Leon and others almost crossed the line to the elven forest.

The elves do not protect the outskirts of their forest. Many people would go here sightseeing... if not for all the dangerous beasts roaming around.

"Woa~"

Lance couldn't help but proclaim.

The line to the elven forest is not a literal line, but a slow change of the scenery in the forest.

The trees were becoming more wide, tall and bright in colour.

New flowers and herbs could be seen, while old ones dimmed in numbers.

The difference between the normal forest and the one blessed by the tree that elves worship could already be seen.

"This... Is indeed beautiful."

Melissa was also astonished by the sight of the forest.

It shouldn't be surprising considering she's an elf... but it was for her.

She never cared about nature, and never even properly went into the wilderness before following Leon.

Melissa just didn't try and appreciate nature's beauty... until now.

"This is so cool!"

"...you always say that."

Naty was a bit pouty, as usual.

She wouldn't understand how a prisoner feels after gaining his freedom.

The group observed the forest and completely forgot about their whereabouts while moving forward.

*Thuck*

An arrow.

It appeared out of nowhere and grazed Naty's hair.

It was but a warning shot.

Leon stopped the group with a gesture.

"We mean no harm!"

*Thuck*

Another arrow.

This time it flew over Leon's head.

There was no fear or hesitation in his eyes.

He knew elves only kill in self-defence, so he was safe.

He held his hands in the air and took a step forward.

"We wish to enter the elven forest!"

Leon screamed into nothingness.

Fortunately, another arrow didn't come flying.

Instead, a figure appeared about 50 feet away from Leon.

"You made a wise choice in keeping your weapons sheathed."

Leon warned everyone beforehand.

Melissa was holding back the most.

"I didn't appreciate the Killing Intent... but I can understand the surprise."

"Hm?"

"Anyway, you should leave. We were not informed of your visit. Make an official request through an embassy."

The procedure was quite tedious and would take at least a few months... even for the Hero.

"I'm afraid... We don't have that much time."

*Rustle-rustle*

Something moved in the bushes around them.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were surrounded.

"...That does not concern us."

The tone of the elf signified that this was a threat.

Leon was still calm.

"We have our circumstances. Melissa, please."

Leon turned around and looked at her.

The girl stepped forward.

Melissa took off her earrings.

Immediately bushes rustled again.

The elf with whom Leon was talking took a step back almost falling.

It was unheard of for an elf to live outside the forest. Apart from a few exceptions, every elf who left the forest did so with permission from elders and would send reports regularly.

...and Melissa's appearance was quite good even by elven standards.

"...I've come to visit my birthplace."

She didn't really care, but Leon asked her for help, so she obliged.

The man in front of her was still a bit dazed.

"*Cough* W-which village do you come from?"

Melissa got puzzled.

She didn't even know how elven society worked, so how could she answer?

"I... don't know."

The elf furrowed his brows but soon relaxed his expression.

"Were you... a slave?"

He asked that question carefully.

Yet, it still came out as rude.

Melissa tried to reply very calmly.

"No. I was saved from that fate by a kind family."

Melissa held very complicated thoughts about her family.

But she could understand that what they did to her was indeed an act of kindness.

It didn’t matter if there was an ulterior motive or not.

“That is good to hear.”

Elf gave a nod.

“Then-”

Leon started talking but was shortly interrupted.

“I can allow her to go in, but others must stay out.”

Leon frowned.

It was an expected outcome, but he would prefer if they just let them in.

“*Sigh* I guess we don’t have a choice,” Leon turned around, “Lance, take it out.”

Lance’s face twisted a bit, but he soon reached for a piece of cloth on his back.

You couldn’t tell what exactly it was just from looking, but once he tightly gripped it, the shape of a sword presented itself.

There was a slight rustling in the bushes.

The cloth fell down, showing a sword in its sheath.

At a glance, it was already evident that the sword wasn’t a regular one.

