Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A young man was tapping his pencil on a blank page in front of him. This had become his daily routine. As frequent as a devout man visiting shrines.

"It's been an hour. I told myself that I'd make something easier today. I thought making a monster would be easier… I mean, if it was a little ugly, it'd still be good. Monsters can get away with being ugly." He complained to himself.

He turned his aquamarine eyes to the now full trash bin. Filled with his failures for the day.

"The jellyfish angel was too detail heavy, the turtle monster's head was too flat, I went too thick on the shading of the demon, and then the aberration was too abstract. Why do I suck at this so much!?" He thought with self-doubt.

He ran his hands through his black hair in frustration. "It shouldn't be this hard."

The young man's name is Botan Nakaya, a 19 year old college student. He has no idea what he wants to major in. Or more accurately, his father wanted him to major in something financially fruitful. He, however, has been trying to break out as an artist for years. Botan had been passionate about art and gaming his whole life. His mother supported him in private but always sided with his father when they argued about his future.

While he thought he was right, when he looked at a blank page and so many scrapped ideas…

"Is dad right? Should I just…?" Botan thought as he grew bitter.

He got a great score on his last test and because of that his father cut him some slack the last few days, but he was choking. He had too many ideas and not enough time to put them all on paper. Worse still, he knew he lacked artistic talent. That'd normally be where hard work and developed skill would help, but he never had the time to really get good at his passions.

And that's what they were, 'passions'. It wasn't that he hated studying or doing great in school. He simply loved the ideas in his head and wanted a way to share them with other people in a meaningful way. Whether that be writing, art, or music. He was an endless font of ideas if only he was allowed to pursue those passions earnestly.

"Ping." His phone made a noise.

He checked his phone and saw that one of his close friends got permission to use the college soccer field after hours. A nice benefit for helping the coach for so long. He was inviting Botan to play some with his other friends who were already agreeing in the group chat.

"It'd be fun, but I'm busy here doing…" He stared at the blank piece of paper again. Botan sighed and wordlessly accepted the invite. He headed downstairs to see his younger sister helping their mother make dinner. Luckily it looked like a meal that takes longer to make.

"I'm heading out. I'll be back in about 2 hours." Botan said, waving.

"Don't miss dinner. I'm going to need your honest opinion on this." His little sister demanded.

"Yeah, Churri, I know. Just don't poison me like last week." Botan prodded before running out the door to outrun her retaliation.

"I will end you!" She yelled, running to the front door.

Botan laughed until a toaster nearly got him in the dome. After that near-death experience, he ran without stopping until he hit the end of the next street over. After that, he saw she wasn't leaving the house and tried returning to a normal pace. Two more streets later and he was already stuck in his own head again like he was almost toast...ed. It was good to play with them now. Botan wasn't gonna get a lot of chances soon... Soon... In a few short years, he was expected to know what he was going to do for the rest of his life.

That's just insane.

He can't even decide what to draw.

Botan wasn't paying attention, thinking about all his worries instead of watching the road. He was nearly hit by a moving truck, but another car alerted him when he was about midway into the first lane. The truck made no attempt to slow down.

He leapt backward, out of the way with surprising grace. He wanted to lament something else, but that was a little too scary. He became confused as the driver never slowed down or even yelled at him. That was odd. Still, the scary moment let him dispel his pity party long enough to reach the school and just play the game.

"Not this time!" One of his friends tried stealing the ball with far too deep of a kick. He knew Botan would need to backup but the length of the kick would catch the ball.

"Too basic." Botan jumped about a foot off of the ground, holding the ball between his feet. He easily cleared his friend's kick and kept going.

"Damn. I thought I had you for sure." His friend said lightheartedly, not taking it personally.

Each of his friends were either met in school or by being friends of friends. Botan was thankful for them. He never went out of his way to meet anyone or befriend anyone. So, if he lost any friends in the future, without school to facilitate him meeting people, he was afraid he'd just have fewer and fewer friends over time. That said, he was happy with the friends he had.

He could see himself 10 years from now with no new friends and only barely hanging on to 2-3 of his current friends. The whole thought process made him not enjoy the game as much. His team still won. He was always distracted, so he performed the same as he always did.

At one point one of his friends asked something that bothered him. "Man, we train all the time and you're about even with us. It's so unfair, hehe. I still can't believe you didn't join the team."

Another friend chimed in. "You didn't know him before college, right? Botan didn't do sports in high school either." His oldest friend added.

The man was awestruck "Seriously!? You haven't done any sort of training or practice? You're practically a genus then. You should totally join next year." The man begged enthusiastically.

"Don't you think it's a bit late for that?" Botan's oldest friend replied to the other.

Botan said nothing, but those last words made him flinch.

Roughly an hour and a half later, they were leaving. A few of them went home the same way, so they traveled together. As they walked down the street, they spoke.

"So, Botan. Do any girls this year catch your eye?" A friend asked.

"Eh…?" Botan was clearly embarrassed. "I mean, plenty of them are cute…, but I'll just screw it up again." Botan said with a defeatist attitude.

"Dude, just talk out loud. You keep just thinking, worrying, and planning. That's how you lost out on that hot swimmer last year. And she was pretty patient too." One friend said in concern.

"Botan just needs to grow his hair out more. The girls always liked it, so more of it means more appealing." Another friend added, not really thinking about it.

"If more hair means more attractive, then why does your girlfriend have short hair?" Botan asked.

The young man opened and closed his mouth a few times accompanied by a pointing finger, but any retort he had died on his lips. He hung his head in defeat. "But she's cute with short hair… She's the exception…" He muttered.

The first friend chimed in. "Wow. You can point out when others are wrong, but can't solve your own problems."

It was Botan's turn to hold his finger up while pointing something out. "Pointing out the problem and finding a solution are two different things. If pointing out my issues was good enough, you two would have 'fixed' me a long time ago." Botan told them both.

The three laughed lightly. They were just trying to look out for their friend but lacked a way to help him. Either way, the concern was appreciated.

Botan's laugh died a bit sooner than his friends when he caught sight of a couple at a cafe. They were younger than him, probably in high school, and yet they were far ahead of him in this department. He turned away and forced himself to look ahead.

Another street down they passed through an intersection, and Botan saw another moving truck. It looked like it wasn't going to slow down, but when his friends appeared behind them, the truck seemed to only then slow down to a stop. Botan knows that it sounded crazy, but it really looked like it didn't care about hitting him.

"Whoa. Getting scary on the roads today. We'll use backstreets from here, I guess?" One suggested.

"Then we part ways here. I'll see you in class tomorrow." The other agreed immediately and ran off.

Botan didn't get a word in edgewise. People often made decisions or had discussions with him around without consulting him. It was probably because he overthought everything and they knew him well enough to avoid it.

"See you guys tomorrow then." Botan waved them off a bit late.

He took the backroads home, but something creepy kept happening. He could have sworn he heard a truck or other large vehicle behind him at a few points, but whenever he looked back, there was nothing and the noise stopped for a while.

"Dude. Just stop thinking about dumb stuff. A truck can't even fit back here. Just work on more ideas." He had to tell himself.

Soon enough he made it home. Botan had forgotten that he pissed his sister off before he left. He was made to remember.

"I'm back. How are-" Botan was interrupted by his sister, Churri, absolutely destroying his shin. She jumped, kicked off the wall, and used a mix of a fly kick and a dive kick on his mortal body.

"Ahh!?" The pain reminded him of what he did, but also that his little sister was always on some anime protagonist energy.

"I'll never walk again!" Botan shouted.

"Then you can't have escape as an option and will be forced to be nicer!" She barked back.

"Mom, help!" Botan pleaded.

His mother turned away, uncaring. "You did deserve it… and I'm not getting involved anymore." His mother replied.

Their parents basically gave up on calming down Botan's sister ever since she tied a kid up using his own bike frame. She bent the bike frame with her bare hands. Again, protagonist energy. He had no choice but to quietly mourn the loss of his leg… Dinner was good though. She definitely improved.

After dinner, Botan tried to climb the stairs, but to no avail. "I guess I'm sleeping down here tonight."

His sister walked over to him in a huff.

"Please! I beg! Don't finish me!" He cried out jokingly.

She grabbed him by his shirt, pulled him over her head, and carried him upstairs. He was easily twice her body weight. It made no sense. She kicked open his door and dropped him into his chair.

"There. Now you can stare at the paper some more." She told him.

She attacked his true weakness, he'd fight back "Oi, that's easier for you to say. Creative stuff like this is hard." He defended.

"If it's so hard then why did you used to be way better at it?" She asked accusingly.

"What? I wasn't ever better than now. I've improved a lot." Botan argued.

"You used to draw a lot of pictures of things, now you draw once a week." She countered.

"Because I didn't care back then. It's always easier when you don't care." He continued arguing.

"Then don't care." She offered the solution in a deadpan voice.

Botan was getting loud. "It's not that simple! I can't just-"

"Skill issue." She interrupted and left.

"..." Botan quietly seethed to himself in response. She wasn't wrong, and that made it bother him even more. He used to draw whatever cool idea he had, unfiltered. He didn't care if it looked good, he just wanted other people to see the idea he had in his head. He thought about it for a moment. He pulled several drawings out of his trash bin and did his best to straighten them up.

"…They weren't as bad as I remembered they were this morning. I could just take more time. Redraw this section…" His sister's words stuck with him a bit.

He then had a very productive session. First, he redrew each of the failed drawings from before, but that was only the start. He remembered some of the drawings he used to show his little sister when they were little. He drew them from memory, then redrew them in his current style. It felt so right. His own old ideas being brought back to life in his current style was so oddly satisfying like he was confirming hopes and beating back doubts.

He was seeing how far he came in stark contrast. He saw that when he was less self-critical he was far more creative. That he had put walls up between what is and isn't good art and trapped himself in such a restrictive box. This was what art was supposed to be. Whatever he wanted it to be. He'd draw more after dinner than he had in two months. He ended it by drawing something his sister liked a lot. A fluffy dog mascot that had ornaments all over from being stuck in his fluffy fur.

He signed that one and addressed it to her, as a way of thanking her. He got up and hobbled down the hallway and slid it in under her door. He was ready for bed. He was so excited to see what else he'd make after finally leaving that funk. He could-

He returned to his room to see that his window was open and the other drawings were flying out the window. He leapt out of the window, falling pretty violently. He ran around the back alleys frantically for several minutes, or as fast as hobbling can go. After nearly 10 minutes, he had collected them all.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close. That almost ruined the best work I'd done in… forever."

He looked around once more and counted up his papers. They were all there. He looked up to his window on the second floor and began his slow hobble his way back around the alley to the front door.

"Mom will want an explanation…" He was once again distracted.

Lights suddenly flashed on, blinding Botan. A moving truck's headlights were facing him directly. The same moving truck! He could hear the tires peel as it sped toward him. He went to leap out of the way, just as he did before…, but he couldn't. The fall from the second story and the previous injury to his leg meant he couldn't jump out of the way. If he wasn't so distracted, he'd have dived low…

"Crash!" The truck struck Botan head-on, then did the same to the wall behind him.

He thought he'd be in a crazy amount of pain, but it wasn't that bad. The trauma numbed him decently. The blood loss came with dizziness which was a little welcome as well.

"What? Why did it…? That truck… again…? But the pictures… they turned out so… good…" He thought to himself.

He could hear the light in the house turning on and people running towards him.

"They won't make it… I won't make it. This was it? All that worrying about the future…about my career and talent… and I never even got there… I'd rather have known. Then I could have lived in the moment more…No… No! I have to live! I can live better! I… c-" Botan looked up, past the headlights, towards the driver's seat.

There was no driver.

"And so we call upon you again, o' hero!" An older woman's voice echoed

A start voice was all he could hear. His pain was gone, but the dizziness was even greater. He wasn't outside anymore… And it was daytime?

"He who carries nature's branch, lend us aid in our most dire of hours!" The older woman raised her voice louder while moving around rapidly.

Botan tried to stand, but the room just kept spinning. He felt around for something to grab. He felt something in his grasp. He used it like a cane to gain a stance and pull himself from the stone floor.

"This is…?" He finally regained his sight and what he currently held was best described as a large metal flower and its stem as a funky polearm. It was somewhat ornate with an aquamarine gem at its center.

He wasn’t in that alley anymore. He wasn’t dying anymore. He… wasn’t in Japan anymore.

…

Churri Nakaya, the protagonist stronger than the plot

…

That night everyone around the neighborhood heard the crashing of the truck that killed Botan. However, there was no direct evidence of any of that happening. There was no truck, no blood, and no body. People saw that Botan’s window was open, that he randomly left his sister a drawing under her door, and concluded that he ran off somewhere. They filed a missing person report, but it seemed clear that he left voluntarily and he was an adult. The police were not making it a priority.

Botan’s sister, Churri saw things differently. She knew her brother better than anyone else. She remembered the drawing he left behind. It was a remake of something he drew for her when she was six. 

If he cared enough to remember something that specific, he’d care enough to not leave like that.

That was her logic. With that in mind, she looked over the back alley and saw the indention from the truck’s front bumper left in the crash. She compared it to vehicles she found online and found it to be the same as the water moving trucks she’d been seeing around town. With that, she began her hunt directly.

Once she started looking, she was actually unnerved by how many of them there seemed to be around town. ‘Unnerve’ was an apt word. Churri had never been scared before. She had freakish strength and lived in a modern country. There was little for someone like her to fear. 

That said, she felt fear for the first time when she was doing her investigation. She saw that roughly half the trucks had no drivers. They obeyed traffic laws and such, but no driver. It felt surreal, and a bit creepy. This was happening in plain daylight, but how often does someone make eye contact with a truck driver?

This all came to a head on the third day of her investigation. She followed a driverless truck to an above ground parking garage. She quietly staked for some time as it stayed parked. She considered how to approach it, but planning wasn’t her style. She eventually grew tired and angry. 

She approached the truck directly. “Oi! I know you are like a ghost truck or whatever. You better give me answers or I’m ending you!” She demanded loudly.

“...” There was a pause. Nothing happened. Churri was feeling dumb for talking to no one and began doubting her own thoughts.

“Grr, don’t try pretending, you jackass! You have no driver. Now spill it or I’ll rip that engine off your frame!” She yelled.

Suddenly, the headlights went straight to high beams in an attempt to blind Churri. It started up and punched the gas to try to run her over, but unfortunately for the full sized moving truck… Churri was a whole protagonist.

 She grabbed the front of the truck with her hands and dug her feet in. The truck slammed into her and continued forward… at first. Her feet tore through solid asphalt and came to a stop.

“So, that’s how you killed my bro? Or is he alive somewhere?” She questioned quietly.

The truck attempted to back up, but Churri’s fingers had sunk into the bumper of the truck and left no room for escape.

“Nowhere to run. Last chance to talk, before I see If I can kill a ghost.” She warned.

The trucks tired turned left and right as the horn and alarm began blaring. It may have lacked a face, but it was obviously scared.

“So be it. Hyaa!” She lifted the truck into the air and threw it off the 5th floor of the parking garage.

“Full Crash: Dead-End Drop!!” She screamed before leaping after the truck and latching onto the drive shaft. She placed herself above it and the two fell to the road below.

“Boom!!” The truck exploded into fire.

As the flames rolled on, Churri slowly walked out of the fire, dragging the bumper of the truck with one hand. She looked around and saw about two dozen more trucks, no drivers. Somehow the one must have let the others know that it was in trouble.

“Oh, more of you?” She stepped forward and rested the bumper over her shoulder as her new weapon.

The trucks had no faces, but seemed both angry and scared.

“You better gang up on me now, or I’ll hunt each on of you fucks down one by one. I don’t care if you’re ghosts, aliens, robots, whatever. I got your number, literally.” She pulled out a small notepad.

“I have all of your plates, I’ve been recording them for days. No matter where you run, I’ll find you… So, I’ll give you all one last chance. Give me my big brother back, or else.” She threatened.

Their response was to floor it, all of them went for the kill.

“Then die!” She yelled.

She engaged them in a battle for nearly an hour. One that even ended in a highway chase. She caused a lot of noise, but just like with her brother, they left no trace afterwards. The bewildered cops eventually brought her home seeing as there was nothing remaining to prove damages. It was truly baffling to them.

From that day onward, Churri became a local legend, as a modern exorcist. She did battle with all manner of crazy apparitions, thinking she was saving people or fighting those that took her brother.

…The truth was she was also being summoned to be a hero and she was just so tough that she was fighting it off.

Chapter Text

“You mean it actually worked? Mosden succeeded in summoning him of all the countries?” A man questioned the situation.

Botan scrambled to get away from wherever he was. He was abducted. Or he was dreaming. Or aliens. He had zero frame of reference for whatever was going on. The room was made of cut stone. It wasn’t a full building, but something akin to a small chapel. He rushed to run out the door, but several people seemed to almost fly to the door and halt him.

“Please, wait! Calm yourself, dearest Evergreen.” The same older woman called.

Botan was still confused and scared, but not so much so that he’d push down or hurt an old woman. He looked at them, seven people in total. All wearing plain clothes underneath brightly colored dancing robes with seemingly useless tassels attached to them. It was something you’d see a performative dancer wear on stage.

He stumbled back a moment and looked outside. Off in the distance he saw a large mountain, one more steep and jagged than any he’d seen. Clearly he was no longer in Japan. His mind was racing a mile and minute, like always. There were so many scenarios playing out in his head, but one hit all the right marks.

“Where am I? …And how did I get here?” Botan asked.

The people gathered in front of the door to block his escape loosened their stances a bit, relaxing. “We are currently in the minor country of Mosden. We summoned you here to save our world.” The older woman spoke.

“Summoned to be a hero… I’ve been freak’n Isekai’d!?” Botan realized.

“Hero? What-?” Botan tried to let go of the odd staff he held, but he couldn’t. It stuck to him. He could remove it with his other hand, but it’d then be latched on to that hand.

“What is this?” He continued trying to remove it.

“Please stop being rough with it… I admit we thought you’d understand some of what is occurring… You seem far more lost than expected. Maybe we ought to take you to the king? Maybe his advisors can explain things a bit better…” The woman suggested, looking unprepared herself.

“You haven’t tried all that hard to explain anything. What is this… metal flower stick thing? Why’d you summon me specifically? How do I return home?” Botan didn’t want a promise of answers, he wanted answers right now.

“...That in your hands is the Holy Flower Weapon. The greatest weapon in this world. It is said that it starts as a weakling seed when it first appears, but grows and blooms into a power that could shatter the very mountains… As to why you were summoned, that was the Holy Flower’s choice. We know not how, but it knows exactly who to select if the summoning ceremony succeeds.” She answered.

“And how do I get home?” Botan asked, calmer now that she answered some questions.

“...I honestly do not know. The King may have a more useful answer than I do.” The woman answered emptily.

Botan’s dizziness was gone, but he felt an odd nervousness. Outside this small room was an entire world. There were people, politics, maybe even monsters and magic. He almost hesitated, but then he remembered his little sister and concluded the sum total of this world could not be scarier than her.

The people that supposedly summoned Botan motioned him outside. The older woman led the way with the other men walking to the sides. He felt trapped, like they were walking him to the principal’s office in school. He got a better look at the world around him. He wanted to just stop and stare. He saw the mountain from before, but was now able to see it more fully than before, it had 9 distinct peaks and was truly enormous. He couldn’t even tell how far away it was. They were heading that way, but it never looked any closer.

He saw that the small stone chapel they summoned him in was little more than a stone equivalent to a gazebo. They walked through a small field of flowers, a crystal clear pond was nearby, it also had lotuses littering its surface. Strange fish would leap from the water and almost slow down in the air before landing back in the water. Botan thought he was mistaken, but he saw it twice. It was something you’d expect from an RPG, but it being so real was almost like he’d never seen anything like it.

The path they traveled wasn’t a proper road, but it also wasn’t something as simple as a dirt trail. It was akin to cobblestone, but placed in a way that passed for a natural look. They were walking up a small hill and this too was stone in the form of stairs. The place was well-shaded under trees similar to weeping willows. Botan could see what could best be described as flying manta rays high above. 

“I bet you could ride those manta rays!” Botan thought to himself.

He had seen only a small area of this world and already wanted to call it more beautiful than earth.

They crested the hill to look down on a beautiful city. One with waterways throughout, something Botan had seen in pictures of Venice. The roofs of most buildings also sported grass and other plants. The place looked as close to nature as one could get without sacrificing the wants of people. Most buildings appeared to be made of smooth stone in several colors. Botan thought he could stare at it forever.

“This place… This is amazing! I get to live in a place like this!?” Botan was becoming too distracted.

He nearly tripped from looking around and not where he was going, but one of the men walking with him steaded him.

“Easy, Evergreen.” The man warned.

“I’m doing it again. I keep getting distracted. I… died because of that. I need to stop living in my head and live in the here and now.” Botan thought.

He tried engaging. “She called me that too, what’s with that name? Evergreen?” Botan asked.

“That’s what we call the wielder of the Holy Flower.” The man answered.

“Why?” Botan asked.

The woman leading them answered. “Any plant that can last throughout all the seasons is called ‘Evergreen’. But the Holy Flower is the only Evergreen flower that exists. It will never wilt. Its power is supposedly the greatest of them all. Of course the mere seasonal effects would be of no concern to it, or you. Would you prefer we call you ‘Wielder of the Holy Flower’?” She added, then asked.

“I’d prefer to be called by my name, Botan Nakaya.” He responded in a slightly annoyed fashion.

The woman stopped walking forward and held a hand over her mouth for a moment. “Ah, Sir Nakaya, I’d failed to give normal introductions. My apologies. My name is Tia, I am the current head of the capital city of Weldroe‘s dancing unit.. ” Tia seemed genuinely remorseful.

“...Okay, I’m just going to be exceedingly annoying now. What’s ‘Weldroe’ and why are you dancers?” Botan realized his questioning was going to be annoying, but he needed basic answers.

“It’s understandable. We’ll answer what we can. Weldroe is the capital city of Mosden. As for why we are dancers… How do you think we summoned you?” She seemed just as confused as he did.

“With magic…?” He answered with zero confidence and even more confusion.

“And how does one do magic?” She said in a manner that made his question sound stupid.

“How should I know? Magic isn’t a thing in the world I am from.” He defended.

“Oh.” The woman now understood the confusion. “To think something so fundamental doesn’t exist in the world you are from… In short, physical motions are the means by which magic is wielded. To summon you we had to perform a complex set of movements to perform that ritual.” She answered.

She turned around and kept walking, everyone else followed.

Botan couldn’t help but ask more questions. “So I need to dance to cast a fireball?”

“No. If I am appointed your dancing instructor I will give a more thorough answer. In short, casting magic requires physical movement. Most people stick to a few spells that have movement requirements they can meet while in a fight. Dancers like ourselves do not usually fight. We perform large or complicated spells through many movements. It requires an amount of time that you’ll never have on the battlefield.” She answered.

“So ‘Dancers’ are like a purely magic profession. Kind of like mages in RPGs. I kind of agree with everyone else. I’d rather do a cool hand motion and blast a monster than shoot a music video just to teleport.” Botan concluded.

They entered the city proper, heading directly to the castle. The castle was a little ugly if Botan was being honest. It wasn’t symmetrical at all. It was built mostly on one side. There was an enormous tree that seemed to be the reason for this. It seemed like they built the castle to hold the tree up, as it wasn’t growing straight. The size of the tree was otherworldly. The collective shade granted by that tree alone was comparable to a large cloud. In that, the castle’s design was at least commendable for being the tree’s support.

Botan tried to get a good look at the people and stores around the city, but the dancers surrounding him and urging him to hurry made it difficult.

Most people looked… worried. Emotions were mixed from person to person, but the most prevalent emotion was definitely worry. “I didn’t ask to come here, but… It’d be nice if I can help these people before I go home.” Botan thought.

“Huh?” Botan audibly queued his interest.

There was someone who wasn’t worried at all. He saw a girl, short black hair and deep blue eyes. She was selling flowers of all things. She seemed to be somewhat upbeat.

Botan was back to being in his own little world. “Wait. I actually have a shot with beautiful girls like that here. I’m a hero after all. And she sells flowers… oh man, my luck has finally-!”

“We are here, Sir Nakaya.” Tia motioned to the large front gate to the castle. “We should seek out the king at once.”

Botan drug himself from his fanciful thoughts. “I need to stop getting distracted. This shit literally killed me an hour ago.” Botan reprimanded himself.

The guards went to greet the dancers, but saw Botan. “Can’t believe that ritual took two hours, you guys-...” After seeing the metal flower in his hand, they stopped talking.

“Opening the gates!” He shouted.

Botan was easily distracted, but he wasn’t an air head. What little he was told, the way the dancers gathered around him as they traveled, the guard’s expression. Something was going on and as an otherworlder, he was out of the loop.

They traveled down several hallways and through what looked like the throne room. The inside wasn’t as dark or dreary as he assumed it would be. The inside was lite by what appeared to be braziers hung above them. Though he saw and smelled no smoke. Running water accompanied most halls as well with a large fountain feeding them from behind the throne. The fountain could best be described as an artificial waterfall, though it was quite a bit of water coming down. Nothing like the ones you’d see decorating a lobby of a major business back home.

Finally, they arrived in front of a door with four guards and two important looking people standing just outside. They glanced in Tia’s direction.

“Done then? Good. At least this was one thing we could do without burdening the king further.” One of the important people said aloud.

The man was a bit round and nearly bald, but seemed like a friendly person. The stereotypical non-threatening retired old man. 

“If only it were so…” Tia replied. She took a step to the side to reveal Botan.

The 6 men gasped. The other important man walked forward a bit, wanting a better look.

“Mother? Is that…?” The other important person asked.

“It seems we are but fools without the king’s word… Baobab and I should have-... Apologies, Evergreen… The king is just beyond here… Come.” He said. This man was much younger than the other man. A full head of brown hair and sharp yellow eyes. Botan likened the vibe he gave off to that of those that efficiently climbed the corporate ladder. He also called Tia his mother. It made sense, they shared their orange eyes.

He mentioned the friendly looking old man’s name was ‘Baobab’. Botan would remember that.

The guards moved aside and Botan was led into the room by Tia, Baobab, and Alder. What awaited Botan was not what he imagined when he thought of meeting a king of a fantasy kingdom. Before him was a giant of a man, but he was laying in his bed, so how tall he was really was hard to tell. He had multiple people attending to him, they looked like healers. There was also a slightly foul smell in the air. The room was dim and people spoke softly.

From what he saw, the king was dying, soon. It reminded Botan of his grandparents. They lost every ounce of stamina at the end, laying in bed at the hospital for weeks at a time. “This is the person who is supposed to help me?” Botan questioned doubtfully.

“Who… Who is it?” The king asked. His voice was raspy, but still quite deep.

“Advisor Baobab, advisor Alder, and dancer Tia… Someone else is with them.” The woman at her side called.

He could open his eyes, but his vision seemed shot if he couldn’t see the three people standing right in front of him. He squinted a bit, then nodded. “What news? I assume if you’ve come, then another issue arrives with you?” He asked.

The three looked at each other a moment, before the young advisor (now known as Alder) stepped forward. “We’ve kept this from you, King Erich… The Dragon hourglasses have begun counting down.” He responded.

“So those waves of destruction from the legends are to strike us soon… We must call an emergency international conference. Even if it’s just with the Greater Kingdom of Ventus, the Eld Empire, and the Arden Republic.” The king advised.

“That has already taken place, your majesty.” Tia responded.

“Then we are at a cease fire?” The king asked, hope clear in his tone.

“For now, the Eld Empire didn’t want to stop its aggression, but with both of the other two great nations in agreement, they were also forced to comply…” Baobab answered.

The king went for the next logical step. “Then I assume it is now just a race to see who can summon the flower hero? We will say we tried, but we should refrain from actually attempting the summoning, elsewise we-”

“We are very sorry, my king… That council would have served us well, but…” Alder cut the king off and motioned Botan forward.

Botan felt called out and approached with a bit of nervousness. There was complete silence for a moment.

“Hmm? Who is this?” The king failed to make out Botan’s details.

Botan saw the three motion for Botan to introduce himself. He felt like he was taking blame for their fuck up.

“Uh, My name is Botan Nakaya. I’m 19 years old… and I’m the flower hero it seems.” He said.

He held the weapon forward for all to get a look at it. The whole room was filled with stifled gasps. The king looked harder at Botan, then the weapon, before meeting Bota’s eyes.

“This… is terrible news… Hero, you must have hundreds of questions to be brought to a foreign world with our own troubles unknown to you…” The king tried to stay calm, but he began to cough louder and louder.

The healers went to intervene, but the king waved them off. “Leave me. We know one and all, that I'll never leave this bed again. Speaking to the Evergreen is vitally important… My last act as king. Everyone else, leave this room until this talk is finished.” He spoke in a serious tone.

Everyone paused for a moment to register his word, before bowing to the king and leaving. When the last person left, the door shut quietly. There was a pause.

“You have questions?” The king tried to get Botan to lead the conversation.

“Too many to know where to start.” Botan answered honestly, but the king didn’t respond, so he continued. “My world was very different to this one. Mine had no magic or monsters. I’m… familiar with the concepts, but I don’t know where to begin.” He added.

“I see. The old books spoke of the heroes coming from a land where technology far greater than ours reigned. Hmm, let us start from the beginning then. Check your status screen.” The king said.

“...My what?” Botan blinked in confusion.

“Hah, as the books said. There should be a symbol at the corner of your vision, bid it to open.” The king advised.

“ Huh? Oh… There’s an icon here, like from one of those SAO rip-off games. Why didn’t I notice it before? …Oh, it’s right on the edge of my vision and stays there no matter where I look.” Botan thought.

He opened up the status menu as instructed.

Name: Botan Nakaya

Class: Flower Hero LV 1

Equipment: Small Flower (Legendary Weapon)

Other-World Clothes

Skills: None

Magic: None

“...I see.” Botan verbalized that he was successful.

“If I may ask, what are your stats?” The king asked.

Botan listed them off one by one. “-and that’s all of them… Oh, and I’m level 1.” Botan added.

The king shifted slightly. “Those are the best I’ve heard for a level 1, but… it’s not incredible. Legends say that the weapons belonging to heroes have systems of power unique to them. Among them, there is one somewhat known to us because the [Killer’s Saw] and the [Sage’s Sabre] also possess this power. The ability to absorb materials to unlock new power. I wish I knew the specifics, but such things are known to only the users of those weapons.” The king said.

“Hmm.” Botan was listening to the king, but also was going through his menus. He had always loved games, foremost for their designs. That said, he was also into optimization and meta builds in a few as well. He saw what each stat was supposed to represent, though, lacking an understanding of how that would  translate into reality yet.

He came across the best menu option at a time like this. The “help” menu. In it, he found what he was looking for.

“This flower thing is giving me information. It says I need to absorb materials to unlock other weapons forms… and I can also copy ’that which shares its form’... whatever that means. They apparently give me bonuses and skills that I can unlock permanently.” Botan told him.

Botan saw that the default form, [Small Flower] was already mastered, giving him 2 magic attack

“I see. Then the immediate future is clear. You must gather levels and do what you can to strengthen yourself before the wave hits.” The king advised.

“What are these ‘waves’?” Botan asked.

The king shifted slightly in his bed, never seeming to find a comfortable position. “They are the very reason you were summoned.” He took a small sip from a nearby cup and continued. “Our world has a set of powerful artifacts called ‘dragon hourglasses’. They are said to count down to the next wave.”

“And where would I find those?” Botan was helpless without assistance.

“We have one in our Whirlpool Temple. It’s located in this very town. You should visit it. Other major cities in larger nations also have them… You could visit those later.” The king sounded like he was encouraging a visit to Mosden’s hourglass, while discouraging visits elsewhere.

He continued again after another shifting of his body in discomfort. “As for the waves, I can once again only give you the well-worn words of old tomes. The waves are said to be akin to natural disasters that call forth otherworldly monsters that are not known to us. Among them will always be a monster of outstanding strength in comparison. The books speak of killing those monsters as being the key to halting that wave.” The king explained, shifting uncomfortably in his bed.

“You said ‘that wave’?” Botan caught that.

“Indeed. It will get worse, as time goes on. We know that they end, but I am unaware how many waves occur. The books on the subject contain much contradictory information.” The king explained what he could.

“Hmm. Then I at least know what I’ll be doing for the time being. Is there anything else?” Botan was putting together a game plan.

“There is…One more thing. I-No… I am becoming confused. I must rest.” The king stopped himself and laid down.

“Then I have one last question myself. Is there a way home for me?” Botan asked.

“Again, I have nothing solid to offer, but… No matter how many times someone attempts to summon a hero, the weapon has never accepted a petition unless there was a major threat. So, if that major threat is no longer around…” The king began.

“Then at the very least, if I can go back, it’d have to be after I deal with these waves. Got it.” Botan wished for a better answer, but his recent life lesson meant he was going to live the life he had and not the one he was hoping for later.

Botan went to leave, but realized that the man he was speaking to would die soon. Probably before the two could speak again. 

“Thank you for the advice… I’ll do what I can to help your people as repayment.” Botan offered.

“Hehe, such kind words.” The king said automatically.

“I’m serious. I was dying when I was summoned. So, in a way, this country saved my life… So I’ll make sure to repay that.” Botan told him more sternly.

The king smiled strongly at that. “The Evergreen himself said he will repay a life debt to Mosden? Then for all the trouble that is to follow, maybe things are better here than they otherwise would be… Take this, and goodbye, Flower Hero.” The king had a look of genuine relief as he handed Botan a slip of paper.

Botan left the king, opening and closing the door as quietly as he could. He turned around to see everyone waiting in the halls, wanting to ask him what they could. Botan looked at the piece of paper he was handed. “I… can’t read that… shit. Wait. How am I understanding everyone? …Must be the flower.” Botan thought.

“What did his majesty have to say?” Tia asked.

“He helped me understand the basics of what I have to do and gave me this… I can’t read this language.” Botan answered, showing the slip of paper.

Alder took the slip and read it. “The king has granted you funds. You’ll need armor and companions, so that makes sense.”

Baobab stepped in. “Are you suggesting hired mercenaries? Surely Mosden is not so poor at this hour that we can’t give him anyone ourselves?” 

“Agreed, but our delegates are not yet back from the conference. Our best free hands are with them.” Alder reminded them.

“Are the monsters around here really that bad?” Botan asked nervously.

“Mosden has a wealth of powerful and exotic monsters, especially to the far north of the nine peaks. Around here and the nearby towns, though, are not much to worry about.” Tia answered.

“Hmm, then I’ll get some gear and hit the fields today, don’t wait up.” Botan told them with a wave.

“Sir Nakaya!? Why the sudden rash decision?” Tia asked flustered, as everyone in the hall was.

“...” Botan made a more serious face, the most serious face he’d worn since coming here. “I was dying when you summoned me here, but even more, I realized that I was living my life wrong up to that point. Always worrying about tomorrow, without ever thinking about today. Always caught up in my own little head that I couldn’t exist in the here and now… Your king, Erich, looked really worried… His country saved me, so I want to save his country. It’s as simple as that.” Botan said with a smile.

The hallway became quiet for a moment.

“I see. Then let me quickly withdraw your funds from the treasury.” Baobab said, already walking away to do so.

“I will explain the pricing of this world, so you are not ripped off.” Alder offered, pulling out a paper to help explain.

“My dancers and I will be waiting to either accompany you if you desire or to teach you about magic when you are ready.” Tia also offered, bowing and taking her leave.

They all came to understand at least a little as to why Botan was the one chosen by the holy flower weapon.

.

[Otherworld Index]

For our first entry into this growing index of knowledge for this new world we will be looking at the principal artifact of the story, the Holy Flower Weapon. Technically speaking, the most accurate name would be the Holy Blooming Weapon.

It can take on the physical form of any flowering plant, not just flowers. It is still a solid weapon made of metal though. It has quite a range of things it can become, as you will all come to understand. However, copying forms is much harder for this weapon. It can not copy a shield with a large floral pattern, for example. But, it can copy a shield whose entire shape is made to mimic a flower. Annoying red tape, but that’s hero weapons for you.

While the Holy Flower weapon can be quite mighty as a physical weapon, it has a wider array of skills that make up the bulk of its power. Supportive, disruptive, defensive, and other means of providing utility are this weapon’s main strengths.

Just like any other holy weapon, the holy flower has 4 powerup methods, and can utilize the power up methods of the two other vassal weapons of this world… If only Botan checked his help menu more thoroughly.

 The forms and functions of the Holy Flower Weapon will be revealed to us all as we follow Botan’s journey.

Chapter Text

Baobab retrieved Botan’s fund, a total of 500 silver coins. Botan examined them as Alder explained the currency of this world.

“The denominations are thus; Copper is the lowest currency we use. It takes 100 copper to match the value of 1 silver. It takes 100 silver to match the value of 1 gold. One copper piece could buy something like half a loaf of bread or two ounces of common spices.” Alder explained.

“How much does the average person spend a day?” Botan wanted to understand the baseline.

“Between 10 to 15 copper for the common citizen in Mosden. Larger countries have higher standards and can spend 20-30 copper daily, even as commoners.” Alder answered.

“So, if I spend as is common, a week's worth of basic living expenses would cost me about one silver. What about adventuring supplies?” Botan figured those prices were less forgiving.

“Those are much more expensive. Armor usually costs between 20-25 silver for it to be fit for a level 1.” Alder said.

“How does that escalate with level? If I was level 10, it wouldn't cost 10 times as much, would it?” Botan was getting worried.

“Not so. Such armor may be around 32-35 silver. However, upgrading a good set of armor will usually be cheaper than buying a new set of armor. Hmm, the example I’d use is upgrading to a set of armor that costs 100 silver new versus upgrading a set of armor worth 50 silver to be just as good. In the case of upgrading, it’d be about 75 silver.” Alder told him.

Botan put a hand to his chin. “That makes sense. Buying it outright is cheaper, but if I already possessed good armor, it’d ultimately be cheaper to improve it. Hmm. So should I pick a good set of armor from the beginning? Would that be the best idea?” Botan wanted to live in the moment, but still liked thinking ahead.

“Not so. Armor worth keeping and upgrading are usually made of great and rare materials. You can’t afford such things right now, and even if you could, the armor would be too high of a level for you now.” Alder dashed his idea.

“So I should buy something practical now, then collect rare materials to make a great set later, then upgrade that as needed.” Botan wanted confirmation.

“Quite so. Things other than weapons and armor should have listed prices in the shops. It’s only with custom service like with armor that you’d see someone try to get more out of you than reasonable. Mosden is not a greedy place. So you otherwise should be fine.” Alder advised.

“I’m sure the king wishes he could grant you ten times as much funds, but Mosden is on the poorer side…” Baobab apologized.

“No, no. This is plenty. I mean, I can buy starting equipment and still have over half of it left. This is more than enough.” Botan was thankful.

Botan began to leave. “I’ll see all the shops after I visit the dragon hourglass. I’ll come find one of you two if I need anything.” Botan told them.

After he left, the two turned to one another. “I hope he’s worth all this. Even if he is excellent, we’ll need luck to survive what the other nations will do when they learn that their weak ally has the Evergreen.” Alder worried.

“When the delegation returns, we’ll need to begin the arguments of succession again…” Baobab brought an even worse subject up

“Our work is never done.” Alder said with a sigh.

…

Botan’s first day as a hero

…

Botan exited the castle and wanted to go directly to that ‘Whirlpool Temple' he was told about, but-

“Oh, she’s still there!” Botan saw a pretty girl and wanted to try his luck in this new world. He walked up to the flower girl’s stand with a smile. “Hello there, my name is Botan Nakaya.”

“...That’s a very strange name. Are you from Eld?” She asked, her eyes narrowed slightly.

“No, I’m from much further away than that. I’m the flower hero, I was just summoned earlier today.” He answered.

“...Uh huh… Listen, you need to try a better lie than that, buddy. You ain’t getting any free flowers.” She said with her arms crossed.

“She thinks I want some flowers more than a date? What the hell makes these flowers so special?” He thought internally.

“Um, I am the flower hero, see?” He showed her his ‘weapon’.

She looked at it for a moment. “Hmm, you put a lot of effort into a flower-shaped wand, huh? Guess it’s not the worst lie I heard. Anyways, buy something or leave. I’m not interested.” She responded.

“Okay, if the weapon doesn’t prove I’m a hero then I guess I should keep that to myself… noted.” He sighed heavily. “It seems I’ve wasted both of our time. I’ll be seeing you.” Botan waved.

As he left, she seemed confused. A guard from the castle gate came over. “Miss, please tell me you didn’t refuse him service.” He asked.

“Huh? No. He was just wasting both of our time. He even admitted as much.” She said, mad that people would assume that of her.

The guard looked relieved. “That’s good to hear… I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but that kid is the Evergreen himself. The dancers brought him into the castle to speak to King Erich himself just a bit ago. Keep that to yourself.” He told her.

“...What!? I turned down the fucking Evergreen!?” She yelled while mentally kicking herself.

Botan continued on a bit discouraged, but not without some remaining motivation. He was given a small boat to travel round easier via the waterways. He was told that normally it came with a fee, but they’d lend him a boat whenever he liked. His boat also possessed a red ornament at the head of it. This let people know he had direct ties to the castle. He passed by a number of shops he’d need to visit to reach the hourglass as requested. He found the supposed ‘whirlpool temple’ and found it quite out of place. 

The building was made of the same smooth stone as every other building, but it looked similar to a Mayan pyramid. With all those block-like layers, not one of the roofs had any of the rooftop gardens that every other building had. The building seemed to only touch the land enough to give people an entrance on foot, it otherwise sat in the large lake adjacent to the town.

He entered the large building and quickly came to understand the name. The pyramid could most accurately be described as hollow. The external walls were nearly the only walls it had, the inside was very open with a series of stairs leading upward and downward. Downward was a whirlpool as wide as the inside of the building. There was no ground floor, instead, there was water that’d have matched the same elevation as what was outside, if not for it swirling violently. Above were some people and a huge golden hourglass. 

After a moment of marveling, Botan walked up the stairs. The sound of the whirlpool below echoed a bit more. People could talk just 5 feet away from Botan and he couldn’t hear a thing. 

As he approached the hourglass, Tia greeted him. “Coming here right away? I like that.” 

“Oh, were you waiting for me here?” Botan asked.

“No, this is where we dancers normally work. We help maintain the whirlpool that supports the capital.” She answered.

“...You know I want an explanation for that. You tease too much.” Botan’s curiosity was being weaponized against him.

“Remember the waterfall at the throne room, and how all the water around the town was running water, not still?” Botan nodded his head to her question. “We don’t have a river here. We use the whirlpool to send lake water through large man-made tunnels to the castle and a few other places, then it drains back into the lake.” She informed him.

That did sound pretty impressive to Botan. He assumed they had better plumbing than other places with their level of technology should. A marvel of magic doing the job science had in his own world.

Tia saw his reaction and continued. “Right? The whirlpool would gradually slow to a stop in a week’s time, but by using our combined effort, we dancers can speed the whirlpool back up. Doing so keeps the whole town moving.” She sounded proud of her job.

“That's actually pretty cool. So you can move water with magic, huh? Once I get a bit more used to my role, I will definitely come to you for magic advice.” Botan told her.

“I’d be honored. Well, I don’t mean to keep you. We have to work longer today because the ritual summoning you cut into our normal maintenance time… Seriously though, ask if anything happens.” She offered.

“You act like you know something is gonna happen?” He accused.

“Oh, it’s just that you aren’t from this world. I can only imagine how confusing our world is when you come from one without magic. When you get struck, come on back.” She offered again.

Botan noticed she said ‘When you get struck’, not ‘ if you get struck’. He nodded and walked up to the hourglass. He nearly reached it when a beam of light shot out of the hourglass and struck his flower. “What the-?”

19:05:34:44

19:05:34:43

“Nineteen days? …Yeah.” Botan confirmed the info and saw a message that simply said ‘registration complete’. Everyone else that could see the light hit Botan’s weapon began speaking frantically to one another. “Maybe by tomorrow people won’t call me a liar when I tell them I’m the flower hero.”

He saw the concern and reaction of the others in the temple to the beam registering him to the waves. He decided to leave quickly, a little concerned with the 19 day timer he had counting down. Many people in the temple wanted to approach him, but between the busy look he had and the dancers telling them to leave him alone for now, he left without interruption.

“Onward to an armor shop. I saw two of them. Might visit that other weapon’s shop too.” Botan thought as he got back in his small boat.

Botan backtracked to an armor shop he’d seen. He saw that it only sold armor and not weapons, but it was best to check all options first. He tied the front of the boat to a post and climbed the stairs to enter the shop. He wasn’t expecting much. The shop was much smaller than the other shop and that one had smoke billowing out of it from them hard at work. By contrast, this one had no smoke at all.

He opened the door and didn’t hear a bell. He could see why. An old woman sat at the front, fiddling with something behind the counter. She only peeked at Botan for a moment before looking back down, seemingly out of disinterest. However, she did a double take and leapt over the counter gracefully, getting into Botan’s face. She was very spry for her age.

“I was disappointed when I saw ya, but ye got sum pretty eyes, dear. I can work with that. Ye here about a uniform?” She spoke.

“Um…” Botan felt she was weird. “I’m looking for armor. I saw that icon on your sign. I can’t read the language here, so I thought you sold armor.”

“Bahh!” She literally barked at him. “You want ‘armor’. That ugly metal hide’n yer body away, hide’n dem eyes. A waste. Ye buy clothes from me.” She bossed him around.

“But I’m level one and have never been in a fight before. I’m gonna get hit a lot, right?”

“An amateur? Bahh! A waste of me time! Out wit ye!” The lady chased Botan out of the shop with a stick.

He ran out of the shop after her first whack felt about half as hard as the truck running him over. “Waah!”

“Come back when ye ain’t a waste of me time!” She yelled as she shut the door behind her.

“Who the fuck would buy from you if you’re going to attack them!?” Botan yelled back.

He heard the door click and open again. He turned and ran to the boat. He was running for his life. “I’m a hero in an isekai! I’m supposed to be cool! Getting beat up by grannies!? For fuck’s sake!”

Botan took the boat to the big shop now. The one that looked busy and sold both weapons and armor. He tied his boat to a post as he did before and climbed the steps. The doors were wide open with some heat escaping it. As soon as Botan was within the sight of the younger man at the counter, he was greeted eagerly.

“Welcome to Willow's Whetstone. I’m Walnut. What can I do for you…” Walnut trailed off as he saw the front of the boat Botan exited, showing him as someone important.

Walnut had green eyes and dark messy hair. He also had a slightly darker complexion than others around town did.

“Heya, Walnut.” Botan would call the kid by his name if he was offering it. “I’m new in town and need some armor fit for a starting adventurer.”

“Starting? What level? 5? 10?” The kid was confused as to why someone from the castle needed beginning equipment but did his part managing the front.

“Eh… Level 1. Starting-starting…” Botan felt embarrassed. He was new to this world, but for everyone else, being level 1 at his age was probably a sign of cowardice or laziness. 

“Oh… What type of weapon would you prefer? If you have no experience, I can make a recommendation.” Walnut responded.

“Hmm. This holy flower is supposedly the best of the best, but it looks more like a wand. I should get something more practical, at least in the short term.” Botan thought. He also noticed that despite Walnut appearing to be no older than 14, he was doing well with running the store front. “Likely this Willow guy’s kid.” He concluded.

“Let me see…” Botan grabbed a short sword that was on display. He didn’t want a weapon that’d take both hands. He held it a moment, then attempted to swing it.

Zap! “Fu-dang it.” Botan dropped the knife and tried not to curse in front of the kid. 

“Are you okay?” Walnut asked.

[Attention Warning]

[Legendary Heroes cannot equip any weapon other than their legendary weapon]

“...Welp, looks like I can’t have any weapon but this.” Botan answered while showing off the holy flower.

Walnut’s face lit up and he ran to the back of the store. “Dad! Brother! It’s the Evergreen! The Evergreen is here! In the shop!” He shouted.

While Botan heard several people walking towards the front, he readied himself for more disbelief. A large, burly man stepped out from the back room, covered in sweat. Botan had to admit that the man looked intimidating. He had amber eyes, but the same messy black hair as Walnut, though, he was several shades darker than his son.

“What nonsense is this about you being the flower hero, boy?” The man asked, though, it sounded more like an accusation.

Botan simply held up the weapon to the man. “Listen, I get it’s hard to believe, but I am. I registered to the hourglass less than an hour ago. Alder, Baobab, Erich, and Tia can back that up.” He told him.

The man approached Botan and looked at the weapon for a moment. He ran his hand down it a bit. Botan felt something weird happen, then the man turned his gaze outside to the boat, seeing the official castle symbol.

“I can see rather deeply into a weapon, and yet, it’s like staring at an ocean with this one. What is your name?” The man commented, then asked.

“Botan Nakaya.” Botan answered immediately.

“How much of a discount were you looking for?” He asked, eyeing Botan.

“To be honest, while a discount is welcome, I should have the money for some starting equipment.” He answered with some assurance.

The man’s focus shifted to the shortsword on the ground. He picked it up and placed it back on the rack. “Was this not to your liking?” He gestured to the shortsword.

“Not to this thing’s liking. It zapped me. Apparently, I’m not allowed to use any other weapon. So I guess it’s just armor for me.” He answered again.

“Hmm…” The man placed a hand on his chin, thinking.

Botan tried to get ahead of the upcoming argument. “You don’t have to believe me, I can just buy armor and-”

“Oh, I believe you.” The man corrected Botan’s misconception.

“Huh? Why?” That threw Botan off.

“Hehe, just as they say. Those who become heroes can speak any language. Just now, each time I spoke, I asked you things in different languages.” He revealed.

“Huh? That does explain how I can understand everyone.” “But can it translate phrases and such? Or just the literal word? What about sentence structure or linguistic properties that don’t have a way to translate?” Botan was being distracted again.

“Well, my name is Willow. This is my shop. I can’t really lower my prices. Got a lot of mouths to feed. I also don’t upcharge for no good reason either. Hmm, we just finished three this morning. Oi, Weld, bring up one of the new shirts.” He called to the back.

Soon another kid emerged from the back. He looked only a year or two younger than Botan, and also had his father’s messy black hair. Unlike his brother, he had the same amber eyes as his father. He walked out of the back holding three sets of chainmail. Willow took one from him and motioned for him to place the other two on display.

“Hmm, this one will be a similar fit. Try this on and tell me if you like it.” Willow handed Botan the chainmail and pointed to a changing room.

Botan changed and exited as fast as he could. “Seems like a good fit.” He told him.

Willow took a look. The chainmail was not metal from top to bottom. It was leather at the joints and other critical points of movement. That took from the protectiveness, but Botan welcomed the fact that it wasn’t too difficult to move in it. 

“Hmm. Walnut, help him select some boots and gloves. Weld, remove this much here and here.” He told his sons, motioning for Botan to change back.

Within 30 minutes he was wearing form fitted chainmail with good quality gloves and boots. He decided against getting a helmet yet, partially due to not wanting to hide his face in a world that didn’t know him yet.

“This seems to be everything then, what will be the total?” Botan asked.

“In the future, you should negotiate price before doing all this back and forth boy… I’d say 24 silver and 30 copper would do it.” Willow gave some advice along with his price.

“Ah, you’re not wrong. Sorry if I seem a bit scatterbrained. I died yesterday and was summoned today, so life’s just been a wild ride.” Botan said with a laugh, pulling the coin from his pouch.

“Died, huh? You’ve been pretty honest so far, so I guess I believe you… Once you start dealing with things around level 10, come on back. I’ll see about the armor, and might even have a helpful favor to ask.” Willow offered while accepting the coin.

“Side quest unlocked?” Botan jokingly told himself.

“Will do. One last thing, is there a place with health potions around here? Or is that not a concept in this world?” Botan asked.

“I heard the dark genius of Ventus made something he called a health potion, but they’re expensive and rare. You’d do better with healing salves. There’s an apothecary’s shop as soon as you leave the capital heading north.” Willow told him.

“Thanks Will, I’ll be off then.” He waved goodbye to the three of them, completely not hearing Willow telling him not to call him ‘Will’.

Botan bought food, a large bag, basic traveling supplies and then visited the apothecary as he was told and bought some salves. It was the type of store where you selected the items and presented them to the owner for purchase.. He had to explain to the woman twice that he can’t select the items himself, because he couldn’t read.

As Botan finally walked out of town to begin his life as a cool RPG character fighting monsters, he was thinking he might want to at least learn a tiny bit of the language here. It’d make his life easier.

…

Hero versus monsters

…

Botan walked out of town, but became less confident when he realized that monsters aren’t just hopping around just outside of town like a video game. Luckily, Mosden was covered in greenery, being 50% forest and 30% rain forest. He simply entered the forest and began walking around. He thought something was weird because the gem on his weapon kept flashing as he walked. It wouldn’t take him long to find something there. He saw well-worn grooves in the dirt forming a series of straight lines going every which direction. It looked both natural and unnatural at the same time.

As Botan took a knee to examine the small trails, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He leaned back just in time to dodge something shooting out at him fast. However, by the time he’d stood, the fast moving object bounced off a tree and ricocheted back at him. It hit him in the dead center of his chest, knocking him on his ass and knocking the wind out of him. He was now laid out on his back, eyes shut, breathing heavily. Botan heard a concerning noise and opened his eyes.

“Whaaa!?” Botan saw something coming down on his head and rolled out of the way. The thing that attacked him landed where his head was. Botan stared in confusion.

“What the fu-?”

[Bumping Top]

What had attacked him had been a spinning top, about a foot tall, made of wood. It had yellow eyes that showed some kind of body hidden beneath. The whole thing looked ridiculous.

“It’s a damned top!?” Botan barked in confusion.

The monster shot at him again and Botan did the only thing he could. He took his small weapon in both hands and swung it like a baseball bat. It hit the top with a loud crack, knocking it back. Small chips fell all over, shoving the top was already heavily damaged. But Botan put all of his strength into that and that small creature wasn’t dead yet? It was a foot tall!?

The creature landed on the ground and seemed to be spinning more slowly, beginning to wobble. Botan backed up a bit, wanting the creature to have to move more to reach him, so he could judge when to swing better. The Bumping Top shot at him at first, but moved to the sides and began ricocheting off of trees much faster than it would normally move. This meant Botan was just a little too slow in his swing. He still hit, but had he landed it better, the top would have been dead and he’d have not just taken more damage.

“That doesn’t make sense. Hitting other things should slow you down, not speed you up!” The movements made no sense to Botan. It felt like a completely unreal situation.

“Casting magic requires physical movement.” Botan remembered.

“So this thing is using magic? That’d explain it, but… I feel like there’s an entire additional dimension to all this that I don’t get.” Botan assumed.

The top came back once more to hit Botan and he answered it with a swift hit… that missed. “What!?” The top switched directions at the last moment and feinted Botan, bouncing off another tree to come back again. Botan did what he could to stop it. He followed his swing through and spun his entire body around to hit it again. When he made contact, sparks flew out, and a low humming was heard. A moment later, Botan and the top were thrown back, with the top shattering.

[EXP Gained: 2]

“What was that!? I… is it because of the way I moved? Spinning a full rotation like that was a spell wasn’t it? Or close enough to one, I guess…” Botan more or less discovered what that was just now.

He stood up and brushed himself off. After a moment, he turned to the defeated enemy. He walked over and found four things of note. Two yellow glass marbles that must have been the creature’s eyes, and two small spikes that were at the top and bottom. Botan looked at his menu to see what he could do with these drop items, only to find a menu that would give him drop items.

“So I can double dip?” Botan asked aloud.

The gem on his weapon began to shine again. He pulled it away from the monster and it faded, then brought it close again and it shined again. “Don’t tell me.”

He fed the wooden pieces to the flower, as well as one of the glass marbles and one of the top spikes.

.

[Red Spinning Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed +2, Skill: “Spin”

.

[Sight-Seeing Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 2, Acute Sight (small)

.

[Thorned Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Attack + 2

Equip Effect: Pierce Exploit (small)

.

“Whoa! Three forms, and they all do different things… Hmm…” Botan looked over what he had. He found out that anything labeled as an “Equip Effect” was something he’d “unlock” by using that form long enough, gaining those bonuses and skills permanently. However, “Special Equip Effects” did not work this way. Instead those bonuses and skills could only be used while using that specific weapon form.

“Then for now, I wanna unlock this.” Botan tried to switch weapon forms.

[Unable due to level requirement]

“...Battling more tops it is.” Botan wasn’t discouraged. He beat that enemy in three swings. He could do it in two if he paid attention.

Botan went further into the forest, where he found more of those top monsters, but also, he now understood the glowing of the gem on his weapon. It would glow when near something it could unlock something from absorbing. He absorbed grass, tree bark, roots, and some leaves.

[Grass Blade]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Attack + 5

.

[Bark Sola Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Defense + 3

.

[Flower Roots]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: MP + 2, Defense + 2

Equip Effect: Water Resistance (small)

.

[Leaf Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Defense + 3

Equip Effect: C Thrust (small)

.

He had a double take when he saw [Grass Blade] , but remembered that grass was technically a ‘flowering plant’. Still, there were so many forms and he couldn’t equip any of them, yet. Further in he found and beat six more [Bumping Tops]. Some of them gave 1 EXP, some gave 2 EXP. Botan assumed their levels were different. He could not absorb more of the materials, but kept the spikes and glass eyes, hoping they might be worth something back in town.

Just when he was becoming confident in his abilities against whatever the forest had in store for him, he saw another monster. It was similar to the other tops, but this one was blue in color… and had spikes. He accidentally dropped a glass eye in surprise, breaking it.

[Tackle Top]

[Level: 5]

“Yeah, no. I lost to a truck. That thing has literal spikes…” Botan decided to back down.

“Snap.” Botan stepped on a twig on the ground. The monster's eyes separated, rolling around and meeting together facing Botan.

“Why am I like this!?” Botan ran away with the Tackle Top right on his heels. He ran for a bit, but the chainmail wasn’t exactly made to sprint in. Eventually he stopped and turned around.

“It’s gonna hurt, but I got this, right? It’s level 5, but I’m a hero. A level 1 dragon has to be stronger than a level 5 ant, right?” Botan tried arguing.

The monster had caught up and leapt at Botan, just as the others did. And just like them, Botan swung his weapon in response. Sparks flew and he felt a lot more resistance, but he was right. He was still stronger than it. However, it also was faster at recovering due to being heavier. It didn’t fly as far, meaning it hit the ground sooner and came back for more. Botan had to put everything he had into the next seven hits, each one forming tiny cracks . After the eighth hit, it shattered and Botan fell back resting against the tree.

[EXP Gained: 9]

[You are now level 2]

“Nine EXP from him? Could be because of its level, could be because it's stronger than the other kind, could be because of the gap in level between us, could be all three.” Botan needed more information before he could actually figure out how EXP gain worked.

He sprinted in chainmail and swung with everything he had over and over. He was always athletic, but he felt this was going to get more strenuous than he’d ever had to deal with before. He caught his breath and went to stand. He looked up and saw 5 Bumping tops hanging in the trees. “So I guess they’re technically seeds? Weird.”

He absorbed the blue materials, but the rest was collected as before.

.

[Blue Spinning Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed +4

.

“Oh, that reminds me.” Botan concentrated and tried to change his weapon into the [Grass Blade].

[Unable due to level requirement]

“Seriously? …What about this?” Botan tried switching to the [Red Spinning Flower]. With a flash of light, his weapon changed forms. It was now a bit longer and resembled a pinwheel flower, if a pinwheel flower was a circular saw on a stick.

“Now this is a weapon!” Botan swung it a few times. The first thing he noticed was that while it didn’t weigh too much, the base form weighed practically nothing and he had failed to notice that. Second thing he noticed was that it swung better with two hands due to its balance. It was also 4’ long, when the base form was only 2’ long. He’d have a bit of range now. The last thing he wanted to test was the skill.

[Spin] ! He shouted the skill name. The blade spun as he held it. “That’s cool, but…” He looked at his stats. [Spin] drained his SP slowly. It was at a low rate, but he should still only use it when he is about to attack. “So SP is like MP, but for skills instead of magic…, okay.”

Botan ended up fighting more that day, calling it quits when his SP hit zero. With this weapon form and [Spin] he could one-shot the normal Bumping Tops.

Today had a lot of progress despite him only having 5 hours at most to grind. He fought his first monsters, gained his first level, got his first drops, looted his first bodies, gained and used his first new weapon form, and learned a skill. He had a long way to go, but at least for now, he felt he was making progress.

As the sun set, Botan made it back to Weldroe. He was killed by a sneak attack at night once. He wasn’t risking night time at level 2. Not to mention whatever other kinds of monster become active at night. But he had already mastered [Red Spinning Flower] in just a few hours.

He’d sell his catch, buy some food, and find lodging. He was being strict on his money, so things should work out.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be taking a look at [Bumping Tops], [Tackle Tops], and [Crashing Tops].

These creatures are technically plants and more specifically, seeds. When they fall from a tree, their shape catches the air in such a way that they begin to spin. From this moment, until the moment they stop spinning, they’re a living monster. 

While future events and maybe future Otherworld Index entries will explain motion magic in detail later, what is important to know about these top monsters is that they live through magic. They’d be basic oversized seeds if not for the motion making them more. Therefore, if one were to stop a top from spinning or moving for 10 seconds, it would die.

Oddly enough, if one is killed this way and then spins the body long enough, it revives. Though, more accurately, it lives anew. As it’ll be level 1 again.

As it spins, it slowly absorbs the material it grinds on the bottom. Meaning it starts out wood, but transitions to petrified wood, then to a type of metal if given enough time. All subsets of top monsters all start as [Bumping Tops], but over time and due to what materials it intakes, it becomes the other possible types.

At the end of its life or if it feels weary, it’ll drill itself underground, eventually coming to a stop and dying. The body is then after a seed again. It’ll grow into a tree, bearing new tops like acorns. When they fall from the tree, they’ll begin to spin, starting the lifecycle over again

Its eyes are made of glass and can roll around on a track, meaning they are not bound to one another and it can either have depth perception or see two directions at once by freely moving its eyes as it pleases. Collecting these is advised as destroying them lets you inspect a target or object. Making them a useful and ubiquitous consumable item.

Chapter Text

Botan made his way back to town before the sun set. He found the boat he was given near the edge of town and returned to using it, realizing he should return it to the castle before he retires for the night. “I’ll use it for selling then return it.” He decided.

As he returned to the market area, he noticed lights popping up around the city. As he paid attention, he noticed what people were doing to have these light sources. They were taking a certain kind of flower and snapping off its stem, which caused it to produce light for some reason. They then sat them in braziers or lanterns to illuminate the streets and shops.

“This place is so damned cool. Flowers as light sources? This place gives me hundreds of ideas. I need to dra-” Botan realized that he didn’t have paper or a writing utensil. He’d need to rectify that immediately. He saw a shop that looked like it sold books and paper and made his way inside after tying off his boat. 

He opened the door and saw exactly what he was looking for right away. He approached the counter and saw something he didn’t have hope of finding, pens. Sure, they didn’t look exactly like the ones he knew, but they were clearly pens. The place also had very good parchment for a world with lowered technology. Having different cuts of paper including scrolls. “Paper is made from trees and requires a water supply, so I guess Weldroe is the place for paper. Another way I’m kind of lucky…”

“Hmm, curious. I’ve never seen this one before… Who are you?” A voice from a chair asked. Botan turned to see a creepy looking man with orange hair and green eyes. He seemed to be in his 40s and covered his mouth with a paper he was reading… and he looked really creepy.

Botan flinched at the sight of the man. “Eh, um… I came to buy some things.” Botan managed.

“You entered my shop, I know why you’re here. My question is, who are you?” The man stayed sitting, and Botan was thankful for that.

“Oh, yeah… My name is Botan Nakaya. I’m the flower hero.” He answered. The man made him worried for some reason. The man just had an unpleasant vibe.

“Hmm, makes sense why I’ve never seen you before.” The man said before returning to what he was reading.

“Um, what? Is that the end of the conversation…?” Botan paused for a moment to confirm the man stopped speaking. He then awkwardly continued looking around for what he wanted. When he was done he sat everything on the counter and turned to the man. He wasn’t paying attention.

“Um, I’d like to buy these.” Botan said.

The man stopped reading the paper and walked over to the counter. He looked at the items a moment before speaking. “Loose paper, but also a leather strapped journal. Three pens, but all different. What are you planning on doing with this?” The man asked.

He now struck up a conversation when speaking before seemed strained.

“I’m an artist. The loose paper is to practice, the bound journal for finalized designs. I need different pens for different places.”

“Hmm, so you chose low-end parchment and a high-end journal on purpose… Well the total comes to be 3 silver and 12 copper. If that’s too much I suggest a cheaper journal.” The man explained.

“Nah. Quality paper matters. You put in more effort if you know the money you’re wasting by screwing up.” Botan answered, opening his bag to pull out his money.

“Ah, top spikes, are you selling those?” The man said, seeing them in his bag.

“I mean, I plan to. Why would you need them?” Botan asked.

“Let me see one and I’ll show you.” Was his answer. 

Botan obliged and gave him one. The man took a small bit of water and placed it atop the flat side of the spike and waited a moment. After which a water drop began forming at the bottom tip of the spike, then dropped down.

“Wait, so there’s a hole in them?” Botan understood.

The man was pleased that Botan understood. “Yes. Top spikes are useful because they have a small tubular hole in them too small for blacksmiths to cheaply replicate. Pens, needles and a few other items are instead made by using these spikes and just carving the rest away.”

Botan was interested, but had to ask. “Wooden needles?” 

The man seemed more animated now. “Ah, you don’t know? Those monsters use this tube to intake the grounded minerals from its spinning. Longer living tops are often made of metal or similar materials.”

“Really? I saw some in trees, how does one being made of metal affect the tree it’ll grow into?” Botan loved this kind of stuff.

The two spoke for nearly an hour. He decided to sell the spikes to the man at a rate of 2 copper per spike. Other places were offering only 1 copper per spike, but this shop directly used them and so would pay more. The man also saw the glass eyes and explained them to Botan too. That being that they allow the untalented to use a weaker form of appraisal by shattering them while looking at the target. This explained how Botan saw the monster’s level when he broke one of the glass eyes, but otherwise didn’t see level on anything else. This man seemed to have a lot of useful information as well as the useless tidbits that Botan could never get enough of. Such a well informed man might be useful to bring items to in the future. If only for these long conversations.

Eventually he left, but he sold all his spikes, 19 in total. Lowering his price by 38 copper. He could have sold those glass eyes here, the ones he now knew were called [Scrying Marbles]. However he didn’t for two reasons. Firstly, the man’s buying prices for them were lower as he freely admitted. Secondly, he wasn’t going to sell them now that Botan knew what they did. They seemed so fundamental and exactly the kind of item he’d hoard. 

When handing the man the money at the end of the long exchange, he remembered to ask him something basic. “I’ll be a regular customer from now on and will make sure to bring all the good stuff here first… What’s your name?”

“Ah, I seem to have done that again. The name is Professor Hector Hemlock. The ‘store’ is Lore & Ledgers. Though I only run it to continue providing me with a means to survive. No one with any real talent stays in Mosden without a reason.” Hector answered.

“Well, don’t move away anytime soon. This will be my favorite shop from now on.” Botan paid for his supplies and left. The man simply nodded along. Botan sold what he could, so now it was time for lodging. That and food. He had a bit of food from buying camping supplies, but he really needed a good meal.

He got to slow down for the first time since he came here and just tour the city from the boat at night. He saw where people went and what they did. That told him where the most popular place to eat was. He made his way there, but allowed himself time to sightsee a bit. The air was a bit cold and thick with fresh water. He thought about how beautiful this place was and how lucky he was that he was here now as a hero. He thought of the city, the castle, the forest he ventured into, then he thought of the place he was summoned.

He decided to visit that place again tomorrow and see what he could absorb. Speaking of which. Botan passed a man setting the glowing flower up in the braziers, he seemed to be a guard. When he did, his weapon’s gem glowed. “Hey there. Can I get one of those?” Botan asked in a friendly manner.

The man gave Botan only half a glance before handing him a flower free of charge and returning to his job. Botan was going to pay, but people around here seemed generous despite their apparent poverty. Botan went to absorb it, but something strange happened.

[Weapon copy system activated]

.

[Bright Bellflower Wand]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 6, Skill: “Illuminate”

.

Botan looked in amazement. “That which shares its form.” Botan realized. He noticed that he could absorb the flower as he did before. He decided to snap the stem to make it glow to see as he walked, but as soon as he did, the gen glowed again. “Now it wants it?” He muttered aloud. He fed both parts to the weapon.

.

[Floral Lantern]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: MP + 4 

Equip Effect: Radiance

.

[Flower Stem Pole]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed + 3 

.

“Huh.” Botan thought about his new weapon forms. One had an equip effect skill called [Illuminate] , while another had a special equip bonus called [Radiance]. Just from the fact that one was a bonus exclusive to the weapon and the other was a skill he could unlock told him they were more or less the same thing done differently. They would both produce light, but the skill cost SP, but he could use it whenever after unlocking. Meaning-

Botan switched to the [Floral Lantern].

As he thought, the weapon form produced a helpful amount of light passively. The stats on the weapon were kind of bad though. Still, it is perfect for traveling the city streets at night. And it was quite beautiful. He’d need to visit the flower shop tomorrow to exploit this. He’ll feel kind of bad, like he was exploiting the shop and those that worked there, but given the eventual tasks he had to succeed in… “I’ll do whatever I have to, then pay them back for it however I can when I can afford to do so.”

Soon Botan slipped into a tavern of some kind. Despite what image mostly springs to mind when thinking of the word ‘tavern’ the inside portion seemed to be purely a kitchen and storage area, the rest was outside the building, but still covered by the extended roof. Botan saw two dozen people here. Eating, talking, and having fun. 

That surprised him for two reasons.

He saw that most of them wore armor and carried weapons. Something most didn’t do. He pegged them as adventures. It made sense. Botan was already told Mosden had impressive enemies further north. Foreign adventurers would be assumed. Some seemed almost arabic, a pair had even darker skin, but bright hair in contrast. He had no frame of reference for them, except ‘foreigner’. Which he also fell into, now that he thought about it.

He waited a moment to see if a waiter seated you, but after standing there until another group arrived, he saw you just sit where you want. He took a seat close to the kitchen and stared at a menu posted on the side of the wall. He couldn’t read it, but saw the prices. The place was dirt cheap, which answered one of his reasons.

He ordered his food with a little difficulty, needing to just point to another man’s meal after a little trouble. It wasn’t high quality, but it hit the spot. “The food is pretty fatty, they probably cooked everything with animal fat… or whatever butter or oil substitute they have.” That thought made him remember that in this new world his world’s knowledge would only get him so far. Thinking ahead will be less useful than being quick to adapt and understand. That’d be just fine with the way he wished to conduct himself.

Just as he left his thoughts, he realized he’d already scarfed down his entire meal. He left the coin next to the plate and went to find lodging, but saw Tia of all people sitting alone and poking at a small bit of food. “Hey, Tia. I didn’t take you for the type to eat out.” He greeted.

She looked up and adopted a smile. “Ah, Sir Nakaya. How has your first day been?”

Botan felt her smile was forced. “Doing good. I’m almost level 3 and only nearly blew up once.” He joked.

“Blow up? There shouldn’t be [Dynamice] nearby.”

“Neat, another monster to watch out for. No, I was referring to me moving the wrong way and making a small explosion.” He commented.

“How?” Tia asked, now seeming more interested.

“I swung and missed, I continued the swing into a full circle. When I hit the enemy, it knocked us both back. It has me a little concerned. I’d hate to move the wrong way and launch myself into the sky. Hehe.” Botan said with a laugh.

“Well, movement alone rarely invokes magic. Intent is a factor, as well as trying to utilize your mana in that moment. You were intending to hit your target and did from the sounds of it. Utilizing mana on your first day, even if poorly… that’s quite talented. I didn’t expect the need to address magic for weeks… In the evenings, I’d be willing to help you a bit.” Tia offered.

