Rio POV 

  

  

 
 

From the time when I was young, I knew I was different from other people. 

I have a special ability. 

Whenever I lock eyes with someone, I can read their thoughts. 

I asked my parent why I had this ability and they just said it was a gift from god. 

But this gift somehow became a burden for me. 

  

  

Because of this ability, the people around me began to avoid me. 

They felt creeped out of me since it seems that I always knew what they were thinking. 

I wanted that to change, so I have decided to use this ability to be of use to others. 

Way back when I was still in my elementary years, I tried to help a friend of mine to know if the boy she likes, likes her. 

I wanted to be of use to that person so I used my ability to know what that boy thinks. 

 
 

 
 

By using my ability, I was able to discover that the boy liked her too so I decided to tell my friend. 

I did not expect the boy to deny it so much that he ended up telling the opposite of what she thought about her. 

Because of his word they fought and became hostile to each other to a point that they started to genuinely hate each other. 

My relationship with that friend ended there and then. 

 
 

  

I thought that my ability was causing people to feel bad. 

And so... I tried to avoid using this ability ever since that happened. 

I grew my hair so I could cover my eyes from others and avoid looking into their minds. 

But because of this, I have not realized that I have been looking down most of the time. 

I became gloomy and unsociable and had difficulty making friends. 

My time in middle school passed by like that without me having a close friend. 

Before I knew it, I was already in high school. 

There I met the person that somehow changed me. 

  

  

It was when I was still in my first year. 

The bell had just rung that signified that it was time for us to go home. 

I was blamed by one of my classmates to have stolen her pocket money. 

And the money was found inside my bag. 

Even though It was not me who stole her money. 

I tried to use my gift to know the truth. 

I looked into the eyes of the people around me as if I was being blamed. 

  

  

I locked eyes with them one by one. 

In their mind, they were already judging me. 

"She must have stolen it." <Classmate A> 

"She's always been so creepy" <Classmate B> 

"Wah, to think that the creepy girl would have done such a thing... disgusting" <Classmate C> 

And other things that were very unpleasant to hear about. 

And... I found the culprit. 

In her mind... 

"Fufufu this is funny, I knew that this was going to be funny." <Classmate D> 

 
 

  

  

They were already judging me. 

Of course, some of them doubted that it was me but they did nothing to help me either. 

It seems that they have an idea who was the real culprit. 

They found this to be funny. 

 
 

 
 

All of a sudden... 

A girl with sharp-looking eyes asked me. 

"Hey, did you steal it?" <Girl Classmate> 

I did not want to look into her eyes since I was expecting her to feel the same way as my other classmates. 

This person was just quietly sitting there earlier. 

I did not know her. 

To be honest, my impression of her was someone unfriendly and hard to talk to. 

Looking at the reaction of those people ganging on me, It looks like she was not their friend either. 

 
 

   

"Hey, Rio-san" <Girl Classmate> 

She out-called my name. 

I did not expect her to know it. 

I don't even know this girl's name myself. 

To my surprise, I looked at her face. 

  

  

She had a sharp-looking eye. 

She was looking at me with a serious expression. 

Our eyes met as well. 

  

  

[LOOK AT ME] 

That was the word that was on her mind. 

"Look at me." <Girl Classmate> 

Was the word that came out of her mouth. 

  

  

[WAS IT YOU?] 

That was the word that was on her mind. 

"Was it you?" <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

Was the word that came out of her mouth. 

  

  

It was the same, the word from her mind and the words from their mouth. 

It was not the first time that I have seen a person who says what was really on her mind. 

But for some reason, she was able to convince me to talk. 

I answered her question with all honesty. 

  

  

"NO!" <Rio> 

I said looking at her while shouting with my mind "Believe me." 

I knew that she was not like me. 

She can't read people's minds as I can. 

But for some reason, I believed that if I think of it very hard, she might be able to read my mind. 

And... as if she was able to read my mind she replied. 

"OK, I believe you." <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

She said, and she said what she thinks. 

In her mind, she was thinking. 

[As expected... These girls... tsk... so annoying.] 

  

  

She closed her eyes and sighed. 

It seems that she had already deduced what was going on. 

She knew that I was innocent and was getting blamed for no reason. 

