“Come on, hurry up everyone! I wanna get movin’ way before da Treants do!”

“We’re almost done, Mr- *Yawn*.”

“Wat, ya still feelin’ sleepy, Sen?”

“I’m not really at fault, since Minna-”

“Did you say something, Sen?”

“N-no, it’s nothing! Now, let’s quickly pack everything and get going!”

“Well, at least ya being lively…”

It’s early in the morning and the sun has yet to enter our sight, but the orange tinted clouds in the east beckon its inevitable arrival. Unlike the evening, time is short as the Treants will soon start moving under the light of the sun. Within half an hour, everybody is ready to depart for another tension filled trip through the Vivian Forest. Well, almost everybody.

“Are you finished, Lili?”

“… Yes, I’ve finished offering my morning prayers. Thank you waiting.”

This is the second time I’ve seen Lili pray to the World Stream, with the first being after we ate last night. Followers of the Path of Eden believe the World Stream flows into heaven’s domain, and by offering prayers, god may judge humanity’s virtue and thus guide them. Of course, all I ever get from “praying” to the World Stream is a menu reminiscent of a micro-transaction screen. That being said, I’m not going to criticise or condemn anybody who wholeheartedly follows this doctrine.

As the rest of our party moves ahead with torches in their hands, Lili and I end up forming the rear. The distant sound of lumbering footsteps is markedly absent, and most of the animals of the forest have yet to stir. The mood is far less suffocating than yesterday, making it possible to talk openly without feeling endangered. Of course, since I’m walking alongside Lili, she decides to start a conversation.

(Tell me Enbos, while I know you do not follow the Path of Eden, do you believe in a higher power?)

(The spirits of the World Stream are one thing, but I’ll never accept an absolute power.)

(I see. Well, I expected you to say something of the kind. Still, it shouldn’t be a problem…)

(Hrm, what do you mean?)

(I would like to invite you to pray with me someday.)

(I thought I told you not to bother converting me.)

(You don’t have to be a believer to pray. Please try it at least once. It will only take a few moments of your time.)

(I don’t see the point. It’s no better than hoping for something to happen, and I’d rather work towards it than beg for a miracle.)

(To wholeheartedly share your desires is never meaningless. Besides, not all prayers are requests. You may also share your appreciation.)

(Of what?)

(Anything. Everything. For me, I always express my gratitude for each and every day, for any moment spent living is a gift. The flowering trees, the morning chill, the damp smell of spring in the air…)

Caught up in the mood of her own statement, she gestures to the scenery around us. While not every tree is in bloom, there are small white flowers amongst much of the canopy. I never paid it much attention, it seems the same can’t be said for Lili. Looking back to her, she has an air of carefree wonder not unlike a young girl. Noticing my bemused gaze and feeling slightly ashamed, she swiftly composes herself.

(… and, of course, the opportunity to talk to you like this. These are all experiences I wish to share with god.)

(I see. No wonder your prayers last so long.)

(Please don’t be so cynical. Whether you accept or deny my words, we are all bound to the World Stream. While you may think there’s no one to hear your wishes, I know someone is listening to mine. All I want is for you to believe that somewhere, in the great sea of souls, there’s someone listening to you too.)

(… I’ll think about it.)

She gives me a radiant smile, but regrettably, my response is anything but sincere. I just want to stop discussing the subject as it was fouling my mood. I take a petal from on my cloak and stare long and hard at its seemingly soft texture.

Something I appreciate? Something I dearly wish? These are not things I can entrust to any god. If I have to thank a higher power for life's joys, shouldn’t I condemn them for life's tribulations as well? How can I show my appreciation when fate always finds a way to threaten everything I hold dear? No, I’ll seize my happiness and protect it with my own strength.

In all honesty, I can't understand how Lili could love a world where god cherishes man and man alone. Even if she's really human, it's the kind of world where the most inconsequential difference could mean a lifetime of isolation...

(Enbos, you’re starting to slow down.)

(Are you okay, Master Enbos?)

(It’s nothing. Let’s keep going.)