Mainly of a blue colour, with yellow lines coming from top to bottom, and an image of a half sun on the very bottom. 

The other half of the sun was located on the handle of the sword itself.

The sun split into two as Lance slowly took the sword out.

Someone was actively moving in nearby bushes.

And the elf in the front instinctively reached for his bow.

But the moment the sword was fully drawn… The forest filled with light.

“Aah!”

Despite having a blue blade, the sword was shining with a bright yellow colour.

Everyone was forced to cover their eyes.

After all, it was bright enough to blind someone from a close distance.

Only Lance was fine in that situation… one of many boons given by the Holy Sword.

He pointed his sword up.

“I-Is that!?”

Someone on the side seemed to recognize the sword.

“My name is Lance!”

With a strong voice, Lance yelled.

“I am the new Hero, chosen by the benevolent Goddess of Light! I and my team are on a journey to find worthy comrades to fight alongside us, and vanquish the evil Demon King!”

His echoing voice was heard through the forest.

Elves were stunned by both light and the presence of a Hero.

The light was slowly dimming as Lance put his sword down.

Lance bowed his head and said.

“I kindly ask you to let us through.”

Even when the light from the sword fully disappeared, there was a moment of silence.

One side was in shock and processing the sudden realisation.

And the other… some were red from embarrassment and some were trying to hold in their laughter.

Especially hard it was for the Saint, who is supposed to be the most composed out of them all, to hold in her laugh.

That speech was something Lance hated.

He tried to avoid saying it as much as possible.

Lance was forced to learn that back in the Hero Academy.

…Leon could understand him very well.

When all the information was processed inside the elf’s mind, he quickly bowed down.

With his head down, the elf in the middle spoke.

“We are extremely sorry for our rude behaviour! We didn’t know!”

Leon took the scene from there.

“Please, we are not royalty, and some of us aren’t even nobles.”

“But you are-”

“Just a bunch of skilled people.”

Leon helped him up and smiled.

That smile made the elf blush more than when he saw Melissa up close.

“Then… I must report this to the elders.”

After confirming their identity, there was no reason not to trust the team, but a soldier could not act on his own.

“About that… We are quite tired, so we would like to take a break in the meantime.”

Leon said that with his usual smile, but for some reason, Naty looked at him with furrowed brows.

“We can prepare some room for you at our camp, It’s really close by.”

“Ugh… No offence, but is there a village nearby?”

“Oh… Well, there is one, but it’s a few hours away from here.”

“That should be fine. We aren’t that weak.”

“Then, let me lead the way.”

Without further ado, they went to that village.

In the middle of their run, Lance carefully approached Leon and whispered.

“Hey, didn’t we camp not so long ago? Wouldn’t it be better to go straight to the main village?”

Lance simply couldn’t understand the reasoning behind this decision. And as the technical leader of the team, he should be inclined to know.

“Do you even know how far it is to the middle of the forest? Besides, I wanted to check something out.”

“Hmm… Okay.”

The village they were going to was not far away, yet, the scenery was changing as if the forest was alive.

The team didn’t rush it and ran almost at a jogging speed.

As there was nothing to talk about, it was Agness who started a conversation with their guide.

“Uhm… how should we refer to you?”

Without stopping or even looking back, he coldly answered.

“Isn’t it human’s courtesy to introduce yourself before asking for another’s name?”

“Oh, I’m sor-”

“It’s Morris.”

“...Morris? That’s… A fairly human-like name…Eek!”

Although she said it without the mean to, she knew that what she said could be perceived as rude by elves.

“It is the name I tell humans. They, you can’t pronounce my real name. Remembering it will be impossible.”

Agness smirked.

“Try me.”

She was a mage. 

Remembering things was in her nature.
Moreover, she knew not one language, and elvish was one of those she was proud of knowing.

“...Mögohæßi Rïstodanté.”

“Ugh.”

That wasn’t elvish.

