Whew… That was exhausting… Having to give a report to Flanne after being attacked is too much. Some days are just unlucky. First Galene, then that weird guy…? Is there anyone in this world that knows how to talk things out?

  But fine. Some things are outside your control. What matters is that I survived and can now share the story with others. Or whine about it to someone else. When Sarasa told me that she had a room she was staying at in the hotel, she told me I could show up at any time. Time to make use of that.

  *Knock knock*

  “Hey, Sarasa! Hope I’m not bothering y-”

  “Nyahahahahaha! This one’s good! Look at this one!” There were two girls sitting next to each other on a bed. The more ecstatic of the two shoved her phone in the other girl’s nose while kicking her legs in laughter. “Look, look!”

  “Uhhh… Sarasa… This is not the time for that…” A finger pointed at me. Their gazes followed its direction, and when we locked eyes, they both froze.

  “Iroha…” Sarasa’s cat ears slumped forward. “H- hi…!”

  “This is not what it looks like! We’re not doing anything inappropriate! At least I wasn’t… I was going to do some research like you taught me.”

  Frantically, Ririna stood up and waved her hands around, forcing out an excuse.

  “Hey! Don’t toss me to wolves like that! You’re gonna make it sound like it’s all my fault!” Payback came as her pushing Ririna’s side. “I’m not doing anything bad either! I’m not letting myself be influenced. Nyaa!” She struck a cutesy cat pose while kneeling on the bed. “See? I’m normal.”

  “Isn’t that a bit too cliché? Are you really the type of character that does that?” A blush formed on her face like she realized she just did something embarrassing.

  To be fair, I can’t tell whether she picked that up online or if that type of cat pose made it to this world through the developers of the game, so I’ll let it slide.

  Rather, I’d let it slide regardless… I’m no longer that worried about what they do online. I feel like I’ve seen the worst already.

  “I- I sure am! It’s totally normal for me…” Sarasa kept up the act, but she was in a rush to change topics. “Oh? You look a little disheveled, Iroha… Are you okay? What’s going on? Wanna talk about it?”

  I didn’t have time to respond before she got behind and gently pushed my shoulders forward. Ririna near the bed received me, and they squeezed me down between the two of them.

  “You’re right… It’s like you’ve been roughed up. Did you get in a fight? You’re not hurt, are you?”

  “I took some damage, but not the type that leaves wounds. I didn’t get in a fight, though. I got in two fights. Almost died in one of them.”

  “*Sigh…*” The usual troublemaker condescendingly shook her head. “You should know better than to pick fights with random people. This is what happens when you do that. Even I rarely ever do it.”

  “Strange… I feel like you’re doing it right now…”

  If I wasn’t being placated with two girls pampering me on both sides, I might have gotten back at her for that attitude. They were being extra gentle so I wouldn’t ask about the phones, but that wouldn’t work if Sarasa acted this way. What are you doing? Asked Ririna through a glare. Cute…

  “But for your information, I didn’t pick any fights. I got attacked. Twice. That’s why I’m the state that I am… Exhausted.”

  “You were attacked twice?” The brilliant Sarasa came up with something else. “Sounds like you were too passive then! If you don’t punch back, people are gonna keep picking on you. Throw the first punch next time! Get them before they can get you!”

  Is this her attempt at encouraging me? “You giving me advice on how to deal with bullies or something? No wait, you’re telling me to throw the first punch? You want me to be the bully?”

  “She’s just saying the first thing that comes to mind. Don’t mind her.” Ririna was holding my arm with one hand while the other brushed against my dress and hair to clean up. “Why don’t you tell us what happened for now?”

  “So… I met Galene today.”

  “And you ended up fighting? That can’t be good.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Sarasa. We fought, but we ended up making up in the end. It was a success all in all, but it was so stupid. Bea took me to some arena here in Ebrilyon without telling me anything, and Galene was there waiting to attack me.”

  The arena for the tournament? They whispered during my pause so as not to interrupt me.

  Taking advantage of the situation for some last-minute prep. Sounds like something Bea would do.

  “Obviously, I wasn’t expecting to be attacked, so she caught me by surprise and gave me a really hard time. I managed to win at the end, but when I asked why she did that, she said something completely stupid. ‘True warriors communicate through battle.’ Like, how the hell does that work? Is she a necromancer? She’s gonna need to learn how to talk to corpses at this rate!”

  They let me rant all the way to the end. “There, there… Sounds like you had a rough time.” Sarasa tapped my head.

  “But you won against the Hero, didn’t you? Hehe… That’s so cool!” The glimmer in Ririna’s eyes made the hassle worth it in hindsight. “What about the other fight?”

  “That’s the one I don’t understand. It was just a random guy who attacked me out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Stronger than Galene, maybe… Maybe I was just tired… But I had no chance of winning.”

  “That explains the noise we heard earlier…” Ririna noted.

  “What do you mean by a random guy? Someone you don’t know? What did he look like?” Now with a more serious tone, Sarasa waited for an answer.

  “I don’t know him, but I think he’s involved with Galene somehow. He had blonde hair, a little lighter than mine. Wore a coat of some kind. That’s all I remember.” He’s probably a character from the game, except I don’t remember him.

  “Hmmm…” Her hands let go of my arm, then she crossed them. “I know someone who fits that description…”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah… I know a guy like that. One who seemed weirdly interested in Galene. When we went to the castle and first got involved with her, he’s the one who told me the key card was there. His name’s Molt.”

  “Molt…” Molt… Yeah… That was his name… I mean, was it? I don’t remember anyone with that name appearing in this part of the game. The name’s not completely strange, but it’s not jogging my memory…

  “What does he want?” I asked. “He’s after Galene somehow, isn’t he? Is he trying to kill her?”

