A few days before. Masahiko, Eri, Daichi, Teruko, Eri, and the merchant called Correo are close to the Vulkan-mountains. It’s half a miracle, but after Masahiko talked to the king with Correo again, they got his blessing on this hunt. Correo laid out a plan and is selling himself as a guide, and he only wants the bounty on the princess. While Masahiko knows it’s a lot of money, they will just give it to the merchant. It’s a small price to pay.

Correo talked about some secret, fast trading routes, about a way to find heroes who are close enough to him, about reinforcements. While he didn’t exactly explain anything, the king seems to trust him enough. It looks like the king accepts Correo’s trade secrets as such, so they already worked with each other for some time? Though there was a stern warning Masahiko didn’t understand: ‘Let me be clear, Correo: You better don’t hold any of those.’ What does ‘those’ mean? Correo called it ‘another trade secret’ when Masahiko asked about that.

“Where is it?” Daichi is looking around. Correo said before that they will enter a special route in this area, but currently, there is nothing of interest here. A farm is close, furry-legged goats are here, all part of a herd. The point of being here isn’t that clear to Masahiko, as well.

“Wait, Dai-kun.” Teruko lays her hand on the ground. “There is something deep under us... Like a long crack in the stone spiraling downwards towards to... could it be? Deeptrails?” These are underground ways of the dari, though most of them collapsed twenty years ago.

“Correct. I should have known that I couldn't fool you for long, seeing how you were trained by the dari. You’re right, here is a secret entrance to the Deeptrails, it must have appeared when they collapsed. I used special means to make it more traversable, basically a secret underground-route. Yet this part of the Deeptrails isn’t as long as I wished, the collapse was too massive. But currently, it’s enough to cross the Ohl underground.”

“The Ohl?”

“A big, monster-infested river. Our other companions are waiting for us on the other side.”

Masahiko doesn’t know if he should be happy about reinforcements. A part of him is glad that he can give a bit of his mental burden to others, but... something about it seems wrong. “Are the trolleys still functioning?” As far as Masahiko knows, the Deeptrails are connected by sledge-like trolleys that are powered by [Metalmancy], the magic which is inherited by every single dar, though they try their best to keep as much of it a secret as possible.

“Not as intended, it was way above my skills to determine how they even worked in the first place. However, I’ve got around it. To get to the entrance, we need to go this way.” Correo adjusts his hat and starts walking.

After a while, they find an entrance hidden behind bushes that leads to a tunnel that looks like it was melted into the stone. Eri, who is also a [Geomancer], looks at Correo while furrowing her eyes: “Did you molt your way in here?”

“Not me, a servant of mine. It took her a while, but it was worth it.” The older man looks like he was already expecting this question. “You may be too young to understand, but for me, these tunnels are an exceptional resource. They’re my headstart over my competition. While I do have ways to journey at great speeds, landscape and monsters are still factors I need to be concerned with.”

“You know, that the dari will eventually claim them again?”

“When they do, we’ll negotiate. Even in the worst case, I can make my profits with this route until they’re back.” Masahiko thinks it would be better to make a deal with the dari in the first place, working together to rebuild the Deeptrails, but his own experiences with the dari also make him doubt whether it would work or not.

A few meters behind the entrance is a reinforced door, Correo opens it up with a key. Then they enter the tunnels. They already know that it will take a while before they’re deep enough for the Deeptrails. Correo really made sure that the door is locked behind him, giving Masahiko the feeling that this is a point of no return. The merchant provides torches to everyone as light sources, then they start their underground journey through a long and vast tunnel that slowly spirals down.

After a night sleeping in darkness, Masahiko is finally standing in a colossal corridor-like tunnel with several rails made out of metal down here. “This metal,” Daichi explains after examining it: “It’s an alloy which uses iron, aluminum, and even some gold and silver.”

“Gold and silver?” This piques Correos interest, though Eri and her [Trader]-soul also look a bit excited. “So that’s why the dari always buy them.” Yes, the dari buy gold, copper, and silver. They like them so much that at some point actual gold coins were taken from the market, as the dari started to hoard most of them, leading to a new currency, the Newgold, which doesn’t have any gold in it. Braxas, a dear dar friend and mentor of Masahiko, told him that [Metalmancy] works well on rare metals, so they use them for many things. The Deeptrails are only one of the many applications.

“...carts,” Katsuo, who has leered everywhere, said. In fact, there are several carts, though it doesn’t look like they’re supposed to be there. After all, this is neither a station nor a collection site, they’re just all standing on the same trail.

