“Hmm…” I hummed quietly as I am lost in thought… Yesterday was certainly a day that things came to light, and I don’t think I can really mess around if any of them were to stir things up in a way Maova didn’t intend.

“Rosia? What’s wrong?” The princess asked as she approached me. We are together in the same room at this point and I would like to try her out as soon as possible, but I might be missing my chance if things go wrong.

“Ah, it’s nothing” I replied, putting on a comfortable face. It’s best if this girl doesn’t mess around with the conflict at large, it would run the risk of her getting hurt and all, lowering her value.

“That’s good to hear” She sighs with relief as she walks elsewhere. It’s still a bit hard to believe what Maova has to say regarding yesterday, but I know better than anyone that at that moment she wasn’t lying. 

The main takeaway from yesterday seems to be her confrontation with that particular otherworlder who is so clearly above the rest. Reiza was her name if I remember it correctly. She made Maova pause just with her first showing, and apparently yesterday they both confronted each other and… It was too close for comfort. 

‘If I wasn’t too passive in that battle maybe I wouldn’t have been beaten to a pulp but here we are’ That’s what she said, brushing the whole thing off just like that. From the looks of it Reiza isn’t exactly stronger than Maova, in fact it’s blatantly obvious who is stronger… but it seems she has a lot of skills to compensate. From the looks of it she’s not someone I could possibly fight head-on if I want to win, if she can do all of that to Maova then I probably would have no real chance less I pull everything out and unleash them before she could even react. Of course there’s also one thing Maova said…

‘She’s not exactly against us even after that duel from what I can tell. Considering how much of a threat she is I suggest we don’t provoke her into actually going against us, she clearly doesn’t want that as well’ Is what Maova said to me regarding what we should do. That shouldn’t be a problem considering we barely interact in the first place, but I guess that means killing any of the otherworlders if they became a nuisance isn’t allowed.

From the looks of it this woman isn’t thinking of interacting with the royal family, so I don’t think messing with them would cause any problem…

“Um… Rosia?” Suddenly the princess speaks up.

“What is it?” I asked, taken slightly off guard by the sudden cue.

“What did you discuss with Father yesterday?” She asked, sounding a bit curious. I was wondering if she would say anything about it, and she indeed did at this time and place.

“It’s all just boring talk, no need for you to worry. There’s nothing to be gained, only wasting time” I said as a way of avoiding the question I’m not interested in, and to make me seem a bit considerate.

“But… I was just being mindful. You could be in danger isn’t that right?” She replied with another question, trying to provoke a response that will make me caved.

“Perhaps, but that comes with the territory of being a hero. You risk your life so those around you live, that’s our way” That’s not my way. I did all of this not for the goodness of many involved, just one or two who I held high above others, and myself obviously.

“That sounds so sad…” She suddenly said before looking a bit regretful saying it out loud.

“Well… our action is very much against common sense. Everyone looks out for themselves right? That’s how it generally works, but when you go against it you will either become a hero or a villain… Well that’s how I see it anyway, going to the extreme makes you one or another, I simply choose one more self-sacrificing” I am not self-sacrificing. I’m selfish. I might look out for those I cherished but that doesn’t mean I’m not evil, I’ll do anything for them as I will do anything for myself. Selfishness isn’t something an ideal hero should have.

“But why?” She asked, sounding empathetic. Now that’s something I really didn’t consider, but then again I don’t think the Hero did either, with how they act.

‘That’s just how I am’ They said. How ridiculous and shallow that statement is. You’re like a husk moving on command more than an actual person. It’s so pitiful to look at. I have to avert my gaze so many times. While others saw a paragon of light, the one who is a saint, I saw a person operating like an arrow straight for the course, so clear what it’s target is. It’s more like inevitably than a choice… and now I know why… Damn it you’re so pitiful.

“A-Ah… sorry, was that too much to ask?” Suddenly the princess backed away slightly with a concerned look on her. Seems I get a bit too emotional that it even shows on my face.

“It’s nothing like that… Just that it’s something I don’t think I can properly explain” I replied. Really I don’t think the actual hero can either, so I might as well not answer it.

The princess seems a bit lost in thought as I said that. I guess the fact that one cannot find a proper response for such a simple question ought to get the gears turning.

“No need to concern Your Highness, I’m sure I’ll remember” I said trying to calm her down. While this whole acting as the Hero I can deal with, I certainly think deceiving my future toy is a bit troublesome. I have to get close while putting up the masquerade, it’ll be difficult to keep her interest in a fake role.

She looks at me slightly skeptical of my claim. I guess continuous denial will do that, I have to come up with some sort of satisfactory explanation at some point otherwise things will get out of hand.

