It’s the day after Marcel and the Demon Lord visited the Guardians of Winter. Marcel immediately left the Demon Lord’s castle that morning to deliver the good news about Sigurd’s evolution to his friends. When he got there, he found his friends unusually glum.

Well, this is a first, he thought.

His friends stood scattered around the living room with unhappy visages as if they’d just been in some kind of argument. The atmosphere was tense. Just what did he miss while he was at Winter’s?

“Guys…” He spoke. They all looked towards him, expectant of something to clear the bad air in the room, when he delivered the news.

“Sigurd evolved! I’m finally a B-class!” He said happily, fishing for the usual ‘Congrats!’ and ‘Good for you!’. Unfortunately, his news only increased the tension in the room and their moods seemed to only worsen. Oh no! What is going on?

“Guys…” Marcel looked around, his tone very careful as not to cause any extreme ‘explosion’ in the room. He treaded carefully, “…What is going on?! Why aren’t you happy about my good news?”

Unfortunately, the explosion would happen unlike he’d wanted.

“Oh, just that, now that you are getting closer to the A-class, we are going to separate!” Silva burst out.

“What?! We’re separating? But why?!” Marcel wondered.

“Are you stupid or something?! Don’t you know that the evolution patterns of races diverge at the A-class? Some will be able to keep up while the rest will be left behind in the dust.” This time, Evan was next. He looked very annoyed and everyone else let him be. After all, this was truly exasperating news.

“So, what’s the big deal? Can’t we just keep adventuring like normal?” He asked.

“Adventuring like normal?! Raiding dungeons is meaningless after the B-class. This is the last, easy level up you’ll ever have, even as a hero. Evolution Points (EP) no longer apply for your racial evolutions.” Evan answered the question he thought to be very dumb. It only further annoyed him.

“Then…”

“Yes, Marcel! We’re making a choice to either let nature take its course, as in separate, or to stick together like we were before, despite the irregular level differences there will be within this group.” Allan summarized the conversation they’d been having yesterday before they all got the way they currently were.

“But, hasn’t that always been the case; that our levels differed from each other. I am still the last among you all to become a B-class. So, what’s the big deal if Shalia, Allan and Silva are always one step ahead of the rest of us?”

“You really don’t get it! This might be the last evolution I’ll ever have and you call it ‘no big deal’?!!” Shalia suddenly burst into tears before storming out of the room. She looked devastated as she left.

“Wow, you really are insensitive sometimes, Marcel! Trampling all over the Ulvaris family’s limit cap like that will definitely crush her.” Valeria spun her dagger around her fingers as she looked away from the insensitive bastard.

“Wait, what do you mean by that?!” Marcel was now very alarmed. What did Valeria mean by that, indeed?

“Haa…” They sighed simultaneously.

“It’s a generally known fact around here that the Elven King Ulvaris family is cursed with a limit cap that will never grow unless they’re able to find the ‘Saint of Wonders’ once more. The highest most of them will ever reach is the A-class while a small few might make it into the first S-class. Shalia’s probably part of the former because her Ulvaris blood is among the most potent of her siblings, despite only being half-Sunfire elf.” Silva explained.  

Marcel was now deeply shocked and simultaneously, very sad, “Then…”

“This is as strong as she’ll ever be unless, by some wondrous happening, the Saint of Wonders is found. Last I saw, Old Niobe’s soul is nowhere near the cycle of reincarnation, meaning she must be dead forever.” Silva added.

“So, unlike us, Shalia will never surpass her current level of A-class until she dies?” Nigel spoke, a worried expression plastered over his face. It wasn’t just him. Now everyone looked sour- I mean, saddened.

“Okay, we’ve been talking about Shalia for a while now, so let’s talk about the rest of us.” Marcel listened eagerly to what Silva was going to say next. How they were different or similar to Shalia was something he wanted to know.

Silva continued,

“Allan’s a witch, so his evolution path depends completely on what he can achieve on his own. Most witches, however, will never make it past the first S-class. For me, my evolution path is entirely dependent on what my mother desires. This life of mine, is about to become the longest I’ve lived in a lifetime, so why knows? Maybe I might make it to my ninth tail in a hundred or even thousand years. Also, who knows? I might die tomorrow, the one thing I can see but not actively work against.” Silva’s words held a hint of self-ridicule. She hated having to die just as she saw it without being able to defy her own visions, so she stopped trying to see it.

Valeria spoke, “My evolution path is a slow and steady path because you can’t push divinity. It will take hundreds of years or even thousands after I become an A-class to notice even the slightest change in our race’s strength. Heck, I might even see the day Shalia’s family’s curse is broken before I become an S-class. After all, proper divinity is slowly nurtured, not rushed!” She shrugged, having relented to her fate. As a B-class, she wasn’t looking forward to becoming an A-class in a few years’ time, but hey, what could she do about it?

Marcel felt terrible after hearing Valeria’s path. If it were him, he would have felt so helpless that he might try unthinkable methods to improve. Imagine what being stuck at the A-class for what is literally thousands of years must feel like.