As we’re graced by the rays of the sun, a chain of slight tremors assaults us from all sides. For several minutes, the rumbling continues until the familiar rhythmic sound of booming footsteps replace the vibrations. According to Mr Kell, it’s the sound of every Treant in the forest waking simultaneously, and following this natural alarm, the sounds of countless animals flood the air.

Everybody quickly switches to high alert, as what little leeway we had before is now gone. For several hours, we continue the same routine as yesterday and warily follow our guide. That being said, the fact we haven’t encountered anything dangerous, let alone a Treant, has enlivened our pace. With budding confidence, I look forward to another uneventful trip.

… or so I hoped, but sadly, there are a lot spiritual signatures closing in on our position!

“Mr Kell, I sense about a dozen creatures coming our way!”

“Darn it, yer right! Quickly everyone, find da biggest tree and put ya back against it!”

“Where are they, Enbos, Mr Kell!? Where are they coming from!?”

“From above!”

At that moment, a flock of giant, green raptors fill the air, each having a wingspan as long as an adult man. We all rush towards a pair of ancient trees in a small clearing and use the canopy to shelter us overhead. Casting and in the space between the trees, I create a wall to protect us from behind and force a fight from the front. Mr Kell, Norf and Lili take up position closest to the back. The rest of us position ourselves in an arc in front, with Minna and Hachirou guarding the flanks.

.

Species Shark Hawk HP 100% MP 100%

“Mr Kell, they look like the Shark Hawks you talked about. What can you tell us about them?”

“Dey’re weak D-rank monsters, but dey hunt in big flocks and try ta target stragglers, so stay close! Also, da older ones can cast wind magic dat inflict small cuts. Can ye mages tell which ones haff a lotta mana?”

“The big one on the far right.”

“The third one from the left!”

“Okay! Norf, Mr Kell, since you’re bowyers, I want you to provide covering fire and look for a chance to shoot down the magical ones. Minna, Hachirou and I will hold back the ones that get close. Enbos, would you mind going to the back and providing long range bombardment?”

“Unless you don’t mind me setting the forest on fire, I’ll stay at the front and shield you from attacks.”

“Alright! Lili?”

“I’m already casting it!”

Already casting what? Wait, is that light-based enhancement magic!?

“No, no, no, wait, wai-!”

“!”

AAAAARRRGH!!!

“Thanks Lili! Now everyone, let’s get through this unscathed!”

“Y-yeah…”

Although I already lost 4% of my HP before the actual battle, and it’s still decreasing point by point.

“By the way Lili, how long does last?”

“Don’t worry, it should last a few minutes, but if it does expire, I’ll be sure to recast it as many times as we need!”

So you’re going to slowly kill me the longer the battle drags on!? Stop flying in circles, you damn birds! Hurry up and attack us! Actually…

“Sen!”

“Yes!?”

“I’m thinking of initiating the battle. Will you be fine with that?”

“Of course! We’re ready to receive them, and the faster we end this, the better!”

“Thanks! !”

Like the name suggests, I conjure a four-foot spike of pitch-black mana in the palm of my hand. When I first explained my specialisation to the party, I introduced myself as a darkness and fire elemental mage. I’m keeping my spiritual affinity a secret as its pairing with darkness magic could be unfairly associated with necromancy.

“!”

Synergising the increased accuracy and power of with the penetrative force of , my skill hits one of the low flying Shark Hawks square in chest. Dark mana is naturally unstable, which is why the immediately disintegrates upon contact. However, all the released energy from the destabilising construct is focused at the point. As a result, I blow a gaping hole through the bird which creates a small and grotesque firework.

“Eh? Isn’t that overkill? Shouldn’t you have saved that for the magical ones? Actually, couldn’t you have gone with Sen’s idea and stayed back to pick them off?”

“Sorry Minna, but the only way I can reach that height is with and I can’t use it repeatedly. Also, the magic ones probably have , so it would never have hit. But enough talk! They’re coming!”

Quite frankly, I can probably handle this situation myself with and the right use of barriers, but I’m interested in the combat ability of Sen and his party. I glance at Minna from the corner of my eye as she readies her weapon. Before, I could never discern what her weapon was and assumed she fought barehanded. However, once we introduced ourselves, it turned out Minna uses a weighted rope. Curious of her fighting style, I watch as holds the rope in a bundle with one of her hands.

