I tossed and turned in my bed, my body twisting and contorting, trying to get something off my head. An internal battle was raging within me, even though a day had passed since a new mission was issued. But a mental concern like this was a brand-new feeling for me because this was the first time for this type of mission to appear.

All I could say was that it really put me in a pinch.

“Urgh! Time waits for no one; if I do nothing, then it will be too late!” I decided to man up and make up my mind, checking the root of the problem that gave me suffering almost a whole day long one more time.

Mission: The Coming Storm

An abomination has its eyes on Aquarine and will soon bring carnage upon this land with its wicked army. Be that as it may, you have secured an airship and given yourself a way out, so you can either fight or flee like a chicken. The choice is all yours…

Difficulty: B

Are you willing to accept this mission?

[Yes] / [No]

Mission Acceptance Remaining Time: 6 hours 33 minutes 48 seconds

The new mission had an option to be refused. This was the first time that it happened, so I didn’t know how to react. Moreover, there was a time limit for the acceptance of the mission, which really didn’t give me time to think about it.

“And it’s difficulty B, alright! How am I supposed to do this?” I whined; frustration filled my lungs.

If the difficulty was limited to C, I wouldn’t have been so over-exaggerated. After going through several missions, I was already aware that the difficulty corresponded to how powerful the enemy I would potentially face. For instance, the strongest beings I faced in the last mission were the pale cruncher and the queen ant which were both Third Order mutated monsters…

Simply put, a difficulty B mission would bring an equally strong enemy according to its difficulty. Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps.

The thing was, I was not a hero, much less a saint. There was no obligation that bound me to save Aquarine… As a matter of fact, it hadn’t been that long since I came to this place.

But! BUT!!

My conscience wouldn’t allow me to simply turn a blind eye and ignore this happening. Just thinking about abandoning this town without trying anything at all would be too cruel. I mean, how would I sleep at night knowing that I’d let a whole town perish without knowing anything? I’d toss and turn, imagining all the ways I could have — should have — do something at the very least.

As I sat on my bed in deep contemplation, I wrapped my arms tightly around my body, seeking a sense of comfort… My hands trembled uncontrollably, and my breathing quickened, becoming shallow and erratic, Each breath felt as if it struggled to find its way into my lungs, causing my chest to rise and fall rapidly.

I was scared.

With death looming over my head, I didn’t dare make any rash decision. I bet that no one was more familiar with this feeling than me.

Out of the blue, the door split open as an incredibly pretty girl in her sixteen to seventeen entered. Her hair was a lustering silver and platinum, cut exactly to her waist, and with a face that was cold and expressionless but flawless, nonetheless. She wore a black frilly dress that covered her smooth, porcelain-like skin… Truly a picturesque figure.

The girl, whether it was out of concern or not, grabbed my shoulders and opened her mouth.

“Are you done with your tantrum? Get a hold of yourself.”

“Wh-What?” My confused mind cleared up by the sudden interruption.

“If you have something concerning your mind, just speak to me… I’m here.” The girl gazed into my eyes, and her amethyst eyes dazed me to reveal the truth.

“Well—” I was about to tell her when I suddenly realized something. “Wait, Lunaria, are you perchance peeking at me?”

“M-My… Of course not.” Lunaria averted her gaze and loosened her grip. “Why would I be seeing you turning and tossing in your bed all day long? Like literally all. Day. Long!”

Hey, that’s my privacy you’re intruding there, y’know… More importantly, how did she do that? This room didn’t have any CCTV, not that I opened the only window out to the corridor, so it would be all but impossible to spy on me… unless… she used some kind of magic I wasn’t aware of.

“I noticed that you’ve been acting weird since yesterday… Spit it out, Maxim, what’s concerning you?” Lunaria inquired, her glove-covered hand on her chest. “If it’s something I can do, I will gladly offer my full assistance.”

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought of asking Lunaria’s help. I just didn’t want to put her in harm’s way. I mean, I’d promised to protect her; therefore, putting her in danger would be counterintuitive.

“I don’t think I can concern you with this… You may even lose your life—”

“You are incorrigible…” Lunaria heaved a long sigh as if what I said had disappointed her. “Weren’t you the one that told me to join you in your adventures, to be the one that supports you in ups and downs? So, no matter what it is, I will be more than willing to help you.”

“Anything?”

“Naturally. Be it conquering this world, or unleashing chaos that engulfed the world, or even killing its inhabitants, I won’t even bat an eye.” She paused for a moment before adding, “You are just that important to me.”

While I knew that what she was saying was a connotation — a figure of speech — this made me realize that she was dead serious. Was I that important in her eyes?

“Very well. But I think we should hold the topic until we meet Tuilë, so I don’t have to explain twice. You fine with that, Lunaria?”

Since I decided to rely on others, I might as well drag Tuilë in for her opinion. No matter what, she was the most familiar with this place, and her view would matter.

“Mm-hmm. Tuilë’s obsession may be an issue,” Lunaria said while circling her forefinger around her temple, “but her character is something that I can vouch for.”