“Good preparation is the key for good business,” Correo explains proudly. “Do you see how you can chain all of them together? In case I want to transport something big from Feuerberg. Would you mind putting your weapons and armor into your backpacks? The lighter, the better.”

Correo already said that he trades with heroes, so he knows about the [Inventory], of course. Masahiko does as the hatted man says, making himself as light as possible. Even his new cape is put into the backpack.

After all of them are down to some basic clothes, Correo asks them to get on a big sled-like cart, then the merchant starts pushing them a bit. “Seems doable. Put out the torches first. Otherwise, there will be an accident.” Following his words, it becomes all dark. Masahiko is in his [Vanguard]-class, therefore he can use [Metalmancy] and feel the cart and the rails at least. Then Correo continues: “Be sure to hold fast, I’ll increase the speed.” Masahiko hears a strange cracking noise and suddenly, the cart accelerates.

It’s fast. Masahiko has no chance to feel the metal anymore, as the surroundings are changing way too fast. From the feeling, though, it’s like sitting in a car or maybe rather a train. This reminds him of how long it was since he traveled at speeds like that.

However, this makes Masahiko feel great because he knows that he’s finally catching up to Kyou.

―○●○―

After a subpar meal, Ara-san fills us in with what she learned about the current situation on this side of the Ohl from the bandits. They regularly send some people to the farmsteads, inns, villages, and the city of Ohlbrücken to keep on track with news, rumors, and of course, people trying to capture them.

My head rests on Ara-san’s lap for another WP, it’s always a bit uncomfortable to do that. I don’t even know why, maybe because she lacks some meat or because of how her flesh feels. In addition to the usual discomfort I hate being too close with any of the girls.

However, it’s practical to do that when there is an opportunity instead of waiting until evening and trying to catch up with all the stuff.

I listen to Ara-san’s summary. The Crusaders are still coming to Ohlbrücken, looks like a whole army was scattered around here for monster-hunting before, which is now going to Feuerberg. Because of that and other matters, it’s hard to get to this side of the Ohl, especially without bribes. Ohlbrücken has also sent an army out to uproot the bandits as preparation for winter, now that the monsters are driven back. That’s why these bandits are close to the Spirit Swamps in the first place, as they didn’t expect that real monsters like us would emerge from them.

There are also sightings of so-called barbarians. Seems like the word ‘barbarian’ is patented in these parts, same as ‘rangers’. While a [Ranger] is a warrior of nature who was trained by the alfar and is revered, barbarians are something like a special breed of savages, nomadic human warriors that are into slaying, razing, and raping. Practically bandits, just ten times worse.

However, the rumors about the kidnapped princess of Feuerberg are vague at best, no bounties outside Ohlbrücken either, so we may be in luck in that regard. Or we’re faster than the bounty posters... thinking about it, they need to be distributed, who would do that? There are no phones, there is no internet, there is no international law... Means, as long as we evade Ohlbrücken and the Crusaders, we’re golden, right? They thought that it’d be impossible to get around Ohlbrücken, that’s why they didn’t pay enough for the posters to reach further. Finally, good news.

Spirit Swamps... they were a big pain in the ass, but it wasn’t a mistake after all. “Stop smirking.” Kyou-san looks at me like I’m totally proud to have at least crossed the finish line of a hundred meter (328 feet) dash.

“No.” My smirk is just my way to show my own little happiness that a poor decision back then turned out to be right. The power-boost due to the levels and skills doesn’t hurt either. “Now the important decision: What do we do about our prisoners?” We have at least thirty bandits that were either knocked out, too wounded to flee, or just surrendered. “We can either kill them, we can just let them go, or we can take them to some authorities. “

“Not only that, Kenta-kun,” Ara-san adds: “We can also leave them bounded and let fate decide or lure somebody else to do the job, like some of the swamp monsters.”

“Why would you suggest this?”

“At this point, these aren’t even suggestions. I just want to further our general options. We can also combine some of these methods.”

“Phew...” This doesn’t help. In fact, it only gives more to think about. “Let me be straight, I don’t care much. I would, however, like to avoid authorities.” OK, to be honest, I also don’t want to kill them, but in the end, they’re a bunch of murderers themselves and some of their comrades already died by my hand, so it’s somehow justified and I would do it. Just not gladly.