  “Maybe… It’s not like I know him too well. Just his name and what he looks like. But he’s a human. If he is an enemy, that means demons are involved in this somehow. They’re the real enemies here…”

  “I guess you’re right…” Thinking about it, it doesn’t really matter who he is, just who he’s working for. If this is somehow following how the game develops, then Galene is probably not going to die. She’s just going to be forced into a path with many, potentially orchestrated, hardships that will cause her great emotional distress. Pretty bad.

  “Well, it was a rough day, but it wasn’t all bad… Making up with Galene more than made up for anything bad that happened…”

  She promised she would help. We may not know who this Molt is or what he wants, but at least we can pursue the lead Endell gave me on Ayumu now.

  …

  “…so now we can go to the Forest of Illusion.” That was how I revealed the good news to Sarasa and Ririna, but also to Carol and Hecate when I got back.

  “That’s what you’ve been up to on the other side…” Inside the dorm, there was an impromptu meeting going on in my room. Carol smirked, pleased with the developments. “Well done. I can’t wait to face Ayumu head-on… How dare she attack you when Hecate and I weren’t there? When are we going?”

  “We? Wait… We’re probably not going to find her in the Forest of Illusion, just another lead to bring us closer… I don’t wanna drag you with me for no reason…”

  “No reason, you say…” This is an opportunity for Hecate to catch up to Carol in her eyes, so she immediately found a reason. “From what I’ve heard, journeying into that forest is dangerous. We’d be heartbroken if something happened to you while we weren’t there. We’ll go with you.”

  “Yeah… Obviously. What are you trying to leave us behind for? We’ll go with you!”

  Sigh… This is the same thing that happened with Sarasa and Ririna… As soon as I told them about the Forest of Illusion, they also insisted on tagging along.

  I wanted to go with just Galene and Flanne, but all of a sudden, we got a pretty big group coming along.

  “A- are you absolutely sure? Is there no way to convince you?” Their faces were determined. “There are more reports of monsters going around lately, right? And we don’t know when Ayumu might return and make more monsters. We can’t leave Narumi and Katja to deal with it on their own. This might take a few days!”

  It’s okay. They can handle it. Most are false reports. The PSF can handle it for a while. We deserve a break anyway. Those were their reasons. Neither of them seemed concerned.

  “B- but it will look suspicious, right? For Carol, we can tell the others we’re taking days off to train like last time, but what about you, Hecate? You take care of all the chores in the dorm. They’re going to feel your absence, they’re gonna ask questions.”

  “It should be fine… Shinji can take care of them for a few days. Besides, Carol and I are the ones that ask the most questions, so we’ll be fine. I’ll tell them I’m accompanying you on your training to cook, and they’ll understand.”

  “Ahahahaha… How carefree…” Just like with Sarasa and Ririna, there’s no convincing them… This is going to be more chaotic than I expected.

  …

  I spent the next two days going around making preparations. I went back and forth between the two worlds, always accompanied by a helper. Who it was would change constantly too. Carol would see me at the dorm and give me a hand, then Ririna would ask me to meet up after receiving a message and join for a while.

  Flanne estimated that if everything went perfect, we could get to the Pillar of Void and return in two days, and so, we bought supplies for five days, at Sarasa’s suggestion.

  Galene didn’t mind the extra people coming along, mostly because she already knew most of them. There were enough gryphons for everyone, and Abby helped with the logistics.

  Everyone prepared in their own unique way, and I was no different. Before setting out on an adventure, I had to make sure my skill points were put to good use.

  [Iroha Shinohara: Lv.51]

  [Skill Points: 100]

  That’s a lot of points. Seems almost irresponsible to leave them there instead of using them, but it actually works out in my favor. I crossed level 50 in the mall by farming Ayumu’s nutcracker soldiers, and that unlocked something kinda nice…

  [Swordsmanship – False Flower (Cost: 100 Skill Points)]

  [Swordsmanship – Needle of Fate (Cost: 100 Skill Points)]

  Tadaa~! The most expensive skills I’ve unlocked to date. More expensive than Violence Impulse or Mind Transience, the upgrade of Psychological Attack Resistance. It’s a ridiculous price, but whether they’re worth it or not is a different story, and I think they might just be.

  What makes these two skills special, other than requiring at least level 50 to become available, is that they work like finishing moves. Their effects are much more powerful, but to balance it out, they also have a cooldown. Cooldowns long enough that they probably can’t be used twice in the same fight.

  As for what each skill does, by looking at it, False Flower seems like a counter, while Needle of Fate is some sort of special stab.

  False Flower, when activated, makes my next step teleport me to the front of a selected target while in a counter state. Being attacked during that state would automatically make me teleport around the enemy while unleashing a barrage of slashes. If I had to guess, I probably got this available for using Parrying Strike and Slash Flurry a lot.

  Needle of Fate seems like a more powerful Heart Piercer. It’s a thrust like Heart Piercer, but the big difference is that it always does its full damage. It’s unavoidable, unblockable, unmitigable, and all that jazz. The only downside is that it’s just one attack. And while it’s more powerful than a single Heart Piercer, it doesn’t mean it can one-shot everything. Wouldn’t one-shot me if used on myself, I’m pretty sure.

  Both are really cool, but I’ve already made up my mind.

  [Skill – False Flower acquired.]

  I’m taking the counter. I can use Heart Piercer to do what the other skill would do for the time being, and False Flower seems like the safer choice. If I’m up against a strong enemy, like the lightning guy, it will be great to have a move that can counter one of their attacks and deal a lot of damage to even out the playing field.

  Whatever the Forest of Illusions ends up throwing at us, I’m confident I’ll be able to handle it now.