My status as an assassin vol 2 chapter 1

 Chapter 1:

A New Adventure Begins

POV: ODA AKIRA

“MASTER! MASTER!”

I awoke in the top of a tree to the sound of Night calling out to 

me. I opened my eyes to discover he’d shrunk down to the size of a 

house cat and was standing on my stomach, peering into my eyes 

with concern. It felt like it had been quite a while since I’d last laid 

eyes on him.

Some time had passed since my duel with Kilika, which was the 

last time I’d seen him. He’d apparently had no interest in watching 

the bout and headed off to catch up on his beauty sleep in a nearby 

tree. I’d complained about his unwillingness to support his master, to 

which he’d simply grinned wryly and replied that there was no 

chance of me losing to “one such as her.” I appreciated the 

sentiment, but I wasn’t really sure where his confidence in me was 

coming from or whether I should be flattered by it.

I leapt down from the tree and stretched my arms up high and 

then behind my back. Night hopped down after me with feline grace. 

Sleeping on tree branches was by no means comfortable, but it beat 

sleeping on the cold, hard ground of the labyrinth by a mile. 

Thankfully, I didn’t do much tossing and turning in my sleep, so I 

didn’t have to worry about falling off. I also wasn’t particularly 

worried about insects, especially since there were no mosquitoes in 

this world to annoy the hell out of me throughout the night.

“Morning, Night,” I said.

“Good morning, Master. You seem to have slept well, which is

excellent. I was wondering if perhaps you’d like to accompany me on

my morning stroll? The others won’t be awake for some time yet.”

“Wow. It’s not every day I get invited on your walks. In fact, I

think this might be a first!”

I knew he had been in the habit of pacing around his old boss

arena for a while after waking up, and that he called the act his

“morning stroll.” But I’d never been invited along before. I could tell

from the look in his eyes he had more in mind than just a carefree

stroll. If it was something he felt compelled to wake me up over, I

assumed it had to be important.

Throughout our little walk, Night continued to alter his size via

Shapeshifter to suit the varying width of our path. In a flash of light,

he’d shrink down to the size of a kitten, then a second later, he’d be

the size of a panther or a large dog.

“That’s a handy little Extra Skill you’ve got there,” I whispered,

side-eyeing him.

“It does have its drawbacks, but yes, I’d say the good generally

outweighs the bad.”

A long silence followed this brief exchange. My footsteps were

the only sound. After quite some time, Night finally raised the

question I assumed he’d been waiting to ask.

“So what do you intend to do now, Master?”

“Are you asking me as a servant of the Demon Lord or as my

familiar?”

Night seemed a bit taken aback by the retort at first, but then he

let out a weary chuckle; our pace had slowed from a stroll to a

saunter by this point.

“Why, as your familiar, of course. The only remaining

connection I have to the Demon Lord is through my five senses. I have

no intention of betraying him, but I also have no intention of serving

him ever again. Though I suppose one could argue that refusing to

serve him would constitute a betrayal…”

“You sure about this? I mean, I have to assume you were living

the high life among the demons, given your lofty position.”

Granted, being confined to the lowest level of a labyrinth for

eternity seemed like quite the demotion to me, but given Night’s

fastidious nature, I couldn’t imagine his placement had been a

punishment for a blunder of some sort. He had probably been

entrusted with the task because he was the Demon Lord’s most

faithful servant. And I could only assume his ability to shapeshift and

communicate meant he was treated more like an equal than any

other monster. I’d met so many beings with Extra Skills that it was

sometimes hard to remember only the true elite could even dream

of acquiring them.

“You told me once that if it ever came down to it, I was free to

take His Majesty’s side, but the truth is, I don’t see myself leaving

you… But back to the topic at hand: if you truly don’t have a next

destination in mind, there’s somewhere I’d like us to go.”

“Wow. You don’t generally make requests like this. All right,

where do you wanna go?” I asked, going along with the change of

subject while being secretly touched by the notion that he would

pick me over his old master.

“To the wildlands of Brute, where the great beasts roam free.”

“The beastfolk continent, eh? And what exactly do you wanna

do there?”

“There are many skilled blacksmiths among the beastfolk. And

I think it’s about time you had that blade of yours looked at.”

I followed Night’s gaze over my shoulder to the hilt of my black

katana. The blade had been a gift from Commander Saran and had

saved me from death countless times, but it was now on the verge of

death itself. I supposed that was to be expected after seeing so much

use against monsters more susceptible to magic. It wasn’t that I

hadn’t been trying to take proper care of the blade—I’d simply

pushed it to the point that it now looked quite brittle, as though a

skilled martial artist could karate-chop it in half.

“Yeah, it probably would be a good idea to get some work done

on it,” I admitted.

“See? Your partner’s a rather observant little kitty, isn’t he?” said

Night, puffing his chest out in a display that made me snicker. It was

likely this wasn’t the only errand he had in mind for our journey to

the beastfolk domain, but I decided to wait to broach the subject.

“Then I guess it’s settled. We’ll head out later today,” I

proclaimed.

“Today?!” Night sputtered in disbelief.

I couldn’t blame him for being surprised—it was quite the

bombshell, but my mind was made up, and I had a good feeling

about leaving right away. “To be honest with you, I was hoping to get

the hell out of the Sacred Forest ASAP, but this business with Kilika

really delayed our plans. It’s unfortunate we got held up here for so

long, but we can finally move on.”

“I see. Guess I’ll go get ready, then,” said a voice that was

decidedly not Night’s. No, this was a woman’s voice, and I whirled

around to see a beautiful girl listening in on our conversation, her

silver hair fluttering in the breeze.

Eavesdropper.

There was a mischievous glint in her bright-red eyes, pleased

with herself as she was for having successfully sneaked up on me.