She took the wallet from me and gave it back to its owner. 

She then glared at the girl who was thinking that this whole thing was funny. 

I looked at that girl's mind. 

[Why is she helping that loser?] 

"Here is your wallet. Check it if the money is lacking." <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

  

  

The owner took the wallet and check its content. 

Luckily the money was still there untouched. 

She confirmed there was no money missing. 

After that, the girl who returned the wallet then glared at the people around. 

Her gaze stopped at that girl... 

"What? I have returned the money. Do you guys still have a problem?" <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

"But..." <Classmate D> 

"What? nothing is missing so just let it be." <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

"What will we do with her, she tried to steal my wallet." <Classmate D> 

"Just let it be, nothing was lost anyway. Do you have any problem with that?" <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

Kazue looked at that classmate and her sharp gaze intimidated her. 

"No... nothing Kazue-san" <Classmate> 

 
 

 
 

The girl named Kazue then looked at the owner of the wallet. 

"Yeah, it's ok since nothing was missing." <Owner> 

Kazue went back to her sit and prepared to go home. 

She acted as if nothing happened. 

Why did she help me? 

 
 

 
 

Later on, I discovered that the one who placed her money in my bag that day was her friend. 

Soon their group was torn apart because of some internal conflict within their group. 

They started stabbing each other in the back. 

  

  

Ever since that day that person had been helping me from time to time. 

She even considers me a friend. 

Because of her sharp-looking eyes, she barely had friends in our class like me. 

She had few friends just like me but she seemed to have no problem with that. 

Maybe it was because her aura that tends to intimidate people that was causing this to happen. 

  

  

Although we don’t talk much with each other, she was still the person I talk to the most in our class. 

We would sometimes spend time with each other without saying a single word. 

Whenever we are together we rarely initiate a conversation and just lets the quiet time pass. 

One time, I asked her while looking her in the eyes. 

"Are you not bored being with me Kazue? Is it better for you to hang out with Chiho-san and the others?" <Rio> 

"Huh? Bored? NO! Well... sure, we don’t talk too much but it's ok. I kinda’ of enjoy this quiet time, it's relaxing. I feel that I need this kind of peaceful atmosphere from time to time. Are you asking this because you’re getting bored being with me?" <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

"Eh? No! of course not! but how about your time with Chiho-san and the others?" <Rio> 

"Ah, well I do enjoy being with them. I just hate it when they try to sed-... no... nothing. BUT THE POINT IS I JUST NEED THIS QUIET TIME! And you are the best partner that I have for that!" <Sharp-eyed Classmate> 

She stopped mid-way through her sentence. 

Since I was reading her mind at that moment, I knew that she was going to say that she hates the time when her friends try to seduce Hano. 

Even without reading her mind, I knew what she was talking about. 

  

  

Time passed. 

I did not even realize that It had almost been a year since then. 

And one day an unexpected thing happened. 

Our class was transported to another world. 

  

  

********************************** 

 
 

 
 

 35 Days. 

It has been 35 days since our class has been summoned to this other world. 

And this is the first week that I had moved away from the castle where we stayed to train. 

In that one week, I was working as an adventurer and so far, I had been doing well on my own. 

  

  

Back in our world. 

I am a person who does not stand out. 

I almost have no friends in class. 

Nobody pays attention to me at all. 

It's not as if I wanted attention anyway. 

No, actually... I hate attention. 

  

  

Our class was summoned to another world. 

It was like a dream; I could not believe it at first but the facts are all in front of me. 

I was amused by the fact that this world works like a game I played in my free time at home. 

After all, games are the very few topics that I and Kazue would use whenever we had a conversation back in our world. 

My useless knowledge came in handy at this time. 

  

  

We checked our status on that same day. 

I discovered that I have gained some special abilities as well. 

I checked mine after Hano, our class president. 

while all of our classmates were busy celebrating the fact that Hano had the "Hero" Job. 

As they were celebrating, I secretly looked at my status. 

Without anyone, I copied what was on the stone tablet. 

  

  

We spent 3 weeks training within the walls of the castle of the Empire. 

Time passed and little by little my classmates started leaving the castle. 

We started to depart when Asano Reno and her friends left the castle. 

Their reason being... 

[We want to see this mysterious world with our own eyes.] 

