“Princess Beatrize, it’s an honor to meet you. Thank you so much for your invitation.”

  “Please raise your head. The pleasure is all ours, Heroine Galene. It’s an honor to receive the Hero of Humanity in our country, Ebrilyon. I’d love for you to make yourselves at home.” With courteous gestures, the princess insisted that the bck-haired heroine stand up. Between the two of them, who should kneel to whom wasn’t exactly clear.

  “Heroine Galene, please stand up. I’d like to invite you to take a seat so we can talk.” The princess welcomed the heroine to the castle in a luxurious guest room. With a female knight behind her, the princess gestured to a set of two wide couches facing each other. The heroine and her red-haired companion stood up and politely sat on the farther couch.

  After the two had time to settle, the princess sat across from them with her knight behind her. “Once again, many thanks for accepting my invitation, Heroine Galene. Please allow me to introduce myself properly. My name is Beatrize Eblyon, and this is my attendant, Fnne Valoria.” With one hand behind her back and the other below her chest, the knight vowed.

  “My name is Galene Laithmay, and this is my companion…” She turned to the girl with an oversized sorcerer’s hat.

  “A- Abby Lineth! I- it’s an honor to meet you!” The heroine was calm on the surface, but her friend was internally biting her lip. She was supposed to be a great sorceress. The two of them were on the path to becoming the most important people in the world. What happened to her nerve? Why was she getting nervous talking to the princess of a country whose only purpose was protecting against the Endless Silver?

  Luckily, the btant disrespect stayed only in her thoughts. “Princess Beatrize, sorry for being presumptuous, but the reason you called us here is to discuss the quest mentioned in your letter, correct?”

  “That’s right. I received word from Azcester to rely on the Hero for this matter. Fnne here will give you details.” The princess gestured towards her knight, who nodded. After making sure she had the other two’s attention, she started.

  “The task we’d like you to do is reinforcing a certain seal. There is a castle to the southwest with a monster from the Violence era sealed inside.” The knight circled around the couch and pced a blue crystal on the table between both parties. “All you need to do is make your way towards the top of the castle and repce the gem on the statue there. You may run into monsters and traps there, so make sure to prepare accordingly.” She took a step back, having fulfilled her duty.

  “Can we count on you, Heroine Galene?”

  The heroine grabbed the crystal and looked up at the girl across from her. “Of course, princess. It’s my duty to help the people of this nd. I promise we’ll get it done!”

  The princess nodded with a smile. “We wish you luck.”

  Trudging along the waterfalls, the four of us headed towards our destination. We had just crossed yet another stream, and Sarasa was retively calm right now. A nice change of pace.

  “Do you know anything about where we’re going?” Carol found an opportunity to talk to me alone. While the other two were a couple steps ahead.

  “Uhmm… No? How am I supposed to know?”

  “I don’t know, like, from the game? That you pyed?” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t bme you if you don’t remember, but at least try.”

  “Ahahahaha… Let me think…” An abandoned castle… In this part of the map… Hmm… “Wait… Could it be… I think I remember something…”

  “No way… Are you serious? Anything helpful?”

  “I don’t know… If this is the pce I’m thinking of, it doesn’t py a big role in the game. You just come here for a small quest, fight a couple weak monsters, and leave. I don’t think we have much to worry about.”

  “Is that so…?” Carol vaguely looked forward. I couldn’t tell if she was gd or disappointed.

  I, for one, am not happy about it at all… If this castle appears in the main story, the chance of us getting wrapped up in it is not zero. I don’t wanna have anything to do with it. It’d take us to the demon territory eventually, but nope. Don’t involve me in that.

  “Whatcha talking about?” Without warning, Sarasa suddenly jumped on my shoulders. With one hand on my head, she banced herself perfectly.

  “Th- that’s what I should be asking you. What do you think you’re doing?” Is she bored again? Surprisingly, she managed to get on top without disrupting my bance. It’s like she’s not even putting her weight on me. How is that even possible?

  “Scouting. The castle should come into view any second now… I wanna check if there are any obstacles ahead.” Sarasa looked left and right, trying to peek over the sparse trees. She wasn’t causing any problems now, but the way she casually jumped on my shoulders earned her some jealous stares.

  “Don’t do that, Sarasa!” Ririna ran up to me and reached up for Sarasa. She grabbed her clothes and tried to pull her down. “If you wanna scout, why don’t you climb up a tree like you always do? Get down already!” Carol didn’t say anything, but she was with Ririna on this one.

  “Nyahahaha! It just doesn’t really matter if I find anything or not. I just felt like jumping on her.” Is that so? That answer doesn’t earn her any friends here.