Four Shark Hawks descend at high speed at varying angles and directions. While Hachirou takes a iaijutsu stance and Sen points his spear to the enemy, Minna launches the devastating weight and knocks one of the hawks onto the ground. Using both arms, she swings the rope and doesn’t let the weight touch the ground. Using the accumulated momentum, she smashes weight directly onto the prone hawk’s skull. The last hawk notices the opening from Minna’s attack and comes at her from the side. As I’m about to cast , Minna calmly pulls the weight back and skilfully balances it on her foot. With practised movements, she flings the weight with a kick and pulverises the approaching hawk’s wing.

Is she using a skill? No, all she’s using are polished fighting techniques to take down her opponents. From what I can remember from secretly casting , she has high agility but average stats across the board compared to the rest of the party. I guess it goes to show you can’t boil down a person into numbers.

Checking up on Hachirou and Sen, they seem to have safely repelled their opponents. Behind me, I can hear Norf rapidly fire arrow after arrow into the air. It turns out his large physique works well with his job as he’s able to wield his powerful yet difficult-to-draw longbow with comparative ease. Satisfying my curiosity, I then direct my attention to the flock in the air and notice the activation of magic from the two magical birds.

“!”

I cast a shimmering wall mid-air to intercept the blades of air raining down upon us. The interrupts the structure of the enemy spell, but leaves strong gusts of wind to assault us. While we’re reeling from the remnants of the spell, two pairs of enemies close in from the left and right.

“!”

“!”

“!”

Activating a skill, Minna flicks the weighted rope and tangles one of the birds before swinging it into the tree. As for the second raptor, Sen thrusts his spear past her shoulder and impales it before it can reach her. On Hachirou’s side, he manages to cut down one of the hawks while the other is driven off by Mr Kell’s arrows. As for me, I continue casting and wait for Norf to have a clear-

(.)

Huh!? Who said that? I don’t recognise that voice at all! In fact, it’s so out of place that I’m half expecting to turn around and see the lead singer of some- Wait a second. C-could it be… that was…

As I’m about to turn my head to confirm my suspicion, the sound of a falling carcass shakes me from my thoughts. It seems he managed to take down one of the magical hawks, but the battle is far from over. Like their name suggests, the remaining flock descend to ground level and continuously circle our position, using the foliage to cover their advance. I keep track of their movements with and , but the rest of the party has to verbally trade information.

“Hachirou, from your right!”

“!”

“Where’s the magic one!?”

“He’s on our left flank! Enbos!”

“!”

Nope, don’t care. I’m a bit busy blocking wind blades and I doubt knowing their stats will end this battle any faster.

“Mr Kell, how do you usually deal with these birds?”

“Nothing but hold out until dey give up and leave. Dey’re real annoyances dat can pin ya in place for an hour, but da real problem is anotha predata coming while we wait.”

No, the real problem is this healer who’s slowly sending me to-

“!”

YEEEOUCH!

“E-excuse me Lili, but would you mind telling us when the enchantment is about to run out?”

“I understand. I’ll be sure to let everyone know.”

HP: 101/144

MP: 83/124

This isn’t funny. I feel as if I’m slowly losing my already middling sense of touch due to the tingling pain across every inch of my body. If push comes to shove, I’ll have to use on the birds we killed, but I’d like to avoid that if possible. I have to think of a way to end this battle fast!

“Hey, I’m going to try using ! Is everyone okay with that?”

“Good idea, Enbos! If you can scare away those birds, we can-”

“No, bad idea! A bigger monsta mite take offence and come after us too! We can’t risk attractin’ another bunch! !”

“Then does anybody else have an idea? !”

“I do. Now that they’re no longer in the sky, I think I can blind all the Shark Hawks with a burst of light. The only problem is we’ll get caught up in it as well.”

“Then we’ll close our eyes and turn our backs!”

“Actually, I can go one better! Just tell me when you’re going to cast it!”

Because if I don’t do this, her skill might shave off even more HP!