I groaned. “Why, hello there, Amelia.”

“You weren’t planning to leave me behind, I hope? Because I’ll

follow you to the ends of the world, Akira.” She smiled. She hadn’t

done a lot of smiling since we’d arrived in the elven domain, so it was

nice to see.

“Of course I wouldn’t leave you behind, silly. I don’t care what

your daddy, the king, has to say—you and I are a team,” I assured

her, but Night gave me a dirty look. “Er, you and I and Night, I mean,”

I amended quickly. They both gave me a satisfactory nod. “But

there’s no telling if or when we’ll make it back, so you should

probably tell the king and your sister before we go.”

“There’s no ‘if.’ We will make it back, so there’s nothing for

them to worry about. I don’t need to tell them a thing,” Amelia

asserted coolly.

“Fair enough.” I smiled. Perhaps I was the only one who was

feeling a little apprehensive. She’s right; we’ll be fine, I reassured

myself internally. We’ll be just fine.

“Princess Amelia! Would you like a drink of water?”

“Princess Amelia! How are you feeling?”

“Princess Amelia! Maybe we should…”

“Princess Amelia…!”

“Princess…?”

“Gaaaaah! Would you all just SHUT UP, already?! Leave us

alone!”

I shooed away the swarm of elven attendants crowding Amelia,

all the while wondering what I’d done to end up in this situation.

“You’re leaving today?!”

“This is…awfully sudden, to put it lightly.”

The king and Kilika were both quite taken aback by my

announcement of our departure. Amelia’s father immediately shot

up from his throne, knocking it to the ground with a loud thunk. But

the king paid no mind to his fancy chair, instead walking over to grab

me by the collar. I didn’t flinch, but I could feel an immense ire

emanating from the girl standing beside me. No, it’s okay, Amelia…

You don’t have to give your father the death glare, it’s fine…

However, the king did not falter under Amelia’s gaze as he

shook me violently by the shoulders, though this felt like hardly more

than a gentle jostling to me. The king was by no means a weakling,

but the difference between our stats was substantial.

“That is much too soon!” he yelled. “Perhaps a child like you

wouldn’t understand, but there are procedures for things like this!

Steps that must be taken! You can’t just waltz over to another

continent on a whim!”

“Yes, I’m aware,” I quickly retorted.

The king simply shook his head. I’d thought I had a pretty good

handle on things, to be honest, but now I was feeling just a little bit

bad for the guy—mainly because I knew the real reason he was so

reticent to let Amelia go so soon.

“Fine, have it your way,” the king relented. “Though I guess this

means we won’t be having that homecoming party I planned for her

after all…”

I knew that he and Kilika had been planning a grand party to

celebrate Amelia’s return to the forest, which was part of the reason

I insisted on leaving posthaste. The other part was out of spite for

her father, who clearly didn’t want his daughter to leave despite our

agreement.

“Hey, look at it this way: maybe this would be the perfect

chance for Kilika to experience what it’s like to be Amelia,” I

suggested.

“Wh-what it’s like to be her? Surely you’re not suggesting that I

disguise myself as my sister and attend the party in her stead?” Kilika

balked.

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting, actually.” I frowned,

disappointed that she didn’t seem fond of the idea.

Kilika and Amelia’s relationship had come a long way, and they

seemed to be trying to set their differences aside, but I was still

worried that some fragment of Kilika’s deep-seated jealousy would

resurface from time to time. Not that I doubted Kilika’s good

intentions—the two sisters had been practically inseparable ever

since our little duel—but elves like them lived extremely long lives,

so it was crucial to ensure the sisters reached a point of true mutual

understanding.

“Now there’s an interesting idea,” mused the king. “You may

not realize it yet, Kilika, but being a princess comes with its fair share

of difficulties. Perhaps by learning to stand tall above your people

without the help of Mesmerize, you’ll be able to better understand

and gain a deeper respect for your sister.”

“A-are you truly entertaining this idea, Father?!” Kilika cried.

“Oh, what I do really isn’t all that hard,” Amelia said, patting

Kilika on the head. “You’ll do just fine. I promise.”

“Sister…” Kilika whimpered, then nodded enthusiastically.

No one could resist the one-two punch of Amelia’s smile-and-

head-pat combo. At least, I certainly hadn’t found a way to say no to

it, let alone to her puppy-dog eyes. Both were top-tier attacks that

utterly ignored her opponent’s stats and did a huge number on their

mental fortitude. They couldn’t be blocked or countered either.

Perhaps Amelia was the true MVP of this world.

“Very well, then. I’ll disguise myself as my sister and attend the

party in her stead!”

“Good. Make me proud, okay?” Amelia smiled sweetly.

“Okay!” Kilika beamed.

Sweet. That was one problem taken care of, at least. I looked

over at Amelia—she didn’t seem quite as stoked about the idea as

Kilika now was, but it did seem like she was happy for her sister.

“And where are you three headed? Off to the Demon Lord’s

castle?” asked the king.

“Nah, I need to get some work done on my sword, so we’re

gonna head over to Brute first,” I answered. At this, the king

scrunched his face up a bit. Right, I forgot the elves and the beastfolk

aren’t big fans of each other. Well, I guess the elves aren’t big fans of

any race other than themselves, so perhaps it’d be more accurate to

call it a one-sided beef. Still, I can definitely see why the elves, who

pride themselves so much on elegance and tradition, wouldn’t see

eye to eye with the rugged, burly beastfolk.

“I see. In that case, allow me to at least see you safely to port.”

“Thanks, but we’ll be fine.”

“Now, now. There’s no need to be modest.”

“No, really. Your coming along seems like a recipe for disaster,

so I think we’ll pass.”

“Not a very agreeable one, are you?”

