“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! FOOLISH HUMANS, YOU’VE BEEN LED RIGHT INTO A TRAP!”

   The Daemon who just spoke is a giant who stands at eight feet tall. He looks more or less like a bear, but has claws instead of paws. His skin is gray, his eyes are red and he has long curved teeth as well. Compared to the Soldiers, he has way better equipment. He has a metal helmet that protects his head and most of his face, a metal breastplate, and a metal gauntlet on his left hand. As for weapons, he’s wielding a battle axe that’s half his size. There’s also a heavy-looking two-handed sword at his back. I recognize his kind as a Captain.

   Besides him, there are also around thirty to forty Soldiers. All of them are laughing and cackling along with their boss. I check the Captain’s Level. Level 32. Not bad, but it’s even lower than Khriswell’s.

   “...Is he for real?” Maya asks with a bored tone.

   “Come on, just humor him a bit.” I whisper to her.

   “Well, if I have to…”

   The vampire gasped dramatically.

   “Oh no, I can’t believe that we were being led to a trap…” she moans while using the most obvious monotone I’ve ever heard.

   “Damn right you were! And now, all of you are going to die here!” the Captain guffaws.

   I shake my head in disappointment. I was hoping that the Captain has normal intelligence since he could talk, but I suppose I overestimated him.

   “Say, can you use Appraisal?” I ask the Daemon.

   The Captain scoffs. “Of course not! As if I will bother to learn a spell as useless as that!”

   I gesture towards Ichika. “Let me fill you up on the situation you’re in right now, then. See this fine lady here? Her Level is 93.”

   Every Daemon inside the cave stopped laughing at once.

   “Um, what? I, um, can you repeat that, um, please?” the Captain requested dumbly.

   “Like I said, her Level is 93.”

   The Captain gulped audibly. All his lackeys are trembling violently, and they’re definitely not laughing now. That said, their leader got back his composure rather quickly.

   “So what? We’re all prepared to fight down to our last breath! You won’t find us as easy to defeat as you think!” the Captain yells. “Besides, even if you got rid of us, our brethren from the Daemon Realm will replace us and continue to plague this world!” he said defiantly.

   Well, I already know this. I mean, players of this game need to keep on taking quests continuously in order to level up, and the fodder Daemons have to come from somewhere. There are, however, something that I’m not sure of.

   “If that’s the case, is it safe to assume that as long as all of you are still alive, no new batch will arrive?”

   “That’s how it works. Those big shots are constantly asking for updates from us. If they stopped hearing from us, they would just assume that we’ve kicked it and send in replacements.”

   “I guess both of our sides are in a predicament. You guys will be mauled down mercilessly in just a few seconds, while our client will have their farm disrupted until the end of time. Since that’s the case, I would love to offer a deal.”

   The Captain narrowed his eyes. “A deal, you say?”

   “Yup. It’s rather simple, really. You guys will work for the farmers and keep on reporting to those big shot of yours that no replacements are needed whatsoever. In return, you guys get to keep your lives.”

   The Captain made a disgusted noise.

   “You expect us to serve you humans like the cattles that you rear? We would rather die!”

   He bellows like a wild beast and charges towards me.

   “Let me handle this.” I request the girls.

   Without waiting for replies, I step forward and engage the Captain.

   The Daemon is a giant, but the Gravity King I fought back at Ichika and Kaede’s world is much bigger. That said, this Captain is a lot more intelligent than the Destroyer. Even if it isn’t, I still decided to merely rely on my skill and strength instead of also using tricks since I want to test my own limits. In the end, I ended up being victorious. Admittedly, it was a close call. After all, our Levels are pretty much the same.

   “Last chance. Take my deal or I’ll chop off your head.” I tell the Captain while pointing Gravitas’ tip at his throat.

   “What makes you so sure that we will honor the deal?” he asks.

   I gotta hand it to him. He has guts. Not many people, human or otherwise, can stay calm while having a weapon pointed at their throat, and yet here he is, being cool as a cucumber.

   I shrug. “We don’t. I do know that you guys have to honor any and all contracts that you got into, or you’ll literally burst into flames. We’ll be taking advantage of that. Now then, your answer?”

   Instead of replying, the Captain took one step back and dropped his ax. He then reached behind him and unstrapped his two-handed sword before dropping it as well. Without being told, his lackeys do the same. All of a sudden, you could hear multiple things being dropped to the ground. This lasted for one whole minute. The Captain waited patiently before finally giving me his reply.

   “We accept the deal.” he says to me.

   Satisfied, I pull away Gravitas from his throat.

   “Great. Let’s head to the farm so that we can make it official.”

   Richard-san and Carla-san looked like they were having a heart attack when they saw all those Daemons. Even though I gave them a quick run-down of the situation, they still can’t seem to calm down. Quite understandable, to be honest.

   “Are you sure that those Daemons can be trusted, lad?” Richard-san asks me softly while sneaking glances towards the Daemons continuously. “Like, really really really sure?”