Anyway, Lili nods in response and starts releasing a stream of glowing particles from the tip of her staff. The hawks seem to notice the slow-moving dust filling the area and try to avoid direct contact. However, by then her spell was already set to blow.

“Now Enbos!”

“!”

“!”

At the same moment, I activate my skill and plunge our party into complete darkness. I’m not sure what happened outside my pitch-black mist, but the holy energy beats against my bones like the heat of the sun radiating through tinted glass. Once Lili gives the all clear, I remove the shroud to find that the immediate vicinity is glowing faintly with holy energy. It almost looks radioactive, and quite frankly, being an undead I should probably treat it as such. On closer inspection, every Shark Hawk has been blinded and are thrashing helplessly on the ground.

“Good job, Lili,” says Sen.

“Yeah, you took them all down in one go,” adds Minna.

“Thank you everybody. I’m glad that it worked. In all honesty, I’m feeling kind of winded. That spell required a fair deal of mana.”

"I see. Also, good thinking Enbos. If it weren't for your spell..."

“Please save the gratitude for later, Sen! Now is not the time to rest!"

“We need ta start movin’ before somefing gets a whiff of da blood! Let’s go!”

It’s late in the evening and we finally reach the next safe spot for the night. Our party almost collapses onto the grassy clearing in exhaustion, with Sen being the weariest. It’s been a long day and the sudden battle followed by our hasty escape has tested everybody else’s physical and mental fortitude. With sluggish movements, everybody sets out to make camp for the night. After a few minutes, I finish unpacking my sleeping bag, but as I do, I turn to find Sen and Norf approach me.

“Hey Sen, Norf. What business do you have with me?”

“We’re here to ask you something, Enbos. Back when we were fighting Shark Hawks, you were closest to Norf at the time, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, we want to know… Did you hear it?”

“I think you mean, “Did you hear him,” and yes, as a matter of fact, I did.”

“I-I see.”

“… Are you here to ask about how I change my voice again?”

“Would you mind telling us?”

“Sigh, I guess I can. You may have figured this out yourself, but I’m changing my voice using a skill called .”

As I explain, I slowly change the pitch and tone of my voice to match what I heard earlier today. Norf realises what I’m doing and instinctively winces, so I return my voice to my prefered state.

“… Doesn’t that mean you’re using the skill to talk rather than change your voice?”

Oops, I shouldn’t have said the name of the skill.

“On second thought, never mind.”

“Huh?”

“Would you mind teaching Norf the skill?’

Funny, Sen is being strangely considerate. Is he afraid of upsetting me with another thoughtless question? He does realise I’m a grown adult, right? Actually, let’s drop that line of thought and deal with the issue at hand.

“Like Sen discerned, is used to recreate a voice rather than change it. Tell me Norf, do you really hate your voice so much that you’re willing to seal it for the rest of your life?”

Of course, he doesn’t say anything, but neither does he nod nor shake his head. It seems he’s hesitant about the prospect when I phrase it like that, but the issue is serious enough for him to still consider it. Turning back to Sen, he makes a slight grimace.

“Would you mind telling me your circumstances,” I ask.

“…”

“Well, that’s understandable. Even for me, it’s hard to speak on his behalf,” replies Sen on his behalf.

“Please.”

"..."

“You’re fine with me telling him? Well, as long as you’re okay with it, I guess I’ll begin…

Norf used to be bullied since childhood for having an effeminate voice. This teasing shaped the rest of his life as he worked hard to cover his… weakness. However, it only made the disparity between his voice and his body all the more humiliating. That's why he decided not to speak all together.”

“I see."

Well, I figured it was something like that. Still, even if it's a simple explanation, his inner and outer turmoil must have been anything but.

"I know this may sound ignorant, but is it really such a problem any more? From where I come from, a voice like yours would make you an id- a famous singer. Also, Sen managed to accept your voice as it is, so isn’t it fine?”

“Well, that’s mostly because… erm…”

“Sen used to sound just like him when he was younger, before his voice broke.”

“Minna! At least let me say it myself!”

Cutting into the conversation, Minna walks up to our group with the intent of joining the discussion. It seems she also knows of Norf’s voice and is just as trusted.