I don’t really care if you think I’m agreeable, Pops. The thought

of you accompanying us all the way to the port seems fishy to me,

even if there is an entire ocean between us and them. There’s no

telling what sort of helicopter-parent BS you might be planning.

“There aren’t many ships from here to Brute, and you certainly

won’t be able to get on one without a royal writ of passage. Though

if you truly wish to keep moving illegally between continents without

doing any of the necessary paperwork, I suppose that’s none of my

concern. Just leave my daughter out of it.”

“Tch.”

“Speaking of which, how did you three manage to illegally

trespass into elven territory in the first place?”

Crap. I was kinda hoping he’d forgotten about that. I clicked

my tongue in frustration. Really don’t want to get into the whole

“came here via a magic teleportation circle” thing right now, let

alone the fact that I’m not from this world to begin with. I forced a

smile and made a desperate attempt to evade the question. “Fine,

fine. We’ll do it your way, I guess,” I relented.

“Not if you’re going to condescend to me like that, you won’t,”

said the king.

“Sorry, can’t help it,” I said. Jerkwad. I wasn’t even trying to be

rude that time.

I folded my arms, and the king sighed, apparently realizing that

trying to rectify my behavior was a lost cause.

“Well, take some time to gather up your belongings. I’ll meet

you down in the plaza later, and you can head out from there.”

“We’ll be ready and waiting.”

I didn’t have much luggage to speak of, other than my weapons

and the clothes on my back. After counting up my throwing knives

and helping Amelia sort through which of her belongings she wanted

to bring, we headed down to the plaza as requested.

“All right, men! Forward march!”

“Hey, King Dingaling! You mind telling me what the hell is going

on here?!”

When we arrived at the plaza, we were greeted by what must

have been nearly a hundred elven archers. They were all standing so

perfectly still that I honestly thought they might just be empty suits

of armor at first.

“Father, don’t you think this is a bit much?” asked Kilika, despite

being in full armor herself—which was fitting, given that she was the

greatest swordmaster in the entire elven domain. Having her along

for the trek probably wouldn’t slow us down, but the other ninety-

nine archers were definitely overkill. And to my utter dismay, it

seemed the king was hell-bent on accompanying us as well.

“There are many dangers out on the open road, and there’s

strength in numbers,” proclaimed the king, trying to carry himself as

though he didn’t look utterly ridiculous in his soldier’s uniform. Also,

had he never heard of keeping a low profile? Sometimes it wasn’t

ideal to be traveling with an entire battalion of soldiers, believe it or

not. Most times, in fact. “Oh, come now. Surely a little protection

wouldn’t hurt?” The king smiled sheepishly.

“A little? You call this a little?” I spat back.

I could have punched his stupid face—and probably would have,

if Amelia hadn’t stopped me. In the end, Kilika managed to talk him

down to only sending a handful of the soldiers along with us, and she

(thankfully) convinced him to stay home and take off that ridiculous

suit of armor.

Flash forward to the present, as we continued to make our way

through the forest with a posse of soldiers in tow. Though only about

a quarter of the original number, it was still twenty new and

unwanted traveling companions. And if that weren’t bad enough,

they were all men.

I hate this. Even after shooing them away for the umpteenth

time, I could still see them shooting occasional glances over at

Amelia. These bastards just don’t know when to lay off.

“Won’t be long now till we reach port,” said a smiling elven

youth who dared to approach me despite my obvious frustration.

Granted, “youth” was relative. Compared to Amelia and the

others, he might have been young, but he was probably several

decades older than me at least. And just like all the other elven men,

he was blessed with extremely good looks.

Get bent, pretty-boy.

He misinterpreted my baleful gaze somehow, as he quickly

gasped and proceeded to introduce himself in a flustered panic. “Th-

the name’s William, milord!”

“Why does that sound so familiar?” I asked, cocking my head.

“Erm, it’s a bit embarrassing, actually…but my parents were

both big fans of Lord Liam, so…”

“Oh, I see. They included his name in yours as a tribute or

whatever.” Apparently naming your offspring after someone you

respected was a thing in Morrigan too.

“Correct. I have a lot of respect for Lord Liam, so I’m perfectly

happy with the name. Even if it is a little embarrassing.”

“I still don’t see what’s so great about that prick,” I whispered to

myself, thinking back on his stupidly confident face during our duel.

“Did you say something, milord?”

“Nope, sorry.”

To be fair, I had to give Liam credit for his actions since he’d

been freed from Kilika’s spell. He was working tirelessly to stabilize

the elven nation, and he had formally canceled his engagements with

both Amelia and Kilika in order to focus on his work, even issuing an

official apology to that effect. Hell, he’d even gone as far as to

prostrate himself before me with such emotional intensity one might

have been forgiven for wondering if he was secretly Japanese.

“Lord Akira, you have my deepest, sincerest apologies! I should

have stopped Princess Kilika and saved Princess Amelia, but my own

inadequacies forced you to do those jobs for me! And I even had the

gall to try to kill you when first we met! Forgive me for my

transgressions!”

“Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa! You don’t have to get on your hands

and knees, buddy! And where’d you learn to apologize like a

Japanese person, anyhow?! Though you’re doing a stellar job of it,

I’ve gotta admit! C’mon, lift your head up!”

“I’ve heard this is how the people of the human country of

Yamato apologize or plead with their superiors. And since your

homeland apparently bears a striking cultural resemblance to

Yamato, I wanted to apologize in the manner you’d most

appreciate!”

“All right, all right! That’s enough! Just get up off the ground,

already!”

I did end up caving to the emotional display and forgiving him.