I look at Rine, who looks like she’s holding herself back. Kyou-san is thinking about it, while Ara-san has already her opinion: “We can leave them behind or release them. Both aren’t much work, though I prefer the first, as it’s no work.” In a way, it’s cruel, but Ara-san is a sloth, so of course she wants to be over it as fast as possible.

“I don’t want to kill them...” Kyou-san speaks her mind.

I ask the final member of our party. “Rine?”

“They have plundered at least... they need to be punished by the laws of the Wildlands and all of the city-states, if I recall correctly, punish banditry by death.” I would say harsh, but seriously, as the Wildlands is mostly a bunch of city-states and the surrounding villages, the life-lines are their farmsteads and traders, which are primary targets for bandits. It’s clear why the law is strict. It also makes it easier for mercenaries and such, who happen to come across some bandits. “However... I don’t think we should do it. It’s not justice at this point, just convenience.”

This sounds like Rine, the girl who hunted bandits on the mountains to relieve her people. She may have killed a few, but everyone who surrendered ended up in the care of someone responsible for stuff like that. Well, time to burst that bubble: “So what do we do?”

“Erm... sorry, I don’t know... Ah, right. I need to think about it... We could take all of them with us until we find a village or so.”

That’d be a pain. Ara-san is most likely thinking the same. However, Kyou-san doesn’t. “Let’s do it.”

“Phew... Ara-san, anything to add?”

“We could leave them in this camp and just tell someone that they’re here. Or we let Kenta-kun scout ahead and look for a place which might take them in.”

“Ah, great idea, Ara!” Don’t be that ready to put that load onto me, Rine!

“So it’s three against one,” Kyou-san states her agreement unsubtly.

“Phew...” Like it was waiting for this, the curse makes a screen appear.

You gain 1 WP. Resting on the lap of your beloved is a soul-healing activity, make sure to spoil her later.

Like always, the curse just assumes that I’m in love with all of them. Well, doesn’t matter. With this task off the list, I can move freely without wasting time. So let’s see how I can make it as efficient as possible to be over this soon.

I stand up, take a look at the sky, and use [Farsight], looking for birds. There is one, a blue hawk, using this opportunity of having sun between the rainy days to go on a hunt. While the fantasy world has animals like ours, all of them have a subtle change in color or one or two other traits. Like horses with claws instead of hooves. “Let’s see what’s in the surrounding.” I put some effort into training the following spell, as it backfires without a bit of fine-tuning. “[Share Senses]!” I already have my filter in place. Without it, I would see exactly what the hawk is seeing, which would cause my brain to overload, as it can’t process all of the information a hawk is seeing.

My vision becomes a tunnel, my stomach is acting up a bit, as I see how I’m flying, while my other senses tell me that I’m on the ground. Still, using more than one sense is way too complicated for me, so I just endure this minor motion sickness.

In a sea of blackness, I see some trees, some animals too big for the hawk... there, humans... they wear metal, I think, my filter makes it hard to see... Fire. The direction is... I cut the connection and climb on a hut to use [Farsight]. Yes, a glint of metal, some around four kilometers (2.5 miles) ahead. “I’ve found something. Armored people with horses, they’re camping. Could be mercenaries, soldiers, or Crusaders.” It’s easy to hear my disgust when naming the last possibility. “Ara-san, you come with me. In case of Crusaders, you’ll take over. Kyou-san and Rine, gather the loot and ask the bandits about their provisions, then go north.” To be sure, I show them the direction: “We’ll catch up later.”

As many harmful side-effects the curse may have, it also gives some boons, like an [Attribute]-boost or an increase in XP-gain, though it shares the XP in the first place which already put me into a losing position, as I get second-most kills. Another thing we bought from the WP-store is [Spouse-Location] which allows my wives to feel in which direction I am, while I can feel the direction of each wife. Stupidly, it doesn’t let me feel distance or which wife it is. No, these adjustments are now sold separately in the WP-store.

Still, this flawed feature makes regrouping much easier and it was a life-saver in the Spirit Swamps, so I won’t complain about it anymore. For now.

Ara-san and I start walking towards the armed group. About four kilometers, this will take a while. However, it’s finally an opportunity to be alone with Ara-san, as in the swamps we all stuck together for safety. “Hey, Ara-san,” I start the conversation nonchalantly. “Can I ask you about Luuto?” If she doesn’t want to talk about it, it’s fine with me. Still, some things don’t fit yet.

“About who?”

“You know, that alfr hero.”

“Ah, you’re referring to Lvo’tjos. So you call him Luuto, I see. I need to memorize it. What about him?”