To be precise it was, but ancient elvish.

Agness was defeated.

She had no idea how to even properly replicate that sound.

“S-So… Morris, it is then… This one is called Agness Windborn.”

Agness decided to admit her defeat in elvish.

“Hm?... Hah, if only all nobles had been respectful enough to learn elvish before coming here… Maybe our relationship wasn’t so awful…”

Agness tilted her head.

As far as she knew, humans were on the best terms with elves among other races.

Especially their kingdom.

She was curious but decided not to pry, as it could be personal.

“So? Miss Agness, I assume you didn’t just want to ask my name?”

“Khm, yes… Although I am familiar with elven culture… but it comes from textbooks… I wanted to hear about it from you.”

“You want me to tell you everything about our culture… on the go?”

From his tone, it was obvious he didn’t like that idea.

“N-No! Just… how about you tell us about the village we are heading to?”

It was hard for Agness to express herself properly in elvish, especially while trying to speak formally.

“That… Sure. It’s a simple village near the border. They almost don’t farm, so there are a lot of gatherers and hunters… Many of my boys come from that village.”

The last sentence was accompanied by a certain glance that Agness couldn’t not notice.

“I-I see…”

The conversation was clearly not going smoothly, so Agness decided to end it there.

It didn’t take them long to get to the village.

Morris explained the situation to the guards at the gate, but the team wasn’t allowed in just yet.

“I’ll explain the situation to the chief of the village, stay here for now.”

It was a bit weird to just stand and do nothing, so everyone tried to find something to do.

Leon, in particular, like hypnotised slowly approached the sign with the village’s name on it.

“It’s here…”

Leon’s memory didn’t fail him.

He was at the right place.

Many good memories came back to him.

Marisa.

The last member of the team.

This was the place she called home.

Leon came here with her a few times.

But even more times he heard about it.

And while he was reminiscing about the past, someone approached him.

“...You know how to read elvish?”

“A bit.”

The best way to earn elven’s approval is to learn their language.

And at the time, Leon needed far more than just their approval.

“Why did you pick this place?”

“Hm? I didn’t…”

Amid his sentence, Leon turned around… to see Naty standing there, with her arms crossed.

He knew what that meant, and that she caught on to something.

“...I heard this place produced some great warriors, thought we might as well come here.”

“‘That so? Did you… want to find a new party member here?”

It was the truth but for some reason, she thought Leon wasn’t telling her everything.

“Yes, wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“...I see.”

Naty decided to let it be for now.

Nearby, Melissa and Agness were standing not far away from each other, doing nothing.

It looked highly awkward from the side. And it was not the first time they did something like that recently.

“Hey, what’s going on between you two?”

“Sorry?”

“Did you fight or something? I haven’t seen you two chat in a while. Only standing near, waiting for another to start the conversation.”

Melissa raised a brow and laughed.

“Haha. fight? You’re imagining things Naty. Agness and I are besties! Why would we? It’s just that we haven’t had any topics to chat about, right Agness?”

“...Yeah.”

Weirdly enough, Naty’s powers told her that it was not a lie. However, something didn’t feel right between the two of them… Melissa rarely calls Agness by her name.

“Hmm… Why don’t we talk about something right now then?”

As usual, Naty tried to get answers through roundabout questions.

This time, there was no luck… She merely confirmed that the atmosphere between the two was indeed awkward.

In the middle of the conversation, Terra joined in.

So Naty decided to end her ploys and talk about something else.

“How long will this take, I wonder? I’m getting quite bored. Should we maybe set up a camp?”

Terra was swift to answer.

“Oh, no, it won’t take that long. Just a couple of hours until they prepare everything.”

“Everything? What is there to prepare? We just need a place to stay. Do they not have empty houses?”

“They don’t, actually. But they said it’s not a big deal and they’ll figure something out. Also, they are preparing some food for the welcome. It’s a tradition of welcoming guests.”