“Oh? I’d hate to bother you so early on. I’m trying to adjust, but it’s all so strange. I’d probably be more of a bother than anything until I figure out a bit more out on my own.” Botan told her.

“That was my thought as well, but to have experienced a [Backfire] on your first day in this world. You must be among the most talented dancers in the world. It could be because you are the Evergreen. It could be that your immense talent is why you were chosen… And I find myself with more free time than usual.” She praised Botan before making herself sad.

He decided to just ask. “Is it because of the king?”

“Yes and no. I raised Alder all by myself, but he’s not left the castle in nearly a week. He won’t leave the king’s side until the end. So until that day, I am alone. Normally I cook for the both of us, but if it’s just me, I find it to be too much effort.” She revealed.

“An older woman like this, eating such unhealthy food while being forced to live alone…” “How about this? I’ll come to you in the evenings and pay you for a home cooked meal? I can’t exactly keep going on food like this if I’m going to get as physically fit as I need to be. Sound good?” Botan suggested.

He’d solve both of their issues at the time being.

She seemed to like that idea. “Heh, yes, that seems like it would be for the best… It’s too late today, though. I need to sleep myself.” She looked as tired as she claimed. The two gave their goodbyes and parted ways

Botan’s evenings would be filled with helping comfort the very person that brought him here, saving his life. It also meant he’d understand magic sooner. He’d schedule his day to minimize waste when possible.

Soon enough, Botan found an inn to stay at. It was rather unique as a building. The building was quite wide on the first floor, but the second through fourth floors were smaller because it was separated into what might best be described as two towers. There were cheap rooms in both, so the design seemed pointless to him. Then he noticed some scaffolding between the two. Maybe the design was incomplete and was to be one solid building, but they had to complete it in sections like this due to needing the business open as soon as possible.

He was again reminded of the worry of those around him that morning when he entered the city for the first time. He wondered how poor and worried the people truly were. He came to the conclusion that the people socializing and having fun at the tavern were still worried, but it’s not like you can go through life like that. They needed relief from their problems like everyone else.

He bought a night at the inn for 25 copper. He didn’t know if it was lower because they were poor, or higher for the same reason. As he laid in his bed he thought about his family and the world he came from. He worried about seeing them again, but ignored it because he couldn’t do anything about it. That’s when he realized why everyone was acting happy despite the worry. Just like him, they couldn’t do anything about that situation, so why waste all their time worrying about it? If he was to learn to live in the moment, this place seemed like a fine place to do so.

…

The following morning

…

Botan woke up not quite hungry yet, having eaten less than an hour before he slept. He checked his [Floral Lantern] . It now read <Abilities Unlocked> . Sure enough, when he switched weapon forms again, the MP increase stayed. He switched to the [Blue Spinning Flower], he’d use this since it was almost identical to the red version he already mastered.

“4 more MP might not seem like much, but I’ve played enough games to see what’s going on. If I master one weapon that ups each stat, it’d be greater than a level up. Erich also said my stats were high for my level. I mean, I beat a level 5 monster at level 1. So given that, I might be 10 levels higher in stats than actual level by the time that wave happens. If I can get to level 20 by then, I’d like to think I’ll be about to pull through. Better to overestimate the waves than underestimate them.” Botan analyzed his growth.

He left soon and realized that he was up kind of early. He hated that he didn't have his phone on him to tell the time, but he didn’t have it on him when he was summoned. He’d need to develop more of an internal clock.

He walked the streets knowing his destination. Despite how poor the place was, he couldn’t get enough of the view. The place felt so different between the night and day, they were both appealing in different ways. He’d return shortly. He retraced his steps and followed the same trail he first entered the city from. Up the gentle slope of the distant hill towards the small stone structure he was summoned in. After a bit, he crested the hill that gave him such a great view of the city. He sat on the stones that formed stairs and pulled out his paper and pen.

Using the cheap paper first, then recreating the successful steps into the journal he captured the idyllic nature of the summoning location into the first page of his pricey journal. The small pond, the stone structure, the way the whole place was given just the right amount of shade. The place was beautiful and felt more important to Botan for some reason. As soon as he was done, he spun around and captured the view of Mosden’s capital city, Weldroe, on the next page.

He decided he would later look for good spots to capture the city closer, before he moved on. He wanted to record his experiences and life in this world. If he couldn’t return to his world, then maybe there was a way to at least send the journal to his sister. That was the sentiment anyway.

Once he was done, he went to leave, but remembered he knew more about his weapon now. He walked over to the pond and grabbed one of the lotuses.

[Weapon copy system activated]

.

[White Lotus Shield]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Water Resistance (small) 

Equip Effect: Buoyancy

.

“A shield? Hmm, wow. The stats on the shield itself are pretty good. If I can learn to switch weapon forms fast enough, this would block really well for now. And it gives me resistance to an element? How much does ‘small’ mean? And if I-” Botan was pulled from his thoughts by something inside the water.

He leapt away from the water as a fish as large as a semi truck shot out of the water. It had a metal-like face plate and wet fur. It was a proper sea monster. Botan felt the kind of panic that deep sea scary movies gave. 

The monster clearly tried eating Botan just now. Botan immediately realized the reason the place looked so good was the lack of monsters and animals around it. Likely, anything that goes to the small pond to get a drink is eaten.

The fish slowed to a stop mid-air and turned towards Botan. “Oh fuck!” Botan used [Spin] and braced himself. The monster looked like it was about to swim at him in the air, but after his weapon started spinning, the beast just returned to the small pond with a huge splash. The amount of water displaced was easily twice as much water as Botan thought was in the pond.

He looked at the small pond a moment before realizing. “It’s not a pond… It’s the surface of some huge underwater tunnel…”

He left soaked and in a hurry to get far away from the spot. His heart was pounding, but he’d be lying if he didn’t say this world was just so damned cool, even when it was scary. He laughed at the whole situation for a moment. “This place is just so cool. And I’m a hero here…” This world was winning him over in some ways.

He stayed a bit longer trying to dry off, obviously staying further away from the pond. While there he saw the shine on his weapon and absorbed the cause, one of a weeping willow-like tree’s drooping branches.

.

[Weeping Whip]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Agility + 4

.

“A whip? That’s a tricky weapon to use. Best to unlock it at night and never actually use it. I plan on improving, but learning to use a whip when you’re as accident prone as me? No thank you.” Botan concluded.

He also touched a lilypad that splashed out of the pond from the earlier commotion.

.

[Lilypad Umbrella]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Lily-Step”

.

“Looks like something a friendly neighbor would use…” Botan joked to himself.

He returned to town as planned and went straight to the flower shop near the gate. The girl was not there yet. Instead, an older man was there manning the shop. Disappointing, but it’d keep him on task.

Botan greeted the man. “Hello, I was hoping you could help me with something.”

The man wore a seasoned smile and waved lightly. “An adventurer? What type of flowers would you like?”

Botan came to copy every flower, but… something he said made him think. “Full transparency, I am new to this world and all the strange aspects of it. What would an adventurer want with flowers?” Botan asked.

“Are you the Flower Hero my granddaughter was yelling about?” The man asked.

“Um, yeah… Did I do something to upset her?” Botan was now thinking he upset her the day before with the way he acted,

“No, no. Twas her own fault. Hmm. In our world flowers are a useful resource. Many different types of flowers have types of magic they can use if you know how to change them.” The man began to explain.

“Huh? ‘Change’? I thought magic was achieved via movement?” Botan asked.

“That’s the answer given to or by beginners, but a more accurate explanation would be that magic requires that something physically change to happen. Moving achieves that, but it’s hardly the only way.” The man began. He took two flowers off the shelves. “These are two of the most important flowers to adventurers. By burning them they achieve magic. This one draws in and attracts monsters, both wild and domestic. This other one, does the opposite. It makes you repulsive to monsters and wards them off.”

Botan put a hand to his chin. “So the ‘change’ achieved is the burning? Huh…” “Wait. I need to buy them too, because I also want to absorb them while they’re burning. Just like with the glowing flower last night. Some things are only absorbable while they’re achieving some sort of magic.”

“How much per flower?” Botan asked.

“Depends on the flower. These two are among the pricier options. One lasts for 8 hours. The [Alluring Asters] go for 5 silver, while the [Shunning Saffron] are 7 silver and 50 copper.” The old man told him.

“Oof. I thought the starting armor was rough… Even if those are the most expensive options, I could spend 100 silver here and possibly not buy one of everything. And I brought in less than 40 copper yesterday. How do those adventurers afford this stuf-...” “Not to change the subject, but… is there something like an adventurer’s guild around here?” Botan asked.

“You mean the mercenary guild ran by the Ivory Company? You’d want to visit them. They have a guild hall just down the street.” He answered.

“I assume they issue quests and rewards?” Botan asked and the man nodded. “Then why didn’t anyone in the castle tell me about that? I need a lot of coin after all.” Botan asked in annoyance.

The man sighed loudly. “Mosden is an untamed land. There are incredibly strong monsters to the north and at the bottom of many bodies of water. The Mosden knights couldn’t keep up with defending the people. About 20 years ago, the Ivory Company came in from Arden and brought peace to many sections that we natives failed to. Soon the locals started contracting them instead of asking our knights. The Ivory company now deals with over 70% of the problem monsters. It’s become a place of shame for those in charge. For the people to rather pay a stranger than rely on the duty-bound knights for free. How little must they think of them? …Those in the castle probably wanted to not lose you to them as they have most people.” The man explained.

“Oh god. The most dangerous enemy, politics!” Botan thought. “Hmm. What other flowers are pricey?” He asked.

He was given a brief run down of several other flowers that had conditional magical effects. Flowers that made those around them feel a specific emotion by picking the flower petals off, a flower that can help recover MP by eating it, flowers that remove all scent around them when you rip up the flower, flowers that you break off the stem and suck on it for different flavors, flowers that cause a minor visual illusion when falling, and so much more. Botan asked what he could and held each flower as the man explained them. 

He copied all of them, then settled on buying 5 of them. He had to assume his 500 silver was going to need to cover up to and maybe even past the first wave. He wanted the best armor he could afford when the time came. He’d buy the must-have options now, then buy more if he ran out of forms to unlock.

He unlocked more than 2 dozen forms, but most only gave a stat increase. The ones that were noteworthy were:

.

[Alluring Aster Fan]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Captivate”

Equip Effect: Nectar

.

[Shunning Saffron Idol]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Ostracize”

Equip Effect: Noxious Presence

.

[Mirage Magnolia Baton]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Shimmer”

Equip Effect: Blur

.

[Datura Charm]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: MP Recovery (small)

.

“Man… how strong am I going to be when I unlock all of these?” Botan mused.

Botan wanted to check in on this Ivory Company, but he’d wasted over 2 hours already. He’d wait until tomorrow. Even as a hero, he was going to be unimpressively low level to those seasoned adventurers.

He made up his mind to take a different direction today then exited out of the north side towards more open plains. He’d make it a point to only indulge himself in the mornings, because it put him on a timer to leave and do his job. He’d never been that serious of a person, but things were going to be life and death. He’d learned a little bit about that recently.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be talking about the geography and other random facts about Mosden. Mosden is a decent sized country, but unfortunately finds itself as the battleground of the three greatest nations in the world.

Despite a perceived lack of power in some ways, it would be extremely difficult to conquer due to thick rainforests and marshes throughout the region. Mosden almost receives as much rain as Ventus, yet has few rivers and many lakes. This is because Mosden’s lakes and ponds are hauntingly deep. Beneath the continent there are hundreds of underground cave systems so massive that it’s practically an underground ocean, secretly dwelling beneath them. Between the horrors from below and the nine Sovereigns of the peaks, Mosden’s wild monsters and terrain guard from foreign invaders better than the soldiers ever could.

(The Nine Peaks and their Sovereigns will get their own otherworld index, so they will not be explained here. However, know that the closer to the nine peaks one travels to, the stronger monsters you’d find.)

A nation with such unbound monster populations and several different environments makes Mosden home to several monsters that non-natives have never even heard of. The difficulties of Mosden’s environment eventually gave rise to the Ivory Company. A powerful mercenary and adventuring guild that formed out of foreigners from the Arden Republic. They too will be receiving their own Otherworld Index soon.

Chapter Text

Botan traveled through the plains for his second day. This day was going to be longer, even with the morning and night taken up. He had only 5 or so hours yesterday, but he'd have 10 or more hours today. He wanted to push for level 5 if he could. He was sitting at halfway to level 3, so he thought it was possible.

"Maybe when I can attract more monsters with that other weapon form." He thought.

He looked at the status screen, saying he needed to be a higher level. "It doesn't say what level, just whether or not I can use it now… If I look at the weapon forms normal weapon stats… I'm guessing it's going to be a while. I assume higher stats mean higher requirements, and these are high. I can look at weapon form stats to get a rough estimate, but I can always be wrong or there could be outliers." Botan thought through his details a bit more.

The field had different monsters than the forest. There were a few tops, but they were rare. What he fought most often, and what gave him the most trouble was a monster called a [Jackknife Rabbit].

When he first saw the creature it looked more cute than dangerous, though it still held an air of danger. It was a moody dull purple, bordering on dark grey. It also had a grumpy facial expression, though it looked cuter than it was probably intended. The standout figure had to be its ears, which appeared to be blades.

Botan shattered a [Scrying Marble] while looking at the creature.

[Jackknife Rabbit]

[Level: 4]

"A level gap again, but it's nothing new." Botan thought while approaching the creature. He held his weapon in front of him in the [Blue Spinning Flower] form and used [Spin]. The moment he did, the monster turned to him and stomped its foot. It almost looked cute trying to be intimidating.

"Hya!" Botan tried sweeping the holy flower in front of him, but the creature was just gone.

"Where did it-" "Ah!" Botan was pulled from his thoughts by a feeling on his side. His armor took a hit. The monster dashed past Botan way too quickly and attempted to slice his side open with its ears. Still, the impact hurt a lot. He shuffled his feet, but was too slow and the monster tagged him yet again. "If not for this armor, I'd be dead… Me, a supposed hero!" Botan felt he was performing poorly.

He knew he was going to never catch the little creature like this, so he switched tactics by switching weapon forms. Specifically to the recently acquired [Mirage Magnolia Baton]. It was similar to the base form of the weapon, which he'd also yet to master come to think of it. As Botan's weapon moved, it left after images that confused the monster.

"This must be what [Blur] meant…, now then-"

[Shimmer]! Botan called while stroking the weapon downward. This resulted in a poor mirage of himself to appear. Botan wanted to switch weapon forms again, but the process was so slow. The monster leapt at the illusion and found that it hit the dirt far past its target. Botan used the chance to strike the monster. It took 2 hits to finish.

"So [Shimmer] leaves them looking for me much the same way their burst of speed did for me." Botan was realizing he'd probably need to find efficient measures like this to grind without wasting all his healing supplies. Botan continued for a few hours, fighting jackknife rabbits, tops, and other small creatures. He got another level up early on. He noticed that the jackknife rabbits always stomped the little feet before they started using blinding speed. His suspensions were confirmed when one did not stomp and therefore lacked the speed needed to give Botan any difficulty.

"So they are using magic and that stomp is a spell… This isn't what I pictured when I thought about wizards and sorcery. Then again, it's all fictional back home." He thought to himself. "Then again, this world is odd in other ways. How hard I hit something isn't completely consistent with how hard it is hit. It's hard to put into words, but sometimes I can send things flying and sometimes I feel weaker than I did in my own world… I guess that's stats at work." Botan had to conclude.

He absorbed the monster remains and gained 2 weapon forms, they both upped speed. One was called [Natural Meal Dagger Petal] and was a knife or dagger. He made a note to collect the bodies of the other rabbits, maybe Tia could cook them up? Or perhaps he'd sell them.

It wasn't like how hard he hit something didn't affect the strength of the impact, but it wasn't the only factor. The best way he could think to describe it was to say that the results of anything used both reality and stats in some type of equation. If either side of the equation was low, the result wasn't great. So both performance and high stats were needed for the best results. This was something he needed to remember. While something could look weak, that'd only partially inform reality. In this world, stats were a co-author of events.

He had been pushing himself and by midday reached level 4. He also mastered his [Blue Spinning Flower] and kept [Mirage Magnolia Baton] on to master it as well. He thought it'd be a day per mastery, something uniform, but it was much shorter. He was with a higher level and a new permanent stat boost from the weapon mastered, Botan felt pretty good about today.

Until he saw a rabbit a bit different from the others. It was the same shape and color scheme, but was a little bigger and way meaner looking. It wasn't cute at all. It had metal bracers on its front paws, more pronounced blade ears, glowing eyes, and a metal face mask. Botan knew he wasn't going to fight it, but he scattered a [Scrying Marble] all the same.

[Jackknight Rabbit]

[Level: 16]

"..." Botan quietly retreated, moving closer to town a bit and breaking for lunch. By the time he had eaten his food, the monster had left the area, allowing him to travel a little further.

When Botan engaged his next enemy, he made a small mistake. He used [Spin], but he wasn't using either spinning flower form. The head of the weapon spun like a motorized mace. It seemed to work well enough. He had to remember that [Spin] was an [Equip Effect], not a [Special Equip Effect]. Meaning the moment he mastered the form that gave him that skill, he could always use it. Meaning every weapon form had to be able to spin in some way. Further, Botan had a sneaking suspicion about [Spin], but he'd get Tia's opinion before putting too much stock into that idea.

A little while later Botan found a new monster, or it may be more accurate to call it a group of monsters. Botan saw what he thought was a centipede monster as long as 8', however, what he was actually seeing became clear after using a [Scying Marble].

[Pseudo-pede Beetle]

[Level: 6]

The creature was actually 6 large beetle monsters with large pincers that gripped the backhalf of one another. This allowed them to look and act like a centipede. It reminded Botan of butterflies with scary patterns or birds with patterns looking like eyes on the back of their head. The image of a larger monster was just that, an image. Botan also noticed that the large beetles took up the front, with the one acting as the head having some impressive pincers.

Botan had mastered [Mirage Magnolia Baton] in only 4 hours and decided to use [Flower Stem Pole] next. The form was a painfully simple pole weapon. He did this for two reasons. First, it granted speed and he wanted more speed to deal with the rabbits. Secondly, he wanted to see what happened when he used [Spin] with it.

He ran in and used [Spin]. The weapon spun in his palm, forcing his fingers to let go. It would have flew out of his hand, but its supernatural hold to Botan's body prevented it. While the attack was not executed well, the whole pole spinning meant it had some kick to it. The acting head was hit very hard, but the others held him firmly in place.

"So their exoskeleton means they're more defensive? My SP is already low, even though I toggle [Spin] on for seconds at a time… Guess I had to get used to martial combat at some point." Botan concluded.

It was an admirable thought…, but what followed was a bit embarrassing. Botan had the advantage of his current weapon giving him more range. He also suspected that he beat his enemy in every single state except maybe defense. And yet, he found his ass greeting the ground time and time again. Even with Botan telling himself that it was 6 vs 1, his pride was getting hurt more and more. He wasn't fast enough to hit the enemy normally.

It could catch his weapon with its pincers and they would throw him to the ground again and again. He tried attacking from a different angle, but they would move together to re-orientate their acting head around to catch the weapon again. After getting served humble pie for 15 minutes straight, he used [Shimmer] to confuse the enemy, then used [Spin] again. The [Shimmer] was quite a bit better with a larger weapon form to cover his movements better. The resulting attack killed the acting head.

Botan had beat the enemy, but felt like he lost. He couldn't beat the enemy without skills. It meant he lacked ability. He'd try fixing that in the future.

The 4 smaller ones retreated while the largest remaining one stayed behind. It held its pincers out threateningly and held for the others to escape. Botan saw this and realized that these monsters were probably a family. This wasn't a game, these were real creatures. So, how would they form these groups? Mating pairs and their offspring. Meaning that either the dead one was the partner of this one, or the remaining parent with this one being the eldest child.

Botan frowned at that thought. "To repay the debt, I'll win…, but I'm not happy about it." Botan easily beat the other monster without the assisted mobility its family gave. "I can't get sentimental over monsters when killing them is the only way to level up. I have no alternatives, so crying about it is a waste of time." Botan concluded.

Botan absorbed the remains of the two beetles. He got a few forms, but the one that seemed the neatest was-

.

[Hugging Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Contact Ability Adjustment (small)

.

The ability name was strange and it was the only weapon form he couldn't use due to his level besides the [Grass Blade]. He assumed the skill would therefore be useful, whatever it was.

He also took his time throughout the day gathering any material that caused his flower to shine. Some from wood or weird stones he found, those were mostly boring stat upping effects besides the [Oaken Flower] having [Woodworking 1]. Among those new weapon forms there were two more useful sounding ones.

.

[Dandelion Tuft Glider]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 4

Equip Effect: Glide

.

[Leaf Flower Shield]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Gathering I

Equip Effect: C Needle Thrust

.

By day's end he was level 5 and had 5 weapon forms mastered. He had noticed that ones that just gave stats mastered in 2-3 hours, while ones with more took 3-4 hours. He'd try to remember this and plan his unlock orders as optimally as he could.

He returned to town a bit before it got dark. "A bit rougher than I had hoped. My lack of skill really banged me up. And my armor already has damaged areas. And the only thing I have for better armor is the metal from the rabbits." Botan thought bitterly.

He wanted to swing by the book store, but he was pressed for time and had few top spikes to sell him. He instead met Tia at a bridge that they agreed to the day before.

"Ah, you seemed to have had a rough day." Tia said with concern upon seeing Botan's armor.

Botan put on a better face. "It was a little rough. I guess I need those lessons sooner than I thought." He admitted.

"It was our fault. We summoned you, yet we lack the resources to help you. I'll do what I can. The prince should be back in a few days and he'll be able to assign you someone." She offered hope.

Botan noticed she actually seemed a bit sad when she mentioned the prince for some reason.

"I'm not complaining. Like I said, I would be dead without you summoning me… That said, I need help with these tricky movements. Oh! And I have a lot of rabbit meat, too." Botan responded.

"Then let's go to my home and I'll make some food for us both." She offered.

Thirty minutes later they had arrived at her home and she was preparing the food while instructing him. The home was quite nice. It was only a two bedroom home, but the rooms were not cramped at all. Tia didn't act like it, but she wasn't financially struggling like most were.

"My, my. You brought so much meat. I'll be able to prepare food for tonight and tomorrow with this… Be careful though, rabbit meat is not enough for you. It's an extremely lean meat. If you continue to bring it, I'll need to add fat and oils to the meals to keep it healthy." Tia commented.

"Huh? It's bad for you?" Botan never heard of that before.

"Only if you consume a lot of it. You'll get protein poisoning. Don't worry. You'd need to eat twice this without anything else to suffer symptoms." She warned him.

Tia's advice reminded Botan, even beyond magic and fighting, he lacked a lot in basic knowledge and survival skills. He'd have to learn a lot to get through this.

After a few moments thinking to himself, Tia called. "We might as well get started. Balance on one foot and spin around." She said while dicing some vegetables.

"Um, what?" Botan was confused.

"Just do it, I'll explain." She replied.

Botan did as she said, spinning on one foot. He felt ridiculous. After she threw some things into a pot, she turned around and made a face.

"No, like this." She corrected his movement, then spun him.

He allowed it to happen, but still didn't see the point. "Okay, now what?"

"Ask me your questions while I spin you." She answered.

"This seems dumb." He thought to himself. "I guess I'll ask about those rabbits. They stomp their feet twice then gain a lot of speed. Is that something I can do?" He asked.

"It's nice that you are noticing their movements… Did you try?" She asked with a smile, clearly knowing something he didn't.

"Yeah, nothing happened." He said with a grimace.

"Well, time for the boring explanations then. It's not just your movement that matters, but your shape and size as well. A little girl and a grown man will inherently not be able to do all the same things as one another even if they copied each others' moves perfectly. The same is true for humans and monsters. With one abominable exception, humans obviously can't have wings or tails and such." She said, still spinning him.

"What's the exception?" Botan was curious.

"It doesn't matter, focus on your spin… Anyways, copying another person's movements like that is the wrong way to learn magic. Even if you can use the spell, learning that way will make you weaker. I'm going to teach you the right way." She continued.

"And that's by spinning me?" Botan asked doubtfully.

"Yes." She stopped spinning Botan and watched him slowly come to a stop. Strangely, it took longer to stop than what made sense to Botan.

"Magic… kept me going?" He guessed.

"Exactly. Just like the whirlpool at the temple. By holding this current position while spinning, you are using magic to keep spinning. Did you feel anything?" She explained then asked.

"Hmm, no, not really." Botan felt nothing at all.

Tia frowned a bit. "A pity. Well this is lesson one. I want you to spin for 5 minutes straight. You can begin the spin however you like, but once you start spinning, you can only use magic to keep yourself going. Do so for 5 minutes straight and we can move on to lesson two." Tia instructed.

Botan didn't see that happening. "Use magic? But I don't know how. That's why I-"

"This is how to learn. I will not have the Evergreen be some hack. You will need to figure this out… I believe in you." Tia interrupted a bit rudely, but pulled it back in the end.

Another hour and a half went by.

"The food is done… I may have overdone it." Tia admitted, showing Botan a giant plate of food.

"Then can I stop?" He asked, still spinning.

"Of course. These things take time… I noticed you improved. You spun for over 40 seconds once." She told him. Though he already could do 25 seconds with no magic. So, he really only gained 15 seconds.

He stopped spinning and met her at the table to eat. "Yeah… I'm kind of getting it."

He went on to explain the concept of an old-school TV to Tia. He likened his positioning to trying to get the right frequency to get as clear a picture as possible. With the clearer a picture being magic in this metaphor. Basically, there exists an optimal possible position he needs to achieve to reach a further time. He felt like he was getting it, but then-

"Ah, that's a clever way of looking at it. Well, you're half right." She said before taking the first bit of her food.

Botan went to ask what he got wrong, but she motioned for him to take a bite first. He did, and then another, then another. The food was good. Better than most of his own mother's cooking. He soon lost his question in a sea of tasty bliss. Luckily Tia didn't.

"What's important is that you're half right… You honestly surprise me. It's easier for an adult to learn than a child because of all the nuances, but even my son, Alder, took a few weeks to grasp where you are already at, and he is a rare talent all his own. Your previous experience and natural talent are quite staggering. The next two steps take even longer, but I have confidence in you." She answered the question he wanted to ask.

The rest of the evening was delightful. Probably the closest thing to comfort he felt since he got here. He and Tia took turns telling stories. Most of Tia's were about Alder, painting him as a trouble-making child that was too smart for his own good. She also gave him more information, such as the closest country from the capital being Ventus. And how there were three smaller towns within a day's walk from the capital if he wanted to travel a bit.

For his part, he spoke of his old world. Of the many technological advancements they had, and of school. Tia seemed jealous that everyone in his world got such a broad and useful education. It had been difficult for her to get Alder properly educated and most children learned the trade of their parents.

That prompted Botan. "So how did Alder become an advisor? He's about my age and education is hard to get here. How did he manage to gain such a position?"

Tia's smile soured a bit. She tried to hide it, but Botan knew he just asked something uncomfortable.

"It was… Alder's father who pulled some strings and made it happen. A lot of people were upset by it, but they've mostly come to see that Alder is capable of the position. He works hard… harder than anyone else." Tia answered, seeming to choose her words carefully.

"So bringing up the father is taboo… Wait. huh? But Tia said that it was just her and Alder for the longest time. How was the dad in the picture recently enough to-... No, stop. This is none of my business." Botan stopped himself. "I see. That's why he's so busy now. Well… I hope he gets a chance to rest." Botan added.

"Me too." Tia agreed.

The two of them ate well and conversed a bit more before Botan left to retire for the night at the same inn. Tomorrow he'd go south, the day after, west. After that, the plan was to pick a nearby town and travel.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be having our first installment on the magic of this world. As stated prior, magic is achieved via something with mass achieving change. But why is that?

Because that's how something becomes 4 dimensional. Measured by width, length, volume, and time. By changing over time, an object achieves 4th dimensional existence for a time. While fourth-dimensional, such a thing is as superior to a three-dimensional thing as a three-dimensional thing is to a two-dimensional thing. This superiority manifests itself as magic.

The intent, shape, size, and specific movement of a being utilizing mana determines the spell. Unlike other worlds, one is not locked out of or locked into specific elements. Instead, certain types of effects are locked to size and shape.

For example: The [Jackknife Rabbit] can stomp twice to cast [Spring Step]. A larger creature could not achieve this. However, they can use [Boulder Dash] By stomping, then dragging their feet like a bull (those that stand on two legs would need to heavily crotch over). The resulting spell would cause them to rush forward, but the speed is only half as great as [Spring Step], however, it does cause overall more kinetic energy than [Spring Step] can. Allowing the spell to turn the user's body into a weapon to crash into people. Making them similar, but ultimately different spells.

As a magic focused weapon, the flower hero will gain much from learning this and more about the magic of this world. Stay tuned for a second installment covering more of the magic of this world in the future.

Chapter Text

The following morning, Botan woke up and was immediately greeted by the soreness of the day before. He went through his first day in this world easily enough. It was midday before he even fought something then. Yesterday was a different story. He put himself through the ringer for nearly 12 hours. He also took a few hits, each of which had bruised. That said, he was stronger. 

He switched his weapon form as soon as he woke up, having set a weapon form to be mastered while he slept. He’d have the ones he thought would take longer to master while he slept, then master the fast ones throughout the day. It wasn’t just about efficiency. It was also because Botan had never even been in a fight before coming here and had no skill. He was hoping that as he tried the different weapon forms, he’d pick some things up. Or at least find a form he preferred. At the start of the third day, he really wanted to draw Weldroe, as many as five times. He liked the look of the place that much.

Unfortunately, he had somewhere specific to go. The Ivory Company.

Botan ate breakfast first, that being the still amazing leftovers made by Tia. Afterwhich, he made his way to the guild. He first went to the flower shop, prompting the flower girl to wave him over, but he then used the old man’s directions to reach the building. The flower girl deflated in defeat at his ignoring her.

Botan hadn’t walked the streets much, mostly using the boat he was provided. That meant this was the first time he’d walked the main road. It had to have been because the building in front of him stood out too much. It wasn’t made of polished stone like the rest of the city, nor did it have a garden adorning its roof. It was a large, imposing building made from darkened logs and cast iron. It made the building seem tough, but not that old.

Botan pushed open one of the two doors to enter, they were about 9’ tall, adding to the intimidating feel. However, the door had no weight behind it. It was nearly weightless. Botan almost opened the door too roughly. As he walked in he saw the interior of the building was way more sophisticated than even the castle. It almost seemed modern in some ways, but lacked the natural look the rest of the city had, one that Botan liked quite a bit. In contrast to the nice interior, the people inside looked… rough around the edges, to put it nicely. 

The place was populated by many strong looking adventurers. Large men with big muscles and big attitudes, some wearing either tight fit clothing or baggy robes, both carrying polearms. Some more in leather with way too many weapons strapped to their person. 

“Wow. Even in another world, the class trinity exists… I bet I look as green as I am.” Botan’s internal musings turned to self awareness.

Those around him quickly stole a glance at him at least, some held their gaze even now. Botan shuffled towards what appeared to be the front desk.

“What do you want?” Came a woman’s voice. It was not welcoming in the least, almost accusatory in tone. The woman herself seemed to stick out. She wore a light green dress but had armor in a few places. She also had long green hair made into a single thick long braid. It didn’t look fancy or practical. Moreso like she was trying and failing to be an adventurer and high class at the same time.

“Um, yes, I’m level 5 and was hoping that maybe you had something for someone of my level…” Botan inquired.

The woman looked at Botan with an even more annoyed of a look on her face. “We do not issue quests to non-members.”

Botan wasn’t deterred. “How do you know I’m not a member?” He asked.

“I know.” She said definitively and deadpan in expression.

Botan buckled a bit, but kept going. “Well… what if I wanted to join?” He asked.

The woman rolled her eyes and opened the book in front of her to the third page. “Someone wanting to join the ranks of the illustrious Ivory Company must complete an assignment to prove competency. To even be considered, one must be at least level 20, receive a recommendation from a current or former member, and can not have been a criminal in the Arden Republic.” She listed off matter of factly.

“Oh…” Botan deflated more.

“You’re level 5, meaning you either never qualified before, or your level was reset at the hourglass as part of a legal punishment. Further, I don’t know you, so I can say with some confidence you are a stranger. You meet none of the qualifications and you wasted my time speaking to you. I honestly deserve an apology.” She seemed to genuinely demand that at the end.

“...” Botan began to walk away. “Wow, these people are rude.”

“Cut the kid some slack.” A large man said, walking over to greet Botan.

She crossed her arms and went to respond. “I’ve only done my job in describing-”

“Yeah, yeah. Level isn’t everything. A true mark of a man is the titles he’s been able to earn! A young man coming to join the guild at level 5 sounds just as bold as it is stupid. I bet you’d catch more flies with honey lass… Say we task the kid with earning a title that at least grants a level cap of 40. That would do, right?” The man was very loud, but also very jolly.

“Don’t go deciding things yourself, you lughead. The rules say level 20. I don’t care how great a title he earns and neither do the rules.” The man seemed to have gotten under her skin, causing her to switch from passive aggressive to very actively aggressive.

“Bah, such an inflexible woman. You’ll never catch a man with that venom.” The man said, turning to Botan.

“What did you just say to me!?” She lost her cool completely. She slammed the book shut on her table and came out from behind the counter.

The jolly man turned to Botan. “Say lad, have you managed any titles yet?”

“Titles?” Botan opened his menu and searched. “Ah, it seems I can’t earn them. I’m locked to ‘Flower Hero’.”

“...” There was an audible pause.

“Why the fuck did I just read that out loud? I was supposed to hide that! Fuuuuuuu-” Botan groaned internally.

The woman froze in place, as did the large man.The whole room’s chatter quieted as they now listened in. They stared at Botan’s weapon a moment before their brains caught up to the news.

“O-Oh!? Sir Hero, I had no idea! I’ll fetch a contract to let you join right away.” The woman said, her tone being very different.

Botan stopped her immediately. “I can’t read any language here. So, I’m not signing any contract. If you hand me one to take, I’ll have it read over and sign it if I find the terms agreeable.”

Botan knew there was tension between the kingdom and the guild. Between the two, Botan currently liked the kingdom more.

“Oh.. Um… Understood.” The woman was now the one deflating.

“Huh, the Evergreen, level 5… How long have you been here?” The large man asked, some of that natural jolliness restrained now.

“This is my third day.” Botan saw no harm in telling the man.

“Level 5 by yourself with no prior experience or help in two days? That's a good work ethic. You’ll hit level 20 in no time kid. See you then.” The man waved goodbye as he began walking back to his seat.

“He’s the Flower Hero, you lughead. He doesn’t need to follow that rule!” The woman yelled, handing Botan the paper.

“Oi, so now titles can let you skirt the rules!? Make up your mind, woman!” The man yelled back.

As the two went to argue further, Botan slipped out the door. After closing the door, he eyed the papers. It was on higher quality paper stock than what he had bought from Hector. The writing was also very professional.

“I wonder what you are staring at if you cannot read it.” A man’s voice came from his side.

Botan turned to see a man dressed immaculately. Polished silver armor that looked almost white trimmed in gold. The man’s deep blue clothes and other finery gave off an air of someone in charge. Lastly, the size of the white fur collar of his coat was too much. It was very large and had to have come from a very large animal.

“Eh!?” Botan nearly fell over from fright. This guy nearly gave him a heart attack.

The man swiftly reached out an arm and steadied Botan. “Easy there. Apologies for the intrusive behavior.”

“Ah, yeah, sorry. Just took me by surprise is all. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.” Botan said, rubbing the back of his head.

“That’s a high standard to place upon yourself. You are not of this world, so expecting you to adapt to anything at all is a tall order.” The man granted leeway.

“Ah… and you are?” Botan was hoping to leave, but this guy was dragging a conversation out of him.

“I am Valtor Meisser, the current field leader of the Ivory Company. I heard you in there; level 5 in 2 days with no help, you also seem to place high standards on yourself. Even if you were not the Evergreen himself, you clearly belong in such an establishment.” The man answered and seamlessly gave a sales pitch.

“Well, I’ll need to have a read before I put pen to paper.” Botan tried dismissing.

“Of course, of course… And whom would you trust to read you its terms? After all, whomever did could manipulate you in this regard.” Valtor asked, but there was some slight hostility in his words.

“I know the crown and the guild don’t get along. I’ll have Professor Hemlock read it for me.” Botan told him, shifting a bit uncomfortably under Valtor’s eye.

“Ah, dear Hector? Two days here and you’d met the only man of value outside our walls… And you know of our ongoing issues with the crown?” The man seemed to be gauging or measuring something with these questions, but Botan couldn’t know what.

“In part.” Botan decided to give as short of an answer as possible.

“Then I guess I should tell you that we of Arden have long since butted heads with Mosden. They refuse to outlaw slavery and that lack of action keeps our nations from living in peace.” The man’s smile turned to a serious expression as he explained.

“Wait, Mosden has slavery?” Botan attention was captured.

“In part.” He said, parroting Botan from a moment ago. “Both Ventus and Eld have slavery. Mosden catches runaway slaves from either and returns them. While they don’t put themselves in irons, they fail to act morally when faced with a true evil… What do you think of slavery?” The man had a passion in his words. Botan could not tell if he was faking it, but it sounded genuine.

“Well in my world, we outlawed slavery internationally quite some time ago, though some small forms appear far away from the country I lived in… We determined that owning one another was fundamentally wrong.” Botan was still struggling under the man’s gaze but found stronger words as he went.

The man smiled and laughed unnaturally. “Haha! Well said! If we can agree on something like that, I needn’t worry. You’ll soon see things yourself. You’ll see that Arden is the most moral country. One that outlaws slavery. One where you earn your class, not one where your worth is decided at birth, one so noble that we protect the citizens of an enemy nation.” The man went on and on.

Botan let him talk, he wasn’t falling for it. Many nations and groups from his old world would claim moral superiority for many reasons. However, at the end of the day there was always one thing they had in common. That being that they had other major issues that they failed to address or used moral justifications to dismiss. He had allowed this man to tell his view of things. Tonight, after having Hector read him the terms of the contract, he’d get Tia’s side and make a decision.

Botan eventually got the man to leave him alone, but the last thing he said as they parted ways gave him pause.

“And do let Alder know if you join. Our offer with him still stands.” Valtor added.

“Alder? Why? They hate Mosden’s government, but want one of their officials to join them?” Botan was more confused than ever.

Botan had a head full of questions the whole day after that. He went south as he planned and found more forest, though less tropical. Botan was noticing just how varied the region around here was and could only guess what the western direct held. Botan traveled further than he did yesterday. He was not finding too many creatures higher level than himself and that meant that he could defeat them easily. He fought several new monsters, including a large bird that couldn’t fly, but nothing too interesting.

That was until he came across a purple flower. He copied it of course, but one of its skills stood out to him.

[Weapon copy system activated]

.

[Violet Bellflower Trumpet]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Spring: Seed Strike”

Equip Effect: Voice Amplification

.

Botan equipped the weapon form, but the special skill just made his weapon a megaphone. “Kinda lame.” He thought.

He then tried using the other skill. [Spring: Seed Strike]! A small, contained blast shot from the tip of the weapon and struck a tree. “Yes! A ranged attack… And the SP cost is so low! I can use this like 25 times!”

Botan eagerly tried using the skill again, trying to work on aim, but it would not.

[Unable to use skill due to cooldown]

The skill had a short cooldown period keeping it from being a purely ranged weapon. “Still though, if I got a handful more skills like this one… I could be a ranged all the-no. SP still stops me from doing that too.” Botan thought more on what he could and couldn’t do. “SP limits me a lot. Maybe I can find potions that recover SP the same way as MP? Even then, that’ll be a money sink and unless I take jobs from the Ivory Company, my funds are going to continue going down…”

After leveling again, Botan returned to town nearly level 7 for his efforts as night was about to hit. He stopped by Hector’s shop as planned.

He opened the door with a wide smile. “Heya, Professor. I got more top spikes to sell, and I also want you to help me with reading something.”

Hector was deep into reading something, but placed his book down when Botan entered. “Ah, good. What do you need specifically?” He asked, meeting Botan at the counter.

“This. I can’t read anything here, so I need to know the terms.” Botan pulled the paper from his bag.

“Ah, an Ivory Company contract. Joining them has its advantages, especially for you. Let me see-” Hector took the paper and read it aloud.

The contract required its signer to adhere to certain bylaws that were not defined then and there. Botan thought that was a trap, but Hector had a copy of the bylaws of the guild. There weren’t many and they were all very reasonable. Most of the contract was… then the last bit changed that.

“Lastly, those who sign this document do hereby agree to a non-compete clause. Not working for any other guild besides the Ivory Company, and not any other country but the Arden Republic for the length of the contract plus an additional five years.” Hector stopped there, knowing Botan would see it for what it was.

“So that’s how they keep great adventurers from making a career change to working for the government. They get to hog all the talent with early earnings then no one can afford to be without a job for 5 years just to do the same thing for Mosden directly…” Botan said aloud.

“Indeed. Young people with talent have the best chance as a fighter joining the guild to make something of themselves, thereafter, they are working for Arden by proxy. They still defend the people and are paid well, so no one really kicks up that much of a fuss.” Hector expounded.

“So why does Mosden honor those contracts? …I think I already know the answer…” Botan felt he answered his own question.

“If one of the three great nations has a law that pertains to their property or people, it is in Mosden’s interest to comply. Lest they suffer.” Hector said seriously.

“I was told Mosden returns slaves to Eld and Ventus, so…?” Botan asked without saying it.

“You catch on fast. Yes, Mosden does so begrudgingly. I’ve seen Mosden knights let caught slaves go and even help them, but most are forcibly returned or else either country could make accusations of Mosden undermining their laws and use it as a means of declaring war.” Hector said, handing the contract back to Botan.

Things were so much more complicated than Botan would like. The Ivory Company was both extremely useful to himself and the people of Mosden, but simultaneously took away Mosden’s means of being self-sufficient. Then this pressure is constantly brought by the surrounding nations…

“Does my voice matter, as the Flower Hero?” Botan thought to ask.

“It does. The Eld Empire is more religious than other nations and the people would heed your words more heavily…, but the problem would be reaching them. It’s not like the emperor would help you undermine him. Your opinion would carry weight in most places, but again-” Hector explained, driving the point home.

“My voice only matters on a small scale or if it aligns with larger groups that can spread my word…” Botan understood. This world was not the cool power gaining adventure story he was hoping for. It was still about those things, but so much more was at play.

Botan wrapped up his business with Hector and went to Tia’s for dinner and magic training again. He decided he got enough of an explanation from Hector and wouldn’t bother Tia with any of this. Alder still hadn’t been home and that meant she was still stressed.

“And do let Alder know if you join. Our offer with him still stands.” Botan wanted to ask about that as well, but didn’t.

During his time spinning, he felt he nailed the perfect position, but he could barely last a minute. Tia simply told him to keep trying, which was encouraging, but also frustrating. Near the end of his practice, he thought he found an even better position, but each time he switched to it, he felt the other was better and switched back. Despite never settling on which one of the two positions were best, Botan broke his old record at 1 minute and 23 seconds.

During the meal, Botan explained what he did, but again Tia said he’s closer, but still wrong. She said it with a smile though, so Botan assumed it was good progress. 

“Oh, that reminded me. [Spin]! Tell me if I’m wrong, but… this is magic, right?” Botan pointed to the particles coming off the weapon as his weapon spun. “I have a theory about this skill.” Botan told her.

After hearing the theory, Tia looked and nodded. “Hmm, after dinner, I want to try something then.”

They ate the rest of dinner without further interruption. After dinner, Tia brought out a piece of wood. A somewhat large squared piece, dark in color. “I want you to hit this normally.” Was all she said.

“How hard?” Botan felt reluctant.

“As hard as you can.” She said with a smile.

“Are you sure?” Botan was worried he might hurt her.

“Young Nakaya, I am level 73 and have fought in a war. It’s too early to think of yourself that highly.” She wasn’t going to be looked down on.

Botan flinched at that. “Level 73? I assume that’s crazy high by normal standards.”  

“Okay then… Hyaa!” Botan swung down a club-like form into the wood and it… did nothing.

“Alright, now use that skill from before and use… let’s say half strength.” Tia told him.

[Spin]! He used the skill, making the head of the club-like form to spin, then swung as instructed.

An audible crack was heard. Botan had split the wood. “There it is then, your theory was correct, that skill does indeed use magic attack against magic defense. It isn't a normal attack at all.” Tia concluded.

“How does that conclude it?” Botan asked.

Tia lifted the piece of wood, pointing at it. “This wood is special because it possesses high defense, but lacks magic defense. Therefore you’d have needed to deal magic damage to break it with less effort than your full swing.” Tia explained.

“Ah, that makes sense… I’ve had this thought for a few days, but I seem to get more magic attack on level up than attack. My weapon form bonuses also give more magic attack on average. So I guess that means I’m supposed to be a mage.” Botan said.

Tia went to put the wood back when Botan had a terrifying revelation. “Hey… wait a moment… We aren’t using that wood in the next test… are we?” Botan asked while sweating.

Tia’s reply was only an evil grin and slight chuckle.

“So, once I master spinning around in a fucking circle, I then have to punch trees like I’m fucking Steve from minecraft… How is magic training this dumb!?” Botan lamented.

Despite dreading that day, Botan was hoping to get past the spinning portion sooner. He thought about it even while he wasn’t doing it and felt if he could set a day aside just to learn it, he’d pass the first test already. At the same time, he knew that his level was also very important.

He ended up burying his face into his pillow when he got back to the inn. It was starting to get to him. All the confusion, being alone so much throughout the day, the physical pain compounded by the building physical exhaustion. While no big event happened to sour his opinion, Botan had to admit that this wasn’t as fun as he was thinking it would be.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we’ll be talking about the Ivory Company. The Ivory Company was founded by adventurers from the Arden Republic in cooperation with Arden nobles nearly 150 years ago. The initial staff of the adventuring group were entirely Arden citizens, but as they progressed, they allowed Mosden natives and even the occasional foreigner to join their ranks to bolster their numbers.

The Ivory Company has a charter that it operates under, with leadership being assigned by previous leadership. In this way, the lion’s share of their ranks have no say so in who is placed into key positions of power. However, it’s a safe bet to assume that any position of power is granted to someone from Arden, as there are very few exceptions to that trend, and none in living memory.

The Ivory Company does jobs for nearly anywhere in Mosden, with the exception of the Nine Peaks. This is because every adventurer sent there from the Ivory Company dies. However other adventurers and the like have been able to make trips to the Nine Peaks without dying, which makes many suspicious as to why only Ivory Company members die so frequently.

As for why it’s called the “Ivory Company”, that has to do with their business model. When a request to remove one or more monsters is placed at the Ivory Company, they do not just kill the target, but retrieve 100% of the body as well. This is in addition to the payment given by the one that requested the job. With a favorable split of 90% of the earnings going to the members who did the job and 10% going to the guild itself.

Many view the rate of both payment received and the cost to be fair, but fail to account for the monster materials. One of the Ivory Company’s main forms of income comes from exporting the strong and exotic materials of monsters only seen in Mosden to the very Arden noble families that backed their initial establishment. 

The Ivory Company has also been reported as helping runaway slaves make it to Arden. Mosden never stops this from occurring, as Arden freeing and rescuing slaves cannot be blamed on Mosden. For this reason, some say Mosden purposefully leads slaves to members of the Ivory Company, allowing them to save slaves while not being accused of actively going against their neighboring country’s property laws.

Chapter Text

Botan woke up on the morning of the fourth day with none of the enthusiasm he had before. Before, things were new and exciting. In many ways it still was, but… with a bit of luster removed, the situation was showing itself for what it was. The soreness piled up each day, he was still fighting alone, and all this political backstabbing was happening around him and he was supposed to just level up and ignore it? This was still better than being dead, but the novelty of this world wouldn’t charm him forever.

“What do I do long term?” That question swam around in his head the whole morning. As he ate breakfast, he tried stopping himself, after all, that forward-facing worry was how he lived his first life and it wasn’t very productive. Unfortunately, habits were hard to break. 

He had a slow start due to soreness and a lack of sleep. By the time he was up and moving, the time he had to capture the city via drawing was gone. That would have lightened his mood, but it didn’t happen. Not only that, but not as many people seemed to be out and about today, he wasn’t sure why. That only added to a growing feeling of loneliness and isolation that had begun to set in.

With a nasty feeling beginning to well up, he decided to get lost in his job. He had a lot to worry about, but he couldn’t think about it. He got back to leveling up.

Day four saw him heading west from town and quite a bit further as well. Once he hit level 7, he could finally use the [Grass Blade]. Using that felt good for a while and helped his mood a bit. Using a katana to fight was more novelty for him to appreciate. Westward seemed to be wetlands, then into marshes, then later still into swamps if you traveled far enough. It’d take most of a day’s travel to reach the swamps, so he’d head no deeper than the marshes. 

Things were going better than days prior. Botan was still fighting monsters between levels 1 to 6, but was level 7 himself. With some of the pressure off of him, he began to reset his mood again. “Maybe it’s only rough at the beginning?” Botan thought hopefully.

As Botan weighed his circumstances, he became lost in thought… again. He traveled further without noticing or caring that the weather seemed to get cloudier and the wind picked up a bit. He hit marshes just as the rain began to pour. It took the rain for him to be pulled from his thoughts. He switched to the [Lilypad Umbrella] form. It helped. His situation worsened when a new monster appeared. He used his [Scrying Marble] on this new enemy, as he did on each new enemy.

[Dynamice]

[Level 7]

“Wait! That name!” Botan scrambled to kill it quickly.

The monster chattered its teeth to throw sparks at Botan. He ran through it and swung. Only after he attacked did he realize he was still using [Lilypad Umbrella], so the damage was much lower than he anticipated. He tried switching, but switching between weapon forms took too long and he saw the monster’s fuse tail was already half burnt away. He had no choice but to swing again and again, hoping to kill it fast enough.

After the fifth hit, he saw the EXP notification indicating that he managed to kill it in time.

“Holy shit… I nearly-” BOOM!

While the monster was dead, the bomb apparently wasn’t. Botan was knocked off his feet and into a tree. The hit was hard and he heard an internal ‘crack’. His ears were ringing, his eyes watery, and it took him several moments to remember which direction was up. He laid against the tree a few minutes before managing to stand. He switched his weapon to something useful for combat and ignored the downpouring of rain that had intensified. 

He found no remains of the monster, meaning nothing to have gained from that. He was becoming more and more frustrated. He didn’t remember his drop menu and just started getting mad. “That hurt. Like it really really hurts! And I killed it first, that’s BS. And if the damned flower could switch faster, I would have-” He continued making excuses without recognizing his own mistakes.

After ranting to himself to no benefit for a bit, he cooled off and continued. He started seeing a lot of monsters hunkering down or running away, but somewhat larger monsters seemed to become active now, using the storm to move closer to town. This would be Botan’s first shot at a monster that wasn’t decidedly a small-fry.

Botan fought whatever crossed his path, taking extra care to finish off dynamice the moment they were spotted. He was trying to get back into the groove, but about 20 minutes into the storm Botan began to realize his blunder. Magic was caused by motion, and what causes more motion than weather? Botan saw lightning begin coming down nonstop all over the place. He questioned it at first but got his answer quickly. Lightning struck a tree near him and split it in two. While it wasn’t impressive, Botan saw how the tree almost came apart, pieces flying everywhere. Upon closer inspection, Botan saw it was the same dark wood from the night before.

It could be that the lightning was just so strong it overcame the defense, but based on how the wood almost fell apart, Botan came to the conclusion that the lightning was magical. Meaning that storms, earthquakes, tsunamis… All major natural disasters created countless magic effects throughout. This meant that weather was a bigger deal than he first considered.

Botan had no choice but to flee and find somewhere to hide from the storm as well. He crawled for a while, seeing all manner of chaos happening above him. After a bit, he found a large tree with a large root system. It created an ideal hole for him to slip into. However, the hole was a bit deeper than he expected, leading into a small underground opening. It was too dark to see.

[Illuminate]! Botan fired off a soft white light that slowed to a stop at the center of the area, shining over the whole small room. It appeared to be a chamber made of dirt, clay, and roots. The walls had inconsistent markings of claws, meaning a monster dug this out as a burrow. The rain and wind didn’t seem to affect this place. The lip of the entrance was too high for water to get in and the tree was too sturdy to move. Botan had no choice but to sit tight and wait out the storm.

Meaning he had nothing better to do than think to himself, something he’d normally avoid.

“I’m freezing and soaked to the bone… This chainmail isn’t doing me any favors.” Botan thought. Rather than take the armor off as a response, he didn’t move a muscle

“I’m supposed to travel between towns and eventually countries with destructive forces like that just appearing out of nowhere?” Botan failed to see the obvious warning signs of the weather changing and decided it was unfair.

“That must be why so few people were out and about this morning. Would have been nice to get a warning!” Botan blamed people for not actively warning him instead of addressing the fact that he noticed something was off and ignored it.

“Then those stupid rats…! I killed three of them, but only have two bodies to show for it.” Instead of seeing it as improvement or his own mistake in weapon form choice, Botan chose to blame uncontrollable circumstances.

“Because that first one exploded… It still hurts. Even the bruises from two days ago aren’t gone yet. Why the hell do I have to be so damned sore!?” Botan focused on the pain, no longer weighing it against being dead.

“It hurts as much as… hit Churri would have… Why do I have to be separated from my family? I’ve never left home for more than a weekend trip. How am I supposed to deal with that? How am I supposed to get back?” Botan’s thoughts returned to his family and old life, more bitterness with it. He was now crying.

“Instead I’m here. In some undeveloped country that summoned me unwantedly. Working my ass off and trying to get closer to going home… If that’s even possible.” Botan’s situation was far from ideal and now stewing in it for a while would only worsen his mood. He was shackling in anger now.

Botan almost went too far. “And I’m all alone! That’s the worst part! I go out, get my ass kicked alone all day, come back and go to sleep alo-... Well, I have Tia…” He managed to look past himself. He wiped his tears away.

Botan stirred from his thoughts and looked around. He saw some dead grass and such dried out in the corner. “I have the dynamice teeth, I can start a fire.'' Instead of uselessly wallowing in self pity, Botan got to work. He began to move the dried grass to the center of the room, using [Illuminate] again to keep his workspace bright. After the third handful, he saw something in the dried grass.

“Is that a-” Botan had found a monster egg surrounded by the dried grass. It was probably meant to keep the egg warm. Botan picked it up and looked at it. It was larger than any egg he saw, between two to three times the size of his fist. At the same time, he didn’t think it belonged to a larger monster. He imagined them being larger than this. He sat the egg down near his bag. He’d think about what to do with it later.

After sitting it down, he realized he was still wearing the wet chainmail. “Why am I still in this?” Botan briefly thought before removing the armor and bringing more of the dried grass over. Once he was done, he looked for other things he could burn. He could only find strips of bark with very little wood, but it was all very dry, which made the next part easier. He wasn’t used to cutting monsters up yet, but he had to remove the large teeth from one of the dynamice and struck them together. After only three tries, he started the fire. He used the teeth from the dynamice to do so. It was at least as good as flint and steel, but was probably better. That’d be useful in the future. He sat near the fire holding the egg, still on the last thing he thought.

“Tia… She has it rough too. Her king is dying, her son won’t come home, and yet she cooks for me each night with a genuine smile on her face as she tries to help me learn magic.” Botan considered, calmly reevaluating things while staring at the fire.

“Magic… Magic! I could have just hit the first dynamice with my new ranged skill the whole time… So that was my… fault… Come to think of it, I ran at the monster first. I could have switched forms first. I could have paid attention to the weather, I could have-” Botan got back on track after thinking about how Tia had it rough herself.

“I really am the source of most of my problems. If I do this though, if I just actually do something instead of just worrying about it, it’ll be better than analyzing problems I’m not solving. I-” Botan was putting himself back into a good headspace and felt the egg move.

“Huh. It must like the warmth.” Botan turned the egg to evenly warm the egg. “I don’t know what you’ll be, but if you’re something like a jackknife rabbit, maybe I can keep you as a pet? A pet, yeah, that’d help a lot.” Botan thought.

Even being alone without allies was easily fixable if Botan took the time to really consider his options.

“Tia has it rough, but so does everyone in the castle right now. Will has kids to feed, I only have myself to worry about. And this little one’s parents look like they’re long gone… In the grand scheme of things It’s not that bad for me.” Botan kept thinking to himself while turning the egg.

“And no one is doing this to me, but me. Tia never told me to fight for 12 hours a day. No one said I had to run such a tight ship. I did this… Which means I can fix it rather easily.” Botan concluded.

“If I take a heavy hit, I’ll stay closer to town the following day, taking it easier. Maybe even use some of that day to work on that magic training… In fact-” Botan sat the egg a bit back from the small fire for safety, then began to spin as Tia taught him.

He felt himself reach the position he was yesterday, then reached a different one. It felt like a better position when he was getting there, but felt worse once he went to it. He tried again and again, feeling like he was on the right track, but somehow got lost on the way to the right destination. 

“It’s like… It’s like there isn’t an optimal position at all and you have to…” Botan realized. “You have to keep moving, like this!” Botan kept switching between the three positions he kept mistaking for the supposed optimal positions. None of them were the right position, nor any spot between. “You have to keep moving, just like this. You just follow that feeling, the one that leads me to each of those three positions.” Whatever feeling Botan was following, he kept letting it lead him along. The more he did so, the better he was at determining where the feeling was leading him. 

After a few minutes he stopped to turn the egg again, only then realizing that he either passed 5 minutes, or was easily going to do so.

Botan could have just cried in the cave over being trapped in another world. About being injured multiple times. About being overworked and getting little sleep. About being alone, cold, and wet. Instead he managed to see what he was doing. That most of his issues were self-inflicted or easily fixable. Botan ate a bit of the leftovers he had, then applied some salves to his bruises. He pulled out his journal and made sure to capture this dirty little hole in his art. It wasn’t as impressive as Weldroe, or the summoning location, but it now meant something to him. 

Afterward, he held the egg as he took a nap to catch up on sleep. The fire lasted until he fell asleep, which was enough.

The storm continued to wreak havoc above Botan, but never reached him. After about 3 hours, Botan awoke to far less noise. He could see light trying to penetrate the small cave as a good sign. Botan put his chainmail bale on, which was now dry, if a little dirty. He then placed the egg in his bag before exiting the small hole to assess the damages.

A few things were different, brushes thinned, some branches snapped off, but for the most part, the area wasn’t that affected. Botan found that surprising at first, but reconsidered. If this is how dangerous weather is in this world, then plants and trees are probably much tougher and more resilient in this world. From the burrow he stayed in, Botan assumed monsters also relied on the strength of the plant life to defend them from storms. Otherwise, how would anything survive these types of events? These events must happen often.

Maybe that was partially why the supposed greatest weapon in this world was visibly a plant. Because they had to be much, much stronger for the ecosystems to brush off such chaos. Botan found a bit more respect for the weapon he wielded at that thought.

 He explored the surrounding area and found a few enemies he could take out easily. He found himself in luck as he could clean up monsters damaged by the storm. It may have felt cheap, but he wasn’t complaining. He did this for a while, but he eventually came upon a larger enemy. It was about the size of Botan, though only ⅔ of the height. It was a creature made of shrubbery, branches and such. It was widest at the ground, almost like it built itself up. The face of the creature seemed a bit reptilian in shape, but the snout was clearly a pig’s. Botan used another marble while eyeing the beast.

[Shrubblet]

[Level: 17]

Botan saw that the monster moved slowly and seemed to be picking on lesser foes that were still hurt, same as himself. “Judging by the way it moves, its speed is probably lower than normal. It probably lives in the swamp, where the high water slows his prey more. So this is a rare venture just to get the easy food…” Botan tried analyzing his foe.

Botan removed his bag and left it hanging on a nearby branch, keeping his journal and the egg safe. “If that’s true, then if I keep my distance, it doesn’t matter…” He readied his weapon, pointing it forward.

[Spring: Seed Strike]!

He fired off his first skill. The skill was a small yellow light shaped vaguely like a vector point that shot fast and struck the monster in the side.

“Oooooigh!” The monster turned to see his attacker, but saw nothing. Botan hid behind the tree, wanting to buy more time before he’d have to engage the enemy directly. The trees here were quite large, roughly 15 wide in diameter.

[Cooldown remaining: 13 seconds]

“30-second cooldown. I can’t use just this skill to win.” Botan concluded.

The monster began to circle the tree and Botan slowly went around the tree away from it. The monster was slow, keeping at a pace where its movements wouldn’t cause enough noise that it couldn’t hear something else move. The moment it heard Botan moving, it picked up speed and ran around the tree at him.

“That’s its top speed? I can outrun that. I can’t kite it yet though. For all I know, it has me beat in stamina.” Botan thought.

[Shimmer]!

[Spin]!

Botan made the beast stop at the sight of [Shimmer] , then sliced deeply into the creature several times with the [Grass Blade] using [Spin] . It spun around his palm and the back of his hand. It would have felt similar to when the [Flower Stem Pole] forced his hand open, but he was somehow more aware of how the weapon was going to move when using [Spin] this time. He couldn’t begin to guess why.

The beast recoiled, not expecting that visual effect nor the heavy damage it just took. It stepped back a moment and readied itself, seeming quite angry. Thorns came to the surface, with some short vines moving around beneath.

Giving Botan a moment was probably meant to intimidate him into running away, but it only meant he could use his skill again. Seeing his ranged skill was ready to use, he shifted forward ever so slightly and inched his leading foot forward. This wasn’t something he was conscious of doing, but didn’t go unnoticed by the enemy.

“Oooooigh!” The beast roared and began charging.

Botan took advantage of his close proximity to the tree and his foe’s shorter statue.

[Illuminate]! Botan shot the harmless light spell at the charging monster and took three good steps in a flat run up the tree before kicking off of it. This gave him the height to easily jump over the beast, clearing it and landing behind it. The monster rushed forward and was momentarily blinded. Before he could find Botan, he was given an answer.

[Spring: Seed Strike]!

The yellow light shot like an arrow and had struck the monster yet again. Three clean hits on an enemy without a scratch to show for it. Botan was doing pretty good against an enemy twice his level.

“Oooooigh!” The beast turned and ran right at Botan.

Botan was low on tricks with all three of the previous skills on cooldown. So he did what any brave hero would do in the face of such an issue… He ran away. Specifically, he ran just a bit faster than the monster, having it chance him around another tree. He kept running like a fool until his three skills were off cooldown. That left him pretty winded, but he thought this was going to be the end of the matter.

He spun mid stride and pointed his weapon at the pursuing beast, sliding as he spoke his skills name.

[Spring: Seed Strike]!

For the third time, a bright sharp light shot off and pierced the foe, this time in the face. Botan thought the fight was over but the monster kept charging. He then readied himself to use [Shimmer] and [Spin] again. He did so, but the beast didn’t slow down from confusion like it did before. 

[Spin]!

Unfortunately, the two traded blows. Botan thought he hit harder with the blade spinning to hit multiple times, but he had the air knocked out of him and was sent over the monster. Both took to the ground a moment. Botan found himself at his feet first but thought better than repeat his mistake of hoping the next attack would be a winning blow. He had enough time while the boar-like creature stood to switch to the [White Lotus Shield].

The monster didn’t stand back up as much as reform itself structurally from the branches and barbs that made up its insides. It turned to face Botan. It didn’t roar this time, just rushed him right away. It was clearly taking things seriously now. Botan widened his stance and prepared to be pushed back. He needed to buy time for cooldowns again.

The monster slammed into him and as expected, Botan gave way, sliding back a bit. However, he ultimately held his ground and defended himself. The monster was shocked at that and unexpectedly started running away. Botan was momentarily confused before pursuing. Botan thought the monster would just attack him like an idiot until it died, but clearly understood that if it can’t tackle something, it couldn’t win. Botan should have assumed that, since it showed intelligence earlier in the way it ignored [Shimmer].

“You aren’t getting away!” [Spring: Seed Strike]!

And with a fourth shot, the beast went down. Botan received his EXP, so there was no mistake.

[You are now level 9]

“I-I did it! Not only did I down that bastard, but I got two levels out of it! One more level and I can do that job for Will… In fact, I can do it now. I’m stronger than other level nine adventurers.” Botan allowed himself some praise. 

He saw the beast was made entirely of plant life, so he decided to look at the body a bit first. He was hoping to find one plant in it that was the ‘main body’ or something for him to aim at in the future. He felt ‘tips of the trade’ and general experience was just as important. It turned the Jackknife Rabbits from a fairly difficult fight to a simple set of needed action.

He took the Shrubblet apart, seeing vines and branches all wrapped in foliage. Throughout the body was a light green plant that seemed to be the skeleton. It was long and flat, it almost looked like an underwater plant.

“That’d explain why they live in wetlands and swamps. This means slicing is better than ranged attacks. Because this is hard to hit on that thick body otherwise.” Botan concluded.

.

[Shrubblet Bramble Branch]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Attack + 4

.

[Shrubblet Thorned Vine Whip]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed + 5

Equip Effect: Hook

.

[Shrubblet Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 6

.

[Shrubblet Life Leaf]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: HP Recovery (Small)

.

“Why did I…?” Botan was confused as to why the Shrubblet gave 4 different weapon forms. He had a theory, but he couldn’t prove anything right now. He retrieved his bag and made sure the egg was safe before happily going along, rounding up the free bodies from the storm and the easy EXP from worn out monsters. Botan even managed to collect 8 dynamice bodies before he had to head back. Normally he’d just absorb one right now, but he had a theory and the perfect chance to test that theory.

In one day he addressed the issues he was having, figured out the first stage of casting magic, got several new weapon forms, had a cool theory to test out, and had a monster egg he had to see if he could domesticate or sell. It was the most productive day he’s had so far. Things were definitely looking up. Now he was off to Will’s, then Hector’s, and then Tia’s.

“...I have more allies than I realized” Botan thought in passing.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we’ll be discussing Malestorms. Malestorms are strong storms that possess the requirements to perform magic. Not every storm can, but the more powerful a storm is, the more likely it is to develop into a Malestorm. Malestorms are considered one of the more deadly natural disasters, on the same level as earthquakes and tsunamis. They are extremely rare in most of the world, but Ventus has them all the time and western Mosden has them on occasion. As Botan realized, plant-life has adapted to this threat and is just as durable as the monsters.

In fact, wood in this world is not strictly weaker than iron. Just as certain alloy blends can be very tough, one could also farm certain species of tree for equally tough material. The wood Tia used to test magic is called ‘Wardwood’ and it requires Malestorms to split them open to spread the seeds. In this way, these trees guarantee that if their seeds spread, it’s during a storm, increasing the chances of the seed taking root.

Malestorms usually cast additional lightning that doesn’t strike in the same natural way normal lightning does. So being non-conductive or not being the highest point from the ground does not mean you are safe. They can also use magical lasers, usually seen in the center of hurricanes. These pillars of light that temporarily tie heaven and earth are among the most destructive forces in the world. Few people have ever survived entering the eye of a hurricane in this world. Among those who did, only one wasn’t a hero, the first king of Ventus.

For the danger they pose, dark clouds are seen as even greater a sign of ill-omen than in our own world.

And yes, the term ‘Malestorm’ comes from ‘maelstrom’ and ‘storm’. This is a reference to the author’s terrible sense in naming.

Chapter Text

After clearing his head and resetting his mood, Botan returned to town. Finding the way back was a little difficult, as the maelstorm just to find a few guards and dancers at the gate, eagerly greeting him.

“There you are!” One guard exclaimed in relief.

“I'm so sorry! I thought someone else had already warned you of the storm.” Another apologized.

“Oh… Well it all worked out.” Botan dismissed their worry in an attempt to calm them down.

“If you were a normal adventurer, you would be dead… We are at fault.”

“...Then double your efforts. I have to get going, so that’s all I can say.” Botan said what he thought they needed to hear, then waved them off.

His first stop was Hector’s shop, ‘Lore & Ledgers’. He entered the shop to find Hector with a bandage on his head and the shop in a mess. He didn’t have to ask what happened, his expression did that for him.

Hector saw this and answered. “That blasted storm was a hassle. One of the shop’s windows broke and it caused all kinds of issues. Glad you made it through okay. You were actually in the thick of it.” He spoke while trying to pick up papers scattered all over the floor.

Botan started sitting things on the counter while listening to Hector. Hector saw that Botan sat to dynamice bodies on the counter and reacted. “Ah, to think you could already deduce the items made from dynamice and know I’d want some.” Hector praised.

“Eh, no. I actually wanted to do an experiment and thought your input would be helpful.”

“Ah, even better.” Hector sat the pile of papers down and came over. “And what experiment is it exactly? Please don’t blow up my store.” Hector’s curiosity was tempered by a word of caution.

“Nothing that crazy. Unless cutting this up will make it explode?” Botan asked.

“Remove the teeth first. The two pronounced teeth on the top and bottom jaws are each made of special materials that cause more sparks than flint and steel. If they are removed, you can proceed.” Hector advised, pulling out some wax paper so the butchered body would not stain his counter.

Botan proceeded to absorb one of the bodies.

.

[Dynamice Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Boom Bloom”

.

“Are you testing if repeat absorption benefits the holy flower?” Hector asked, after seeing Botan’s blank expression.

Botan then switched his weapon to the katana form and began cutting it into distinctive sections. As he did this, he replied. “No. Early I beat something called a Shrubblet. It gave me several weapon forms. It could have been because it was a plant, so my weapon had more in common with it… But I don’t think that’s it. The form names lined up with the different pieces I had separated it into prior.”

“Defeating a Shrubblet so soon is impressive. I see. You think that dissecting your kills will allow for more distinct weapon forms?” Hector guessed.

“Possibly. If so, I want to know. I could be leaving a lot of weapon forms behind by not doing this. This is still the best way I know to gain power.” Botan answered, finishing another heavy cut.

“Wait, still? …I’d imagine there was some way of you learning about the holy flower.”

“He’s right. I still haven’t gone through the entire help menu yet, but one step at a time.” Botan thought, finishing the process of cutting up the dynamice.

Botan then absorbed the parts he had separated, one at a time.

.

[Fire Flower Unlocked]

[Chattertooth Flower Unlocked]

[Fuse Flower Vine Unlocked]

.

Botan’s face brightened up, telling Hector that Botan’s experiment was a success. 

“Haha. I was right! The good news keeps on coming.” Botan said with some enthusiasm.

Hector quietly noted Botan’s expression and mannerisms. He could tell something happened to Botan in the short time since they last spoke. He subconsciously rubbed a still sore arm as he thought about that. 

“Hmm, you said ‘the good news keeps on coming’. What else have you accomplished in just one day?” Hector asked.

Botan showed Hector all the collected monster parts he had, as well as the egg. “I also made it to level 9! Will over at the forge said he had a job for me if I made it to level 10, but with my stats, I’ll be good now. That means potentially new armor. And this egg might get me my first party member.” Botan told him joyously.

“Hmm, what kind of egg is it?” Hector asked.

“...I was hoping you could tell me.” Botan answered with slight disappointment.

“I have a lot of general knowledge, but I’m hardly so smart as to easily possess the skills and knowledge of a dedicated expert on any subject. The bane of being a generalist. You’d need to ask a beast master.” Hector expressed.

A hand rested on Botan’s chin. “Huh, so this world has something like that as well?” Botan pondered aloud.

“Those who raise and domesticate monsters? Yes. Especially here in Mosden. With so many exotic monsters, it’s ideal. I believe the small village north of here has a noteworthy ranch. Might I suggest venturing there to find out about your mystery egg.” Hector said, moved to cleaning up the shop.

Botan’s smile left him when he saw Hector limping around. “Hey… sit down and I’ll-”

“You are far busier than I. Even if you cleaned up for me, it’s not like I'd sit still. I actually have things to do after this. So I’ll be limping around here one way or another. Go.” Hector said, sounding slightly annoyed.

Botan didn’t want to impose more. He quieted himself a moment. “Alright. I'll see you later.” Botan gathered his things and left.

“Don’t forget to check out that help menu, thing.” Hector reminded him.