All of this aside I don’t think I have much else to do today, in fact I really have nothing to do, what a shame. Perhaps I should go back to our castle after I make sure a seed of doubt isn’t heavily implanted in her just yet.

“Your Highness… I really am sorry for being unable to give you any clear answer” I said masking my deception with a face of grief. That seems to do the trick quite nicely.

“That is fine! I’m sorry for intruding!” She said apologetically, how naive.

“Thanks for your consideration… My apologies, I have something else to do today, may I leave?” I replied with a question.

“Of course” She answered, calming down a bit. Good, time to go back home and wait for Maova.

“Thank you Your Highness” I said with a cordial tone as I left.

 

#####

 

*Zoom*

And I’m back in our room. Maova isn’t here yet of course, she has to deal with her teacher role. Honestly what was she even thinking picking something so troublesome and possibly incriminating.

For now I should either visit my sister, wait here for Maova to return, or use those girls in the dungeon to pass time… I think today I should-

*Zoom*

“Oh! I was wondering who came back. Hi there” Kaa-san suddenly teleported in as she waved at me. What is she on about now? Honestly it’s very common to feel uneasy around her, like nothing is safe.

“Hi there… Kaa-san” I replied feeling like she’s about to try something, which admittedly is most of the time.

“Guess I am just too much of an open book huh? No matter. I have something for you to do” She responded. So she’ll just come out and say it? That’s good to hear so I can get this done and over with.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling slightly cautious.

“Well I was planning on having someone else help participate in this little event you created, she has been out of action for a long time from the looks of it” She began her exposition. 

“And how is that going to work? Also who is this we’re talking about?” I asked her, hoping for a clear and cut instruction and answer.

“You and her will be grinding. That’s the plan… I’m talking about Belphi” She replied with a rather simple task. That’ll work I supposed. She’s not weak so I don’t really have to babysit her more than likely. Where are we supposed to go anyway? Or can we pick as we pleased?

“That’s alright… There is no catch to this right?” I replied with a question hoping I don’t have to waste a lot of time on this as I don’t want to keep Maova waiting in case she came back early.

“Oh there is! You two have to go through a dungeon together!” She said not sounding exactly concerned for us at the moment.

“And what is this dungeon exactly?” I asked feeling like that has to be the lynchpin of the whole deal.

“My big and super tall tree tower house thing” She replied casually and I’m even more confused. A super tall tree… She’s walking over to the window and looking out? What is she looking at- Oh… It’s the massive tree that just been there and something that no one has questioned before. It’s hard to see from here with how massive and dense this forest is but it’s definitely there. That’s her home? I thought this is hers? Or is both hers? A massive and notable looking tree… Wait… Feels like I heard something about this somewhere… Where was that again?

“What exactly is that?” I asked her, feeling more confused.

“My original house. Weird isn’t it that it’s not that far from here, guess I have never mentioned it before” She replied once again making it not sound like a big deal.

“And why do we have to train at your house exactly?” I asked her, feeling like it’s the last thing one would want, training and making a mess out of the place.

“I have littered a few hundreds golems and enslaved creatures all way stronger than most. You two can handle it in moderation now that I have taken the barrier out” She answered. From what I can tell she’s basically saying we have to get rid of her house’s security… which still sounds like a dumb thing to do.

“Aren’t you worried about it possibly getting desecrated without any protection?” I asked, feeling a bit concerned over her choice. She’s one of my step-mothers so I need to be somewhat considerate.

“Aww… Well there’s no need for worry. There’s nothing really valuable anyway, and I could easily reinstall them all if you managed to destroy it all somehow” She replied casually. She probably could do that I supposed… Yeah she probably could.

“I see… So I guess I’m supposed to go now?” I asked. Better be quick I don’t want Maova to come back here when I’m not.

“Yep. I’ll go get Belphi and we’ll leave quickly” She said as she-

*Zoom*

Teleported away. Guess I’ll have to wait for a bit...

*Zoom*

“Here we go. Ready?” Kaa-san said with Belphi besides her… She’s still quite a beauty as always, but I’m not interested in her in all honesty, at least comparatively to everyone else I take interest in.

“Yeah” I replied.

“Same here” Belphi said.

*Zoom*

In a flash we now stood in front of a massive tree. This tree towered over our castle. In fact this tree is probably at least thrice as tall as our castle.

“This is certainly a sight…” Belphi muttered looking up and observing the overwhelming presence of this place.

What I’m interested in, or rather take caution in is what is inside. The tree is surrounded by a wall of trees that are so packed tightly it’s practically a wood wall. Inside the way in there are already a few rock creatures, with vaguely humanoid and chubby shapes. They all patrol the area but don't come after us just yet.