“You told us that you were both summoned at the same time. That’s why you used him for experiments and such, right?”

“That’s correct.”

OK, how do I phrase it without giving it a double meaning? “Is there something else?”

“What are you referring to?”

“I mean... well, why couldn’t you talk it out? What kind of beef do you have with him?”

“I already explained this, as well. I don’t know what his issue is, but it seems like he joined Muaotef.”

“Any idea why? I mean, he didn’t kill us, though he has to be much stronger than us.”

“Are you jealous? Or offended?”

“It’s just irritating. I also think you don’t tell me everything.”

“I will share it with you if you tell me what exactly made you go feral, when Lvo’tjos used his spell.”

“... that’s private.”

“Then, I’m holding my knowledge hostage.”

“Come on, just tell me. We’re friends, right?”

“We are? I came to believe that I’m just a plaything of yours, poor me.”

“...phew... alright, you’ll keep your secret, I’ll keep mine. Fine with me. I’m just irritated.”

“Anything you want to tell me about?”

“It just feels so... wrong. I mean, it was like we were intruding on something, like we weren’t supposed to be there... also, there is the stuff with Crunch.”

“Who is Crunch?”

“...ah, I didn’t tell you. Well, I can tell you if you like. For your secret.”

“What about this: You tell me, and I’ll tell you a tiny detail I heard from the bandits before, which wasn’t important for the summary but is very interesting to you.”

“...we should stop haggling intel. Well, Crunch was a ss’ rak I fought with. You remember that I killed an ss’ rak patriarch, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, before that were two other ss’ rak, plus one Kyou-san killed. Crunch was the son of one of them and fought me for revenge.”

“I can’t believe it. A ss’ rak who is capable of remembering something for an extended period. Did he write it on the back of his claw?”

...alfr are racist. Or more like speciesist. For them, humans are only driven by their sex-drive, folkmen are cute and cuddly, ss’rak plain stupid, and dwarves greedy. They’re full of stereotypes, which makes them even harder to converse with.

The easiest way to deal with it is ignoring their remarks: “Well, after Crunch attacked, I was all like: This is another thing which puts me in the center, but in the end... well... how do I say it...”

“Kenta-kun, mind listening to another theory of mine?”

“Go on.”

“While I was researching hero-stories, I found many similarities. One of them is that heroes attract events that strengthen or oppose them. You might call it the ‘drama effect’. So your ‘drama effect’ lured that ss’ rak—Crunch was it?—to you while he was already a companion of Lvo’tjos. Then Lvo’tjos’ ‘drama effect’ occurred, causing every one of us to become part of his hero-story. Lvo’tjos was level 189 the last time I met him, so it’s probable that he’s gone over level 200 after these twenty years. He should have written a letter to me, broken arms or not.” I see her ears twitch, I think she liked Luuto’s joke about how he hasn’t written Ara-san because he had ‘very badly broken arms for twenty years.’ “Back to the topic, though. We found out that Lvo’tjos held back for whatever reason. Any ideas why?”

“Hm...” This is a question I’ve been asking myself for the last two weeks. “Because killing a hero has a consequence.”

“Exactly. How did you come to this conclusion?”

“The Muaotef-incident. He asked me to kill his own hero, I thought before that I was convenient, but after seeing Crunch, he had warriors strong enough to do the job for him. I also got a free pass to meet the patriarch after mentioning Muaotef... well, almost.” I still want to beat up the so-called Voice of Muaotef and it’s a pity that I missed him in the swamps. “So there had to be another reason.”

“Did you feel different since killing the patriarch?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t my first kill, however... Don’t say it to the others, but I still feel guilty.”

“Feelings of guilt... he’s the only hero you’ve killed so far.”

“Yeah.” While I may have injured Inoue by accident before, I didn’t finish him off. Sometimes I think it’d be better if I did without knowing if I really mean it or not... well, he’s Kyou-san’s friend, so she may have never forgiven me... I guess I’m not sure if she even forgave me for shooting him in the first place and you can’t just ask: ‘Hey, do you remember the time I’ve shot Fake? Did you forgive me by now?’ I hope she has just forgotten, but I don’t believe that. However, she was also into placing traps for him and her other friends!

...too complicated to understand.

I also wasn’t capable of finishing off Yoshimura and Hoshibashi, though there it was the oni who interfered. I’m just glad that I came out of it alive...