Botan left as Hector waited until Botan turned the corner, out of sight. He sighed heavily, then returned to picking up his damaged shop. “That’s right, leave. If you get out of town for a while, the better.”

Botan left Hector’s place concerned for Hector, but very happy about his own progress. He could unlock multiple weapon forms from the monsters he had already defeated and many from anything new moving forward.

Botan decided to visit Willow's Whetstone first. After all, it was essentially a block away, well, 2 blocks away, since Botan currently didn’t have a boat. He went the long way around and saw the town more from an angle he hadn’t before. He never realized how many murals relied on the reflection in the water to make it whole. He found another spot on a bridge he planned to draw from. He made a mental note of that as he went. 

The town seemed weirdly lively right now. Despite the storm just hitting everyone was out and about. “...” Botan watched everyone for a moment. It wasn’t that the town was active despite the storm, they were active because of the storm. They were patching up damaged areas and surveying all the bridges. They must do this after every maelstorm.

Botan found himself liking the locals even more than he already did. They lacked the wealth other countries had, they had tougher and more varied monsters to deal with, and they had to rebuild their homes sometimes. And yet, they weathered the storms, figuratively and literally. They were a modest and hardy people. Botan needed to travel to other places later, but he wanted to keep this place as his home. “Or home away from home. I’ll get back there… someday.” Botan corrected his thinking.

Botan reached Willow's Whetstone soon enough and entered. He saw Walnut and two other younger kids cleaning up the small amount of damage that the maelstorm caused the shop. 

As soon as Walnut saw Botan, he greeted him. “Evergreen, welcome!” He said with enthusiasm. His words stirred the other kids to look up, stars in their eyes.

“Heya Walnut. Is your dad in? I was going to see about that request he had.” Botan began.

From the back came Willow, wanting to see what got his kids all excited and loud. “Huh, you’re saying you’re already level 10?” Willow asked in disbelief, having heard what Botan said.

“Level 9 to be honest, but I beat a level 17 shrubblet earlier so I figure I can handle some level 10 business.” Botan answered honestly.

Willow examined Botan a bit. “Your armor looks… terrible.” He said after a moment. “You sure you want to do this now? You and your party should probably gear up first.” Willow voiced his concerns.

“...Well, the only party member I’ve managed to get is this little guy.” Botan said, pulling the egg from the bag. “And besides, I’ve not been gaining a lot of money. Until I venture further from town, I’ll continue making chump change.” Botan assumed.

“...So you took down something nearly twice your level on your own?”

“I was level 7 when I killed it. That’s what brought me to level 9.”

“...Heh. Seems I was worrying over nothing. Alright kid, here’s the deal. We’re running low on a certain kind of metal. One that can’t be mined, it can only be harvested from the monsters that grow it.”

“Wait, how the hell do monsters grow metal?”

“I’m not the scholarly type, but I know my own trade. Some monsters just have metal bit on them. Not sure how they get them. Either way, the metal is very, very lightweight. It’d be perfect for you.”

Botan was sad that Willow didn’t have all the nerdy details on how and why some monsters possessed metal features, but he’d just ask Hector the next time they spoke. Something about what Willow said did catch his attention.

“Why would I want lightweight armor?” Botan asked.

“I mean, you are the Evergreen. Don’t you want as much mobility as possible to cast spells?” Willow asked in return.

Botan had failed to consider that. In this world, motion IS magic. So the more heavily armored you are, the fewer magical options you leave yourself. That was a big trade-off. One Botan had to think through.

“My weapon is magic based. I’m learning magic now… but I can’t afford to not have as much protection as possible. Then again, had I been wearing heavy armor when I fought that shrubblet, would that have made the fight easier or harder?” Botan thought a bit before having an idea.

“Couldn’t you make more jointed armor, like samurai?” Botan asked.

“What’s a samurai? Are you talking about the Ventus armor?” Willow asked in return.

“...Will, you know I don’t know what that is.” Botan replied in a deadpan manner.

“Same to you.” Willow pointed out.

“...” Botan realized he had to explain the concept to someone you have never seen a samurai.

“...” Willow waited awkwardly for Botan to speak.

“So like, heavily segmented armor set in a series of plates. So they move a bit with you as you move.” Botan finally said.

“Yeah, that sounds like Ventus armor.” Willow pulled out a sketched illustration of what he was assuming.

Botan glanced at it, then had to do a double take. There were two armors, one segmented as Botan wanted, it even sort of invoked some samurai motifs with the way the layers sat on one another. The other was so segmented and in just the right way that you could call it lamellar.

“Wow, this is awesome. Is this something you can do?” Botan was impressed.

Willow took exception to that remark. “Oi, I’m not the best blacksmith in the country or anything, but I’m not dull either. I have Ventusian clients from time to time.” He defended his craft.

Botan realized how it sounded. “Sorry. If you are willing, something like this is closer to what I want.” Botan said, pointing at the samurai. “But even that might be a bit much. I’ll probably need to tone down the amount of armor more.” Botan clarified.

The two went over what Botan would prefer for armor. He wanted the layered armor on his upper arms and upper legs like a samurai would. He also wanted a solid plate covering the front and back of his chest. The rest of his armor covered in the much smaller segments. Botan also wanted the new armored boots to be sabatons, with a much more upward pointing spiked tip meant to give the ends of the boots a long enough surface for standing on his toes. Any little thing to help him with maneuverability.

After a moment of fighting himself, Willow offered some advice he’d rather not give. “In that case… Listen kid, I’d normally never actually recommend this, but… There’s this other shop in town ran by an old lady-”

Botan’s panic activated. “Stop right there. She yelled at me and ran me out of her store.” Botan complained. Willow and the kids laughed at that.

“Yeah, she does that. Listen, she makes the robes used by Mosden’s professional dancers and the royal family. Her stuff is top notch. I think you ought to commission something from her and have me use it as a chassis for these armor attachments. It’d ensure quality.” Willow advised. He hated having to rely on someone else, but Willow wanted Botan to have the best armor he could make him.

Botan remembered something. “...Would this armor be the kind of armor I’d want to keep upgrading…?” He asked.

Willow smirked. “Yup. If you can bring me some of her work I’ll put in extra effort and make it something you’ll keep around.” Willow promised.

“...How much?” That was Botan saying yes.

“From me? Fulfill my request and it might not cost you anything. That old lady on the other hand, no idea.” Willow told him straight.

“Well then, what’s the request?” Botan asked.

Willow crossed his arms as he spoke. “I need some more of a certain kind of metal I use too often. It’s an extremely light metal for the defense it offers, that’s what I’ll be making your’s out of. Thing is, it ain’t the kind of thing you can dig up. It can only be found in certain monsters, [Malmetal].” He began explaining.

“Wait, what? From monsters? …How does that work?” Botan wanted all the nerdy details.

“My old master used to explain it as the monsters eat the dirt, but the minerals aren’t in the dirt, but now it’s in the monster… Not really my forte. Sorry, kid.” Willow brushed off the technical question.

Botan wanted to fall to his knees in emotional devastation, but he still had a way to learn his useless information. “I’d bother Hector to tell me later.” “So anyways, what kind of monsters have this [Malmetal]?”

“Lots of ‘em. Around here the Jackknife rabbits have a tiny bit, but it’s honestly not worth it. Those that gain a title become Jackknight rabbits, now those have quite a bit, and it’s better quality too. I’d say 10 of those would cover your materials, but… I need as much as you can get me. Like I said, it’s used to make a lot of alloys, it blends really well, meaning it’s ideal for long-term armor. Mean good paying customers and those looking for repairs need it. I still have a little in the back, but I’ll run through my supply in less than two weeks.” Willow finished explaining. 

“Understood. I saw a jackknife rabbit north anyways, which is where I’m going tomorrow. That old lady will be harder to deal with than those monsters.” Botan admitted.

“Haha, no kidding. I wish I had a [Demon Jar] to let you borrow. As is, you might want a bigger bag to carry all the [Malmetal] you collect.” Willow said casually with the laugh.

Botan became slightly serious and offended. He adopted a deadpan look, his eyes looked done with Willo’s shit. He’d teased him with metal monster lore and dropped the bomb, now this? Botan would not stand for it. “...Dude. You can’t just keep saying cool sounding things like that, you know I’m going to ask what that is.” He said in entirely too serious a manner.

“Ah, it’s a container that has a phantom space. It lets you carry a bunch of stuff with you.” Willow answered, not caring about Botan’s extreme reaction.

Botan was placated, for now. “Ah cool, they have stuff like that in this world. How much are they?” Botan asked.

Willow wasn’t playing along at all. “No idea, you can only get them in Ventus. They say that genius prince of theirs makes them.”

“...I can’t wait to visit Ventus.” Botan thought again.

Soon after Botan and Willow wrapped up their discussions and Botan left the store to again visit that evil old lady. Her shop seemed like the only building untouched by the storm. He prepared himself before he entered. 

He entered the shop to see the same little old lady manning the shop. She looked up at Botan, closing whatever book she was reading.

“Eh, come back, heh? That rubbish ‘armor’ ain’t doing too well, eh? Finally decided to buy some of me proper clothes, eh?” The little old lady spoke that odd way again.

Botan almost went down a rabbithole of thinking as to why he can hear an accent from her and less than proper language given that the holy flower supposedly translates for him. He instead stayed on point for a change.

“That’s right.” Botan showed her the holy flower. “I’m the holy flower hero and Tia has been teaching me to dance. I need something that isn’t going to weigh me down.” He told her.

Her eyes darted between the holy flower and Botan’s face.“I should have known better. Your eyes were far too pretty. So you are the Evergreen…” For a moment, she was filled with humility and reverence…, but only a moment. “Ah, finally speaking some sense. Tell me child, what exactly do you want?”

“... I want a full body suit… and a baggy robe.” Botan added to make it sound less suspicious.

“I see, I see. Both form fitting and loose. I need more details! Patterns? Color pairs? Speak!” She was far too excited.

Botan just wanted a featureless bodysuit from her for Willow to use as a basis for his new armor. That said, Botan liked designing things and if he could get a robe, he’d wear it over the armor.

“I’m good at drawing.” Botan took out some paper and started making a few sketches. “I was thinking something like this and-” Botan found himself giving this far more thought than he originally intended. He made and dismissed several ideas, keeping some common elements he liked. The old woman did not simply listen. She was very opinionated as well, but when Botan said he didn’t like something or did, she didn’t challenge it much.

At the end of the process was a result Botan liked quite a bit. The coloring was something he would have chosen, but the old woman told him the Evergreen needed to draw attention, not shy away from it. It’ll certainly grab attention. Botan liked that he’d be able to choose when to wear the robe atop his armor. He didn’t give any details on the bodysuit, telling her he’d have the robe for detail. Obviously the truth was any work on the bodysuit could be a waste about Willow was done with it.

He felt bad lying to the old woman, but it was the only way he’d get her to do as he asked. Eventually, Botan and the old lady finished their business, with Botan parting with some coin yet again. He was hoping that his armor was the last major expense he’d need to suffer, because he was still spending money faster than he could make it.

After all his other business was dealt with Botan went to Tia’s and explained to her how his day had gone, telling her about his breakthrough with magic, and everything else. Eventually, she wanted proof. Botan completed his five minute spin effortlessly soon after.

Tia stared a moment. “Your progress is so startling. I find myself not yet prepared for your rate of growth. I have to remind myself that you are from another world. Normally the rare talents like you learn magic from a young age. I guess natural genius and being an adult makes it understandable.”

“Heh, natural genius? That’s going a bit too far, don’t you think?” Botan felt a bit embarrassed.

“Of course not. You’ve mastered step one in less than a week. You might master step two within the month.” Tia said with confidence.

Botan thought she wasn’t being entirely honest, but even she thought that the next step would be harder. It made Botan nervous. He was basically a wizard and he was told he couldn’t cast spells until after the first wave. He was doing well. He beat an enemy more than twice his level with nothing but wit and his hero skills. 

“But would that be enough?” Botan thought, stealing a glance at the egg. “If I had a full party then-”  

Botan’s thought was interrupted by another. “Hey, Tia. Is there a maximum party size?”

Tia was already cooking food, she turned slightly to answer. “Nope. Well~, I should say people typically avoid going over a party of six. See, up to that point, each member of a party will receive the same EXP as if they were on their own. After six, the EXP is divided into smaller and smaller portions.” Tia said, adding some chopped meat to the dish.

“I hear that the Ivory company’s expeditions usually consist of 12 members, but even they choose to divide up into two parties…” Tia thought for a brief moment. “You’re thinking about forming a party? My dancers and I will find the time if you ask.” Tia offered.

“Possibly. If my party can go to the wave then…” Botan trailed off.

“Say the word. If you want us to back you up we absolutely will.” Tia said with conviction, dropping the spoon and placing a hand over her chest.

Botan was younger than those around him, but he was also supposed to be the hero. He felt he should be the one that held conviction. They had dinner a bit early because he wanted to discuss things with Tia. He figured he’d plan ahead with her. He would be gone from the capital for a few days at least and wanted to make sure he didn’t forget anything, seeing as he was quite forgetful.

After dinner, Tia was the first to speak. Not about his plans, but about more magic training. “Botan, this may be a bit sudden, but I’d like you to try the second step of magic training.”

Botan thought for a moment. “Yeah. Even though I’ll fail, the sooner I try it, the sooner I can begin figuring out how to solve it.” Botan eventually answered.

Tia smiled warmly. “That attitude of yours will take you far.” Tia said, moving to the closet to pull out the same large piece of wood she’d shown him yesterday.

Botan looked at it nervously. “That is step two? I thought that’d be the final step.”

Tia bore a mischievous smile. “Nope. Of the four steps to magical comprehension, this is only the second. You need to break the wood with a strike empowered by magic. Being a hero won’t help you here. Even I can’t break this wood without magic, and my level is quite high. I suggest not putting your full physical might into your attempts, as it doesn’t help and can only hurt you. Now, try your best.” Tia told him.

Botan stood and got ready. He’d use his hand to make sure that when it broke, it was because he understood and utilized magic, not because he had the Evergreen. He stood there a moment and realized he had no idea how to actually go about hitting it. Sure, he could throw a punch, but if the action didn’t at least somewhat align with a spell, he’d not be able to sense it out and correct any misalignments to achieve the spell. So how would he do it?

Botan took a low stance and tried throwing a punch. He squared his body, stepped into the attack and rotated his waist. He was hoping the movement would invoke something that he could then follow, but it didn’t work. He hit the wood and nothing happened. His face soured, but Tia was there to cheer him up.

“You already see the problem, and a lot more clearly than you saw last time too. I’m sure you’ll figure it out in time.”

“So step one was learning to follow the trails, but step two is finding them?” Botan asked.

Tia wore a poker face. “I’m not answering that.”

When Botan heard her response, he grinned. He had something planned now.

Botan smiled. “One more time?”

Tia thought it was odd but agreed. “Sure, hit it as many times as you like. Did you figure something out?”

“I kind of cheated.” Botan admitted. “Every time I come to the right conclusion you praise and compliment me. Positive reinforcement is good and all, but that means I just read you.” Botan bagan explaining.

“Oh?” Tia kept her poker face.

“Yeah. When I said ‘step two is finding them’ you refused to answer. If that was correct, you’d have given positive reinforcement. So that assumption I had must be wrong… Which means-” Botan finished his explanation by spinning like he did for step one then launching out his right leg, striking and shattering the wood.

Tia stood, stunned.

“If this training isn’t to find the trails… and you can not create a spell because the spells are predetermined… Then You have to start on a trail you know and walk it down a new path!” Botan reveled in being right on the money. “So, once I do eventually learn a few starting movements, I can branch off from them to become what I need. So, as long as I use step one to make sure I’m on a trail and use step two to branch off from those starting points… I can reach all kinds of spells, right?” Botan asked.

After a moment to recover from the shock, Tia practically threw herself at Botan. “That was incredible! You passed step two in two attempts! That has to be the fastest that anyone has ever passed step two in all of history!” She yelled, hugging Botan in delight.

“Ehh. If I didn’t sus an answer out of you, it would have taken me a week at least.” Botan tried calming her down.

“Don’t you downplay this! You’d have discovered that by tomorrow. To perform a spell on the spot. That’s something professional dancers are expected to do!” Tia wasn’t calming down.

Eventually, Botan calmed her down enough. Botan cleaned up the mess he made by shattering the wood, while Tia made a dessert to reward Botan for his effort. “Tia really was a well of positive reinforcement like he said. She was a very warm and caring woman. Alder was lucky to have such a good mother.” Botan thought.

The two spoke into the early night, before Botan thought to mention the time. “Isn’t it getting late?”

“If you want to retire, you can. I have to stay up in case I’m called on.” Tia offered.

“Hmm? You don’t normally do that. What’s so special about tonight?” Botan asked, now opening his pack and reviewing his supplies.

“The envoy with the prince we sent to the international conference for the waves was to return early today, but was delayed by the maelstorm. So they’ll be coming any minute now. There’s a chance I will be called on. It’s my duty to wait to receive orders.” Tia told him.

Botan didn’t say anything immediately, but Tia’s expression and tone dipped for just a moment when she mentioned the prince. He saw that she was tired, but would stay regardless. He decided to not pry into her business, instead realizing he needed a much bigger bag if he was to leave town and survive in the wilderness.

After a brief pause, Tia asked something to break the silence that formed. “When do you plan to party with the dancers?”

Botan smiled. “I might soon. Will, the blacksmith, had some kind of job he wanted me to do for him once I got this strong. After I complete that, I think I should focus on gaining levels.” Botan openly shared his plans with her.

It was strange. He wasn’t an open book all the time. He often kept some stuff to himself, but Tia was the person that brought him to this world and her home was the most comfortable place Botan had. He felt that he could trust her more implicitly than he could others, even Hector. 

Tia had just managed to put away the dishes as she responded. “Hmm, have you already unlocked all the weapon forms from the immediate monsters around us? Levels are nice, but they are not the only thing to consider.” She asked.

“I actually still have a few I need to unlock…”. Botan drifted into his next thought. “But they are not the only things to consider.” Botan ended up saying aloud.

Tia picked up on that “In that case, I guess I’ll have to throw you into the deep end and tell you about the third test for magic.” Tia said with her now signature mischievous smile.

“...” Botan winced. “I’m in a good mood, mercy.” He quietly begged.

“It’s fine. You can’t even do it here, so it’s not like I’m making you do anything else tonight. Just letting you know for the future.” She clarified herself and comforted Botan.

Botan was curious. “Why can’t I do it here?”

“It’s because you’ll need a surface of water.” Tia answered.

“...No, you’re joking.” Botan immediately guessed correctly what kind of stupid test he’d be doing next.

“You’ll have to learn to dance across water.” Tia confirmed.

“And let me guess, there’s a trick to it just like the others? Something new I haven’t dealt with? Something I have to figure out without even knowing what I’m looking for?” Botan asked knowingly. He said, his head slowly coming to meet the table.

“Of course. It wouldn’t be much of a lesson if you didn’t learn something new.” Tia said with zero sympathy.

Botan sat his head on the table “Step one was become a Beyblade, step two was become Steve from Minecraft, and now step three is become Jesus fucking Christ!? What the fuck is step four!? I'm too scared to guess!” Botan thought, loudly.

Tia saw the reaction and roughed Botan’s hair a bit. “Calm down. Don’t make it a race, you’re already winning by any standard we could be measuring. Like you said, you have weapon forms to unlock and that quest from Will. You don’t need to pursue this exclusively or overtly. The reason you’re learning things this way is because you’ll be a better dancer for coming to the conclusions for yourself.” Tia said in an upbeat manner.

“How so?” Botan asked. He wasn’t calling her a liar, he just wanted to get her to accidentally spill the bea-

“I’m not going to give too much away again. I know how sharp you are now.” Tia read his intentions immediately.

“C’mon.” Botan pouted like he would with his own mother.

“All I’ll say is that I could teach anyone how to break that wood in an afternoon, but if I did that… You’d need a year to pass test 3 and you would never ever pass test 4.” Tia said resolutely.

“What!? A year?”

“I’m not exaggerating. Taking 50 steps on a water’s surface is not something the lazy and unattuned can achieve. You’d need to learn the other small lessons that step one and two taught you that you haven’t realized yet. Lessons that I can’t imagine you learning if you had too much information on the subject.” Tia warned against him fishing for answers.

“Huh, ‘unattuned’? That gives me a hint…, but not really. I should expect this test to take me a lot longer, best to do as she said and… That’s right, I need to check my help menu. I keep getting distracted.” Botan opened up his menu while speaking to Tia. “But I have to head north to that town with a beastmaster Hector was speaking of. Will’s request might also send me somewhere. You’re right that levels aren’t everything. If I can manage to get new equipment and hatch this egg, I’d be feeling a lot better.” Botan told her.

Botan saw something that caught his eye.

[Flower Hero Power Up Methods]

“Now this is what I was looking for!” Botan thought.

[Method 1: Bouquet Bonus (Core): The power of all weapon forms is boosted by the total number of weapon forms unlocked.]

As soon as he read this, he looked at his weapon forms. They were definitely stronger than he remembered. Not by a crazy amount, but as he collected more weapon forms that’d change. Even new forms would be unlocked already boosted by this method. So some cool weapon form he unlocks later that would be barely within his level to use would already be boosted for each and every weapon form he had. “And I just learned how to get a lot more weapon forms too!”

Botan went back to his help menu eagerly.

[Method 2: Cultivation: Each weapon form can blossom into a more fully powered form by sacrificing certain amounts of certain items to that form. No power is gained until all required items have been sacrificed.]

“What? I can upgrade weapon forms? How do I-?” Botan thought as he looked back at his weapon forms. He saw an oval shaped symbol on the screen of the [Grass Blade]. He tapped it, opening up a sub-menu.

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Blade]

[Necessary material for Cultivation are as followed]

[10 different types of grass] [2 completed]

[5 whetstones]

[3 different monster carapaces] [1 completed]

“Hmm, whetstone because it’s a blade? The grass makes sense… The carapaces… because katana equals samurai and samurai armor is based on bugs? That’s a bit of a stretch.” Botan studied the information. “If I can find two more types of bug monsters, doing this won’t be too hard. I could-more importantly, why am I just now seeing this? There was definitely no oval symbol there before. But now they all have it. No, I’m 100% sure they weren’t there before. Is it some kind of tutorial thing? Where they don’t let you access certain options until you’ve gone through the proper tutorial?” Botan had a number of guesses.

Botan would puzzle over these questions after making sure there were no more cool power up methods in the help menu. But just as he went to do so-

Slam

Alder came stumbling in loud and frantically. Botan and Tia both shot their heads up to see the commotion. Alder looked like he was crying and had a black eye, or maybe just slightly bruised.

“...Sweety, what’s wrong? What happened?” Tia asked, none of the professionalism she used in public was present.

Alder went to speak, but saw Botan. He opened his mouth, but the words died in his throat. “I… … The envoy has returned. I’d like to rest.” Was all he managed to say.

Botan was not clueless. He could tell he was keeping them from speaking. “I’ll excuse myself. I see you after I return from my trip.” Botan told them, putting his bag and shoes on.

Alder calmed down extremely quickly from what little Botan said and turned to him. “You’re leaving the capital for more than a day’s outing?” He asked, seriously.

“Uh, yeah. I have a request from a blacksmith that’ll net me better armor and I have a monster egg and need to hit up a beast master at the ranch north of here to find out the species. Don’t worry, I’ll be back when I can. I’m not planning to visit the other countries until I at least get a taste of what the waves are like.” Botan told him.

“...By yourself?” Alder asked, now paying a lot of attention.

“It’s fine, I killed a level 17 today, I got this.” Botan assured him, thinking he was concerned.

“...I’d like to accompany you.” Alder responded. It didn’t sound like an offer.

“Um, what?” Botan was lost in the sudden conversation.

“I said I’d like to join your party.” Alder made it sound more like an offer now.

Botan wanted to say yes, but- “...I mean, that’d be great…, but as an advisor, are you allowed to just-?”

Alder cut him off. “I’ve been given leave. Do not worry. With bro-the prince back, I’m not as needed, but helping you is still something Mosden hasn’t done as much as we should have. So I’ll correct that personally.”

Tia looked at her son for a moment, sad. She’d looked sad since she saw him. “...If you think that’s best. Botan, Alder is a very gifted dancer, at least as gifted as myself, if not more so. He also has lived in Mosden and this world his whole life. He’d be a great help to someone still new to this world.”

Botan looked at Alder confused. There was clearly more going on here, but he didn’t feel like either was tricking him. Alder looked like he was about to fall to pieces when he walked in the door, yet now he had the same levelheaded look he’d seen him with the first time they met. He thought only for a moment.

“O-Of course. This’ll be very reassuring.” Botan eventually answered.

“Thank you…” Alder replied.

“...” Botan said nothing.

“...” Tia and Alder said nothing, they seemed to be expecting something..

“What?” Botan finally asked.

“Are you going to send the party invite or should I?” Alder asked nervously.

“Oh…” Botan had to be explained that parties were a tracked system within the status magic and not simply formed through verb agreements. After which they showed him how to send an invite. Soon enough they were partied and agreed to meet at the northern exit of the town the following morning by midday, as they were both up too late to head out early. Botan was sent on his way with a smile and a wave… Once the door was shut, the mood changed.

Tia softly clasped Alder’s face and eyed the damage in concern and rage. “What happened!?” She demanded, a tear preemptively falling.

“Mom, leave it. What’s done is done.” Alder said, tired and defeated.

“That fucking bastard put his hands on MY son! It isn’t done, he is!” Tia shouted with anger she’d not shown before.

“You can’t. You know you can’t…” Alder hugged his mother and tried to calm her down.

“I can turn that castle into a glass floor in one dance!” Tia screamed.

Alder stayed calm, for the both of them. “I know, but you still can’t.” He told her.

Tia was trembling in rage. “...This is the last straw. Whatever love I have for Mosden, it’s less than my love for you. When… When Erich passes, we will not suffer this anymore. We’ll move north, somewhere quiet. He can win, I don’t care anymore.” Tia managed to say after some time.

Alder frowned. “I don’t want to leave… The Ivory Company will jump on the newly minted king like jackals. Baobab isn’t going to be enough to discover and diffuse all the traps they’ll place. I have to help.” He said, resolute.

“...He removed you from your job as advisor, didn’t he?” Tia asked.

“...” They both stood there, holding each other, staring off somewhere else.

“Then how are you going to help Mosden?” Tia asked.

“...” Seconds passed.

“...” Then nearly a minute.

“I guess I’ll start by helping the Evergreen.” Alder said, sounding like he was out of options.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we’ll be discussing [Malmetal]. Malmetal could be said to be a naturally occurring metal or not depending on how you view things. [Malmetal] is created when monster consume several different types of minerals, none of which are yet [Malmetal]. Stomach acid then break down these varying minerals. The newly separated minerals and the stomach acid allows for a chemical reaction that forms a new metallic alloy to form via atomic bonding, [Malmetal]. This is why some say it is naturally occurring and others don’t. It’s made, but can only be produced in nature, as far as people are aware.

[Malmetal] isn’t very toxic like other metals due to having maintenance itself after bonding. Most monsters have at least a small amount of [Malmetal] in their blood and it causes them no harm.

Various monsters actively try to cultivate [Malmetal] in their body by eating dirt directly in small amounts over time. Some monsters have more specialized ways of acquiring [Malmetal], such as eating the fruit from hyperaccumulator plants that gather the minerals for them.

These monsters often have the metal replace crucial parts of their bodies that are solid with [Malmetal], such as horns, claws, teeth, tusks, bones and armored hide.

Because this process takes time and materials, one’s own level has nothing to do with how much [Malmetal] a creature possesses. Time and opportunity are the factors that decide that. That said, a monster with more [Malmetal] has usually been around a long time and been successful in thriving.

As hunters say - “Levels don’t mean [Malmetal], but [Malmetal] means levels.” when accessing monsters to hunt or avoid.

.

Chapter Text

The next day was one Botan was anticipating. Sure, Alder seemed to be having a lot going on that he wasn't being honest about, but he seemed genuine in wanting to help Botan. Doing this with someone else was going to be far more enjoyable and fruitful anyway. He'd also be able to ask the type of simple questions that a stranger would judge Botan for not knowing about this world. He went to meet Alder at the appointed spot a little ahead of schedule, but was stopped by a few guards. It was the same ones that had been worried about Botan the day prior.

"Ah, Evergreen. I'm glad we caught you. Prince Raucar wanted to see you as soon as possible."

"Huh, he just returned from a long trip late last night and he's already up? …Or had yet to sleep. Either way, he's taking time to talk to me when his father will die soon. I should respect that." Botan thought for a moment.

"Understood. I'll go there immediately." Botan replied, turning to follow the guard.

Before long Botan was brought to the throne room. The room seemed brighter than the last time he had entered the room. That made sense considering the room was empty before. With the light to reveal more of the room to him, Botan's opinion of the castle improved quite a bit. He'd never noticed how polished the stone walls were. That they were made from many different colored rocks to make artwork within the walls themselves. That the ceiling of the room was twice as high as he thought it would be, explaining the odd chilling breeze he was feeling.

There was a young man sitting in a chair in front of the throne. He had a dozen knights lining the walls on either side of him. Botan could tell this was the prince, his hair was as dark as the king's.

"He isn't sitting on the throne that's right behind him? I guess it's because he isn't the king. Hmm. Well, whether out of respect for his father or respect for the law, those small things really matter. That's commendable." Botan thought as he saw the arrangement of the room and the people in it.

"This is the Evergreen, Botan Nakaya." The guard that guided Botan to the room announced.

The man stood to greet him. He was a bit taller than himself, and had broader shoulders. The weird thing to Botan was that even though the prince was tall, he wore boots and gloves that still seemed too big for him. The most noticeable part of his wardrobe was that he wore a large monster's pelt at his back. It made him look intimidating, or at least that was probably the intent of such a large fashion statement. The prince had pitch black hair and yellow eyes, same as his father.

The man moved forward, positioning himself just before the stairs, offering a hand to Botan. He instinctively took his hand and shook it in greeting the prince, their positions placed Botan much lower than the prince.

"Those clothes don't really fit him well… And they seem to be far too flashy. It's like he's trying to telegraph that he's tough. But I learned in my previous world that confidence is quiet… Maybe it's because he's about to become king?" Botan thought after eyeing the prince.

"It's good to have met you, Evergreen. I am the crowned prince of Mosden, Raucar Mosden. I only heard of the successful summoning when I returned home last night. I'm sorry I could not speak with you earlier." The man spoke strongly, straining his voice.

Botan again felt like something was going on that he knew little about, but tried just being straightforward with the prince.

"It's fine. Tia and the others said you were attending some super important meeting at the time. The one that decided to summon me when the hourglasses began counting down." Botan did his best waving away those concerns.

He noticed the prince flinching at Tia's name for some reason. His teeth clearly clinched and he drew in a low quick breath as her name was said.

"Speaking of… how much time do we have?" The prince asked, concern and anxiety poorly hid behind a tough demeanor.

Botan looked at the countdown briefly. "Just over 15 days." He replied.

The prince brought a hand to his chin, clearly worried. "We'll need to prioritize helping your growth to ensure your success in defending Mosden from the wave of catastrophe. I'm sorry we've not yet provided you with any allies or training. I understand that it must be frustrating. That changes immediately. I will personally select the 5 best fighters in Mosden and do everything in my power to provide you with whatever you need." The prince told Botan, trying to sound thoughtful.

He thought the prince was worried, so he tried putting him at ease. "Things haven't been that bad… and even then, you don't need to worry about me running off to another country until after the wave."

The prince grimaced. "As I said, I know your stay here hasn't been the best so far but-"

"Don't misunderstand. Even once I leave, I plan to return. It's just that I need to register to their hourglasses and gather unique resources from them as well. As I told your father, Mosden saved my life by summoning me. So I'll help however I can." Botan interrupted with clarification.

The prince quieted a moment. His father had mentioned something to that effect, but didn't know how much stock to put in that, given they hadn't provided him any help outside of some coin.

"I see… Forgive me then. Would you be willing to make due with three party members?" The prince asked. "We need every hand we can right now." He added.

"Two more party members would be great. Would these two extra party members be ready soon? We were hoping to leave on an excursion as soon as this meeting is over."

"Two? We?" The prince seemed lost.

"...uh, what?" Botan stood there for a moment, confused, before clarifying. "Oh, I thought Alder was included in the three offered."

The prince's fists tightened. "...Why would he?" He asked.

"Huh? Because he joined my party last night and he said he was given leave and wanted to help me with his time off." Botan told him, confused.

The prince wanted to laugh. "Huh, leave. I see. Instead of Alder, I'll get the five best fighters we hav-"

"You just said, you'd prefer to give me three. Why raise it back to five? So that I won't party with Alder?" Botan asked.

"...Yes." Raucar eventually answered, knowing he had revealed too much.

"Why?" Botan asked further, curious about the unexpected prejudice towards Alder. The prince didn't respond simply choosing to stare at him, mouth unmoving.

"..." The two stayed in silence. After about 10 seconds, Botan sighed.

He shifted on his feet, getting ready to move. He wasn't going to waste his time waiting for answers all day. "If you can't answer that, then when could the three other party members join us?"

"They could join as early as midday." The prince answered, eager for the change in subject.

"Too late. Alder said the trip we have planned should only take two days, but that we'd make it four to explore some nearby areas."

"...Why would you prefer Alder over 5 of Mosden's greatest?" The prince asked with a bit of temper to his voice.

"Oh, he's getting mad. Time to backtrack!'" Botan became a little more aware of himself.

"Well, no offense, but I assume the 5 greatest fighters in Mosden are all members of the Ivory Company. I learned how they leave you with few talented options. Plus, Tia is worried about Alder, so I want him to come along. And lastly, Alder is supposed to be a great dancer and I need training." Botan listed his reasons, trying to keep an even and friendly tone as to not let his nervousness show.

"Please rethink the Ivory Company." The prince's face went to pure worry, a stark contrast from the way the prince had presented himself up until now. There was a real panic in his eyes, if for but a moment.

"I'm not considering the Ivory Company at all. I've made up my mind to help Mosden after speaking to Tia and the king, the day I arrived. I'm just pointing it out. I've read their contract… not a fan.." Botan clarified.

"I see." The prince sighed. "You are a frustrating one." He said with more honesty than he had up until now.

"Huh?" Botan was caught off guard.

"I'd thought that I'd have to offer you everything to not get sucked in by the Ivory company, yet you already refuse them. Yet you deny my offers, while still promising to help Mosden. All while partying with that b-… with Alder." The prince corrected himself.

"..." Botan gave him a look and said nothing.

"Sorry. Father is dying and I'm expected to fill his shoes. Yet I read you and the situation completely wrong. Even being denied by you several times in the course of only a few minutes… It's frustrating to see how poorly I measure up right now." The prince admitted, letting the mask slip some.

Seeing this, Botan felt more comfortable. "I guess I'm not acting in a typical manner. Sorry about that. Anything else?" Botan half turned.

"No."

Botan went to leave, but stopped a moment."...How's the king doing?" He asked.

The prince's face changed to a half-grief stricken, half-anger filled smile, his eyes radiating sadness and worry."He's worse than when I left… I don't think he'll last another month." All the guards in the room seemed to be saddened at that news, faltering in their stances.

"When I return, I'd like to speak with him again, if possible." Botan requested.

"Of course… but he won't be of much help." The prince replied.

"I know, but if I can make major changes and if the king is as well-suited a ruler as people say, he might have some guidance for me. Something I'd hate to miss out on." Botan illuminated.

The prince thought for a moment. "Of course. I can't force him to wake, but I'll inform you when he's next able to speak once you return."

"Thanks, Raucar." The flower hero said with a wave, turning to leave.

Once the doors were closed, Baobab walked out from a side room with a smug smile plastered on his face. "This was what I was telling you, prince. The Evergreen seems very reliable, if a bit too sentimental." He commented.

Without Botan there, the prince was now shaking with rage, all semblances of his mask having been erased. "That sneaky bastard. How quickly he acts. I finally throw his ass out of the castle and he manages to worm his way into the Evergreen's party in mere hours!?" The prince threw his chair violently.

The castle staff stared, uninterested. This didn't seem to be all that surprising to them.

Baobab was unfazed by the anger he was witnessing. "Consider the upsides. Alder is an excellent dancer and has a keen mind. He'll be of help to the Evergreen." He pointed out, a calming smile still firmly on his face.

Would the prince consider this?

"Don't compliment that bastard… How did Alder party with him so quickly? This must be a plot of his. He might have been planning this the whole time." The prince's irritation quickly shifted to inquiring.

Baobab replied promptly, and kindly. "Please consider the rational answers before the irrational. Alder likely returned to his home right after what you did last night. Tia has been giving dancing lessons to the Evergreen. So they likely just met there." Baobab stated.

Raucar looked angrier now, but did what he could to control his temper. "Why have you allowed the Evergreen to meet with Tia regularly?" He asked, barely managing not to shout.

A knight had picked the prince's chair up and placed it softly back where it was before, just in front of the throne.

Baobab nodded to the knight in acknowledgement before responding. "Because she's the best dancer in Mosden, and as a point of correction to young Botan's earlier remark, she's very easily within the 5 strongest of our modest kingdom." Baobab responded.

Baobab was attentive and wore a smile on his face, but it was clear by his unfocused eyes that he had no interest in this conversation.

"Stop pouring praise on that whore." The prince spat.

"No." Baobab said with the same even and ever-patient tone he'd been using.

"Excuse me?" The prince was livid, his rage increasing by the minute, evident by his shaking fists, which were clenched tight enough for Baobab to see the veins in them.

"I said 'no'. She's a major asset to Mosden and fiercely loyal. That goes for your… for her son as well. And frankly speaking, I don't appreciate the manner in which you are speaking about my colleague and comrade." Baobab added.

"I'm your next king! Do you delight in pissing me off!?" Raucar accused in anger.

Baobab's smile fell in one clean motion. In an instant, it was one of disgust. "Of course not. Nothing about you has been delightful in months." The remark immediately caused the prince's rage to pause for a split second, being replaced by one of shock, followed by sadness. Not willing to watch the prince act like a drunkard, he left the room before Raucar could respond.

…

Botan lacked enough information to know what the hell was going on around him. That wasn't exactly new. He'd been bumbling his way around an entirely different world for days, but this wasn't just about a lack of information. Botan was out of his depth. He didn't understand the weird political stuff. If he had to explain it… It felt different than with the Ivory Company. He wasn't entirely at the center of whatever political mess was going on here, unlike everyone trying to get him on their side. In that situation, he was a prize others were fighting over. That wasn't a great feeling, but it meant he had some control over the situation.

This though? It wasn't about him. It was about Alder, and Tia… and this meant he couldn't really get what was going on or have any real ability to change things, which gave him the enviable position of being able to just ignore it. And there was a strong urge to abuse that privilege, if only to escape this confusion.

Soon after leaving the castle he got his supplies and headed to the northern gate. When he arrived, Alder was waiting for him. His eye seemed to have no signs of the injury from last night. Upon seeing Botan approach, he waved at him. Botan waved to greet his new party member in return. "Sorry about leaving so early." He spoke first.

"Don't worry about it. It's a smart decision. It'll take us most of the day to get there if we are stopping to fight monsters and such. Best to leave now. The Mosden wilderness at night is not something I'd feel comfortable with you dealing with at this point." Alder answered.

That made it sound like Alder himself would be fine. Botan didn't like the idea of having someone who was a higher level than him babysitting him. He'd gain levels quickly, but his ability to actually fight left much to be desired yet. He decided to just say as much.

"You may find it easy to handle yourself, but try not to overindulge me. My pride is still wounded from those damned beetles beating my ass. Without skills, I'm still very below average. I need to improve." He told Alder as they passed out of the city gates, heading north.

Alder seemed amused. "I'd like to think I'll be as thorough a teacher as my mother. I won't baby you. Though, if you did pass the second test, fighting should get easier." Alder assured him.

"Why is that?" Botan asked automatically.

Alder then went on to explain what he should do next instead of trying to pass test three. He explained that just as one would be able to start off the path of the spin to reach the branch of a magic-infused kick, like Botan had the night before, there were numerous forks in the road for that path. More importantly, there were other paths. Other starting positions, of which Alder said there were more than three dozens options for humans in this world, with most people being able to use about half of the human options, restricted by size. However, many people do not learn more than three. Alder himself had a fair bit of mastery over a dozen.

As for why that'd make fighting easier, "It's like this, As you learn to sense the correct movements and read the way you should move, you can begin to rely on it to guide you through a fight in some ways. It's not a clear guide, more like showing vague suggestions, but my mother believes that following those paths is among the best teachers you could find." Alder explained.

"Huh. 'Among the best'? So she still believes that some teachers would prove equally useful?" Botan asked, his hands now comfortably behind his head as the two young men slipped into an easy walking pace.

Alder found himself also relaxing, his brain easing into the two things that were important right now, the conversation and the road. "I mean, I told you shape matters, right? Well, if you're holding a weapon, your shape is different." Alder began.

Botan turned to face Alder with an exaggerated blink, having not considered that.

Upon seeing the change in him, Alder continued. "Yeah. There are different paths gained and lost when you are holding a weapon. And yes, the type of weapon matters."

Botan thought a moment before asking a few more questions, and Alder did his best to answer them. What did this conversation boil down to?

Did all swords have the same options? Mostly, but larger, longer, and curved swords had their own slight differences.

What about spears and staves? Polearms mostly shared the same options, with the added benefit of having the greatest number of added options of any weapon.

Then Botan asked a question that Alder wanted to demonstrate instead of just explaining.

"So what about elemental magic? Fireballs and lightning bolts, and that kind of thing? That's like the most basic magic, right?" Botan asked.

Alder stopped. "No. Elemental magic is considered intermediate in terms of complexity. Other than dancers, people do not tend to graduate from that point. When we get into a fight, I will show you what to expect." He voiced calm and confident.

Botan noticed the immediate shift in tone of his companion. Alder seemed worried in his first meeting, and very upset last night. Away from the city, just speaking about dancing, the young man seemed very confident and comfortable. Botan initially thought that Alder's personality wouldn't mesh well with his own. He was glad he was wrong, as Alder was proving more and more reliable as time passed.

After a few more minutes, they saw a monster. One that Botan knew well, the [Psuedo-pede]. This one seemed far stronger than the one he fought before. The Beetles were individually larger, but more importantly, the number of beetles was just over 10. That made it more than twice the size as the last one.

Alder took a step forward. "Let me show you an elemental spell, yeah?"

Botan crossed his arms. "Alright, tough guy. You just want to show off?"

"Hey, hey. This is educational." Alder argued.

Botan went to say something else, but Alder's expression changed. He lowered himself about a foot with his knees bent, then slid back just a bit.

[Backdraft] Alder said in an even tone, a small ring of embers began to form at his feet.

Botan wished there was something more. "That's not much of a spell-"

Alder then slid his feet forward again, touching the edge of the formed ring with his shoe as he thrust his right arm forward in an open palm. His left arm maintained a grip on his right arm, holding it steady.

[Launching Palm]! The embers died around Alder as all the heat, smoke and light focused into Alder's palm then shot outward. Firing off a ball of fiery energy that quickly reached its destination. It killed the first monster on impact, then exploded, dealing with three more.

In less than three seconds, Alder had finished off four foes.

That got Botan thinking. "I was worried that magic being triggered by motions meant that they'd be slow, but…"

"Damn. Way to sell me on the idea. My turn." Botan was now more excited to try.

"Wait, what?" That caught Alder off guard.

"My turn. You gotta shoot a spell. I want to try." Botan insisted.

"Heh. The first spell was intermediate, and it's a two-spell process." Alder said, not seeing how Botan could possibly cast the spell this soon.

"Just watch." Botan bent down, as Alder did.

Botan paused. He felt it, this was one of the starting paths he was told about. He could try to repeat what Alder did, reading the paths to make sure he did so, but… He felt something else. He felt a different path that felt more… right for him. Instead of sliding back and dragging the ground aggressively, like Alder did, Botan shifted his weight, gliding back gracefully, almost as if his feet were just not touching the ground.

[Updraft] Botan said, not knowing how he knew to call it that.

A small circle of wind swirled around him, just as the embers did with Alder. Alder was beside himself seeing Botan cast a spell for the first time. Unfortunately, they were both too focused on the spell, and not the target. The group of monsters had moved closer and reached out grabbing Botan by the head with its vice-like pincers.

Alder thought the creature was going to crush Botan's head like a grape and went to act, but-

"Dammit. Took too long." Botan complained casually as the monster tossed him to the ground. Botan sighed and picked himself up, dusting himself off. "Welp. It took too long. Maybe next time?" He said, still casual.

Alder just stared at him a moment with a blank silly face for a moment. "What the hell was that?" He eventually managed to ask.

"Oh, I guess I'm more naturally inclined to wind?" Botan questioned it himself.

"Not that! How are you alive!? It grabbed you by the skull!" Alder was clearly flustered.

"Dude, I told you. They just toss you on the ground." Botan told him matter-of-factly.

"Dude. No they do not." Alder replied in a mocking version of Botan's matter-of-factly tone.

Botan adopted the same blank silly expression as Alder before holding his arms out and jumping at the monster without fear. "Observe."

"No! Stop that! You could… could…" Alder stopped himself watching as the disappointment mounted.

Botan was caught by those same violent pincers, then thrown to the ground unceremoniously yet again.

"Told you." Was all Botan said.

"That… That doesn't make any sense?" Alder's brain had stopped working.

"But you saw it, twice." Botan pointed out the obvious.

Alder tried arguing. "Yes, but-"

"Make it thrice." Botan jumped at the monster again. And again was tossed to the ground.

"...I…I don't know what to believe anymore." Alder said in a tired tone.

"When was the last time you fought these things yourself? They just toss you bro." Botan was sure he was right.

Alder thought for a moment and stepped forward. He went to raise his arms, but stopped and jumped away. The monster snapped to attention and attempted to impale Alder with its pincers in a quick efficient manner it hadn't done until now.

[Spin]! Botan saw this and came in to strike the second from the lead body, killing it. The front one fell, but before the remaining body could pick it up, Alder came down with a magic infused stomp. Killing the bug in a most appropriate manner.

"See? That's how this monster normally acts." Alder said in a complaining tone. Though it was more annoyance in actually trying what Botan said.

Botan rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry. I guess they are taking it easy on me."

Alder let it go. "It's fine. I'll distract it, you try that spell again."

"Shouldn't we just finish it off?" Botan asked.

Alder was already walking back towards the monster. "No. You need to learn to cast faster if you're going to want to use spells in real scenarios." Alder explained.

"Fine, fine. One wind blast coming right up." Botan said casually.

As Alder engaged the five remaining beetles, Botan readied himself again. He'd finish the spell this time, and do it faster. He took the lowered stand and glided backwards, setting up the whirlwind.

[Updraft] he said as he finished.

"Now…" Botan gilded forward a bit, doing his best to both mimic Alder as well as read the path of movement he needed to take. [Launching Pa-] Botan must have done something wrong, because the wind he gathered escaped in all directions, throwing him into the air a few feet and falling on his ass.

A moment later, Alder walked over. "I dealt with them…"

"That right…?" Botan laid there, embarrassed.

"Yup…" Alder stood there, staring down at him,

"..." A moment of uncomfortable silence passed.

"Don't be so sour. I'd feel far less proud of my own achievements as a dancer if you mastered chaining spells this quickly. You'll get it, sooner than most." Alder finished offering a hand.

Botan took it and was pulled back to his feet. "Yeah, I get it. I gotta work for it. I just hate being thrown on my ass." Botan replied.

"If so, why'd you gleefully let those monsters toss you? Three times?" Alder asked, a small smirk forming.

Botan pat the dirt off of him while replying. "There are fewer joys in life than being proven right in real time. Okay?"

"Heh, agreed." Alder answered.

From there, Botan absorbed the monsters. He had absorbed these monsters before, but now that he knew that absorbing dissected parts meant he'd unlock new forms. He explained this to Alder.

[Companion Beetle Pincer Flower unlocked]

[Companion Beetle Carapace Flower unlocked]

"Nice."

He then checked if the carapace he just absorbed could be used to help bloom his [Grass Blade], but no.

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Blade]

[Necessary material for Cultivation are as followed]

[10 different types of grass] [2 completed]

[5 whetstones]

[3 different monster carapaces] [1 completed]

He'd need more different bugs to complete that. More importantly. "While we travel, I need samples of different grasses. And I need five whetstones." He told Alder.

Botan didn't know anything about plants. Sad to say as the holy flower hero. He couldn't really tell the difference between types of grass, but Alder could.

Over the course of the next 10 hours they fought well over a dozen monster encounters. Botan dissected and absorbed them all, happy that a few had some of that [Malmetal] he was searching for. He unlocked many new forms, which was always nice. Though, none of them were that great.

In that time, Alder managed to identify 5 more types of grass for Botan to absorb. They found the whetstones when they stopped at a section of the road that went over a small creek, something rare with Mosden's geography.

Botan was very grateful for Alder. Not for the help locating items, or even the extra help in battle. He was grateful for not being alone. Botan was the type of person quick to ask a question, while Alder was the type of person that made it his business to know answers. Probably from his training to be an advisor. Either way, it meant there was very little dead air between the pair. They were talking the whole way, which they both preferred.

They had been walking uphill for a fair bit, following the road down a valley and now over the opposing hill. The environment had been very pleasant. Unlike the swamps, rainforests, and other wild areas, he was now experiencing rolling hills of most open fields. This was probably the nicest area in Mosden. Which meant more humans, which in turn meant less monsters. This area was also probably safe for Botan to travel alone, not that he'd need to.

They crested the hill and could now see the village. Botan was expecting a huge wall around them to keep monsters out, but that wasn't the case. The village had a lot of farm land, which was probably why it couldn't be walled in. The village and farms were surrounded by a trench no deeper than two feet with a very short wall atop it. Botan almost didn't see the point, even small kids could climb that.

"But maybe it's not meant to stop monsters. Maybe it's meant to tell them to fuck off? Or at least slow them down if they enter the town." Botan thought.

He saw two wooden lookout stanchions and a stone tower. Even from this distance he could see an archer at each location. So the trench was probably meant to help them line up a shot.

The last thing he noticed was the biggest, as well as the reason they were there. The monster range. A large fenced in field with several cool looking monsters sprinkled in around there. Botan couldn't wait to see what kind of monsters a monster expert would choose to raise.

.

Churri Nakaya, The Tokyo Exorcist

.

It had been a few weeks since her brother was stolen from her and Churri went to war with a force beyond her understanding. The first battle was finally over. The victory, hers. She'd destroyed every single moving truck without a driver in all of Tokyo. Completely trouncing some sort of alien or ghost… or alien ghost, should have been enough of an accomplishment on its own. However, her victories cause yet more victories.

Churri sat in a room holding a strange baseball bat. One made of special wood, tied with a Shimenawa sacred rope near the handle. The bat had two kanji burned into it.

殺悪

Which meant 'Kill Evil'.

She was drawn from her thoughts by a man running down the hallway to the room she was staying in.

"Oi, Boss. Those guys are back again. They're mad about us going into their turf in Ikebukuro." The man said as he opened the door.

This man was part of a gang. Her gang. After seeing just how powerful she was, the local gangs recruited her. They'd do anything to get a powerhouse like her on their side. She demanded to be their leader and to use them to track down supernatural happenings around Tokyo.

They laughed at her. All of the leadership of that gang was now working under her, or in the hospital. When police asked what did this to them, the men simply responded. "We got hit by a truck." Which wasn't entirely wrong, considering her weapon at the time was a truck bumper.

She sighed heavily and looked up to the man. The man was 26 years old and well built, a mean looking scar across his face. Yet, he didn't look that tough right now. "I told them I was following a lead based on the famous ghost stories in that area. What don't they understand?"

"Um, well… They said you were…" The man hesitated.

"Spit it out." She said, annoyed

"They said you were full of shit and looking to invade them soon. Listen, there are 20 men outside and some of them have been to jail. So maybe if you explain to them tha-"

She stood up and threw the bat comfortably over her shoulder. "You don't need 20 guys to send a message." She said, leading them man out of the room and outside their hideout

Sure enough, her much weaker thugs were practically cowering at the men before them. They were tough, real tough. They had plenty of scars, but theirs were from real fights. They had well built bodies, expensive clothes, and tattoos all over.

Churri walked up to them in a huff, not intimidated at all. "I just got this place cleaned up and you make my men piss themselves. How am I supposed to run a respectable establishment like this?"

The men found her tough act pretty damned entertaining. A few men couldn't hold in their laughter. The one representing them wasn't the laughing sort though. "Oi. Don't talk to me like that, you little bitch. Shouldn't you be in school? Keep this shit up and you'll end up one of the girls we rent on the weekends when you're older." The man warned.

Churri had a vein going now. The man was a genius at pissing her off. Something caught her eye however, so she changed tactics.

"Ah. I misunderstood you. So you are a customer? That's great! We have plenty of supplies, fresh in. Would you like to start right now?" She asked with a smile.

The man was understandably confused. He looked up at the building she exited. It was a small, rundown, old shop. The only thing somewhat updated on it was a sign.

The sign read. "Exorcist Shop. Owner: Churri Nakaya."

The man surprised even his own men with a small laugh, something he never does. Now they were worried.

"Let me ask, why would you think I'd need an exorcist? Because I'm about to unleash a demon?" The man threatened.

Churri smiled and pointed to the tattoo he had on his left arm. "That's a Yokai, right? And not some friendly one either. I can't think of any other reason for a man with the imagery of a yokai to approach an exorcist." She answered smugly.

It was now his turn to pop a vein in anger. "You talk'n shit about my tat!?" The man took a swing.

Churri met his fist with her own. She had just broken two of his fingers and dislocated his shoulder. He staggered back before ultimately falling off the sidewalk into the street.

"Shit!" He screamed out.

"Sorry. Your other arm is the one with the problem." Churri told him, pulling back her bat.

"W-Wait!" The man pleaded.

Churri swung the bat down, breaking the man's arm in several places.

"Banish, evil spirit!" She yelled.

He screamed out in pain, but she ignored them just as she ignored his earlier plea. She hit his arm, again and again. The other tough looking men there were now confused how some little girl had just beat the brakes off of their boss so easily. Some were in shock, some couldn't believe what was happening, and some thought he was joking and was about to get up. All stood there and watched.

After the 8th swing, his bone was sticking out in a few places. It made a few people sick. Churri then pulled out a small bag. "Here. I'll now exorcise that yokai for you." She pulled a fist full of salt out of the bag and poured it on the man's open wounds.

The screams got too loud, a few of his men snapped out of it and ran to stop her.

"Stop!" the first yelled

"Leave the boss alone!" Another screamed.

Churri then surprised them all. "You want more than the bat?" Churri dropped the bat and grabbed the streetlight next to her.

"...You're fucking joking…" One said in disbelief.

She tore the streetlight out of the ground and swung it at the approaching men. They were thrown into the building across the street. More of Churri's strength was revealed, the boss and the remaining men lost the will to fight.

"W-What the hell are you!?" The boss screamed.

She turned back towards the downed man, sparks from the torn streetlight caused lights and shadow to dance across her face. "I am Churri Nakaya, The Tokyo Exorcist. I'm going to flush all the evil out of Tokyo until I find my brother. To do that, I need to travel all over Tokyo. This isn't a turf war. If it was, I'd already own Ikebukuro." She told the man.

She realized she went too far. As she always did. Handing the streetlight to her gang. Six men struggled to place it back where it came from with great difficulty. "Remove that tattoo or never show your face in front of me again. Get out of here. We got a séance in an hour." She told them.

The boss thought for a moment. "You actually believe that shit?"

She was used to the doubt by now. "Of course. I fought 50 trucks that tried to run me over. None of them had a driver." She told him.

The man remembered that on the news. It lined up right before Churri took over this gang. "...You're actually serious… We're leaving." The boss said, doing an admirable job of picking himself up while being as injured as he was.

"You accepted that faster than most. Or am I just too crazy?" She asked, not really caring about his opinion. She just thought he might be a problem in the future and knowing how he thinks could help.

The man shook his head. "Nah, you're too strong. Whatever you want to fight… has to be a lot scarier than me. We'll ignore you traveling into and out of Ikebukuro… Just don't walk over us… please." He asked. Being forced to ask was a full defeat by any measure.

But Churri won so often that she was graceful in victory. "Of course. I'd rather not fight humans when much worse is out there." She said ominously.

The Ikebukuro gang left, later they'd join Churri's gang, as many others would. Some to hide behind her strength, some because they really believed her. Lucky for them, she'd make believers out of all of them when the next time a world attempted to summon her.

Chapter Text

Botan and Alder had just arrived at their destination, the town of Lokkansted. So named because it once only held the Lokkan farm, the very monster ranch they had come to visit. The town had only a single stone road leading through the heart of the small town. The rest were simple but wide dirt roads. There seemed to be more people there than the building count had led Botan to assume. There wasn’t as much activity as the capital and everyone seemed to have a more casual attitude.

Two things caught Botan’s eye immediately upon entering the town. The first was how many people seemed to have scars. It wasn’t everyone, it probably wasn’t even half, but a lot of people seemed to have a scar on their arms, shoulders, etc. It made Botan wonder how often monster attacks happened in these small towns, or if these people were attacked by the monsters at the ranch.

The other thing was a monster seen throughout the village.

They were large bull-like creatures with a lot of furs. For some reason, their darker fur was made into long braids, which looked nice, but seemed unnecessary. Instead of a single set of horns, the creature sported a large pair of antlers that was much larger and more impressive than traditional oxen horns. Above all else, the amount of fur they possessed was absurd.

These monsters seemed to be pulling carts and working the land alongside the people of the village.

“What are those?” Botan asked.

Alder turned to look at the inquiry. “Ah, yoklan. They’re domesticated, don’t worry.”

“I mean, I can kind of tell from the braids and the harnesses… why the braids?” Botan asked.

Alder laughed a moment, then noticed Botan was still waiting for an answer. “Wait, you seriously care that much?”

“Despite existing in this world for less than a week, I know the exact method for turning a Tackle Top’s spike into a high-quality pin. If we are going to be traveling together, you have to understand that I eat and breathe useless trivia, especially trivia related to things that don’t exist in my world.” Botan said in an entirely too serious manner.

Alder started giving a long explanation for why people braid the fur of yoklan when someone approached the pair.

“Advisor Alder? I thought you’d be at the castle, given your… the king’s current state.” The man spoke.

The man was fairly old, into his late 40s. A plain, but clean set of robes colored yellow and green, Mosden’s national colors.

“Hm, ah greetings. I can’t do anything for my father, so I am traveling with the evergreen currently.” Alder motioned to Botan.

The man seemed quite excited once he heard that. “The Evergreen is in Mosden? Then you’ve already received my letter?” The man asked.

Alder and Botan shared a look with one another, neither knowing what this man was talking about. “...No? What seems to be the problem?” Botan asked.

The man turned to address Botan. “Ah, Evergreen… Well… We are suffering a bit of a monster attack lately.”

Alder immediately piped up. “Surely Mr. Lokkan could solve such an issue. He’s a monster expert.” 

The man sighed and frowned. “If it were a collection of lesser monsters they’d have been dealt with by now. This seems to be the work of a single monster and it’s very strong. Lokkan thinks it was driven out of the nine peaks recently.” The man revealed.

“That’s trouble. Even a loser that was kicked out of the nine peaks is a problem anywhere else.” Alder said, thinking.

“What is the monster exactly?” Botan asked.

“A large insect with blades for hands. Anything more than that, Lokkan can tell you.” The man answered before adding further. “We’ve been lucky until now. The last few days it has been trying to eat our yoklan, not really caring about us.” The man revealed.

Alder and Botan both shared a look of concern. “Hunting yoklan specifically? How tough is this thing?” Alder asked.

“Hmm, maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe it thinks it’s weak?” Botan considered aloud.

“Come again?” Alder asked, turning to him.

Botan crossed his arms, leaned to the side slightly, and began explaining his train of thought. “Maybe after it was forced out of its home, it wants to gain levels and return to retake its spot? So it’s hunting yoklan not just for the food, but the EXP? That’s assuming the yoklan are a higher level on average than the people.” Botan finished.

Alder stayed quiet while the man laughed lightly. “You think just like Lokkan, you two will get along greatly.” The man commented while dismissing Botan’s guess.

Alder didn’t seem to dismiss it, though. Either way, they now had more business in this town than they initially thought.

Soon the two headed to the inn to rent a room first, given the small inn only had 4 rooms total. After which, they headed to the farm. 

As they walked, Botan asked. “So, who was that old man?”

“Lokkansted, as the name suggests, was once just the Lokkan farm. The town popped up around him and the Lokkan family has traditionally served as leaders. The current head of the Lokkan family doesn’t care for the responsibility and the man we were speaking to is the man hired to do just that. You could think of him as the village leader.” Alder answered.

Botan lit up a bit. “I see you’re adding that extra information I love.” He joked.

“Informing people about all the particulars of a subject was part of my job.” Alder pointed out.

“...’Was’? I thought you were just taking time off?” Botan pondered while keeping his observation to himself.

The two finished their previous conversation about yoklan not long before reaching the Lokkan ranch. The fenced area was made of extremely thick and tall fences. Botan was used to farm fences never going over 4’-5’ tall, but these were 10’ tall and made from entire trees stripped of their bark. It made the ranch seem less like someone’s farm and more like a fort. A few people at the gate recognized Alder and allowed the two to enter.

Once inside, Botan saw why the walls were so imposing. There were dozens of monsters inside the ranch. There were monsters Botan recognized, like the jackknife rabbit, and jackknight rabbits. There was plenty of yoklan too. What caught Botan’s eye were the monsters he hadn’t seen before. Alder and Botan made their way toward the gathering of the oddest ones.

At the center of the gathering of monsters was a well-built man with scars adorning his body. Most prominently were three large scars on both shoulders from what appeared to be claws.

“Hmm?” Noticing the monsters’ attention pulled from him, he turned and stood. “Ah, Alder! Welcome! And who might this be?” The man’s voice was loud but warm.

The man’s face was scarred, just like his back. Combined with his size, the man reminded Botan of the Yakuza back home. At the same time, though, he seemed oddly nice and positive.

“Greetings, Mr. Lokkan. This is Botan. We can speak about him in a moment. How are your monsters doing?” Alder tried matching Lokkan’s positivity.

The man’s lip quivered and looked like he was about to cry. “Oh, it’s been awful. A grass reaper has been stalking the farm. It hasn’t gotten any of my yoklan, but not for a lack of trying. Knob and I have caught the bastard three times in as many nights trying to enter the ranch.” The man practically cried. He was far too emotionally expressive for the tough guy look he sported.

Alder flinched at that, turning to the creature that had Botan the most confused. The monster in question was… well it was basically a donut with feet. The outside was either scales or an exoskeleton, but either way, it was a hard outer shell with many ridges looking like adornments.

Alder addressed the odd creature. “Knob? You’re telling me that monster evaded a gate beast?” Alder seemed surprised.

The odd creature almost looked sad at his words, slouching in place. Lokkan quickly put an arm around the creature and patted it with his other arm. “Aww, it’s alright. We all know you’re the best. Shh, shh.” The man was consoling the creature like it was his child.

Botan had to say something. “Okay, seriously… What the fuck is that?” He was too confused.

Lokkan turned to him with a slightly angry look, but Alder mediated it. “Lokkan, this is Botan, the flower hero. Forgive him his ignorance. He isn’t of our world. Many things are not common sense as he knows it.” 

Lokkan did not immediately react, instead, he thought for a moment and spoke. “Evergreen. What do you think when you look at this creature?” He asked, gesturing to the gate beast, Knob.

Botan didn’t really think of how best to answer the question and just spoke honestly. “Well, I’ve never seen anything like it before and I have a ton of questions.”

Lokkan perked up. “Such as?”

“How does it see, hear, and smell when it doesn’t seem to have anything to do those? How does it eat? How does it even travel?” Botan let out a flood of questions.

Lokkan turned to Alder with a smile. “He sure asks a lot of questions, huh?”

“You don’t know the half of it. The entire conversation in town was about yoklan.” Alder said with a deadpan look.

Botan made a slightly offended look.

Lokkan saw the face he was making and spoke. “Haha. Well, I like curious folks like you.” The man laughed loudly. “Knob and their kin can sense through their gate.” Lokkan put his hand through Knob’s center to demonstrate. Whatever passed through the center seemed to be erased, but when he pulled his hand back, all was fine.

“What the…?” This was really weird to Botan but equally cool.

“As for travel, it’s a living wheel. I’m sure you can picture it, right?” Lokkan finished.

“Anyways, we can discuss this all later to your heart’s content. First, the egg.” Alder had to remind Botan. He was getting distracted again.

“R-Right. Hehe.” Botan opened up his bag and showed the egg to Lokkan. “I found this egg and wanted to know what it was. Could you-” Before Botan could finish, the large man gently lifted the egg out of his hand and grabbed the blanket he had been previously sitting on, wrapping the egg snuggly.

“You should try harder to keep it warm.” Lokkan complained. “Now… hmm. It has signs of being a reptile egg and a mammal’s egg. Hmm.” Lokkan inspected further.

“Mammal’s egg? Do all monsters lay eggs here regardless of what they are or is it like platypuses from my world?” Botan asked.

Alder gave Botan a look, scolding him. He was already back to asking questions.

Lokkan answered as he looked at the egg. “Nearly all monsters lay eggs, though, there are exceptions, like Knob.” He said as Knob made an affirming motion behind him.

Botan liked that the man’s monsters didn’t mind adding their two cents. Botan had been thinking about it a bit ever since he came to this world, but… monsters can often have human-like intelligence. Botan went to ask how Knob was different, but Alder’s stare intensified and Botan stopped.

“This is quite the rare find… if I am right about what it is,” Lokkan said as he finished looking at the egg.

“Rare by normal standards? Or rare by your standards?” Alder asked.

“Rare even by my standards. Most of my rare monsters originate near the nine peaks. This is actually from the West. Towards Ventus… A creature called a living noose.” He answered.

The name gave Botan pause, but he tried to stay positive. “Ah… Well, I did get it in the wetlands west of the capital… Is it a bad monster?” He asked with concern.

“There is no such thing as a bad monster. Just a bad owner.” Lokkan said those words like he’d said them countless times. Like speaking a mantra. “Those creatures are rare, usually found around the neck of a dead creature, hence the name. Never actually seen one myself. Then again, Mosden is blessed with so many incredible creatures. It’s always such a joy to see a new one.” The man added.

Alder was seeing the egg as not being worth the effort now. A monster that relies on strangling an enemy as a fighting style was too slow in his opinion.

“Can’t wait to see what it looks like. What kind of diet do I need to prepare for?” Botan still seemed eager to have a monster ally.

Lokkan’s smile brightened further as he began to laugh loudly again. “Haha, indeed. I’d say meat would be the bulk of its diet, but given the wetlands as its home and it prefers warm areas, I’d say fruit and other sweets would likely satisfy it too.” Lokkan answered, now having his arm around Botan while handing him back his egg.

Alder wanted to point out how useless such a monster sounded, but they seemed so enthusiastic that he didn’t want to pop their bubble.

“What does it look like?” Botan inquired further.

Lokkan crossed his arms and made a slightly sour face. “Hmm, I have very little information on that. Never seen a live one or even an illustration in the Eld libraries. I know they have a snake-like tail that is most of their body and two claws to help it eat from old bones. That’s it.” Lokkan answered emphasizing just how little was known about the creature.

The two spoke for some time and the three of them found themselves sitting on the grass and petting the monsters as their discussions continued. Botan noticed three of the monsters seemed to be the ones in charge. 

Knob, the gate beast was one. It seemed very expressive with its body language. It probably developed that way because of this social environment and lack of face to express. Botan was told Knob made Lokkan a lot of money because he could store large amounts of things in its gate and transport it instead. That reminded him of the ‘demon jar’ that seemed to do something similar. Knob was odd, but matched Lokkan’s expressive and light-hearted attitude.

The next was an adorable little creature called an Orf. It was essentially a grey ball with silky skin, four stubby flippers, and two big eyes that were gold on black. It also had a mouth, but it seemed so small for its large, round size. Orfs are mammals that swim at really low depths because the way they swim separates oxygen from the water to breathe via magic. It can also benefit a few nearby allies, making it the best means to dive and explore the haunting depths of the subterranean Mosden Ocean. 

This particular one was super chipper and seemed to want to play with everyone. It made sure all the other monsters felt happy and included. Its name was Swella.

The last notable monster was a yoklan. The ranch had a lot of yoklan, but this one was a bit larger than the rest. The ends of her braids were decorated with bells that let the other monsters hear where she was going. She seemed like the designated mom of the bunch, with many of the younger monsters following her around and waiting for the bells on her to know when it was time to eat. Her name was Betty.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you get those?” Botan asked, pointing at Lokkan’s scars.

Lokkan seemed to not mind at all. “Huh? Oh, these were just little accidents.”

Botan was not having it. “Little!? What about those giant claw marks on your shoulders?” He thought the answer was a deflection and so asked more specifically.

The man rubbed his shoulder with a chuckle. “Haha, I had a monster with big claws give me a hug one time. An honest mistake.” He said cheerfully.

Botan paused at that. “So you never got hurt fighting a monster?”

“I have not, nor will I ever fight another creature.” The man said strongly.

“...” There was a pause.

The older man eventually clarified. “Don’t give me that look. I’m not so immature that I think others should adopt my stances. Do what you like. I just find the idea of killing something very different from myself to be a bad thing.”

“So you’d rather kill a person?” Botan asked.

“I’d rather kill no one. If however, I killed a person, I am capable of fully understanding their motivations and feelings and can act accordingly. If it was something else, I could never fully understand their point of view or motivations for a completely different creature. It reduces the taking of their life from a decision I made to just an act I committed… Anyways, that’s why I’m only level 28 despite my age and profession. All my monsters do the hunting and such…” Lokkan trailed off, feeling he said too much.

“Huh. I respect that. I never really thought about it like that. About monsters as something with a completely different way of thinking.” Botan considered aloud.

This piqued his interest. “What did you think of them?” Lokkan asked.

“Well, in the world I came from, there was no such thing as levels. The animals of our world were killed for food or materials, but there wasn’t such a motivating factor like EXP to drive us to combat nature so personally… I felt bad about some monsters I killed early on, but instead of seeing them as something else, I ascribed human thoughts and feelings to their actions.” Botan tried explaining.

That earned a smile from Lokkan. “I’m glad to know that even the Evergreen hesitates. You need power for all of our sakes, monsters included. Still, it's reassuring to know that you see them as more than EXP, unlike some bastards.” He finished, thinking of something, or someone unpleasant.

The conversation could have gone into the night, introducing more of Lokkan’s monsters that he treated like family, but it was getting late and there were a few things left to talk about.

“I guess the only other thing I need to know is what do I need to hatch this thing?” Botan asked, holding the egg with much care.

Lokkan began ushering the other monsters to go to the barn or other specialized habitats for bed. Knob left first, spinning like a wheel to the barn. Swella coaxed the smaller monsters into moving while Betty acted as the town mom, making sure they all left and to the right spots.

“Well, I guess we should get ready for tonight.” Lokkan stood, throwing a bag over his back.

“We’ll help.” Botan immediately offered.

“I think Knob can handle it. No reason to get humans involved.” Lokkan tried dismissing him.

“Is that why you intercepted the village leader’s letter to the capital?” Alder chimed in with an accusation framed as a question.

The man simply sighed. “You’re just like your old man. Can’t get away with anything with you people around… Yes, I stopped the letters from reaching you.” He admitted.

“Because you want to tame the monster?” Botan asked.

“...No. I confronted it last night. It’s too angry. Nothing will get through to it. It’ll have to die.” Lokkan said with a firm frown.

“Then why?” Alder pressed.

“Because I’d rather a monster kill a monster than a human kill a monster. We defy nature too often. If it actually broke in, Knob would end the battle.” Lokkan said strongly. He was kind, that much was evident. That did not make him weak-willed and non-confrontational, though.

“Assuming it doesn’t grow frustrated at its lack of success in breaking into the ranch and attacks a villager at night.” Alder said arms crossed, awaiting his rebuttal. 