Perhaps not realizing my mind was elsewhere, William had

continued to wax nostalgic about his love for Liam. “He really is the

perfect role model, though, wouldn’t you say? It’s said elven society

would collapse if not for our king, but I honestly think you could say

the same about Lord Liam. I’m told he works deep into the night, day

after day, trying to rebuild our economy, though I honestly don’t

have a clue what his job actually entails, since I’m still just a student

myself. But he doesn’t pride himself too much on his status as a civil

servant, and he still participates in hunts just like any other capable

elf. His archery skills are second only to Amelia’s, and his prey has

never escaped him. That’s our Lord Liam for you—he’s the best of

both worlds, blessed with both brains and brawn!”

“Yeah, very cool, kid. Anyway…”

After expertly ignoring William’s long and fanboyish tirade,

I noticed a commotion had broken out somewhere up ahead of us in

the caravan, bringing our steady forward march to a standstill.

William had said we were getting close to our destination, but I

didn’t think we’d arrived. Shortly thereafter, the boy confirmed my

suspicions.

“Oh, no! We’ve got hostiles!” he said in a panic.

“Hostiles? You mean bandits or something?” I asked.

The soldiers formed a circle around Amelia and drew their

respective weapons. Given that we were still in close quarters and

there were elves all around me, I couldn’t exactly draw the Yato-no-

Kami and join them yet. Plus, it seemed like our assailants had us far

outnumbered.

“No, these aren’t just your average bandits! They’ve been

kidnapping women and children around these parts! And none of

them ever return!”

“Elf traffickers, eh? I imagine they’re selling their victims to rich

and powerful foreign buyers willing to pay a little extra for a slave

with an ‘exotic’ face?”

“So you’ve heard of them before. Yes, they steal away our elven

brothers and sisters, then sell them off to human and beastfolk

buyers at a high price!”

William was now clenching his fists so tightly that blood was

trickling down his palm. He watched as the kidnappers slowly closed

in on us with a deep and fiery hatred in his eyes; the innocent Liam

fanboy from a minute ago was nowhere to be found. I had a hunch

that perhaps someone very close to William had been kidnapped,

and it seemed like several of the other elves bore similar vendettas.

Elves seemed to be unified by tribe mentality. They wouldn’t

hesitate to lay down their lives for their fellow countrymen,

regardless of whether or not they were related by blood, and they

would stop at nothing to exact revenge. To make an enemy of such a

society—let alone brazenly kidnap dozens upon dozens of their

brethren—these traffickers probably had the backing of a powerful

group, maybe even a government.

But as our circle grew tighter and tighter, I decided now

probably wasn’t the time to be thinking about such things. For now, I

had to figure out how to get us out of this sticky situation—I could

worry about the true culprits later. Unfortunately, I was the only

frontline fighter here. I found myself wishing we’d brought Kilika

along with us after all, though perhaps more than anything, I wished

they had warned us that there were kidnappers lurking around these

parts!

“Now then, my little elves—give up Her Highness, and we’ll let

you live. Resist and die,” said one among the kidnappers.

“Her Highness?”

“Don’t play dumb, boy. Princess Amelia! Hand her over right

now!”

These guys clearly weren’t messing around—they certainly had

balls to demand we hand over Amelia, I’d give them that. So

offended was I by this notion that I accidentally shattered the

throwing knife I was squeezing tightly in my hand. Should I just off

these goons? No, I probably shouldn’t kill them, but I could at least

restrain them with Shadow Magic, right? Maybe take off an arm or

two while I’m at it.

“L-Lord Akira?”

“What is it, William?”

“Y-you just broke your own weapon…”

“Yes, but I’ve got more where that came from. Don’t worry

about it.”

“Lord Akira, your tone—why has it changed?”

“I’m offended by the nerve of this man.”

“O-oh. Well, if you say so.”

The elves standing in my immediate vicinity, William included,

all took a few steps back, but the raging waves of malice flowing

from my very pores were soon calmed by a lone woman’s voice.

“I believe in you, Akira. Don’t let me go, okay?”

“Of course not, babe. I’d never hand the woman I love to a

bunch of thugs.”

One touch from Amelia’s fingers on the arm I’d used to shatter

the knife was enough to calm me right down, and she smiled upon

seeing I’d returned to normal. Then she took a deep breath and

began shouting out orders to the soldiers, most of whom were still

shaking in their boots.

“Look alive, men! The enemy has us outnumbered! But as long

as we have Akira on our side, they’ll never defeat us! Let’s show

these villains what we elves do to those who dare to lay a finger on

our countrymen!”

All of the soldiers let out a roaring cheer. Then Amelia, having

completely reversed troop morale, began preparing to cast her

signature Gravity Magic. It seemed she intended to fight alongside

me.

“Well, I’m gonna go take these punks out like the assassin I am.

You be careful, Amelia.”

“You too.”

With that, I activated Conceal Presence. I figured I would take

out the leader first, then deal with his cronies, so I slipped out from

the circle of elves and headed in the direction the first man’s voice

had come from. Thanks to my high-level Assassination skill, I was

able to dash as fast as I wanted to without making a sound. I knew

the others would be all right—there was no way any of these thugs

could hold a candle to Amelia. Realizing that perhaps one of our

assailants could still see me if they had Mystic Eyes like Commander

Saran’s, I stuck to the shadows behind the trees as I approached.

However, it seemed like none of them had any idea that I’d slipped

away right under their noses.

“Heh heh heh… Whaddya say, Boss? Think they’ll hand over the

girl?” I heard one unsavory voice ask.

This was enough to get me fuming all over again. Like I’d ever

hand over my precious Amelia to a bunch of goons like you.

“Well, she may be their so-called ‘crown jewel,’ but don’t let

that deceive you. These people consider a slight against any of them

a slight against all of them, so I don’t think they’ll be too eager to

negotiate after we’ve taken so many of their brethren,” came a

calmer voice, apparently belonging to the leader of the group.