“Are they perhaps… territorial in their behavior?” I asked out loud as Kaa-san is still present with us.

“Yeah. Otherwise so many people would die no doubt, no way I’m making them go outside of the boundary” Kaa-san replied with a small chuckle.

“How strong are these things again?” Belphi asked as she pulled her sword out of nowhere.

“Would be slightly weaker than you at this level. These aren’t particularly dangerous with lack of special abilities those on the higher floor will have” Kaa-san explained all the while doing pretty nonchalant.

“That’s not reassuring at all-”

*Zoom*

Before Belphi could finish complaining, Kaa-san suddenly teleported away. Guess we are both alone now. Suddenly Belphi turned to look at me.

“Now that I think about it I never saw you fight before. Looks like the weak girl back then is dead at least” She commented with a small gentle smile on her. Guess she’s happy for me?

“Thanks” I replied dismissively as I looked ahead at the guardians at the entrance. I take out my trusty sword and look on ahead, as well as reminding myself that the goal here is to train up the one next to me, and honestly she should be able to handle some of this just fine.

“So? What’s the plan?” She asked me as we’re both already raring to go.

“You’ll go in first. I’ll support” I said. Since I’m not the main focus here I’ll just stick to healing and make sure she doesn’t get blindsided.

“Very well!” She replied.

*Dash*

As she rushed in immediately. I also do so relatively slowly.

*Step* *Shine*

Suddenly as soon as Belphi stepped through the entrance to the field surrounding the great tree the golems began taking notice. Their eyes shine as they look at their target.

*Detach* *Swing* *Clank* *Crack*

As the golems began approaching her and I closed in, Belphi quickly turned her sword into a whip and swung at the incoming foes. Damaging them somewhat and causing visible damage, but none of them are done just yet as they continue to approach her.

*Swing* *Swirl* *Crack*

Like a raging wind she continues to swing her whip sword about  and slowly whittling away at the golems. None of them are destroyed so far but clearly all of them have taken considerable amounts of damage.

*Dash* *Click*

Suddenly as if in desperation a few of the golems began making a mad dash towards Belphi, who stood there and held her ground. She also return her sword to its original state.

*Parry* *Slash* *Parry* *Slash* *

She parried the incoming fist and slash at the incoming golem in response, then quickly turn to do the same to another. If this keeps up unfortunately she might be in danger.

*Swing* *Swish* *Crack* 

I swung my sword with an incredible amount of force that pushed a great number of the golems back to give Belphi some breathing room. If just a swing from my sword alone can do that then these aren’t anything worth worrying about.

*Jump* *Stab* *Crack*

Belphi jumped up high and planted her sword in one of the incoming golems. Rather flashy if pointless.

*Spin* *Detach* *Swing*

Now she turns her sword into a whip again and swings it in circles around her. That frantic and savage move actually managed to destroy a few of the incoming golems… Speaking of which there is a surprising amount of them just on the ground floor if there were to be more as we keep going up this place. There’s a few dozen of them here.

*Slash* *Stab* *Leap* *Cut*

She’s doing fine so far so I shouldn’t do anything else except observe at this point, she probably will get stronger with all of this fighting and exercising.

*Cut* *Slice* *Kick*

She’s very much not in a bad position as of now. If I were to estimate the amounts of golems she has destroyed it would be about ten at least, which doesn’t mean that much as there are still over forty of them left just going against her. She would probably be extremely exhausted if she were to destroy all of them, so I might need to step in one more time here.

*Swing* *Swish* *Boom*

Just a bit of wind and fire thrown into the mix to create a more destructive sword wave. That should cut the number of them in half at least. I think I saw her looking at me for a second before continuing her assault on the enemies. Time to continue watching…

 

#####

 

“Haaah… Haaah… Haaah…” Belphi panted and breathed heavily as she walk near the entrance into the tree itself. I am standing right besides her to make sure nothing just jumped her.

“Are you okay there?” I asked her.

“Yeah… Thankfully Yeig gives me a lot of refreshing supplies to work with” She replied as she drank something and put it away… like there was nothing there.

“Did you always have the ability to store objects into a space not present?” I asked her, feeling slightly curious.

“Yeah… I never told anyone about it, just not worth it with the attention it’ll bring” She replied as she took a deep breath and relaxed. I would like her to recover quicker but I know it probably will only take a minute at most for her to recover.

“I see” I mindlessly replied. She has always been pretty enigmatic and pretty, and it seems there’s a good reason for that.

“So… Are you ready to continue?” I asked her, seeing her looking like she has recovered from her fatigue.

“Yeah. Let’s continue, and I’ll make sure to not make it slow” She replied slightly confidently as she readies herself to walk in and face more foes.