“...That… remains a possibility.” Lokkan eventually admitted.

“...The sun’s still just barely up. If we go take a short nap right now, we might be able to catch the monster tonight.” Botan suggested to Alder.

Before Alder could respond, Lokkan tried to. “Well, that isn’t necessary. I can-”

Botan straightened his back and spoke over Lokkan. “No. I have to kill things. If that’s what has to happen, I’d want it to at least be justified and helpful when possible.”

Lokkan and Alder stood there for a moment, neither having much to add or argue with.

“Botan’s right. Please, cooperate.” Alder said more than asked.

The man sighed deeply. “Understood…” Lokkan did not like this turn of events but had no other choice. He led the two out of the ranch and told them roughly when the monster attacked the last three nights.

They left without much resistance. On the way back to the inn, Botan seemed awfully eager. More than Alder expected.

“Why are you so into the idea of fighting this thing?”

“Huh? Because this solves so many problems at once.”

“How so?”

“Well, according to Mr. Lokkan, it’s a giant praying mantis with metal scythes for claws. That’ll be another carapace I need and probably all the [Malmetal] Will needs too. Not to mention… I haven’t actually done anything to help anyone yet… I’d like to correct that.”

Alder nodded along. He agreed. Alder found it odd that Botan could be so easily distracted yet seemed so detail-oriented nonetheless. He wasn’t surprised by the sentimentality, though. That was a clear trait from the moment the two met, and now it helped endear him to Lokkan.

Alder wanted and still expected to be of great help to Botan. However, Botan seemed to not need his advisory abilities that much. He needed to be told something only once to remember it and was very good at using anything he had learned in a useful way. That meant Alder’s main contributions would be in the form of teaching Botan the other starting paths for magic and as an additional combatant in battle.

As long as he was useful it was fine. Otherwise, he’d have no excuse to escape his current situation.

The two went to sleep without checking local shops or doing much of anything. All they did was let the innkeeper know to wake them at around 1 AM. Luckily, they both slept easily enough.

…

1 AM, Lokkansted

…

“Knock, knock, knock.” 

Botan heard as the innkeeper knocked on the door of the room. He jumped out of bed and stretched while he could. They’d be running soon. He stretched so much that he nearly staggered in relief afterward. That wasn’t a good sign. He quickly retrieved some water to wash his face to wake himself up more before getting dressed.

By the time he managed to put on his weathered chainmail, Alder was already waiting in front of Botan’s door. That was odd. Botan was woken up first and Alder could not have had much sleep the night before, and yet, he seemed just fine.

“I wonder if he is used to this?” Botan wondered.

“Sorry, I’m ready.” He called.

They both quietly left in the midst of the night. The village at night looked so different than it had hours prior. Without all the hustle and bustle of the honest labor being done by everyone earlier, the village felt smaller and eerily empty. A few lights moved, leading the pair to a few guards that seemed to be awaiting the monster’s attack as well. 

They seemed glad to see the two young men. “Glad they sent us someone to deal with this.” One of the men said. “Sorry, it called you away at such a time.” He added.

Alder didn’t bother correcting them. “You think it’ll show up with lights waving around?” He instead stayed on task.

“Well, we need to see.” One argued.

“Put your lights out, I got this.” Botan assured them.

[Illuminate] Botan pointed out his holy flower towards the forest and shot a soft white source of light that traveled about 20’, slowing to a stop.

“It’s an unmoving light. Less chance of-” Botan heard something like trees snapping.

“It’s arrived! Northside!” Another man shouted.

Everyone ran off in the direction of the attack. Botan was hoping to shake off more of this sleepiness before facing a supposedly tough foe. In the back of his mind, he wasn’t too worried though. That was because Alder was with him, and his level was 31. He was more than three times Botan’s level and had much more experience. He’d need to follow his lead in these early fights… is what he thought.

They ran for a bit before finding their target, or more accurately, it found them. A cleanly cut section of the logged fence was thrown violently at their group. Alder dodged swiftly, but Botan worried for the other men with him. They’d only been running for two minutes or so, but in their armor, they seemed winded. Botan was much the same initially, but he seemed to have the stamina to spare now.

[Spin]! Botan swung his weapon as he leapt forward, splitting it in two and knocking the pieces safely away from the others.

“There it is!” The man pointed.

Botan followed the man’s position to the target. Botan audibly gulped when he saw their foe.

The monster was nearly 13’ tall with long thick blades that were each longer than Botan was tall. It also seemed well-armored and limber, leaving no shortcomings. Botan crushed a marble to see what they were in for.

[Grass Reaper]

[Level: 39]

(I could not generate even a passable Image, so have a Snimon)

The creature did not give off the vibe of an animal at all. Its bug-like mannerisms seeming almost mechanical in nature. It sent a shiver down their spines as they felt something known to all but Botan. Botan had yet to ever feel this in his previous life, nor so far in this one. 

What he was feeling was bloodlust. The bloodlust of the Grass Reaper being sent at him. Botan couldn’t explain it, but he could tell this creature had a profound hatred. The closest thing Botan could liken it to was the feeling you got from other people in a stressful situation. But this was so much worse. Without thinking, Botan opened up his menu, navigating to his [Leaf Flower Shield], and equipped it.

He was fully awake now, more awake than he’d been in days. He felt that any moment now this thing would-

Botan raised his arm up and blocked a strong swing of the monster’s blade. He wasn’t thinking, yet he moved. He wasn’t sure how. Botan was only thrown back a few feet because he hit a tree. This allowed his skill to activate properly.

[C Needle Thrust]! Botan activated his skill, launching him forward while empowering the singular spike on the front of the weapon form with magic. He did this very quickly, yet the Grass Reaper caught the spike between its blades before the skill could harm the creature at all.

Not letting the monster have a moment to act, Alder appeared behind it in midair. He swung his body with his leg extended, creating a blue energy that came off as a projectile as he attacked, giving his attack deceptive range. Unfortunately, the monster proved to not just be great in stats but skill as well, as it moved its body away from the attack while lowering its body, dodging both sides of the attack. It then lashed out with one of its claws while Alder’s back was turned.

“Alder! Watch out!” Botan warned.

However, Alder had already moved out of the way of the attack before Botan’s words reached him. He drew a circle in the air with his other foot, creating a small platform to push off of to 

“Huh?” Botan was confused. “How did he know to dodge? If he expected it to do that, then he expected to miss his own attack. Which makes no sens-”

Botan was snapped out of it when a guard pushed him to the ground, allowing an attack to miss him.

“What? It wasn’t anywhere near-” Botan’s question was being answered in real time as he rolled out of the way of a spell. He was able to pick up on it this time due to a repeated sound. The monster placed its blades atop one another as if crossing its arms, then swung them apart creating some sort of cutting force that traveled with an accompanied screech from the blades scratching against one another.

“Range, speed, size, strength, defense. It’s not lacking anywhere. And this thing was driven off of that Nine Peaks place for being weak?” Botan tried imagining that. “Either way, I need outstanding offense to hurt this thing.” He began navigating menus again to switch to another weapon form.

“Shit!” Botan had to stop and bring up his shield form to block. The Grass Reaper came down on him before he could switch forms and smashed him into the ground. The guards tried helping, but the monster simply struck them with the back of his free blade. The creature then dragged Botan on the ground and lifted him up, throwing him straight up into the air.

The monster went to impale Botan, but it mistimed its attack. Or more accurately, it would have hit him just right, but with his weapon form menu already open, Botan switched to the [Dandelion Tuft Glider] . With that, he took advantage of its special equip effect [Glide] to fall slower, evading the attack.

Of course, the creature would have simply followed up with the other arm, but Alder was now pressing the monster with a series of attacks meant to not only physically harm their opponent but cast a spell that bolstered his own speed. A spell called, [Beatdown Blitz]. Each strike caused a loud crashing sound, ending the assault with Alder giving himself some room, backpedaling as the Grass Reaper swung at him angrily.

Shifting The monster’s focus gave Botan the time he needed to switch his weapon form, and he chose the strongest offensive weapon form he had for offense currently, [Fire Flower]. He prepared himself to re-engage but was discouraged. Alder had landed blows when he hadn’t, and yet, the monster seemed just fine. The guards’ attacks were just as useless, and they weren’t fast enough to reach it most of the time.

Assessing the situation, Alder came to a conclusion. “Botan. I’m going to need to get serious.” Alder warned, his eyes gravely certain of something.

Botan snapped back with almost comedic screaming. “You weren’t already taking this seriously? This thing is a menace.”

At his screaming, the Grass Reaper looked back over at Botan. The short stare-down was shared. “Should not have yelled.” Botan said as the monster changed targets back to him.

“Shit!” [Seed Strike]! Botan panicked and fired off his skill while using a nearby tree for cover. The skill hit and even more importantly, it damaged the enemy. The monster stopped in its tracks and looked down, surveying the damage. Pausing long enough that it almost seemed like it wasn’t believing it was hurt.

“SSCCEEEEEEEEK!!” The creature screeched while rubbing its blades together, creating a magical shockwave that threw the guards and Botan to the ground and forced Alder to dodge away. It had used a bug-exclusive spell called [Cricket’s Rebuke].

Now a bit more isolated from each other it took this moment to choose a target to finish off. It looked at Botan a moment but seemed to overlook him for one of the guards instead. Its legs stepped in an odd manner as it disappeared.

“It can use a spell called [Skitter]! It can basically instantly teleport!” Alder warned trying to get to Botan’s side, wrongfully guessing he was the target.

With a creepy noise to accompany it, the monster appeared to almost instantly appear before a guard. Botan wasn’t the target and that shocked everyone. The monster went to bring its claw down in one swift, decisive stroke, however, another combatant joined the fight.

“Knob, use [Vacuum Vortex]!” Lokkan called out.

Everyone collectively turned to see Lokkan and Knob, both of which just arrived. Without a single motion, a giant twister of wind appeared to drag the Grass Reaper back, making the attack come short of reaching its target. The twister drew in dirt, water, small plants, and more. The Grass Reaper had to plant both its blades deep into the ground to anchor himself fully. This continued for roughly 10 seconds before Knob abruptly stopped.

The Grass Reaper took a look behind it, confirming his opponent.

“If you used to live around the nine peaks, then you know what happens when you fight a gate beast. Knob… Use [Debris Discharge].” Lokkan said, hesitating at the end.

Knob’s gate became visible, showing a bright light before violently shooting out a concentrated stream of everything it had just sucked up. The chaotic and endless attack struck the creature dead center. The Grass Reaper scrambled to get away from the attack using [Skitter]. It bought itself a moment’s reprieve before the stream refocused on it again. This happened three times before Knob seemingly ran out of ammo.

The monster was now decorated in small wounds and seemed to be ready to take things more seriously than before.

[Spin]! While the monster’s attention was focused on Knob, Botan wanted to contribute more. He missed the leg he intended to hit, due to the monster attempting to dodge at the last second, but he still managed a solid hit to the main body, leaving another visible injury.

“That’s right, we’re strong too.” Alder addressed the Grass Reaper’s concerns as he placed his robe neatly on a bush. He then jumped into the air, did a few rapid movements with his limbs and stomped as he landed.

[Riptide Boxing] Alder said aloud. Two fast-spinning rings of water appeared around his upper arms. They were spinning so fast that it made a humming sound. He then squared up to the monster fully prepared for a heavy exchange of blows.

Botan also shot out from behind the tree to assist. “I’m not done yet.” [Boom Bloom]!

Botan leveled his weapon at his foe before firing his strongest skill. One he’d yet to even use before. Unfortunately, he ought to have used it before to know how it worked.

“...Huh?” Botan waited, but the skill didn’t do anything right away. Instead, the flower closed and the bulb began to swell.

[1 minute until firing]

“Oh come on!” Botan yelled again.

Alder and the Grass Reaper came to blows again. When Alder threw a punch, the rings of water would travel down the length of his arm to hit the opponent alongside his fist. This exchange of blows was far more efficient than his earlier attempt, now knocking away and deflecting any major blow. Each time his fist and accompanying ring struck together, a light shined brightly, indicating another spell was being activated.

[Tidal Style: Impact Harmonium]!

As he struck his opponent, the fists would collide with the target the same time as the rings of water creating a third, hidden impact that surpassed both of the original two. Alder may have been dwarfed by his opponent, but he was now throwing the much larger creature around as if Alder was the one in the higher weight-class.

While Alder was now definitely on the winning side of their exchange, the Grass Reaper had great durability. Alder was worried that he’d exhaust himself without finishing his opponent. That worry only increased as the monster managed to force Alder to stop his movements halfway to dodge its blades, leaving him unable to use a much more substantial spell that might overcome its defenses more fully.

Just as Alder took a long step back to catch his breath, he received some assistance in the form of Knob.

“Give him an opening, use a [Weighted Cannon]!” Lokkan ordered.

Knob expelled a large metal sphere which seemed to be much more powerful and intentionally made ammo for Knob to absorb and fire as needed. At the sight of the attack, the monster used [Skitter] to move away from Alder. Most would be mistaken for thinking this was done to give Alder breathing room, but it was actually for Botan’s sake.

“I got you.” Botan said confidently.

The creature managed only the briefest of glances backward to see Botan’s swollen flower pointed directly at it before it burst open.

[Boom Bloom]!

The flower bloomed violently, releasing a torrent of energy that tore through the monster easily. The results of the attack were shrouded in smoke and dust for a moment. They collectively waited with bated breath to see if that attack had done the job. After several seconds that felt much longer, they saw the left arm of the monster fall out of the smoke, clattering to the floor.

“SSCCEEEEEEEEK!!” The Grass Reaper used a weaker [Cricket’s Rebuke] than before, not having a second blade to grind against. It did so to clear the smoke and force away the enemies it feared were just out of reach. It was looking far more desperate now.

“With half the number of blades to throw at me, I’ll take it from here.” Alder said, calmly approaching the monster.

Once he came close enough, the two went to exchange blows again, but it was nothing like the last exchange. Alder was landing direct and critical hits against his enemy while dancing around the few attempts to retaliate the beast could muster. The bright lights displayed alongside his blows were a visual indication that different variants of the [Impact Harmonium] were being activated with nearly every hit. After a few fancy strikes, Alder had dampened the monster's movements with an open-palm thrust.

[Paralyzing Palm]

With that in place, he now had the leeway to perform something Botan had been looking forward to. A high-level spell.

Alder shuffled his footing as he backpedaled, creating water in his wake.

[Undertow]

Botan recognized it as being a water counterpart to the [Backdraft] and [Updraft] spells.

Then Alder calmly placed his left palm over his right fist. The spinning ring of water that surrounded his left arm traveled down and journeyed to his right arm alongside the other one, placing two separate spinning rings of water around his right arm. Suddenly Alder erupted into a sprint with water bursting beneath each step he took. The water desperately added itself to either of the rings, growing in size and speed as he traveled.

Alder leapt over a sluggish final swing of the monster’s remaining blade and aimed to disarm it completely.

[Knuckle Tsunami: Impact Harmonium]!

Alder’s fist and both rings of water struck the remaining arm at its uppermost joint. The three impacts caused a fourth impact to occur alongside a much brighter light than before.

Botan hadn’t yet understood, but Alder's spell was considered very strong in this world. [Impact Harmonium] spells were spells that require simultaneous impacts to harmonize with one another to create a third phantom impact whose power was based on the two impacts that spawned it. Alder had just done so with three impacts at once, triggering [Impact Harmonium] three times simultaneously through each unique combination of any two of those impacts. Effectively striking the monster six times in an instant.

Again, the clattering of one of the monster’s blade arms was heard. The monster now lost all effective means of fighting back. Sure, it could bite, use an even weaker [Cricket’s Rebuke] or even run away using [Skitter], but the threat was now dealt with for the most part.

The monster was refusing to fall, even as so much blood spilled from its wounds. The Grass Reaper lowered itself slightly, then tried to use [Skitter]. It failed the spell somewhat, making it near its target. The beast’s last chance to have gained anything from this. The creature’s mouth pincers opened to impale a guard but was stopped by Lokkan.

Lokkan had been trying to think of how the monster felt, and what drove it to this exactly. He understood that humans and monsters are not interchangeable, but something Botan said stuck with him from their earlier conversation. Botan’s assumptions for some of the monsters’ actions were not wrong. He himself often attributed human moods to the monsters he raised. While he never gave it so much thought, humans and monsters may be different, but there also existed commonalities as well. 

Given that, he reached the correct conclusion as to why the Grass Reaper was doing this, and because of that, knew what it’d do next.

Lokkan intercepted the charge with a bear hug. Holding the monster back. It began thrashing its few remaining legs at Lokkan, drawing blood. Seeing this, Botan and Alder moved to finish the monster for Lokkan’s sake, but the moment they began moving-

“ENOUGH!” Lokkan said with the full bass of his voice. Everyone stopped, the Grass Reaper included.

Lokkan collected his thoughts for a moment. “...That’s enough… You’re strong… I imagine you would only be here because they kicked you out, right?” Lokkan asked the monster.

It responded by attacking him even harsher, adding to his scars. Lokkan stood firm, not giving an inch.

“They were wrong. You were plenty strong.” Lokkan added. The scratches continued.

“Please don’t see this as a loss. You were fighting several enemies that knew you were coming and ganged up on you.” Lokkan continued. The attacks slowed, but did not stop.

“It must have been so frustrating to be told you were not good enough. And it was one of the Nine Sovereigns that said it too, I bet. So you started to believe it yourself. So, you came out here to feel strong again.” The attacks were barely coming now. They lacked the strength to do much of anything anymore.

“But you would have beat any of us on our own. You would have given my gate beast a run for its money…So, stop. You proved it. They were wrong.” Lokkan finished quietly.

The Grass Reaper’s legs gave out and would have fell, if not for Lokkan continuing to hold it upright. To the guards, it appeared as if the Grass Reaper died at that moment, but Lokkan could hear its heart. Botan and Alder also knew it hadn’t died for several minutes until they received their EXP notification.

Lokkan held it a moment longer, then softly lowered it to the floor.

This was not how Botan thought his first monster extermination mission would go, but he also wouldn’t have wanted to change it.

Afterward, Botan and Alder returned to the inn to sleep. Lokkan promised to process the monster for them. Before he closed his eyes that night, Botan needed to do something while it was so fresh in his mind. He used his weapon as a light source and drew an image of Lokkan hugging the dying monster. It was one of the few times he was so satisfied with how his first attempt came out. He then waited for the ink to dry, then closed the book.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today is a larger entry than normal. Today we will be diving into a few notable monsters we saw recently. Those being the Yoklan, Orf, Gate Beast, and Grass Reaper. Three of those are native to Mosden alone, so we will first talk about the monster found all over the world as one of the monsters humans prefer the most at their side, Yoklan.

Yoklan are used by humans for all manner of labor assistance and sometimes as mounts. They lack the stamina to carry armored humans over long distances but are the go-to mount for war due to their overwhelming strength. Yoklan shed their antlers every three years, as opposed to the yearly shedding of most animals.

The most notable figure of Yoklan would be their enormous amount of fur. In the wild, bird monsters with sharp beaks would assist Yoklan by cutting their fur to make strong, thick nests that can survive maelstorms. Humans braid their fur as it grows to measure and trim the fur as needed. Without either humans or the sharp-beaked bird monsters, Yoklan would have no way to deal with their fur, which would become worse given their biggest issue. That being a rodent monster that lives in their fur, cutting up the Yoklan and causing it pain and infection. These monsters are the main cause of Yoklan death.

So everyone braids their Yoklan’s fur, to make shearing them easier AND to make the fur uninhabitable to those unwanted rodent monsters.

Next, we will review Orfs. Orfs are very slow on land, but shockingly fast underwater. Especially when it comes to the speed at which they can ascend and descend. This is because they can alter their weight as well as the amount of oxygen in the water around them via magic as they move. Because of this, they are among the best divers in Mosden. Able to reach even the very bottom of the oceanic bodies of water throughout Mosden even though they are mammals that lack gills.

The reason they can safely reach that depth, despite needing to breathe air, is the same reason they are worthwhile human companions; They can strip the oxygen from the water to breathe via magic. Not only are the movements required for an Orf to gain oxygen underwater and also a swimming motion, but they can provide this benefit to a few allies as well. Meaning a human could safely swim to the bottom of the ocean without equipment if they come with an Orf.

They can even help humans pressurize as needed to not suffer from moving too swiftly between pressure depths. Truly, Orfs are humans' best allies in the water.

Next, we will talk about the first of the two monsters here that usually live around the nine peaks, that being the Grass Reaper. So named because they cut down trees and clear brushes that form near the nine peaks, not letting lesser monsters that require such things to live nearby. They stay only near the bottom of the nine peaks though, as there are plenty of trees and such higher up the peaks.

Grass Reapers sport impressive chitin armor and exoskeleton defenses that leave them undaunted by the attempts of lower-class monsters. Their claws, made of mid-quality [Malmetal] is as impressive in practice as it appears, being able to cleave how trees and lesser armored targets in a single heavy swing. They are also usually very sharp, as Grass Reapers sharpen their blades against each other in their idle time. 

As insects, they have access to the much envied [Skitter] spell that isn’t just fast movement, but true teleportation. Allowing them to escape nets, cages, and more if the movements are not halted. Besides binding their movements, the other way to stop the use of [Skitter] is by obscuring vision. This is because [Skitter] teleports them where they are looking. This is harder to deal with in the case of insect monsters like Grass Reapers that have compound eyes. As they can decide where they are going to teleport to at the end of casting [Skitter] with more options as they are looking directly at several areas in a given direction.

Grass Reapers are also known to use several weapon spells, some of which humans can use. It is said that many of the first weapon spells humans learned were discovered by mimicking monsters. Making Grass Reapers one of the monsters venerated and celebrated in some martial circles.

Lastly, we will talk about one of the oddest looking creatures in the whole world, but also considered so strong that they are in the highest tier of threat and rarity. While this world possesses no dragons, Gate Beasts are one of the monsters that’d be given equal prestige to such creatures.

Gate Beasts possess their own internal pocket dimension that acts as their stomach. A Gate Beast’s gate size determines the pocket dimension’s size. This dimension is lined in raw squishy flesh. Rule of thumb, the size of the pocket space is twice the diameter of the empty space in the gate itself for the length, width, and height.

Gate beasts are asexual and produce children upon reaching 30 years old, then again at 60 years old, and lastly at 90 years old. Gate Beasts usually live about 100 years, though, one of the nine sovereigns is a Gate Beast and is more than 350 years old. Gate Beasts grow from the size of a small ring to the size of a carriage over the course of their lives, but they grow faster in their first ten years. The children of a Gate Beast stay within its parent’s dimension until it has grown large enough that the child might have trouble leaving their parent’s dimension if they grow further. Meaning that one Gate Beast that is 9’ tall could have a dozen 6’6” Gate Beasts inside it, and you’d never know.

Their ability to store and expel large amounts of materials cannot be understated. Since The only thing that limits what a Gate Beast can fit inside it safely is based on volume, they are amazing for transporting heavy and valuable goods, like gold. Of course, owning a domesticated Gate Beast is an incredible asset that less than 10 people in the world currently possess.

Gate Beasts also possess four notable forms of offense that should be prepared for. The first is [Vacuum Vortex]. A weaponized form of eating meant to violently absorb material until its internal space has been filled. This spell is oppressive and hard to counter, as ranged attacks can’t stop it, as they too are absorbed.

The Second is [Debris Discharge]. This spell expels the material it has built up as ammo. This can be very dangerous, but extra caution should be given if some or most of what is being expelled is water. Due to hydrodynamics water is the least compressible thing ever, meaning that when pressurized, like it is here, forms a peerless means of cutting that can cut through even the most powerful shells and armor.

Thirdly is [Weighted Cannon]. Because their space doesn’t care about weight, Gate Beasts often collect a few extremely hard and heavy objects to use as more prized ammo worth retrieving later. These can range from metal, boulders, or even gemstones. Besides having a more precise aim and heavier ammo than one might think, the real threat is that a Gate Beast could release the boulder in a manner that lets gravity be their target’s executioner. Meaning a lower-level Gate Beast might still manage to kill a higher-level foe easily.

And lastly, [Realm Render]. This is a spell that bypasses defense entirely, essentially having infinite cutting power. How? The Gate Beast pushes some of their extra-dimensional space out, into the regular world. This creates a dark haze where the two realities are overlapping. Once the Gate Beast is done “shaping its attack” it withdraws its dimension pulling in only exactly what was within the overlapped space. Meaning, if half of something was outside the overlapped space and the other half was within it, the thing would be cleanly cut along that boundary, regardless of defense. 

The setup for the offensive part of the skill is your only chance to flee. Luckily, it can not use multiple gate-based spells at once. So it’d have to stop using [Realm Render] to use [Vacuum Vortex] to keep enemies from escaping, canceling its most powerful skill. However, an attack that can cut anything is always a spell to be feared.

And that is a brief overview of the monsters seen thus far.

Chapter Text

Botan and Alder were on the road, nearing Lokkan’s farm. They had woken up quite late because of the previous night’s fight after an entire day on the road. Even after eating and walking for a bit, they felt sore. Botan’s shoulders were still aching from the attack he blocked the night before, while Alder’s right arm was still damaged from using a spell he’d yet to master.

“So, what was your plan today?” Alder asked.

“After this? That’ll depend.” Botan gave a halfhearted answer.

“Depend on what?” Alder wanted a real answer.

“I fought a monster three times my level last night. Some of it was made up with bonuses, some by how good some of these weapon forms and skills are… Strengthening myself in these ways will be the key to moving forward. Collecting materials to ‘bloom’ my weapons, not to mention that all my weapon forms are stronger the more weapon forms I unlock.” Botan explained.

What Botan was saying was basically that he’d want to focus on using his known power-up methods in the short term. That’d mean he’d want to hunt down monsters he’d yet to see. More importantly, he wanted to ‘bloom’ a few weapon forms and see how good it was. He’d yet to bloom a weapon form but Botan thought it’d be really strong. 

His reason for thinking that was his first power-up method. Strengthening all forms for each one unlocked was very strong. So if these methods were somewhat equal, then a method that is more demanding and only affects one form should be drastic. Depending on how strong the Grass Reaper forms are and how easy they were to bloom, Botan might not prioritize the [Grass Blade] anymore.

Of course, if the dingus finished reading his power-up methods, he’d see he has 2 more!

They arrived at the farm to see several men gathered around. The moment they spotted the pair approaching, they greeted them warmly. “Mr. Lokkan says we have you two to thank for finally dealing with that giant monster. Thank you both…”

Botan sensed that the man had more he wanted to say more. “What is it?”

“O-Oh. It’s just that… Mr. Lokkan said we could not have any of the materials because the Evergreen was supposedly here.” The man said, looking at Botan’s weapon.

Botan wasn’t going to beat around the bush. “That’s right. We took it down and I need the materials to make myself stronger for the waves.” He would not give them any.

The man was not leaving it alone. “But that monster has damaged a lot of our stuff…”

“And I made sure it won’t happen again. You’re welcome.” Botan gave them a smile that told them ‘no’ while making his point further. “The materials will be put to good use with me since I will be protecting, not only this town but all of Mosden and beyond in the future.” Botan gave no room to debate.

They had no answer to that. A few left upset. A few seemed to not want to beg for scraps, instead just wanting a chance to thank them both personally. To that, Botan happily talked to a few of them. Of course, they could not just sit around all day chatting.

“Ah, finally here? Come take these materials so these vultures leave me be.” Lokkan called out those gathered as he welcomed the pair.

What few people remained hanging around the gate left, allowing Botan and Alder to enter. They saw all the materials separated into different piles next to one another. Lokkan and two of his men did an excellent job in dissecting the parts. A far better job than Botan currently could.

Botan went to give Lokkna a greeting but was motioned to absorb the materials. Botan went up to each pile absorbing only enough materials to trigger a form being unlocked. He would not absorb materials needlessly.

.

[Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Effect: Skill: "Sickle Throw"

Special Equip Effect: Bonus: Plantsbane (Weak)

.

[Grass Reaper Antenna Branch]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 6, Skill: "Spy Eye"

.

[Grass Reaper Mandible Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Dissection I

.

[Malmetal Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Metal Gathering I, Defense + 5

.

And many more that simply gave stats, most giving defense, attack, and speed.

[Grass Reaper Carapace Branch Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Coxa Flower Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Trochanter Flower Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Femur Branch Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Tibia Branch Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Tarsus Branch Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Abdomen Flower Unlocked]

[Grass Reaper Elytra Flower Unlocked]

Botan looked over the forms. Even if he mastered them all, only his speed could rival his magic potency. This further confirmed to Botan that the Flower Hero was someone focused on both magical power and speed.

“Mr. Lokkan… I’ve never received so many weapon forms, not even from the two best monsters I dissected so far combined… You did amazing work.” He offered praise.

“Hmm, does something like that actually help?” Lokkan wondered.

“Yes! I… If I bring you more monsters, could you show me how you did this so well? …Oh, unless you’d prefer I don’t.” Botan realized he might offend Lokkan, with him being such a bleeding heart.

But Lokkan laughed it off. “Haha, sure kid. You bring me more and I’ll show you how to make the most out of it.”

Botan picked up one of the large [Malmetal] scythe blades, while Alder did so to the other. Even after unlocking a [Malmetal] specific weapon form, there were still over 200 .lbs of materials left. They’d need to find some way to carry these pieces back to the capital, but for now, they could be kept in their rented room.

Botan wanted to talk to Lokkan more, but Lokkan had been up all night processing the Grass Reaper and needed to sleep. So instead, Botan focused on his other task; blooming weapon forms.

He gave some of the Grass Reaper’s carapace, six more types of grass, and the needed whetstones to the [Grass Blade] in the [Cultivation Menu].

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Blade]

[Necessary materials for Cultivation are as followed]

[10 different types of grass] [8 completed]

[5 whetstones] [completed]

[3 different monster carapaces] [2 completed]

He was close. He’d be able to bloom the weapon today if they were lucky.

“I just need 2 more types of grass and one more insect carapace. Are there any other kinds of insect monsters around here?” Botan asked them both.

“You could try fighting a Belfry Lancer.” Mr. Lokkan offered.

Alder’s head nodded at the suggestion. Botan quickly asked what they were. Alder dragged him away soon after, as Botan wanted to ask useless trivia after useless trivia about this new monster.

…

With that suggestion, it wasn’t even an hour later that the pair was off further north for the day. Alder made it very clear that he wasn’t keen on fighting dozens of flying monsters famous for their ability to hit a target at any range. That was something Botan could not argue with. After a brief discussion, they came up with a simple solution; they’d isolate one of them with a trap involving food. They were hunting for materials, not grinding for EXP. One was enough.

This was because Belfry Lancers were quite deadly in numbers. These monsters would best be described as large dragonflies, some as large as 5’ long. Their wings worked as solar panels, collecting power from the sun. They use their long body as a rifle to fire off lasers of solar energy. What keeps them from being a threat normally was that they had to gound themselves to fire off their saved-up solar energy, combined with not having enough energy storage to fire more than three shots a day.

This made them dangerous, but easier to handle on their own. If you had to fight a group… The attacks would be coming from too many angles and each would be potentially fatal on their own. You wouldn’t last long.

They had been traveling for over an hour and were just about to set up their trap. They would use gamey pieces of meat to attract their targets. They put small pieces of meat near a pond and then waited far away.

The plan seemed simple enough. Yet, failure still found them. Time and time again, other monsters would find the meat first and they’d need to step in. There were several types of monsters among them that Botan had yet to absorb and the ones he had already absorbed were quickly skinned, cut up, and sat out as more bait.

It’s no exaggeration that they did this for 9 hours, having to take a break partway through. They were about to give up with the sun going down, but that was when it happened. The Belfry Lancers started flying about. There was a lot.

They both suddenly realized that if they absorb sunlight for ammo, then they likely sleep in the day in high places, only hunting when they can’t collect solar energy. They facepalmed at the revelation, feeling they should have put that together. Alder had even less of an excuse, being a native to this world and a life-long Mosdenian. They tried making up for the day-long mistake by killing one of their targets quickly…

What ensued was the most bumbling half-failing shenanigans one could expect. They were practically tripping over themselves and each other trying to dodge out of the way of a storm of burning hot lasers!

Botan noticed Alder running past him. “Oi! I thought you were supposed to be protecting me!? I’m the Evergreen, right!?” Botan asked sarcastically, trying to catch up as the lights destroyed everything around him.

“Yup, you’re the Evergreen. That means you will surely survive, while I might not.” Alder said jokingly, dodging a laser much closer to killing him than he was comfortable with.

“That’s fucking cap!” Botan yelled, slowly catching up

“I don’t even know what that means!?” Alder commented.

The pair nearly started a forest fire provoking all those Belfry Lancers, but maybe that was a good thing? They made it a bit past the woodline before stopping. The monsters stopped. Their accompanying laughter made the idea of catching their breath quite the task.

After they did, Alder spoke first. “Okay, that was stupid. Any ideas?”

“I have a few thoughts.” Botan said while standing, trying to switch to the [Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower], however-

[Unable due to level requirement]

“...Aight, plan A was aborted before it could even disappoint me…” Botan expressed allowed.

“No, that was plan B. Plan A wasted 9 precious hours. At least plan B had the decency to suck quickly.” Alder bantered.

“Okay, so what’s your plan?” Botan inquired.

With hesitation, Alder began sharing his plan. “I suggest we go out there, you grab their attention, then-”

Botan refused. “Vetoed. Your plans suck.” The two took a moment.

“Hmm… How many shots do they have if they need to gather solar energy all day?” Botan asked after another moment of thinking.

Botan asking about their overall resources seemed a bit out of nowhere, but Alder was getting used to Botans’ way of thinking. If they have only so many resources to use, and given they shot the two of them to hell a minute ago… How many more shots do they have?

“Huh… So we bait them?” Alder continued Botan’s logic, asking for confirmation.

“Yup.” Botan picked up a rock.

Though the idea was a simple one the pair spent the next 15 minutes throwing rocks at the monsters, prompting them to disintegrate it out of the air. Botan had to miss on purpose. Because when he tried to throw his first rock, The holy flower actually zapped him again. Botan wanted to argue that throwing a rock is not a weapon, but the flower seemed to not care.

They realized another thing while throwing rocks and watching them. Belfry Lancers could not fire their attack while airborne. After a while, they finally had a rock land near the monsters without them attacking.

“So, they’re out?” Botan asked.

“Or they learned to not waste the shot…” Alder didn’t want to risk it.

“Let me try something then.” Botan suggested, pointing his holy flower at a clear target.

[Spring: Seed Strike]

Botan fired off his ranged skill at one of the monsters. The skill moved fast, but given the distance and the monsters being alert, they simply flew a bit before settling on the ground again.

“Aight, I’m mad.” Botan walked out from behind the woodline.

“What the hell? Get back here!” Alder whispered loudly.

“No. We are not wasting a whole day because of my decision and going back without anything to show for it.” Botan was armed with something, but it wasn’t wisdom.

He slowly walked toward the monsters who perked up at his approach but did not flee or fire off an attack. After he was about 30 feet away, he stopped. The monsters eyed him and seemed ready to act if he did something. He raised his weapon towards them and said the name of a skill.

[Boom Bloom]

Botan said it quietly and just stood there, waiting. The weapon form grew slightly but didn’t seem to rouse the suspicions of the monsters. It swelled a bit further and began to give off a noise. It sounded like pressure slowly escaping. At this, a few monsters backed away or left, but the bulk of them stayed. That proved itself to be a mistake as the skill finished charging, blooming open and letting an explosive force be unleashed in the direction Botan had his weapon pointed. A few shot off a laser as they tried to escape, but the attack had too much force and sent them slamming into trees or one another.

Botan went to turn around to catch Alder’s expression, but the young man dashed past Botan as he turned. He approached the downed monsters and finished those he could.

Botan now looked disappointed. “I get we could finish more off, but the skill got us what we needed.” He argued.

“I disagree.” Alder said, holding up one of the bodies. “Every little bit helps, You can’t know what kind of materials you’ll need to bloom another weapon form later, you need bodies to have Mr. Lokkan teach you dissection, and… I want to help too y’know.” Alder finished his curt lecture kindly.

Alder was in ‘advisor mode’. Botan just nodded along. “I feel you. Guess we collect and head back?”

“Sounds good.”

As they began picking up their spoils, Alder filled the dead silence. “So you figured out the parameters of that skill?”

“Yeah. 1-minute charge-up time, 2-minute cooldown time. Pretty rough, but the amount of damage it can do is the best I have for now.”

“You ought to test your skills before putting them into a combat scenario like you did last night.” Alder advised.

Botan didn’t even need to argue. “You’re right. I guess on the way back, I’ll find myself the time to test these skills.” He offered.

Alder’s face filled with worry as he looked at the smoke a seared stones around him. “Do so 10 fee-20 feet away from me.” Alder requested, half seriously.

The trip back was fruitful itself. The pair ran through all of Botan’s current skills and abilities. Learning a few more specifics. Botan found that [Lily-Step] gave only 5 seconds of walking on water. Normally, that’d be useless, but Botan found it to be helpful when learning to walk on water as part of his magic training.

Botan still wasn’t at a high enough level to use either the [Shunning Saffron Idol] or the [Alluring Aster Fan] weapon forms. Given how useful they were, Botan assumed he’d probably need to be level 30 or more to use them. Botan did figure out [Contact Comrade] though. He tested it with Alder. While making contact with an ally, their stats are buffed a fair bit. It seemed limited in usage, but the amount buffed was good enough to consider utilizing it in the future.

For everything else, the bonuses were either straightforward enough to not need investigating or Botan still wasn’t high enough level to use. On their way back, they even found two more types of grass for what came next.

When they returned to Lokkansted, it was too late to bother Lokkan. They also really needed to reset their sleep schedule. Most of the next day Botan spent his time learning how to dissect monsters with Mr. Lokkan. Using the bodies of the Belfry Lancers, Lokkan showed how to cut them apart as well as showing him how and why the different sections were considered different sections. It was a full-blown biology lesson and required enough physical work to double as shop class. 

Botan tried mirroring Lokkan but made a few minor mistakes the first time. Luckily they had more bodies. After his third try, Botan was successful, but Lokkan threw a curveball.

“Dissect another one.” He suddenly said after a while.

“Huh?” was all Botan could manage.

“It’s been 30 minutes. Show me you can do it without me doing it right before you. You want to learn to actually do it, right? Not just imitate me.” Lokkan reasoned.

With that, Botan dissected one more. He did everything correctly, though, he admittedly took longer to do so than before. With that, he absorbed some of the finely dissected materials.

.

[Belfry Lance Carina Branch]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 7, Skill: “Sunray”

.

[Belfry Lance Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magic Attack + 6, Skill: "Solar Boost"

.

He also unlocked a few forms that only granted stats.

.

[Belfry Lancer Trochanter Flower Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Carapace Flower Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Tarsus Branch Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Abdomen Flower Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Wing Flower Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Femur Branch Unlocked]

[Belfry Lancer Tibia Branch Unlocked]

.

Quickly switching to the two forms to check them out, Botan found that [Solar Boost] gave you a modest increase in stats while in direct sunlight. Again, niche, but once mastered he’d always have it. The other weapon form gave the skill [ Sunray] which worked like the lasers the Belfry Lancers used. Giving Botan a much-needed additional ranged skill, this one being even better at range given the speed of the projectile and the perfectly straight line it traveled. It just had a longer cooldown than [Spring: Seed Strike] as compensation.

After that, Botan had one more exciting thing to do. He absorbed the last two grass samples and offered some of the Belfry Lancer carapaces to the [Grass Blade].

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Blade]

[Necessary materials for Cultivation are as followed]

[10 different types of grass] [completed]

[5 whetstones] [completed]

[3 different monster carapaces] [completed]

[All cultivation materials offered]

[Subject: Grass Blade has bloomed into its true form]

.

[Grass Blade] (Bloomed)

Equip Bonus: Attack + 5

Equip Effect: Agility up (small), Skill: “Sprout Slash”

.

Botan immediately switched to the improved weapon form with much excitement. He marveled at the weapon’s own stats, now being among his best weapon forms, even though this weapon form was usable at level 5 and he had weapon forms that had a level 12 requirement available to him. The stats nearly doubled from what they were prior. If he were able to awaken a weapon with a level requirement equal to his current level, it’d remain his best weapon for quite some time.

He felt the speed boost and it was great. That didn’t distract him from what he wanted to do next.

[Sprout Slash]!

[This skill cannot be used while Grass Blade is equipped]

“...Huh? How does that make sense? This skill is a special equip skill, it’s supposed to require I use this form to have access to it???” Botan was more confused than ever.

Regardless, Botan tried swapping to a different form and using the skill again.

[Sprout Slash]!

The weapon immediately transformed back into the [Grass Blade] form and urged Botan to swing it, pulling his arm with it. The resulting slash was the fastest one Botan had achieved yet, even with him not being ready for it.

“So I can now instantly transform to this form with this skill? Nice!” Botan was pleased.

He went back into his menus. With this skill, Botan thought that he now knew the best way to switch weapon forms, he wanted to confirm it. After reading something, he flinched. That reaction prompted the others.

“What is it? Is the cooldown harsh?” Alder asked.

Botan stared at a tutorial he skipped.

[To switch weapon forms, one would only need to think of the weapon form they wish to change to and focus a brief moment… not select and switch the weapon form manually via the weapon form menu…]

“Yeah. It’s rough…” Botan lied. “Why the fuck didn’t I read the tutorials in the beginning!? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-”

After mentally lynching himself and collecting himself, Botan made up his mind that blooming a higher-tier weapon form was the priority. Levels would always be welcome, but collecting weapon forms while actively searching out the items to bloom his best options was going to be better in the short and long term. He then looked at his better weapon forms to see which ones seemed promising and had manageable cultivation requirements.

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower]

[Necessary materials for Cultivation are as followed]

[50 lbs of Malmetal] [3 lbs completed]

[7 hearts of the cowardly] [1 completed]

[11 Branches of a Whistlewood Tree] 

[5 unripe seeds of a Top Tree] 

[Any materials from a monster level 50 or higher] 

Botan winced at the requirements. That much malmetal would be impossible to get before the wave… Unless he gave up one of the massive blades they got from the Grass Reaper. He’d consider that. Things like “11 Branches of a Whistlewood Tree” and “5 unripe seeds of a Top Tree” seemed very doable with Alder to guide him. The cowardly hearts thing was kinda creepy but very doable.

…And that left getting any materials from a monster level 50 or higher.

“That’s a tall order, but not as impossible as it sounds. Saying ‘any material’ gave a lot of freedom. I might even be able to buy or trade for something like that…” Botan considered.

Botan turned to Alder having decided their next course of action. “The strongest weapon form I have access to… I think it’s best to bloom it before the wave. Whistlewood and top trees. Where could we find them?”

“Top trees are all around the capital, they look like the tree near them though. Whistlewood though…” Alder had bad news on that front.

“How bad?” Botan dreaded any sort of snag in this plan.

“We’ll need a two-day expedition to get there from the capital.” Alder replied.

“A day to return, 2 to get there, 2 to get back… It’ll take 5 days and we have less than 2 weeks until the wave… No, the bonuses are too necessary.” Botan only considered the logistics briefly.

“I guess we should return to the capital and grab those party members Prince Raucar is offering. With a group of 6, we’ll get a lot more done leveling-wise.” Botan announced.

Botan said the prince’s name aloud to gauge Alder, but he seemed not to react. He’d been probing people, but he was still clueless about what the drama around him was. 

They said their goodbyes to Lokkan, then Botan gave goodbyes to all his monsters, remembering their names, which seemed to make them very happy. Before noon, the pair set off back to Mosden’s capital. A few villagers sent them off with a wave. They would have arrived back at the capital right before the sun went down that day, but a wonderful event soon took place.

The sound of a crack was heard by Botan, it came from right behind him.

.

[Otherworld Index]

This edition of the Otherworld index will be covering monster tamers, how they work, some of their trade secrets, as well as some of their common uses.

As the name implies, monster tamers are those that use domesticated monsters as allies. Monsters have very different bodies from humans and that means they have access to magic that humans cannot normally access. They can also have other abilities humans would find valuable, such as the pocket dimension that Gate Beasts possess. By cooperating with these monsters one can do things that otherwise is impossible.

Mosden has more monster tamers than any other country due to their lack of infrastructure and abundance of monsters. Some are used in a purely utilitarian manner, such as how those of the Lokkan family use Orfs, Gate Beasts, and Yoklan. They are not raised with the intent to use them in combat. The same as some bird monsters are used to send letters.

The first type of combat type would be monster mounts. Mercenaries, proper soldiers, and adventurers alike prefer monster mounts, especially in Mosden. The tough terrain can take more of a toll on a traveler than the monsters at times. Native monsters can traverse these lands far easier than man. Some breeds of Yoklan can serve this role, but it isn’t common. There are also Sky Rays, large manta ray-like creatures that fly via motion magic. Using a monster for uninterrupted flight is quite valuable.

But there are many monsters in Mosden and beyond that are often used for combat. There is no better example than Belfry Lancers. Their signature heat ray is incredibly concentrated, burning a hole through most things. The concentration of the attack also means that the beams travel a great distance. A human having a Belfry Lancer on their arm and aiming them like a sniper is among the best options for weaponizing monsters. Several other monsters can also serve as living weapons and we will see more as time goes on.

And when we say living weapon, it is not meant to describe a monster simply fighting on someone’s behalf but actually wielded in someone’s hands as a weapon. The greatest advantage to this setup is that your weapon being alive means it has a level as well and can grow alongside the tamer. Add in [Malmetal] as a safe way to traditionally strengthen your living weapon and you have something special on your hands.

With the crack that just occurred, Botan is also about to follow the Mosden tradition of being a monster tamer in battle. And this monster will aid future monster tamers in ways that’ll make them not just a choice due to lack of options, but a preferable option.

Chapter Text

The sound of a crack was heard by Botan, it came from right behind him.

“...Huh?” Botan felt something and stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Alder asked as Botan took off his bag and opened it.

He rushed to remove his bag from his back and pulled out the egg that was now cracked and moving, taking care to hold it gently.

“It’s happening!” Botan seemed way too excited.

And why wouldn’t he? Botan was a gamer like most his age, but specifically, he always liked monster-collecting games a lot. He liked monster designs a bunch. That’s why he drew monster designs all the time as well as how he could remember Lokkan’s monster’s names so easily. Botan promised that whatever came out of the egg, he’d find out what it was good at and make it a proper member of his party.

“Misk, misk… misk… miiiiisk!” The small noises from the egg grew as the head of the creature pried the top of the egg back, freeing itself. The moment it was free it saw Botan and launched the small gap to cling to his collar. Botan was a little startled, but it did not hurt. He tried picking it up, but it was stuck to his chainmail pretty well. It held on in such desperation that Botan stopped trying to remove it. Instead, he adjusted the outfit away so he could peer down at the small creature.

It was a fuzzy little thing, the fur a strong and deep blue. The head and torso didn’t seem to be separate areas on this monster, but it also wasn’t quite as snake-like as he assumed it would be. It had cat-like ears tucked back but didn’t look cautious. The body was almost entirely the head sporting two big yellow eyes, next it had the two small claws it’d been using to cling to him. Lastly, it had a short tail wagging in pure glee.

Botan’s eyes were sparkling to behold such a cute little creature. It would not let go of his chainmail, so he had to pet it where it was. Rubbing its ears and small belly was enjoyable for both of them. 

“I’m basically a digi-destine now! Wait… I was totally chosen to come here. Straight up digi-destine vibes!” Botan mused.

Botan pet it and gave it all his attention for several minutes before Alder piped up. “Uh, Botan, we have to continue moving.”

Botan took a moment from showering his new pet with affection to look up. “Uh, yeah… sorry.”

The small creature leaned up, touching the top of its head to the bottom of Botan’s chin to remind him that it was still there and needed more petting. Botan continued rubbing the small creature with care as the two continued walking.

Alder saw just how much Botan already liked the little thing and voiced caution. “Being the first thing it saw will likely help, but do remember what Mr. Lokkan said. These creatures are called ‘living nooses’ and it is already resting at your neck…”

Botan looked offended. “Mr. Lokkan himself said he wasn’t sure what their deal was, but look at this little guy!? There is no way it’ll harm me or anyone.”

“Little guy? Is it male?” Alder asked.

“Ah, I should check.” Botan peeled the small creature away from him for a second to examine it. The creature seemed desperate to return to its spot, tiny claws outstretched. “Oh, actually it’s a girl.” He returned it to its spot, it seemed almost upset it have left it.

“That thing seems way too clingy.” Alder complained.

“Oi, don’t call it ‘that thing’!” Botan said reflexively.

“Then what’s its name?” Alder asked, eyes still forward as they walked.

Botan hadn’t thought of that yet but still called Alder out. “Now I’m going to look dumb and temperamental…” Botan looked down at the small ball of love below him.

“Misk, misk, misk.” It kept saying, a cute cross between a cat’s meow and a bird’s chirp.

[You have been invited to a party]

“Did this little girl just? …” Botan joined parties with her.

Alder took note of that too. Usually, monsters joined parties with their family. Even then, that wouldn’t happen this quickly, and it’s always the older/parent who invites the newborn

“...Myskel.” Botan said with conviction.

“Mysk…el” Alder repeated with mirroring doubt.

“Yeah, Myskel. After the cute noise she makes.” Botan explained with a wagging finger in the air.

“...You made that up on the spot.” Alder saw through his bullshit.

“...Nuh uh.” Botan said with playful panic, meaningless denial was all he had.

Botan went to pet Myskel some more, but his Holy Flower’s gem began to glow.

“You wicked flower. You ask too much… Oh.” Botan misjudged the reaction as telling him to feed it Myskel, which he’d obviously refuse. Instead, the flower reacted to the eggshell left behind.

Botan thought that absorbing it was perfectly acceptable and wondered what kind of skill such a thing could possibly unlock.

.

[Monster Tamer Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Monster Growth Adjustment (small)

.

[Monster Eggshell Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Defense +2, Monster Status Adjustment (small)

.

“Huh? Growth adjustment? Like how fast it levels? Equipping immediately.” Botan swapped to the weapon form mentally. Its form seemed to be very colorful and fragile, more for decoration than use. The stats reflected this, being pretty lower when compared to other forms he has access to. Still, he’d only need to equip in for a short time to permanently unlock the bonus.

Before continuing, Botan wanted to check on Myskel’s status. He broke a [Scrying Marble] while looking down at Myskel.

[Name: Myskel]

[Type: Cuddling Constrictor]

[Level: 1]

The stats were very very low, but from something that had been alive for just a few minutes, this was expected. The thing that caught Botan’s attention was the type. Botan expected it to say “living noose,” not “cuddling constrictor”. Botan wondered why people would call them something other than what they were, but then he remembered what Mr. Lokkan said. People probably never had the chance to scry one because the target needs to be alive and all anyone had were bones to go off of.

“Cuddling is in the name! Myskel’s species are not evil little chokers, they’re forever hug buddies!” Botan determined.

The two continued their banter all the way back to the capital city, Weldroe. Botan thought it was biased, but seeing the city again, he still thought it was a perfect blend of human civilization and nature. A look that was entirely its own.

“Miiisk~!” Myskel’s little eyes sparkled with wonder, seeming to also marvel at the first city it had ever seen. Of course, Botan had no choice but to dote on Myskel more upon seeing its infectious reaction.

Alder crossed his arms, slightly amused. “Are you going to drop everything to pet that thi-pet Myskel any time it makes a noise?” He asked with a smirk.

“Yes.” Botan answered immediately, no shame or awareness to be found.

Before Alder could respond an unwanted intrusion arrived.

“Ah, the Evergreen and the young Alder as well! How lucky I am to have seen you both. Did you pass along my message?” The over-the-top outfit and white hair made it clear. It was Valtor Meisser, the current field leader of the Ivory Company. Botan had only spoken to him once and how fake the man was when he spoke was completely up in the air.

“What message?” Alder inquired.

Botan just remembered. “Oh yeah, I was supposed to pass along a message… I think it was something like, asking you if you’ve reconsidered their offer.” He replied.

“Tsk.” Alder’s face soured. Not in a funny way either. He looked very upset. “I thank you again for the offer, but I will not be joining your guild.” His voice was strained, but he remained professional. He was fighting the urge to shout.

Valtor seemed confused. “I thought your answer would change after recent events. After all, the prince-”

“As I said! …The answer is still no.” Alder shouted briefly, but pulled it back in.

He saw he was getting nowhere with Alder, so the man turned to Botan. “You seem confused. Has Alder told you what happened? That he was-”

“Mr. Meisser, I thank you for your concern, but if what you’re about to talk about is not my business nor yours, then it’s not our conversation to have.” Botan was still confused about these secrets, but he knew Tia and Alder were good people. He had shared meals with Tia and already quite a few laughs with Alder already. If it had nothing to do with himself, he’d like to only learn about it if they decided to share it.

Valtor’s words died in his mouth, replaced by a sigh. “How do I feel like the bad guy right now? ….I understand your feelings to a point, but… Do you truly have no breaking point? No matter what he does to you both?” Again, that sounded like real concern in his voice. Just like when he spoke to Botan about the slavery of this world. The man didn’t seem evil, just not on the same side as them.

“...” Alder grew quiet.

“...Well, the offer stands. I wouldn’t have bothered you if I thought you wouldn’t have changed your mind. Sorry.” Valtor apologized and approached Botan with an outstretched hand. “Here, for your trouble.”

He held out a dull green thing. It wasn’t quite a stone, nor was it metal.

“I appreciate it, but-”

“It’s a rare material, but it’s not even enough to make a knife. We found it on our latest expedition. I’m giving it to you for free. You’re going to be protecting the world, right? Not just Mosden.” Valtor was not taking no for an answer.

“Misk.” Myskel chirped in an approving tone.

“Fine. Sorry, I keep giving you the cold shoulder.” Botan took the odd stone.

“It’s fine. The Ivory company and Mosden have a pretty atypical relationship and we’ve stepped over the line more than once… But please know that we put the people first. If you need any help, come find me. Even if you don’t join the guild, I am allowed to help you outside of the guild.” He kept his hand out after Botan took the stone, prompting the two to shake hands.

After a short conversation, they left. As soon as they were out of earshot, Botan asked something. “What’s with him? I can’t get a read on that guy.”

“Valtor is a lot harder to deal with than the last head of the Mosden branch. That old bastard was mean as hell, but Valtor is the opposite. Everything I’ve seen from him shows he’s a good man.” Alder answered without slowing or turning, more concerned with striding forward.

“That sounds exactly like it isn’t a problem.” Botan commented, having to speed up to keep pace with Alder.

Alder realized what he said might sound confusing to an outsider, so he slowed down and added context. “It is when you are trying to convince young Mosdenians to side with their country that is struggling over a successful life through the guild.”

“Ah…” Botan could now see the problem. Indeed, he is a genuinely nice person to draw in people. “So Valtor is the honey to draw them in…”

The pair first visited Tia. She’d been alone for the past few days and they were concerned. The moment she opened the doors, they could tell. “She’s been crying… a lot.”

Despite this, she put on a tough and convincing act, forcing herself to be quite enthusiastic. She was even successful a few times in asking about Myskel, which captured Botan’s attention in its entirety. Just as she thought her efforts had worked, Alder asked her something. “We have to leave again soon. Botan has decided on how best to prepare for the wave and so… Will you be okay for a few more days?”

Tia’s smile slowly fell, forming a slight frown. She didn’t stop trying to hide her emotions but faulted for a moment. She still kept herself from crying. “I’ll manage.”

“...I’ll be taking my weapon with me.” Alder informed her, not wanting to linger on such an uncomfortable subject.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t need it?”

“And then Botan volunteered us to fight a level 40 Grass Reaper.”

Quick as lightning, Tia grabbed both of their heads and inspected them for harm. “You should have said something sooner! How did just going to Lokkansted lead to that?”

Alder’s response was a deadpan and judgemental stare at Botan, who responded by ignoring him and feeding Myskel a piece of meat. Alder kept staring at him, his eyes somehow piercing his spirit. Sweat began to form until Botan buckled. “I may have possibly, maybe, volunteered us to fight the thing because of a [Malmetal] retrieval request from the local blacksmith, Will…”

Tia eyed the pair. “How well would you say you two fared?” She asked Botan.

Botan saw she was asking a serious question, likely trying to use it to gauge his current power.

“It was rough. Alder was more consistent, and my performance varied. If we fought again right now, it’d be a lot easier. Not knowing everything about one of my skills nearly cost me. But now I’d be able to use it properly and it packs enough punch to sever its arm.” Botan answered in a serious tone, wanting to show her he was taking this seriously.

“And how did my [Impact Harmonium] spells perform?” Tia thought to ask.

“A harmonization of three impacts was enough to do much the same as Botan’s skill.” Alder told his mother.

“So Botan’s offensive capabilities already rival some of your more powerful spells despite being around half your level?” Tia sounded both impressed and offended.

“He leveled from defeating it and gained several new weapon forms. He probably beats me already. That’s why I need my weapon. He’s already passing me by… even though…” He turned to see Botan absorbed in teasing Myskel with another piece of meat. “Even though he’s like this.”

Botan gave Myskel the food and returned his attention to the conversation. “As soon as we locate the materials we need and some more [Malmetal] for Will, we will be right back here. I want to be as prepared as possible for this wave thing… And rude.” He called out Alder for making fun of him.

Tia said she understood, but the pair didn’t like leaving her when she was like this. They spent a bit more time there than they planned because they didn’t want to leave her alone. When they finally did leave, Botan caught sight of Alder’s weapon of choice.

Botan had to comment. “...Really?”

Alder saw the smirk forming on Alder’s face and went to reply. “You know what these are? These are-”

“I know what they are, but as a true intellectual, I know that those are terrible weapons.” Botan said half sarcastically, wagging his finger in front of him like a know-it-all.

Botan’s baiting worked again in getting Alder to talk more. “In your old world? The one without motion magic?”

Botan’s smirk was removed instantly, replaced with comedic dread. “...Oh yeah… Those are stupidly overpowered in this world, aren’t they?”

Alder stole Botan’s smirk and now wore it himself. “You’ll see soon enough.”

They continued their banter until they reached Willow’s Whetstone. Instead of one of his sons running the front, Willow himself was there.

“Oh, yeah. Why are you working the front?” Botan asked as he entered.

“Ah, Botan. This happens every day. The kids leave when I stop forging in the back for the day. I work the front until the forge grows cold, then lock up. Gotta give the kids time to play.” Willow greeted and answered. “Ah, if it isn’t Alder. Is there anything I can do for you?” Willow asked more formally.

In fact, Botan picked up a huge difference in tone. He was casual with Botan despite supposedly being super important. Yet, he spoke respectfully to Alder, who was about the same age as himself and at least 15 years Willow’s junior. “I guess as a local business owner, a royal advisor is someone you learn to treat respectfully.” Botan thought.

“I’m not here on official business nor leisure. Botan.” Alder gestured.

“Yeah, Alder here joined my party to help me get ready for the wave.” Botan explained.

“But right now? With… the king as he is?” Willow seemed to choose his words carefully.

“Prince Raucer thought it’d be for the best…” Alder said, causing Willow to have a flash of anger.

Again, Botan felt there was a secret conversation going on around him deeper than what the words meant on the surface. He meant what he said about not prying into their business, but it was quite annoying for people to talk around him like he was stupid.

Luckily, when this stuff happened, he had Myskel. Looking down at the little thing was instant stress relief. 

Willow took one look at Myskel and shook his head. “Of all the potential monsters you could have gotten to help you out, you get a weak little thing like that?”

“Oi, Don’t call Myskel weak! She could be really strong later. She was just born and level 1. She could be amazing in the future.” Botan defended loudly.

Instead of responding, Willow just turned to Alder. “He went completely mom mode for that thing, huh?” He observed jokingly.

“Indeed. It’s quite concerning.” Alder matched Willow in taunting Botan.

“Misk! Misk!” She initially stayed quiet, but now they were talking about Botan. So she chirped loudly.

“Yeah, you tell them!” Botan encouraged.

“You can… understand that thing?” Willow asked doubtfully.

“It’s not ‘that thing’, it’s Myskel, and I don’t need to understand her words to understand her feelings.” Botan said with a mix of confidence and comedic delivery.

“So you have no idea what she was saying?” Willow asked for clarification.

“...” Botan said nothing.

“...” Willow and Alder said nothing.

“Misk.” Myskel chimed in.

Botan sighed and moved on. “Anyways, I came to deliver some [Malmetal].” Botan pulled out all the little pieces they had collected up until now, as well as any from his drop menu, while Alder revealed the two large blades of the Grass Reaper he had been carrying. 

Willow wordlessly observed the Grass Reaper blades, running his hand down it and admiring its quality. Though a bit was missing from one because Botan absorbed it, they were great pieces to have. “I only asked for typical [Malmetal] . High-quality stuff like this will be wasted on the projects I need them for… How much normal [Malmetal] did you get?”

“Only about 30 pounds so far, nearly half of which I got as drops. We can easily collect twice that or more soon, though. The prince is letting me borrow some knights, so we can carry a lot more and clear out monsters quicker. I was hoping you might be able to use those blades for my armor.” Botan bragged, knowing Willow only needed like 50 pounds of [Malmetal] at best.

“Heh, man, you’ll graduate from my services sooner than I thought.” Willow said with a mixture of pride and shame.

“Huh?” Botan thought he had impressed Willow, but now he seemed upset.

“I can make your armor with those…, but it’ll be difficult. You’d not know better, but I’m not that renowned a smith. The best Mosden smiths usually flock to the Ivory Company. Most of my orders are for low-level equipment or industrial orders like nails and tools.” Willow clarified.

“I don’t mind. I’d rather keep coming to you.” Botan tried assuring him.

Willow was not receptive to that. “I thank you, but no. You’ll be past level 60 in what, two months at best? I can’t make anything that good. And I won’t have you running around in subpar equipment just to keep you a customer. I’ll put everything I have into this armor, but… After that, you’ll need to find a new smith. At best, I could make adjustments to the brilliant equipment other people make.” Willow put things into perspective.

“Then who do you suggest? I’d rather not deal with the Ivory Company.” Botan inquired.

Willow seemed to share a look with Alder, who nodded in approval.

“You’ll be in a lot of danger in the future, you’ll need the best of the best. And the best is the 3rd in line of the Greater Kingdom of Ventus, Typhus Stratos. I’m half Ventusian myself but trust me, I’m not saying this with bias.” Willow said proudly, teeth showing with his wide grin.

“Wait, a prince is a blacksmith?” That made little sense to Botan.

“He’s an inventor, blacksmith, alchemist, and everything else. He carries the title of ‘Dark Genius’ and has invented several revolutionary technologies.” Willow boasted, even louder than before.

“Indeed. Demon jars and voice cannons have made the world a richer place.” Alder agreed but with much less enthusiasm.

Botan wasn’t lost in the conversation anymore. “Ah, the dark genius. I heard of him. Didn’t know he was a prince… I heard what a demon jar is, but what is a voice cannon?”

“A spinning cylinder housed inside a series of mechanisms meant to precisely move the cylinder’s orientation. If you line it up with another voice cannon over incredibly long distances, you can speak through it as if someone were just on the other side of the cylinder. Most major cities now have communication towers to allow its use. Ours is at the top of the great tree.” Alder explained concisely, slipping back into advisor mode.

“Great tree? I guess I never really asked about it.” Botan briefly thought. “Ah, like a phone?” He asked aloud.

“Your world had a similar device?” Alder asked.

Botan realized he wasn’t explaining himself. “Something like that. We’ve had ours for several decades and it has improved tremendously. Most people in my world could carry around the device on them. Able to fit it in their hand, and call from anywhere.” Botan told them.

They both were blown away by that. “That’s… powerful technology…” Alder had to admit, while still processing what such technology could mean to its people.

“T-True, but Prince Typhus only invented voice cannons 4 years ago. I bet he’ll make something like that someday.” Willow tried not to have all the wind taken out of the prince’s sails.

Botan saw that Willow respected this guy a lot. “You put a lot of stock in this guy.” 

“Of course. He’s royalty who works a forge and is quickly becoming the frontrunner for the next king despite being the second youngest. He has a bright future.” Willow said proudly with his chest, arms crossed in assurance.

“I was already going to need to meet the guy because I’ll need a demon jar in the future, and they are exceedingly rare. If he’s the best smith I can find, then Ventus is looking like even more obviously the next place to visit.” Botan told him.

Willow seemed to like that answer. “You won’t regret it! Ventus has rough weather, but the people are stout of heart and steel of spirit.” Willow praised his countrymen. “And I’m sure that even the prince will be excited to see the Evergreen and his Holy Flower.”

Speaking of his holy flower, he really needed to read the damned help menu, but he was so busy. “Before I go to sleep tonight.” Botan promised himself.

By the time the two left Willow’s Whetstone, the sun was setting. They’d spent most of the day on the road. They were tired and didn’t want to do much else, but they had one last place they needed to go to.

The castle. Even if only to greet them and agree on a departure time tomorrow, Alder advised they go to the castle and see about the men they’d be working with.

Before they even reached the castle, a man saw them coming and fetched the knights. By the time they reached the front steps, four knights stood ready. They gave a salute to Botan and Alder. The Mosden salute has them pointing their weapons at their own hearts as if to say, ‘We are willing to die’. Botan didn’t know how to match such a display and stood there awkwardly for a moment before introducing himself. “Um, hello. I’m Botan Nakaya, the Flower Hero. I guess we’ll be working together for a while. Thanks for your help.”

The knights seemed to look appeased by his words but did not speak. Botan turned to Alder. “Um, help?” He pleaded.

“The Evergreen is a very friendly person and needs constant correction. He’d prefer you to be somewhat vocal and sociable.” Alder said.

“Oi!” “Misk!” Both Botan and Myskel caught that slight jab.

“So, introduce yourselves.” Alder continued without acknowledging Botan and Myskel’s complaints.

The knights saw how Alder actually somewhat insulted the Evergreen in front of him and saw that he wasn’t so easy to take offense, so they loosened up slightly. This was the intention behind Alder’s comment.

The first knight stepped forth, seeming eager to make himself known. “I’m Sir Navarre. I’m sorry you had to wait until now to get worthwhile companions, but I’ll more than make up for it. You could learn a lot from me.” He boasted, hand on his hip.

Not Alder, nor Botan reacted to that, but it was clearly an insult. To say Botan had no worthwhile companions until he showed up is basically saying, Alder wasn’t a worthwhile companion, which Botan did not appreciate.

The man did at least look the part of a knight. More so than any of the others. Clean silver armor, a rapier as a weapon, bright blue eyes, and a long braid of brunette hair that made him look well-kept all came together to give the whole look a definitive knight vibes.

The second knight stepped up. “The name is Dame Freona. Um, I am a mid-air specialist, and I’m happy to be working with you.” The girl said with a bit of nervousness, but equal bubbly cheer clear in her voice. She bowed with her greeting. She had mid-length hair of an eye-catchingly emerald green hue. She wore lighter armor, mostly leather with a chestplate. Her weapon was always in her hand, a staff as tall as her and more than an inch thick, the whole thing solid metal.

The next knight didn’t step forward, just making a light gesture with his hand. “Name’s Cole.” He said only his name and nothing else. Alder and the others expected that and moved on, but Botan observed him for a moment. Cole had extremely muted colors. Dull dark blue hair, grey eyes, dull dark armor, a blank expression, and reserved mannerisms. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t very noticeable, it was like he put great effort into being the ultimate wallflower. Even his weapons of choice were boring in appearance, two chakrams that were just plan-bladed circles with no other features. “They don’t even have handles, because I guess detail is a sin.” Botan joked internally.

“Geez Cole. Would it kill you to show some enthusiasm? What am I saying? Of course, it would…” The last one said before she moved to introduce herself. The last knight took an exaggerated step forward and nearly fell over. She used the large halberd she carried as a counterweight to recover. Botan got the sense that she was a bit of a mess, but she clearly moved like her weapon was a natural part of her. She cleared her throat and spoke. "I’m Selene. I’m a Dame too. If you need something fucked up, I'm your girl! Well, not your girl, I'm on loan. Well, not that I'm not available, but like... Basically, I kill things real good." She stumbled through her introduction. She had well-kept curly blond hair that seemed odd that she could maintain given her… personality. She was also fun and boastful sounding. She wore discolored armor that he’d mistake for copper if he hadn’t seen some items in Willow’s Whetstone. It was a [Malmetal] blended alloy. Her halberd also seemed better than the other’s equipment. “Despite her mannerisms, this girl has to be nobility.” Botan thought.

“My turn then.” Botan said, taking a step forward. “I’m Botan Nakaya, the Holy Flower Hero. I thank you all for coming here so quickly… If possible, I’d like everyone ready to assemble near the east gate tomorrow at 8 AM. We will be gone for about a week.” Botan didn’t like having to talk like he was in charge. This is what Alder was for.

“Oddly specific. Why?” Navarre questioned.

Alder began to answer. “The Holy Flower unlocks strength in a few ways, one is the absorption of materials, unlocking a new weapon form, and another is absorbing specific materials to evolve the previously unlocked forms. We recently-”

Navarre cut him off. “I was asking the Evergreen, not you. Is it so much to ask he speak himself? You're not an advi-”

Seeing Botan about to intervene himself, Selene stepped in first. “Ooh! Are you my first target?” Selene threatened with genuine excitement.

“Tsk.” Navarre backed off the second she held her halberd in both hands.

Botan continued where Alder was cut off. “Like he was saying… We beat a Grass Reaper that was terrorizing Lokkansted, and I think evolving the strongest weapon form I managed to gain from it will give me more power for the wave than just leveling up will.” Botan clarified.

“A Grass Reaper?” Freona asked in concern. Navarre said nothing but seemed equally concerned.

“Those are nasty enemies.” Cole acknowledged aloud.

“Wow, they're noteworthy enough to even make you talk.” Selene found Cole speaking to be more concerning than the monster.

“Shut it.” That was all Cole said.

Yup, they’ll definitely be a handful. “Why did he give me these types of knights? …Well, are there any other kinds of knights? I guess anyone well adjusted would be most likely working for the Ivory Company instead.” Botan concluded.

“Misk.” Myskel wanted Botan’s attention again. It had already been over a minute without being petted.

Botan wordlessly rubbed the top of its head with his finger.

“Aww~” Freona called.

“What a cutie!” Selene exclaimed.

The two forgot themselves and huddled around Myskel, won over by her charms instantly. “I hadn’t considered it, but… Is Myskel my key to getting a girlfriend? She’s like a secret weapon!”

“What kind of creature is that?” Navarre asked, having never seen it before.

“People call it a living noose, but they’re actually called-”

“You might want to remove it from your neck area then.” Navarre said with genuine concern.

“...As I was saying, they’re actually called cuddling constrictors. And no, Myskel stays where Myskel wants.” Botan remained stubborn. “Misk.” Myskel added.

“Give it up, Navarre. I tried convincing him of much the same.” Alder told him.

Navarre seemed almost offended to be talking to Alder. “Well, if you gave that advice, perhaps I was wrong in thinking it was a concern.”

Botan wasn’t having this. While the disagreements were minor, Navarre was showing a pattern of behavior, and besides- “Unfortunately, a party over 6 members suffer EXP loss. Something I can’t afford this early on. I asked Prince Raucer for four knights, but that was before I knew I’d keep Myskel. So, Sir Navarre, you can stay here, I can only take three of you.” Botan decided.

Navarre went to defend himself. “Wha-What? That’s absurd. You’d leave me over them? Cole has zero accomplishments, Freona is too meek for battle, and Selene is dumb as hel-”

Selene’s halberd and one of Cole’s chakrams landed near Navarre’s head on the wall beside him. He put his hand on his rapier, causing Botan to switch to the [Belfry Lance Carina Branch] and pointed it towards Navarre. “Enough.” Botan said.

“...” No one moved.

“For all I know, you’re a better combatant than Alder, but you cause arguments and insult your party members. I’d rather just not deal with someone like that. So kindly leave. Now.” Botan was more serious than he was most of the time. 

