On the way back, the king looks at me with a serious expression.
“I have judged your character as a man and found it good overall,” he says, steeping his fingers before his face before locking eyes with me, “but before this can go any further, I need details regarding the betrayal you mentioned. The magic behind the Absolute Loyalty Seal is a very serious matter.”
I interlace my fingers in front of my face and glance to my left.
He follows my eyes and pauses.
“Ah. I see.”
He reaches up, loosens a black curtain on the carriage wall, and reveals a faint glowing pattern—similar to the one on his hand during Encrypted Speech.
“Sir Kaijuu, please feed some magic into this pattern with me.”
We both do.
The circle glows red, then fades.
“Our conversation in this cabin is now encrypted. Please proceed.”
I nod—and begin explaining everything.
My Arrival
I woke up on a bed in an unfamiliar room. All I remembered was falling asleep in my old world the night before.
“Kaijuu Ryu, welcome to our world. My name is Mel. I have been assigned to you.”
He stood beside the bed, looking me over, marking something on his clipboard.
“No visible abnormalities found. Do you feel okay? Any dizziness or anything unusual? Tell me even the smallest thing.”
“I feel a bit dizzy.”
“That’s normal. It’ll go away shortly. Anything else?”
“No.”
“Please look at your hands for me.”
I raised them.
They looked… wrong. Too smooth. No pores. No arm hair.
Another dizzy wave hit me.
“My hands are… wrong.”
“I see. Please bear with me—I’ll fix you right up.”
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He placed a hand on my chest; a soft glow lit up beneath my shirt.
“Initializing.”
The glow faded. A translucent screen with numbers and bars appeared in the air.
All the bars filled, and the dizziness vanished.
The screen disappeared.
Mel moved behind my head, placing two fingers on my temples.
“Calibrating optical.”
He lifted his hands.
“How’s that? Look at your hands again.”
I did.
Everything looked normal again. Details crisp.
My brain still not fully processing any of it.
He explained that I’d been summoned, that every person’s arrival was different.
Some remembered hospitals. Others collapsing in the street.
Most, like me, simply woke up here after going to bed.
Not very helpful.
He questioned me about my old life.
Occupation?
Store clerk.
Hobbies?
Gaming. Amateur speedrunning.
He didn’t know what that meant.
And that was that.
I gathered my belongings.
My cellphone was there.
Cracked screen—still recognizable.
I tried turning it on.
Nothing.
Tried removing the back cover.
Wouldn’t budge.
HOME button?
Welded in place.
Completely dead.
I got a bit of money, a map to the Adventurer’s Guild, and a map to the employment office.
They practically shooed me out the door afterward.
I decided on becoming an adventurer.
I registered, worked small jobs, found a rhythm. After a few weeks, things felt manageable.
About a year and a half later, I forgot my food at the inn. I only realized when I was starving. A group of adventurers helped me—one of them a huge guy. Really huge. They shared their food.
That night, I asked if he was a giant or something.
They laughed.
The next day, during our walk back, we were attacked by wolves. Most of us escaped fine, but the big guy took bad injuries. He drank three HP potions, yet his health didn’t even reach one quarter. They were decent potions, too.
It made me curious again.
I learned the Foraging skill and noticed that plants I picked later in the day had better properties—especially stamina flowers.
It had to be tied to my own stamina.
I tested it.
Rather than harvesting when tired, I dug up plants whole and only harvested once my stamina dropped below 10%.
The results were incredible.
I applied the same method to MP and HP plants.
HP plants were dangerous, so I bought monster repellent.
That’s when I met Steph.
She joined me.
She was attractive—so I explained what I was doing.
Then she vanished. No goodbye.
Suddenly the high-quality plants I sold were dropping in value.
The wholesaler said the market was flooded—but he wouldn’t say by who.
So I staked the place out.
And saw Steph again.
I confronted her.
She claimed not to know me—then had me thrown out and blacklisted.
Nearly arrested.
One guard pulled me aside. Told me her real name was Lillith, daughter of a wealthy merchant.
He advised I leave town.
But I couldn’t let it go.
I followed their wagons into the forest and saw slaves—dozens of them—using my harvesting method.
They spotted me.
I barely escaped.
I fled that same night.
Headed north.
Crossed into the Shadowfall Kingdom from the East Empire.
I never partied up again.
The King’s Judgment
The king listens quietly the entire time.
“I understand now,” he finally says. “It is reasonable you would not trust easily after such betrayal. Very well. I can grant special permission for the Absolute Loyalty Seal—provided my daughter agrees. Do not worry. I will convince her when the time comes.”
I exhale slowly.
“King Raymond… what exactly is the Absolute Loyalty Seal?”
He remains silent a moment.
“All I can say is that it guarantees what happened to you will never happen with my daughter. To ease any concerns, I will send the relevant research documents to your room later.”
He sits back, arms folded, eyes closed—like someone weighing risks he cannot speak aloud.
And our carriage continues forward into the fading light.