With a throwing knife in one hand, I moved closer. Using Detect

Presence, I was able to determine that there were about fifty of

them in total. Three of the presences seemed far too weak to be

kidnappers—hostages, perhaps.

“Well, should we let ’em have it, then?” asked the first voice.

“I suppose so. Wouldn’t want to keep Lord Gram waiting on his

princess for too terribly long, now would we?” said the boss.

Gram. Now there was a name I hadn’t heard before. If he was

the one doling out orders to these thugs, then it would be prudent to

make a note of it. Regardless, it seemed they were preparing to go

on the offensive, so it was about time I got to work. Waiting for the

sun to be hidden by a passing cloud, I took advantage of the meager

veil of shadow and made my move.

“Gugh?!”

“Blarrrgh!”

“Hey, what the—grgghk!”

I incapacitated nearly a dozen of them in an instant, then sped

off toward my next target. The kidnappers were caught completely

off guard, and I continued to knock them out one by one before they

could even pull out their weapons.

“Hey! What the hell’s going on?!”

“We’re under attack, Boss!”

“What?! You’re kidding me!”

Apparently the boss hadn’t even considered the possibility we’d

dare to fight back while they had other hostages in tow. They should

have pulled back right then and there, but their leader seemed to

have other ideas.

“Grr! I dunno what these pointy-eared freaks are thinking, but I

don’t care! Kill anyone you don’t recognize!”

The lowlifes let out a war cry, disguising their fear and

confusion, then charged straight into the middle of the circle.

“Only ten of ’em left, eh? Guess I’ll let Amelia and William

handle them while I go take care of the boss and the hostages,” I said

decisively. It seemed the perpetrators were indeed human, which

meant Amelia could easily handle them even without the help of her

archers. I ordered Night to keep a close eye on Amelia via Telepathy.

“But of course, Master,” he responded confidently. He seemed

rather excited to have the chance to trounce some humans again; he

hadn’t completely let go of his boss-monster roots just yet.

“Hey, goddammit! What’s gotten into you idiots? Wake the hell

up!” cried the leader to his fallen comrades. He was holding a knife

to the throat of a female elven hostage, who looked awfully gaunt

and malnourished. His unconscious companions remained still.

I noticed another elven girl, this one a fair young maiden,

trembling nearby. There was one other hostage lying on the ground

next to her, and though I couldn’t quite make out their face, they

seemed to be an elven woman as well. Perhaps she’d fainted. All

three of them were bound and gagged, unable to escape despite the

pandemonium.

Saving the hostages was my top priority, so I used Conceal

Presence again and moved toward the boss, though I probably could

have sneaked up on him without it, preoccupied as he was with

rousing his comrades. First, I picked up the unconscious woman, laid

her down in the shadow of a nearby tree, and cut her bindings with a

throwing knife. Then I headed back for the young girl. I didn’t want

her to scream and alert the boss, so I karate-chopped her neck to

knock her out before dragging her behind another tree. Amelia

would probably have some choice words for me had she witnessed

that, but I figured she was too busy to notice, and the risk of the girl

assuming I was one of the kidnappers was too great to ignore.

However, it was the final hostage who would be the trickiest of all.

How was I supposed to wrest her from the boss’s stranglehold?

“Hey, buddy,” I whispered in his ear from behind. “Unless you

want this knife shoved into your neck, I suggest you let the lady go.”

“Bwaaaaaaagh?!”

The boss, utterly oblivious to my presence until I spoke, nearly

jumped out of his skin in terror and released his grip on the woman.

Thanks for being so predictable, sucker.

I pulled the girl away while I had the chance, and she seemed

just as surprised by my sudden appearance as he was. Using my

throwing knife, I cut the ropes around her and pointed over to the

tree where I’d left the young girl. She immediately knew what I was

getting at, and though she still seemed a bit wary of me, she headed

to the tree. The other hostage was lying at the base of the tree nextto it, so I could only hope she would watch over the other two. I kept

my eyes locked on the boss, who was so furious that his entire face

was bright red and veins bulged out of his forehead.

He could probably stand to work on his blood pressure.

“You rat bastard! Those hostages are the property of Lord

Gram!” he screamed.

“Sorry, who’s this Gram guy, exactly? Can’t say I’ve heard of

him,” I responded.

“I don’t have to tell you anything!”

Damn. Guess he’s not quite stupid enough to sell out his client.

But I was at least able to learn that these three women were

apparently on loan from this Gram guy for use as bargaining chips in

Amelia’s kidnapping. The thugs’ boss wasn’t so happy about losing

his leverage.

“Now then. I’ve got a few questions I’d like you to answer.

I don’t mind leaving your buddies out here to sleep on the dirt, but

I’m afraid I’ll have to bring you in.”

“Do you even realize who you’re talking to, you little prick?! I’m

the leader of the Sharks! We’re a blue-rank crime syndicate! Maybe

you’ve heard of us?!”

He seemed awfully proud, but unfortunately, I’d never heard of

ranked crime syndicates, let alone the Sharks, so I was far from

impressed. The thought of there being a governing body that ranked

crime syndicates did amuse me, though, and I found it rather quaint

that the “Sharks” would be given the color blue. It just seemed

fitting, even if I didn’t know whether blue was a high rank.

“Sorry, can’t say that I have. No offense,” I said. Realizing there

was no point in trying to get any more information out of him, I

slammed my fist into his stomach, and despite attempted resistance,

he fell to the ground with a lethargic groan. “Great. Time to go see if

Amelia’s done with the stragglers yet.”

After tying the boss up tight with some vines growing nearby, I

slung him over my shoulder. He deserved no dignity after trying to

kidnap Amelia. I looked up and saw that the young girl I’d knocked

out had regained consciousness. I helped her stand. One of the other

hostages, presumably her mother, embraced her, and they sobbed

together.