And why wouldn’t he be? Alder had quickly become his friend, and this guy insulted him twice in front of him. Botan had power, purpose, and a way forward. It was poetic that he was less lost in a world he knew little about. This made him more decisive in ways he used to always approach with hesitation.

“...Understood.” Navarre had the sense not to act out further. Even he didn’t think he could take Botan, nor would he want to. Likewise, everyone else was about to jump him the moment he showed steel. He walked away with more than egg on his face.

“Were you really about to shoot him with a laser?” Alder asked, annoyed.

“I mean, yeah? Just a little.” Botan replied honestly without shame.

“You can shoot lasers!? What else can you do?” Selene was immediately sold on joining.

“Can I pet Myskel~?” Freona asked with a reluctant approach.

“Me too!” Selene yelled with a raised hand.

They interacted a bit, Botan found Cole would not talk unless you made him talk, and Selene seemed to be the only one that went out of her way to do that… and almost exclusively by annoying him. Still, Botan thought this party could probably work well together.

Soon, they all departed, Alder even leaving to tend to his mother for the night, and that gave Botan the time to finally read his help menu- “Oh yeah, gotta visit Professor Hector fuuuuuuu-”

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be discussing Voice Cannons ™. Invented nearly 5 years ago and adopted by nearly anyone with the means to use it, these devices allow communication between two points by speaking into specialized cylinders. For this to work the cylinders must be lined up so that a straight line from within the sender can pass through the receiver. This can work even through heavy storms with only a little difficulty in sending and receiving messages. However, any solid object stops all messages completely.

Because of this, those wanting to use Voice Cannons ™ must house them in high points that can reliably have a clear path to other receivers. Because of the logistics and mathematics needed to correctly place and adjust the devices The kingdom of Ventus hires out contractors to set up Voice Cannons ™ for large fees. Even after installation, one side could become misaligned for any number of reasons, resulting in communication technicians being needed jobs to be able to operate and maintain the equipment.

Despite the work in getting the communication off the ground and maintaining it, it has been an incredible boon for many people. Some governments now rely exclusively on Voice Cannons ™ to speak with their neighbors or rulers with their distant subordinates for all but the most serious of issues. Even though many came together to discuss the waves because it was deemed too important, the international conference was still organized and agreed upon using these devices. Distant islands and isolated mountain areas now feel more connected to the world around them, and major news is received in minutes, not days.

Truly such a device has and will continue to revolutionize the world for generations to come.

And this is only one such invention of the so-called “Dark Genius”.

Chapter Text

Prince Raucar had just exited his father's room. He was angry, and sad, a swirl of emotions from sitting next to his dying father for days. His father lived another day, but it was worse each time. Part of him wanted his father to pass just because he was suffering so much. But the idea was also too painful to agree to. Nothing was right, there were no good answers, and the future wasn't very bright for him.

Just as he turned to head towards his own room, he saw Navarre approaching.

"What's this? Why are you here?" The Prince asked, turning to face him fully. Had Raucar found a target for all his awful feelings?

Navarre was visibly nervous, a slightly pale face and sweating made it obvious. "I-I did as you instructed, or at least I tried to…" He began.

"So the Evergreen sees that the bastard is of no use and gave him the boot?" The prince wanted so good news.

"N-Not exactly…" and with those words, Raucar's mood was decided.

"...Then let us be exact. What did happen?" The prince asked, tension building in the darkly lit hallway.

Navarre could not meet the Prince's gaze. "He found my attempts to slander Alder to be adversarial. He removed me from his party very quickly…" He told him.

The prince looked like he wanted to explode. "So you're so incompetent that you went for the throat right away? You were supposed to travel with him for more than a week. You had plenty of time to convince the Evergreen to drop that bastard!" Raucar fought between yelling and stifling his volume for his sleeping father close by.

"I-I can try again! I can-!" Navarre wanted another chance. This was his only chance of moving up in the world.

"No! …You're useless. I'll make sure to put someone like you in whatever position has the least importance when I'm king. Enjoy shoveling shit in some tiny village." Raucar dropped his anger and the issue. Navarre was useless and so would not be relied on further.

"But I… If you gave me another chance…" Navarre kept trying to beg.

"Then what? What will you do?" Prince Raucar asked plainly. His answer? Silence.

"Exactly. Nothing. Dismissed." Raucous said, walking passed Navarre without looking him in the eye.

Navarre did not leave immediately. Instead, he thought about how he could fix things. How he could rise up in the world.

…

Mr. Nakaya would very much like to tell everyone that he didn't go to bed that night until he read his help menu… all of his help menu… He'd very much like to say that…

But see, it wasn't his fault! He started looking through the help menu as he promised. He read a few things, like how his weapon could slowly automatically craft medicine, as long as he had the right tech skill and ingredients. And that led him down a rabbit hole of discovering what tech skills are. Do you know what tech skills are? No? Then you can't yell at Botan! He was educating himself!

That said, he did read another power-up method.

[Topiary]

[By sacrificing levels, you may increase the growth rate of a given stat based on the amount of EXP those levels took to earn. You may choose how many levels to lose and which stat receives the bonus. This power-up method can be used on others with their consent.]

That was certainly a great method in the long term, however, it was useless to him currently. It would be really useful later on.

"Whenever I hit the level cap… When is the level cap?"

[Level Cap]

[The level cap of a given person is limited to 25. This limit is raised while a title is equipped]

"Uh, okay? I heard about it a little but… What the hell is a title?"

[Titles]

[Titles are names or monikers gained by achieving something. Becoming skilled in anything to a particular degree can come with a title. Slaying incredible monsters and becoming well known by a certain name can also grant such a title. Titles increase the level cap of those that bear them as well as augment the stats of the title holder (almost always positively). How high it raises its bearer's level cap and stats depends on the nature of the title. The general rule is that the harder a title is to obtain, the more it benefits its holder. Someone can swap their title at the Dragon Hourglass. Heroes cannot remove their title.]

Botan thought about this. He remembered someone asking what titles he had managed to gain before, during his short trip to the Ivory Company's Mosden branch. He thought about this and before he knew it, he was waking up the following morning. Meaning… He did not read his last power-up method.

It's not his fault. I swear.

The following morning he attempted to quickly meet the others at the east gate like he told them, but he noticed they had huge traveling packs. Botan realized that he'd be gone a week and wouldn't be able to sleep in inns either. He quietly said goodbye to even more of his dwindling finances. He rushed to gather the supplies he lacked and met up with the party at the east gate. Originally, Botan would have arrived 20 minutes early, but now he was arriving 20 minutes late.

Seeing the looks he received, he went to make excuses. "Sorry about being late, uh-"

"You're fine. You arrived before and left. Got everything you need now?" Cole said then asked.

Botan blinked a few times then shared a look with Selene.

"Cole may act like a wallflower, but he's more like a momma bird." Selene said in a serious tone.

"No, I am not." Cole was having none of it.

"Uh-huh." Selene affirmed in the most frustrating way.

Botan smiled as Selene did everything she could to get under Cole's skin.

"Resume your daily Cole torture on the road, please." Alder told her.

Botan was worried that everyone would be deferring to him and he's glad that doesn't seem to be the case. He'd been in the leadership of online guilds and local hobby clubs, but never as the sole person at the helm. It just wasn't his style. With Alder there, things would go smoother.

"Um, what traveling formation do you wish us to use?" Freona asked.

Botan just turned to Alder instead of answering himself. "Seriously? 'Traveling Formation'? Does it really matter?" Botan thought.

"I've already considered this. Given we will be traveling a notable ways away from the capital, we must assume one of the surrounding nations may attempt to intercept and… acquire you." Alder answered Botan's confused look.

"Oh, so I'm a kidnap target? Neato! Just what I needed. Not like I have too much going on or anything. Wait…" Botan thought of something. "Even if I am abducted, I'll teleport to the wave either way, right?" He asked.

"Hmm, I suppose you would." Alder just realized this.

"Then if anything happens, don't risk your lives." Botan told them. "If some idiot tries to kidnap me, they can't keep me… There isn't a way to forcibly deregister me to the hourglass, is there?" Botan just thought to ask while explaining.

"No magic can impede the power and abilities of the heroes." Alder said firmly.

"Then nothing to worry about." Botan said with a smile.

That was supposed to be reassuring, but after seeing how little concern Botan had, Alder, Freona, and Cole shared a look. "Jackknight Rabbit Formation." Alder told them with a deadpan look and a monotone voice.

"Oi." Botan didn't like being dismissed like this.

"Agreed." They both replied. Cole mirrored Alder's expression and voice.

"Oi!" "Misk!" Botan felt more insulted and Myskel was there to support him.

"When we stop to rest… I seriously need to give that thing a tummy rub…" Selene's eyes stared at Myskel like prey, causing Myskel to tuck her face under Botan's chin to hide.

Botan already knew what would happen, but he was annoyed to find that the formation they were using placed him in near the rear and center. Before he could complain Alder thought it fair to justify himself.

"Of those here, You and Cole are our ranged fighters. This formation makes the most sense."

"Yeah, yeah. Now let us hope I don't accidentally laser you instead of the target." Botan said in annoyance.

And he wasn't lying. Aiming was okay for close range, but Botan still wasn't confident in hitting far-off targets. If he missed, he wouldn't just be down MP or SP but his skill would be on cooldown as well. He had only three ranged attack skills and was still learning magical options. "I'll need 6-7 ranged attack skills and a cheap ranged spell before I can afford to mix any shots…" He thought.

They traveled most of the day, stopping for a break three times. Botan was not okay with the sleeping arrangements. He bought a sleeping bag and a pillow, but it was cold dirt as opposed to the nice soft bed at the inn. Botan promised himself that he'd never complain about that cheap place again. If Myskel wasn't their to cheer him up he'd have cried himself to sleep.

He would have complained to the others, but Cole had it worst of all. Selene slept next to him each night and took a lot of her armor off. Let's just say that she was a fine woman and both Botan and Alder could practically see Cole struggling with never taking even the slightest look at her. Botan assumed she was doing this on purpose to Cole as some sort of evil torture, which wasn't entirely untrue.

During that time they were stopped with monster attacks on the road 5 times. Botan came to understand that this was probably normal for Mosden, but terrible overall. They were using a road that led directly to the capital of the country they were less than a day away from, and yet the monsters attacked in groups 5 times in a single day.

"How do non-combatants deal with this? Is there even really such a thing as a non-combatant in a place like Mosden?" Botan thought.

Among those fights were mostly monsters he had faced before. [Bumping Tops], [Tackle Tops], [Jackknife Rabbits], [Jackknight Rabbits], [Psuedo-pedes], and more. Despite the encounters they made great time and Botan got to know his party over the next few days. Each time they went to take a break Freona would make mindful suggestions as to who should be assigned what tasks. Of course, they never suggested Botan do anything, but that didn't sit right with him. He would pull his own weight.

However, after three days they found two new monsters fighting over food near the road. They both seemed to agree to put their fight on hold after seeing the humans approach. Botan didn't miss the chance to use a [Scrying Marble] on both of them, having never seen one of them and never getting the chance for the other.

[Batoidian Cloud]

[Level: 26]

The first was a creature Botan had seen before. More specifically, it was the first monster he had ever seen after only being in this world for minutes. It was a large white stingray that he saw flying high above. It seemed to move sluggishly, which seemed odd to Botan given his memory of them gliding gracefully through the air.

[Fluted Raptor]

[Level: 14]

A large bird similar in size to an ostrich or emu. It had a long beak that didn't curve downwards like most birds. Instead, its beak was long, straight, and narrow. Similar to a woodpecker beak. The monster had large, expressive green eyes that made Botan feel creepy. It had long and thick legs ending in twisted talons. That looked like the main means of attacking.

Botan aimed at the bird with his holy flower extended out. [Spring: Seed Strike]

Botan tried using a skill to attack the enemy he thought may escape. The bird leapt into the air and moved its left leg to place the lower part horizontally, then it grabbed its left with its right. It was now unnaturally suspended in the air, sitting on its own leg like it was a phantom branch.

"What?" Botan hadn't seen that before.

"Allow me, Evergreen." Freona said, charging forward.

What followed was something that made Botan's head spin. The bird could jump higher and suspend itself again, effectively granting it an infinite latter. Freona ran in and jumped high in the air. It was an impressive leap, but Botan thought she was off the mark quite a bit. Suddenly Freona's staff stopped in the air but still spun to let her use this new vantage point to throw herself toward the enemy.

What followed was a short cat-and-mouse game where Freona used her staff like a freestyle gymnast bar to maneuver wherever she wanted in the air. She managed to chase down the bird in less than a minute even though it was capable of doing something similar itself. When she did catch it, she pinned its legs with her staff and the pair plummeted violently to the ground. Freona placed the monster under her, so she was fine after the crash.

"How did you do that?" Botan asked.

Instead of answering him right away, Freona pulled out a knife and began cutting the dead [Fluted Raptor]. She showed something to Botan as she explained. "These monsters, [Fluted Raptors], have hollow bones like most other birds. However, see this design?" Freona showed the inside of an exposed bone. There were crude spikes pointing inward, and hundreds of small protrusions throughout the bone.

"Shape determines what you can and cannot do." Botan understood why she was showing this to him, quoting Tia.

"Precisely. My staff is also hollow with similar spikes on the inside. With it, I can create an axis for the staff to spin on." Freona demonstrated this again but showed a different use. She spun the staff in front of her. Instead of spinning the staff along the shaft like she had been, she spun it longways from the center of the staff. Doing that gave her a spinning shield that suspended itself in front of her.

"That's super cool!" "Mysk!" Botan and Myskel's eyes were full of sparkles.

"Gyak!" They were pulled from their conversation by the dying gasp of the other creature.

Botan was kicking himself for forgetting there was another monster. No matter how hard he tried he could not kick this habit of getting too engrossed into something.

"Huh?" Botan just realized they just now killed it. "Was it hard to beat?"

"No. [Batoidian Clouds] are very often used as tamed monsters. So much so that seeing one has a good chance of being owned." Cole began explaining.

"Yeah, so after we made sure it had no symbol or collar on it, we smashed it up real good!" Selene finished explaining bombastically.

Botan looked at the creature. "Do people fly them?"

"Yeah. You saw that it was a higher level but still struggled against the other much lower-level monster, right?" Alder asked and Botan nodded. "[Batoidian Cloud] stay in the sky for days and only come down when they are exhausted. They're pretty weak on the ground and if found tend to die. They usually have to wait for a [Malstorm] to retake the sky. But with a human partner to use magic to provide updrafts for them, they can fly whenever they want. Removing their biggest weakness. Humans can ride them easily. Overall they are one of the more common tamed monsters." Alder told him.

"Is telling the Evergreen all that really necessary?" Cole asked Alder.

Alder answered by pointing at Botan, now excitedly adding the information to a page of his journal. "The little nerd likes useless stuff like that." Alder joked.

Before Botan could even look up, Myskel had already taken one of his pens and thrown it at Alder. It hit him uneventfully as the two locked eyes.

"Nice shot, Myskel." Botan praised his pet with a pet. "Mysk~!" It gloated at Alder. He in turn stared daggers at the little monster.

Selene slid over and put up one finger to Myskel which she placed her claw up to give a high five, which she accepted. "I don't know a lot of useless information, but Freona reads a lot so she probably has a lot of noise to say at you." She told Botan.

Botan looked at Freona, and then they both turned to Cole. "I am not their target and I intend to keep it that way." He said waving them off.

Selene turned to Cole. "Feeling left out? I can fix that!" She ran at him and he started fleeing.

While Selene chased Cole with glee, Botan got to work dissecting and then absorbing these new monsters.

.

[Fluted Raptor Flower Unlocked]

[Fluted Raptor Beak Branch Unlocked]

[Fluted Raptor Wing Flower Unlocked]

[Fluted Raptor Leg Stem Unlocked]

[Fluted Raptor Talon Flower Unlocked]

[Fluted Raptor Eye Flower Unlocked]

[Batoidian Cloud Flower Unlocked]

[Batoidian Cloud Stinger Vine Unlocked]

[Batoidian Cloud Fin Flower Unlocked]

[Batoidian Cloud Float Meat Flower]

.

He received 6 forms from the [Fluted Raptor] but only 4 forms from a monster that was of a higher level. Botan couldn't tell if he dissected the [Batoidian Cloud] poorly or if this was just the way it was.

Of the 10 weapon forms, 3 had abilities he might consider useful.

.

[Fluted Raptor Beak Branch]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Alert”

.

After testing it out, using [Alert] sent a notification to all party members that he was in trouble. He wasn't sure if there was a distance limit, but it would certainly come in handy.

.

[Batoidian Cloud Stinger Vine]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Snapsting Crack”

.

[Snapsting Crack] was a physical attack that caused a vine to rapidly grow out, and stab a target then whipped in such a way to violently pull the tip out and strike the wound like a whip. It wasn't a long-range move and wasn't his strongest attack, but it was probably great for intercepting an approaching enemy.

.

[Batoidian Cloud Fin Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed + 9, Glide Enhancement

.

While he couldn't really test it here, [Glide +] likely just improved the [Glide] skill of his [Dandelion Tuft Glider].

.

They were a lot of fun and it made Botan a lot more comfortable. He'd never would have had that depressing episode under the tree with people like this around. Their time together was welcome and when they finally reached their destination Botan felt bad that their time together was nearly half over.

"Once we deal with the wave, I have to travel somewhere else and be alone again…" Botan thought.

"Mysk~!" Myskel seemingly reading his mind or maybe just feeling his mood, rubbed her head on the bottom of his chin.

"That's right. Not alone. And maybe in the next place, we could find another long-term party member. Maybe that dark genius guy will want to travel with the Evergreen?" Botan corrected his thinking.

They had found a [Whistlewood Tree] early into the fifth day, just a bit sooner than they expected. This was thanks to Cole's excellent scouting talents, but he just kept saying 'All I did was look'.

Just approaching the tree made Botan feel with wonder as it sat nearly alone atop a slumped hill. The consistent shifting breeze caused a chaotic but peaceful melody from the tree as the wind passed through the natural holes and hollow sections of the tree.

"How much do we need?" Selene asked.

"Not much, but we should take more. This wood is excellent for making woodwind instruments. We could sell some."

"Then leave it to us, Freona." Cole called Freona to help him.

Selene tried to make herself useful, waving to and approaching the pair. "Huh? You two can just watch me do it. My halberd is definitely long enough to-"

"The wood would break faster than it would be cut by that large weapon." Cole said, now standing atop Freona's staff and carefully sawing a branch with one of his bladed chakrams.

Selene eyed Freona a moment and approached again. "Well then, I can help hold you up. Give Freona a break and-"

"The staff is perfectly stationary and she isn't supporting my weight in the slightest. This is ideal." Cole said in his normal monotone voice, finishing the removal of the first branch and handing it to Freona.

Serene's normally happy-go-lucky face was changing to one of frustration. Freona offered a way for her to help. "You could hold these branches for us?" She said in an unsure manner.

"No need. Two full branches will be enough." Cole interrupted. Freona just gave Selene a look that said 'sorry' while Selene looked more upset.

Botan accidentally said his thoughts out loud. "It's okay Selene, I'm rooting for you."

Selene's face snapped back unnaturally. "What exactly are you implying?"

"Ah, just that… that Cole… That you will… … Nothing." Botan crumbled under the look she gave off. If he wasn't the Evergreen, she'd have probably hit him already.

"Take as much as you two can carry." Alder said to Botan and Cole. "You two fight in the back, so it has the best chance of returning to town intact if one of you carries it. Remember we still need to buy some sort of monster material that belongs to a monster level 50 or higher." Alder advised.

After absorbing enough branches to satisfy his blooming requirements and seeing he now only needed one more 'heart of a coward' from all the monsters they fought on the way here, Botan felt like he made the right choice. As soon as He and Cole were loaded up on [Whistlewood Branches] they broke for lunch. During that time, Botan found a good spot to draw the [Whistlewood Tree] from.

About 10 minutes into the drawing Myskel and Cole perked up, soon followed by Alder, then Freona, and then lastly Selene. Botan seemed to be the only one not to notice.

Alder spoke up. "Botan! We need to leave before-"

He was interrupted by the appearance of six people. Three wore suits of armor of a sort, two men, and one woman. The greaves, armguards, helmets, and the area around their wastes were overly decorative and quite flashy in design. But their upper arms and upper legs had no armor to speak of. What caught Botan's attention was their breastplate. Simple, slim, solid, and having been shaped like the chest of a well-toned man. "These three look very similar to Roman soldiers… No. Greek. Greek Hoplites." Botan thought.

Two of the others wear lighter armor and what appeared to be tunics, a man and a woman. Both carried spears and crossbows. They seemed to carry little, but that was also concerning.

Lastly was a smiling man. He was a bit older with a ragged beard grown out a bit. His hair was dark and greasy, matted from sweat. He wore armor similar to the first three but wore something over top of it. Similar to a robe, but not quite a toga.

The man leaned down with his arms to his hips, looking at Botan as he spoke. "Standout blue eyes and carrying a flower weapon. So you are the Evergreen? How auspicious that we found you first." The man said cheerfully, teeth showing in a wide grin.

Botan didn't move or react that much. He still had an easy way out if things got bad. "The first? Who else is looking for me?"

"Hahaha! And not one to panic. I like that." The man stomped his foot as he laughed. "See here. 10 teams were hired to find you and make sure you are safely rescued. We all got some pay already, but the team that actually rescues you claims a big prize." The man freely offered information.

Botan thought about how he said that. "Huh? 'Rescue'? I'm sorry if there was some kind of misinformation, but I am allowed to go wherever I want. I'm not kept on a leash." Botan told him, still drawing in his journal.

Alder and the others were in a stance to fight but hadn't pulled out their weapons yet. They were willing but also afraid.

"I guess that makes sense why you're out here in the middle of nowhere, hahaha!" His cheerful demeanor dampened a little as he spoke next. "I am acting on the behest of the Emperor of Eld, Vasileios Eldnoir. He wishes to meet you and assist you in dealing with the waves." The man said.

Botan still did not look at the man, just kept drawing. "Well, I have a wave in Mosden in about a week. After that, I'm going to Ventus. Eld seemed like the next logical step after that. The Arden Republic will be last." Botan spoke matter-of-factly. Laying out what will happen, not what he'd like to happen.

The mercenaries started picking up on Botan's demeanor. Everyone else was ready to fight yet he didn't seem stressed at all. They started wondering just how strong the Evergreen was already.

"Say, uh… What level are ye at?" The once jolly man asked uncertainly.

"High enough." That was all Botan said.

There was a pause. Botan finished his skitch. It turned out pretty good. He sat it to the side for a moment and stood, turning to face them.

"Instead of doing something silly, why not go back and explain that you personally convinced me to visit Eld before Arden? Not ideal, but it'd be praiseworthy." Botan suggested to the man, offering a hand to him.

The man didn't take his hand, instead, his hand met his chin as he thought for a moment. "Well, you seem reasonable…, but I was given an unreasonable task." The man pulls a cloth at his side revealing an ornate leaf blade sword. "I won't ask again." he warned.

Botan had more to say but the man looked like he wouldn't let him finish talking. Botan had no choice. Currently level 31, he was one level away from being able to use [Grass Reaper's Scytheflower].

"Then Eld goes last." Botan told the man.

That goading was like a shot fired to start the race. Everyone began moving towards each other. Cole and Alder ran in together as Alder pulled out his weapons, a pair of nunchucks. He spun them to gather a blue energy as he came to clash with another. Cole seemed to come in unarmed and caught the man's spear with both his hands. Only afterward did the man see Cole's chakram coming towards his face. Cole had thrown them, then outrun them for this maneuver.

Alder's attack was going to be blocked by another's sword, but they had to cover from their side from Selene running at them with her weapon pulled back, clearly intending to push all the enemies back at once. Freona was about 3 meters off the ground ready to disrupt whatever enemy action she felt was most key.

Alder's foe thought better than blocking his spell and pulled back to dodge the attack before closing the distance. "Big mistake." Alder said, as he struck his weapons together and the gathered blue energy shot in the direction the handles were pointing to, the man who thought he dodged it.

[Colliding Pistol]!

Botan and the leader looked at one another a moment more. Botan quickly pointed his holy flower at the man.

[Spring: Seed Stri-]!

Botan's skill was misdirected by the mercenary reflexively swatting the holy flower away, making the skill hit the ground. "Got to be more clever than that." The man warned.

The man closed the small gap between the two and kept attacking Botan's weapon to control where it was. Botan had been in fights before, but not a battle between himself and another human. You don't just take turns. Your opponent will not give you a chance to breathe and will not stop a winning advance for no reason. Botan was being pushed back, but he had several options. All of which should be new information to his opponent.

"If possible, I'd like to reveal as few skills and spells as possible… but I'd rather show everything than lose." Botan thought.

Botan felt he had to start somewhere, and that was with a recent skill he hadn't used yet.

[Snapsting Crack]!

A vine grew out and stabbed the man's exposed upper arm, causing him to take a half-step backward. Then the skill finished by pulling the vine taut and cracking it like a whip. This made the man finish taking a full step back. The man looked annoyed, maybe a bit angered, but he didn't look impressed. Botan wasn't looking for satisfaction, he was looking for distance.

He once again pointed his Holy Flower at the enemy and used a skill.

[Sunray]!

The man did not look very nimble, but he moved almost entirely out of the way of the attack immediately. He crouched down low and rushed Botan under the skill. His back took a grazed shot to his back, leaving a burning line through his armor.

"Fuck'n brat!" The man cursed in pain. Botan was put off guard by how the man mostly dodged his attack while still approaching him. It made him hesitate in retreating to maintain distance. The grizzled mercenary's hand shot out and found itself wrapped tightly around Botan's wrist and the holy flower.

"Uhm!" With a strong grunt, the man lifted Botan over his shoulder, half-turned, and planted him face-first into the dirt. Botan spat blood. The man threw him around like he was still a child.

"Now settle down." the man warned. He never let go of Botan's arms, placing it behind his back, completing the pin. Myskel tried attacking the man's armored hand, but she was still too low of a level to get through such quality armor.

"God damn! I… I can't move! Then try this!" Botan had no time to think tactically. He needed to get away.

[S-Spin]!

Botan's weapon spun violently, cutting the man's hand through his armor and making him let go. Botan threw himself on his back as opposed to his stomach and looked at the man.

"Deep end it is." Botan thought aloud. [Boom Bloom]! Botan activated his strongest skill. He'd need to wait for it to charge up but he had a way to make sure it hit.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party was having it just as roughly. Cole could match them in speed, Selene could match them in strength, and Freona focused on disruptive support well enough… but their enemies were just too much. Only Alder could consistently come out of their short skirmishes ahead. They were going to be overwhelmed in a 4 versus 5 match, but how many spells Alder knew saved them.

Alder spun his weapons in an odd rhythm, after a moment he shared a look with Selene. She acted immediately. Just as two enemies attempted to attack Alder from two sides, Selene used her halberd as a spear and thrust it at one of them. They abandoned their attack on Alder to dodge the attack, but Selene kept lunging forward. It seemed to them that she was unaware of what she was doing.

[Gate of the Moon]!

For a moment it looked like Selene's attack skewerd Alder!

"W-What the hell…?" The other man who was attacking Alder looked down to see Selene's weapon buried into his chest.

The man looked up a bit to find the answer. Selene did attack Alder. She knew the spell Alder was using and acted accordingly. [Gate of the Moon] creates two small portals on the flat surface of two or more spinning objects as long as it is done in the right rhythm. Selene's attack went through the portal Alder held out to his left and exited out the right side.

The enemy was struck by a heavy blow and without knowing it was coming. If not for the impressive breastplate the man wore, he'd be dead right now. Even still, he would not recover in this battle. Making their battle a proper 4 versus 4 as they continued.

Botan's head was spinning, but Myskel was doing an odd wiggling motion that caused her to glow. This seemed to begin slowly healing her partner.

The mercenary leader was taking more damage than he would have liked. He figured that Botan wasn't going to be much trouble. Evergreen or not, his armor was complete trash. He was with Mosden knights who were notoriously weak and couldn't have been in this world for more than three weeks. It all came down to Botan's advantages as a hero. Without those, this fight would have already been over.

The leader wanted to be cautious but knew giving Botan room to breathe and collect himself was a bad idea. He charged Botan as a barely visible force was coating his body.

"This is…" Botan didn't know the name or effect, but the man's charge was a spell and was going to hurt like hell. He was already thinking of a weapon form for his holy flower to turn into, but fired another [Spring: Seed Strike] right as the cooldown for the skill ended and right before the weapon changed form.

The man swatted the skill away, shattering his left arm's armor in that brief interaction with Botan's skill. Luckily Botan didn't use that skill for damage but as a distraction. Botan finished switching to his [Leaf Flower] weapon form. The moment he did, he used [Thrust C (small)].

[Aegis Impact]!

The large man slammed into Botan with his left shoulder, activating Botan's counter-skill. The spike on the weapon form glowed briefly then a stab wound appeared on the man's left arm. Unfortunately, Botan was still sent flying, slamming into a tree behind him. The air was knocked out of him and he began gasping for air as he did his best to get back on his feet. Meanwhile, the man stood firm. The wound was an issue, but he was confident in his victory again.

Meanwhile, the others were battered and bruised much the same as Botan was. While they thought themselves fortunate to have taken out one of their enemies, the same happened to them. Seeing Freona was an issue, they determined that taking one of Cole's attacks in exchange for felling her was a good trade. Two moderate wounds were the price, but what they bought was a clean punch to Freona's head. A downward strike that made her head bounce off a rock as her body went limp.

Her party feared the worst and tried to intensify but to little effect. Alder remained their best hope. While roughly equal to any one of the enemies, he remained untouched. His mother trained him to be an excellent dancer and it was showing.

At one point a woman used her spear to bait one of Alder's weapons to knock her strike away, which he did. What came next was her hand forming an odd shape, grouping together two groups of two fingers and her thumb to form the visual of a claw. As she threw her hand at Alder, energy surrounded her hand and formed the shape of a bird's claw.

[Predator's Talon]!

But again Alder was a step ahead. He mimicked her movements and looked like he was going to use the same spell. The odd thing was that his movements matched her completely. He was not following her lead, he matched her timing. As the two went to clash, the spell faded.

[Thwart]

Their hands simply collided and no further magic was felt.

"Shit! You can counter magic?" the man was not expecting that.

"Can he counter magic? You are talking to the son of Tia, The Queen of Dance. Of course, he can!" Selene boasted on Alder's behalf.

Another man seemed to get raddled by that. "Seriously!? This is more trouble than the silver they gave us."

The woman whose spell was countered wasn't buying it. "It's lies. As if that oh-so-important bastard would just be galavanting around the wilderness."

Alder just sighed at her stupidity. "You do realize that we are with the Evergreen, remember? Why wouldn't I be guarding him?" He asked her.

The woman went to refute his words, but nothing came out. Given that Tia can't afford to leave the capital and Botan can't afford to stay, sending her son to guard Botan's back seemed logical. At this point, the enemy started noticing that Alder was unharmed after a fair bit of fighting. They shared a look. They would focus on Alder completely and take down the person they believed to be their greatest threat.

Back with Botan, he was retreating. He knew a tree was behind him so he ran to his left, never taking an eye off the man pursuing him. He couldn't escape but luckily that wasn't his goal. He was only doing this to gain a few seconds. The man reached Botan and went for a stabbing motion at his leg. It seemed that Botan made himself a credible threat and the kid gloves were coming off.

But the man waited too long to get serious. "Now!"

[Sprout Slash]!

Botan's weapon instantly transformed into the [Grass Blade]. The initial speed granted by the skill, the instant transformation, and the speed boost this weapon form gave ever since blooming grew the speed gap between the pair. Botan knocked the man's weapon aside and pointed the tip at him.

"Too late." Botan said smirking.

Boom!

[Boom Bloom] had finished charging and struck the man directly. Seeing nothing but smoke, Botan went to turn towards the other but something came through the smoke. The man's fist met Botan's face and rocked his whole world. Botan was thrown about 12 meters away and spun so much that he was too disorientated to know which way was up. Botan looked at the man stumbling through the smoke left by his skill.

"[Boom Bloom] would have won the fight, but [Grass Blade] has shit Magic attack. I gave up half my hitting power because I thought guaranteeing it landed was more important. After what it did to the Grass Reaper, I thought of it as an instant win button. That's why I wasn't panicking… But now…"

Botan was hurt, but this mercenary captain was way more hurt. While Botan felt he was about to lose, if he looked at things rationally, he was in the lead. He still had plenty of SP, but the problem was that all his offensive skills were on cooldown.

The man started to move his arms, moving them back and forth in the air as if directing a tidal wave or something similar.

"What the hell is he…? Shit!" Botan felt something weird beneath his left foot and quickly dodge to his right.

[Stone Trap]! The man finished a spell that made two large rocks rupture from the earth and collide with one another, crushing the weak and trapping the strong.

"How the hell did you dodge that? Fast little bastard." The man questioned Botan before dismissing the matter.

But Botan also asked that same question. "How did I sense the magic? I thought you could only sense magic within yourself" This thought gave him a solution to his problem.

Botan wanted to retreat fully but caught sight of Alder and the others fighting like crazy. He thought briefly, then began walking towards his opponent.

"If I can't use skills…"

"Finally grown a pair!?" The man bellowed. He took a charging stance and went to use [Aegis Impact] again.

"Then I'll have to start using spells."

Botan began to spin as Tia taught him. He still didn't know all the starting paths and he hadn't been using magic as much as he should have, relying on skills far more. Still, he had felt a specifically strong path he could go down if he began with the first path he was taught.

"I am a mage after all."

Botan stuck his leg out in the final rotation before making contact with his opponent's spell. Botan didn't use the spell yet, he was still only using magically enhanced might. Something akin to a not-fully-formed spell. Botan knew he had the man beaten in magic attack. He'd beat someone double his level in magic attack. After a moment the attacks canceled each other but neither were done there.

The man briefly tried attacking Botan again but Myskel's claw began to glow blue before she stretched out, striking at him. While he wouldn't have the time to rebuild magic into his leg to fight continuously with the man normally, Myskel now offered Botan the leeway needed to restart the spell and go at it again. Botan landed a few hits as the fight turned in his favor but the majority of his kicks were spent defending himself from his opponent's attacks. Once Botan had a moment to swap his weapon form to something with more magic power, he knew he'd win.

He was ready to use his spell. He leapt about two meters in the air before he began to fall back down. His right leg high above, ready to deliver one hell of an axe kick. As it began to come down, a force began to manifest a large axe head made of magic under Botan's right leg.

"W-Wait!" The man only understood he lost now, and only just began to weigh whatever silver he was paid and promised to be lighter than his life.

[Executioner's Axe]!

The man tried to block the attack. The magical blade formed by the spell cut his own in half, sliced his armguard clean, cleaved right through his arm, and went about an inch into the man's breastplate.

He was surprised at how well the fight went once he just tried magic. He couldn't tell how much of that was due to the man already taking heavy damage and how much of it was Tia's teachings paying off. Botan almost wanted to question what their breastplates were made of, but was brought back to reality when he saw the man he just attacked. Botan reflexively threw up.

"Oh god! He's dead! I-I just wanted to beat him! What the hell!? I'm a murderer! I wasn't thinking! I wasn't thinking!" Botan fell back in shock.

Seeing what happened caused a fuss among the remaining mercenaries. "Holy shit… The boss is…"

"We're out of here!" Another took this as a signal to retreat.

Alder thought for a moment. "On one hand, we should kill them. They are a threat. They said multiple teams were sent and if one of them ran across another team, they could point them right at us… But we've already got what we've came for and will be returning to the capital, where it is safe." Alder also took a glace at Botan, who seemed really shaken up. "And protecting and helping Botan must be made a priority." Alder decided.

"Let the able-bodied enemies retreat, secure the others." Alder told Cole and Selene.

The two remaining able-bodied enemies did as all mercenaries did, and ran away from a lost battle. Cole nodded, knowing what he meant. Alder went over to Botan while Cole 'discovered' that each of the mercenaries that were beaten were dead. Selene went to Freona and checked her head injury.

"Mysk? …Mysk!" Myskel tried nudging Botan a bit since he looked out of it, but the moment she did, she felt a few tears fall on her head and tried apologizing. The tears were few but they weren't stopping.

Alder came up and put a hand on Botan's shoulder. "It was him or us. He'd have killed everyone but you so we couldn't let anyone know until you were beyond our borders." Alder tried logical talking.

"Why didn't he let me finish talking? Had I been given the chance to explain that I'd just be teleported back…" Botan was in shock and went back to the beginning of the fight.

"But you couldn't, because he wouldn't let you. Unknown as it was, that too was his choice." Alder applied more logic.

"But I killed him. I literally murdered someone!" Botan was now shouting.

Seeing Botan not taking to logic, he tried being more emotional. "...You spoke about your world a little. From what I gathered, it's a peaceful place. It's comforting to know that such a place exists where boys can grow to be men without having to surrender this part of their hearts but… Botan… Here, in this world, it isn't like that."

"But why does it-?" Botan just wanted to reject an absolutist idea as Alder presented it.

"I killed my first man when I was 12. I was basically the same as you are now. Only I had my mother to comfort me and you have to settle for me, sorry. I know it's going to take time for you to deal with this, however it is you choose to do so…, but Freona is seriously hurt, and we need to leave." Alder instead tried to give Botan something else to focus on.

"What about those mercenaries?" Botan asked.

"All dead." Alder answered.

Botan's eyes snapped open. Not at Alder's words themself, but at what they meant. He immediately shot a glace at Cole, and Alder realized he'd been caught. Alder didn't check the mercenaries himself, but somehow knew they were all dead? After asking Cole to check to see if they were dead because he didn't know their condition? Yeah, Botan caught his slip-up, even as he was now.

He looked down, depressed, but there was Myskel looking back up at him in concern.

"They'd have dragged me to who knows where… and dumped her somewhere along the way. They'd have killed Alder, taking something irreplaceable from Tia. And the others… I'd… I'd rather it be the mercenaries than Alder, Myskel, and the others." Botan wasn't over it, far from it. But they had to help Freona and leave before more people came.

"...We have to go. Someone snitched." Botan realized and said aloud.

It was now Alder's turn to look shocked. "You're right. They just so happen to find us in the middle of nowhere at our destination." He narrated his thoughts.

"And they knew my eye color despite not being from Mosden. That's pretty fast news." Botan added.

Alder removed his arm from Botan's shoulder and held it out to him. "Then we get moving?" Alder offered.

Botan went to take his hand but turned to the man he killed. "After we help Freona, but before we leave… we should pilfer." Botan suggested.

"Way ahead of you." Cole chimed in. "These idiots were carrying their whole commission on them. 50 silver each."

"Count coins later, Cole. Freona is hurt." Selene chided him, but with none of the fun in her voice she usually had. Hearing her tone, everyone gathered around Freona.

"Know any healing spells?" Selene asked Alder.

"None that won't get me slapped." He answered.

"Excuse me?" Botan asked.

"Motion magic, remember? Healing is done through massage." Alder answered while looking away in embarrassment.

"Kinky." "Then allow me a more PG solution. Myskel." Botan softly grabbed Myskel and put her on Freona's head. She seemed to hate the idea of being on someone else, or maybe just not being on Botan in general.

"Please help her." Botan requested.

Myskel paused. Her nice partner just asked her to help and Freona had been really nice to her as well. She didn't like the idea of using her abilities for anyone else, but Myskel decided this was still technically for Botan, so it wasn't cheating. She began to wiggle her body as it began to glow.

"What is that?" Cole asked.

"She started using it when I got hurt. It's a healing ability." He answered.

"A monster that can heal someone else is quite the find." That was rare praise and even rarer emotion in Cole's voice.

"I dub this spell, [Curing Cuddle]." Botan announced.

Selene loved the name, but disapproving looks from Alder and Cole told a different story.

"I think it's cute." Freona said as she regained consciousness.

They all moved closer to check on her. They asked her several questions to make sure she wasn't too hurt. Once Myskel was done, Freona placed her back on Botan's neck as a way of thanks.

"Does she have any other useful spells?" Cole asked.

"She has a magic-infused claw attack… oh, I'll call it [Mysklaw]. What do you guys think?" Botan asked them excitedly.

Their replies were judgemental stares.

Shifting the tone to a lighter one was welcome. They robbed the mercenaries of their coin, the leader had one of those rare healing potions Botan was so curious about, and they even stole one of their breastplates at Botan's request, then buried them. Botan had been making sure to carry his own weight, but he selfishly asked them to deal with the bodies without him. As they did, he just stared at the tree they came there for.

He just wasn't ready to face this.

They left right after that. It took them a little less time to return than they originally thought, even with the battle, partially helped by finding the target early in the 5th day, and partially because Botan was getting a little more used to sleeping outside. Everyone else seemed to have no issue sleeping outside, though Cole had trouble dealing with Selene each night. Botan got even less sleep on the way back, remembering what he did to that mercenary leader, to a fellow human.

Botan tried dealing with it as best he could, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't happy to be back in a town with beds. It commanded most of his thoughts as they entered the capital's gates.

"Mysk~!" Myskel had counted that it had been more than 30 seconds since she was patted and needed this rectified.

Botan looked down at Myskel. It was nine days in total of travel. In that time Myskel had eaten so much. Had they not had monsters for her to eat, Botan was scared she would have starved. But even since this morning she has quieted considerably. She still wanted sweet things, but she no longer seemed to eat her own body weight 5 times over each day. And Botan had a good idea why she was no longer eating like that.

She was now fully grown. Her head and claws grew a little, but her tail just kept growing and growing. She could now wrap her tail around his neck twice or waist once easily. She was like a living scarf that you could pet. What wasn't to love?

"And it's all thanks to the flower weapon forms. Her growth, level, and stats are all looking great. Her level is now 18, while I'm 32." He couldn't know how high her stats were when comparing them to his own, so he had to ask the others. "Her stats are all above average. She even has two abilities. Not to mention she is the cutest damned thing ever. I was really lucky to have found you." He thought.

Between her growth rates, her healing ability, and the fact her stats were all further boosted from touching him thanks to his passive skill, [Contact Comrade], she was actually approaching Freona in hitting power, despite her level.

Returning to town was a blessing and a curse. Botan needed to find monster materials from a monster that was level 50 or higher, he needed to acquire his dancing clothes from that mean old lady, then sneak it over to Willow's Whetstone to attach the armor as needed. Botan felt bad about lying to the old woman, but he needed that armor.

Cole departed from the group as soon as they entered the gate. Selene and Freona made sure to pet Myskel goodbye first, then they soon joined Cole. Alder asked them to give a full report to the prince. It seemed odd that Alder wouldn't be the one to report such important news, but Alder soon answered his questioning look.

"I want to check up on my mother. Tell me if you need anything." Alder told Botan. The two nodded at one another and parted ways with no other words between them.

Botan had a full party for ten days but suddenly found some time that was just going to be Myskel and him.

Botan had two packs full of [Whistlewood] and thought of where to sell it. That took him to Lore & Ledgers pretty quickly. Professor Hemlock saw Botan through the glass in front of the shop and waved him in.

"Back from a long trip, yes? Anything you'd be selling?" The professor greeted.

Botan smirked. "Like you wouldn't believe." Botan emptied all the monster parts he already knew Professor Hemlock would want. While he started separating everything and counting it up, he asked, "Any chance you need [Whistlewood]?"

"No. Such materials are good for windchimes, woodwind instruments, and such". Hemlock explained without looking up from the items.

During their conversation, Professor Hemlock suggested that Botan try the dancing woman's shop. Apparently, [Whistlewood] combined with [Malmetal] made fluted staves that were preferred by dancers. Botan spoke with the man for a bit, but really needed to get going.

He made his stop by the dancing shop as fast as he could. She asked him to try on the outfit she made the moment he entered the building. He did so without any argument, but the dancing outfit was a little thin for his liking. Without anything overtop of it, it definitely followed his curves too strictly. It left little to the imagination. However, Botan had to admit that the material was really flexible and strong. He felt like his range of movement was greater in something like this. It was like he was naked, but without the whole 'being arrested for public indecency' thing.

When she was done yelling at him for one thing or another, Botan was able to get a word in to offer her all the [Whistlewood] as payment. She agreed to buy it, but the materials would not cover the full cost of the outfit. He paid the difference and did his best to escape.

Embarrassed by what he was wearing, he raced to Willow's Whetstone to take this thing off and have him attach the armor to it as they agreed. Will let him change in the forging area and took the outfit. He had finished most of the pieces already, but Botan had a surprise.

"I also have this." Botan showed him the Eld armor. Will knew what it was instantly.

"That's quality stuff. This armor would be good for someone as high as level 45, no, 50. Where in the world did you get this?" Willow asked.

"Off of some Eld mercenaries that thought violence was going to solve all their problems." Botan answered.

"I mean, they have no problems now." Willow joked.

Botan didn't laugh. He was reminded of what Alder said about killing a man when he was 12 years old. Now Willow was making fun of some poor man who died in the middle of nowhere and was buried in an unmarked grave with three others. Botan wondered if he would get used to this kind of thing… and if he'd even want to.

Willow offered to hold onto the armor for Botan, but he didn't want to buy it. "Just don't like the thought of selling something in my shop that I didn't make."

"Should I use it?" Botan asked.

"It's a solid piece, better than the one I'll have for you, sorry to say. That said, this one is pretty mobile, but the one I am making for you is even more mobile, especially around the waist. So you pick." Willow told him.

Botan considered them. "Better defense might seem like an easy choice… but… Had I have been wearing this when fighting that man, would it have helped at all? He never hit me in the chest. Not only that, but mobility won me the fight because of magic."

"I'd prefer the mobility. I only won the fight with the crew we got this off of because of magic." Botan decided.

"Already thrashing Eldian mercenaries? They really weren't blowing smoke with everything they say about the Evergreen." Will said, sitting the armor to the side.

Will took note of what work was still needed. "After fitting everything on, I just have a few smaller pieces to make for the arms and it'll be done." Will said. That would take a day at least. After that, his list of things to do shrank a lot.

He looked at his [Grass Reaper's Scytheflower]. More specifically, how close it was to blooming.

[Cultivation Menu]

[Subject: Grass Reaper's Scytheflower]

[Necessary materials for Cultivation are as followed]

[50 lbs of Malmetal] [Completed]

[7 hearts of the cowardly] [Completed]

[11 Branches of a Whistlewood Tree] [Completed]

[5 unripe seeds of a Top Tree] [Completed]

[Any materials from a monster level 50 or higher]

He only needed one more material. The best places to ask were the castle and the Ivory Company. Without even really considering, Botan began going towards the castle. He'd try the Ivory Company, but not as his first choice.

Botan thought it'd be hard to enter the castle right now, but he was let in without effort, even with many others being turned away. Moreover, while they let him in and there were several guards, once inside, there didn't seem to be much of anyone. Botan only walked so far before he stopped. "The king is dying and everything is revolving around that right now. This is important, but… I have all day. I'll wait until someone passes by."

Botan went up to the enormous tree that dwarfed even the castle and sat at its base. He looked through his bag, and his menus, and played with Myskel a bit. After a while, Botan went to shift his body to get more comfortable and felt a branch poking him in the shoulder. Without really thinking about it, Botan grabbed the branch and broke it off. The moment he touched the tree, he received a message.

[Weapon copy system activated]

[Warning: Weapon copy system has been terminated by ?]

Botan just stared at the message a moment, then stared at the tree. The once beautiful tree seemed a lot more intimidating now. He couldn't place why. Either way, this made him want to go somewhere else. As he got up to leave, he remembered he had the branch of the tree in his hand. His Holy Flower's gen began to glow. He wordlessly fed the materials to the weapon.

He received two messages.

[Weapon form failed to unlock. Weapon form locked by ?]

The other was an update from is power-up method sub-menu.

[Any materials from a monster level 50 or higher] [Completed]

Botan wanted to run. "This damned tree is a monster over level 50!? If this thing fell over it'd destroy half the town! If this thing punched me I would be emancipated from life!"

He left the courtyard and the castle entirely. He made it nearly to Tia and Alder's home before stopping to do something extremely important.

[All cultivation materials offered!]

[Subject: Grass Reaper's Scytheflower has bloomed into its true form!]

.

[Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower] (Bloomed)

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed +15 Magic Attack +10, Skill: "Sickle Throw"

Equip Effect: Plantsbane (Medium)

.

And just like that, Botan's initial preparations for the wave were done. He had a day left to prepare, then he'd need to see what kind of threat he was summoned to face in the first place. But first, Botan smelled Tia's cooking and had a thousand things to tell and ask her.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be covering another powerful group that acts on behalf of a government without officially being part of that government. No, not the Ivory Company. This time we are talking about "The Champions of the Golden Sea". These mercenaries gained their name from the land their founders hailed from, commonly called The Golden Sea. It is a region within the Eld Empire that is primarily used for farmland. The richness of the soil and the talent of the farmers meant that whenever the wheat was nearing time to be harvested, it would make the whole countryside look like a sea of gold.

While the mercenary company came from humble roots, it is only spoken about in that manner when convenient currently. The Champions of the Golden Sea are currently the largest paramilitary group in the world with more than 10000 members. Which makes it larger than Mosden's own military in its entirety. Much of that is bloat, as success has lowered their standards for individual talent. Their standards for equipment, however, remain high. Most members wear higher-end armor, carry custom-made weapons, and carry rare magic items. In fact, The Champions of the Golden Sea are one of the Dark Genius' greatest customers.

In theory, if Eld ever went to war, The Champions of the Golden Sea would follow and make their army the largest…

But that isn't what would happen. Those more keenly aware know that The Champions of the Golden Sea are not conscripted soldiers. If the Emperor were to ask or even demand they march under his banner, they would ask for an amount of money that only someone like the Emperor of Eld could afford. At that point, the Emperor either has to spend a fortune or lose a lot of face. Or even worse, possibly need to subjugate The Champions of the Golden Sea even as war is happening. Those well-versed in politics could therefore see if and when the empire plans to go to war with a simple indication. To avoid the worst result, the Emperor would successfully gain The Champions of the Golden Sea before declaring war. That meant that whenever The Champions of the Golden Sea acted directly on behave of the Emperor, they were already aligned and war was already in motion…

Chapter Text

Botan had just received his new armor from Will. This wasn’t armor good enough to improve long-term, but he knew it was the best he could manage at the moment. The dram undergarment made the lighter silver-like metal of the armor sections seem all the brighter in contrast. The armor looked basic, and had many unprotected areas, but it was necessary to continue to allow maximum range of movement for the young dancer.

Alder and the knights waited in the front of the shop to see the reveal. Seeing Botan in his armor and his weapon form already shifted to the [Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower] made Alder realize. “Despite the lack of resources and assistance offered… You really grew quite rapidly, didn’t you?”

“Mysk!~” Myskel appreciated any praise leveled at Botan.

Botan went to smile but formed a comedic frown instead. “If I am so reliable, why don’t you believe me?”

Cole didn’t expect that reaction and grew curious. “What’s he talking about?”

“Not this thing again.” Alder said with a heavy sigh and a facepalm

“No! Listen to me! That tree is a monster over level 50 and can mess with my menus! That thing is a big deal!” Botan was begging them to listen but sounded like a madman.

“Oh… So he’s just talking about normal Botan nonsense then?” Selene commented, dismissing him entirely.

“Why won’t anyone believe me!?” Botan screamed to the heavens.

• Flashback

Botan knocked on Tia’s front door before entering.

Tia went to greet him, “I heard you face difficulty on your last trip. Do you need any-?” but she stopped when she saw his face, paled and eyes panicking. “What happened?” She asked.

“The giant tree is a monster!” Botan managed between breaths.

“...What?” Was all she could manage in response.

“It’s a monster and a strong one too. It messed with my menus and was scaring the crap out of me!” Botan caught more of his breath and explained further.

Alder did not take his claims seriously. “Uh-huh… Listen, I know you took your first life and-”

“No, listen! You know how I needed materials from a level 50 or higher monster?” Botan asked.

“...Yes?” Alder answered, not seeing how this connected to that.

“I got it!” Botan exclaimed.

“Okay… from what?” Alder inquired.

“The tree! The fucking tree! That’s proof right there. How else would I have been able to bloom this.” Botan switched to the [Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower] to prove his point.

Alder stared at it a moment. “...Well the easy answer is that you are lying.” He finally said.

“What!?” Botan was floored. “Why would I lie about this!?”

“I’m glad you found the last materials you needed, but we’ve been dealing with that lie for years.” Tia interrupted, setting the table.

"Wait—" Botan threw a surprised look at them. "They knew?"

"Drop it," Adler said with a sigh, "It's not a monster. Just a tree quite larger than the average."

“It made my weapon copy and weapon unlock systems shut down! What do you mean!?” Botan wasn’t going to drop this.

“The Ygg tree is said to ward the castle. That’s why the castle was built there. Maybe its warding powers just didn’t work well with the holy flower? Botan, The castle is over 400 years old. You think a monster would sit there for over 400 years and let people build a castle around it?” Tia explained and tried to get Botan to see how crazy his claim was.

Botan slowed down. “...Listen, I know that this sounds crazy-”

“Because it is.” Alder added.

“But I swear. That tree is a monster and a damned strong one too.” Botan repeated.

“If I say I believe you, will you quiet down and eat dinner?” Tia asked.

“So you believe me?” Botan asked hopefully.

“No, I just wanted to know if lying to you was an option.” Tia said with a slight grin.

“Aaaaarrrrrhhhhhhhh!!!” Botan began screaming while violently shaking Alder’s shoulders.

Tia came over and knocked Botan out with a small flick of the wrist. She then wordlessly sat him in his chair and set a plate for him.

“Five minutes?” Alder asked how long he’d be out.

“I’d say closer to three.” Tia corrected.

The moment Botan was awake Tia turned to him. “Keep that nonsense talk out of my house. Understood?”

“...But…uh…understood.” Botan said in defeat.

• Flashback ends

“This is bullshit. This is exactly what that demon tree wants. It wants to divide us. Otherwise, why reveal anything to me?” Botan warned.

Alder continued to brief the others on the plans for the wave today as the others listened. Botan was completely ignored.

“At least I got some useful information last night.” Botan thought.

• Flashback

“On another note, Botan. If you want to talk about what you had to do the other day, I’ll be more than happy to listen.” Tia offered, halfway through her meal.

Botan frowned. He was dealing with it by not thinking about it. He knew that was the opposite of actually dealing with it, but it was still too fresh. He ended another person’s life. And not by some accident. He used magic to nearly tear the man in half. He died out in the middle of nowhere and his loved ones would never recover the body. This was something that’d take time.

He kept telling himself that there was no other choice. That the man was going to kill the others. “Hell, his spell would have killed me if I didn’t…” Botan remembered something.

“I do have something I want to talk about and it’s related to that, but not that specifically.” Botan answered.

“Oh?” Tia seemed interested.

“When I was fighting their captain, he used a spell that caused two large rocks to collide into one another to pin their target.”

“Ah, [Stone Trap]. What of it?” Tia was familiar with that spell. She was probably familiar with all spells.

“I dodged it and I want to know how and why.” Botan said directly.

Tia’s face brightened dramatically. “To dodge that, you’d have to had-”

“Sensed the magic in the ground… How? I thought you could only sense the magic in your own body.” Botan was searching for clues.

Alder was now also sporting an approving grin. They both knew something he didn’t. 

“I never said you could only sense magic in your own body. I’m careful about my word choice when it comes to magic, Botan. As for an answer… I’d say you’ll have an answer when you can manage to pass the next test.” Tia refused to give him much. She already knew he was too sharp to be loose-lipped around.

Botan hung his head in frustration. “Of course. These damned dancing lessons.” He complained.

• Flashback ends

Botan was brought out of his thoughts by the arrival of Navarre, which from everyone’s reactions was not expected. Alder stopped mid-setence. Botan wondered if this would be another problem.

Before anyone could say anything, Navarre dropped to one knee. “I’m aware I may be disrupting something by coming here without being called upon, but I wish to fight in the wave.”

No one said anything for a moment, then Botan spoke up. “If you joined, we’d lose EXP.” He pointed out.

“I’m aware. You can kick me from the party the moment we arrive.” Navarre was being a lot more sensible and goodwill than he did before.

“...” Botan paused. “He’d still take EXP from us in the form of taking out the monsters himself. That said, beating the wave is more important. I’d feel terrible if I turned down free help and the wave was too much.”

Just as Botan went to speak, Alder beat him to it. “I think the Evergreen would welcome the help, yes?” He prompted Botan.

Botan followed up. “Yeah. In fact, you can stay in the party. Let's focus on the task and try to get along.“

“I appreciate it.” Navarre said still kneeling.

The others spared him a glance. They assumed he was coming to kiss Botan’s ass after showing his own last time. Still, they knew he wasn’t bad help.

“Glad to have you. We need more front-line fighters.” Freona offered.

Alder began from the beginning to get Navarre up to speed. “We have no idea where we will be transported to. Just that it’ll be in Mosden. We could transport to the bottom of a valley, or the top of a mountain, maybe even the center of one of our many lakes. Getting our bearings is the most important thing when this starts. We’ll also have to consider what domestic monsters we’ll face as well. We also need to make sure to leave as soon as we can if we are close to a border.”

Alder shared a look with the others. “I’m not sure if you’ve been told, but we were attacked by the champions on our last outing.” He informed Navarre.

Navarre actually reacted to that. He opened his mouth and closed it immediately as if stopping himself from saying something. His face filled with concern, a lot of concern. He looked at Alder as if asking something.

“Yeah, it could be the case…, but one crisis at a time. Anyways-” Alder kept briefing them, but Botan stopped paying attention.

“He just told Navarre something without telling him. Why can’t you let me know what it is?” Botan stared at Alder. “I know you aren’t hiding it from me to screw me over. You’re hiding it to either protect me or keep me from worrying when I need to focus… I just wish you’d have enough faith in me to not coddle me.” Botan lamented.

Once he was done, Botan walked up and they dispensed items. Botan tried giving his only potion to someone else, but they insisted he kept it for himself. By the top of the hour, they were done preparing. 

Ten minutes left.

It was unnerving. The minutes were stretching long. Long enough that both of them could feel their own heartbeats from the ear. The two of them shared the perpetual want of this moment being over. Better to crash like a pinball instead of this test... of patience.

Waiting for time was proving to be a harder battle than the battlefield itself. (edited)

00:00:00:59

00:00:00:58

Botan was the one to break the silence. “Listen, um… I know you all have more combat experience than me and I’ll be relying on that… But I’m pretty strong now, so don’t forget you can rely on me as well.” Botan managed to say.

A smile crept onto Freona and Selene lips as the two snickered, the other three relaxed a bit.

“Geez. It’s really hard to be seriously worried when you are acting that dorky.” Selene said in a much lighter tone.

“I’m trying to be, like, serious too!” Botan said, now blushing with embarrassment.

“Mysk~!” Myskel backed up her master, pouting seriously.

The two broke out into laughter. “We know, we know. Hehe.” Selene dismissed.

“It just doesn’t seem so serious all of a sudden.” Freona said more genuinely, which hurt more.

“You’re both being mean.” Cole piped up with a rare comment.

“They are!” Botan agreed loudly.

“Mysk~!” Myskel was clawing at the air between them and Botan, wanting to defend her master, but not leave his side. She stretched out as far as she could and attempted to attack, but she was still several feet too far.

“Ahh~. Don’t be upset little cutie. Even you must see how cute he was being.” Selene said.

“My-Mysk, ysk.” Myskel became expressive as she puffed up, then deflated, then pointed at Botan while hissing. It was like she wasn’t disagreeing but was still upset on his behave.

Botan stared at her with defeat in his eyes. “...”

00:00:00:01

00:00:00:00

Their party began to glow, each taking notice.

“It’s taking effect” Botan announced

“Just like the old book say.” Alder seemed pleased.

The next moment they were spirited away, their vision stolen by the light that surrounded them. After about a second, the light faded. They opened their eyes and the first sight they were greeted with was not a valley, nor a mountain, not even a lake. What lay before them was something much rarer in Mosden.

It was a town. It was Lokkansted! It was the village they had visited just over a week ago.

“Shit!” Selene screamed.

“The people!” Freona panicked.

“Calm down, Mr. Lokkan’s monsters will give some resistance.” Cole argued.

“We need to save people before we slay the wave’s boss.” Alder told them.

“We need to slay the boss. We do that and we save everyone.” Navarre disagreed.

Neither was wrong.

“Both.” Botan told them, running forward.

Everyone did their best to follow him, though he was faster than any of them now. Alder called out. “Botan, we shou-”

“No. We do both! We need to save people while searching for the boss.” Botan was not budging on this.

“...” No one argued against him. Alder spoke after a moment. “Cole, make contact with Mr. Lokkan, we’ll need to coordinate with his forces. His farm has more total firepower than we do. Everyone else, locate and save everyone you can, and send them to Lokkan’s farm. His large walls will serve to protect them. If anyone locates the boss, use magic to draw our attention.” Alder issued orders.

Botan then broke away, outspeeding them further. It seemed he slowed himself down to have that short conversation. Alder felt strange. He was trained to lead, but he just gave orders. Botan didn’t know what he was doing, but he was doing a better job than him.

“Just goes to show that I’m right. Blood or not, some people are meant to lead, and some are not…” Alder thought to himself.

In under a minute Botan’s boot landed at the entrance to the town. He saw hundreds of monsters flying and falling from the sky. He tilted his head upward, facing the sky, the wave. The sky was foreign, more than it was normally. Dreary purple muddied with black, swirls of a bright neon green. The monsters came from those swirls. Botan couldn’t count them, but had to assume around 500 monsters were already here. It sounded like a lot, but they were a party of 7 and Lokkan had Knob. “That’d only be like 60-something enemies each. We could manage that… But not double that. Where is that boss?”

Botan was pulled from his thoughts by a scream of a woman. She was carrying a little boy and had just barely managed to escape her home through a window. Falling from the second floor and damaging her leg. She still didn’t stop.

Behind her were some of the monsters

[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Hornet]

A thin but large wasp-like creature, about 4’ long. The stinger was a full 1’ of its body length and was a metallic blade of some kind. It seemed fast, at least faster than the other kind.

[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Bumblebee]

A puffy bulbous bumblebee that’d almost be mistakenly called cute…, but a vapor or something was shimmering around it that looked dangerous.

This pair of monsters was chasing the woman but didn’t get far. 

[Sickle Throw]! Botan used the power of the weapon form he had put much effort into completing. He swung the scythe in the air toward the monsters, and a swirling circle of wind shot off like a disc, slicing the slender hornet monster easily and then burying itself deeply into the larger monster on the other side of it. Both fell in an instant.

“Go to Mr. Lokkan’s farm! I’ll deal with this!” Botan called.

The woman looked over her shoulder and saw him. She felt reassured. She hadn’t spoken to him but was told he was the Evergreen himself. He saved their village just over a week ago and he was back to save them again. She did not hesitate. She carried her son towards the farm as fast as her legs could carry.

Botan approached the monsters and looked at their bodies. First, he looked at the slender one. “Blade isn’t coated or wet. No holes that I can see. Likely not poisonous.” Botan went to touch the other one but pulled his hand back. “It’s dead but… it’s so hot, dangerously so. Was that what I saw before? Heat?” He stood again. “If so, I need only keep my distance and I’ll be fine.” Botan finished his thought and got back to work.

He caught sight of a few more monsters close by. They were bunched together traveling on the same direction. Botan couldn’t see below them with a building in his line of sight. That said, he had a good idea as to what they were doing. He leapt onto the roof of the building and made it to the other side. He looked down to confirm. his suspicions.

Two men ran through the small gaps between houses, trying to escape. If they were being chased by normal enemies there’d be merit in their tactic. However, these enemies all flew. Any distance they thought they gained was just a momentary perspective. The monsters simply flew over the homes and returned to chasing them.

[Spring: Seed Strike]!

Botan tried lining up a shot to take three of the four monsters down. Only the first hornet died. The second had time to dodge and while the bumblebee took the hit, it was still up.

“The fat ones have more HP than I thought. I’m going to need to hit them with attacks dedicated to them specifically. Otherwise, they just keep going. I should Wha-!” Botan was pulled from his thoughts as the three remaining monsters all ignored the two men they were chasing and approached Botan as well. Before he did anything, he noticed nine other monsters coming for him. Any monster that so much as caught a glance at Botan seemed to race toward him.

Botan tried blasting them away, but his number of ranged skills still wasn’t high enough and while he was finally able to use magic, it took several moments to cast a spell. He only managed to shoot down five of them before some reached him. In that time another fifteen also began rushing to his location.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Botan had no choice but to turn tail and run. He made it to the ground in one leap and then jumped through a house’s window. He needed to do what those two men failed to do, bottleneck them. He ran down the hall of the small abandoned home and went towards a window in the backside. He looked over his shoulder and pointed his weapon.

[Sunray]!

The burning orange light traveled at a blinding speed, piercing nearly a dozen enemies that were following him through the path he made. He then jumped out of the opposing window, returning to the open streets.

He had no time to stand as a hornet came crashing down on him. He felt it coming and managed to twist his waist and throw his weight to the side to throw himself out of the way. This saved him from a fatal wound, but it still drew blood. The blade-like stinger cut just above his left brow into a downward slope over the bridge of his nose.

“Urgh.” Botan swung his scythe with his closer arm and cleaved the enemy in two. He got to his feet and wiped the blood from his face. He placed his hand carefully on his face, running his fingers along the groove of the cut. It was shallow and he bleeding was light. He sighed in relief.

Someone rounded the corner of a nearby home and ran to Botan. “There you are. Ah! Are you okay!?” It was Freona panicking.

The cut was so shallow that Myskel’s small healing spell healed it right in front of her. “I’m fine. Did anyone talk to Mr. Lok-”

“WWAAAAAAHHNN!” A loud strange noise alerted them both. They saw dozens of monsters being drug out of the sky. Lokkan was on the scene with Knob drawing the wave monsters through its gate and falling behind it in a crushed pile.

“Nice! Now we can cull their numbers.” Botan did his best to catch his breath and threw himself back into the fight. Freona did her best to stick to his side this time. They took to another high roof so they could scan the surroundings for the wave boss.

“Is that it?” Freona pointed at a new monster.

[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Golem]

A golem made of a strange hive, with honeycombs for flesh and honey dripping freely from it. It appeared to be about 10’ tall. It had a few balls of glowing yellow energy surrounding it and following it. It certainly looked more powerful than the bugs. However-

“No, look.” Botan pointed to another two of them they could see. “They’re probably stronger, but they’re not the boss.”

“Mysk~.” Her tone was determined and strong. 

“Yeah, we still need to take them out.” Botan agreed. He looked toward Freona. “Where are the others?”

Freona pointed to a distant point. “Alder and Navarre are over there. Cole already reached Mr. Lokkan. He and Selene probably met up as well.”

“So everyone is in groups of two.” Botan said, not asking.

“Yeah, Alder’s orders were to not stay alone for too long.” She said with a little annoyance.

Botan understood why. “Well me running ahead didn’t break any rules. I have Myskel, after all.” He said with a smile.

“Mysk~!” Myskel chirped with a claw placed on her head.

Freona crossed her arms and huffed with a pout. “Alder has it rough dealing with you.”

Without another word shared between them, they both jumped from roof to roof, making their way toward the closest golem. Botan occasionally fired a skill toward a street on either side to kill a stray monster, but the majority of them seemed to be chasing him. Freona looked back at the growing cloud of monsters flying after them.

“Why are they chasing you like that?” She said with some panic in her voice.

“You mean ‘us’.” Botan reminded her that she too was now their target.

“No. I mean you.” She looked back in concern. “The monsters didn’t chase us with such fervor. As soon as we were out of sight or proved to take too long to catch they regrouped and stopped chasing us. It’s probably because they know you’re the holy hero.”

“Seriously!?” Botan exclaimed. 

[Heatray]! Botan fired off the beam skill again. It pierced the growing cloud of monsters and struck several targets. Despite this, the remaining number meant he’d need to use this skill again dozens of times to wipe such a great number of enemies out.

“I thought this was supposed to be a directionless horde that I’d fight in isolated pockets throughout the battlefield, not a single mindless wave chasing me exclusively!” Botan thought.

“Follow me.” Botan said after a moment. Wordlessly he left the roof and broke into a house through the window. Freona followed. He waited until monsters began swarming the entrance to break the opposing side’s window and continue their path to the target.

Freona looked back. The monsters swarmed the house and few seemed to have caught sight of him. They had only a handful of monsters chasing them for the moment. Freona found it impressive, but he was simply repeating a tactic that worked before. They were now approaching the golem and firmly held their weapons. They needed to take it out quickly.

The golem seemed to somehow know they were approaching, turning to meet them. Small marble-sized yellow balls of energy surrounded the creature, roughly 10 of them dancing about.

“...” Botan hesitated. [Spring: Seed Strike]!

Botan fired at the golem, wanting to maintain distance. The golem didn’t even raise an arm in protest. The small skill was intercepted at the last moment by one of the surrounding energy balls. It moved rapidly at the last second and seemed to explode on impact. The ball’s detonation was much weaker than Botan’s skill, but it served to keep the monster safe.

“Let me see something.” Freona slid, dragging her hand along the dirt road until she managed to sink her fingers around a good-sized rock. She threw it with all her strength at the monster. Again, one of the yellow balls of energy moved at the last moment. The rock exploded into dust on contact as the energy expanded violently before fading away.

Botan came to a halt. “If I attempt to swing my weapon, it’ll probably use those explosives again. Wait… 1, 2, 3,... There were more. So it can’t replace them when used?” Botan concluded.

“We need to finish it quickly, the monsters chasing us have arrived.”

“Hold them off, I got this guy.” Botan told her.

He switched to his much weaker weapon form, [Blue Spinning Flower]. Then used [Spin]. He then turned it around and held it to the ground. The weapon was cutting the dirt but as he moved it around it caught small rocks and launched them toward the golem. Each of the yellow balls moved to intercept the attacks, but they were used up very quickly.

“Now.” Botan switched back to his [Grass Reaper’s Scytheflower]. Without any small bombs to worry about he rushed into melee with the odd monster.

Its movements weren’t stiff like what Botan expected from a golem, it also wasn’t particularly slow. Its only noticeable issue was that it had limited joint movement. The monster was made out of hive and honeycomb, honey dripping from it. The creature would not move in a manner to crush the sections that served a purpose and that was a major exploitable limitation. Botan easily weaved out of the way and sank the scythe’s blade into the chest area of the monster and out the other side.

“Nice. Now I just-”

The golem went to grab Botan, but it wasn’t dead. Botan went to dodge, but the scythe was too slow in being pulled out of the monster with all that honey there. The golem grabbed Botan’s shoulders and attempted to ift him into the air.

“You really need to stop needing my help.” a familiar voice spoke.

It was Mr. Lokkan. He was moving oddly, holding his hands to the left with flat palms like he was presenting something to a crowd. After a moment continuing an illusion of a red curtain appeared.

“What the hell? What kind of spell is this?”

“[Crimson Presentation]! Betty!” Mr. Lokkan shouted.

“UURRAAHH!!” His own personal yoklan, named Betty, rushed through the curtain somehow gaining speed from the moment it hit the illusory curtain and slammed into the hive golem with its entire body. It dropped Botan who managed to slip away as the monster was half implanted into a nearby house’s wall.

Betty backed up a few steps and looked at Botan, the curtain still visibly coating her body. Myskel gave a chirp of acknowledgment as if thanking her. Botan saw the golem wasn’t dead, but it was a sitting duck. The honey that made it hard for him to escape was turned against it. It had dozens of bricks stuck to it and could not free itself from the wall easily. 

While this was happening, Freona was keeping the enemies at bay. Placing her staff suspended in the air with a spinning axis to allow it to function as a propeller. She purposefully made it slightly off-center to allow an uneven spin, casting a very specific spell.

[Gale Jail]!

The wind swirled around the monsters, pushing together all the monsters that managed to stay on their tail. The winds were strong, but couldn’t manage to do more than bring them together. They remained unharmed.

“I could use that , but I’d damage too many buildings…” Freona thought aloud.

“Boi-ing~!” Suddenly a small pond’s worth of water fell onto her spell from above. The water was swept up in the force and added much weight to the attack. The monsters began to take damage.