“My time will come when it does!” Kenny said abruptly after Valeria, also relenting to his fate. This wasn’t the first time he’d been left helpless without any sign of growth, so he took it well compared to how others or even his own race did.

“As for us, well, our growth will also slow down dramatically very soon, with our bodies nearing complete spiritual lifeforms and everything. Forming an astral body is an extremely long process and becoming more like spirits; our race could also be considered divine in nature. Our real struggle for more power begin after the A-class.” Nigel explained.

Yes, and since Nigel and his brothers are psychically linked together before birth, they’re considered as almost a united entity in terms of evolution path. Now that Nigel’s almost an A-class, he won’t be able to grow any further until his two B-class brothers catch up to him, which might take a few years. This doesn’t bother him because it’s been that way since the beginning. He’s the biggest grower amongst the three brothers, followed by Daniel, then Evan. Yes, Evan is always the last one!

“I see!” Marcel, having been made speechless by all this revelations, finally said something. But still, this wasn’t reasons to split, he thought.

Silva knew exactly what he was thinking. She brought up one more solid argument as to why they should split. In the end, staying together might lead to that very brutal future she saw; a future with a lot of hard feelings, endless heartache and unhappiness amongst her fellow friends. She didn’t bring this up yesterday while Marcel was away from the group for nothing.

“Like I said back when that backstabber almost got us killed in the dungeon, when we’re together, we seem to easily forget who we are and the multiple dangers that come with our identities. If we keep on going like this, who knows when one, or even all of our lives will be forfeit. Now that Marcel is here, I ask again! Should we disband this adventuring group of ours and just be friends from a distance or do we continue on our current path and bear the consequences?” She asked in a serious tone.

Silence filled the room, with nobody willing to answer her question. She could only sigh in disappointment and wait patiently a bit longer, as she hoped that someone would respond with unwillingness to be separated. Although she was doing this, she wanted to be proven wrong. She wanted someone that wasn’t herself to convince her to stop acting like the old hag she is and choose friendship along with their current life rather than the alternative. If not, she’ll be back to her current life’s mission of searching for ‘him’ and that alone.

“If I’m getting this right, after the A-class and even now, it’ll be all about sharpening our acquired skills and improving them while some of us slowly cultivate our natural given gifts, right?” Marcel asked to confirm one last time.

“Mm!” They nodded.

“I think that I’ve already made my decision! And I…” Marcel spoke with a resolute tone before suddenly realizing,

“Ah, Shalia isn’t here! I’ll go get her from outside, then tell you all my decision.” He quickly said before running off to find Shalia. But, really, is this the end? What will he say?

***

 

Searching, Marcel found Shalia sitting on the bench they put beside the fountain in the courtyard. She sat, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Shalia…” He said softly when he located her.

“Oh… dear Marcel, you came to find me? I’m so happy!” Shalia, suddenly and strangely, stopped crying, pretending as if she hadn’t been just moments ago. She was back to her normal sultry ways.

“Really? Why wouldn’t I come find you?” Marcel wondered. He knew not the reason she cried and so, this was naïve on his part. If only he did…

Shalia started talking, “Well… I was thinking about the future. I was thinking of what would happen if we separated when I reached my limits.”

“And…” Marcel took a seat on the bench, right beside her.

“I was wondering what would happen when you discovered that I was forever stuck at the A-class if we don’t find that ‘Saint of Wonders’ whatever. Will you and the other guys kick me out of the group?” Shalia came closer to Marcel’s face.

“Will I be allowed to come to this place?! Will I be allowed into the Demon Lord’s castle?!!” She continued to get even closer to Marcel’s face, raising her voice as she did. Marcel had tried to take a step back the entire time but now, he was practically off the bench because… he sat on the very edge of it. Shalia was… too close!

“…And most importantly of all, will I ever be allowed the privilege to be near you, my darling?!!” She asked, a scary glint in her eyes. Oh no!

Marcel finally realized what was going on. Shalia wasn’t exactly worried about her limit cap of A-class. She was worried about losing the privilege of expressing her love for him! Yes, it was a wrong idea to come here.

“Oh no!” Marcel said.

“Oh yes!” Shalia hugged him tightly before pulling him from the edge back to the middle where they first sat, that creepy look in her eyes intensifying,

“But now… I don’t have to feel worried anymore. You came to find me! You know, I was betting on you either coming or not coming to me. If you came, then you wanted me around, despite the fact that you might have a forever A-class wife in the future. If you didn’t, then I would have given up and gone to crazily find the whereabouts of this ‘Saint Whatever’, then secretly stal- I mean, observe you from a distance, pining unto I succeeded or forever.”

Ah, why did Marcel forget that Shalia was a crazy, love-struck girl who almost raped him when they met?! This… might probably be the worst decision he’s ever made in his life, second only to allowing himself to be tricked by the Demon Lord.

Shalia hugged him tightly with the crazy, scary love-glint in her eyes. She had no intention to let him go from now on.

“Shalia, but I was about to tell everyone my decision inside the house… Why don’t you come in and hear what I have to say?!” He actively tried to escape her arms. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?!