Me and my classmates left the castle and adopted this mindset. 

  

  

I use the first week to get familiar with my life as an adventurer. 

While I was in the city, an emergency mission popped out of the adventurer's guild. 

A mission that requires adventurers to join an expedition to go to the City of Altus as reinforcement. 

The reward was so good that most of the Mid to low-ranked adventurers in the Imperial Capital wanted to join. 

Without much thinking, I joined the mission and went on an expedition to the City of Altus together with other adventurers who accepted the same quest. 

  

  

 
 

On the way, the expedition encountered a lot of monsters that seemingly ran away from the forest. 

On the second day, we encountered undead monsters that should not exist in such a place. 

There were quite a lot of them in the way. 

This monster seems to be trying to run away from "something". 

 
 

 
 

We arrived at the City of Altus after 2 days of travel. 

We entered the city. 

The city had a heavy atmosphere. 

The citizen was visibly distressed by the current situation. 

  

  

Upon reaching the inside of the city... 

The adventurers gathered at the town square plaza, just in front of the adventurer's guild building of this city. 

There was a wooden stage there. 

It would give the impression that someone would be speaking over it later on. 

I noticed that people from the city began gathering at the same place. 

Soldiers and adventurers from the city gathered around that place together with us. 

Just as I was expecting a man walked onto the wooden platform later on. 

He gave off an aura of a confident person and a powerful warrior. 

  

  

"Attention everyone!" <High Ranking Adventurer> 

He expelled some air in his body before he started talking out loud for all of us to hear. 

The plaza became silent to be able to listen to his voice. 

"First of all, I would like to thank all of you who are here right now! To Adventurers from the Capital and the Adventurers and soldiers of the City of Altus, I thank you for your presence here today." <High Ranking Adventurer> 

He said while looking in the general direction of the adventurers from the Imperial Capital who just arrived here with us and to the soldiers and adventurers of this city. 

  

  

"I am the Altus Adventurer Guild master, David Craig. I am not going to waste time and give an inspirational speech since I am not good at that kind of thing. Most of you might have noticed this by now. As you expect I am here to tell you all the current situation that we have discovered thus far." <High Ranking Adventurer / David> 

He pauses for a bit to gather a bit of his thought. 

"In the past few days, there had been a lot of sightings and encounters of undead monsters in the forest surrounding the Altus City. This is especially true when you go to the deeper parts of the West Altus Forest. This never been seen phenomenon is the reason why all of you are here right now." <David> 

  

  

At that time, an adventurer took David's attention by raising his hand. 

It was an adventurer that came from the Imperial capital. 

"Just how many are we speaking here?" <Adventurer A> 

He asked.  

"To be honest, we are not sure ourselves. This is also one of the reasons why we have gathered all of you here today. We, the adventurers of Altus city will be conducting an all-out investigation of the deeper parts of the forest after this meeting. Those who want to help are welcome to do so." <David> 

 
 

 
 

Murmurs began echoing in the plaza.  

David raised his arm to make the people stop their ruckus. 

"We are conducting a scouting team to go into the forest. We need as many people as possible. We will be gathering all willing adventurers who want to join the investigation of what is happening in that forest. This investigation would be led by these people." <David> 

David looks behind him and a group of people went forward. 

A group of 6 people. 

A beautiful blonde girl.A 

A brown-Haired beauty 

A gorgeous slender girl 

A cute girl in red mages-like clothing 

A huge middle age knight 

And, a handsome boy with black hair and clothes.  

I knew who those people are. 

It was Levethy, Chiho, Eiko, Mizuko, Sir Victor and Ryuusei. 

The Heroes Party. 

  

  

Victor stepped forward and introduced himself in front of all the Adventurers and Soldiers in the vicinity. 

"I am Victor Meister. The Captain of the Imperial Capital's Knight Master" <Victor> 

The crowd became noisy. 

  

  

"It's Victor Meister." <Random Adventurer A> 

"Victor Meister?! That "Victor Meister"?" <Random Adventurer B> 

"It's the Imperial's Sword Machina, Victor Meister." <Random Adventurer C> 

"Wait if that is Victor Meister, that means the people behind is..." <Random Adventurer D> 

"No way?! The HERO?" <Random Adventurer E> 

I heard such words in the crowd of people. 