“Kenta-kun,” Ara-san asks me, “can you think of another reason why it may matter if a hero is killed or not?”

“A lot of ideas and speculations, nothing to show.”

“Let me hear your ideas.”

So our conversation continues, we move through bushes and other covers until we get close enough to the camp to see what they might be: Soldiers, mercenaries, or Crusaders. There, a banner. It’s always good if armed troops carry one. I think it’s for them to be identified by other officials, for us to find out who they are... they aren’t Crusaders at least, as the banner doesn’t show the claw clutching a sword. Instead, there is a bridge and a river... “You see the banner? It’s Ohlbrücken, right?”

“You forgot again that despite my superior eyesight in most regards, I’m struggling with distances.” Hey, it’s only natural, as alfar have better senses overall, but as they usually live in woods, evolution didn’t bless them with farsight.

“A golden bridge above a blue river with brown hills in the background.”

“This sounds like Ohlbrücken.”

“OK, then I’ll talk to them, if things go bad, cover my retreat with magic.” Things often go bad though they will definitely escalate if Ara-san speaks to them.

“Affirmative.” Good thing she’s oblivious to this and believes that she’s contributing. Otherwise she might challenge it by coming along with me.

After parking her in a bush close to the camp, I pull my hood over my face and walk out into the open. Some are looking at me with a somewhat irritated look, ah, I still have [Mask of Wildlife] on, so while they may see me, they feel something is off with me. It’s a skill that meshes my spirit with the surrounding plants. Within trees, it’s almost impossible to find it and to some degree, humans also feel spirits, causing them to mistake me as part of the scenery. With only grass and a single berry-shrub around here, it’s not enough to fool them, but I may seem unreal to them, almost like an illusion.

I deactivate the skill, and of course, swords and maces are drawn, some noses are scrunched as well, as my swamp-aroma is still there. Then a soldier points at me: “Red Ranger.”

Oh shit! I’m still in my red armor! The Red Ranger is a known sinner, someone who has broken the Divine Laws, bringing humanity one step closer to extinction... don’t ask, it’s stupid! Dammit! After two weeks of the Spirit Swamps, I’ve totally forgotten about the armor! The hood is also a giveaway, as it’s the sign of a [Ranger] in these parts.

I start to shift my weight so that I can run away if they attack me, but for some reason, most of them lower their weapons instead. The captain, easily distinguished by his tabard, steps forward: “How can we help you, Red Ranger?”

...OK, this isn’t what I expected. Are they trying to lure me into false security? “...there.” I try to lower my voice as much as possible to make it harder to hear my real voice: “If you follow this direction, you will see the remains of a bandit-camp.”

“Could it be the camp of the Wicked Evily?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Don’t know, don’t care.”

For some reason, the soldiers look strangely at me... I somehow have the feeling that... I don’t even know, but it feels weird. Not hostile, but... well... I can’t describe it. The captain, however, takes the cake: “Thank you, Red Ranger.” He bows to me! “We thought that even Evily wouldn’t dare to get so close to the swamps, but thanks to you, we not only found them but just need to pick up their remains.”

I think I get goosebumps. “...some of them fled.” Here, take that!

“They always do, but finding and scattering them is enough for now. We’ll find the ones taking shelter in the villages and farmsteads, and the rest will most likely die in the winter.”...harsh.

“...I see.” I turn around, I need to escape these looks. I finally know what it is, it’s the same one Rine used to have for me: Admiration! I can’t deal with it and I don’t even know how it came to be, I mean, it’s not like my Red Ranger-persona caused something else but trouble so far.

Ara-san comes out of her hiding spot after I left the camp. “This worked out better than expected.”

“...”

“Why aren’t you saying something?”

“I had a brainfart.”

“You released rectal fumes into your brain? I didn’t know that humans were capable of doing it, though this would explain a thing or two.”

“Figuratively. It just feels like someone farted into my brain, hot and moist.” I rub my nose-bridge. “I need some time to process that. Why the hell did they act that way?”

“Maybe they like you.”

“Nobody likes me.” It kinda hurts if I say it myself, but it’s the truth.

“I like you.”

“Let me rephrase that: Nobody who’s thinking clearly likes me.”

“Did you just insult my mental condition?”

“I just called you eccentric and strange.”

“Ah, I see.” This improves her mood, which shows that one, I do know her, and second, she’s as odd as I suspect her to be.

I use my [Perception]-skills to make sure that nobody is following us, then we head to Kyou-san and Rine. This was a strange encounter...