She spoke calmly and with confidence.

The other girls were surprised. Agness couldn’t help but ask.

“How do you know all of this?”

Even she didn’t. And this was not something you could find in random books.

“Oh, the gatekeepers were kind enough to tell me.”

“They… just told you?”

From their looks, they seemed to be retired soldiers, with big builds and scars here and there, but most importantly… they didn’t look friendly.

“No, wait, you know elvish?”

“Did you ask them all of that so quickly?”

Questions just kept on pouring.

Terra got overwhelmed, so her ideal image crumbled quickly, she got all red and didn’t really know what to say.

“I-It’s not like that. They were the ones who came to me! Although their common is a bit broken, they wanted to talk!”

“Whaaat? They came to you?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Whoaa, girl you are on a roll today! Did you put on some special makeup or something?”

Although Melissa said that, internally she was offended… mainly because of the gazes those two guards gave her.

It was then that Morris finally came to say they are allowed to enter.

The elven welcome was quite lavish.

Both meat and fruits were presented.

Dozen or so elves worked together to quickly set everything up.

They brought a few tables outside with some chairs.

The food was placed on wooden plates and the silverware was also out of wood. 

Although the dishes were rather simple in nature, they were neatly cut, so that knives wouldn’t be needed.

Lance was the least bothered by that, taking the initiative to drop all etiquette and pick up food with his bare hands.

*Smack*

“At least wash them!”

“...You’re not my mother.”

*Smack*

“Fine, fine! Gosh, you’re worse than her at times.”

The usual brother-sister interaction caused Leon to smile brightly, reminiscing...

Soon after all dishes were on the table, strangely, everyone left.

Nobody sat alongside them nor did they stay to chat. 

Everybody just hid in their houses.

Only the village chief and some guards with weapons were outside with them.

…It was quiet.

That saddened most of the team.

But it wasn’t surprising.

Even when they were serving food, not even a fake smile was on their faces.

It was clearly a bother to them.

Only Lance… and Tera were truly welcomed here.

The atmosphere was awkward all the way from the beginning to the end.

Leon predicted a similar response.

After eating, there was still time left before the sun set over the horizon, so everyone had free time.

It was hard to understand for the team why they had to sleep here for the night. 

But Leon insisted.

And so the search for things to waste time began.

Leon, however, thought that he had not enough time.

He started searching.

.

.

.

She wasn't here.

A bitter feeling came over Leon.

How come she was not in her home village?

He couldn't have remembered the wrong place, right?

That house over there is the one she once welcomed Leon in.

Maybe... Maybe if he just knocked?

What if she opens the door?

But that wouldn't happen.

How would he even explain himself then?

And, what is the point of lying to him?

She just isn't here.

He frowned and was on his way back to the team, contemplating what could've led to this change, but then, he remembered.

'There is a chance they are hiding her! She often said that other villages would riot if they found out about her.'

A dark elf living among 'white' elves was unheard of.

It could only be seen in the capital village.

And even there, the territory is divided.

The grudge between the two factions is deep.

The only reason they don't kill each other is because of their common interest.

To protect the forest and the 'mother' tree.

So Leon didn't lose hope.

He needed a plan... Or a stroke of luck.

Although, right now, he needed rest.

Everyone did.

They didn't show it, but even Lance was mentally exhausted from constant travel and fighting.

Even sleep didn't feel like rest when they had to be prepared for an ambush.

But now, here, they could be at peace.

More than at peace. The forest made them feel a sort of tranquillity.

It was one of the effects of this magical forest.

... thought one person didn't like it...

That, however, is not important right now.

He is not here after all.

After eating and sleeping, the team didn't want to rush. 

Especially Leon wanted to stay a bit more in hopes of finding Marissa... He didn't specify that.

Everyone had fun.

Timothy got to enjoy some quiet time.

Lance trained as usual, though he said the experience was totally different.