Their faces were filled with expectation and curiosity toward the Heroes' party. 

This is the first appearance of the Heroes party after all. 

  

  

The result of this matter will make or break the expectation of the people toward the people who are tasked to defeat the Demon Lord. 

The moral of the people in the place suddenly rose after realizing that the Heroes will be accompanying them in this affair. 

  

  

Hano Ryuusei, the former class president and now the Hero who is tasked to defeat the Demon king walked over the Platform and showed his face to the crowd. 

"Everyone! I know that there is doubt in your hearts but do not falter. If we work together, I know that we will be able to solve this problem! Everyone can I count on you?!" <Hano> 

A roar echoed in the plaza coming from the adventurers and soldiers, even the townspeople are joining the cheers for the Hero. 

  

  

Hano Ryuusei always had this charisma to attract people. 

Although, in my opinion, his speech was not that impressive. 

His presence and delivery of the words were able to move the hearts of the people in the plaza. 

  

  

"K...Ku..fu..." <Female Voice> 

I heard a familiar voice from behind me. 

I looked back and saw a girl who was covering her mouth from her amusement. 

She was trying to suppress her laughter. 

"fu-mp... fufu.. pft... What heck was that... It's so not him... He looks amusing! Kufufu" <Female Voice> 

I know who she was. 

With a simple shirt and shorts under her black cape, she stood there trying to suppress her laughter. 

Those lustrous black hair and sharp-looking eyes. 

Although she has her hair tied up in a ponytail I immediately recognize her. 

  

  

"Kazue?" <Rio> 

I called out her name. 

"Hmm?" <Female Voice> 

She recognizes my voice right away and looked in my direction. 

A look of surprise immediately appeared on her face as soon as she saw me. 

"OH! Is that you Rio?! It's been a while." <Female Voice / Kazue> 

"yeah, it's been a while." <Rio> 

She walked towards me and looked at me from head to toe. 

  

  

"Oho, what do we have here...? What a nice set of clothes you have there. You look like a proper assassin! " <Kazue> 

I looked at my clothes as she pointed them out. 

My face turned red after I realize what she meant. 

"No! It's not what you think!" <Rio> 

"It's not? but you have-..." <Kazue> 

I stopped her sentence midway to explain myself. 

"It's because this was the gear the shop manager of the scale atelier suggested to me when I asked for gears for an Assassin!" <Rio> 

"... Shop Manager... Scale Atelier? ahhh... Do you mean Shaina? ... How much did you spend?" <Kazue> 

"Ah, the full set including the weapons and accessories cost me 85 gold coins." <Rio> 

"85... huh ... hmmm... as expected of Shai..." <Kazue> 

"I am surprised that you only wore just those gears Kazue." <Rio> 

She lifted her cape and looked into the clothes she wore under her black cape. 

"Actually~ these are just temporary gear for me. I am still waiting for my custom gears to be finished." <Kazue> 

"Hee..." <Rio> 

  

  

I noticed that there were several people behind Kazue who seemed to be with her. 

Kazue noticed that I became aware of their presence so she started to introduce them to me. 

"Ah right, let me introduce my temporary party members while I am here in Altus." <Kazue> 

  

  

She pointed at a happy-looking lady in her late teens. 

She wears a cheap-looking robe that does not have much decoration on it. 

Her robe gave the feeling of her being a mage. 

"This is Charlotte, a Mage" <Kazue> 

"Hello~ Nice to meet you!" <Charlotte> 

Charlotte greeted me with a wave and a cheerful smile on her face. 

  

  

"This over here is Lukas. An Archer" <Kazue> 

Kazue Pointed at a male who is in his late teens too. 

He has short brown hair. He wears a simple leather chest piece and lightweight clothes that would be easy to move around. 

His thin frame and clothes give the impression of him being light on his feet. 

He smiled a gave me a nod while saying "hi" 

  

  

"And over here is Amy-chan." <Kazue> 

A cute girl stood up proudly as she got introduced by Kazue. 

She was a cute girl about 14-15 years old. 

She had leaf green colored hair and eyes that were pleasant to the eye. 

Her short hair was tied into a twin tail while wearing a simple set of feminine armor 

She also wears a leather breast protector but even with that, her large breast could not be hidden. 