All’s well that ends well, I guess. I sighed to myself, looking away

to give them some privacy during their touching reunion.

But while I didn’t know it then, I’d eventually come to realize

this kidnapping was only the beginning of something much, much

bigger.

“Welcome back, Akira. No injuries, I take it?” Amelia asked.

“Of course not. Who do you think I am? Anyway, uh… What the

hell happened here?”

As I walked around the pile of kidnapper bodies, back toward

the center of our brigade, Amelia jogged over to meet me. Then

came Night, whose fur was looking awfully shiny. The elven soldiers

cleared a path for him, and I squinted suspiciously at the cat. What

had he done this time?

“I know what you must be thinking, Master, but I’ve done

nothing wrong.”

“You sure about that?”

“Wow! You won’t even believe your own partner?! Tell him,

Lady Amelia! Though I’ll admit, I’m glad my face alone can still strike

fear into the hearts of people.”

Night’s countenance, though feline, was also that of a fearsome

monster, so it did give me cause for concern, but as Amelia

confirmed he hadn’t done anything wrong, I walked up and pressed

my cheek up against his giant toe beans, each now the size of myface after Night’s shapeshifting. Yes, this is heaven. I’ll have to ask

Amelia to squish them with me later.

“Night’s not lying, Akira. These criminals all just fainted the

minute they saw his face,” Amelia assured me, and I believed her.

It wasn’t the best look for a so-called prestigious crime

syndicate, and I hoped they wouldn’t get demoted to a different

color for this. We decided to let the elven soldiers take care of the

kidnappers. As we were discussing our next move, William walked

tentatively up to us, clearly terrified of Night.

“Um, Lord Akira? I was hoping to ask you something, if that’s all

right,” he said, turning his gaze toward Amelia. Presumably, he

wanted to make sure she approved, as the highest-ranking official

present. I found it amusing that he was so concerned with this

particular formality while simultaneously interrupting our

conversation. Amelia nodded, and he finally turned toward me. “Um,

so is Lord Night your familiar?” William asked.

“I dunno. Is he?” I responded, looking up at Night.

“Of course I am! Or did you think the matching emblems on my

forehead and your wrists were just a coincidence?!” he roared.

“Well, there you have it,” I said, ignoring Night’s tantrum and

looking back at William.

“Um, then would you mind if I took a look at your wrists?” he

asked.

I kept them hidden under my long black sleeves most of the

time, no matter how hot it was, since I didn’t want to be seen

walking around with the markings and get mistaken for an edgelord

with matching wrist tattoos, but I rolled up my sleeves and let

William take a gander. The black emblems had darkened since Night

and I made our pact.

“Th-thank you. I have to admit, I never thought I’d meet a

monsterlord in my entire life, even with an elven lifespan.”

“Sorry, a ‘monsterlord’?”

It sounded a little too close to edgelord, even for me. Usually,

cringeworthy titles like “monsterlord” were reserved for the

protagonist alone, but I had no idea where our intrepid hero even

was. He was skilled enough to not be lying dead in a ditch

somewhere, and I assumed he’d made it out of the castle by now,

but that only made it harder to guess where he might have gone.

“It’s an elven term,” Amelia explained. “Though I think it’s been

adopted by the other races over time.”

“Yes, it was originally a derogatory term used to refer to

demons specifically, but over time it was expanded to include

humans, elves, and beastfolk who’ve made pacts with monster

familiars,” said Night.

“Monsters can almost never establish a bond with non-demon

races, which is why there have been virtually no studies on the topic.

With your cooperation, we could make huge breakthroughs in the

field of monsterlord research!” William swooned, gazing up at Night.

This visibly disturbed the poor feline, and he quickly shrank back

down to house cat size to take refuge on my shoulders. William

stepped closer to me, undeterred. “Fascinating! So Lord Night has

the ability to adjust his size at will! How unique!”

“Look, William. You’re a nice kid, and I get that we’re a fringe

case, but please don’t scare my poor kitten,” I said.

“Oh! Of course, sir! My deepest apologies! I suppose I let myself

get carried away, since I’m not sure I’ll ever get the chance to see

you again. Forgive me!” he said, turning away from Night in shame.

“Well, you have to admire his passion, at least,” said Amelia.

“Passion? The guy needs to learn some self-control,” I replied.

“I don’t like him. I don’t like him one bit.”

As we offered our respective thoughts on William, I noticed the

leader of the kidnappers had begun to stir. He was still slung over one of my shoulders (where Night usually sat), while Night perched

on the opposite one (and seemed none too pleased that his usual

spot was taken).

Well then. I suppose it’s about time for a little interrogation.

Hopefully we won’t have to rough him up too much—it’ll be nice if he

just tells us what he knows without putting up much of a fight.

I threw the man roughly to the ground, which woke him right up. He

glared up at me with hatred in his eyes. Wow, I bet this guy wakes up

ready and alert for work each day. As someone who’s never been

much of a morning person, I’m honestly kinda jealous.

“Okay, you’re gonna tell us everything you know. Why don’t you

start by explaining who the hell this ‘Gram’ guy is?” I suggested,

pressing a throwing knife against his throat. The man’s eyes quivered

with fear. I had no intention of killing the guy, of course. These were

just intimidation tactics, plain and simple, but he didn’t need to know

that. Although my recent cruel streak did make me wonder if

perhaps I was becoming more demon than human.

“I—I don’t gotta tell you nothin’, kid!” the boss squealed with

tears in his eyes. I could tell from the way his body quaked that he

was on the verge of passing out again. Maybe he really would sooner

die than give up his intel.