Naty and Agness were helping out elves with various chores.

Although Agness was doing it just to get more knowledge about elves.

Leon was just going from one place to another with no goal in mind... Or so others thought.

The last two... well, there was something unexpected going on with them.

Melissa was following Leon around. Though this time, it was not because of usual reasons.

She was avoided by elves.

Nobody on the team could understand why.

The initial reaction they showed her was quite good... they were mostly stunned by her beauty.

But when they were about to approach her, they stopped halfway.

Without words, they turned around and went the other way.

It bothered Leon.

Not only him.

Melissa herself didn't voice her thoughts due to her 'character'.

Leon didn't ask about it either.

However, the strangest thing was going on with Terra.

As if her and Melissa's positions were swapped, she was easily approached by elves first.

And 'easily' is lightly said.

They were swarming her.

Some were trying just to talk, some even gave presents. 

And some... even tried to court her.

It was so sudden and awkward that Terra had no choice but to hide.

That was something Leon also didn't understand.

The time to depart came quickly.

Everyone was now refreshed and full of energy... except for Leon. 

He was disheartened.

But before anyone could notice he hardened his resolve.

Prior to their departure Leon found their guide, Moris, to have a one-on-one conversation.

He found him sitting on a tree branch not far away from the village.

 "Excuse me, can we talk?"

Morris was not a fan of humans.

He made that point clear to every human he met.

But he still nodded, though reluctantly.

"Do you perhaps know someone by the name of Marissa... That's her human name."

"...Isn't that your companion?"

"Hm? How do y-... Oh, no, no it's Marissa, not Melissa... With an 'r'."

'Come to think of it... Their names are indeed similar.'

"...No. I don't keep track of everyone here... And especially not of their human names."

Leon predicted this answer... But not his tone.

"*Cough* R-Right... Then, do you know what's going on with Melissa?"

Morris immediately understood what he meant by that.

"...it's hard to explain."

"Sorry?"

"I'm sure nobody but elders could give you a proper answer... You could say... It's because of her smell?"

"Smell?"

That sounded a bit absurd.

Especially for Leon who knew some things about elves.

...and Melissa smelled good.

"Hmm... That's not really precise... How do you humans call it... A 'gut feeling' maybe?"

"That... Still doesn't make sense."

"*Sigh* Look it is usually like that with humans... With all races not blessed by the forest."

"Ah..."

Blessing of the forest or Blessing of the Mother tree.

It could not be properly translated into human language.

But Leon heard about it.

Everyone who lived here was protected by the Yggdrasill.

That was about everything he knew about it.

"The forest does not accept her. I'm guessing she wasn't acknowledged yet... Though for some reason it wants her out even harder than you humans..."

By the looks of it, Moris hadn't had a clue himself.

"Then... Terra is..."

"She's not blessed, no."

"...But-"

"You're half right. The forest just doesn't want her out. It doesn't give out blessings simply because of that. And before you ask, no I don't know why."

Morris jumped down.

He wanted to finish this conversation as soon as possible.

Looking at Leon's face, he frowned.

"If you still don't get it... Then you could say she just smells good. That's it. We wasted enough time. It's time to go."

It was as if Leon had no choice in the matter.

So he just followed along with this once.

'No need to get on people's bad grace', he thought.

In the end, Leon had to leave without achieving his main goal.

He started doubting this trip as a whole.

Was there even a point in going to the capital?

Why would she be there?

Leon quickly shook his head. 

'She's not the only reason I'm here.'

Sometimes, Leon forgets about small details while looking at the bigger picture.

...and he simply does not know yet how grave of a mistake that is.

.

.

.

The capital was not far ahead, at least Morris said so.

Leon also knew that they were close… really close.

He also knew something that made him dislike Morris a bit.

‘There is simply no need for him to do this’, he thought.

After 10 minutes of running, someone finally noticed.

“Uhm… Weren’t we here before?”