Freona looked up to see another of Mr. Lokkan’s monsters. His Orf named Swella. She was swimming in the air and gathering water from the atmosphere as ammo.

“Thanks, Swella!” Freona called cheerfully. “I’ll just drown these things then.” She decided.

Botan used a [Sickle Throw] to deal more damage to the downed golem. The attack landed and looked like it did great damage, but Botan was not familiar enough to judge accurately.

“This thing is a construct-type monster. That means it doesn’t succumb to wounds. It’ll only die to HP loss or completely being torn apart. So pile on the damage until you receive EXP.” Mr. Lokkan lectured.

“Understood.” Botan replied.

A loud burst of steam was heard. Freona’s spell may have become stronger, but with that came other complications. The larger bees generated heat defensively in great numbers hoping to break free. And they did, but it was ultimately fruitless. The steam was too much for the hornets, killing them on the spot. The bumblebees took the heat well, but their wings became damaged and left them vulnerable on the ground.

Freona and Swella carefully approached each of the survivors, taking them out. As that happened, Botan saw his EXP rising as he caught his breath, having just finished the golem with a dozen more swings of his scythe. “The division of EXP isn’t even an issue. We are getting so much EXP… No, the EXP is at a normal rate, it’s just there seems to be no end to these things.”

“We need to take out these golems. Mr. Lokkan, can we ask for the help of you and your monsters?”

“No need to ask. The protection of Lokkansted is my duty, it’s in the name.” He turned away. “I’ll go fetch Knob. You might want to find that boss thing quickly.” He said before hopping onto Betty and riding off. Swella made a cute gesture towards those who remained and then swam through the air chasing after her master.

Botan finished the last bumblebee before pointing toward the next closest golem. “We need to shave their numbers down more, and avoid actually touching them.” Botan said.

Freona wordlessly followed. She traveled to the same target but made an effort to travel apart from Botan. 

She looked back. It seemed like any monster that caught sight of him couldn’t help but follow him. 

She paused. 

“None are following me. The golems also see us, but do not act… Why? What would explain this kind of behavior? It can’t be that he’s simply the Evergreen, otherwise the golems would also act.” Freona was watching the enemy while pondering.

She whirled her staff around herself, forming and then firing green balls of magic from both ends of her staff. She was aiming for the hornets, leaving the bumblebees because they would survive these minor magical attacks. She picked off as many as she could before they had to stop, then she’d need to engage them collectively without retreating.

Botan let Freona worry about that. He was in a rare state of concentration. His foot left the last roof as he jumped a bit higher, coming down on his prey. Just as before, the golem seemed to somehow learn of Botan’s location the moment he got close. It reached out to grab Botan from the air. Botan began to spin, until his right leg was glowing with hints of blue and purple. “Eat this!” Botan brought down his leg violently, as he did, the magic surrounding his leg formed a now trusted shape of long axe head.

[Executioner's Axe]!

The spell carved through all of the weak yellow balls of magic that moved to protect it and cleaved the golem’s arm clean off. It seemed unbothered, not feeling pain or fear. It simply tried grabbing Botan with its other arm, missing as Botan followed through with his motion and stayed to the golem's left side. This kept the golem from attacking for several moments. While he danced around his opponent to buy time, the remaining bugs were being fended off unsuccessfully. 

Freona could see a funnel of monsters being pulled from the sky on the other side of town. Knob was pulling as many into its dimension as possible. By comparison, Freona had to only handle a fraction of that number, yet she was being pushed back by the sheer number of them.

Botan saw this and changed tactics. He used [Boom Bloom], giving himself a 30-second wind-up. “Freona, behind me!” He motioned for her.

She didn’t hesitate. Without Alder to give her direct orders, the Evegreen’s words were next in line. She used her pole to create an axis in the air to swing her pole over the golem, as if grabbing several vines.

She landed behind him as he kept retreating from the golem. “Now what?”

“Retreat as slowly as we can for 12 more seconds.” Botan responded.

Freona nodded. She wordlessly complied and waited to see the plan. 

“BOOOOMM!!”

After the 30-second charge time ended, so did the golem. The skill tore the golem into molten chunks that scattered away from Botan, striking and killing many of the hornets and bees. Those not hit with debris were still struck from the local area by the shockwave alone.

The resulting explosion that was produced surprised even Botan. The last time he used this it was with the [Grass Blade], which was bloomed, but also low-level and not magic-oriented. Now with a bloomed weapon that was both on his level and magic-oriented, the damage must have been at least three times as strong, maybe even four times.

Some of the honey from the golem landed on the both of them. Freona looked at it annoyingly, but Botan just ignored it as Myskel began licking a spot on his check it landed at. She instantly fell in love with the taste and started focusing on eating.

The explosion was loud enough to grab everyone’s attention across the village. Everyone. Something large came towards Botan out of the sky and everyone saw it.

“Shit! It’s the boss. It can fly. We need to back Botan up.” Alder instructed.

While this was given a quick nod from Cole and Selene, Navarre took the news differently. “Now is the time to act.” That was all Navarre said as he swiftly pulled out his rapier and threw himself at Alder. Before Alder realized what was happening Navarre was pressed against Alder, his rapier finding little resistance, Alder’s eyes wide in surprise.

Botan heard a noise that he never thought he’d hear in this fantasy world. The sound of a jet or missile was heard followed by a crashing noise at the site of the latest golem.

“Holy-”

Before him was a monster just as large as the golems. It was a flying metal bug with a crown on its head. The armor seemed far too thick and heavy, almost like it was completely metal to its core. Its arms featured two claws each as long as his legs. It possessed large red compound eyes that were each larger than Botan’s head, with each eye section being as large as his own eyes. Instead of legs, its body ended with a series of pipe-like holes with heavy heat exiting them. Lastly, it was surrounded by several dozen of the same yellow magical balls that the golems seemed to only have a few of.

[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Queen]

With a single exhausting breath accompanied by extreme heat from its jets, the grass and nearby houses were set ablaze. With the fire casting light and shadow around the area, it stared down Botan with more thought in its eyes than all the others have.

“-Shit!”

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be talking about one of the true wonders of the world, the Ygg Tree, the mighty and imposing tree that lies at the heart of Mosden. It is said to be one of the 4 largest living things on the planet, and oddly enough, was said to be much larger a millennia ago. Many ancient books credit the Ygg Tree’s roots for creating the massive cave systems that formed Mosden’s underground ocean. If this fairytale is to be believed, the Ygg Tree was once the size of Mosden itself.

Of course, that would have to be a myth, right? For something to be that large is absurd and that it somehow grew smaller over time with explanation or reason is even more absurd. 

This isn’t the only lie told about the tree. Many of the guards and staff in the castle claim to have been messed with by the tree. Saying its branches and roots changed to trip them or otherwise be childishly cruel to them if they so much a pick a single leaf from the giant plant.

As for the truth, the Ygg Tree is magical and powerful. It possesses a type of warding magic that reactively creates a barrier to protect the tree and its surroundings if it detects an incoming attack. This makes large-scale magic performed by many people at once useless at sieging the capital. Further, the royal family is said to have either made this ward or otherwise know enough about it to use it personally. Within the area of its protection, members of the royal family will gain a barrier to ward off lethal attacks. This is a well-known fact, however, attacks that both can’t and aren’t attempting to kill members of royalty will occur without any protective interference.

This would seem to indicate that the tree is always watching and choosing when and why to invoke its powers. The Holy Flower cannot be wrong. The Ygg Tree is a monster. One of the largest and oldest creatures to have lived under these stars.

But even that doesn’t cover what this thing can and will do…

Chapter Text

Botan froze for a moment under the gaze of the wave boss.

The haunting orange glow in its eyes seemed to demand Botan's attention. Like a deer in headlights, he felt he couldn't look away without consequence.

Unfortunately, the boss was not the type of enemy to have faults when facing.

The queen shot off like a rocket, burning more grass and melting the dirt into crude glass. It appeared at his side and swung its body around, its claws ready to tear deeply into his flesh. Botan tried moving away the moment he realized it was attacking. The tip of a claw ran along the surface of his armor. Whether because of the quality of the armor or the shallowness of the grazing blow, Botan was unharmed.

"Shit!" Botan jumped backward blindly as several of the balls of energy launched toward him after the failed attack.

The flower hero moved fast enough to outpace the attacks at first, But a wall behind made him physically unable to respond to his screaming instincts to retreat. Several small explosions happened, throwing him through the wall and part of the roof where he landed. Botan didn't so much as catch his breath before the boss was behind him. He didn't see it, but the scorched roof and heat told him it was behind him. He went to jump away, unsure if he was going to dodge in time.

When suddenly Freona stepped in holding her staff up. Both claws slammed into the staff. The brute force of the attack sent a low ringing noise out for all to hear. However, she held firm due to her ability to make the staff stationary. This surprised Botan as much as it surprised the wave boss itself.

The large metal monster refused to believe that someone as thin and small as Freona had the might to contest its strength. It applied all of its strength and weight against her staff, yet it still didn't move. After that, it used its jets to propel itself to leverage its strength even more. Still, nothing. Freona's staff technique was not the type of thing brute strength was going to overcome. When the boss finally conceded the challenge of physical might it instead raised one of the claws towards her as if pointing. About a dozen of the spheres that shrouded the foe shot off at her.

"I got it!" [Sunray]! Botan pointed the attack at the wave boss, specifically just above Freona's head, where the magic attack was converging. It cut through them and struck the boss.

Botan expected the beam to bore a hole straight through the creature, just as it always had. However, that isn't what happened. With the magical orbs to soften the attack and the thick metal body to guard it, the damage was just a few cracks too small to see from their distance, and the area heated to a glowing red.

"Retreat!" Botan yelled as the two fell back. The monster pursued, burning more as it went.

Alder just stared wide-eyed at the traitor before him. In turn, Navarre seemed to wear a rather proud smirk. But after a moment both of their expressions changed. Alder's became a stern frown of disappointment. The kind a father might give a son. Meanwhile, Navarre's changed from a smirk to irritation, to finally a heavily pained expression as he kept trying to ignore the reality of what just happened.

He looked down.

Instead of impaling Alder, his rapier was passing through a [Gate of the Moon] from Cole's chakram. Behind Navarre was the second chakram where the blade exited, stabbing Navarra in the lower back.

"When did you…?" Navarre was as confused as he was in pain.

"You stabbed yourself in the back. Quite fitting." Cole said coldly. He and Selene both advanced towards him.

Navarre quickly pulled his weapon out of the spell and himself. The two chakrams stopped spinning and fell to the ground as the man staggered back a few feet.

"Cole always goes unnoticed. It makes him exceptional at scouting and acting in the field. You should have ensured he was preoccupied before trying that." Alder answered, checking himself for a moment.

"When the hell did he learn [Gate of the Moon]!?" Navarre was lost.

"He knew [Gate of the Moon] before I did. I'd say about 6 years now." He looked up at Cole with appreciation. "Going unnoticed helped him grow strong without others realizing…" He turned back to Navarre. "Why?"

"Don't order me around! You're just a bastard from a whore-" Navarre got no further. Selene took her glaive by the blade and swung the handle into him, crushing his left arm and breaking several ribs. He skidded across the ground before coming to a sudden stop against one of Mr Lokkan's large farm walls.

"Do not insult Tia!" She threatened.

After a moment, they turned to Alder. He answered their looks. "Leave him. We can't bother wasting time protecting him while he's down or arresting him. Botan needs us."

And oh boy did he.

Botan ran a bit, hoping to get all his skill cooldowns reset, but both [Heatray] and [Boom Bloom] still needed more time than he could buy. The queen was flying. She was both faster and more maneuverable than they were. Botan thought he could outspeed it, but that'd just leave Freona behind and he needed her aid.

Once he knew he was about to be caught, he grabbed Freona and dodged out of the way one last time. Botan looked around. Everything was either on fire or curtained in smoke.

He wanted this over with, fast, and readied himself to renew the fight.

[Sickle Throw]! Botan launched the spinning blade at the joint of its right arm. As expected, the magic orbs on that side of her converged and intercepted the skill. Only the slightest bit of the skill managed to make it through and did nothing against the metal carapace of the creature after being weakened so much.

Botan knew this would happen, he had an objective. "3, 4, 5-It's 5…" Botan was counting as a new orb was created by the enemy. The answer was 5 seconds. It lost about 15 orbs from his action. "15, so 1 minute and 15 seconds to recover the cost. [Sickle Throw] had a cooldown of 45 seconds. So, I'll be gaining ground with just this skill. Removing more and more each time. If it'll let that play out." Botan reasoned. "Wait, that's another thing to check."

"Freona, block this next attack again." Botan asked. "Misk…" Myskel tried cheering with a tug on his neck and a slight pur but her enthusiasm seemed dampened for some reason.

"Understood." She didn't falter. The claw of the monster barreled toad Botan but was again halted by Freona's staff.

"..." Freona waited for Botan's skill, but it never came. Instead of retaliating, Botan stared for a moment.

"When I aimed for the wave boss' arm earlier, those energy balls swarmed at this distance. But before that, Freona blocked it and the energy balls didn't shoot out at her until the monster gestured by pointing at us. Meaning it's only used automatically when responding to an attack. It's reactive, not proactive." Botan reasoned. "I could switch to that one shield flower. It has a counter skill… but I'm unsure if the power of that weapon form can pierce this thing's armor."

Botan pointed his weapon to the boss and fired. [Spring: Seed Strike]! Predictably, the skill was intercepted by two of the orbiting energy balls and taken out.

"It'll use more or less depending on how many are needed to fully stop the attack?" Botan received more information based on fewer orbs attempting to block that skill than the others.

"Misk…" Myskel stopped buffing Botan with her supportive magic and just let out a small chirp of pain. Botan switched his attention to Myskel, lifting her head from under his chin to see her eye-to-eye. She was tired, dazed, and not very responsive.

Before the boss could act further, new participants in the fight made themselves known.

"Knob, use [Debris Discharge]!" A series of rocks ranging from the size of a grain of sand to the size of an adult's head fired off as a torrent—nearly an artificial sandstorm in appearance.

[Double-Barrel Colliding Pistol]! Alder arrived, spinning his nunchucks and nearly releasing his grip to allow both sets of handles to collide, creating a fast blast of energy similar to Botan's [Spring: Seed Strike].

The attacks forced the monster to slam into the ground, its head planted firmly down. There was a pause.

"You guys came? Thanks." Botan said in a tired but thankful tone, sweat dripping heavily from his brow.

"Wait until it's finished. Betty! Tear it in half!" Lokkan called.

His faithful yoklan barreled toward the downed monster with surprising speed. However… As it got close enough, the many jet-like holes throughout its lower body began to glow red rapidly.

"Shit! Betty, abort!" Mr. Lokkan yelled.

But it was too late. A single large pillar of heat erupted from the bottom of the wave boss and pierced Betty from front to back, charring nearly her entire body. A single blood-curdling scream escaped the monster as it was thrown back. The hole was so large that there remained no hope as to Betty's fate.

"No, no…" Mr. Lokkan couldn't believe what just happened.

Botan lost his attention with the abrupt death of Lokkan's yoklan. It had saved him earlier in this wave. It was like the mom that kept all the other monsters on the farm behaving well. It was a sweet creature, and it just died brutally. His distraction gave the queen a chance to recover. The wave monster performed an omnidirectional heatwave to free itself from the ground and reorientate itself into an upright position.

Seeing its friend killed in front of it, Knob uncharacteristically didn't act on orders and began firing more debris at the wave boss. But now that it was aware of Knob, it strafed the attack, deftly dodging it. The attack damaged several homes and the noise created by the attack was so loud that it had to run out of small debris to fire before it could hear Mr. Lokkan shouting.

"Enough, Knob!" Mr. Lokkan's words finally reached it. For its part, Knob stopped and moved itself between its master and the wave boss.

Now having an opening, the wave boss' jets flared as it rushed toward Knob and Mr. Lokkan. Alder and the others went to act, but the first to do something was Botan. He moved without thinking and did something no one expected, not even himself.

[Launching Palm]! Botan slid forward with an open right palm and his left arm supporting his right. The fire that had begun to spread everywhere from the wave boss gathered together along with the smoke and fired off a larger shot than Botan intended. The spell struck the wave boss mid-air and shifted it off course. With the speed it was going, it crashed through a building and was buried into the house behind it.

"Did the Evergreen just use geomancy? Proper geomancy!?" Selene was struck dumb at the sight.

Cole eyed Alder suspiciously. "Alder, did you know he could do that?"

"No… And I bet he didn't know until he did it just then." Alder admitted.

"Geomancy in less than a month… he's a damned monster." Cole said aloud.

"Good. We need a monster right now." Alder responded.

With the short exchange over, everyone started gathering up, while Botan looked at his hands. He only just now realized he skipped the first step in casting that spell. His eyes quickly shifted to the surrounding area. Most of the fire nearby was gone, used in his spell. Botan wordlessly walked himself through what he did and why it worked, understanding what just happened.

"Mis…" Myskel made a tiny noise. She was weak and sick. She felt warm, too warm.

Botan looked at her to see her eyes were red and her breathing ragged. "What hit her to do this? I avoided all their attacks, right?" Botan thought.

In a moment of concern, Botan looked around. Fire in the immediate area was nearly snuffed out from his attack, but the fire throughout the town raged on. "Maybe she breathed in too much smoke? I need to deal with this before the town and Myskel…" Botan knew he could not affect the whole town with his [Launching Palm].

He scanned the area and found something that took his attention. He began to run towards it with intense focus. The wave boss again freed itself from the home by releasing a burst of heat with traces of those small yellow explosions, shattering the home and burning what remained. It scanned the area, not unlike Botan did a moment prior. Once it caught sight of the one that just hit it, it shot off again at great speed.

Botan heard the wave boss approaching and positioned himself appropriately while turning around. While his magic attack was his greatest stat, Speed was the very next one. He readied himself. Once the wave boss was close enough, he leapt out of the way.

To the monster's credit, it did more to stop itself before it crashed this time. It was adjusting to these tactics. However, it still did what Botan wanted it to. It broke one of the corners of the village's water tower. It was quite large, even for a water tower. Likely they needed more water due to all of Mr. Lokkan's monsters. Well, today, it was going to help them in an entirely new way.

[Spring: Seed Strike]! Botan aimed and fired off his skill, hitting the mark. These few weeks had given him plenty of opportunities to get in some practice. Another corner of the water tower was damaged.

It was enough.

Several large snapping noises sounded off in rapid succession as the water tower collapsed, slamming into the ground. It ruptured open, spilling a large amount of water over part of the town.

"Good." Alder committed, he and the others closing in on the boss.

"That'll save this section of the town at least." Freona spoke.

"No, this'll give us the chance to save everything. Swella!" Mr. Lokkan called out.

"Swee~!" His floating orf came flying towards the water. Wherever it went, the water went with it. In just a few swift passes, it gathered up most of the water and began extinguishing the fire throughout the town.

Botan thought that tactic worked out well, but there was an issue.

Mud.

The ground was loosened from all the fighting and was now soaked in water. It left the ground caked in thick mud making moving around difficult. As things were now, Botan had traded away his mobility to put out the fires.

He tried to create distance between himself and the tower of steam before him. When the water spread, the heat from the monster caused so much steam that it left Botan unable to see the enemy. He fought through the mud a few steps, but then felt something. It felt sort of like the feeling he got when he felt he was moving along the path of a spell. This was a little different though. This felt more like he was feeling the path that the mud was taking towards a spell.

It suddenly clicked for him. "I used the fire around me earlier, not the fire I made. I can feel the mud… I felt the ground to dodge that mercenary's spell!" Botan realized the truth behind the third test of magic.

He wordlessly followed the path of magic of the mud and found himself standing on top of the mud without sinking. He had to keep his feet moving oddly, but it was working.

"This still isn't good enough. If this was water, I'd be sinking. It's only because it's thick mud that I can do this." Botan would take anything he could for now.

"To think you'd come this far already." Alder said.

Botan looked over his shoulder to see his party and Mr. Lokkan near him. Everyone other than Mr. Lokkan was using the same trick Botan was, yet more refined.

"Seems it's not all that special." Botan commented.

"You do realize we've each been trained by Tia since we were little kids? It makes sense we have passed all four tests." Cole brushed off his words.

"But you nearly passing three of the tests in a month is psychotic…" Freona said.

"In a good way!" Selene added.

"Where's Navarre?" Botan asked with the realization of his absence.

"Safe. We'll discuss him later. First-" Alder went to speak further, but the wave boss shooting out of the pillar of steam took everyone's attention.

"The magical bombs around it only automatically move to block attacks, otherwise it needs a gesture!" Botan began, unable to say more as the fight took most of his attention.

They all had to leap out of the way to avoid the rush of the monster barreling past them. It turned almost instantly, having learned in this fight.

"It'll automatically use more to block a stronger attack!" Botan kept yelling information.

The monster's eyes began to glow red as several of the magical orbs retreated into the jet holes of the creature. Then at once, there was a rumbling noise followed by a loud burst. The wave boss fired off the orbs, now burning with fire atop the magic. The orbs did not travel together, each choosing its own path to reach toward one of the many human targets before it.

"It takes only five seconds to generate a replacement orb!" Botan kept screaming the information while everyone scattered. They used their magic to dance atop the mud while trying to position themselves on the other side of something to block the incoming attacks.

The orbs struck and their destructive capacity wasn't comparable to earlier. They exploded with great heat and were easily 20 times as powerful as before.

"I assume combining those two abilities like that is the best move it has… I hope anyway." Botan thought. He couldn't see everyone else. He went to call out their names but remembered he could see their HP and MP in the corner of his vision. Even being here for weeks, he was still adjusting to the common sense of this world.

"...Everyone looks okay. Roughed up, but okay. Except Navarre. He's critically low. Can't think about it. If it was important or something I could help with, Alder would have told me." Now knowing they were fine, he refocused on trying to see the boss.

However, even through all the mist, there was something he could see. A section ahead of him was growing darker, then clearer, then darker again. He realized at the last second that it was little Swella. She was returning with all the gathered muddy water in a large wave behind her as she swam in the air like a rocket towards the monster.

"Wait, but steam…" "Swella, don't!" Botan and everyone else were too late to warn it.

The wave crashed into the monster successfully, and looked to rough it up a bit. However, this only caused an even greater explosion of steam.

"No!" Mr. Lokkan screamed as the heat forced him to retreat.

Everyone had to retreat, except Botan. He switched to the [Lilypad Umbrella] and ran through the burning hot steam. The heat and pressure made Botan feel like he was running into a house fully ablaze. He ran in, the weapon fully blocking his vision, he had no other way of proceeding. He couldn't see, so he had to rely mostly on hearing. He was getting better at running on top of the mud and picked up quite a bit of speed. He reached the wave boss in seconds and opened his eyes while moving his weapon out of the way.

Before him, he saw the intimidating wave boss, an orange glow of the heat tearing through the mist. But he saw something else as well. He looked down to see little Swella lying on the ground next to it. Skin lighter in color in all the wrong ways. Botan took a step back, then two forward. The poor creature was cooked alive in an instant.

Botan had been trying to play it smart. Use his strengths in magic power and speed. But he wasn't thinking about that anymore.

As quickly as Botan had ever moved, he transformed his weapon back into the [Grass Reaper's Scytheflower] and slashed at it. The blade more than just connected. It cut through the monster's armor with only moderate resistance. Sparks flew as Botan passed the creature. A piece of metal the size of his forearm fell with a definite 'thud'. The monster was pushed back and the mist was knocked away from the two of them, creating a clearing.

Botan's eyes widened at the realization of what just happened. "I… hurt it?" Botan saw the blood flowing from it. "And this badly? But my [Sunray] and [Launching Palm] should be several times more powerful. My stats focus on magic power first and speed second. My physical attack stat is barely better than my defenses… So, why?" Botan asked himself.

That was when it hit him. "I get it! It has extreme resistance to fire! The only attacks that landed were fire-based. So I assumed it was much stronger than me." Botan again looked at how large of a piece of the wave boss he just hacked off. "You're dead." Botan finally spoke, and with more confidence than he had the whole day.

The monster picked up on the danger now coming from Botan and shot into the air.

"I have your number… as soon as I reach you… Which I can't…" Botan looked to the others. "Anyone able to ground it?" He called.

"Selene? Freona?" Alder called.

"On it!" They answered in unison.

Cole used [Gate of the Moon] again. One pointed at the girls running toward him, the other pointed straight up. Freona ran and jumped through the portal first, shooting a fairway into the air. She halted herself from falling using her staff's ability and readied herself with her hand held low and outreached. Selene then jumped through and grabbed Freona's hand. She pulled her up. They were now about 20' off of the ground.

"You'll have to use [Rattlemaster] to knock that bastard down." Cole cautioned.

"I'll use the royal version." Selene seemed raring to go.

"...You sure you can?" Cole asked.

"You aim, I shoot." Selene told him curtly, her face now an angry scowl.

Wordlessly Cole threw his chakram with all his might. He then kept the other spinning above him. He needed to maintain the spell for their plan to work.

The wave boss was waiting for more of the small yellow bombs to form around it so it could hit Botan with its strongest attack from the safety of the sky. However, it soon found out that even in the sky without any clouds nearby was unsafe.

Selene jumped off the staff into the portal just as it was above the wave boss. The moment she exited the portal, Cole stopped using [Gate of the Moon]. Selene pulled her glaive back and passed her weapon through the chakram and began spinning it around the shaft of her weapon as she fell.

[Rattlemaster]! The weapon let off a cacophony of various sounds, alerting the wave boss too late for it to dodge.

"We might not hit as hard as a hero but…" Selene began thinking aloud.

[Crush King: Kaxunaut]! Around Selene came the image of a large monster. Something akin to a large primate with rings loosely adorning its tail. The visage of the creature was made of orange energy of a brighter hue than the boss' own. Her weapon overwhelmed the few bombs it had managed to create, cutting through them and continuing toward the boss. She slammed into the creature with an audible crack.

"But the ways of the nine sovereigns can fell anything!" She finished shouting as the wave boss was ripped from the sky, crashing near Botan.

Botan wasted no time running toward the wave boss, who tried to pull itself from the ground in the opposite direction. Cole caught a falling Selene who was now exhausted.

"Not happening." Alder shot through the mist and slammed into its back. He did little damage, if any, but he kept it from running from Botan.

"I can finish it, just keep it from running away!" [Boom Bloom]! Botan began charging his strongest skill.

The monster again tried escaping, choosing a direction between the two to fly off in.

"I said, it's not happening." Alder said while both Botan and he ran along either side of the creature. Botan's water walking was good enough at this point and the mud was thicker, so he had no issue now outspeeding the boss.

The boss tried to turn left but was denied violently. The same happened when trying to escape any other direction, even straight up. As quickly as it tried it was just as quickly corrected by Botan and Alder striking it with everything they had. The pair threw the boss around like a ball, controlling where it went. Alder needed to use a spell to push it back on course, Botan could simply swing his weapon one-handed to do so. This meant MP was an issue for Alder long term. They raced from one end of the town to the other, striking the wave boss dozens of times, waiting for the timer.

It would try throwing a punch or slashing with its claw, but both could knock its claws away with their arms alone. When firing off a freshly formed energy ball, Alder dodged and Botan swatted the attack away with his weapon. Without a swarm of energy built up, it wasn't worth the title of 'boss' in Botan's mind. He knew Alder was stronger than most, but seeing a non-hero beating a giant robot bug in hand-to-hand fighting really put it into perspective that he had overestimated the boss. Or perhaps underestimated himself.

The beating continued with the boss tumbling on the ground like a rag doll at one point. They would not let the boss come to a stop. They cared just as much about keeping it going as they did about it not escaping. Eventually, they reached the other side of the village and the timer was nearly up.

"Alder!" Botan called.

"Right!" Alder held his nunchucks by the rope and threw them at the wave boss with all four handles pointed at it. Immediately after, he leapt at it, all four limbs out. All eight strikes made contact with the boss simultaneously.

[Octopus Onslaught: Impact Harmonium]!

As the 8 impacts became 36, the image of an overwhelming octopus was created in the cracks forming on the wave boss' metal carapace. So many impacts happening all at once forced the wave boss toward Botan, as planned. Alder made sure that he used his own impacts to push himself away as well.

"If a slash did that, then this is checkmate." Botan simply raised the weapon high, pointing it at the wave boss. The timer of charging up his best skill was over and so was the boss.

Having never used [Boom Bloom] with his awakened weapon form, or even using it once since reaching level 30 with a magic-oriented weapon form, Botan was not prepared for what was coming. The resulting explosion threw the wave boss into pieces. The sound was the loudest Botan had ever heard, yet oddly, his hearing wasn't messed with in any way. Perhaps his stats overcame such a thing?

The large pieces of the wave boss were hurled far by the eruption power Botan unleashed. There was a short pause. The adrenaline kept everyone from stopping for a moment. After another moment, the sky began to clear. Alder and Botan caught their breath between sighs of relief.

"It's… over?" Selene asked, still too tired to do much. The previous spell taking everything out of her.

"The monsters that made it through remain. We are in the final stretch." Freona called.

Botan and Alder shared a look as they finished recovering their breath. Botan checked Myskel again. She was still sick, but less so. She'd be fine. They each flashed a grin and ran off to get the job done. Cole and the others followed as best they could, but the pair seemed to still be going at their full speed, leaving the other three in the dust.

The collateral in lives lost was unknown. The damage done would take a year to fix at the earliest. Navarre still needed to be dealt with and Botan needed to figure out why and how Myskel got sick. Still, the metaphorical daybreak arrived. The Flower Hero, Botan Nakaya, had defeated the first of many waves to come.

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[Otherworld Index]

Today we'll be discussing Geomancy. Geomancy is considered a higher form of magic. Instead of using the movement of your body to cause magic, you instead use the environment around you and its changes as the means of casting magic. In some advantageous circumstances (much like how Botan found himself here) The environment could be changing on its own, such as a nearby fire, or running water.

These things could be used to cast Geomancy as is. However, most uses of geomancy you'll see are not so easy and hands-off. Instead, the user will force a change on the environment and then use that change to cast a spell. The elemental spells [Updraft] and [Backdraft] are such examples. This is also the logic behind walking on water as Botan discovers. Stepping into the water causes enough change to capitalize on, using Geomancy to keep one above water.

Geomancy is considered far more difficult to use because you still have to feel how and where the mana is flowing, but can't use your sense of touch the same way you do for changes in your own body. Using early/low-level Geomancy is considered the pinnacle of most combatants' career. Only dedicated dancers or the truly talented can go beyond this.

Technically, weapon-based spellcasting also falls under Geomancy as you are using the shape and movement of what is beyond your body to cast spells. Some disagree with this, pointing out that since the wielder is manipulating the object's movement so directly, many such people are casting magic without even feeling the magic.

Ultimately, seeing a combatant using Geomancy in any capacity says a lot about their merit as a fighter. As they either know Geomancy formally or have gone through so many battles that they picked up on things that'd take 100s of battles to understand.

Chapter Text

It took nearly 3 hours after the wave had ended before the fighting came to an end. Countless monsters remained after the event. With their queen gone, the monsters seemed far less organized than before, though, they did continue to chase Botan on sight. After the fighting was over, they gathered up to discuss things.

Botan went to speak first, but Mr. Lokkan beat him to it.

"Knob died. Passed away just 10 minutes ago."

Everyone just stared for a moment. "How!? What was left to hurt Knob? He was a gate beast!" Alder went between shouting and asking questions.

Mr. Lokkan answered by looking at Botan and pointing at Myskel. "Turns out, the honey is highly toxic." His voice was shaky. "Knob absorbed about 6 full golems. More than 1000 gallons of toxic material. Even Knob couldn't handle that."

Botan rechecked Myskel, she was doing better. The small amount she ate wasn't fatal.

"So your business is on hold again, I take it? You don't have any more gate beasts, and taming a new one could take a year or more." Cole inquired.

"I have about a dozen." He replied without looking up.

"...WHAT!?" they were collectively shocked.

"Knob had kids about 6 months ago. Normally gate beast young stay in their parent's dimensional stomach until they are big enough, but when the wave came I had him leave the kids in the cellar of the house before we headed out. It'll be less than a year before my shipping services can renew." Mr. Lokkan said, not meeting anyone's gaze. He kept staring at a muddy puddle. "I know this'll affect the capital, but I won't be using them for shipping for a long time." He said after some pause, finally looking up from the ground. His eyes were worn and weary.

"You're the only man alive that can tame a monster of a sovereign's race. Do whatever you must." Alder spoke.

"I guess we are done here? Or at least you two. We'll stay and help them rebuild." Freona spoke to both Botan and Alder.

"I still need to dissect the monsters. Especially the boss."

"We also need a wagon or carriage. You won't be absorbing all of it and the boss' armor is a boon you can't abandon."

Mr. Lokkan straightened up and began to walk away. "I'll let you borrow my wagon. Not like I can use it. I'll make sure to dissect Knob, Bessy, and Swella within the hour."

Botan was in the middle of standing when he heard that. His right foot caved and he was forced back to the ground. "You don't need to go that far!" Botan shouted.

His back still facing the others, Mr. Lokkan argued. "You're going to Ventus next, yeah? You'll need gate beast materials if you're hoping for that brat prince to make you a [Demon's Jar]." Mr. Lokkan's voice began to rise. "That's one of the reasons you're going there, yeah? And you're going to be borrowing my wagon until then, yeah? Then just shut up and accept the gift. The sooner you have your stupid little jar, the sooner I get my wagon back!" He was shouting by the end of it.

Before he could protest further, Mr. Lokkan left Botan and the others.

They won the battle but when Botan looked over the village, he couldn't help but wince.

Seeing his expression, Alder cut off his train of thought. "Stop it. You did what you could."

Botan tried arguing. "But-"

"You put out the fires. You killed the boss. You stopped the wave. Now sit up straight with your head held high. If you feel like shit it makes those that did even less feel even worse." Selene cut him off, sounding upset at herself.

Botan sighed heavily and made it to his feet with some effort. "Fine, fine. If you want me to think about something else, does someone wanna tell me about what happened to Navarre?"

That question was met with some pause. Their ability to meet his eyes suddenly eluded them just as their eyes did his.

"Seriously?" He complained.

"Hm ugh." As if on queue, Navarre began to wake. He looked around and saw Botan and the clear sky. Relief washed over him. However, as fast as those positive feelings came, they went. His eyes settled on Alder and his eyes snapped open.

"Royal bastard! I'll get you this tim-" He failed to stand or even sit up. He just noticed he was in heavy irons with accompanying chains.

Botan eyes shot open at his words. He took a few steps towards Navarre and lowered himself into a squat. "What did you say?" He asked, looming over him.

Freona and Selene began to approach to separate the two, but Botan simply put his hand up to tell them to stop. He continued staring at Navarre until he spoke.

"I'm just doing the prince and this country a service. If that bastard is still alive when the king passes, the prince will have trouble taking the crown." Navarre argued.

"I've said time and time again, I don't want the crown. My brother can have it." Alder snapped back. Only after his words left his mouth did he realize what he said.

Botan breathed in sharply. Suddenly, it all made sense. "His father isn't in the picture, but still got him a job in the castle. Tia is somehow able to afford a nice home in the capital despite paying all the bills herself!" A lot of the weird behavior makes sense now.

"Wait!" Botan's revelation gave him another.

"The Ivory company wanted to make a deal with Alder, but he's been refusing them. Then there's…" Botan jerked his head to stare at Alder. He suddenly remembered Alder coming home from the castle the same day the prince returned. Botan remembered him with a black eye and crying.

He was now suddenly remembering the way he always dismissed these things. Saying that it was none of his business. Saying that if he needed to know, they'd tell him. He never considered it was something this bad and they were just sparing him the stress.

He quietly got up and sat away from Navarre. He stopped talking altogether and seemed to be thinking. They were just caught lying to him, so no one wanted to speak up to him. Whether courtesy or cowardry, they kept pretty quiet the rest of the time.

Mr. Lokkan came by soon enough. Botan spoke to him, making an effort to be as kind to him as possible. He had just diced up his pets for him after all. He absorbed the materials and saw a wagon loaded up with the materials from the wave boss and Knob he didn't absorb.

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[Yoklan Antler Thorned Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Strength Increase (Small), Skill: “Charge”

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[Orf Lily Lapel Pin]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Flower Shower”

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[Gate Beast Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Vortex Grasp”

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[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Bumblebee Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Smolder”

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[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Golem Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Swarm”

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[Toxic Nectar Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Vile Toss”

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[Interdimensional Heavy Hive Queen Rose]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Speed Increase (Small), Skill: “Burst Jet”

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[Memorial Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Ally Status Adjustment (Small)

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Just shy of three dozen weapon forms were unlocked, but only the above forms granted more than stats alone. This meant a great opportunity to gain strength. To potentially bloom a few. To get even further ahead. He'd need to test all these skills and see what they did, but he was lost in his thoughts. Botan and Alder left with Botan pulling the small wagon within the hour.

They were traveling faster than the last time they traveled this road. Even with the wagon slowing Botan down, he kept speeding up. Alder became worried the longer they traveled. Botan wouldn't talk. Botan had been quite the chatterbox when they traveled together, but it was an hour into their journey back to the capital and he had said nothing. Worse was the face Botan sported. One that seemed full of anger battling an equal amount of restraint. The whole time, Myskel seemed worried and would nuzzle or pur to prompt Botan to pet her, which he did. However, it never seemed to raise his mood like it normally would.

Alder went to say something, but there was clearly much hesitation. Just as he went to finally speak, Botan broke the silence.

"Your brother gave you that black eye, didn't he?" The voice that came out didn't sound like it belonged to Botan. His voice was warm, usually raising the inflictions as he talked, as if perpetually excited. Comforting and indirect. This question was too direct and with none of the honey he normally spoke with.

Alder reflexively looked away. He was thinking of how to answer the question. Or more accurately, how to avoid answering it. One moment became another, a few seconds became nearly a minute. He couldn't keep his eyes away. He eventually looked back and saw a very serious look from him. It was a look he'd only ever seen from the parents. A look that said 'Don't you dare lie to me'.

"Yeah." Finally escaped his mouth, not even aware he admitted it until he heard his own voice.

"And he told Navarre to kill you?" Botan asked the next question immediately. If he really considered Alder's answer, it didn't show.

Alder tried turning away, but he had to stop walking and started fighting his voice. "Th-That might not be the case!" He managed.

Botan stopped on the road and stared at Alder. Watching one of the people who had helped him the most, the son of the woman who saved his life, and the guy he had shared the most laughs with since reaching this world… breaking down right in front of him. He reached up and started stroking Myskel, doing whatever he could to control his own boiling temper.

He gave them both some time, but Alder was falling apart. "I'm not equipped for this kind of thing." He admitted to himself.

"Sorry… Let's keep going." Was all he could manage.

Begrudgingly, Alder began to walk again and the two continued. Now they were both emotional and quiet instead of just one of them.

Progress?

The two remained mostly silent for the rest of the trip. During this time, Botan forced the pair to move at an uncomfortable pace. Before night fell they stepped foot into the capital. Alder went to travel towards his home, but Botan took another path.

Alder saw the direction he was going and tried offering a different option. "I thought we'd-"

"I'm going to the castle."

Alder continued after him, trying to convince him to visit his mother. Botan winced at hearing that. "Face that woman after I've been ignoring her suffering? Or yours!?"

Botan left the wagon near the gate to the castle and gave the guards a simple nod.

"Wait!" Alder shouted, but would not enter the castle. Botan looked back, staring a moment. "Not allowed in? When your dad is dying right inside?"

He went through the halls at a slower pace, but still not as slow as a casual walk. Several turns and stairs later, he was in the throne room. There sat the prince, in a wooden chair before his father's throne.

The prince noticed him and perked up, erasing the worried look he had just a moment prior. "Evergreen! You're back so soon. I assume that means the wave was thwarted?" He asked.

"Yeah." Was all he said as he slowly climbed the stairs

The prince continued. "What can you tell us about the waves?"

"It hit Lokkansted. They'll need help. There was a large fire." Botan managed, now topping the stairs.

The prince seemed to not notice anything, but the guards did. They went to act but halted at a raised hand from Baobab. He had just entered the room from the back and didn't want anything interrupting what would happen.

The prince continued the conversation, not picking up on Botan's mannerisms. "Alder couldn't even handle that much? I should hav-"

Botan had found a movement path for his magic mid-stride. He swapped his weapon to his left hand, balling up his right, and pulled it back. He took a heavy step forward while throwing his whole body into a wide swing. Sparks of magic sprang from his fist. He didn't invoke a spell, just infuse magic into the attack. Just before impact, a yellow glowing seal placed itself between Botan's attack and the target.

Botan's head was already down, so he never saw the words on the seal or that they changed.

[Protecting Contractee]

[Holy Flower detected]

[Deactivating]

As quickly as the shield appeared, it was gone. In the next moment, Botan's fist struck the prince's face. His fist sank into the Prince's face and kept advancing, throwing him through his wooden chair. He traveled to the real stone throne and dribbled off of it with an audible crack. The prince's blood trailed between where he stood and where he landed. Botan himself fell to the ground, having held nothing back.

Gasps from the knights erupted and they pointed their weapons at Botan. Even with Baobab motioning for them to stop, most seemed ready to intervene. Two ran over and helped the Prince to his feet as Botan picked himself up as well.

"Wh-What the hell was that for!?" Prince Raucar screamed in confusion, blood still dripping from the top of his head.

"That's for giving your brother a black eye! Now you match!" Botan yelled with a raised fist.

"He's no brother of mine!" Prince Raucar declared. He reached for his weapon, but it wasn't near him anymore. An ornate metal sphere sporting an equally decorative polearm shaft. It was the strangest mace or club Botan had ever seen.

The guards encircled Botan twice-over.

"Say that again and I'll give you another one!" Botan threatened. The knights moved in further.

"And you all stay out of this. I doubt any of you are as strong as the knights you lent me. If so, you can't do much right now." Botan shouted at them. He knew he would never have control in this situation but still acted like he was trying to maintain it.

Baobab took a few more steps forward. "Lower your weapons at once!"

"But sir, he struck the prince?" One of the knights protested, though they lowered their weapons a bit.

"I have eyes, better than yours. Did you not see the protective seal fade?" Baobab asked back to the man.

There was a moment of the question registering before the man responded. "We did, but-"

"The Ygg tree approved that strike. What young Raucar has been doing is either so wicked that the Ygg tree no longer wishes to save him, or the Ygg tree believes these actions are necessary for Mosden to stand tall! The prince will face the consequences of his actions and you will not impede in this matter!" Baobab said in a booming voice. He left no room to question them.

The guards exchanged looks, nodded, and a few whispered. They all saw just as he did. They lowered their weapons. Baobab motioned for them all to leave the throne room entirely. They hesitated. The prince was just attacked, surely they couldn't just…

Botan's glare was now being given to them as well. At the sight of that, they made for the nearest door.

"Wha-This can't be happening… Come back here!" The Prince shouted.

But they weren't even slowing down. They all left in short measured steps, closing each door behind them. The Prince stared in disbelief for a moment.

"What is with this all of a sudden!? You just saved our people. I was trying to thank you!" Prince Raucar was further from his weapon than Botan was. This left him with words. Not that the question wasn't a genuine one.

"You chased Alder out of here and abused him. I bet you're the reason Tia can't speak with the king either." Botan was more than happy to explain.

"Don't speak that whore's nam-" Before the prince could even finish his sentence he was struck from the front and back. Botan kicked him in the stomach, Baobab used an open palm on his lower back.

"D-Damn. Both of you?" As they retracted their limbs, the prince fell atop his broken chair.

"Do not speak of her in such a manner. I warned you more than once, boy." Baobab said with more aggression and vigor than either the Prince or Botan had ever seen.

"She is the woman who saved my life. That brought me here. That gave me guidance and warm meals. I'll always have another swing at someone bashing someone that kind." Botan gave a lighter warning, but no less firm.

The Prince stayed on the ground, one arm trying to pull himself up with the throne, trying to catch his breath. The large fur from a great beast that he adorned didn't add much to his intimidation while lying on the ground like this.

Botan spoke up again. "I've been trying to keep myself out of other people's business, but that doesn't mean my eyes and ears don't work. Nor my brain. As soon as I found out that Alder was your brother, so much suddenly made so much sense." He began.

"Did he go crying to you for help?" Prince Raucar asked with an insulting tone.

"No." He responded in a matching tone. "He tried hiding it. But it becomes hard to hide something that big when Navarre tries killing Alder in the middle of the wave while screaming he's a royal bastard. Pro-tip, next time you hire a hitman, don't choose someone so chatty." Botan kept up the sass.

"What? But I-No. I want Alder away from the throne, he has no right to it. But I never asked to have him killed." The Prince seemed puzzled, eye flickering, as if replaying old conversations in his head.

Baobab halfheartedly helped the Prince to his feet to sit on the stone throne while adding his own testimony. "I can attest to that much at least. I've been shadowing the prince ever since he returned. His last conversation with Navarre was throwing him out more or less. For failing to sour your opinion of young Alder." Baobab matched eyes with Botan. Something about the look made Botan believe he was telling the truth.

"If you didn't prompt Navarre… then fine." Botan took a less aggressive stance and tone. He shifted to his left foot and used his right to slide the Prince his weapon, who promptly placed a hand on it.. "You can have that back. If you keep pissing me off, you'll need to be able to defend yourself or I might go too far. And if that happens, I want to be able to say I at least didn't beat you unarmed… Now that the guards are gone, we can keep talking." Botan made no further action immediately

"About?" The Prince eyed his weapon now inches from him, well within reach, but he made no effort to reach out for it.

"Alder." Was all Botan responded with, his arms now crossed. He was taking a slightly more relaxed stance.

"What more is there to talk about?" Raucar seemed non-aggressive, but less than cooperative. The prince held a cloth over his head injury. Raucar's eyes seemed to travel. Botan was unsure if he was acting this way because of the head injury or if it was because he wanted to escape this conversation.

"As I said, I've heard and seen quite a few things. When I went to the Ivory Company their field commander said something that seemed so random at the time. 'And do tell Alder our offer still stands'. You get it?" Botan informed them both.

Advisor Baobab and Prince Raucar had very different reactions to that news. Baobab seemed to understand immediately and sported a soft smile.

And Prince Raucar immediately got aggressive again, gripping his weapon tightly. "Alder was planning something? I knew it!"

"Stop being stupid and think! Alder is older than you, right? He has years of experience as an advisor, his mother is very strong and important. The only thing the Ivory Company could have wanted was a collaboration to take the crown. The Ivory Company might lose to Mosden as a whole, but barely. If many Mosden citizens side choose to support Alder's reign, they win for sure… And yet…" Botan trailed off.

"...And yet… He didn't take the deal?" Raucar said in realization.

"Yeah. The brother you beat the shit out of and fired, the boy who has to constantly see his mother hiding tears, the one that just fought in a wave for his country… doesn't want the crown. He doesn't want to become king in the slightest." Botan kept drilling it into him.

"But… But he seemed so desperate to be allowed back in the castle. There must be a reason!" Raucar scrambled for an answer.

"Are you heartless or just stupid!? It's because his father is dying! The man who could never really be there for him is dying! He barely got any time with him, and you are doing everything in your power to make sure he never sees him again!" Botan yelled.

Botan took a breath, trying to calm down. "I'm a big brother. My sister never needed my protection, but she knew she had it. The same went the other way around. And yeah, we fought, but… I am 100% sure that ever since I went missing, she has been looking for me. That she's not given up on finding me. That's how siblings should be. As soon as I realized you gave him a black eye…" Botan stopped himself before you worked himself up too much.

The silence gave the Prince the chance to speak. "Well… I didn't know about Naravee's stunt, nor that Alder has been giving the Ivory Company the cold shoulder… I'll let him see Father at once." He responded.

"And you'll apologize." Botan commanded.

"Absolutely not." The Prince denied.

"Why!?" Botan was back to shouting.

"If it wasn't for him, my mother would still be alive!" The prince bellowed.

"..." That was not what Botan was expecting. He quickly turned to Baobab with a questioning look.

"This again?" Baobob rubbed his face with his hand.

"You know it to be true! If the Ygg tree recognized my mother as father's proper wife, she'd have received the same protections that father and I do!" The Prince spoke loudly, almost righteously.

"...What is he talking about?" Botan asked.

Baobab turned his attention more toward Botan. "The Ygg tree wards the royal family from danger. While within the capital, killing a member of royalty is extremely difficult. The late queen was killed by an assassin's crossbow bolt. Had she been warded, she'd still be alive. That much is certain."

Botan exchanged glances with the Prince. It was almost like they said something in the way they looked at each other.

Baobab continued. "However, blaming Tia for receiving the protection instead of your mother is unreasonable. Enrich wasn't even supposed to marry your mother. He was engaged to Tia for 3 years, and had been courting her for 9 years before that. They'd been together since they were children."

That only raised more questions. "Then why?" Botan asked.

Baobab's eyes wandered upward, now looking at old banners from even older days. "Enrich wasn't supposed to be king. He had an older brother. It was Enrich who wasn't supposed to marry Raucar's mother, but his brother. An arranged marriage from the strongest family in Mosden after the royal family itself. The Eranos, Warden's of the Nine Peaks. When his brother died, Enrich had to marry Raucar's mother in his late brother's stead. Not a single person was happy with the arrangement."

"Why, though? He was already engaged." Botan found this so stupid. If no one wanted it, why'd it happen at all?

"Because if he didn't, the Eranos family would have stopped supporting the crown. This country has barely survived several events since Enrich became king. Had we lacked their support during any one of those incidents… Mosden would probably not exist as a country anymore." Baobab's eyes left the sights above and slowly drifted down to the two young men before him.

"..." Botan considered this.

"Enrich and Tia chose the peace and lives of their countrymen over their own happiness. Tia has never had another man, nor will she. So, don't you ever call her that again." Baobab added.

"..." The sacrifice was great, but that wasn't what Botan was focusing on.

The Prince wasn't dissuaded. "It doesn't change the fact that my mother is dead and it's her faul-"

"Yeah, she's dead. The king will soon be too. Then what? What will you have left?" Botan voiced his new thoughts.

"..." A pause was made. "The child of a loveless marriage. A dying father and dead mother. Don't you see!?" Botan thought briefly.

"You'd have Alder, your brother. Someone who clearly has your best interests in mind. How can you pretend to care so much about the family you've lost and are currently losing when you don't hesitate to kick out the last of it you'll have!?" Botan demanded an answer.

"How can you deserve the title of King when you've caused Tia, one of the kindest, most selfless people I've ever met, someone who has dedicated her life to this kingdom, to be ostracized because your mother died and not her!?" Botan shouted down at him.

"Would Alder have ever treated you like this had your roles been reversed?! If he'd been the one who lost his mother instead of you?! What does that say about you?!" He unleashed all his frustration on the Prince. Not just his frustration rightfully meant for the Prince, but also the anger he had for himself forever being blind to this.

"Don't speak as if you know Alder, Evergreen! You've been here a single month! You don't know him or that woman like-" Even now the Prince refused to say her name.

"I've probably talked to him and Tia more in the few weeks I've been here than you've ever interacted with them in your entire life! Or am I wrong?!" Botan blatantly asked, putting himself face to face with the young Prince.

The young man tried to hold his ground against the Evergreen, but found himself buckling under the look of righteous fury in the Holy Flower Hero's gaze.

Botan stared at him, seeing he was not arguing any further. "I'm going to go fetch Alder, and his mother. And I am going to bring them straight to the King. If you have any desire to have some family left, fix this shit." He turned away and began walking.

"If you try to stop me, if you do anything to keep your dying father from being able to speak to them, then I won't care if Alder doesn't want the throne. I will ensure Alder sits on the throne just to save everyone from your spitefulness. Even if I have to tear this place down to do so. If you can't maintain your family, you sure as hell can't maintain a country." Was Botan's final words on the matter.

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Prince Raucar, who remained silent, looked up desperately at Baobob. But when the advisor looked down at the trembling young man, he let out a sigh.

"Perhaps part of this is my fault, for not speaking my mind before." His eyes glinted with a dangerous aura. "Prince Raucar, you have been an idiot about all this for far too long. I know the kind of woman Tia is. I know what these past few years could have been like had she been around." He said, sounding more angry at himself than anything else.

"... What are you talking about now?" Raucar muttered, this time, however, his tone wasn't confident.

"Tia loved your father. She loved Alder even more. And even though you weren't her son, she also cared about you since you were your father's child. Even through all the disrespect and humiliation, she showed no disappointment in knowing that you'd be her king one day. You were always the aggressor." Baobab drilled into him.

"She might not have been your mother. And she would have never dared to replace her. But she would have still supported you both if you had only let her. And for allowing you to sabotage yourself so completely… I apologize. I should have done… something." The man seemed exhausted.

"... … …" This time, Raucar remained speechless, staring at his advisor in disbelief.

"Think of her whatever you wish. Judge her for having your Father's heart and child first. But that is how selfless she is. I'd know, since I was there when your father was courting her… and I was there when she told him to marry your mother so Mosden could survive." Baobob began to walk out of the room, but paused, before looking back at the destroyed Prince.

"You cry because you lost your mother… imagine seeing your father every day and not being allowed to be his son. Imagine your spouse, leaving you despite how much she loved you, because she cared that much about seeing your country, your kids, your people, everyone else; being able to survive and be happy even if it cost her her own." He offered a brief pause.

"That is how much both of them have sacrificed for this nation. Alder, too, sacrificed. That is why the Evergreen is right. And that is why the Ygg tree didn't protect you today." He then turned back around and opened the door to leave.

"You're the only person with the Ygg tree's protection who hasn't willingly sacrificed anything. You've lost things, but never voluntarily relinquished anything. The current you isn't worthy of being king." With that, Baobob left the room.

After some time, Raucar called weakly for his knights. The maids. He wanted someone, anyone. He didn't want to be left alone with these thoughts.

But nobody answered his call.

For the first time in the Prince's life since his Mother's death, he felt truly and utterly alone. He briefly understood this was going to be every day of his life if he didn't do something. And he was unable to stop the tears that fell down his face onto the stone floor below him.

…

Botan did his best to compose himself as he exited the castle and casually walked up to and passed the gate of the courtyard.

"Yoo!" Botan greeted Alder with a silly face.

"..." Alder was concerned. While Botan was trying to play it off, the way he was acting was very different from the brooding silence that he'd experienced for hours just before this. "Botan… What did you do?"

"Nothing really. Just gave a report is all." Botan knew he wasn't going to beat someone well-versed in politics at lying, so he hastily moved on. "You go inside and see your dad. I'll be back with your mother in a moment."

Hearing that, the knights turned. "Evergreen. Lady Tia is not allowed in the castle, nor is Alder. You'd need to-"

"As. I. Said." Botan's smile was straining. "Go inside. If anyone has a problem with that, talk to the knights inside or take it up Baobab. Okay?"

"...Understood." The guard wouldn't fight that hard to keep Alder out. Everyone knew what Botan had just realized today.

"Botan. I don't need you to-"

"Your father is getting worse. Go see him." Botan repeated.

At that, Alder relented and entered the castle. Botan went to leave but turned back to the guard. "If you get in trouble, blame me." The guard simply nodded.

Botan took a single look at his wagon and shot off with enough force to kick up dirt. He was not weighed down by a cart. He wasn't slowed down by followers. It was the first moment he had to run full speed outside of a fight. He felt strangely free. He could now leap over other people with ease and even ignore bridges entirely. Just 2-3 steps on the water's surface.

He felt it. He couldn't do it well enough yet, but he could even take 10 steps without sinking if he really tried.

In less than two minutes, he was at Tia's home. For the first time, he didn't knock. He simply barged in and saw Tia sitting at the kitchen table, sat down, worry leaving her face as she saw Botan.

"You're already back from the wave?" Her face relaxed quite a bit, a smile already forming.

"Yeah. It was in Lokkansted. The place was heavily damaged, but I don't think too many died." Botan answered quickly.

"Is Alder okay? Where is he?" Tia just noticed her son wasn't following in behind him.

"He's where you should be. He's with his father." Botan put an arm up, motioning for her to follow him.

"..." Tia went to speak but said nothing. Her question was clear on her face. 'How did you find out?' But it didn't matter.

"The guards already know you're coming. Hurry up." He insisted

"Evergreen, I don't understand." Tia barely ever used the name Evergreen. They had become friends. She often used his name instead. So why was she using it now?

"I'm saying be a little selfish." Botan looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time. A woman worn down by the world yet strong enough to pretend it hasn't got her on her last leg. He felt so stupid for not putting it together sooner.

Tia looked at Botan for a moment, almost like it was the first time she'd ever seen him. Wordlessly, she moved faster than Botan could see and was now behind him. She stopped where her shoes were, almost like she teleported to them, but the gust of wind that followed her confirmed that she really did just travel around Botan with ease. Even with his newfound speed, he might as well be standing still to her.

"Thank you. I will." And just as quickly as moved to that spot, the door was open and she was gone. Botan's brain lagged a bit. He tried his best to follow her, but while it took Botan 2 minutes to travel that distance, Tia did it in 12 seconds. Not to mention he was so tired. He'd fought in the wave, then pushed the cart all the way here. He was running on fumes at this point. He had no choice but to walk back.

Tia landed in front of the castle gates, only receiving a mild look from the guard, motioning her in. As quickly as she appeared, she left. Through the castle, all the halls she knew so well. In a flash, she was in the throne room.

She paused.

She saw splintered wood thrown about the ground. She saw traces of blood. The prince was slumped on the throne, nursing a head injury. He looked up to see who it was.

For the first time in his life, he wasn't angry to see her. He was exhausted, mentally and physically. Emotionally drained. And currently quite hurt. Maybe that was why a flash of concern wore itself on Tia's face for a moment.

The prince had to wonder. "Is she looking at me with such concern because this injury actually looks that bad? No. The Evergreen didn't hold back, but I shouldn't be so weak that he'd already do that much damage in a single blow. No… could it be that, she always looked at me like this? I can't ever remember her making any other sort of face when looking at me."

The prince recalled seeing Tia when he was very young. She used to be very kind to him, even gave him presents and tried to get to know him… but whenever his mother saw her, she'd yell at Tia and chase her off. Then his mother died. He couldn't understand how she died the way she did. He was only 5 years old. A few older knights tried to explain the situation to him, but when Tia was brought up, he'd already decided to blame her. His mother was dead and as a child, he needed someone to blame.

Raucar snapped back to the present. A lot of what Botan and Baobab said was starting to make sense. At the same time, his head was spinning and he felt like he was in freefall.

For her part, Tia wasn't as shocked at seeing the Prince injured as much as she was shocked to see him looking at her the same way he did so many years ago.

They both had things they wanted to say, but that wasn't why she was here. The Prince weakly lifted an arm and pointed towards the door leading to his father's chambers. The pair said nothing but simply shared another look. She left with a gust of wind, just as she came.

The prince had a fleeting thought to stand and follow, but he couldn't. He shifted awkwardly in a thone he couldn't fill. He was physically capable of standing, of walking, but he refused. His head spun with memories from throughout his life. He replayed key moments over and over again. Never finding peace or an answer.

Tia was at the king's side in moments, Alder already there.

"Tia? …Is it okay for you to be here?" Enrich's tired voice suddenly came alive, with equal parts worry and gratitude.

"Everyone is aware." She answered plainly. She quickly sat on the other side of Enrich as her son and quickly found his hand in hers.

"...Then I am glad… Our son was just telling me the wave was repelled successfully. I'm sure he was a bigger help than he admits." He immediately tried forcing a conversation.

"Of course, loud in actions like his mother, quiet in boasting like his father." Tia accepted it.

There were no talks about anything unpleasant. About their ruined relationship, or the strain it put on them both and their son. They both knew all this too well. Instead, they were just hungry for anything they could get from one another. A laugh, a smile, a shared appreciation for the child they made together. To pretend that they were currently the people they wanted to grow up to be when they were younger.

Alder added little. He was grinning ear to ear to simply see his parents acting like a couple. His father's voice was loud, and jolly, nothing like it had been for many years. His mother's smile was complete, with no lingering ill will for her to hide.

It felt like the only moment they had as a family.

As they talked, Botan eventually reached the room. Soft laughter and a more emotional voice from the king than he had heard before echoed through the hall. Botan had no intention of intruding on this moment. He quietly slumped to the floor, stroking Myskel while eavesdropping in on the family. It wasn't long before the pains of the day started calling him to sleep.

"Our son can already use up to the 8th impact. He's practically a master now." Tia praised their son more.

"I'd have loved to have been there to see all the hard work that led to that." The king replied honestly.

A pain found itself in their chests. They tried to keep their spirits high, but Enrich saw the reaction.

"There is no point in hiding it. Not here and now, at the end of things." He added.

Tia and Alder flashed concern with how he said that.

"Of course, I have regrets. So very many. That every moment of every day for us was not like it was a bit ago. The distance I had to keep, the duties I had to see through, the shoes I had to fill… There's a part of me… A part of me that wished I had run away with you all those years ago. That we fled to the oceans, to the coastal islands and lived far removed from everyone and everything else, I can honestly say I had that thought every single day for 20 years." A soft smile and tears with no end accompanied the king as he spoke.

"But that's not all. After my wife died, I didn't seek to finally mend our house as I should have. I didn't tend to my sons, either of them. My focus was always on something abstract and ever-looming. War, famine, things that sound serious, but even now… even now I can't honestly say if I made the right decisions! What is this!? How is it that I thought through my actions again and again, that I gave such careful thought to everything, and I never reached an answer!? Why is the road only clear now!? When I have no way to travel it!" The man spoke with anger for himself. Tia and Alder were now trying to calm him as he raised himself from the bed.

"A coward, that's what it was! I wasn't weighing my options or considering outcomes. I was avoiding consequences!" The king's voice woke Botan from his near sleep as the hall bellowed.

"Father, calm yourself. Think of your health." Alder tried.

"No! I can't I-!" Enrich began to argue.

"Dad, please stop!" Alder just spoke without thinking.

"..." Enrich paused. "He's always used 'father' when in private. He's never casually used the word 'dad' to denote me…" The king's attention was once again on others.

"...I am sorry to have alarmed you… I'm sorry for a lot of things. You needn't worry about my health. I've reached my end either way." The king said, his voice low again.

Tia held his hand like a vice, refusing to let him go. "Y-You can't! Not now! Not after finally-!"

Enrich freed his hand from hers and lifted it up, holding the side of her face. "I know. I leave with endless regrets. But… Loving you wasn't one of them." He turned to Alder. "Nor having you."

"My life was one mistake after the other but the two of you were the only right decisions I ever made." A calmer expression overtook his features.

"Tia, please smile more. You used to say that all your smiles were mine, but that's not the case anymore. Our son has given you plenty… and holding onto me won't do." He gave her a long deep look before turning to Alder.

"Alder, my boy, you really are Tia's son. You inherited none of my worthless traits. It's a miracle in itself. Please look after your mother. And find some happiness for yourself, somewhere in this world." His eyes lingered on him as well.

"I know this next one will be hard, but… someone please help Raucar. I gave no more time to him than I did you Alder, and he's had no mother, unlike you. Now he is set to be the new king and has no one. If nothing changes, his life will be far worse than even ours… help him, someone, somehow." He said to no one specifically.

The king bore a small smile, having finally noticed another presence.

"I want to thank you for saving my people, and for letting them see me at the end, Evergreen. No, Sir Nakaya. Please continue shielding our people from these waves. You've more than paid for any perceived debt you spoke of." The king said loud enough for Botan to hear. Who now had his face buried in his legs to stop the sounds of his own crying from being heard.

… There was a long pause.

"I think pleasing everyone has tired me out too much… I'm too tired… I'd like to rest for a bit…" The king tossed the crown from his head onto the floor with some spite, then allowed himself to lay back down on his bed, where Tia and Alder held his hands. Tia felt it, his pulse grew weaker and weaker until-

Tia wailed so loudly that all the castle staff and even the guards at the front gate heard her clearly. The scream was so loud and so full of anguish that even the Prince, who'd not moved from the throne, broke down on the spot.

Botan had done the right thing. He gave them closure. He tried straightening the Prince out.

But when he heard the crying and wailing of Tia, he felt that he had personally failed at something. A pointless, aimless guilt sat in Botan's chest as he tried covering his ears. He'd never forget the sound of her screaming for as long as he lived.

"Why does this feel like such a complete defeat?"

.

[Otherworld Index]

In this entry, we'll be discussing something shown in the previous chapter that went unexplained due to the more pressing matter of explaining Geomancy. That being royal spells, like the one used by Selene.

Royal spells are spells that require extremely specific and usually quite odd forms and motions, the result of which are extremely strong. The reason the term 'royal' is used is due to the origin of many of them. These spells were pioneered by some of the strangest and certainly the strongest creatures of this world, the Nine Sovereigns. The large ape-like creature projected when Selene used her spell was the very appearance of the sovereign that invented it, Crush King: Kaxunaunt.

While many royal spells were pioneered by these mighty monsters, they are not the only ones to do so. Multiple people working together to cast a spell has led to royal spell discoveries in the past. Even one person in living memory, "Tia, The Queen of Dance", has discovered and mastered a royal spell all by herself.

Due to limiting circumstances most could never hope to cast one, and even the best mages are limited to one at best due to form limitations.

However, would that hold true for the Evergreen? One holding a weapon that can alter its form as the wielder moves? If anyone could, it would have to be one of the three heroes of this world.

Chapter Text

Botan slowly woke up in bed. The sun invaded the room and cast its light directly upon him. Before he even managed to open his eyes, he could tell this wasn’t his bed at the inn. Myskel usually lay atop him while they slept, but the bed was soft enough that she chose to lay beside him instead.

“Mysk~“ Myskel chirped, feeling him stir awake.

Botan sat up slowly and grabbed Myskel out of habit to drape her around his neck. He took one look at the room to figure out where he was. “...I’m in the castle.” He stared out a window. He couldn’t properly recall why he was in the castle. 

After a long pause, he put on his boots and armor but made no motion to leave the room. He didn’t want to leave. Instead, he went to a nearby table and continued his study of the local language using a book he borrowed from Hector. Time felt both longer and shorter than it should have oddly. Botan didn’t feel rushed but also had a growing feeling of dread. 

Each minute that passed only caused the knot in his throat to grow tighter.

Myskel did her best to relax him and be a positive force. But with the slow, yet quick passage of time, Botan tried to focus on the letters of his book. Not knowing if he could recall what he’d tried to learn from it later or not.

At last, when the sense of waiting was becoming unbearable, Botan wondered if it’d be better for him to leave the room and find something else to do to distract his mind, a knock sounded at the door.

As he hastily put his book away, the door opened. Cole was the one who slipped into the room. 

“It’s time.” He said.

Botan clenched his teeth to keep his expression from betraying him. He quietly pushed up from the table and joined the knight as they walked out the door into the hallways of the castle together. Myskel hid her head in the length of her body around his neck as they did so.

It’d been two days since the King’s death and time had been blurring from all the busy actions of everyone around Botan while his power and title afforded him no means to help them. He’d been feeling useless. And now he was about to experience another day in which he couldn’t help anyone and could only do what he was entrusted to do.

It was the day of the king’s funeral. Nobles and others throughout Mosden had come together for the bleak occasion. Among them would be a few who’d been visiting from beyond the borders when the King died. Some diplomats would be attending the service on behalf of their rulers. 

Botan felt he was much like them. Just another person to stand around. Worse, he was to help with transporting the King to his final resting place.

If anything, Cole, the nobility, those diplomats, the common folk, everyone here must have known the King much longer than he had. Even those messages rulers had given via voice cannons showed how foreign leaders had known the ruler better than he ever had.

Botan felt like he shouldn’t be there, that he was making some kind of social faux pas by doing this when even a child of this country had more right to be here.

But he’d been asked… no, Alder had pleaded with him to be part of the procession. To be there to help lay his father to rest.

Alder wasn’t one to plead. That had been especially clear in the weeks he’d gotten to know him and his mother.

Shaking his head, Botan continued. Following the silent knight who hadn’t said a word since they left his room together.

… 

Eventually, Botan and Cole entered the throne room. 

There weren’t many people there. Baobab, Alder, Raucar, and two other individuals whom Botan couldn’t name. Likely, they’d been close advisors to the late King. 

All of them surrounded an open stone sarcophagus, in which lay the King’s unmoving body.

He was dressed in royal attire, his crown resting on his chest. It almost looked like he could have been sleeping…

As Botan walked up, Cole bowed to the young Prince, and then as he turned to leave, he paused, then faced Alder, and gave him a small, but respectful bow as well.

Alder bowed in return, and Raucar looked away, not saying anything. Instead, he gestured behind him, where Botan was to be as Cole went to the front doors of the throne room, where his comrade, Selene, stood ready and waiting.

Once Botan had moved into place, Baobab gave a gesture with his hand.

At once, the individuals there lifted the sarcophagus using the handles on the sides. Baobab led from the front. The King’s advisors were behind him. Alder and Raucar were behind them, holding the coffin near where their father’s head was laid to rest. And Botan lifted the coffin from the back.

Despite being made of stone, he noted how light it felt. Whether because of levels, or it being made of something other than stone, Botan didn’t know. And in the moment, it was a detail he could have cared less about. 

Cole and Selene opened up the proceeding doors as they moved, then the next, and then the next. Botan wasn't struggling under the weight, but it felt heavy all the same. The expression on his face reflected the expressions of everyone else, even though they stared straight ahead.

At the final door, Botan felt there was a small pause before everyone continued. The large gates swung open and the sun met the King one last time. The light was somehow brighter yet duller than normal.

As they walked out of the castle, they found the streets lined with people on both sides. The capital was a city, but Botan never saw enough people to think of it as a ‘city’ in that sense before. Yet, now, the number of people could rival the crowds he was used to being packed inside a Japanese subway.

The waterways were full of boats just so everyone could have ground to stand. The only thing more abundant than the people were the flowers. A deep purple flower of some kind. It was everywhere. 

People were throwing the petals, hanging them in the sky on kites and lanterns, they were even growing all around on the branches of the Great Tree, yet despite this, none of the petals seemed to litter the floor at all.

Every face was glued to those who moved in a procession along the street. At the sight of their King, the mood was set. The cobblestone walkway clattered beneath their feet. Despite the number of people, it was still quiet enough to hear it. 

A tune seemed to fill the air. Botan couldn’t tell where it was coming from. If the hum was from the people, or from the city itself mourning the loss of their beloved ruler. It brought a tear to his eye all the same, and by the looks of it, in Baobab’s eyes too, as the great man raised a hand to his face, wiping tears from his eyes before trudging on.

Botan didn’t miss as both Alder and Raucar took the chance to wipe tears from their faces simultaneously as this happened, however…

The arch of each bridge led to new people and new tears. Botan felt like he was personally delivering their bad news.

Unexpectedly, there was no chatter at Alder’s presence… at least, not at first.

Just when Botan thought they might get through this without anything bad happening, he saw something that made him want to spit as they went under over the next bridge. 

The Ivory Company lined the sides of the road, pushing out the other members of the crowd. They numbered more than a hundred. Some were natives to Mosden, so it’d make sense for them, but Botan saw Valtor and other top brass eyeing the event.

They all stood outside their building, some bowing respectfully as they passed. Those not native to Mosden, however, talked and joked amongst each other. Valtor’s eyes in particular were stuck on Alder, and he began whispering something to the man next to him as they passed.

Botan didn’t catch the words. But judging by the way Alder glared in their direction, the young man must have heard something he didn’t like.

Botan noted Raucar looking over as well and seeing the look of hatred Alder was giving Valtor. He briefly looked stunned, before his face fell, becoming melancholy all over again, and he went back to staring straight ahead.

And on and on they went, passing over nearly 20 bridges to reach the Whirlpool Temple, the end of their procession.

They moved past the temple to the bank of the large lake it resided next to. The purple flowers of the great tree sprung up even here, like a wave of indigo across the ceiling, going down the branches to the water of the lake, giving the azure liquid a darker tone than what it normally was.

A small dock and humble boat awaited them. The majority of the dancing unit that operated the Dragon Hourglass and the Whirlpool Temple were waiting.