I let out a sigh. “Fine, whatever. Unlike you, I’m no villain, and I

honestly don’t care who the hell this Gram loser is. I was mostly just

asking out of curiosity. But if you elves still can’t solve this problem

on your own, feel free to call me for help,” I said to the soldiers. I

retracted my knife, and the boss’s jaw dropped, along with the jaws

of everyone else in attendance. Why are you all giving me that look?

I didn’t think I’d said anything particularly strange or controversial.

“Akira, are you saying you don’t wanna stick around to help

solve the kidnappings?”

“I am. Sorry, Amelia.”

I wasn’t some fairy tale protagonist who felt compelled to put a

stop to any wrongdoing he happened to encounter. As long as my

friends and loved ones weren’t suffering, I couldn’t have cared less

what happened to random strangers. Besides, at least the elves were

one unified nation and people. Every country had its fair share of

crime, and if a few kidnappings were truly the biggest problem they

had to deal with, I thought they should consider themselves lucky. At

least they got to live out their peaceful lives far away from the fires

of war.

“Well, okay,” said Amelia. “I’m sticking with you no matter what,

so I’ll defer to your judgment.”

“Wh-what?! No!”

“You can’t leave us, Princess Amelia!”

William and the other elves cried out in dismay. C’mon, guys.

Quit treating us like heroes, will ya? You can’t expect other people to

solve all your problems.

“Sorry, but them’s the breaks. Oh, and by the way, I rescued

three hostages and left them over there. They’ll probably come join

up with you soon enough,” I said, pointing a finger in the direction I’d

come from. Sure enough, the three hostages walked out from

between the trees a moment later, and the little girl ran up and

wrapped her arms around me.

“Thanks so much for saving us, mister!” She smiled.

“You’re very welcome, kiddo,” I replied.

The other hostages expressed their deepest gratitude to me as

well, and I noticed Amelia pouting jealously out of the corner of my

eye. I’d have to give her some special attention later.

“Are you sure about this, Master?” Night whispered in my ear.

I simply ran my fingers through his fur in response. Suddenly, I

was reminded of a peculiar symbol I’d noticed earlier—the one that

had been engraved on one of the kidnappers’ weapons. “Hey,Night?” I asked. “Have you ever seen a symbol like a circle with three

claws on top?”

“Why, yes. That’s the national crest of Uruk, the largest of all

the beastfolk nations. Why do you ask?” Night responded. Then his

eyes grew wide. “Wait! Surely you don’t mean—?!”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “That symbol was engraved on one of those

guys’ swords. I’m thinking our little ‘kidnappers’ might have been

hired by beastfolk or disguised Uruk knights or something.”

“Kn-knights of Uruk kidnapping elves? But why would they not

use more nondescript weapons in that case? Surely they would be

smart enough to realize such an indicator could blow their cover.”

“Beats me. It was only one guy, so maybe he broke all the other

weapons he brought with him and had no other choice,” I posited.

The man had been swinging his sword around rather wildly, perhaps

in an attempt to hide the crest, but unfortunately for him, his flurry

of slashes had been no match for my stellar kinetic vision.

“Have you told Lady Amelia and the other elves about this?”

“No, and I don’t intend to. I don’t have any hard evidence, and

it’s too serious an issue for baseless speculation. Plus, Amelia might

be the ruler of the elves someday, and I don’t want her to be left

with a society that’s even more prejudiced toward the beastfolk than

they already are.” I might have told the elves I wanted nothing to do

with this problem, but it was starting to look like I’d have to do a

little digging of my own whether I wanted to or not.

“Very well. I’ll go along with whatever you decide, Master.”

“Thanks, Night.”

I had no working theories as to why the beastfolk country of

Uruk would be abducting elven women and children, nor why they

seemed so determined to kidnap Amelia, but I knew one thing for

sure—they’d have to pry her from my cold, dead hands.

“So I guess the next big question is: who the hell is this Gram

guy?” I wondered aloud.

“I don’t believe that’s the name of the current king of Uruk, if

that’s what you suspect, but, if I remember correctly, there was a

prime minister with that name at one point…”

“Meh. Don’t worry about it. Unless he tries to come after Amelia

again, I’m willing to let weeping dogs cry.”

“I don’t believe that’s quite how the idiom goes, Master.”

As Amelia watched the two of them exchange a hearty chuckle

from a distance, she let out a wistful sigh. “I hope one day you’ll

learn to let me in, Akira.”

In the end, we decided to release the leader of the kidnappers

out into the forest. The elves and I agreed there was little chance

they’d have any more luck interrogating him than I did, and it was far

more likely he was just a pawn who didn’t actually know anything at

all. For a leader of a group of ruffians, his sword skills weren’t up to

snuff, and while I didn’t have any frame of reference for how

infamous a blue-rank crime syndicate was, their modus operandi for

kidnapping seemed sloppy at best.

After he was gone, the group of archers split in two—half

returning to the Holy Tree with the hostages and half accompanying

us the rest of the way to port. With the soldiers watching our backs

at every turn, the three of us would be able to enjoy the rest of the

journey without having to stay on guard. At one point, Amelia got

tired and asked Night to turn big so she could ride on his back.

“You think letting them go was the right thing to do, Akira? If

they really were part of a major crime syndicate, we could’ve gotten

a reward for turning them in, y’know,” she said, pouting, probably envisioning the fancy meals we could have enjoyed with some

reward money.

“Hey, we rescued some kidnap victims, and that’s good enough

for me. You know what they say: a bird in the hand is worth two in

the bush,” I said wisely.

“People say that?” asked Amelia.

“Not that I’ve ever heard,” said Night.

The two of them looked confused as I explained the meaning of

the expression.