"HEY! It's Amy, not Amy-chan okay? I am a Cleric" <Amy> 

Kazue was trying to tease her a bit while she introduced her to me. 

  

  

"And... last but not least, Miss Grace! a Thief." <Kazue> 

Kazue pointed to a sleepy-looking girl. 

She just nodded at me with a smile on her face. 

  

  

Kazue then turned around and went beside me while we were facing her party members. 

"Here is a good friend of mine. Ota Rio" <Kazue> 

"Ah, I am Ota Rio, you can just call me Rio, my job is an Assassin." <Rio> 

“Oh!!! Assassin!” <Amy, Lucas, and Charlotte> 

Amy, Lucas, and Charlotte said in unison while looking at me with sparkling eyes. 

  

 
 

We waited for the adventurer meeting to end and after that, we all left together. 

I followed Kazue and her party to the guild after the details about the investigation of the forest would be held later today. 

We began eating at the staple guild pub. 

The pub was full of adventurers as well. 

It seems that most of them are just passing time since the investigation in the forest would start in approximately 2 hours. 

  

 
 

As we were talking. 

Kazue said... 

"hey, Rio" <Kazue> 

"hmm?" <Rio> 

"Would you like to join our party in this investigation?" <Kazue> 

Kazue asked me directly while trying to look me in the eye. 

  

  

"Eh?" <Rio> 

I was a bit surprised that she had invited me to join their party. 

While I was stunned by her sudden offer, Kazue thought that I was not able to hear her so she tried to repeat her words. 

"Join our party in this inve-..." <Kazue> 

"No, I heard you the first time, is it ok for me to join?" <Rio> 

"huh, I don't see why not." <Kazue> 

She said to me with a look that was looking for a reason for me not to join them in her mind. 

"Right guys?" <Kazue> 

She turned her head and asked her party members. 

  

  

The four others nodded in agreement. 

I tried to read their mind. 

All of them are thinking “Oh, if it's Kazue's friend... It's fine, Please join!” or something similar to that. 

They had no problem with me joining the party at all. 

I learned while we were chatting at the guild pub earlier that their party was formed a few days ago. 

They are all newbie adventurers and like Kazue some of them never joined a proper party before. 

Charlotte who was also this party's leader went forward to talk to me. 

"To be honest, this is just a newly made party after all. All of us here are former solo adventurers not too long ago. Adding another temporary member is not a problem." <Charlotte> 

"If it's Ok then, please take care of me." <Rio> 

Thus, I joined Kazue and their party. 

 
 

 
 

We began having a fun feast while waiting for the forest investigation to start. 

The green-haired girl sneakily went beside me and whispered something to me. 

"Hey, I want to ask something directly to you miss Rio." <Amy> 

"What is it?" <Rio> 

"Since you are a friend of Kazue... Do you have that ridiculous stats as well?" <Amy> 

"Ridiculous Stat... Ah... no, no mine is quite normal compared to that of Kazue's" <Rio> 

"Eh???????? Really?" <Amy> 

Placing her face closer to mine while making a doubtful expression on her face. 

Amy looked at me directly in the face, despite my hair covering my eyes my skill still activated. 

Inside her mind, she was saying to herself. 

[No no, since she's Kazue’s friend she must have amazing stats as well. I won’t believe her unless she shows me her status card] <Amy> 

  

  

To make her believe me, I took out my status card. 

"I am saying the truth, Here have a look... Status." <Rio> 

Information began appearing on my status card. 

Amy looked at them as I hold the card in my hand and showed it to her. 

  

  

 

 

  

 
 

"hee~ it's true... her stat does look normal aside from her AGI..." <Amy> 

She looked at my status card with a look of disappointment. 

Then this look turned into a look of relief right away. 

Charlotte muttered as she was behind me looking at my status card. 

"Whew, I thought that she might have some outrageous stats like Kazue since they are friends, so she's a bit normal... what a relief." <Charlotte> 

"But she has Advance Job Class, that itself is already impressive." <Lucas> 

Said Lucas who was also looking at my status card and was standing behind me together with Grace. Charlotte, Amy, and Kazue. 

I was not able to notice but all of the other party members were looking at my status card as well. 