Wrong! Love really does empower people, sometimes, in a very freakish way.

“That doesn’t matter to me! After all, no matter what decision you make, I will still be by your side. The universe is on my side!” Yes, why the heck is the universe on her side? Shalia really is a lucky person, as much as she likes to punish herself by going after a gay boy and all.

Now Marcel tried with all his might to escape her grasp. Shalia was getting scarier by the second.

“Now, will you just come inside and here what I have to say?!” He was a bit irked, regretting his decision to come out and find Shalia.

“Sure, Darling!” Shalia said before lifting Marcel, body and all, carrying him in a princess carry and heading back inside the house. Honestly, this was getting to becoming one of the weirdest days Marcel has ever had. First, he learns that he might lose a huge part of his friendship, then he goes to find Shalia, gets himself a forever tagalong stalker companion and now, Princess Shalia is carrying him in a princess carry. Ah, he won’t even complain anymore!

***

 

When Shalia dropped him off inside, after leaving everyone to guess why the princess was carrying their hero, Marcel let his decision be heard when everyone made their individual guesses as to what might have happened when he went outside.

First, “Ahem!” Marcel cleared his throat, “I have decided…”

“Decided?” They asked simultaneously.

“Decided that I love you guys and want to stick together but will readily not care about the future! I first came here to the demon realms, unsure of what the future will hold for me. Who knew some fucker would trap me in his castle after using my human mindset against me, or that I’d meet some random boy at a party who’d turn out to be Allan, my first friend, or that I’d enter a dungeon and meet a quarreling duo of friends who’d be the Shrine Maiden Princess and the White Tiger Princess in disguise and--- Haa!” He sighed.

Marcel stopped himself before he went and narrated their meetings like some kind of storyteller.

Marcel got back to what he originally wanted to say,

“What I mean to say is that friendships don’t collapse just because raiding dungeons became meaningless in regards to our growth. It’s not like I even planned to visit dungeons all the time. I do it when I am bored! What I do when I’m not bored is studying magic and delving into the world of alchemy and item creation. I live in the Demon Lord’s castle and you’ll find me working there or just bored out of my mind when I am not out. Make your individual choices and it won’t matter to me very much because I will still see you guys.”

With Marcel’s words, the rest, except Shalia, remembered… they were friends. They weren’t just people whose relationship was defined around the concept of dungeons and exploration! That was what they did when they were bored. Also, um… aren’t they all Marcel’s Chosens? How dumb were they to have forgotten that?!

“Haa~!!” They heaved a sigh of relief.

“Yes, we love you too!” They each responded in a monotone manner, internally embarrassed as they realized just how dumb this entire conversation had been.

“I love you all!” Marcel responded.

“Yeah, as friends… for now!” Shalia whispered at the end but who in that room didn’t have sharp senses? Ah, how long Shalia’s waited to hear those words, except, they weren’t exactly the right kind, but they’ll do, ‘for now’.

And so, their friendship lasted thousands of years after that. Friends aren’t people who do everything together. That’s people who are secretly in love with each other and people who pretend they don’t have abandonment issues. Did I miss the other exceptions? I think not!

“Now… before we got all bummed out again, I heard you say something about evolution, Marcel.” Valeria brought up the news that got them to where they were just moments earlier.

“Oh yes, Sigurd evolved yesterday and I got to B-class. He’s got this cool ability called [Spatial Orb Explosion] which sucks up energy for later use, like a bomb for later use…”

And so, Marcel explained all about Sigurd’s unlocked ability and all that happened yesterday at Winter’s for the next few hours until everyone forgot the conversation they had earlier.

 

***

 

After Marcel was done dealing with his friends’ crisis, he went to his room, and on the bed, he got a nice present.

<< Message from the Spirit of the World received! >>

What’s this…?

When Marcel checked the apparent message that he’d received, he discovered that it was a congratulatory message. It read,

“Dear Marcel,

Congratulations on entering the B-class! The path ahead is a tough one, but you already know that, so I’ve decided to grant one of your requests as a welcome present into the B-class. I’ve decided to change the voice of your Informer from the sultry Demon Lord’s to my own, realizing the relief it will bring your mind. I expect a ‘Thank you’ after this message or else, you know the consequences for making me sad, right~?! Anyway, good luck with your future endeavors! Your gift takes effect after this message is over. Mini Demon Lord is Mini Vitalis now, haha~

Bye~”

 

Ah, finally, Marcel wasn’t going to be tortured by the sexy voice of the Demon Lord in his informer anymore. He was so ecstatic that it had been replaced but… why did he feel like it wasn’t just the voice of Vitalis that had invaded his Informer, but rather, the Spirit of the World herself?

In a way, this wasn’t Vitalis helping him by fulfilling his request. If she was, then she would have let him choose the voice like during the first time. Instead, this seems more like the Spirit actively putting herself right in the middle of his life. Was he really going to be fine? Now Marcel had nothing but worries about his future. Anyway, good luck, Marcel!