  “You’re the worst… Get off already!” Ririna pulled harder, but Sarasa barely budged.

  “Wow… You sure are persistent today…” Sarasa’s head wobbled back and forth with an unimpressed expression. “Could it be that you’re jealous? Did you want me hopping on your shoulders instead?” Ririna ignored her. “Or… Perhaps you want to be the one on Iroha’s shoulders.”

  “Wha?!” Ririna’s eyes widened, and she let go of Sarasa.

  “Was I right? You should have just said so then. There’s space for the two of us, so up you go!” Sarasa leaned out from my shoulders to grab Ririna’s arm. The weight was starting to shift uncontrolbly.

  “There’s no space! Stop that!” I knocked Sarasa’s hands away and forced her to get off. Ririna lost her bance after being pulled up, so I grabbed her before she could fall.

  “Thanks… Iroha…” Ririna and I gazed at each other as she used my shoulder for support. When I let her down, she turned to a certain someone and went after her. “Sarasa! Why do you always do stuff like this? Can’t you be satisfied unless you’re causing problems for others?”

  “Causing problems? What do you mean? I was scouting, you know? Just trying to be helpful.” Sarasa wasn’t repenting at all.

  “As if! *Sigh…* Listen, if you’re that bored, you could have just said so. I have something here that might help.” Ririna opened her pouch and took out a vial with a green liquid. “Drink this.”

  “Thanks!” Sarasa quickly snatched and opened it. After smelling it a few times, she let out an awkward ugh. “Ehh… Before I do… Mind telling me what this is?”

  With a smile and not missing a beat. “Poison!” How devilish.

  “Poison!?!?” Sarasa smmed the vial into the ground, feeling betrayed. “How could you, Ririna? You’re so mean! If you want Iroha that much, she’s all yours. I’ll just go bother someone else!”

  Ririna and I watched as Sarasa ran away to join Carol. She was walking ahead on her own after deciding to ignore the idiocy that started with the idiot lifting Ririna.

  “Hi there! Can I call you Carol? You don’t mind if we talk, right, Carol? Tell me about yourself.” Sarasa walked beside her with a mischievous step. Carol gnced at her sideways.

  “Hmph, I don’t have anything to say to someone who’s just out to ‘bother’ me.”

  “Bother? I would never bother anyone. I swear!” She’s either this world’s biggest liar or idiot. “I just want to know more about someone I’m adventuring with. We barely know each other, so why are you here? Why would you agree to help me? I’m very grateful, though~!”

  Carol wondered whether to answer or not. “I’m just tagging along with Iroha. That’s all there is to it. Iroha offered to help you, so here I am. If you wanna be grateful to someone, be grateful to her.”

  Sarasa vigorously nodded. “Yep yep! I’m very grateful! To her and to you. Thank you so much!” Way of sucking up to her. “You’re a real nice person too, aren’t you, Carol? Iroha is so lucky to know someone so loyal! Why do you follow her like that? Are you two dating?” She smugly said.

  Carol immediately averted her gaze, and her face became slightly red. “Are you an idiot?” She tried to remain calm. A big reaction would give her away. “D- do you have no tact? Do you just say everything that pops into your head?”

  “Most of the times, yes.” Sarasa went along with it, not caring in the slightest about being called an idiot. “Well, are you dating? Is that what’s going on? Or is it just a crush? If you want me to keep it a secret, I will. Just whisper it into my ear. Come on!” Is she doing that on purpose? The more Sarasa pressured her, the more Carol’s shoulders trembled. At this rate, she’s gonna explode!

  “Sarasa, is that it?” I jumped between the two of them and changed the topic. We reached a small opening after passing through a few trees, and a pointy tower appeared off in the distance.

  “Uhmm… Blue roof… The walls are… white! Oh? I think it is! We’re nearly there!” Sarasa’s focus was successfully averted, and she broke off into a run in the direction of the castle.

  “Dammit, Sarasa! How many times do I have to tell you not to run off on your own!” With Sarasa setting the pace, Ririna hurried up to try to catch up.

  Carol and I stood behind for a second and looked at each other. She rexed her shoulders and let out a sigh. “You good? Let’s get going too.” After a nod, we looked toward our target and started moving.

  Other than the chaotic cat girl, the walk here was perfectly peaceful. The castle is supposed to have monsters and traps inside, so the peace most likely ends here. Well, adventures without any action are boring. Besides, I’ve been looking forward to facing some kind of monster soon. This beautiful sword at my waist is just begging for its first taste of monster blood. Aren’t you, you precious little thing?

  Bam100