 
 

 
 

 
 

"You say those words like I am some kind of monster or something..." <Kazue> 

Kazue commented on what her party members were talking about. 

"Well with your stats and skills, I am starting to wonder if "that" is the case." <Charlotte> 

Charlotte jokingly replied to her. 

I noticed at that moment that Kazue had changed a bit. 

She looks livelier compared to what she originally was. 

But I saw it as a good thing and made me feel happy and sad at the same time, it was a mixed feeling. 

  

  

After an hour and a half of discussing our roles in the party. 

It has been decided that I and Grace would be in charge of scouting the surrounding. 

Kazue will be in charge of upfront battles while I assist her since I can fight the monster upfront quite well. 

Lucas, Charlotte, and Amy will be in the rear and would act depending on the situation by supporting us. 

  

 
 

Meanwhile... 

A large group of people was dispatched into the forest. 

The goal was to find the reason why this unprecedented situation occurred. 

About 200 adventurers were participating in this investigation. 

Most of them are adventurers from Altus. 

This was because most of the adventurers from the Imperial capital had just arrived and most of them need rest. 

Also, it would be safer for the adventurers of Altus to investigate the forest since they knew the geography of the place. 

If I did not join Kazue's party, I would have been resting like they are right now. 

Either way, I did not mind, after all, I miss spending time with a friend. 

Right now, we will be fighting side by side. 

  

  

All of the investigation team went into the forest to investigate the current situation and find any clues to what might have happened. 

We also departed and went into our investigation. 

 
 

 
 

"Rio-san, Please!" <Charlotte> 

"On it!" <Rio> 

I swayed my left arm into the air like a whip as I readied myself in battle. 

A blade appeared from below my palm that was a foot and a half long. 

  

  

I jumped down from a tree from above and swung down my arm vertically. 

My blade sliced through its head down to where its upper body and abdomen connect as I fall and landed on its back and over its abdomen. 

The giant mantis desperately moves its body despite its upper body being sliced into two with my blade. 

Since I did not want to get caught by its random trashing movement, I used its large body as a foothold and kicked myself away from the giant mantis. 

  

  

With the force of my kick, the body of the mantis falls forward and loses its life lying on the floor while still twitching several times. 

When we confirmed its death, we gathered its scythe-like appendages to sell later on. 

  

  

"Wow, miss Rio despite being a newbie, you look like a professional assassin right there!" <Charlotte> 

"It's not much." <Rio> 

Charlotte said to me as I walked toward her. 

I instinctively hid my face with the mask built-in with my set of clothes to hide my blushing face. 

It was the first time I got complimented by someone else aside from the instructors in the castle. 

Honestly, this compliment had more impact since I was doing it in an actual battle with monsters. 

Kazue went beside me and used her elbow to poke at my side and call my attention. 

She whispered something to my ears. 

"Not bad! you looked cool out there..." <Kazue> 

Then she shifted her body away from me and gave me a thumbs up. 

I returned her compliment with an awkward thumbs up as well. 

  

  

While Lucas was removing the scythe-like arms of the mantis. 

Amy who was standing at the center of our formation said into the air. 

"I wonder if the other parties can find clues why undead started appearing in this area." <Amy> 

"Probably someone had found something by now." <Charlotte> 

Charlotte replied to Amy's sudden question. 

"Do you have any guess what might have caused this?" <Lucas> 

Lucas asked while dismantling the corpse of the giant mantis. 

"I have no idea. Normally undead monsters could only appear inside a dungeon or an area that has a high concentration of dark energies." <Charlotte> 

 
 

 
 

As Charlotte was thinking about the possible reasons as to why the undead suddenly appeared within the forest. 

Kazue raised a question. 

"Then is it possible that those monsters came out of a dungeon?" <Kazue> 

"No, there had never been a record of undead coming out of a dungeon after all. they often stay inside the dungeon since they love to stay in places with a high concentration of dark energies. Also, the dungeon had sealed entrances that won’t allow them to leave." <Charlotte> 

"What if the seal was broken?" <Kazue> 

"That never happened before, since it was said that this seal was made by the goddess herself and that no monster or human could destroy it." <Charlotte> 

"I see, then what if an area that had a high concentration of dark energy emerges?" <Kazue> 

Kazue followed up after she listed Charlotte's reasoning 

"That is the most plausible reason but the area with a high concentration of dark energies needs years of devastation and death before it becomes like that. If that were the case there is no way that a high-level undead monster would appear in the first 10 years in that area. But a sighting of an undead knight had been reported so it's odd." <Charlotte> 

  

  

We continued to form a hypothesis on why the undead monster would appear while exploring the forest. 

