonia says.
"Must be a coincidence," Cris says.
Sonia and Cris see Daniel running a few meters away from them.
"Daniel?"
He passes by them but doesn't notice they're there.
He runs off toward his house, leaving Cris and Sonia speechless, never expecting to see him in this place.
"Sonia… Is that Daniel?"
"H-he looks like him."
Sonia turns to Sandro.
"Excuse me, is that the guy who killed you?" Sonia says, pointing at Daniel with her index finger.
"Yeah, he's the strongest adventurer in the guild, Daniel."
Sandro walks away from them.
"What's going on?!" they both say, freaked out.
•
•
(POV - Daniel)
I enter the house and see several of the King's workers inside.
"I want you to leave immediately, please!"
All the workers leave without hesitation at my order, and I scratch my head.
Ugh, everything's ruined. Stupid King.
"They're not here yet."
I go into the bathroom and take a picture of it.
"For rebuilding it later."
I step out of the bathroom, grab all my clothes, and put them on the mattress.
"Where do I store this?"
I pick up a shirt.
"Crea!"
I transform it into a box.
"Alright."
I toss my clothes into the box, and my grandma and Rem enter the house.
"Sara went to get her clothes; we already got a carriage!" Rem says.
"Throw your clothes in the box, quick!"
I step outside to keep watch. I don't want adventurers, mercenaries, or whatever trying to stop us surrounding us… Huh?
W-what?
I-I see two people I really didn't expect to see here.
"Daniel, is that you?" Sonia says.
"Sonia and Cris?!" I say, confused and shocked.
Are they really them?! Uwaaah! What are they doing here?!