The procession continued towards this small boat slowly. Both Raucar and Alder seemed to be the source of the delay. They dragged their feet, both looking down at their father with tears running down their cheeks, all the way until it was time to carefully and slowly ease the stone sarcophagus into the tiny vessel. 

It could barely handle the weight, but that was by design.

Afterward, Botan slowly exited the dock and stood in front, waiting for the others to say their parting words. What he hadn’t noticed until now was that as they traveled, everyone behind began to follow. Now just outside the city, the sheer mass of people was not obfuscated by water or buildings. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, all staring, all waiting. 

Baobab spoke first. He rested a hand on the cold stone. His face seemed more tired than it had during the procession itself. 

“I never paid back a tenth of what I owed you. Did you find humor in that? Did you find comfort in your family being by your side at the end? Do you find peace now? I hope so…, but you were lost in the expectations of others for so long. Lost and I could not guide you… Even though that was my only job.”

Baobab traced his hand over the stone carving of Enrich’s face, resting it on the shoulder. “You failed yourself so many times. As did I. As did we all. I’m so sorry that everyone failed you when you never failed us. So many close calls. So many times we whispered about the possibility of war… And yet, Mosden hadn’t had a war or even a proper battle in your entire tenure.” His hand fell from the shoulder, he tried to put on a happy face. A liar’s face was always his specialty.

“Would you hate me for admitting that… I’d have rather you failed us, at least in part, if it meant we could have done more for you? Did you regret how things turned out? Were you as stern as this stone visage of you at the end? As you always were? …Forgive me. I never questioned you in life, and yet it’s all I seem to do in death.” He took one step away, then stopped.

“I promise I will not fail your sons as I have you. I will question them. I will make sure they succeed. I will make sure they do not fail themselves. I swear it.” Baobab then continued walking away, assimilating into the small crowd somewhat near Botan. He didn’t look like he wanted to talk anymore.

Next Alder and Raucar shared a look before Raucar went first. He moved forward and spoke low, wanting as few people to hear him as possible. Yet Botan did. 

“I’m sorry that I caused you to keep distant from those you’d want close. I’d foolishly thought your… That your love for Tia over my mother meant you loved Alder over me. I find myself learning far more about you in death than I did in life.” 

“I was being a child, but now I have to grow up… I just wish you were here to see it. I will revoke and remove everything you did to distance Tia from the throne. My childishness ends here. Wish me luck… father.” 

The Prince turned and took a few steps, but seemed interested in what his brother would choose to say. It was quite selfish to hide his own words while prying into others and he knew that, yet he waited all the same.

Alder didn’t have anything planned but spoke anyway. “Father… I learned a lot of lessons from you. Too many to count…, but the best lessons were the ones you did not intend. You showed me the ways I don’t want to be like you. You were a servant to duty and it helped countless people.”

“I will never do that…”

“I never said this,” Alder continued after a pause. He had Raucer’s full attention by this point, even if he couldn’t see it. “But if you think I have a love for Mosden, you are mistaken. I loved you. I love my mother. The only duty I let bind me was love. Love of family. Love of those I know. I could not and will not do what you did.”

“I do not blame you for what you did, but you gave me an excellent example of what I don’t want to be. I will take every chance I have to live life and take all the joy from it that I can. I will not be afraid to love or to be loved. And I will not hesitate to be happy.”

“Which makes this so much worse. I finally figured out who I want to be or try to be, and you left before I could hug you as your son more, and speak to you as your son more, love you as your son more.” Alder didn’t know what else to say. He slowly turned and accidentally met his brother's eyes. 

They said nothing… and walked down the dock together.

On and on others said their piece. Botan himself went up for only a few seconds, though he couldn’t remember what he said, or if he said anything at all. All he knew was, eventually, he was standing next to Raucar and Alder again, almost acting as a spectator to events transpiring around him.

When the last one was done and came down to stand with him and the others, there was a moment of confusion. 

Normally they were to close and seal the sarcophagus but they didn’t.

The Prince and everyone else turned to see someone exiting the Whirlpool Temple. The sounds of the doors closing grabbed the attention of everyone present.

It was Tia. 

She wore a dress no one had ever seen her in. A deep purple dress with almost transparent, long ribbons added to every movement she made. She slowly approached as more and more people began to talk, and they weren’t whispering at all. 

Botan was able to take his eyes off her just long enough to find Valtor and the other higher-ups from the Ivory Company. They weren’t just surprised. They looked pissed.

And they weren’t alone. While most of the residents of the city knew Tia, those who didn’t only heard the worst possible interpretation of who she was. But they were about to see just how wrong their assumptions of her had been.

Those in front of the dock made way for Tia. They knew she had more to say than anyone.

She knelt and went for his hand. She wanted his hands. His soft, warm hands. 

They were stiff and cold. She looked down at the stone bitterly. 

This wasn’t Enrich. This wasn’t her Enrich. It never was… and would never be…

The body before her did not stand as he did, speak as he did, laugh as he did… and it did not move as he did. She found no comfort in the corpse of the man she loved. It was just a face. It wasn’t even the face she fell for. 

She fell for him when they were children. She hadn’t got a good look at it in years. It just now hit her.

“If I am sending you off, it’ll be on my terms. It’s finally my turn to decide…” Tia spoke curtly, then motioned for the others. 

The dancers set and sealed the sarcophagus. Then the Prince and Alder brought a torch each and sat them in the boat before pushing it from the shore towards the center of the chasmous lake as the boat caught fire. 

The crowd did not cheer, nor did they weep. The whole sequence was hauntingly quiet.

Botan thought it was similar in a way to a Viking funeral, but was told the details beforehand. The stone sarcophagus was sealed with strong, but untreated clay. The fire cured it and destroyed the boat allowing it to sink to the oceanic depth needed to reach the deepest parts of the lake, a place no one could disturb. 

He was told only Mosden’s royalty were given this type of funeral. It was the same for Raucer’s mother and Enrich’s brother before him.

Not only did the Prince allow her to participate, but he then relinquished the right to address everyone to her. He gave a simple gesture before she turned to address everyone.

“I’m sure you will all miss him as a fair king and kind ruler, but I wish you to regard Enrich simply as a man for a moment. 

Her voice washed over the crowds, quieting everyone in surprise at the deepness and authority held within it. Something that almost seemed to clash with how kind and gentle it sounded in the background of her melody simultaneously.

“He was not some perfect person who never felt temptation or never faltered. He was a man of endless will—someone who’d always put others before himself. 

“His story was not one of simple dedication, but of self-annihilation.” Her words fell, sounding like a plea, with that last line grabbing the attention of everyone.

She walked slowly toward the lake.

“He did not allow himself to be the person he wanted to be… he did not get to love the way he wanted to love… and to me, that is the greatest tragedy here.” 

As Tia spoke the lines, she took her first steps onto the water. She drew a small circle on the azure indigo lake’s surface with the tip of her shoe, then started lightly moving further from the crowd. Further from everyone else.

“He did what was expected of him. It was his greatest and worst quality. One he’s had since the day I first got to know him. 

“We were both the tender age of nine, yet he possessed that quality even then.” Away from everyone, Tia began her dance on the water. Effortless, without caution or fear. Her ability to step on the water was flawless, making Botan’s current skill seem pathetic by comparison. Each step she took caused a single unnatural ripple. 

Each one left the water even calmer and clearer than before. The purple and the azure mixed together then blurred away entirely.

In only a few steps, it was as if she was dancing on a peerless mirror, reflecting the entire surface of the lake to what was happening up above.

The people were silent, even those who hated her a moment ago. They were witnessing something that was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The best performance of someone with no equal in her craft.

And something else was happening. The deep purple petals that seemed to be everywhere in town started gathering on the lake’s surface. But as quickly as they landed, they faded. As they did, the water began to shimmer more.

“He was taking his time coming down the stairs, doing a royal entrance. I was behind him and impatient.” Tia began to smile. Radiance and warmth entered her tone from the simple memory playing out beneath her feet.

And it was. As she narrated what was in her mind, those watching could see the silhouettes of two small figures. One looking eerily similar to a young Alder walking down a staircase of the castle together. 

The petals gathered in greater numbers.

“I kicked him down the stairs so I could hurry past him.” Her smile grew bigger as she spoke. The girlish silhouette beneath her feet kicked the other figure down, the figure then putting her hands to her face in surprise at what she’d just done.

No one made a sound and her words and images carried on the water to them all.

“I was in big trouble for doing that. I thought my life was over before I’d had the chance to do anything with it.”

The scene beneath her changed. She was in a room that looked similar to the current throne room. A pair of figures sitting on two thrones berated the young girl.

“When Enrich was asked by his Father what he wanted as compensation… He said he wanted me to dance with him.” Tia began to tear up. Simultaneously, her dance slowed down, about to change to something else.

In the memory, the girl looked at the young prince in surprise. But one could tell his voice did not falter as he asked the simple demand of his parents, who looked similarly surprised, as well as impressed with his demand.

“Always wanting to please, he said what he thought sounded the best, not how he felt. When we held hands to dance… he was absolutely terrified of me.” Tears began to fall as she giggled.

The two kids danced together in that throne room, under the eyes of the then King and Queen. The boy looked so nervous, while the young Tia looked so happy.

“He was… so clumsy. I had to teach him like this.” Tia held out her hands mimicking as if she was still holding his as she taught the young boy how to dance.

The two young silhouettes vanished entirely, being replaced by Tia and, astonishingly, a perfect replication of King Enrich in his prime, before his sickness. The Tia below was dressed in blue, a bright smile as wide as her man's on her full lips.

The Tia on the water let out a small gasp. For a moment, Botan almost thought a word fell from her lips, quiet, near impossible to discern. But afterward, her tears fell harder down the sides of her face, even as her body continued moving in a way only she could.

This was different from any dance Botan had seen before. To the outside, The visuals were the spectacle, but Botan could see how it was so much ‘more’. 

She followed the dance above with the dance she was having with Enrich perfectly. Every step and every movement was captured perfectly, even the mistakes. 

She still remembered it.

She still remembered it even now. So many years later. Playing out with their adult selves beneath the water, as if it was the last time they ever could.

Ripples formed not only where she stepped but where he would have stepped. It was almost as if Enrich really was there dancing with her, just like he was down below.

“This is the way he moved me.” Tia began to do moves that made no sense for one person to be able to do. She raised herself a bit above the water, yet no opposing arms lifted her. It was as if there was something there, playing her partner. 

Tia’s tears wouldn’t stop as her smile grew larger and larger. Every step, every gesture, was painful to her, but she wanted nothing more than to take the next step. The act of reliving this dance was a total tragedy to her, and yet a complete delight. 

She didn’t want to hide from these feelings any longer. He was gone. She thought she had made her peace with it, but he was gone and she was still right here.

She’d never tease him as she did in her younger years. He’d never hold her again in his strong arms. In doing what was expected of them, she had the love of her life stolen from her. She coped knowing he was right there, but now what? She had loved him for most of her life but hadn’t been allowed to love him in almost two decades. And what did that gain her? 

She was without him forever now and had nothing for that effort. What had that loyalty and dedication bought her?

She should have told him to run away with her or marry her instead. She shouldn’t have allowed him to leave her. His iron will was never so with her. Tia always got what she wanted with him. But she didn’t fight for him. She did not fight to keep him hers.

She had failed the person she loved most and now he was gone forever. She wrongly respected him more as her king than loved him as her man. She had Alder, but her love for her son did not require Enrich. She loved him regardless. No. The only things she still had of that man were these feelings and this dance. 

Memories of the way he moved her, playing out beneath her feet, beyond her vision.

Everyone watched the dance, even those who seemed to only show up to the funeral out of obligation were finding the performance to be something they’d cry over for years to come. A performance by a true master at the height of her craft doing what she was best at with all the passion she could muster. 

It was the kind of performance that would stick with those who witnessed it for the rest of their lives.

As the dance reached its end, Tia slowed down more and more. 

She was battling the frown that threatened to overtake her smile as she went. She didn’t want it to be over. She wasn’t even dancing with him, but it felt like the last moment she’d ever get with him all the same. 

She slowed down even more, threatening to sink into the water with how slow she was going. She didn’t care, she wanted it to last as long as possible.

“But would any amount of time be enough? If I danced here all night? Until my legs gave out? Until winter? Next winter? No. I could never get enough. If I ever got a chance to hold your hands again, I’d never let them go.” Tia froze in the last motion, outright refusing to let this moment go. 

Below the water, their silhouettes fading out, Enrich brought his lips to her forehead. Pressing them in a loving gesture… one… last… time.

And as soon as the images faded, the petals were gone. Not just from the water, but from everywhere. The flowers people held and the decorations they hung, were gone. Without any explanation.

Time, uncaring, and beyond reason, moved forward. Tia stayed in one place for too long and she sank a few feet into the water. Causing the rest of the silhouettes to vanish.

The dance was over. They were over. There, standing in the water, the mature woman broke. 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The smile could not maintain itself any longer as she began to wail in inconsolable grief. Botan and Alder sprang into action at once, swimming the short distance out to get her. They then brought her to shore as one of the Temple workers ran up with a towel to dry Tia off. Yet even then, her wails did not cease.

The display made Tia’s point all the more evident. They didn’t just lose a leader, they lost a man who had so much more living left to do. 

A father and lover. One who gave up far too much for other people. And while his story was over, his absence would leave a hole in many others. Some, to never be filled again.

Botan couldn’t help but think, “Did my death have any impact? When I die again, will it? What does it mean to live a good life?”

…

In the end, the Prince said some final words, but Botan couldn’t remember them. He doubted the Prince remembered them. Who could follow an act like hers?

Slowly, the funeral came to an end. Life was forced to resume its normal course…

With one less individual present within its ranks.

---

“Excuse me.” 

It was the following day of the funeral. Botan… couldn’t remember what he’d been doing even moments before. He’d been looking down at his sketchbook, sitting in a chair, he looked at his attempt to capture what he’d witnessed yesterday. He took hours on it but in the end, he knew he failed to capture in a still image what Tia had shown in motion.

Still, this one was more precious than any other thus far in his time in this world.

“Yes?” Botan closed his sketchbook and looked up at the girl who’d spoken.

“Evergreen. Your presence has been requested. Please, follow me.” She motioned.

“Who is requesting for me?” Botan asked.

“...Several people.” The servant said cryptically.

Botan put his sketchbook away and followed behind her down a hallway of the castle. He felt so… useless still.

“Mysk~!”

As Botan’s eyes fell again, the ever-adorable and loyal pet around his neck raised her head to his chin, giving it an affectionate bump. The dark clouds covering his mind faded somewhat, and Botan raised a hand to pet her under her chin.

“Thanks, Myskel. You’re great, you know that?”

“Mysk~!” Heh, she looked happy at the compliment or the petting. It honestly could have been either or. Did Myskel understand human language yet? He should test that soon by speaking more to her, preferably when others weren’t around.

After all, he wouldn’t want them to think he was going crazy, talking to himself or anything like that. Like he didn’t already do that all the time or anything.

Eventually, Botan arrived in the throne room. He saw Tia and Alder… they looked terrible. Who he didn’t expect to find were Cole, Selene, and Freona.

He wondered why there were so many people. Seeing his look, Alder replied. “We all received a royal summons.”

Botan stopped mid-stride. “Well, shit. ‘Royal summons’ means Prince Raucar. Or I guess now ‘King’ Raucar.”

The Prince behaved better during the funeral, but that didn’t mean everything was good now. As if answering Botan’s thoughts, the Prince entered the room closely followed by Baobab. 

Neither of them looked any better than Alder. Bags held firmly under their eyes. The Prince’s face still sported a mark over one of his eyes, which was the subject of much confusion to some. Botan feared he may have given the King-to-be a permanent scar. 

The prince took a moment before he spoke. Botan took this to mean he was still nervous.

“Alder.” He addressed his brother.

“...Yes?”

“You are hereby reinstated to your previous position as royal advisor.” The Prince spoke quickly.

Alder and Tia said nothing right away. No one did. It wasn’t an apology. At least, it didn’t sound like one at first glance.

Botan stared intensely at the Prince, but it did nothing. Baobab sighed. 

It was Alder who broke the sudden silence first.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best to help you and our people.” He said in earnest.

“…” The Prince clenched his teeth. “Seriously?” He asked, after a long pause.

“Huh?” Alder was put off by the question.

“You’re just going to accept it? Accept whatever I give you?” The Prince was shaking with straightened shoulders and clenched fists.

Botan uncrossed his arms and took a step forward.

“What are you asking?” Alder just wanted to accept his job back and return to work.

The Prince almost acted like he wanted Alder to hate him. “Are you telling me you will just carry on like I didn’t do what I did? That I didn’t treat you two like…?”

“...It’s not like I wouldn’t want one, it’s just that I don’t need one.” He answered plainly.

“Why!?” The Prince wanted to explode.

“Because you’ll be king and not me.” Alder said with a sad smile.

“...” The Prince didn’t respond to that.

“I don’t hate you. I don’t hate anyone. But I hate that damned crown.” Alder continued. “That thing has caused us all so much grief. Every bad thing that has happened to me or anyone I love is because of it… And you’re taking it. You’re saving me from it.” 

He looked at his brother who still struggled to maintain eye contact with him. “It’s not that I don’t want to be king, I’d rather run away than be it. There’s nothing I fear more. And you taking it… It is something you’re willing to do for me. That… That outweighs any mistreatment.” Alder said with a lot of conflict in his voice.

After a moment, The Prince responded. “I figured.” He said.

Alder looked up in confusion. The others did too.

“I heard your last words to father. I really didn’t know the first thing about you. But I’m starting to… The Evergreen informed me that the Ivory Company has been attempting to gain you as an ally for some time.” He seemed to change subjects the moment it was too uncomfortable.

Alder immediately took to defending himself. “I’ve turned them down every time!” He somewhat shouted in defense. “…And how did you find out about that?” He asked Botan.

Botan stood up straight and looked at him. “What can I say? I just got the right clues and fit them together. Nothing special.”

“I know you turned them down… and I thank you for that. I really do… What I want to know is what all they’ve told you throughout these deals.” The Prince clarified.

“Details?” Alder asked, looking further confused.

“Yes, what they’ve offered you. Why they want to hire you. Anything you think to be important, I want to know.” Having said his piece, Raucar sat down in his seat, his attention entirely focused on his brother.

Alder was surprised for a few seconds more. This wasn’t like the brother he’d gotten to know, or not know really, growing up. Perhaps Botan’s hit to his head had done more miracles than they could have imagined.

Alder almost chuckled. It probably wouldn’t be good to laugh at a time like this, so instead, he shook his head and began speaking of his experiences with the members of the Ivory Company.

The next 30 minutes passed by in this manner. Alder did his best to recall anything he could from the many attempts the Ivory Company made to get him on their side. Offering to assist his mother financially, offering to help him ‘see things righted’ in Mosden, etc. They never actually said they’d help him take the throne. They always hid their goal in helping him out behind subtext and flowery language. 

But something about what Alder said while explaining didn’t go unnoticed by Botan. “They only began approaching Alder 7 months ago? Why not sooner? And it sounds like they bothered him more and more as time went on, why? Why only try this late? He’s lived in the same city as them his whole life.”  

He listened and kept his questions to himself. Alder did his best to leave no stone unturned in his report. And, probably the most surprising thing, Raucar’s eyes did not deviate from his brother even once.

After Alder offered everything, the Prince spoke at last. “I see… I think it’s clear to everyone what they were doing. Driving you to make a move on the crown so they can have a large enough influence in Mosden to enforce the Arden Republic’s laws of anti-slavery.”

Baobab spoke next. “They’d not care that it’d put Mosden at war with Ventus and Eld. If anything, they’d welcome a large landmass buffer between them. For them to wipe out Mosden.”

“Then with their forces lowered from war, Arden could then take out whichever of the two is more bloodied by the end of it.” Raucar continued the thought out loud, a troubled look coming onto his features.

“They want to win with as little loss of their own forces as possible, I think,” Cole spoke up then. 

“Not only that, but they’d be able to gain so much more land than whichever enemy survives.” Selena continued, a troubled look coming onto her face. “Meaning they’ll be the sole winners in the long run… 

“This is the kind of plan that guarantees victory but takes decades to see through… No. It’d take at least a century, if not longer.” Botan finished the thought, looking as troubled as the others.

“Precisely. A plan like that is more beneficial to them than any other, and they won’t abandon it so easily… So when they find out that Alder has no interest in their proposals, they’ll just continue their plan… at least until the time Alder tells them he’s not interested in any offer they’ll make.” Raucar said, frowning in Alder’s direction again.

“You want me to actually listen to their offers?” Alder asked his brother.

“Yes. Their attempts to turn you to their side serve as the only means we have of knowing what they are doing.” He reasoned.

“But you want me to do that?” Raucar was not addressing what Alder wanted him to do, but that he wanted him to do it.

The Prince sighed and began traveling down the stairs of the throne. Botan and Tia stood alert but didn’t feel like anything was going to happen.

The prince reached the last stair and paused. He fought to look Alder and Tia in the eye. He hesitated and then spoke while averting his gaze. “I should have trusted you.”

“...”

“I’m not fit to fill our father’s shoes, but I am trying. Part of that is admitting that I was wrong. If I even knew the first thing about you, you’d have been my greatest ally. And I… I want to fix that. So here it is. I want you to string them along as long as you can. Get whatever information you can.”

“You’d be giving me permission to stab you in the back.”

“But you won’t.”

“...Why trust me so much? And so suddenly?”

“Because if I can’t trust you, someone who would only suffer if I failed… If I can’t trust my brother, who am I supposed to trust?” He again tried to look away, but his eyes went to Botan who pointed for him to look right back at his brother.

The Prince took a deep breath and met Alder’s eyes. “If I can have you do this, it means I trust you. And at this point, I need to trust you first. Otherwise, I wouldn’t deserve it. I don’t want to be alone.” He sounded like he meant it.

There was a small moment of something good. Some nice after what these last few days had done to them all.

“Not that this isn’t wholesome as hell, but why exactly did you need the rest of us here?” The touching moment was completely ruined by Selene

Everyone gave her a disapproving look and Cole wrote her a note telling her she had to stay after for disciplinaries and stuck it to her face. 

“Well, to answer your question, two reasons. As I said, I don’t want to be alone. Alder is a much better judge of character than me. So I figured those close to him would be the people I should trust next. Alder, is there anyone in this room you wouldn’t trust with your life?”

Alder knew this question was a serious one. As both a brother and advisor he needed to do his best. “...No. I’d count on any of them.”

Botan flinched. “I know Alder and I got along, and I am the Evergreen. But he really trusted me that much?”

“Then now I just need to show you all that I can be trusted. Bring him in!” The last part was shouted loud enough for the guards outside to hear. The Prince reclimbed the stairs.

The large doors creaked open as two knights, each holding a chain walked into the room. The knight turned and yanked heavily on the chains, pulling Navarre into the room. He was stripped of his armor and covered in light bruises. A bit of shading below his sleepy eyes.

“First, I’ll…” The Prince went to speak but stopped himself. He walked over to the throne he’d been avoiding and sank into the oversized seat. “First, I’ll show that I can be fair. Who would like to speak first in regards to the crime this man committed?” The Prince asked the room.

Seeing a chance, Navarre tried to lead the conversation. “I’d like to-”

Cole spoke over him. “This man attacked Alder, and attempted to kill him. Not only that, but he did so during a national crisis. When our attention should have focused entirely on the wave.” Cole, who hated standing out, refused to let the traitor get a word in.

“The Evergreen informed me of the same.” The prince said in acknowledgment. He then turned to Navarre. “Your innocence is not up for debate. So many witnesses, and all very trusted.” He told Navarre.

“Then sentence me already!” The man practically spat. He was practically squirming in his chains.

The Prince looked at Botan, then Alder. “Traditionally, when you wrong a member of royalty, that individual decides the punishment…” The Prince remarked before going silent.

Alder’s eyes widened a bit as he stared at his brother. Tia even came to life.

Botan just smiled. “He gets it…”

“Al-Brother, what would you ask of your attacker’s punishment.” The Prince made the effort to say it again, as he had earlier. “I want to be able to call you that without guilt one day.” The Prince thought.

“...I don’t know… Mosden can’t afford to lose men, and Navarre is stronger than most…” Alder wasn’t prepared to give an answer.

“So you’re the one that tried to take my son’s life?” Tia stepped forward, her voice cold, her eyes somehow glowing. Thankfully, she made no further actions. If Tia wanted him dead at that moment, it was going to take a lot more people than those who were currently in the castle to stop her.

“...” Navarre looked to the prince to stop Tia’s approach but saw him unbothered.

“What’s up with you? You’d never let this bitch in the castle, much less-” Navarre’s line of questioning was cut off by the Prince’s boot to his head.

“You will speak only when permitted… and you will address those in a high station with appropriate respect.” The Prince added.

Botan’s smile grew. Navarre looked absolutely flabbergasted at the young Prince’s complete change in behavior. “H-Higher station-”

Raucar kicked him in the face this time. “That’s right, higher station. Even if she wasn’t the lead dancer, even if she’d been a commoner, your position right now would still be beneath hers. But now she is once again the lead dancer of Mosden, you shall pay her the proper respects and homage. Is that clear?!”

“...” The Prince was trying to show them he was willing to change. Most of them saw that.

“...” Alder never added to his answer, and Raucar didn’t desire to issue a punishment in his stead. Actually, he might have inflicted more punishment than he’d intended with just the two kicks.

“Alder. I’d like your answer. You may not have the crown, but if I’m your brother then you are royalty. Moreover, as an advisor, issuing suggestions for punishments is well within your ability.”

Alder’s eyes snapped open. He was hesitating at the worst possible time. He had advised his father quietly, but this was not his father, this was someone who really needed his words. “Then… Send him with the next pursuit unit going after the Rangers.”

“That’s practically a death sentence!”

“But not quite. We also have to deal with the rangers and our men will die. So we might as well get some use out of your stats and I’d rather a traitor dies than a loyal soldier, if someone has to die.”

“You bastard! I’ll-” Tia appeared in front of Navarre, holding his throat. No one even saw her move. I was nearly as fast as teleportation. 

Tia moved her fingers in a weird pattern and then removed her hand. She saw the questioning looks as she calmly walked down the stairs and retook her place next to her son. “He will not be making any noise for a few days.” She informed them.

They saw Navarre struggle to scream, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing could be heard.

“And nothing of value was lost.” Selene chimed in. Freona jabbed at her side to get her to stop inserting herself.

“Take him away.” The Prince told the knights and they did so. He couldn’t scream so the man took to kicking and thrashing about but it made the knights' job only mildly harder.

Once he was removed, Raucar stood up, not wanting to spend more time on the throne than needed. “That’s everything from me. Evergreen, you depart soon?” 

“I am leaving the day after tomorrow. But I think you forgot one thing.” Botan said, still not completely satisfied.

“...What’s that?” The Prince asked.

“You still owe them an apology.” Botan replied.

“...” The two shared a look.

Tia decided now to speak up. “We can take things slow from here, Botan. I appreciate your meddling. More than you can ever know. But something like this will be too hard to-”

She was interrupted by The Prince taking off his crown and kneeling before the both of them, his head firmly on the ground. “I’m sorry. Sorry for everything I did, everything I said, everything I felt. I was being a child.” He said in a small voice.

“...” And then the Prince, who had only cried in front of Botan in their altercation, cried again, in front of everyone.

“...I’m just so scared. I was so terrible for so long and now I don’t want to be alone and I’m scared that it’s too late. That I pushed everyone away until I got exactly that… Please… I’m sorry, so sorry.” His voice trembled throughout.

Tia slowly moved toward the prince, as did Alder. Tia didn’t see a king in front of her. She saw the same little boy who lost his mom and was just so angry his dad was busy. She reached his side and knelt down to him.

“My prince… Raucar. I never hated you. You were just as much a victim of circumstances as we were… probably even more.” Tia forgot anyone else was in the room. “After your mother passed, I… I was really hoping the four of us could… could…” She caught herself in the last moment.

Many things were said, many things weren’t. There was still far more ahead of them before they made it out of this mess, but there was hope. The meeting sort of fell apart after that. Botan decided he was no longer needed in the castle. He removed anything he had left in the guest room and stayed at the inn that night. As he left, he saw Tia smiling as she spoke to her son.

It didn’t look like the ones she forced before.

He got everything he wanted, but he felt he had overstepped a lot. Now he needed to take a step back. He was growing attached, which was welcome. But he had to at least avoid becoming so attached he did want to leave until he was done registering with the Dragon Hourglasses.

Then he’d think about putting down roots of his own. Because he still didn’t know if he could return home when it was all over. And he had witnessed firsthand that unless you take action yourself, your life isn’t going to be the one you wanted.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we’ll be discussing the burial rites given to the Mosden Royal family. Originally, the Mosden royal family buried their dead without a casket or anything to protect them from the elements. They were more accepting of their place in nature and had no qualms about returning to the soil. The garden that Botan enjoys so much, the one he was summoned in, was actually the cemetery of the Mosden royal family from so long ago no human could know it.

However, the family was forced to change their ways when a man discovered that the dead body of a Mosden royal still received protection from the Ygg tree. The man used the remains of the King’s daughter as a means to reach him and slay him, protected from all the knights’ attempts to stop him. Ultimately, that man didn’t escape alive, but the incident became so famous that measures needed to be taken.

They tried burning the bodies, and it could work, but the ward protected the body making the process take weeks. Eventually, they settled on sinking the bodies of the royal family into the subterranean ocean beneath them via the lake nearest the castle, Departing Lake. Ever since, every single member of Mosden royalty was put to rest in this manner. Beneath more than 3 miles of water where no light could reach. Far outside the means of anyone being able to repeat the abuse of the Royal family’s pact with the Ygg tree again.

Chapter Text

Botan was well rested, well fed, and generally content. It was his last day in Mosden for some time. He had more or less said most of his goodbyes. Or at least he felt that way. The brothers and Tia were talking in private most of the day yesterday and he hadn’t seen them at all today.

Botan filled his time with small tasks, like looking through his drop menu. He hadn’t looked at it since before the wave. The first thing he rushed to check was to see if the [Heavymetal Hive Queen] dropped an item.

And it did. He was hoping for something awesome, and… well… It was at least useful.

[The Handy Dandy Candy Furnace]: A small metal contraption with a flat top and handle. By placing sweets or anything containing any form of sweetener in the furnace, it’ll burn it to produce heat.

“So… it’s a sugar radiator, huh. If I heated us with this, Myskel would be pissed at the sacrifice of sweets.” Botan thought, stealing a glance at Myskel. In turn, she looked at him. She couldn’t tell exactly what he was thinking, but she could sense his worry and tilted her head cutely in concern.

Botan’s eyes shifted from her back to his item drop menu. There were more items to be found. A hell of a lot, though, there were only three different kinds of items. Honey, poison honey, and poison daggers.

The easiest decision was to use the poisoned honey as fuel for the heater. The honey would be Myskel’s treat. If he ran out of poison honey he’d have to consider upsetting Myskel. But if they were stuck in the cold, she’d relent as well.

The last thing to look at was the poison dagger, which, much to his confusion, wasn’t poison. He pulled one from the drop menu and examined it. The weight of the handle was off. Normally the blade and the handle should at least be somewhat even, yet this dagger was very lopsided. Next, he noticed tiny holes in the blade and it all made sense. He immediately turned the weapon around and knew to unscrew the pommel. Inside was a hollow canister.

“It IS a poison dagger, just poison not included. Huh.” Botan thought.

He planned to sell those to Will later, maybe keep one. It was always a good idea to keep drop menu items since they weighed nothing until they were pulled out of the menu. The last thing he eyed was the dull green metal he got from Valtor. It was supposedly a rare material, but he was still hesitant to absorb it. “What if absorbing it is a trick? What if it nerfs me?” Botan didn’t want to trust the Ivory Company, and therefore he didn’t want to trust Valtor. He pocketed the metal and forgot about it for now.

After distracting himself, or more accurately, hiding from what he said he was going to do today, Botan made his way to the market area just outside the castle. Botan promised himself to stop worrying about the future and live in the here and now. 

“And that means…” With a deep breath, Botan approached the flower shop he’d been to a few times. The girl currently running the shop was the same girl he’d been rejected by when he was new here.

She had smooth and straight long black hair that fell on and past her shoulders like an onyx waterfall. It contrasted against her bright face and smile. Her hair would probably make a girl look gloomy if it weren’t paired with her amber eyes and her big smile. He had heard her name a few times when he came to copy flowers, Iris.

Botan waited in line while collecting himself, but it became his turn too quickly for his liking. “She thought I was a weirdo lying before. I’m sure things will go better if I just go for it… So move. Move you stupid fucking legs! I command you-”

“Oh, Evergreen. It’s good to see you. We haven’t seen you much since the funeral. Need some flowers?” The girl greeted him first, her head slowly tilting as she waited for a response.

“Um, well… you see I…” He hesitated, but she stood there kindly as he fumbled his words. Seeing that, he just went for it. “Um, this’ll be my last day in the capital for a while and I was wondering if you were busy. I-Uh, I wanted to see if you wanted to go on a date… with me.” Botan managed after falling over himself again and again.

Iris for her part listened patiently, her hand partially covering her mouth. Her finger lingered on her lips as if trying to decide. She looked to her side and saw her father. Without responding she walked over to her father and whispered something in his ear. She then walked back over with a bit more speed and placed her apron on the counter and came around to meet Botan. 

“Sure, where would you like to go?” She asked with a smile.

“Huh?” She said yes. This was outside of Botan’s expectations.

Seeing Botan stuck in place, she took him by the hand and pulled him along. Botan’s face wasn’t catching up to the situation, but his legs thankfully didn’t lag behind as much. His feet carried him towards the center of town as his mind slowly caught up.

“So, where are we going?” Iris asked in an upbeat tone.

“...” Botan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he yelled at himself internally. “You fool! You didn’t even think this far ahead! Me!? Yeah! You! You don’t need every little thing planned out! That’s the point of this, right!? To be spontaneous and in the moment! But that doesn’t mean not even planning something as simple as where to take her!” Botan screamed at himself further.

Iris heard nothing and stopped to see Botan was clearly deep in thought. She tilted her head a bit and smirked. “It’s okay. I’ve lived here my whole life. If anything, I should show you some cool places.” She then continued leading him, half dragging him along.

Botan was infinitely grateful he asked out such a nice girl. If she was any less kind she’d have left him an idiot with no idea what to do. The pair passed several cafes and restaurants as well as two bridges. Botan became confused. All the businesses seemed to be around the castle to a point where, after crossing two bridges, they should be in the residential area.

She guided him to some stairs worked into the side of the road, bringing them close to the water where only three tables could fit. The street served as the roof of the adjacent building built into the ground, a double door and long open window was all that Botan could see.

Botan stared at them for a moment. He’d taken great care to visit the entire city top to bottom. He’d travel by boat and on foot. He’d had weeks, and yet, there were still places he’d failed to find.

A woman poked her head out of the window when she caught sight of them. “Iris? Girl, aren’t you supposed to be working right now? Your father will have a fit again.” She chided.

Iris simply waved as she motioned for Botan to step forward a bit more for the woman to see. “He knows. Stop worrying so much about me. I came here with the Evergreen if you can believe it.”

The girl tilted her head as she eyed Botan. She remembered him from the funeral procession. All eyes were on those carrying the king, so he’d likely be recognised by others far more often now.

“Huh. Well, what are you wasting his time here for?” The woman asked with narrowed eyes, a sly smile replacing her frown.

“First of all, rude. Any time spent with me is a complete delight.” Iris said with a pointed finger.

“Debatable.” The woman shot quickly.

Iris ignored her snide comment and continued. “Second, this is actually a date and I thought I’d be so kind as to show him the nicest place in town.” She asked.

“...But I thought you… nevermind. Fine. Order then.” The woman’s playful expression was replaced with genuine confusion before dropping it.

Iris drug Botan to a table and sat down, waiting awkwardly for him to do the same. Botan sat there a moment, not sure what to say. Hoping the woman would come out to take their order but she made no motion to do so. The menu was above the window and no one was coming out to take their order.

Seeing his confusion, Iris clarified. “Just shout your order at her, the place doesn’t get a lot of traffic.”

“Rude.” The woman shot again.

“O-Oh…” Botan stared at the menu for a moment. “To be honest, I am still having a really hard time reading anything. Learning a new language is really hard. Alder has been helping but-”

“Alder? He’s been your tutor?” Iris asked, finally Botan said something that seemed to catch her interest.

Seeing a chance to actually talk about something, he spoke openly with her. “Yeah. His mom has been giving me dancing lessons and he sorta kept an eye on me the whole time. He’s been my most consistent party member. Outside of Myskel, of course.” Botan corrected himself.

“Misk~!” She affirmed as he rubbed her head.

“I was going to ask about your pet. It looks so cute.” Iris perked up, eyes now glued to Myskel.

“You can pet her if you want. There’s no such thing as too much attention with her.” Botan couldn’t even finish his statement before Iris leaned over to pat Myskel’s head. 

Botan had to agree that Myskel was a grade A wingman. Cute dogs had nothing on Myskel’s ability to draw in girls.

After petting her for entirely too long, Iris pulled back. “So Alder was with you for most of the month?” 

“Yeah… for various reasons.” Botan answered vaguely.

She formed a soft smile.“Well, I’m glad. We hadn’t seen him much and with his father dying… It’s good to know he wasn’t locked up in that castle the entire time.”

“He would have if he could have.” Botan admitted with a sigh, sitting in a slightly more relaxed manner in his chair.

“Don’t I know it? He’s really sentimental…” Iris complained, she also relaxed a bit.

There was another long silence, but it wasn’t as awkward as the first time.

“You two going to order or are you just going to keep rubbing his hairy snake?” The lady inside yelled out with laughter.

Iris gave the woman a nasty look. “You are the worst… You said you can’t read. Mind if I order?” She asked Botan.

“Sure. Something moderately priced, please. No preference. Oh, and something sweet for Myskel.” He couldn’t not treat Myskel. She was the ultimate wingman.

“Misk~!” She practically begged for candy or dessert.

“Don’t worry. I’ll order you something great… And don’t worry, I’m paying.” She added after a brief pause.

At that Botan had to stop her. “Listen, I asked you out. I should be paying.” He went to reach for his coin.

“I mean, you say that, but what will you be doing with whatever money you don’t spend?” Iris asked, arms crossed.

“I mean, I gotta spend it to keep upgrading my armor, buy materials, all that stuff.” Botan stopped and answered.

“Stuff that’ll make you better at your job?” She led him in the conversation.

“Yeah…” He admitted.

“Then why would I want you spending any money on me? Use that money wisely.” She advised.

Botan considered that. She thought of his money as something of a war fund or charity fund. Something that should be spent meaningfully. Botan hated the idea that he should constantly place himself in a position where he can’t indulge himself because of a perceived guilt. But at the same time, she wasn’t entirely wrong either. 

While Botan thought about this, Iris ordered their food. She asked for two of ‘her usual’, one for each of them, as well as a custard flan for Myskel. Myskel didn’t know what that meant, but she got the idea that Iris was hooking her up. The pair found amusement in how easily excited Myskel was in something she knew nothing about. Soon she was doing a little dance. A ‘Imma get some sweets’ jig.

With watching Myskel as a centerpiece, the two, specifically Botan, found the silence more bearable.

“So, how long have you worked at your father’s flower shop?” He asked.

“Oh… Since I was eight.” Iris said with a bit of embarrassment.

“Really? That young?” Botan wasn’t expecting that kind of an answer.

“He wouldn’t let me help in the greenhouse or fields until I was 14. But he let me sell flowers.” She added.

Botan looked back at her with some confusion. “...Wait, that seems kind of backward, doesn’t it? He let you handle the money, but not pick and tend to the flowers?” he asked.

Iris gritted her teeth comically. “That sneaky old man.” She spoke of her father. “He thought people would have a harder time arguing for lower prices with a little girl. Any time they did, I’d get sad and they’d back off.”

“Haha!” That got a genuine laugh out of Botan. “That would have got me too. Cute kid starts crying like you’re taking food right off of their plate.”

She nodded along. “Exactly! I felt so bad about it, but it worked. I know the flower prices seem kind of high sometimes, but they’re useful and once they bloom they don’t last very long. We regularly lose half of what we grow. It’s a tough business.”

“Hmm, so if you could sell to a wider area, you’d actually be able to lower the prices?”

Iris squinted. “Stop that.”

Botan just stared a moment. “S-Stop what?”

“That. That thing you’re doing. Helping regular people is great, but the only flower that’ll stop these waves is yours.” Iris told him.

Botan actually pushed back. “...I disagree. Mr. Lokkan probably would have beaten the first wave without me, but that’s only after I helped solve their problem with a Grass reaper.”

“I did hear about that.” Iris commented.

Botan continued. “And despite the loss of the king, his sons are finally seeing eye to eye after I slugged Raucar.”

“You attacked the prince!?” Iris half yelled, covering her own mouth, hoping no one heard her. Her eyes looked around and no one seemed to notice. The woman they ordered from was waving her over to grab their food, but Iris was too invested in the conversation now.

“Huh, guess that didn’t get spread. The point is that I’m starting to think that the little changes matter more. The flowers your family sells help all kinds of people, and I only know, what, like 30 percent of them do?” He told her.

“That’s tru-wait. You still don’t know what they all do!? You’re the Evergreen!” She quickly abandoned the compliment when she noticed.

“And there’s like 150 of those things and they cost a lot!” Botan defended, hands up. Myskel was nodding, agreeing with Botan, not that she understood the conversation.

“Oh, don’t give me that! I know you can afford it!” Iris joked.

“Are you kidding me? I have less than two gold to my name!” Botan admitted.

Iris’ eyes widened, then she pulled back. A mixture of shock and then something akin to shame. “...Wait, what? But you’re the Evergreen? You saved an entire village?”

“...Things are tough right now with the King’s passing. Baobab said something about being rewarded after the wave, but… it all got swept up with everything else.” Botan brushed it off, wanting to keep a lighter mood.

“...Well… That sucks…” Iris was still annoyed on his behalf. She laid her head in her right hand and posted up on the table with her head sideways. This was one of her thinking stances. She apparently never looked normal when concentrating.

“Yeah…” Botan saw her being weird and took it as a good sign. Like she was comfortable being weird around him.

“...” There was a pause. The woman was losing it, waving for the two to get their butts up there and pick up their food. They were both too stuck in their conversation, even if stalled, to respond to the lady.

“Tell you what. We get back to the stand later, We’ll hand you anything you need.” Iris offered.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure by the time I get back to Mosden I’ll have the money to buy what I need.” Botan was still a man, yet she was buying him food on the date he asked for. If he accepted more charity, he’d feel all the more shame as a man.

“Anyone ever tell you you need to listen better? We throw away flowers that aren’t bought. You saved a town and haven’t got a copper for your troubles.” She went to lecture.

Their orders came, with the woman now giving up on waving the pair down and instead walking the food out to their table. She sat two identical plates down along with a large yellow flan that made Myskel purr on sight.

Iris eye’d the food before finishing her statement. “So stuff your mouth and accept what little we can offer… I know it isn’t much, and we wish we had more to give.” She apologized sincerely.

They thanked the woman before she went back to her post, watching the pair from afar. Botan looked down at his plate and his eyes grew large as hunger was suddenly felt.

“This is the Mosden national dish. You can’t leave until you tried it.” Iris told him.

Botan immediately had to try the food but Myskel kept pulling him to the side. After ignoring her a few times to no avail, he stared at her for a moment. She was in her own crisis. She wanted to stay around his neck, eat her sweets, and not wait. All of it. With a sigh, he grabbed the plate with the flan and rested his left elbow on the table. Now the flan was well within her reach.

With that, Botan turned to his plate with renewed determination. On the plate were two large cuts of meat from an octopus-like monster from what he understood. It was cooked white and colored with an orange sauce made with a fruit glaze, a surprising blend of sweet and spicy he’d have never considered with seafood. “Though, technically it was fresh water.” Botan’s nerdiness showed for a moment.

Paired with the main dish were these balls of dough, similar to a dumpling. They were stuffed with a mixture of monster meat, cheese from Yoklan, and several vegetables. The closest thing he could compare it to would be ravioli, but the outside was thicker. These had no sauce and appeared as if they might be a bit dry, but once bitten into, he found them to be gushing with juices.

While the pair picked at their food slowly and continued their conversation, they couldn’t help but watch Myskel. She wanted to just throw herself into the flan, but she didn’t want to get dirty or waste food. Botan handed her a spoon and she took it with a victorious pose. Now armed with what could best be described as an eating shovel, she began to devour the flan without mercy.

“So, Where  did you and Alder go in Mosden?” Iris eventually asked, sipping her drink.

“Not too many places. Lokkansted and into the eastern wilderness a few days' journey away.” Botan replied.

“So you haven’t been to any other cities or the Nine Peaks?” She asked further, twirling her fork.

“No. I really want to explore Mosden, this place is unlike anywhere else I’ve even heard of. When I am done in Ventus, I really want to explore more of this country more thoroughly.” Botan expressed. His arm was getting tired from holding Myskel’s plate, but she was nearly done, now just licking the plate.

Iris’ face seemed wary. “I know Alder probably said this already, but just avoid the Nine Peaks. Mosden only has about 20 settlements within its border. Just don’t get bored and travel northward…” She warned.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get bored” Botan told her. “Besides, we already beat a Grass Reaper from up that way about 3 weeks ago.” Botan tried to assure her.

She suddenly seemed worried. “Alder fought something like that? What was he thinking?” Iris almost looked like she was reprimanding Alder.

“It was attacking the town at night. The town needed help.” Botan defended lightly.

“I guess you both had no choice then… But remember that there is a world of difference between fighting because you need to and fighting recklessly.” She let it go at that.

“Heh, yeah. That thing was kicked out for being too weak apparently. I assume I’d find dozens of monsters each stronger than that one.” He went to agree.

She made an intense look at Botan to grab his attention. “Dozens? It’s common knowledge that each peak holds at least 500 monsters. It’s not just their individual strength, their numbers are ludicrous.” She warned again.

Botan grew quiet. Those numbers and they’re stronger than the Grass Reaper? All 4500+ of them? It was hard to grasp.

They finished their meal soon after and Botan had been thinking where to go next. “ Follow me.” He told her. She became increasingly curious as to where they were going as they traveled. Her curiosity reached new heights as they walked outside the town itself.

“How long are we going?” She asked.

“Less than 5 minutes.” He assured her.

As they climbed the stone steps built into the hill, it came into view. “This was actually where they summoned me. Right inside that little temple.”

Iris looked around a little shocked for a few reasons. Firstly, she didn’t expect such an unknown place to be the summoning site for someone as important as the Evergreen. But even beyond that, she had never seen or heard of this place before, yet it was literally in sight of the capital. The pond and flowers looked well-kept. This means someone must tend to it, right?

“This place is beautiful." She finally said.

“Yeah, but the real beauty is behind us.” Botan informed her.

She turned back and saw the capital from on high. The town she’d lived in all her life was being shown to her in a way she’d never seen it. The pair sat on the highest stone steps and watched the town. Of course, they were both petting Myskel because she hadn’t had attention in 5 whole minutes.

“It seems I wasn’t the only one who had some secret locations to share. This is wonderful.” Iris said plainly.

“...” Botan couldn’t think of what to add, so he stayed quiet.

“This was a great choice. You were falling apart in the beginning, but you get full marks here.” Iris told him.

“Uh, yeah. The first date I have ever been on.” Botan admitted.

“Same… I just had more time to plan.” Iris also admitted.

“What do you mean by that?” Botan found her word choice odd.

“...” Iris didn’t answer.

“...” And Botan wasn’t pushing for one.

“Everg-No, Botan.” She corrected herself in saying his name. “I agreed to the date because you’ve helped a lot of people and seem like a good guy…” She was trying to find the words.

“But you’re not interested?” Botan guessed.

She put her head down a bit. “I wanted you to have a good last day before you left as a thank you, but no, I’m not interested in you.” She admitted.

Well that was disappointing. Really disappointing. His first date was a complete failure. “At least I went on the date. Could the old me have even been able to ask?”

Botan wasn’t upset, far from it. “Well as long as you enjoyed it too… Wait!” Botan suddenly shouted.

This caused Iris to flinch. “W-What?”

“Alder!” He randomly shouted.

“What about him?” She asked nervously.

“You like Alder!” Botan said, pointing at her.

“What!? How!? How could you possibly-!?” Iris now looked closer to what Botan did when he asked her out. Blushing, and sputtering, it was hilarious to Botan.

Botan took a pen out and waved it around like a stuck-up professor. “You had a date planned, yet are not interested in me, meaning you’re interested in someone else. And during our conversations today, you kept bringing him up. It’s kind of obvious.” Botan explained his reasoning in a sarcastic manner.

“Shutupshutupshutup!” She squeaked.

“Hehe!” Botan snickered as she wiggled with embarrassment, her fists wrapped around parts of her skirt and moving around.

“Don’t you tell a soul!” She said, still squirming with embarrassment.

“Not until we figure out a plan.” Botan replied.

“A… plan? A plan for what?” Iris was now even more nervous.

He raised his arm up. “To get Alder to go on a date with you.” Botan said matter-of-factly.

Iris paused in confusion for a moment. Having help was great and all, but this was supposed to be a date between the two and she just turned him down, yet… “...Um, you are taking this surprisingly well.”

“It is what it is. But if you’re interested in Alder, he could really use someone right now.” Botan was more proud of himself for trying than the result itself. He’d accept his victories and defeats.

Iris was beginning to see that Botan was a really good guy. And he was willing, she’d not say no to the help. But- “Don’t you think now is a bad time? His father just died?” She asked with a low soft voice.

“I think it’s the perfect time. I tell you what, let’s plan this out now and we’ll spring the plan as soon as I get back.” Botan replied.

“...What kind of plan do you have in mind?” Iris wasn’t going to say no.

Botan responded by opening up his cheap notebook to draft a plan.

And just like that, Botan’s first date was a failure, but he was able to pivot into being a wingman for Alder, so it wasn’t a complete loss. They returned to the flower shop by dinner time and Iris made good on her promise. She gave Botan more than 100 flowers to copy and absorb. She also explained what each one could do and how to activate them.

Among the weapon forms unlocked, the ones of note were:

.

[Reflowing Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: MP + 5, Skill: “HP/MP Exchange”

.

[Palette Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Effect: Skill: “Color Change”

.

[Mountain Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Sprout”

.

[Orange Marsh Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Noxious Fumes”

.

[Blood Red Rose]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Skill: “Rope of Thorns”

Equip Effect: Bleed Power Increase (Small)

.

[Abundance Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: HP + 10

.

As for the flowers that were useful on their own, most were, but Botan had skills that covered the same use cases. Except two: Flowing Sundews and Abundance Flower

Flowing Sundews were a carnivorous plant that secreted such a strong sweet sap that bugs inevitably got stuck and eaten. It produced enough to harvest, just as beekeepers did with bees. It was lower maintenance but not as delicious as honey. Botan found them useful because they could be used to supply his [Handy Dandy Candy Furnace].

The Abundance Flowers were tough flowers that lasted for more than a year before wilting and could heal minor wounds when mixed into a salve. Botan further noticed it increased his HP by 10, a large amount for a single bonus. This led him to believe that there was a lot more to this flower than meets the eye. He asked Iris and she confirmed this flower is originally from Ventus, as only tough plants can handle such a place. This made Botan strongly consider that these flowers were probably an ingredient for the pricy health potions.

He still had the one potion he took from the Champion leader he killed. His flower’s gem glowed, indicating that he could absorb it to unlock a form, but he refused. Right now he had way too many weapon forms still left to master, and what if the potion was needed to save a life? For now, he wouldn’t absorb it. 

He also unlocked enough weapon forms with just stat bonuses that he’d not finish mastering them for 2 months. He did the math and found that these bonuses totaled more than his current stats in their entirety. He was happy, but he had to remind himself that these were like half the flowers he’d ever be able to copy. While new weapon forms from absorbed materials would not stop, he was seeing what he believed to be the majority of weapon copy opportunities he’ll ever get.

He tried to explain just how much she had helped him, but since he quickly devolved into math and not providing context, it went in one ear and out the other. Before long his last day in Mosden was up. He let the guards know to have his cart ready by the west gate by dawn. He was going to use as much of the sun as he could in his travels.

He hit up Will and Professor Hemlock before either closed their shops for the day for last minute sales and buys, then set about settling in for the night.

…The next morning he heard nothing from anyone he knew. He was a little disappointed. He wanted to say goodbye, but he could not afford to waste time. He quietly got ready and exited the castle swiftly. He made it to the west gate to find two people waiting for him. Alder and Baobab.

“As early as we thought you’d be.” Baobab started, holding out a large bag to Botan.

“What’s this?” Botan asked even while reaching out and taking it.

“All the silver we gathered from those Champions a while back, plus an additional 10 gold.” Alder answered.

“Isn’t that a lot for you guys right now.” Botan looked more concerned than grateful.

Alder reached out his hand and shook Botan’s hand. “We, and I especially, owe you a lot more.” He brought Botan into a hug with his other arm. “Thank you, for everything.” He sounded more vulnerable than he’d ever voluntarily allowed himself to be before.

“My thanks as well.” Baobab settled with just a supportive hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you guys as well… Well, I suck at goodbyes, so I’ll see you around.” He separated and took hold of his wagon, departing from the town. 

After a moment he stopped and turned to Alder. “Do yourself a favor and visit the flower shop today.”

“...Why?” Alder was lost as to why he’d suggest something like that so suddenly.

“Haven’t you learned by now just to listen to me?” Botan finished with a laugh and left. Alder stood in confusion a bit, but would follow the suggestion.

Botan only made it 50 yards before someone else came from behind a tree to see him off. This time, it was Prince Raucar. “Or I guess, ‘King Raucar’.”

He took a few steps out, revealing his face. A scar was now shown clearly above his left brow. Botan immediately understood that it was from his punch. He just realized now that he’d not looked Raucar in the face since that day. An odd but not entirely unknown feeling now sat in Botan’s stomach. 

With him clearly staring at the scar, Raucous spoke up. “Pay it no mind. It was needed…”

“If you say so… What can I do for you?”

You’ve done enough.” Raucar sighed heavily. He relaxed his face and thought it best to just speak plainly. “Getting here without those two knowing was a pain, so I am not going to keep you too long… I just wanted to say, thank you.” And he gave a small bow.

“...” Botan didn’t say anything in response.

“Well, goodbye.” He awkwardly said and turned to leave.

“Um…” Botan started saying something and Raucar stopped. “Things between the three of you seem to be better. I only hit you because of them. If things are resolved with them, I just want you to know I don’t hate you or anything.”

“Heh, I see. Well, it’s fine. I can hate myself enough for the both of us.” Raucar went to leave, but Botan grabbed his shoulder, suddenly more lively.

“I can’t make you stop hating yourself, but… If those two choose to forgive you, what right do you have to hold a grudge against yourself? You wronged them more than you wronged yourself.” Botan told him.

“Huh.” Raucar seemed to think something.

“What?” Botan asked.

“Alder spoke about you like you were kind of dumb, but that sounded a little wise.” Raucar revealed.

“You can be both!” Botan yelled. It was like he was trying to defend himself from the accusation, but he also seemed to admit it at the same time.

Raucar stared a moment in realization. “So it seems. Goodbye”

Botan, realizing how what he just said came across and made his escape from his embarrassment, pulling his cart along. He traveled much further, sure there were no more goodbyes to be had. But he’d be wrong.

Much further away from the capital, sitting under a tree, was Tia. She must have been there for hours, as she looked asleep before the sounds of the wagon roused her.

“You too?” Botan asked with a smile.

She immediately understood his query. “Of course. No one has more to thank you for than I.”

Botan stopped the cart and leaned against it. Tia grew closer as she spoke. “You, in a single month, fixed something that had ruined half of my life.”

Botan wasn’t as receptive. “But… But Enrich still died. You still hurt. I didn’t really do that much for you. You saved my life by summoning me here, yet I’ve barely begun to pay you back for that.”

“You silly boy.” Tia reached out and grabbed his cheeks, pinching them. “The bad was going to happen regardless. But had it not been for you, Alder and I would have fled the capital after his death. We might even have left Mosden. We’d have settled somewhere else for peace from Raucar, but peace of mind would never have been ours.” She told him.

“Still…” Botan was not ready to accept it.

Tia, still holding his cheeks, raised his head to make him look her in the eye. “I admit to feeling a little lost. More lost than I’ve ever been in his absence… But I think taking care of those boys, both of his sons, will finally give me peace. And you gave me that.” She said with a full smile.

Botan started tearing up again. He felt any praise was unjustly given to him and only served to make him feel even worse. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her, and she did the same.

“When you get tired, come back to us. I can always take care of one more.” She promised in a motherly voice, her hand on his head.

“I will.” Botan managed.

And soon she left, back to both the boys she had to manage. Myskel rubbed the bottom of his jaw with the top of her head to stop the tears. And while they lingered, a smile overtook him.

“You’re right. Let’s get going. To Ventus. A whole new country, and even more people to help.”

“Misk~!” She chirped with enthusiasm.

.

[Otherworld Index]

In this edition of the Otherworld Index, we’ll discuss something centrally important to the world and Botan. 

Flowers.

There are just over 300 different flowers that have magical properties in the world. Botan hasn’t even reached half of that point, though, he believes that he has. These flowers require them undergoing a change of some kind to trigger their magical effects. Digesting them, burning them, disassembling them in a certain way, spinning them, and more.

These flowers serve an important purpose to many, but none more so than mercenaries and heroes. Those that travel in wild lands and battle monsters throughout. Therefore, it seems appropriate to show some of the many useful flowers that someone like Botan could use.

Ashen Flowers are another tough plant from Ventus. They are incredibly useful for campfires. They are harder to catch fire, but once they have, they burn for a minimum of 4 hours. Granting adventures a reliable and long-lasting fire.

Filter Bellflowers are straight flowers that mimic a cup. They catch water in the flower itself, letting it out through small openings near the stem. It keeps unwanted material from reaching the soil, later picked off by bugs. These are also used by adventurers to filter water. You simply scoop up water and whatever flows down the stem is very clean water.

There are also various flowers used when brewing tea:

• Blackened Orchids are used to induces depression and pessimism, used to train the heart and minds of men, or help break prisoners into a confession. 

• Rancor Zinnias are used to make a brew that cause violent rage and increased strength, recommended not to use with teammates. It is banned in several places.

• Mary Marigold are extremely popular for inducing happiness and numbing chronic pain. 

• Sage’s Peonies are used to calm the mind and heart. They lower anxiety, allowing for more logical thinking and helping the drinker to recall memories clearly

• Moon Roses Induce sleep, help in recovering stamina, and reduce nightmares and other forms of sleep disruption.
• Passion's Carnation are also popular, inducing an increase in sexual desire and sexual prowess. These effects take effect quickly, but usually don’t even last an hour if brewed amateurishly.

There are also the two most important flowers to adventurers, ones previously mentioned; Alluring Aster and Shunning Saffron. They both work as incense. As their names suggested, Alluring Aster draws in most monsters, while Shunning Saffron drives them away. Both are a bit more expensive than most.

Because of flowers like these and many more, flowers have been seen as a mandatory part of any adventurer’s toolkit. Flowers are seen as not just beautiful, but possessing many abilities and associated with turning an impossible task into something possible. No doubt these additional aspects and functions of flowers helps the people of this world see flowers in a different light than those reading this right now.

Chapter Text

Botan may have left on a really good note, but the next song was out of tune. Pulling and sometimes dragging the wagon through mud and swamp water was an incredible pain in the ass. He thought it'd only be an issue once or twice. He thought he'd just stick to the road and he'd be fine.

"No one told me they have a high water season and a low water season! The road is a solid foot underwater, and that's when I even find it!" Botan thought, scraping his boot across the ground again, using it to find the road beneath him.

Botan had always considered himself pretty athletic. Moreover, he had been fighting monsters and traveling all over the place. He had bonuses for stamina, strength, and much more. He thought he knew what he was in for. Yet every 4 hours, he had to stop to rest for at least an hour. It was too much. His feet felt like they were going to slide off his legs. Not to mention he needed to dry his feet all the time.

His mood would have soured, but Myskel was there.

"Misk~!" The blue cutie happily accepted a small portion of honey that Botan retrieved from his drop menu. Then pulled out dried meat for himself.

Despite everything, he felt kind of great. As he traveled, he tested his new skills, he felt a real sense of progress. Even though he had to drag the cart through mud and tar in places, it felt satisfying. Had this been in his old world, he knew he wouldn't be capable of this much. Despite the fact that his stats tended toward magic and speed, his endurance and strength were already far higher than they were ever before. He could lift the cart over his head with difficulty, something he wasn't sure he and his dad could do together back home.

"..." A sting was felt as his positive mood soured, thinking of home. On cue, Myskel felt the change of mood and began rubbing the top of her head on the bottom of his chin.

Botan traveled for 5 days straight. Despite his advantages over his previous life, he had to stop frequently. He tried to add time onto his travel as he went. If he went 4 hours without a break, he'd try to last 4 and a half hours the next time. He didn't meet many of his goals, but he did improve. While stats dictated a lot in this world, it seemed physical fitness still played a major role.

At night he'd look for the trees similar to the one he found Myskel's egg in. They all seemed to form a safe place to sleep below the trunk. While not advantageous to the tree themselves, this was probably appreciated by many monsters that needed shelter from storms. So the monster probably protect these trees, ultimately being a beneficial characteristic to the trees.

On the fourth night, a malestorm hit again. Botan was informed Ventus had more days with rain than without with more than one storm a week. So he took it as a sign he was getting closer to the border.

At the start of the fifth day, Botan thought it best to practice magic in his downtime, but something was different. When he went to cast anything at all, he remembered Tia dancing on the water at the king's funeral. Again and again. Whenever he thought of how to move, how to dance, how to invoke magic, all he thought about was that moment. That was magic, real magic. There was something to it. Something beyond the surface level. Beyond the movements, or even the magic invoked. It was so much more.

And while he tried, he was too far away from it to even understand what he was missing. He was supposed to be the Evergreen, this amazing mage. Tia herself marveled at his progress… yet what she did that night was so perfect-no, something too intangible to even label.

"How could I ever reach that level?" He thought. "If I'm supposed to save everyone and be this important hero, then… There'd be no point in summoning me if Tia could handle it. But she can't. And if she can't, how the hell can I? She's been doing this since she was a kid. That dance was the combination of a lifetime training. Even if I am more talented, that doesn't make up for the enormous golf in skill."

He used the waters and swamps he had to walk through as training. He learned to keep walking on the water's surface. Having to pull the cart while doing so was initially confusing and very difficult even after understanding. But it was the best training he could hope for, and the more he improved the less the water slowed him down. The first travel of the day lasted over 5 hours and covered nearly twice the ground he did in 4 hours the first day. And it would have been even longer, but he had arrived.

…

Fissle: Bordertown (Ventus/Mosden)

…

Botan saw that the mountains he was told about, the ones that were heavily featured through Ventus formed a natural border. The easiest crossing was a natural valley that was walled off. The walls extended into the mountains, forming a 1800 meter long wall that made the mountains look like the more appealing area for an invader. He could see three towers peak over the wall from the other side, Ventus' side. Yet, all the buildings on the Mosden side were no more than two stories tall.

The Mosden buildings were similar to the ones he had seen. Marble-like walls, roof gardens, a bit more wood due to lack of materials, but otherwise what he came to expect. The three towers gave off a very different walls appeared to be made of fired pottery clay placed on in layers, while the roofs were very distinctively gable roofs, like Japan had 100s of years ago. The major difference being the roof was made of some sort of metal. Botan assumed copper based on the color.

As he approached, he noticed a clear divide in the people. Most wore meager clothes, appearing poor. Similar to those in Lokkansted. Yet the few guards he saw were far better off. Their armor a mix of black and bronze, made of stacking plates, similar to samurai armor, but different enough to not be exactly the same. The biggest give away in the disparity was the race of those in armor. They all had dark skin and bright hair. Based on what he knew, that meant they were from Ventus.

He approached the town and two guards approached.

"Quite the haul. Where are you headed with all this?" The first guard gestured to the materials in the wagon. The man seemed to exchange glances with his friend, smiles forming on them both.

"The capital. Going to see this supposed 'dark genius' they won't stop talking about." Botan told them.

As soon as he told them, their smiles vanished, as if told they'd have no supper. The second one sighed. "Right, right. Fair enough. Sure he'd love to pick his way through all that. Got a Travel Pass?"

Botan sighed as well. "I got a letter from the Prince as a means of introduction. That good enough?" He asked, showing the sealed letter.

The two men shared a look. "Have the Gate Keeper take a look. Messing royal documentation is above our pay grade." The two guards waved him off and motioned him to go ahead.

They weren't being rude to him, but they also lacked any sort of friendliness. Botan assumed guards were just friendly guys considering the ones he spoke to in Mosden. "However, it could be that Ventus is just less friendly overall." He thought.

As he went along his way, someone rushed by, snagging something from the wagon. A piece of Knob at that. They were small and fast, but Botan was faster.

"[Vortex Grasp]."

Calmly saying the name, the small child was grabbed as if by an invisible hand and pulled into Botan's free hand, grabbing their shoulder. At the same time, the sudden stop from flying backwards and stopping caused their hood to fall back and their head to go back as well. Now a little girl was staring up at him.

"That isn't yours," Botan said, not trying to be too harsh.

The little girl's eyes grew wide with fright as she simply held the piece up for him to take. He did so. It would have remained a small moment and not an event of note, but the guards saw the exchange and approached.

"You damned thief! Those goods are on their way to Prince Typhus himself!" The first yelled.

"So that's his name." Botan did his best to commit the name to memory.

"Yeah! You've always been annoying, but you really screwed up this time!" The second yelled.

As their armored steps approached the girl gave Botan a pleading look. He looked at her for a moment. She looked dirtier than most, and some bruises were mixed in with the dirt. She had blue hair of a deep hue and darker skin than his own, but not as dark as the guards. Yellow eyes were left pleading, and he answered them. He let go of her shoulder and she took off as fast as she could.

The two guards soon passed him, cursing their luck. "Dammit! Now we'll be chasing that rat for days!" One yelled.

He quietly watched as the girl moved. She wasn't just fast, but very mobile. Able to dart, jump, and slide. Meanwhile, all the guards wore armor, leaving them unable to catch her. Even with their armor not being that restrictive, she was clearly far better at their little game of cat and mouse.

He wanted to stick his nose into her business, but he had more important things to do. He finished walking up the central road to an elaborately decorated double-door gate made of stone and steel. Several guards stood near, but one stood out more than the rest. While the others armor featured bronze, his was black and silver, his helmet also featured a different design, featuring a blue feather as plumage.

"Halt!" He said in a demanding voice. "State your name and business!" The mountains somehow carried his voice quite far.

Botan again grabbed the letter as he spoke. "I'm Botan Nakaya, the Evergreen. I come with a letter from the Prince of Mosden. I'm trying to meet up with Prince Typhus and register for the waves."

"..." For a moment, the knight didn't move. Just paused. Then next he extended his hand. "If you are who you say you are, I'll need to confirm it with my own eyes." He said diligently.

Wordlessly the letter exchanged hands and the knight did not hesitate to break the seal and read the letter. He read it three times, then looked at Botan.

"I can't find fault in this letter… but you can't be the Evergreen." The man pocketed the letter and crossed his arms.

"What do you mean? Do I need to show you this for you to believe me?" [Change Flower] Botan suddenly changed the holy flower back into its default form.

The man waved it off as if it were a trick. "Your tricks won't work on me. Do you have any idea who you are trying to lie to?"

Botan found himself pinching the bridge of his nose. "I. Don't. Care. I just showed you my weapon and the Prince's letter. What else do you want?"

"I am the Keeper of the Blue Gate. You know there are only four Gates, right? That means I'm the elite of the elite. Sir Julius Beamont the third! One of the finest knights under the dark clouds of the kingdom of Ventus!" He continued, having ignored what Botan said.

Botan was about to get mad, but thought better of it. He took a deep breath. "Okay, but will you still be this oh-so-important 'Keeper of the Blue Gate' after they find out that the Evergreen was forced to go to Eld or Alden because you turned him away at the gate with a signed letter, and a literal wagon full of exotic monster materials?" "Idiot!" He thought but didn't say.

The knight did flinch at that, however, "Of course, I am not saying to go to either of those awful places. I will just need to confirm some things with both princes before I can let you through."

"Are you serious!?" "It'd take your best runners 3 or more days to travel that distance both ways each! I can't afford to waste that time!" He thought.

Botan went to leave, yet the knight tried to stop him. "Like I said, just wait. We can house your goods safely with security while you wait."

"You expect me to hand over all these valuables to you and just trust that none of it'll go missing? Yeah right."

"You seem to have no trust in us Ventus Knights."

"You don't trust the words of the prince, or your own eyes. Why should I trust you?"

To that, the Gate Keeper had no retort. He moved out of the way as Botan began pulling the cart back down the main street.

A guard approached the Gate Keeper. "Is it a good idea to let him leave? If any of his goods are stolen, and he is the Evergreen, or even if those goods are bound for Prince Typhus… Won't you be in big trouble?"

Julius stood firm, arms crossed. "It can't be helped. I don't know why he is acting this way. It'd take an hour at most to confirm with both princes via Voice Cannons… If it is confirmed, let him know he can pass through the gate… and if they say he is a liar, we'll send 20 guards to get him." He replied sternly.

He then walked back to his post in front of the gate and the other knight nodded. "By your orders, sir."

Botan was a little pissed, exiting the main road. He made his way to an inn, one he saw on his way through town. Instead of entering, he thought about what he should do.

"Staying here tonight would be great. I miss having a bed. But more importantly, I need to get past the wall. I can't afford to waste a week or more. Wait! That bastard kept my letter! I completely forgot!" Just as Botan was becoming flustered enough to consider talking to Julius again, Myskel poked him.

"Misk~." Following her other tiny claw pointing, Botan saw a small shadow hopping between nearby rooftops.

It was that same little girl. He let her go before, but now he had a reason to talk to her. He ran a few feet then leapt into the air. With his newfound strength and speed, he could jump over a small building, but with the surrounding buildings being two stories tall, he couldn't make the jump.

[Burst Jet]!

Pointing his flower downward, a burning orange jet stream shot from the tip, launching him much further. He landed on the rooftop that the girl was jumping towards, yet by the time he landed and adjusted himself, she had already landed and jumped again.

[Vortex Grasp]

He calmly said, aiming at her mid-air. For the second time, she was plucked midstride and dragged to Botan's free hand by an inescapable phantom hand of sorts.

"Let go of me! You-mmmhmhm!" Her screaming was cut short by Botan placing his hand over her mouth.

"Shhhh!" He shushed her. The girl quieted in confusion.

"You're a thief from around here, yeah?" Botan asked, not giving her a chance to answer with his hand still covering her mouth. "I need to find a way around that wall. You know a way?"

He freed her mouth, only for her to hell again. "How would I possibly have a way past The Blue Gate!? You-hmmmhmhm!" Again, he covered her mouth.

"C'mon. Don't you have some thieve's guild and have secret passages to and from places?"

The girl just stared at him like he was the stupidest person alive. She pulled his hand away. "Firstly, while would thieves ever make a guild? How would that even work? If it were to work, why would a 10-year-old be allowed to join? And if I knew of any way past that gate, I'd have used it myself!" She yelled again, but Botan made no move to quiet her again.

Being forced to think about it, the thieves' guilds in video games were pretty stupid. A smuggling operation would be more realistic, but even then… hiring a 10-year-old would be strange. Not impossible, but exceedingly unlikely. The more he thought about it, the less useful fantasy and video game knowledge was in a real-world of any kind.

"Misk!" Myskel headbutted Botan's chin to break him out of his internal thoughts.

"Wait, why do you want past the wall?" Botan asked her.

The girl finally freed herself of Botan, as he let go of her when Myskel hit him. "I have no reason to tell you!"

Botan sighed. "Listen, we-" She tried to run and Botan merely put his free arm out. While [Vortex Grasp] was still on cooldown, he had other options.