“While we were fighting monsters, Sen and I learnt of Norf’s secret during the heat of battle. Like you, he had an intimidating air but was really a nice guy on the inside. He was distrustful at first, but eventually we became fast friends. Personally, I want to see him overcome this problem.”

"Please help him, Enbos. If you need compensation, we'll readily offer it."

They all bow and wholeheartedly ask for my help. It's a very personal problem, but I'm not close enough to them to feel obliged to help, which may be why Sen mentioned compensation. If anything, I could refuse them and they can walk away knowing about the skill as benefit enough.

Wait a second. Wasn't Minna taking a silent jab at me when she was describing Norf? Sorry, but our problems are different by orders of magnitude. Still, I admit there are some similarities, like the fact society wouldn’t accept something from either of us. And that is why I can give him this piece of advice.

“If you really feel it’s necessary, I won’t mind teaching you . However, I want you to realise your voice isn’t the problem here… it’s yourself. No matter what kind of voice you use or imitate, only one will ever truly be your own. It’s something you have to come to accept, otherwise, you’ll never be the “ruler” of your own life.”

“Hey, Enbos! Isn’t that hypocritical? After all, you hide your own face and voice, but dare to-”

“Sen!”

“It’s one thing to learn because you feel compelled to, and another thing entirely if you feel you need to… like me. So, tell me Norf, which one are you?”

Sen and Minna fall silent as I keep my eye sockets locked with Norf’s stern gaze. I didn’t come this far stubbornly thinking I’m still human. I accept the fact I’m an undead. I accept the fact society abhors me. I accept the fact I’m a destabilising construct with a thirst for life. But because I accept these things, I can work to change them and live by my own resolution. No one chose this path for me, not even god, and I’m not going to start now. Sorry Lili.

“… Thank you, Enbos. I’ll give this more thought.”

Much to Sen and Minna’s surprise, Norf replies using his own voice. While it was certainly unexpected, it was the best response he could have given. He’s sincerely taken my words to heart.

“Erm, about what I said, Enbos… I’m terribly sorry!”

Ah, it seems Sen is feeling guilty about his remark, which is extra bad considering he was trying to be thoughtful not a moment ago. I quickly forgive him, but while I do, I notice Minna’s faint smile. It looks like she shares the same opinion as me, but was too close to Norf to tell him herself. Regardless, whether he decides to learn or not, I can now respect his decision.

Hrm, come to think of it, how DID I acquire ? If I remember correctly, it was by spending 50 skill points at a life well. It was the first skill I ever acquired using that method, and I discovered it by… deciding to pray at Si’s behest.

“I’ve returned, everyone. What are you all discussing?”

“Ah, hello Lili. I-it’s nothing much. We just finished talking.”

“I see. By the way Enbos, what are your thoughts since our conversation in the morning?”

“Well, if I ever decide to pray, I can safely say I have at least one thing to attribute to an unidentified power.”

“I suppose I’ll take that as a no. By the way, I was just told dinner is almost ready.”

“Thank goodness! Between my short sleep, the constant walking and today’s fight, I want to scoff down my food and dive right to sleep!”

“Don’t run off like a starved dog! Seriously Sen…”

I watch as Sen, Minna and Norf return to the campfire to prepare for dinner. As for Lili, she sits atop her blanket and begins combing her hair. It seems she just got back from washing herself at the nearby stream, and judging by the signal baton by her side, someone else is currently at the river.

“By the way Enbos, aren’t you going to eat?”

“Oh, I’m waiting for Hachirou to return.”

“Hrm? But isn’t Hachirou right there?”

“Eh?”

I turn back to the campfire, and sure enough, I see Hachirou serving several bowls of soup. Looking at his confident movements with the spool, a horrible sense of foreboding creeps up my spine.

If Hachirou is over there, that means Mr Kell is at the river. Lili was washing herself while I was talking with Sen, Minna and Norf. However, when Lili got back, she said dinner was almost done, which means it was still being tended to. By process of elimination, d-doesn’t that mean…

“STOP! DON'T DRINK THAT SOUP!!!!”