“Ah, I see. I must say, the people of your world certainly have a

knack for crafting peculiar expressions, Master.” Night and Amelia

folded their arms and nodded in understanding. The two of them

looked like grumpy old coots who’d finally found something they

could agree upon, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, people! We’re here!” said William, who’d been walking

at the head of the pack. The rest of us stopped in our tracks.

It was hard to make out much with all the trees still in the way,

but I did spot a large ship moored at what looked like an

underutilized wharf. Amelia and Night, meanwhile, seemed utterly

spellbound by the vast blue ocean spreading out in front of them.

“That, Lord Akira, is the Searunner—one of the only ships that

travels between Brute and the Sacred Forest on a set schedule, and

the one you’ll be boarding today,” said William, handing me a letter

adorned with the seal of the elven royal family.

The king had instructed me to give it to the guildmaster of the

Adventurer’s Guild branch in Ur, the largest port city in the beastfolk

domain. He said they would be of great help to us on our journey.

How very thoughtful of him. He probably thinks this makes us even,

doesn’t he? Yeah, I don’t think so. Not after I just saved those

hostages for you, buddy. Wish I could see the look on his face when

they make it back and he realizes he’s even more indebted to me.

“This is as far as we can take you,” said William. “Lord Akira,

Lord Night… Saying this might make me appear pathetic, but I don’t

care. I have a request for you—not as a representative of all elves,

but as a man named William.” I could tell he was struggling to hold

back tears as he scrunched up his face. “Though I’m ashamed to

admit it, I used wind magic to listen in on your conversation earlier,

and I heard that you suspect the kidnappers hail from the nation of

Uruk. If it turns out they do, then I beg of you: please save my wife

and daughter, and ensure they make it home safely!”

“M-mine too!”

“Please, you have to help us!”

The elves bowed to me in unison. These proud people, who

generally didn’t interact with other races, were lowering their heads

and asking for help in an uncharacteristic and potentially torturous

display. To them, we humans were inferior despite our greater

numbers, yet they were giving me the ultimate show of respect. I

could see the resolve written all over their faces.

“Eavesdropping isn’t good, you know, and I’m sorry, but I’ve got

my own ailing mother and sister I need to hurry back to in my

homeland. Bye now.”

“L-Lord Akira!”

I clenched my fist as the elves continued their whining, but I

stopped myself.

“But if I happen to run into any of your loved ones along the

way, I suppose I wouldn’t mind setting them free,” I offered in my

own uncharacteristic display; I never would have been so altruistic

before coming to Morrigan. It seemed I’d changed an awful lot after

meeting Amelia, for better or worse.

The faces of the elves lit up.

“Oh, thank you, Lord Akira!”

“Be careful out there, Princess Amelia!”

“Please take care of yourselves!”

The elves waved and called out to us as we boarded the vessel. I

immediately headed away from the railing to avoid embarrassment,

leaving Amelia to deal with them herself.

“You be careful on your way back too, everyone,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am!”

And so we set sail, with Night still on my shoulders, savoring the

salty ocean breeze.

“What a tremendous feeling this is, Master.”

“Yeah.”

Personally, I didn’t like the smell of salt water one bit, especially

the way it clung to your clothes and skin. I’d have to give Night a

good bath to wash it out of his fur.

“Akira, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Amelia said,

appearing behind me with a blank expression.

I had an idea of what it might be.

“What is it, Amelia?”

“Are you sure…there isn’t anything I can help with?”

“Not right now, no. Your time to shine won’t come for a

while yet.”

“I see,” she murmured, hanging her head.

Any other time, I would have rustled her hair to reassure her,

but not now. “Listen, Amelia, if you don’t fully believe in our cause,

maybe it would be better for you not to come. There’s still time for

you to catch the soldiers and get an escort back to the Holy Tree.”

“Wha… Why would you say that…?”

Believe me, this isn’t a fun conversation for me either. The

crestfallen look on Amelia’s face was like needles through my beating heart. “I’m just saying, I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens

to the elves or their society. All I care about is that those closest to

me are safe and happy.”

“Does that not include me?”

“No, it does. It totally does.”

Hence why I would never forgive the country of Uruk for trying

to take her from me. But if we went on a wild goose chase trying to

get to the bottom of these kidnappings in Uruk, our journey to the

Demon Lord’s castle would be delayed. I was worried enough about

the hero and the classmates I’d left behind at the Retice’s castle as it

was, and if we kept signing ourselves up to solve more and more

problems…there was no telling when I’d ever make it back to Japan.

The part of me that wanted desperately to go home to my family was

constantly at odds with the part that wanted to help Amelia and

keep her safe. Perhaps Amelia could read my mind, and perhaps she

couldn’t, but either way, she got up on her tiptoes and ruffled my

hair.

“You’re free to do things your way, Akira. And I’m gonna do

things my way.”

“Fair enough.”

I couldn’t help but let out an exhausted chuckle at how

unconditionally this woman accepted me. She was far, far too

trusting and naïve. But I knew she’d take offense to that notion, so I

kept the thought to myself.

“Erm, Master? While I certainly don’t mind being subjected to

this touching conversation, perhaps there’s a better place to have it

than up here on the deck, in front of all the crew members,” Night

suggested, snapping me back to reality.

I looked around to see various crewmen going about their

designated tasks, trying their very best to ignore us. The three of us

were just getting in the way.

Come to think of it, I’d noticed the working class in this world

seemed to comprise mostly humans, regardless of what continent

we were on. All of the crew members on this ship, and even the

kidnappers who’d attacked us, had been human. Perhaps it had

something to do with the human population constantly growing

while the elves and beastfolk stayed relatively the same, leaving

humans to seek work on other continents just to get by. We’d only

seen a small fraction of human society back in Retice, after all, and

while it didn’t seem like any of the humans I’d met resented their lot

in life, there was no denying that they were treated differently than

the other races of this world, for better and worse.