Agness couldn’t help but voice her paranoia.

The ever-changing forest that enchanted all of them… suddenly stopped changing.

No, it was more like it was repeating the patterns they just saw.

“It… looks like it.”

Leon at last got a reason to talk about this.

“Morris… is this supposed to be like this?”

Just for a second, Morris smirked. 

That smirk immediately disappeared, but a few people managed to catch it.

“Yes. Don’t worry, we’re close.”

“How close exactly?”

“I’m not too sure. My memory wasn’t as good lately.”

“...Aren’t you supposed to be our guide?”

“Guides also can have memory issues. Let’s not waste time on useless talks.”

And so he leapt ahead.

Leon on the other hand stopped and waited, saying that he’ll catch up in a moment.

Everyone knew how fast Leon can be, so they just followed Morris.

In a few minutes, they met again… except Leon was ahead of them.

“Huh? How did you get there without us noticing?”

Lance was quite naive, but others already suspected something.

“...I didn’t move.”

“What!?”

Leon turned to Morris and stared right at him.

“...Care to give us an explanation?”

The elf averted his gaze to the side.

Not out of embarrassment or shame… but because he was on a verge of laughter.

Elves have a weird sense of humour.

“Fuu~, yes. This is a barrier created by the Mother Tree to keep the sacred grounds, alongside the capital safe from intruders.”

“So you were messing with us!?”

“No, no-”

“Lies!”

“*Cough* Right… the saint… How the hell do you deal with her on an everyday basis…”

As if talking to himself, Morris mumbled that while taking something out of his inside pocket.

“Yeah, it’s hard… I pity Mixen who lived with her for-”

*Smack*

“Shut up!”

While they were fighting, Morris pressed some sort of medallion to a seemingly random tree.

*Whoosh*

A brief but very bright flash of light appeared, causing everyone except for Lance to close their eyes.

And as if it was always there…

A huge tree was looming over them.

“Welcome to the capital.”

Morris didn’t have an inch of enthusiasm in his voice.

“Whoooaaa”

Lance was the exact opposite, his excitement clearly showed that he liked the elven forest.

“How… How does this work? How can there be a barrier of that size!? Artefacts that make barriers a size of even a person are as rare as teleportation ones!”

Morris didn’t care to give an explanation.

“Elders will explain everything. Let me fetch them… You all, stay here.”

At this point, there was no need to be hasty, so he took just started walking towards the gate.

One weird thing about the gate was that there were no keepers near it.

Melissa couldn’t help but voice her thoughts.

“Why are there no guards here?”

She didn’t say to someone in particular, but Morris abruptly stopped after her words.

He slowly turned around and looked at her with a raised brow.

Soon after he sighed and shook his head.

“Haa~... Stupid humans.”

He turned again, casually opened the gate, entered and closed it behind him.

Melissa was quite embarrassed, as it seems that everyone else figured out the reason.

“Pfft.”

Agness couldn’t help but laugh.

Melissa was quite angry at her, so she opened her mouth to say something, but… something appeared in front of the gate.

Everybody’s attention turned to it.

Very soon they understood that… it wasn’t something, but someone.

He appeared as if out of thin air… or was he always there?

The surprise appearance caused everyone to be on guard, but they didn’t dare brandish their arms.

“It sure took you long to get here, Hero!”

Leon was the closest to the gate, so he was the one to whom the person was talking to.

And the voice… it was so familiar to Leon.

He heard it before.

But where?

…When?

Leon quickly brushed such thought away, as the solution to his problems was quite literally in front of him.

He just needs to look at the face.

“Let me introduce myself. I am your new teammate! And I don’t take no for an answer! My name is-”

“Marissa.”

“Huh? How do you..,?”

Leon’s face was filled to the brim with happiness.

He didn’t know why she was here.

He didn’t know why she was saying something weird.

But…

“I’m so glad to see you again.”