Before we knew it was almost nighttime. 

"I guess it's time for us to find a campsite?" <Charlotte> 

"We agree." <Party> 

The party replied to Charlotte. 

  

  

I moved around the area randomly while looking for a good place to make a camp. 

I found a cave near the foot of the mountain. 

I got back to my party members to report what I found. 

In the end, we decided to go to that cave and make it our camp for the night. 

 
 

  

The sky was already halved by the blue and orange colors when we arrived at the cave. 

Since I did not go deep inside the cave by myself at first, our party decided to explore the inside. 

  

  

As we explored the cave. 

Grace suddenly gave us a signal and pointed in a direction. 

There was a zombie. 

It moved sluggishly through the dark cave. 

"Uwah..." <Kazue> 

Kazue moved forward. 

She did not need to act by herself a while ago since I was able to deal with the monster we saw in our investigations. 

I found myself watching her in action after a long time. 

She moved smoothly and elegantly through the dark cave. 

The glitter of light flashed as she pulled and swayed her sword to cut the head of the zombie from its body with her Katana. 

It all ended in a flash. 

  

  

"Wow..." <Rio> 

I said in amazement. 

I remembered back on the first day of training in the castle how amazing Kazue was. 

I feel that she was even better than she was back then. 

I could only compare her movements to Mizuko who was a member of the hero’s party. 

Although Mizuko was significantly faster and had more devastating and flashy skills. 

I feel that in terms of pure skill, they are equally matched or she might even be better. 

  

  

"Hee... so even Rio is impressed with her huh..." <Charlotte> 

Charlotte heard me and commented on my reaction. 

"Of course, ... I knew she was amazing but seeing her in action once again is another thing. I even think she’s better than the last time I saw her" <Rio> 

"I see." <Charlotte> 

  

  

"Everyone! Look!" <Kazue> 

Standing in front of us, Kazue called out to us and pointed further ahead. 

"What is that?" <Lucas> 

Lucas said while holding a torch in his hands. 

He took another piece of wood and used the torch to let it burn. 

He then threw it forward so we would be able to see the thing that was ahead. 

  

  

What appeared was an ominous-looking sphere. 

There was a dark hole in space floating right there. 

The whole party instinctively moved back as they saw this ominous-looking hole in the air. 

"What is that? A hole?" <Rio> 

All of us became cautious 

"Should we retreat and report the guild about this?" <Rio> 

"I think we should. I think that this thing is not something we could handle on our own." <Charlotte> 

  

  

I saw Kazue's face turn pale while looking at the black hole in the air. 

She lowered the center of her gravity and became more cautious than ever and held the hilt of her katana on her waist. 

"Everyone! We should run!" <Kazue> 

She said in a loud voice. 

"Quickly!" <Kazue> 

I was confused so I looked at Kazue's eyes to understand what she means. 

  

  

[This is bad... something is going to happen.] <Rio> 

That was the thought she had on her mind. 

I felt the sense of urgency behind that thought so I followed her instruction to run. 

But before I could even turn around and run, I saw a movement. 

The black hole made a pulsing movement that made my body freeze. 

It was as if time stopped for me. 

It was also the same as my party members who were unable to react to what happened next. 

  

  

"fufufu... Gacha." <Voice> 

I think I heard the voice of a girl coming from behind us. 

Even before I was able to look back the black sphere expanded instantly and swallowed us whole. 

 
 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

Author Note: 

  

Hi there everyone who is reading my works~ 

I know that I have not updated this for a while and I apologize~ 

I have been busy with work lately that I had no time to think and write. 

Honestly, I am still busy right now~ 

Also, I have decided to skip Ishibashi Minato and Hayasaki Keikain's stories since I felt that I don’t seem to need them for the story to progress. In the end, I continued to Rio~ 

Anyway from here on out, I will be writing about the story of Kazue as my lead character.