   “As I told you, Richard-san, the contract you’re signing will make sure that they won’t trouble you ever again. That and you’ll get lots of free employees.” I assure him.

   “...All right, I suppose this beats getting ransacked by different groups of critters all the time. Honey, please go get a piece of paper, a pen, and a bottle of ink.”

   “Right away, dear.”

   The terms of the contract are the same as the deal I made with the Daemon Captain just now: that he and his lackeys will work for the farmers and won’t call for reinforcements. In return, they get to live. Richard-san and Carla-san signed the paper normally. The Daemons can’t write, so they had to make do with dipping their thumb into the bottle and pressing their thumb print on the paper. The process took a while since there are quite a number of Soldiers.

   “Well, I guess, um, we’re looking forward to working with you.” Richard-san says nervously to the Captain. “Mister, um…”

   “Just call me Jirad.” the Captain replied gruffly.

   “Now that everything’s been settled, is it okay if we ask for our payment?” I ask the farmers.

   “Of course. I’ll get them right away.” Carla-san says to me.

   “Many thanks.”

   After we received the money, I had Richard-san sign an invoice to confirm that the quest he posted had been completed. Now then, all that’s left is heading back to Kinbrond where we came from. I told the carriage driver that we’re going to need a ride back home first thing in the morning next day, so we have to look for somewhere to spend the night.

   “You could stay inside some of our rooms.” Richard-san offers.

   “Won’t we bother you?” I ask.

   “Of course not! Rather, it’s been a long while since we had guests, so we’re pretty happy about it.”

   I look at Jirad.

   “You wanna join us for dinner?” I ask him.

   He stared back like he’s staring at an idiot.

   “Are you for real?”

   “Of course not. I was just being courteous.”

   “Well you don’t have to be! My boys and I will eat and sleep at our cave where we're most comfortable, thank you very much!”

   “Suit yourself. More for us.”

   The Captain bellowed something at his lackeys in his native tongue. Whatever he said made them leave the farm. After a while, he himself left the farm as well. Watching all of the Daemons leave made the farmer couple let out a collective sigh of relief.

  “I’ll prepare dinner at once, so please wait for a while.” Carla-san tells us.

   “Is it okay if you cook something vegetarian-friendly for my friend here?” I request while gesturing at Khriswell.

   “Of course it is. It’ll just take an extra minute or two.”

   “Thank you so much for going out of your way to go along with my diet.” Khriswell tells Carla-san while bowing at her.

   “No need to thank me. Like I just said, it’ll just take an extra minute or two.”

   As Carla-san is busy, the rest of us are waiting patiently at the dining table. Richard-san is quite a chatty person. I’m just glad that Ichika, Kaede and Maya are there to talk with him so that Khriswell and I don’t have to.

   For dinner, we got pot roast with sides of roasted corn-on-the-cob and porridge with potatoes and cabbages.

   “Here you go. Eat up.” Carla-san tells Khriswell as she serves the priestess a large serving of the porridge.

   “Please wait, I can’t eat this much!” Khriswell says hurriedly.

   “Nonsense! You’re a growing girl, so you should eat lots!”

   Khriswell lowers her head in shame.

   “But, I didn’t even do a thing just now…” she whispers.

   “Don’t beat yourself up too much over it. I mean, I didn’t do a thing either, and yet here I am, ready to enjoy my dinner.” Kaede says to Khriswell.

   “Kaede is right, Khriswell.” I agree. “Just don’t become shameless like her and you’ll be fine.”

   “Say, Kotaro? Would you like a fork between your eyes?”

   “Pfft, as if you could aim to save your life.”

   “Oh? I assume that you’re just anxious to find out, hmm?”

   “Will the two of you stop it? We are about to have our meal here!” Ichika scolds.

   “Sorry, senpai.”

   “Sorry, onee-sama.”

   Maya has wisely clammed up and didn’t join in, thus escaping Ichika’s wrath.

   “Anyway, please go on and recite the prayer, Khriswell-san.” Richard-san encourages Khriswell.

   “Right away, sir.”

   I ain’t no Christian, but I guess I should follow the local custom here. I imitate what the farmer couple and Khriswell are doing and proceed to close my eyes and put my hands together.

   “Dear God, we thank You for this food before us, for the hands that have prepared it, and-” Khriswell begins to say.

   I’ll omit the rest since every Christians has their own versions of before meal prayers, and I don’t want to accidentally offend someone. After the prayer was done, we could finally get to eating. As we do so, Ichika initiates small talks with our host, with Kaede and Maya joining in occasionally. I could never figure out how they could do it that nonchalantly, but I guess that’s extroverts for you. As for Khriswell and I, we’re perfectly content with focusing on eating our meal.

   “Say, isn't blood the only food for vampires?” Richard-san asks Maya all of a sudden without having a single hint of fear in his voice.

   Maya stiffened up at once.

   “She’s a rare variant that can also eat human food.” I said to Richard-san in her stead.

   “Huh. I learned something new today.”

   I gave Maya a “You owe me one” look. She stared back and stuck out her tongue.