Tuilë wasn’t here at the moment. Exactly once the sun rose, Tuilë rushed toward the town, saying things like, “Oof, I better go to take care of some stuff in my workshop” while bringing Alfredo with her. What a try-hard she was…

Subsequently, I readied myself and equipped my backpack and, of course, my gun. After that, from my bedroom on the fourth floor, Lunaria and I walked to the stairs and descended straight to the hangar on the first floor. From there, I approached the massive hangar door and pressed a button on the side, initiating the opening procedure. After the upgrade, although Tuilë had yet to install landing gear, she had made a boarding ramp to which we all could descend without a ladder. Goodbye, inconvenience.

The hangar door groaned and rattled, and slowly, it began to lift, revealing the vast expanse beyond. Sunlight streamed in, casting a golden glow on the sleek metallic hull of the airship. With the door fully open, we stepped onto the boarding ramp and descended.

We then walked down the hill and headed straight for the entrance and then into a descending tunnel. While the expansive hill above the town was where we parked the airship, I had no worries it would be discovered, as the place itself was pretty much obscured by trees and hard to see from below, and there was no need to be concerned about the wind blowing the ship away either. Also, Luna-1 had been left behind to oversee the airship and would inform us if there were any invaders approaching.

Anyways. After we walked for some time, we saw a gigantic cavern with a giant, shining purple mushroom tree in the center. No matter how many times I went to this place, the sight always put me in awe.

Speaking of which, this would be the first time that Lunaria went to town in the flesh. I wondered what sort of reaction she would make… And… she didn’t make any notable expression… How typical.

Maybe it was that she didn’t make any reaction, but that was her way of expressing things. Who knows.

“Have you calmed down?” Lunaria commented, tugging the sleeve of my clothes.

“Yeah. I’m pretty relaxed right now. Thanks for asking.”

On second thought, it was more than likely that the reason for my anxiety was the countdown of the mission itself. It gave me a sense that a grave peril was arising, simulating my instinct for fear of the unknown.

Shaking my head, we proceeded to the road where metal workshops were aplenty. It was a familiar place that I had frequented when I was looking for a mechanic to repair the airship. Soon, Tuilë’s workshop was in view.

As soon as I opened the door to Tuilë’s workshop, a wave of heat washed over me. The air crackled with anticipation and the rhythmic pounding of metal on an anvil reverberated through the room.

In the heart of the workshop, the forge blazed with an intense inferno. Flames danced, casting flickering shadows on the worn brick walls. The one who commanded the fire was a female humanoid not much different than a human but with pale skin, a pair of big eyes, and a pair of small red horns protruding on her forehead. Her tail, which was rounded to a point, was following the rhythm of the hammer.

“What are you doing there, Tuilë?”

The female humanoid didn’t answer.

“Ignored, huh?” Lunaria looked at me with “Does it feel good to be ignored?” eyes.

I didn’t take her sarcasm to heart because it was normal for her to be absorbed with whatever she was doing and forget things around here. For some reason, I was confident she would remain still even if the apocalypse was happening beside her…

At any rate, I observed the thing she was hammering. To my surprise, it was a wrench. Like, a seriously large wrench that you would often see in cartoons or games…

As curious as I was, I held back from disturbing her and sat on a nearby chair with Lunaria, just like Alfredo the mechanical golem, which was staring at nothing.

Seconds turned into minutes. Lunaria and I waited for about fifteen minutes before Tuilë stopped hammering and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

She then about-faced from the forge and was slightly stunned to see us sitting not too far away, and chuckled. “Oh, you here already? Since when? I was just about to go back to the airship to inform you two.”

“Uh… a while ago.” I scratched my temple. “Anywho, what are you forging there?”

“This?” Tuilë lifted the two-meter-long steel wrench and showed it to me with a smug grin. “A big wrench, obviously.”

I mean, I could see with my own eyes that it was a disproportionally large wrench, but what the heck was its purpose? Heck, curiosity got the better of me, and I asked just that.

“Y’see, constructing a large airship made me realize how small I am compared to it. So… this can help me in fixing things.” More like destroying things…

“Uh-huh. I get it…” I opted to be clueless and brought up the topic that Lunaria had been eager to hear — the thing regarding my new mission. “Now then, Tuilë, I have something important to talk about.”

“What's the scoop, my patron?”

Of course, I wasn’t going to divulge things like my Vocation — [The Survivalist] — and even about [Mission], so I told them this:

“What if I told you that a force out there has set its sight on Aquarine?”

“Surely you jest.” In laughter, Tuilë swung the giant wrench around and almost hit me.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t swing that to me! Lucky for me, my high AGI stat allowed me to swiftly dodge the incoming blunt weapon. As for Lunaria, she had kept her distance from the start… She must have realized this was bound to happen.

Still, even if I explained to them my power, they wouldn’t understand. When I gave it a deep pondering, [Mission] was like a divination ability that could predict a predetermined future. So the next closest thing to it would do it.

“No, I’m totally not joking this time. Let’s just say that I have the magical power to predict certain future events. Will you believe me then?”