As if unable to control his action, Leon came to her and embraced her in a hug.

“L-Leon? What do you mean by again? Wait… are you… too?”

Marissa said that very quietly, not even Leon heard her.

Soon, Leon understood what he was doing and backed off.

“I’m really sorry, I-”

Before he even finished, someone butted in.

“Do you two know each other?”

It was Naty, the forever curious saint.

Leon started thinking of a proper answer, but…

“Haha! Yes, of course, we do!”

That’s when Leon started panicking, he thought Naty will make a fuss now… however, that didn’t happen.

“Oh, why are we hearing it for the first time? Leon? If you already found someone for the team, you could’ve told us!”

“Huh? What? Um? Yes? Sorry?”

Something inside Leon’s brain broke.

“Haha! It’s fine! Don’t blame Leon, he can be like that! Let’s go inside, we have much to talk about.”

“Weren’t we supposed to wait for the elder to come?”

“Morris is a nasty fellow, don’t listen to what he says.”

And so the team finally entered the capital village.

…Only having the wind close the gate behind them.

.

.

.

.

.

Somewhere far away, in the future or past, someone knocked at the door.

*Knock!**Knock!* *Knock!*

“Who’s the~re?”

“Let me in, you know it’s me.”

“Rude, but sure, come in.”

A house that’s bigger inside than it is outside was not at all a surprise to the guest.

The owner of the house kindly placed a hot tea cup on the table and offered a seat.

“So, what brings you here dear sister?”

“You know why I’m here.”

“Do you think I can see the future or something?”

“...Stop with the jokes Chronos.”

“Oh, don’t be like that. We haven’t seen each other in like what? Few hundred years? Light up a little bit.”

“Do you really think this is funny?”

“A bit, why?”

*Thump*

“Do you not remember what happened the last time you reversed time!?”

“Whoa, you’ll spill the tea!”

“Chronos! You promised not to do this anymore!”

“It’s fi~ne, after all, it took you so long to even notice it.”

“Obviously! You’re too good at hiding traces!”

“I call it being careful. Nothing will happen. There’s nothing to worry about, you dummy.”

“As of yet, sure. But I already felt some ripples! Do you not know how dangerous it can be!?”

“That was me, yes. Though not because I reversed time. I’ve been… overusing my foresight as of late.”

“What? Why?”

“Some personal matters, nothing much.”

“...Did you spend most of your powers peeking into other worlds again?”

“...Maybe.”

“You idiot! And that kind of activity cannot cause ripples!”

“You’re overdramatising it.”

“Tsk. I knew you wouldn’t help. That’s why I started fixing your mistakes already.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The anomaly. I’ll take care of him, like it or not.”

“Hm? Oh. Him… Is that why you took in an apostle?”

“Precisely.”

“Hm… It’ll be hard. A Hero is by no means weak.”

“A Hero? Why would I deal with him?”

“Sorry?”

“I’ll deal with the human you brought from the other world. I don’t know why out of all the ones you brought before this one is causing problems. So I’m sorry to destroy your toy, but it has to be done. I came to warn you of that, as I still value our friendship. Goodbye.”

“Sit.”

“Ugh, you-”

“Don’t touch him. Tell your apostle to not approach him. Better yet, avoiding him entirely would be the best.”

“...It is not often that I see you being serious. Did you come to like him that much?”

“...as if.”

“Sorry?”

“It’s complicated… and I can’t talk about it.”

“What? Why?”

“We have a listener, you see.”

“...?”

“You won’t find him here, he’s hidden.”

“Hidden? Here? Is it Lo-”

“No. You won’t understand even if I tell you. Nor do you need to know, it’s for your own good. Now, please leave.”

“Huh? You can’t jus-”

*Pop*

“...Phew. Now that she’s gone… Shall we talk? I’m sure you have a lot of questions on your mind.”

Ask your questions in the comments, and I’ll answer them in character (it might take a lot of time).