   After we’re done eating, Carla-san gets up from her seat and clears our plates and cutleries for us.

   “How was the food?” she asks us.

   All of us assured her that we enjoyed the food she cooked for us, even her husband.

   “I’m glad to hear it. We haven’t had guests over for so long, I ended up going overboard. I’m going to do the dishes now. Richard, could guide our guests to the guest rooms?”

   Richard-san got up from his seat as well.

   “Of course. Please follow me, dear guests.”

   The rest of us followed the farmer to the second floor where there are a total of four bedrooms.

   “The room at the corner belongs to my wife and I. You’re free to use the other rooms.” Richard-san tells us.

   I bow to him and his wife.

   “Thank you very much for letting us stay over at your house.”

   “Oh, there’s no need to thank me. By contrast, I’m the one who should thank you. Now please take a good night’s rest.”

   After we greeted each other good night, Richard-san headed back downstairs.

   “So, how are we deciding the room allocation?” Maya asks no one in particular.

   Kaede raises her right hand at once.

   “I volunteer to stay in the same room with Ichika onee-sama!”

   “Do I not get a say in that, Kaede?”

   “What are you even asking, onee-sama? Of course we’re sharing a room!”

   “I-I don’t mind just sharing a room with any one of you…” Khriswell says timidly.

   “Hmm, I prefer to get my own room, but I suppose I can’t choose in this situation.” Maya says.

   “I would not have objected to it were it not for the, ahem, incident that happened the last time we shared a room.”

   “That won’t happen again! I swear!”

   I didn’t join in the discussion. Instead, I walked towards the nearest room. I only managed to walk two steps before my shoulders were grabbed by Maya.

   “Where do you think you’re going, senpai?” Maya asks me.

   “I’m going to sleep, of course. It’s not like I’m sharing a room with any of you, anyway.”

   “Isn’t this the time when you volunteer to sleep on the couch downstairs?”

   “Um, no. I’m not going to sleep on a couch after a hard day’s work.”

   “Since I did not do a thing just now, I’m the one who should sleep at the couch.” Khriswell volunteers.

   “By your logic, Kaede is a candidate to sleep on the couch too.” I told her.

   “Wow Kotaro, you’re on a roll today when it comes to annoying me, huh? Do you want to die that badly?” Kaede asks me while smiling coldly.

   “I was just stating facts.”

   “Why, you-”

   “That is enough, you two.” Ichika intervenes. “Khriswell, you and I are sharing a room. Kaede and Maya will share another. Kotaro, you will be sleeping alone in the last room.”

   Kaede pouts at the allocation.

   “Why are we separated, onee-sama?” she demands.

   “You know and I know why.”

   “Well, good night all of you.” I say to the girls while ignoring Kaede’s outburst.

   The room I chose belonged to a boy. I could tell because there are a few toys that are meant for boys inside the room, such as a wooden sword and wooden soldier figurines. Looking at this room reminded me of my own room and loads of unpleasant memories, of how things were smooth sailing for me until it went downhill really quickly. I had to spend the next ten minutes or so to clear my thoughts, or I’ll never be able to fall asleep.

   By the time I was awake once more, it’s already morning. I could hear some ruckus coming from the farm all the way over here, so I checked from the window. Turns out that the Soldiers Daemons have already started their first day of work. They were basically forced to do this, but still.

   When I went downstairs, the girls are already sitting at the dining table. Richard-san and Carla-san are nowhere to be found. There’s a portion of breakfast in front of one of the chairs, so I went to sit there.

   “Morning, girls.” I greeted. “Where are Richard-san and Carla-san?”

   “As you might have guessed, they are currently giving instructions to the Daemons regarding how to work at a farm.” Ichika replied.

   “I didn’t see Jirad anywhere. Any ideas?” I ask as I dig in my breakfast.

   “We did not see him either, and none of his underlings could speak human languages. As such, we could not ask his whereabouts.”

   “Well, at least he’s not causing any trouble. At least, he’d better not if he knows what’s good for him.”

   “That Captain-class Daemon aside, are you sure that all those Soldier Daemons out there won’t end up attacking Richard-san and Carla-san?” Kaede asks me while looking really worried.

   “Don’t you worry. When a Daemon is bound by a contract, they can never violate it without getting incinerated in seconds.” I assure her. “Isn’t that right, Khriswell?”

   “Yes. That’s how a contract works.” the priestess confirmed.

   “Well, all right. If the two of you are that sure.”

   It didn’t take me long to finish eating my breakfast and to clean up. I figured that all these Daemons would scare the heck out of the carriage driver and his horses, which is why we’re going to wait for him a bit further away from the farm. Before that, though, we made sure to say our farewell to Richard-san and Carla-san. After waiting for an hour or so, the carriage is finally here. And it marks the end of our first quest in this world.

   One day after we returned from the farm, we received a notification from our guild via our Menu.

   “All adventurers are hereby allowed to venture into the otherworldly labyrinths known as the Dungeons.” the message wrote.