"Misk~!" Myskel slithered down his arm and held onto his wrist with her claws as her generously long tail wrapped around the fleeing girl's neck and pulled her in like a fish, complete with her fresh catch flopping around gasping for air.

Botan saw a few knights moving towards their general location. Her yelling was becoming a problem. "Myskel will loosen her grip, but you will sit still and not yell. Understood?" He asked.

The young girl could breathe and just nodded desperately. He motioned for Myskel to loosen her hold as the girl took several deep exaggerated breaths. "I thought I was about to see mom again." She lightly complained.

That struck a chord with Botan, but he had to ask her first. "I want to pass that wall, same as you. I have a lot of abilities. Do you think you can help me out? If you can, we can both get over that stupid wall." He offers.

She spoke quietly. "...It's not that simple. No one can get through. I've been trying for two years…"

Botan looked at the imposing wall, the orange light of a setting sun coloring its face. "I mean, I jumped up here in one leap…" Botan began.

"That's like 10 times as high." She argued.

"Yeah? But if we can figure out a way to make footholds I can clear it in 10 jumps then."

"..." She paused, thinking it was too simple to work, but at the same time, she couldn't dismiss it. Then she thought of something. "How were you able to jump up here in one go? Or grab me before?"

Botan wore a smile as he pointed a thumb at his chest. "Because I'm the Evergreen."

The girl quietly took in the sight of Botan. She glanced at his weapon and then back again. Slowly, sparkles gathered around her as she awed at him. But after a brief moment, the sparkles fell. "Wait… You mean you're the Evergreen and they won't even let you through?" She asked in equal parts confusion and disbelief.

"I know, right?" Botan freely expressed his own frustrations. "Sir look at me and my stupid ass feather said he'd need to confirm my letter with both princes. Does he not realize how long that'll take?"

The girl's eye shot open wide as if realizing something. She turned to him in a serious manner, but didn't say anything right away.

"...What?" Botan questioned her mannerisms.

She looked down and to the side, not meeting his gaze. "Uh um… If we wait until nightfall and use a dagger or something to bite into the small gaps in the wall…" She seemed to struggle with her words suddenly.

"Hehe, she's star struck." Botan thought. He patted her head, assuring her.

"Yeah, we'll… oh." Botan realized something. She gave him a questioning look, so he explained himself. "I have an entire cart. How do I get that over…?"

"Leave it." She said immediately.

"No can do." Botan said, patting the girl's head as he stood and moved to have sight of the cart. "Some of the materials I am traveling with are from allies who died fighting alongside me. That isn't happening." He told her softly.

Botan began to consider dancing on air. That was what Tia told him was the final training. "But still, doing so with a little girl and the wagon, having never done it alone?"

"Misk." Myskel shook her head 'no', as if she knew what Botan was thinking and was dismissing the idea for him.

The girl seemed more rushed than upset. She looked around and tried to come up with some sort of solution. "If we make it to the top of the wall without the cart, couldn't we pull it up?"

Botan thought about it for a moment and nodded. "We'll just need a whole lot of rope…" "I can produce vines but they don't last."

"I have plenty of rope. I've been trying to get over that stupid wall for two years. I'm all stocked up!" She assured him.

Botan looked like he was about to smile, but frowned instead. "And how much of this 'stock' is stolen, young lady?"

"All of it, duh." She told him matter-of-factly, arms crossed and leaning on one leg. "I'm 10 years old and have no one to take care of me. It's what I had to do." She argued.

Botan's expression softened. "Right, sorry… What's your name?" He asked her kindly.

"Your's first." She barked back.

"Botan Nakaya." He responded, not minding her rudeness.

"...Mira." She offered with a huff.

Mira was strangely motivated to not only get over the wall tonight but do so as soon as possible. She hid under the monster materials in his wagon while whispering directions to him. They had to take several detours to avoid the guards, but eventually, they reached a rundown home. The roof and part of the wall collapsed in on the building. Even given her small size, Botan didn't see Mira being able to slip into that place.

To his surprise, she went under what remained of the porch and began to grunt. "Oi! Some help mister big hero man." She exclaimed, waving a hand from below.

She slowly handed him the rope, but then a bag, and then another, and another. She finally handed over the last of it and offered her arm so Botan could drag her out.

"Sorry. I am getting too big to fit under there."

Botan stared at how his cart was twice as full as it was before, but asked a different question. "So the bruises and dirt are from this?"

She paused, stopping mid-step. "Y-Yeah. What, you think someone was abusing me?" Her momentary uncertainty became faux anger.

"I was just concerned."

"Heh, you'd be the first. No one lays a hand on me. No one can catch me and there's no one waiting for me, so I'm fine!" She barked again, returning to the back of the cart.

Botan had never really dealt with a situation like this and kept quiet for a bit, carting them both towards the wall. But eventually, he had to ask. "Mira, why are you alone?"

"..." Mira didn't say anything for more than a minute. Botan thought he was going to have problems with her, but eventually, she spoke up. "My mom died two years ago."

"And your old man?" He pried further, still keeping his voice low and his eyes watching his surroundings as he pulled the wagon.

"He's in a town about a day's travel from here." She said in a tired voice.

"..." Botan said nothing. The question was understood all the same.

"He didn't know he got my mom pregnant. He doesn't know I exist. And those stupid knights wouldn't help. I tried sending a letter, offering letters to travelers to give him on my behalf… but they always found them." She said, somehow becoming even smaller in the cart as if she shrank in shame.

"So you want over the wall to see your dad?"

"Yes. I've never met him, but Mom said he was a decent person. If I give him all the stuff I've taken over the last two years… at the very least I might make it to an orphanage." She rambled on.

Botan could tell she had more hopes than that but wanted to sound more realistic when talking to someone else. Almost like she expected them to laugh at her if she said she wanted her dad to accept her. Hearing this, Botan felt a tightness in his chest. "Now I have another reason to get over this." Botan thought, arriving at the base of the wall.

He sat the wagon down and tapped on it. The girl emerged. The pair first used the rope to secure the items in the cart more, then they tied several ropes together to see how long the rope was.

"I'm going to take a look, see if the rope reaches." He told her.

The small child raised her hands and opened her mouth, about to protest. "If you don't trust me, stay on the cart." Botan interrupted her.

She quietly shut her mouth and waited.

Botan walked up to the wall and examined the stonework as it began to grow dark. The grooves were so thin that he doubted it'd provide any grip if that was his plan. Luckily it wasn't. He took the rope in his left arm, keeping the Holy Flower in his right, and jumped as high as he could.

He cleared a full story plus a little more. Then he used [Vortex Grasp] pointing his weapon towards the top of the wall. Unlike when he used it before, it pulled Botan towards the target, not the other way around. This was because [Vortex Grasp] cared about weight. If the target was lighter than himself, it was pulled towards him. If the target weighs more than Botan, he dragged him to it. He likened it to an invisible grappling hook, except it was a clear binary. Where a normal grappling hook would pull both toward the other with the weight deciding which stays, this skill truly felt like 100% of the force was applied to whichever was lighter.

This pulled him up 5 stories more and could have gone more, but Botan wanted to keep the momentum. So, he stopped using the previous skill and again pointed his weapon downward.

[Jet Burst]!

The burning orange jet shot him up further and nearly let him reach the edge, but it wasn't enough.

[Rope of Thorns]!

He pointed his weapon again at the top of the wall. Four large and slender vines covered with thorns shot out and wrapped around a small outcropping of carved stone. This allowed Botan to hold his position. He now just needed to wait for any of his other skills to finish their cooldown and he'd make it to the top. While waiting, he turned to view the town of Fissle from on high. Unfortunately, he saw dozens of moving lights. They were from lanterns, all moving towards the location of the wagon and Mira.

He immediately understood that the brightness of [Jet Burst] against the wall captured the attention of many.

As he watched them close in, Mira climbed atop the cart and looked up to him with desperate eyes. Botan didn't know if the skills he used were going to be off cooldown before some of the guards reached the wagon. He began looking through his skills. Looking for anything that could help him. At the same time, he saw lights moving toward his vines from above.

"Shit!"

[Charge]!

He was suddenly thrown in the direction he was pointing, up. It raised him barely short of the ledge. But even worse, the sudden tension when he falls will snap the skill and he'll fall.

He desperately reaches out his arm for the ledge, just a few inches short. Then Myskel slithered down his neck, up his arm, and reached out for the ledge herself. She dug her claws into the stone and even bit the stone by slamming her upper jaw into it.

"Mmiiii!" She cried out in pain, muffled by the stone in her mouth.

Botan had to use Mskel as a rope, putting even more strain on her body to pull himself up. He climbed over the small stone ledge and breathed heavily while quickly eyeing the injured Myskel.

He saw the source of the lights above, two guards rushing him, an axe and mace drawn, a lantern in their other hand. Botan pointed his weapon at them and paused. He needed them dealt with, but without killing them.

[Smolder] [Flower Shower]

[Smolder] heated up the Holy Flower to a red glow while not affecting Botan as he held it. His skill, [Flower Shower], normally released water as if watering flowers from a watering can. Yet with both at once, the water was now boiling hot. The spray of burning hot water and vapor forced both guards to back away. They scrambled, and one even dropped his lantern.

Botan began to lift the cart with the rope, and Mira with it. He was able to pull the cart about 20 feet off the ground, the wheels rolling up the side of the wall, before his skill stopped and the two guards came at him again. With the wagon hanging

"Tsk." He clicked his teeth in frustration and quickly tied the rope to the stone outcropping. Before turning to the two men.

[Vile Toss]!

A dark purple ball of what appeared to be a mixture of tar and sludge was launched from the Holy Flower and landed between the pair. This sent one leaving the other's side, while the first one found his boot stuck to the foul-smelling substance as if it were industrial adhesive.

"One down, one more."

[Change Flower]! Having not yet mastered the form for the ability he wished to use, Botan was forced to swap weapon forms to the [Orange Marsh Flower].

[Noxious Fumes]!

Still pointing the Holy Flower between the pair, it released a yellow mist that caused both guards to begin choking and retreating. He aimed more at the one that wasn't pinned down. The mist lingered for some time and neither guard wanted to go near the mist. This gave Botan time to grab the rope and start pulling again.

Mira stared at more than 2 dozen guards all trying to reach her as she started moving up again. "Hurry!" She screamed, her voice cracking.

Botan locked in as much as he could. Each arm reeled in the rope as much as he could before the other arm reached out and secured the next pull. Again and again. Dragging the wagon up more as the wheels continued rolling up the side of the wall. The angle meant Mira was not really secured and instead half-dangled over the edge of the cart.

As much as Botan had improved, and as much as he thought he was strong now, he was reaching his limit. He pulled the wagon and Mira from one story up to five stories up before he had to tie off the rope again and take a moment. He gazed up to see the mist fading, but the armored guards weren't there anymore. The metal boot stuck to the ground and the shattered lantern was abandoned.

"They went to get more more people." Botan realized as he continued to breathe heavily. He glanced down at Mira. "Give me a moment!" He shouted down in assurance.

However, he now saw far more guards than what even made sense. He walked over to the other side of the wall to view the Ventus side for an explanation. "It's not a town, it's a military fort pretending to be a town!" The buildings were sterner, and stronger. Made of harder stone than the Mosdenian homes and accompanied by frequent metal reinforcement. They also seemed built into the earth about half a floor. It was far too defensible to be a town.

Botan went back over to the other side and eyed the situation again. People were standing back with bows, arguing. Botan could assume they were discussing whether to use them or not. That made his decision for him. He didn't think he had what it took to pull the cart up the remaining 5 stories, but Mira was going to be shot if he didn't.

He grit his teeth and began pulling the rope again. Not as fast as before, he was trying to maintain a less taxing speed.

"He's actually going to do it? Shit!" One man said as many ran towards the gate, likely coming up to stop Botan.

He went as much as he could, but he was seriously pushing himself. His muscles and bones all ached, the rope burned his hands, and sweat stung his eyes.

"Mi-mi-misk!" Seeing Botan working through the pain, she did the same. She coiled around Botan, healing him slightly and trying to gift him with renewed stamina.

Botan kept going, one pained grunt of effort after the other until he was able to place a hand on the cart. "Aaugh!" With a yell, he lifted the cart over the small outcropping of stone and sat it down atop the walkway of the wall.

"You did it!" Mira exclaimed. She looked at the city she lived in her whole life from a height she'd never thought she'd reach. With the briefest of hesitation, she spun around and saw the other half of Fissle. Something that had been hidden from her for her whole life. Her eyes explored all there was to see with excitement and joy. She peered beyond the round and valleys. Far beyond where her vision could take her.

After a generous moment, she turned to Botan. "Thank yo-" She saw him on all fours, nearly exhausted, Myskel injured but still trying to recover her partner. Mira's face shifted expressions starkly.

"No need *huff* to worry *huff* about me. Just give me *huff* a moment. It'll be *huff* easier going down *huff* than up." he tried assuring her.

However, that wasn't what gave her pause. She shivered in fright as she slowly pointed her finger behind Botan. Botan's eyes grew wide as he looked up to see what she was pointing at.

It was the Gatekeeper from earlier. Sir Julius Clamirio the third, The Keeper of the Blue Gate. He stared at Botan a moment, his face hidden by his helmet, keeping his expression a secret.

"Of all the reckless things… Stop at once, Evergreen." He said in an even tone.

Botan forced himself to his feet. "All my offensive skills are still ready to go. I can take him." He told himself. A forced smile grew over his face. False bravado to mask the growing panic.

Julius didn't seem to like that look and shifted his weight, preparing his footing. The two stared at each other for a moment as tension filled the air. Mira could feel it too and hid behind the cart.

Botan quickly raised his weapon as fast as he could.

[Heat Ra-]!

Botan's aim was harshly altered as Julius swung his flail from his position without advancing, striking Botan's weapon aside. Once done, he advanced quickly. Botan barely had time to react as Julius came in for a punch and Botan countered with a kick. The impacts colliding and pushing the wagon and Mira back a bit.

Botan's eyes went wide as Julius eventually pushed him back, showing himself to be stronger than Botan, and just as fast. Botan didn't immediately act. "Stronger, sure. But I have more options than he has." He needed to make himself harder to interrupt for future attacks.

[Swarm]!

Botan used another new skill, this one producing three balls of yellow energy that hovered near him. At the sight, Julius took one step back, then immediately reclaimed the ground. Botan could tell Julius was proud. He'd not run or show fear if he could help it.

Julius spun his flail in a circle to his side, a distorted energy becoming visible.

[Slice Saucer]!

Suddenly that distorted smoke-like disc flew off towards Botan, slashing at the air. One of the three balls of energy shot off and matched Julius' spell, creating a small explosion that threw a small amount of dust in the air.

"..." Without clear sight, Botan tried to listen closely for a sign of Julius if he were to attack. However, the ringing in his ear dulled any chance he had. The flail swiftly shot through the dust and would have stuck Botan in the face, but the second ball of energy fired off and struck it away. This created another small explosion, this one knocking the dust away.

Botan's eyes widened to find that Julius didn't just use a ranged strike. He was already rushing forward and about to knee him in the stomach. Botan knew it would fail, so he aimed for Julius' chest. The knee was struck by his last ball of energy as Botan used his skill.

[Heat Ray]!

What happened next was not expected. Julius pulled his chain with his left arm, dragging him out of the line of fire, if barely. The burning orange beam grazed his chestplate then burned a hole through countless pieces of stone before escaping into the sky.

With confusion, Botan turned to see how Julius managed that maneuver. He had wrapped the other end of his chain around one of the stone outcroppings. "Even with an advantage in stats, and having a hidden double-layer attack, he allowed himself the caution to plan around failure?" Botan couldn't believe it. This was way worse than fighting that mercenary captain. For all the pride Julius had, there was no arrogance.

"You need to-" Julius went to speak, but Mira cut him off. "If we can't beat him soon all the guards will be here soon!" She warned.

Botan had no choice but to go in and end this as quickly as he could. He advanced on Julius as he was still moving backward himself. As soon as he saw this, Julius stopped his retreat and landed firmly with a low stance. Oddly, he kept pulling the chain with his left hand. Botan was shocked to see Julius had the strength to rip stone apart like that.

[Change Flower]!

Botan swapped to the [Leaf Flower Shield], then he readied to block the incoming attack. He braced himself as the stone shattered against his shield. His counter-skill activated right afterward.

[C Needle Thrust]!

Botan advanced fast, not thrown off by the impact at all. However, when he gazed up to see Julius, he saw his right hand pulling back, away from Botan. Or so he thought. Julius retreated as Botan was only able to half turn before the flail struck him in the back, knocking the air out of him. He tried to recover and keep his feet below him as he kept moving towards Julius but it was pointless. Julius was far enough away that the skill didn't reach him and Botan couldn't say the name of another skill as he was catching his breath.

"Forgive the roughness." Julius said as he ran up to Botan. He tried to defend himself but Julius quickly ran around Botan once, then flipped over him again, wrapping his chain around him three times, binding his arms.

"Shit!" He thought but couldn't say.

Then Julius picked Botan from behind and with a grunt of effort proceeded to suplex him while he was chained up. Botan slammed hard against the ground, his vision and hearing were scattered. He laid on the ground for a moment, stunned and still tied up. Julius picked himself up and moved towards Mira.

"What silly little lies did you tell the Evergreen, rat?" He didn't ask as much as he demanded an answer as he slowly climbed onto the wagon.

Mira crawled under the wagon, whimpering and eyes full of tears. "Sh-Shut up! You aren't stopping me this time!" She said loudly but with no confidence.

"Tricking the Evergreen isn't even your biggest crime, rat. Do you understand what would happen if you two succeeded? This fort would be seen as the weakest of the four. If Alden or Eld attacked, this would become their battlefield. Every person here would die to the enemy army being concentrated at a point of perceived weakness!" Julius shouted at her as he readied himself to flip the wagon.

She shot out from under the wagon and ran towards then past Botan. "I don't care anymore! It'll all be your own fault! You should have just let me see my dad!" She shouted back.

Julius prepared himself to leap at Mira just as Botan stood again, shielding her. As Julius jumped, he felt anxiety. He locked eyes with Botan and he saw he was serious too. Botan spun around a few times, preparing magic while throwing the chains off of him.

"Move Evergreen!" Julius shouted at him. "He heard her admit she tricked him. So, why does he still defend her?"

Still armed with the side of the flail that had the head on it, Julius prepared to strike. To his shock Botan brought up his leg with such force it knocked his weapon aside and landed on his neck while he was still traveling forward.

He slid to a violent stop into a nearby wall. He laid there for a moment, not from pain, but surprise. He eventually took to his feet, eyeing Mira who hid behind Botan. For his part, Botan took a non-hostile stance.

"Willing to talk?" Julius asked.

"Yes." Botan responded curtly.

Mira went to speak. "But if we don't-"

"Mira. Stop." Botan said sternly. They locked eyes then she lowered hers in defeat.

"She was tricking you with urgency. Why could you not wait a single hour? What emergency were you tending to?" Julius inquired.

"An hour? What do you mean? It'd take someone days to race to either capital and days more to return." Botan said with confusion.

"...Seriously? Were you never told of Voice Cannons?" Julius sounded like he finally lost his composure.

"..." And suddenly everything was clear to Botan. He quickly glanced over to the three towers on the Ventus side of the wall he saw when he first arrived in town. He was told about Voice Cannons, but it was mentioned only once. It completely slipped his mind. Botan looked to the downcast Mira. "Rushing me along so I couldn't think about it… I see."

Botan let out a heavy sigh. "Well, this certainly isn't how I wanted my first visit to Ventus to go. I surrender." Botan said, his voice sounding a lot more annoyed than defeated.

"...I'll escort you and your wagon through the gate properly." Julius offered, removing his helmet to inspect it for damage. He had the same dark skin tone as he expected. His bright blue hair was a pleasant sight. It matched the feather that adorned his helm.

Botan stood still for a moment. "Don't you have a jail on this side?"

"You are the Evergreen, I am not arresting you." Julius assured.

"...But I just caused a huge incident. I kicked you in the face!" Botan said, now embarrassed and ashamed.

"Indeed. That was not appreciated. Even so, I will not detain you. Your presence in our kingdom will be a boon I will not obstruct. Moreover, detaining you would be very disrespectful." Julius dismissed.

"But… I was already disrespectful to you." Botan said reluctantly.

"What of it? If such events lead to more safety and security for Ventus, trampling on my pride is a small cost."

"..." Upon hearing him Botan bowed, his back horizontal to the ground, his legs still straight. "My sincerest apologies!" Botan did what all young Japanese were taught to do when they realized they were wrong.

Julius stared for a moment. The soldiers below finally climbed the stairs to the sight of Botan clearly surrendering to Julius. He motioned for them to leave. There was no longer any problems.

They slowly descended the stairs, Botan careful to not damage the stairs with his wagon. Once he reached the bottom, he could see a sea of armored men and women. It had to be at least 1000 soldiers stationed here. One guard moved to detain Mira who was still clinging to Botan and seemed like she was in a daze.

Before they could reach her, Botan scooped her up and looked to Julius. "I'll be on my way now."

"..." Mira was too surprised to say anything as Botan and Julius shared a silence.

"...You heard him! Open the gate!" Julius yelled, his mean quickly complying.

"...But I lied to you…" Mira meekly said in confusion.

"But not about anything important. C'mon. Let's go see your old man." Botan assured her.

Mira wept tears of joy as she finally passed beneath the arcs of Ventus' famous Blue Gate. Botan went through the gate, then promptly sat Mira down on the wagon. He turned and bowed again.

"I'm sorry for everything. We are on the same side and I forgot that. Please forgive me." He spoke as loud as he could so each soldier present could hear him. "I got a big head and failed to consider that you have reasons for what you do. Important reasons. I'll trust your words and actions in the future." And with that, he left. A large amount of laughter was heard.

One looked to Julius as they just kept laughing at Botan. "I can't believe you beat the Evergreen so badly. That's hilarious."

But he did not join in on the laughter. But under the mask, Julius just smiled. "So you're also willing to have your pride trampled for others? I misjudged you, Evergreen."

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today’s Index will be on the four famous gates that surround Ventus. The North White Gate and South Black Gate are actually port cities at the north-most and south-most spots in Ventus. The remainder of the coasts have several natural and man-made barriers that make large-scale invasion undesirable. Due to this, one would want to invade Ventus by sea, one of these two gates would be the way to do so. Both serve as trade centers for the country as well as naval bases.

The Red Gate and Blue Gate are both located on the eastern border it shares with Mosden. The Red Gate is further north, the Blue Gate is further south. These two are both fortresses. The Blue Gate has a military base behind its wall, while the Red Gate has a single massive structure that serves as the entire base and wall. For this reason, the Blue Gate is generally believed to be the easiest gate to enter.

However, having obvious moves also causes problems. The Blue Gate located in the border town of Fissle has two other nearby bases, a larger total staff of guards, and more to compensate. If war were to break out those in Fissle have a good chance of being ground zero of an invasion into Ventus.

Alongside these military bases, Ventus gave the commander of each fort the special title of Gatekeeper. This allows the fame and infamy of the military bases themselves to be associated with the key personnel of each location. After 20 years or so, the title became a proper one recognized by the Dragon Hourglass. Meaning each Gatekeeper has higher stats than they otherwise would, favoring defense, and with a maximum level of 75, amongst the highest in Ventus and beyond.

Chapter Text

Botan pulled the cart in silence for some time after leaving Fissle in such an embarrassing manner. Myskel and Mira kept quiet; Myskel because she was hurt, Mira out of shame. The quietness dragged on and on with only the wind howling against the hills and valleys to fill the silence. Eventually, Mira decided that being yelled at would feel better than this, so she spoke.

“I lied to you.” She said just over a whisper.

Botan pretended he didn’t hear her.

Mira said louder and more definitively. “I tricked you and got you in a lot of trouble.”

Again Botan tried pretending he didn’t hear her.

“So why!? Why’d you take me with you after I did that to you? Why’d you help me!?” She screamed, tears forming.

Botan stopped pulling the cart, sat it down, and turned to face her. He leaned on one of the handles and didn’t seem all that worked up about it himself. “Because you’re a kid and I’m an adult. If an adult punishes a kid every time they learn the truth, the only lesson the kid learns is to be better about lying next time.” He began.

Mira simply listened.

“You tricked me, but what did that result in? Now the Blue Gate can say they repelled the Evergreen. Won’t that mean Fissle will be less likely to be targeted? And all it cost me was a little pride.” Botan seemed to think of it as a good deal.

“But now you entered Ventus looking like a fool…” Mira argued.

Botan chuckled a bit at that. “And? I have the backing of the Mosden royal family. Of the lord of Lokkansted. Of several knights. And I managed to do that all while my dumb ass didn’t know anything. Some foot soldiers on the border’s opinion of me don’t count for much. I’m still the Evergreen. I still have a cart full of extremely good and rare materials for that prince. And I still have a wave to stomp.” Botan said with a growing smile.

“...But-” Mira tried arguing but Botan cut her off.

“And Julius knows he didn’t beat me. He knows I did him a favor. So now he’s on my side too.” Botan pointed out.

“...I guess.” Mira relented.

Botan changed tone slightly. “Now forget about all that nonsense. These are grown-up problems. You’ve got little kid problems to worry about.” He assured her, turning around to continue the journey.

“So, you really don’t hate me?” She asked quietly.

“Mira, I have the privilege and saying I had a pretty great childhood. I had both parents, a sister who could overthrow a small government, lots of friends, and few real worries by comparison… I lost those things when I came here and I nearly lost it. How the hell can I blame a child for lying to someone she barely met? Trying desperately to get even a little of the good life I had…” Botan said in a forced tone, picking up the pace a bit.

“If I’m mad at anyone, it’s at myself. What a selfish and self-absorbed person I’ve been. There are probably countless people in the world like Mira. People like Tia. People who are just trapped in a situation and need someone else to help them… I get the ‘hero’ title isn’t about this but. I have to help as many of them as I can. After being given such a good life up until now, it feels unfair to act any other way.”

And on they traveled for several hours. Botan initially considered stopping early as he had already been tired out from scaling the border wall and fighting Julius. However, Ventus had a very different landscape than Mosden. In Mosden, he could pick a huge tree and rest under the canopy. But here? There was far less cover and it rained more often than it didn’t..

“Where the hell would I even-?” And as soon as Botan was reaching the point of complaining, he saw something.

Two large lizard-like monsters further along the road. Each seemed the size of the average dog, green with speckles of yellow in color. Instead of fighting them, Botan put the cart down and crouched down. Mia went to speak, but Botan placed a finger over her lips. Initially, she was confused. While she’d have certainly been scared of these monsters normally, she thought Botan would have no issue dealing with them. Botan wasted several seconds digging around in his bag for something he hadn’t needed in a bit, eventually pulling out a pair of [Scrying Marbles]. He crushed one then the other, swapping his attention between the pair.

[Brewing Newt]

[Level: 26]

[Level: 28]

Botan paused. “Well within my abilities. Now we wait.” They all waited for several minutes as the lizards seemed to rummage around the bushes for certain plants. They ate a lot more than Botan thought an animal of their size would need. They were also very picky with their food. They ate leaves and such, yet most things didn’t seem to appeal to them. Finally, after several minutes, they made a few low growls at each other in communication and left.

Botan began moving the cart again, going quietly and slowly enough to stalk the brewing newts from a safe distance. Eventually, they left the road and Botan had to make the decision to leave the cart. 

He whispered, “Watch the cart,” then continued. He would follow them to a maximum distance he felt comfortable with. Luckily, the monsters reached their destination.

They stopped at a dugout section of the mountain. The ground above overhung by roughly 10 feet. It was clearly not a natural formation. The two monsters proved as much when they began to vomit up some sort of acid against the stone back wall and then proceeded to dig it out further with their frontal claws. Botan decided to wait. Let them use up their acid and expand the cave while Botan mostly watched Mira and the cart to ensure that no danger came for them.

Once the brewing newts seemed to finish digging out what they could and ran out of acid, they began making their way back the way they came. Botan waited until they were close before leaping out from behind a bush.

[Rope of Thorns]!

Pointing the Holy Flower at the higher level of the pair several lines covered in sharp, thin thorns spawned from the gem of the weapon and shot out. The monsters were surprised and a moment of hesitation allowed the vines to wrap around and entangle its target. The other seemed to move its head up and down several times before firing an orange liquid at the skill, exploding. The vines disconnected from the weapon and the area smelt foul now, but the vines themselves stayed wrapped around the first monster as it tried fighting its way free of its bindings.

Botan went to follow up. “Can’t use [Sun Ray], they contain too many volatile chemicals. I’ll play it safe.” [Spring: Seed Strike]!

The small shot of energy flew too fast for the monster to react to and hit it near the front of its chest and lower neck. As it fell over Botan was feeling pretty good about himself. “As things are, the struggle with basic monsters is over.” He declared internally.

In the next moment, the first one freed itself of the vines, now covered in little stabs and cuts from the thorns. But what alarmed Botan was that both the brewing newts began to glow.

“What!?” They both rapidly healed. Not fully, but enough to stop all bleeding. They then narrowed their eyes before running away. Botan frowned. He couldn’t chase them down while watching Mira, so he had to let them go. Soon he dragged the cart into the dugout the monsters made to shield them both from the rain. 

Botan needed to rest. He had been working himself to the bone. He worked himself so hard overcoming the border wall and fighting Julius, then did all this traveling, and without resting at all. He sat against the back of the stone facing the opening. Though it was only meant to rest his feet, Botan soon found himself waking up hours later. He saw Mira had found the thick blanket and wrapped it around both of them. Likewise, Myskel had wrapped herself around Mira once as well, to keep her still. They weren’t exactly warm.

Botan stared out of the dugout to see it getting dark, rain coming down heavily. What caught his attention was 4 large yellow eyes belonging to the brewing newts that he fought earlier. They stared at him, shivering in the cold.

“...” Botan quietly got up, Myskel waking and untangling herself from Mira, and slowly walked to the cart. Mira remained sleeping. He made sure to make very deliberate movements that the monsters could see. He pulled out the [Handy Dandy Candy Furnace] and some of the poisonous honey he had and returned to his spot. Within a minute the device softly hummed with an orange glow and heated up the entire dugout.

The monsters couldn’t resist and slowly approached. Botan stared them down and clenched his Holy Flower tighter as they slowly slinked forward, their bodies low to the ground in submission. They grew close to the ground as they got close enough and inched their way forward until they were out of the rain and inside the area of warmth. They then quickly found a comfortable position and grew still.

“Well, it is their home. With Mira here, I’ll avoid a fight if they do.” Botan thought.

Botan stayed awake for a bit and they tried nothing. Eventually, Myskel rubbed the bottom of Botan’s chin with the top of her head, signaling for him to rest. She’d alert him if these two or any other monsters caused any trouble. It was the best solution without starting another fight.

…

Back on the road, Botan kept taking glances behind him with a never-ending reset of anxiety. Over his shoulder, he saw Mira riding one of the brewing newts like it was her prized pony.

“I told you they’re fine. Brewing newts are like the number one pet in Ventus.” Mira assured, saying the same thing for the fourth time this morning.

“I don’t care how… domesticated they are acting, they were wild just yesterday. They shouldn’t be behaving this well.” Botan sounded more like he was complaining than concerned.

“You beat them up and have that heater thing. It’s fine.” Mira said matter-of-factly.

“...” Botan stopped a moment. “Is this one of those common sense things I don’t know about from this world or are you just being a brat?” he asked.

“Both.” She said with a smile. “Monsters in Ventus team up a lot, regardless of whether they are the same kinds of monsters or not. Monster Villages are what they are called.  And villages have leaders, y’know? You beat them and gave them warmth, so you’re the boss now.”

“Seriously? Am I supposed to become some anti-social freak whose only party members are non-human? Screw that.” Botan complained.

“But brewing newts are super useful!” Mira said with excitement. “They create potions in their stomach based on what they eat.”

Botan spared another glance back at them. “That’s cool, but still…”

While Botan’s head was turned back, Mira caught sight of something before he did. “That tower, it’s a town!”

Botan turned back, and sure enough, it was another of those large towers he’d seen. Two of them. Those Voice Cannons are supposed to be at the top of them.

They approached the town with excitement. There was a wall made of stacked and cut stone with metal where needed. A gate of thick blood-red wood and reinforced with a yellowish metal or either copper or bronze met the wall to the road, but it was open and security seemed lax. The guards seemed to not even bat an eye at Botan entering with two monsters following him.

The road became elevated a few feet before entering the city. All the roads in town seemed to be made of stone and two steps higher than the ground around them, winding around the oddly rounded buildings. “Probably to deal with flooding.” Botan thought. The roads looped around most buildings and almost looked more like a river of stone than a man-made pathway. 

As they went in further, the town was split in two along both sides of the narrow valley into mirroring hill towns. The south side had three elevations while the north side had four.

Botan spoke. “So, what’s your dad’s name?”

“Cetus.” She replied.

After a few more questions the pair had a destination. They made their way to one of the towers. 

“If he operated a Voice Cannon in Fissle back then, he probably operates one of them here now. Seems like a high-skill job you don’t just quit.” Botan reasoned as he approached.

“What business do you have here?” A guard asked, stepping toward the door to black Botan’s path.

“I’m the Evergreen, Botan Nakaya. I’m looking for a man named Cetus.”

“...Huh. We received word you’d be arriving, but seeing is believing as they say. And you say you’re looking for Cetus of all people?” The man said in a surprised then polite tone.

“Yes… Did Julius use the Voice Cannons to tell you I was coming?”

“Of course! We will be sending a small number of men with you so you can reach the capital as soon as possible.”The other guard answered.

“...Did Julius tell you anything else?” Botan inquired.

“Um, no? He just said the Evergreen was coming and to be as cooperative as possible.” The first guard answered.

“I am guessing you’ll keep that whole mess a secret as long as you can. Thanks, Julius.” Botan thought.

“Anyways, is Cetus here?” He pressed.

“Y-Yes. He’s the operator of tower 1, Thunder division, day shift. He’s up there awaiting correspondence from other towers.” The second guard answered.

Botan looked at the two guards. They had a circular symbol on their armor, three curled yellow lines coming down, like a volume symbol. Botan thought back to the other soldiers he met in Fissle. Most of them had a raindrop symbol, with Julius himself having a lightning bolt symbol. At the time he thought they were denoting rank, but now he knew them as a division of military branch.

“So it requires specialized operators and constant assistance. So it’s less like a phone and more like a telegram.” Botan realized.

“Can I go in?” He asked them.

“Well… Normally no one is allowed in because these towers are vital to our communication… But we will make an exception for you of course.” The guard sounded more conflicted than his word choice would have you believe.

“I really appreciate it. Mira, come on. You two, stay put.” Botan motioned with his hands.

The two oversized lizards looked a little confused but did as Botan said. The guards bore sour looks at Botan bringing a little girl into a restricted area but said nothing. Frowns and smiles both replaced with thin straight lines.

The tower was 10 floors but instead of stairs to reach each floor, Botan was surprised to see an elevator of all things. He quietly entered and pressed the top floor button as Mira watched in confusion.

“All these devices are secret Ventus tech, yet you know how to use them?” Mira asked.

“These devices are sometimes 1 to 1 the same as things from my own world. But to think even the button layout and feel is exactly the same.” Botan responded.

As they quietly rode the elevator up, Mira looked out the elevator at each floor. Floors for filing documents, floors with tools and resources to issue repairs on the equipment, and even a floor that looked more like a corporate office with cubicles.

Botan eyed the outfits they wore. It was far too modern. While not exactly as modern as the world he came from, it was maybe only 100 years behind. Meanwhile, Mosden seemed 300-500 years behind in many aspects. It bothered Botan. Some areas being more developed than others was natural, but the more modern look of these outfits, and the technology in use. “To travel 200 or more years in development in a week on foot isn’t natural.” He thought to himself.

He kept his thoughts to himself as they reached the top floor. When the doors opened, he finally saw these Voice Cannons for himself. They were made of brass or bronze, he couldn’t tell. Highly polished and clean. Each one was a collection of oddly shaped cylinders with strangely shaped holes that sat inside one another, spinning at different speeds. A man and a woman sat at a desk near each of them, both perked up as Botan and Mira arrived.

“This is a high-security area.” The man said.

“Evergreen.” Botan said plainly while showing the Holy Flower.

“Hmm, your eyes are as Sir Julius described.” The man relented quite easily.

“Are you Cetus?” Botan asked.

“Yes?” Cetus with a confused upward inflection.

He was a large man with a gentle face. A bit sad and soft, worn down over many years. Between his high security job and the quick impression he gave, Botan saw no immediate red flags.

“You were stationed in Fissle some years back, right? Had a woman on the Mosden side?”

“O-Oh.” The man’s surprise was interrupted by a chuckle. “Did Towa ask you to pass along a message for me? I thought she gave up on me being transferred back. She hasn’t spoken to me in years.” The man rubbed the back of his head as the chuckle turned strained.

Botan looked to Mira, a nod exchanged between them. “Cetus, Towa is dead. She died several years ago.”

“Oh…” The man stumbled back slightly, resting his back against the opposing wall to stabilize himself as he took a sharp breath. “Then… why are you here?”

“Towa was trying to reach you not only because of her feelings for you, but also for the girl that resulted from it.” Botan gestured to Mira.

The man's eyes locked onto Mira, then traced her face several times. Each time, his shoulders fell further and further. “I-You… There must be some sort of mistake! Excuse me.” He quickly retreated to the elevator and began jabbing the button as hard as he could.

Botan had to grab Mira before he could chase after Cetus. That moment created an escape as the man hoped. There were no stairs or a ladder to descend.

“He’s getting away!” Mira cried. 

“...” Botan cradled Mira carefully in his arms to cover as much of her as possible and leapt from one of the windows a Voice Cannon was pointed out of. The fall made Mira curl up into a ball as she shivered in silence.

[Change Flower]

Botan’s Holy Flower twisted into a new shape while obscured in light. Mira felt an unnatural feeling as they slowed. She slowly parted her fingers covering her eyes, then opened them slowly to see them safely drifting to the street with little fuss. Botan used [Dandelion Tuft Glider]’s [Glide] bonus.

Cetus burst out of the front doors short of breath only to meet Botan’s gaze.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Botan said blankly.

“Listen, she can’t be my kid. She doesn’t have my hair or my eyes.” The man sputtered out an argument while trying to grow distant.

“From what I was told, it sounded like you’re the only one who could be her father.” Botan shot down his excuses.

The man looked for a way out, and against the odds, he found one. A large metal carriage was riding by, pulled by Yoklan. He reached out his hand and took hold of the vehicle, leaving the scene at great speed.

“Why? Why is my dad doing this?” Mira said.

Her words were not pointed to anyone specifically but Botan felt the need to answer. “We’ll just have to catch him and find out.”

“Mysk! My-Mysk!” Myskel shouted at the two Brewing Newts who seemed to understand her meaning. The pair shot off after the would-be escapee.

“Heh, nice. At least these guys can follow orders.” Botan said as he chased after them, still carrying Mira.

Botan and Mira followed him. The guards standing in front of the communications tower found themselves thoroughly confused. Cetus was on the clock and NEEDED to be in the tower in case a communication came through. Yet, he just ran away, chased by the Evergreen of all people. At first, they stood by, but they quickly found themselves chasing after the Evergreen as best they could. Though, their best wasn’t enough and they soon lost both of them.

Cetus let go of the carriage and landed near the entrance of an open bar. It was half built into the ground with a circular pointed roof at an off-angle. Open air from most directions save the back where the kitchen was. Most buildings in this town and most in Ventus were built this way. 3-4 feet into the ground to lower how much surface area can be struck by wind. Metal roofs with heavy insolation and a singular metal pole connecting them to the ground serve as lightning rods for town safety. 

The base of nearly every building had stacked stones that were thicker at the base and grew thinner as they went up, reaching 4-5 feet from the outside and the ceiling of the inside. From what Botan could tell, these buildings had stacked stone basements and the first floor, then more often than not used wood for any floor beyond the first. The wood mostly seemed to be that same vibrant blood-red wood he saw on the city gates. Botan saw Pagoda and other Japanese aesthetics on the building used for Voice Cannon communication. But all the others bore a circular design to have no flat external was and all the buildings included metal roofs and sunken floor plans, even the Japanese-style towers. The architecture of Ventus was appealing in its own way, but at the heart of it was the defense against the violent weather.

The two Brewing Newts did try, but as Cetus snaked out the other side of the bar, their vision and sense of smell didn’t allow them to follow. Cetus looked back multiple times, each time he wasn’t being chased. He made it to the front of his house and breathed a sigh of relief with his shoulders lowering so much it appeared as though his arms would fall off.

“Lost them.” He allowed the words to escape his lips.

“Yeah, but they served as a good distraction.” Botan said through a smile from behind him.

Cetus spun around to see Botan standing beside him, arms crossed and an easy-going expression decorating his features. He returned to the direction he was looking and took one step prepared to flee again, only for Mira to act.

“Hya!” She kicked his forward leg in the back of the knee, having been there the whole time. Cetus merely looked over her when he spotted Botan. The man fell to one leg as Mira latched onto his other leg.

“You are not getting away! Do you have any idea what I went through trying to reach you!? Failing to pass Blue Gate constantly for more than a year! Stealing to eat, running from guards! I thought-! …I thought that if I could just find you, I wouldn’t have to chase or be chased anymore.” Mira cried softly.

“Listen, I-this isn’t how things were supposed to go. I thought that part of my life was over. I…” Cetus fell over his words.

“Mom said you were reliable and serious. She said you were as stubborn as the walls of Blue Gate. But I didn’t take that to mean you’d be just as big an obstacle as the damn wall!” Mira cried louder.

Cetus saw the way Mira tried wiping her tears away, open-handed, just as his own sister and mother did. The little bit of her eyes he could see through her tears were his own. Her skin was obviously a mix of his own and Towa’s. The man fell into a slump. “...This is all my fault.” He admitted.

“You said you didn’t know. That’s not the problem here.” Botan tried turning the conversation.

“But it is the problem. I wasn’t transferred out against my will. I requested this transfer. Towa was a good woma-no, a great woman, but I prioritized a bigger paycheck and a more comfortable life… Meanwhile, she raised our daughter for years… She was poor when I knew her, I really doubt having a child to take care of made that any less true.”

“...” All three stayed silent for a time.

“By the Sky Tower, I want to throw myself in the ocean.” Cetus said after a moment.

“You can’t!” Mira blurted out.

“...” Another silence as both of the men realized they needed a conversation not overseen by a child.

“Mira, can I have a minute alone with your dad?” Botan broke the silence.

She went to argue. “But what if he-”

“He won’t get away.” Botan promised.

Mira paused a moment, grew quiet, and walked a fair bit away, the brewing newts by her side.

Botan watched her, waiting until she was far enough away to speak. “Do you have the ability to house her?” He asked, still looking at her.

“Yeah.” Cetus answered, still looking at the sky.

“Feed her? Clothe her?” Botan inquired further.

Cetus started nodding.“Yes, yes. There’s a military academy too. I just wish I-”

“Stop.” Botan said. He sounded annoyed, but oddly, not at Cetus.

“Stop what?” The man asked, prying his eyes from the sky to level them at Botan.

“For the short time I’ve known her, all Mira could talk about was how everything was going to be great once she reached her dad. That reaching him was the hard part and afterward her days of stealing food and running from guards would be over. She thought the world of you, having never known you.” Botan told him, his eyes still locked onto Mira who periodically stole a glance at them, worry painting her face.

Cetus remained quiet a bit longer.

“So get your shit together.” Botan said in a flat tone.

“So she doesn’t hate me?” Cetus asked with hints of fear and hope in his voice.

“Hell no! Her mother only said positive things about you. She probably idolizes her idea of who you are… So don’t disappoint her.” Botan all but ordered him.

“Heh, a little late for that.” Cetus said, looking at himself and his actions.

Botan’s eye finally left Mira and looked straight into Cetus’ own. “First impressions don’t mean much against the rest of your lives. Look, I promised to get her to you, and I can’t stick around. But I like the little creature a bit.” He said affectionately. “So you need to step up. Now.”

Cetus’ back straightened a bit. “But it’s my fault. When I see her, all I see is years of abandonment and two broken hearts all while I did nothing to help.” He admitted.

Botan took a breath, taking a moment to choose his words carefully. His eyes searched Cetus’ face for those words. “I imagine you will, for a long time. But she deserves a father that sees his daughter when he looks at her.”

The man straightened up further. He nodded. He took a moment to collect himself. “You’re right. Mira! Come here.” Cetus called, not failing to remember his name.

The little girl ran up with much enthusiasm, both brewing newts trailing her. Cetus took a knee to look at her face-to-face. “Yeah?” She asked.

Cetus palmed her head, framing her face while he looked at her again. At first, all he saw was the woman he left, and truthfully, that didn’t go away. It wouldn’t for a long time. But there was more there, things he didn’t see before. Her eyes were his, yet they never stayed still. It reminded him of his sister when they were kids. She hummed as he held her, easily made content, signs of an easily pleased person. She swayed back and forth, all the energy and joy of a child still there despite everything she went through.

“...I’m sorry, Mira. I was so upset and confused I ran. I ran from you. I don’t want you to think of me as that kind of man.” He told her, doing his best to speak softly to her.

“Don’t be silly, mom told me all about you. I know that isn’t you.” She chirped happily.

“...And what is?” He asked, still unsure himself.

“Well, mom said you suck at being sensitive but make up for it by worrying about things a lot. She said you’re kind, listened more than you spoke, and had big dreams. She said you did great at big things but needed help with the small things. Once, she said you were a ship set for somewhere wonderful and she wanted to go wherever you’d take her.”

Cetus said nothing but began to cry.

Mira’s mouth slightly opened, but no words came. Her brow fell away as she looked on, not knowing if she did something wrong to have upset him.

Cetus took another look at Mira and stood, grabbing her by the waist and sitting her on his right shoulder. “Still small enough to carry you… There are still plenty of those moments to be had.”

Wordlessly he shook Botan’s hand and took a step back towards his home. “I’ll need to get you clothes and set up your room. Can you talk to my boss and try to explain the situation? You stay for dinner.” Cetus asked and offered to Botan, almost pleading. 

“Sure. I’ll go talk to those guards, but you handle clothes first. That creature needs a bath.” Botan complained through a forming smile.

“Hey!” She shouted.

The rest of the day was spent helping explain the situation to the guards, Botan using his status to get the situation overlooked. Then they went shopping for Mira, which Botan helped pay for. Cetus could have afforded her normally if he had known she was coming and budgeted correctly. Botan even used the cart he was borrowing from Mr. Lokkan to haul everything back to Cetus’ house. Later, at the house, Cetus had Botan help him move all the heavy furniture out of his study. Mira wasn’t just getting a roof over her head, she was getting her own room.

Botan noticed that despite the supposed weight of the furniture it felt a bit light to him. His levels had helped his physical strength, but he still thought that the furniture should have weighed more. “Guess it’s all that dragging a cart through the swamps.” He thought.

Botan ate dinner with them and even stayed the night at Mira’s request. Botan slept like he was dead. It was the first indoor sleep he had for nearly a week, and after chasing Cetus and moving stuff all day he was exhausted. The brewing newts slept just beside the door, guarding it. He’d need to figure out what to do with the creatures soon. But for now, his job was to sleep.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be discussing something briefly mentioned by Mira.

Monster Villages.

A natural phenomenon brought about by the harsh weather of Ventus. Unable to reliably survive the storms of the land, most monsters learned to group together. Dozens of species, some even meant to be directly above or below another on the food chain working together. They naturally take up tasks best suited for whatever type of monster they are.

Those good at burrowing and tunneling create the village themselves, as they are nearly all subterranean to avoid the harsh weather. After forming the village, they continue to expand and maintain the structure as needed.

Some leave the village, hunting for and gathering food for those who stay within the safety of the village. They do not usually hunt every day, but they are still the ones put in the most danger out of the various roles.

The last of the major roles is that of the defenders. Those who are responsible for battling those who invade their village. These are usually the strongest monsters in the village. It can also be any combat-oriented monster that lacks the stamina to be a hunter.

Heroes of the past referred to these communal monster dwellings as ‘Dungeons’, but the term never stuck.

Monster villages can become too successful. With such a large variety and total number of monsters, not to mention their higher-than-average level due to the safety their village provides, the safety of human towns can be threatened. It is recommended that if someone finds a Monster Village to report it. A large party can then be sent to enter and assess where the Monster Village is developmentally. It usually takes 2 years for a Monster Village that was culled to need an inspection again.

Ventus keeps track of these locations and sometimes elects to wipe them out completely and cave them in, depending on how sensitive the location is. Most of the time culling is enough. They are necessary for the environment, economy, and for EXP. So, they can’t be allowed to be completely destroyed without a compelling reason. To the point that destroying a Monster Village without governmental permission is considered a golden crime.

What is a golden crime? Maybe we’ll cover that next time.

Chapter Text

The following morning Botan shifted on the bed mat hearing a small “Mysk~” from Myskel. His eyes slowly opened and he saw the light coming from the window.

“Get up, flower boy.” Mira said enduringly as she shook his shoulder.

“Huh?” He managed.

“Got a surprise for you!” Mira shouted.

“Breakfast first.” Cetus cut Mira off. The man was cooking food and seemed awkward in the role. He had likely never made food for someone else and now was doing so for his daughter and the Evergreen. So he did his task slowly and with much anxiety.

There wasn’t much talking. The whole bunch was quiet during their short, slightly burnt meal. All but Myskel who gleefully ate the small pancake balls. Botan was well-mannered enough to eat the food without complaint. Botan worried Mira would be vocal in not liking the food. He didn’t imagine her liking it would be even worse.

“This is sooo good! mhm~mhm.” The small girl said, one hand always at her mouth to keep the food from falling out.

“Is it?” Her father questioned.

“Yup! I never got to have warm food before. It tastes so much better!” She exclaimed in delight.

Botan and Cetus looked away from her and towards each other upon hearing that. They said nothing but they nodded like they had.

After their brief breakfast, Botan was walked to the front door, being dragged by Mira by the hand. 

“C’mon, you’ll love this!” Mira said as Cetus opened the front.

Mira pulled Botan through the door outside and Botan found about a dozen heavily armored soldiers. They stood near a large steel carriage so big his own cart was sitting inside it with plenty of room on both sides.

“Who are…?” Botan tried to ask.

“They are our town’s Hail squad. They have our military’s best mounts and vehicles.” Cetus offered.

Seeing his confusion one approached. “The honor is ours, Evergreen. I’m the commanding officer, Saul. We are 3rd squad, 1st division, 4th platoon, Hail Branch, Armored Regiment. Ya’see, Hail Branch is Ventus’ most advanced military branch. We were formed by Prince Typhus, whom I’ve been told you are trying to reach. Well, it just so happens we were going to depart to the capital in three days for equipment repair. But hearing the Evergreen has business with our Dark Genius, we’ve changed plans and will be offering you traveling assistance to the capital.” The large man offered his hand.

Botan paused a moment, considering.

“With their vehicles, you’ll reach the capital in 10 hours as opposed to 3 more days on foot.” Cetus added.

At that, Botan nodded. “In that case, I appreciate it. Pushing that cart from one country’s capital to another’s has been a hell of an exercise.” Botan reached out and shook the man’s hand.

“Mysk~!” Myskel agreed.

The man accepted his hand and gave a firm shake. “Excellent. We leave as soon as you are ready, Evergreen.”

At those words, Botan turned to Cetus and Mira, crouching down to be at the latter’s level. “Um, so what’s next for you two?”

“We have a military academy here in town.” Cetus said with audible optimism.

“Military academy? Is it dangerous?” Botan asked.

“No, no. It’ll be a long time until she’ll ever get the chance to place in our ranks. In the meantime, it’s the only formal education available in Ventus. The only other formal education on the continent is the Grand Library of the Eld Empire. Mira will have many chances to not enter the military if she doesn’t want to. Or try landing a sweet specialty job like I have.” Cetus assured Botan.

“And you can afford that?” Botan asked.

“Perks of the job. They’ll pay for her education since I’m military.” He said smugly. “Ventus takes care of their soldiers.” He added.

“Assuming I can meet the requirements to begin with…” Mira sounded less sure.

“What are these requirements?” Botan asked, mirroring her tone.

“You can join with either high enough entrance scores or possessing combat capabilities. But she can try several times and I can tutor her when I’m not working.” Cetus tried filling Mira with assurance.

“...Well that’s pretty simple then. You two.” Botan called to the two dutiful brewing newts that sat next to the door of the home, empty plates near them to show Cetus fed them at some point. They perked up and walked up to him.

“From now on, she’ll be your boss.” He pointed to Mira.

“Huh?“ That was all Mira could say.

They looked at Mira, then back at Botan, then walked back to their plates and scratched them.

“I’m guessing that means they’ll stay as long as you feed them.” Botan said aloud.

“You realize those bastards have 4 stomachs, right?” Cetus said with a half-hearted sigh.

Botan went to stand again but Mira threw her arms around him and wrapped him in the tightest hug she could manage. Botan had to admit that making sure Mira passed through the Blue Gate and made it safely to her father was the first time he really felt like a hero since he got here. He knew he had helped others but in those cases he either did the task someone else could have done or made too many mistakes along the way.

With this, there was nothing to take away from the feeling of pride swelling within him. Something that nursed his many misgivings. Maybe he’d hold his head a little higher now? Or at least not doubt himself as much.

He returned the hug and promised to visit her when he could. He changed his Holy Flower into a large pin to hide it when he reached the capital, placing it over his heart. With that, he left with the armored squad and made his way to the capital of Ventus, Halcyon. They moved along the roads easily inside two large metal carriages. A bump in the road every few minutes was the only thing keeping some of them from drifting asleep, Botan included. 

The inside of these carriages reminded Botan of modern cars in some ways. The driver was in their own encased section, having windows and a metal door on either side, as well as one to enter the back. The carriage required no mounts to pull it, instead they must push the cart themselves up to a desired speed. Once done, the carriage maintains that speed through a combination of unknown technology and motion magic. Only losing speed on turns, and not much. They only had to push the carriages back up to speed twice more on their trip. 

The back was built like a truck bed, even possessing the risen section on either side that allowed the wheels to remain flesh to the rest of the carriage. Yet these spaces were large enough for Botan to stand without him meeting the roof overhead. Botan rode in the carriage which housed his cart. Alongside it Botan saw dozens of broken pieces of equipment; from heavy armor, shields, weapons of various kinds, and various small components whose purpose was not obvious.

To pass the time Botan made small talk. “You said you were bringing things to Prince Typhus for repairs. This seems like weeks of work.” Botan inquired.

“And the other carriage has even more. I’d say we got what would probably take 2-3 months worth of repairs here. Well, if anyone else was handling the repairs but Prince Typhus himself.” Saul added.

“What? He handles all repairs himself?” Botan found that ridiculous.

“All of Hail and Thunder Branches, yes. Most of it is too labor intensive or too complicated for anyone else.” The driver responded from the front.

“One man, by himself?” Botan was now imagining a member of royalty working from dawn to dusk every day. Not what he imagined when he heard about Typhus.

“He’s more than a man, as you’ll learn soon enough.” Saul said, speaking like he was complimenting his own family. Will sounded the same way when he boasted of his talent.

“And he’s never alone. Always surrounded by those five women of his.” The driver added.

Botan hated to admit, that made him more than a little jealous. He couldn’t manage to interest one woman, yet this guy has five at once?

“One of those is his sworn knight, the Dame Arabella Beaumont. Do not conflate someone like her with the rest of his girls.” Saul said with a slightly sour tone.

“Oh come now. He looks at her the same as he does to that witch Asher Windemere or that priestess Varsha. He has his hands around their hips all the time, Beaumont included.” The driver snickered.

“But he’d never be foolish enough to marry either. That dancer Rithma Lasakk would be fine for lesser men, I hold nothing against her. And that young girl, Lady Veda is out of the question only for her age. That’s why the king so desperately wants his son to marry Dame Beaumont.” Saul argued.

Botan listened, but found one thing odd having just left Mosden recently. “Can the king not force him?” Botan asked.

Saul had been all smiles, but he frowned for the first time when he heard that. “...This is not Mosden. This is Ventus. No father can compel their son to marry. Nor a mother do the same to their daughter.” Saul answered.

“And the prince knows it. That’s why he continues to rent many rather than buy one.”

The men collectively laughed, Botan himself bore a smile and Saul noticed. “He nearly got you laughing?”

“No. It’s just that I wasn’t in Mosden long, but I saw the heartache that their marriage traditions cause. I’m just glad Ventus isn’t like that.” Botan admitted. Saul’s smile returned.

“Yeah, you don’t need to worry about fathers throwing their daughters at you, Evergreen. Just got to worry about the daughters that throw themselves! Haha!” That did manage to get a laugh out of Botan. Myskel seemed annoyed at them all and stuffed her head down Botan’s shirt collar to drown them out.

They talked a fair bit. When they stopped due to the carriages losing speed to regain their speed, they broke for a few minutes to stretch their legs and eat a little. They tried to convince Botan to let them push and have him watch them, but they couldn’t exactly make him not help and he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.

…

Halcyon (Ventus Royal Capital)

…

Before he knew it, the capital was within sight. What caught his eye immediately was the sky, it was completely clear. Clouds had occupied the skies above nearly the entire time he’d been in Ventus. Yet in Halcyon, clouds seemed to avoid them. It was like someone cut the clouds away or held them at bay like water with a dam. The city itself was enormous, easily three times the size of Mosden’s capital city of Weldroe.

The city rested at the end of a large valley. Homes dotted the bottom of the valley becoming closer and closer together as they moved towards the center of the town. Businesses and other commercial buildings were among carved stone roads at various levels up and down the sides of the valley cliffs. Just as with the previous town, most of the buildings further away from the center of the city were rounded to reduce the damage from storms, yet for some reason, as they moved towards the center, buildings seemed to have no cautionary designs that helped against the storms.

Where the two sides met was a castle that matched Mosden’s if you considered the giant tree as part of the structure. Then again it was fully carved out of the valley, making it hard to tell how large the interior was. The inside was literally a man-made cave system. Along the peaks of the valley were several large structures. Each one so big and beautiful that they could each serve as a major monument.

A bump was felt that lasted a bit longer than Botan expected. He turned to Saul for answers.

“We’re at the front gate. They have to inspect us and what not. They’ll keep us an hour at the least. You go one ahead.”

“I assume this ‘Dark Genius’ is in the palace?”

“Probably in his own keep.” Saul pointed to one of those huge monuments. “Several members of royalty have their own properties. That one is the Forge. Prince Typhus is there 90% of the time.”

“Thanks for everything…” Botan took one step out, realizing it was once again just Myskel and himself as the entire party.

“Mysk~” On cue, Myskel rubbed his chin with her head to break him from any sour mood.

So instead, he thought to do something about his problem. “So, uh, Sir Saul. Does Ventus have any mercenary companies or adventurers’ guilds? Like how Arden has the Ivory company and Eld has the Champions of the Golden Sea?”

“No need to call me ‘Sir’, you’re the freak’n Evergreen. And not really. Mercenary companies are illegal to operate in Ventus. Only the Ventus military is allowed to field a fighting force… That said, we have a system where civilians and the former military to take up subcontracts to complete certain tasks for the state.” Saul began.

“So, exactly the same thing but Ventus gets to own and control it?” Botan wanted clarification.

“Yeah, basically.” He answered with a light laugh. “The Ventus military is the best structured in the world… but it’s over-structured. We gotta fill out paperwork for every damned thing. We have to record what monsters and enemies we kill, including accurate EXP values.” Saul said with an exhausted smile.

“Death by 1000 paper cuts.” Botan nodded at his explanation.

“Yup. I have literally spared monsters or ignored escaped slaves just to avoid the paperwork attached to it, and I am not the only one. The bureaucracy is so bloated that it has become cheaper and more efficient to let civilians make some money doing our lesser tasks. Hence, the Contractor’s Office. You’ll see it if you take the western road to the Forge. Hope that helps!” Saul waved Botan off.

Botan paused when he heard Saul mention slaves so casually. He knew Ventus had slavery. Both them and Eld. Though, they did it differently from one another somehow.

“My~My~Mysk~” The noise was accompanied by Myskel tugging on his ear with one of her tiny claws. She always seemed to know when he was thinking too pointlessly to let him drown in what-ifs.

“One thing at a time.” He said under his breath before pushing towards the west road to the Forge.

As he pulled the cart, he saw a lot more people than he did in Mosden. He saw about a quarter as many people as he’d seen in Japan. The roads were more than 25’ across, yet the streets were full of people. Those coming toward and past were preparing umbrellas, large disk hats, and hoods to prepare for the rain just beyond the capital. While those entering alongside him were soaked by the rain beyond and were putting such things away. 

“So, it’s like this all the time? Halcyon… A fitting name for a city that never knows rain.”

As he walked along the path he came across a large wooden building, well made but the only wooden building around. He could not read the sign. He could barely recognize the simplest words when he was in Mosden. But he already heard that unfortunately Ventus and Arden used their own languages. Meaning he’d only be able to read by the time he entered the Eld Empire at this rate.

He did what he could to determine its function. Outside stood several people, mostly men, clad in various armors and holding weapons. None were as uniformed or well-maintained as Saul and his squad. They were all looking at various papers and postings, some with illustrations of monsters.

“This has to be the Contractor’s Office. Okay, I should ask around for potential party members. Maybe find some as permanent members.” He thought.

He approached and looked at the board, only the pictures and a line with numbers gave any insight as to what these jobs were. “I guess that’s the level they recommend?”

Suddenly, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

“Heya. Couldn’t help but notice you can’t read. Need some help? ” A nice voice offered.

“Yeah, that’d be… Um. Yeah, I’d appreciate it. How’d you know?” Botan’s sentence died in a fire when he took a look at the girl talking to him.

(Illustrated by Alemo)

She had the same dark skin as all those in Ventus, yet Botan saw it was far smoother than any he’d seen. She wore a natural smile, not the forced ones he’d seen a lot lately. It was the kind of smile you’d give someone you already know. Her hair was blonde, a little more tame than the greens and blues he’d seen among those in this country. But it was more than made up for by her eyes. A slight amount of pleasant pink to catch your eye, then an alluring purple to draw you in further.

Initially, he didn’t seem to notice that she wore clothes far finer and far more modern than those around them. A purple raincoat, athletic shorts and a clean white shirt. The thing that would have caught his attention were very modern shoes, had he noticed them initially. It wasn’t until his eyes went exploring her elsewhere that Myskel saved him with a small headbutt. “Mysk~!”

“I meeeeean, you were looking at that page the way my eyes glaze over when I study. That and, you clearly aren’t from around here.” She gestured with her hand before noticing Myskel and coming closer. “And I’d have known about something this cute if it lived anywhere near here~!” Her hand easily moved around Myskel’s face and ears, conquering her with each touch. In a mere moment she was putty in this girl’s hand.

“Ah… I guess I do stick out a lot. I um, I’m just traveling and am looking to do a few jobs while I’m in town, maybe find some people to party with.”

The girl quickly looked around and then eyed Botan a bit more. “How many do you have in your party? You don’t seem to need much help, judging by all those monster materials you have.”

“Oh, uh, Just me and Myskel, can’t forget her!” He corrected himself.

“Mysk~!” Myskel chimed in.

“Just the two of you? And you can’t even read Ventusian?” The girl asked with anticipation.

“Um, yeah?” Botan answered.

“That’s perfect!” The girl exclaimed with visible enthusiasm. She threw her fist upward immediately.

“Huh?” Botan and Myskel both tilted their heads to the side in confusion.

“Um, listen… I have been trying to join a party for a while. I use a spear and I’m level 22. I might not be much, but if you complete jobs with me I promise to do all the reading and take none of the rewards. I just want to level up and explore.” She offered, looking at him expectantly.

“...” Botan pretended to consider her offer. Inside however was- “DO IT! SAY YES BEFORE SHE REALIZES HER MISTAKE! But she is way out of my league. SO? SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SAY YESSSSSS-”

“I could agree to that, under two conditions.” Botan said, holding up two fingers and trying to appear calm.

“Those being?” She squinted and crossed her arms. She acted like she knew what was coming.

“You take your half of the rewards and instead help me learn to read Ventusian for one. And secondly, wait until tomorrow. I gotta go see this supposed ‘Dark Genius’ and that’ll take up the rest of the day.” He explained, lowering each finger as he spoke.

The girl seemed surprised at his conditions. In a good way. “Oh… Yeah, that’s more than fine. Do you work for him?” She asked, eyes slightly narrowed.

“Hm? No, just got some rare materials and wanna cash out where I can, y’know?” Botan supplied, already more friendly now that they were on the same page.

“Y-Yeah, totally.” She put out her hand. “My name’s Nimbus.”

“I’m Botan.” He shook her hand. 

“Well then, Mr. Botan, what kinds of jobs are you looking for?” She asked.

Hearing her call him ‘mister’ hurt. She only looked two years younger than him, maybe three. But that put a weird barrier between them. “I want money and materials, same as most people. Though, I’d also like to see some of the monsters you can only find in Ventus.” He answered.

“Why do you want to fight monsters that are common here? That’ll be worth less money and materials.” She furrowed her brow and looked good even when she was mad.

“I mean, I want to fight rare monsters too. I just mean that I want to get experiences I can’t get anywhere else, y’know? I want to see all that I can.” Botan answered a bit more thoroughly.

Botan must have said the right thing because her eyes and smile grew larger. “...Not planning to stay long?” She asked.

“I got a lot of places to be.” Botan replied, not wanting to reveal too much.

“Sounds cool… So where have you been?” She asked.

“Oh, just Mosden.” Botan said, sure that would disappoint her.

“What’s it like?” She asked eagerly.

“Huh?” Botan failed to grasp that normal for him wasn’t normal for others. He may have thought of Mosden as the default or ‘Starting Zone’, but it was wild and unbound. It was a place with the highest mountains as well as great subterranean oceans. To most people, Mosden was the peak of exploration.

“W-Well it’s just I’ve never really got to go anywhere and I want to explore the world…! That probably sounded stupid.” Nimbus swayed back and forth, her hands fidgeting.

Instead of responding right away, Botan pulled out his notebook and sat down on a bench, patting for her to take a seat next to him. She wordlessly did so and she turned to the first page.

“This is what Mosden’s capital of Weldroe looks like.” Botan showed her his first several pictures of the town. From a building's rooftop, then three from street level, then one from the hill outside of town.

Nimbus’ eye grew wide and leaned in a bit. “Streets of water, homes of marble, gardens on their roofs. Just like they say. So that’s what they meant.” She said like she was whispering a wish to someone.

Before she knew it she was the one turning the page while he commented.

“That’s the castle. That is the Ygg Tree. Just so you know, it’s secretly a monster.” He whispered back.

“Wait, the famous Ygg Tree that protects the Mosden royal family is a monster?” She unconsciously kept whispering in confusion.

“Yup, top secret stuff. It stays perfectly still most of the time, but I’ve seen it move.” Botan said completely seriously.

“That’s called the wind.” She said, losing the whisper in her voice.

“I’ve seen evidence it’s over level 50.” He said while holding a [Scrying Marble].

Nimbus forgot about those, she barely ever got to use them. “Okay… Then what’s it doing there being still for? Why?” She tried believing him but it just felt so absurd.

“That’s what I’d like to know!” Botan said with exasperation evident in his voice.

Nimbus couldn’t help but laugh at him. While she wasn’t convinced of something that outrageous, she heard in his voice that he believed it himself if nothing else.

Nimbus turned the page again, this time to the garden he first started at. “Oh, where is this?”

“Oh that's where I got was s-got lost.” Botan stopped himself. She already agreed to go with him, but all he could think of was Iris and how she felt pressured due to him being the Evergreen.

“How far from Weldroe is it? It looks so well-maintained. Surely someone maintains it.” She asked, hearing him cover something up.

“Oh, it’s like a 20-minute walk from the front gate.” He supplied.

“...You got lost on a 20-minute walk?” She pointed out to him, her eyes narrowing.

“I really appreciate how many roads Ventus has.” Was his only counter-argument.

She felt something was off with what he said, then it hit her. “Gotta say, you speak Ventusian really well for someone who can’t read it. I don’t think it’ll be that hard for you to learn.”

“What can I say? You give me paper and I just draw on it, hehe.” He tried his best to cover for himself.

She turned to the next page and saw Weldroe’s last appearance in its pages from far away.

“Oh wow. The palace looked big, but it looks really small here, um, no offense.” She commented, saying whatever she thought and apologizing afterward.

“Don’t worry, that’s just what it looks like with the entire city in sight.” Botan felt nice that she was comfortable enough to just say what was on her mind.

She turned the page again to see a large hillside, a large wooden wall, a small village, and a few people.

“Wow, where’s this?” She asked, wiggling in excitement.

“That’s Lokkansted. A small village just north of Weldroe.” He said, his smile lowering enough that she’d have noticed if her eyes weren’t glued to the sketch.

“Wait, I heard of that place… Lokkan sells monsters?” She tried recalling.

“Raises, but only rents them out. The guy is a big softy.” Botan flipped to the next page to see Lokkan, Orf, Betty, and Knob. Three of them were now dead, causing Botan’s eyes to stop smiling altogether. Only his lips managed to maintain his smile.

“You are telling me that buff and scarred-up man is Lord Lokkan? He could throw me over the west gate, ha!” She laughed at the idea.

Botan pointed to each of the others. “You also had Betty, the mom of the group. Every group needs a mom. Then there was Orf, the mischief maker and sweetheart. And then there was the backbone of his whole operation, Knob. I was told gate beasts are quite rare.” He said, his smile completely gone now, replaced by a flat line.

“Huh, yeah they are quite rar-” She half turned to look in the back of his cheap wagon. Gate beast parts, and one of Betty’s antlers were still easily identifiable. She realized the way he spoke about them, only Mr. Lokkan was alive.

“Something wrong?” Botan asked. She could hear something in his voice.

“No.” She flipped the page again to see a half-drawn picture of a whistlewood tree and the first bit of color she had seen on these pages, a single drop of red. Botan flipped it quickly, and she didn’t protest.

“Aww, who is this?” Nimbus asked.

“This is my latest drawing. That’s a little creature named Mira. 50% Ventusian, 50% Mosdenian, 100% brat. The only time I had to draw her was when she was asleep. We traveled for a while together.” He said, trying his best to regain his positive attitude.

“Why?” Nimbus asked while tracing the lines, they were many and so light. She could tell he cared a lot about her by the effort he put into it. It was the most detailed drawing yet.

Maybe Botan was getting better as time went on? Maybe drawing people he’s connected with just brought something out in him?

“She had to reach her dad and she couldn’t make it by herself. Wasn’t that difficult. I was already heading the way so it was barely any trouble.” Botan softly lied. A half lie. It was trouble but he didn’t see it as such.

Nimbus turned the page again to see it blank, then took a moment to think. “How long have you been doing this? Adventuring, I mean.”

“About a month. I-”

“All these adventures in a month!” She sounded more excited than shocked.

“Yeah, it’s definitely fast-paced. Not for everyone.” Botan said, closing his book and stuffing it back in his bag.

“Well, I’m not everyone.” Nimbus said while standing, looking defiant.

“No, you don’t seem to be.” Botan admitted as he also stood. “I’m glad I was able to find someone willing to travel with me for a while. With that settled, I’ll go see this rich nerd up the road.”

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, um, what time do you want to meet up? If you get here late, all the best jobs are already taken.”

“Um… To be honest, I’m unsure. I’ve not done any formalized jobs. All mine have been word of mouth or direct requests. How early are we talking?” Botan would be as honest as he could be with her, as long as it wasn’t about him being the Evergreen.

“Lines start forming by 6 am, best to be here by 5 am if you want something good and not wait in line.” She said, her tone was one of misery.

That was early even for his standards. “Oh, uh, yeah, see you at 5.” Botan used that same miserable tone.

“Well… best go to bed early then…. If you do some tough jobs you can earn a fast pass to not need to come in so late.” She tried cheering them both up.

“We’ll see. I don’t know if I’ll be around long enough for that.” Botan began moving back to the cart.

“...Okay.” She looked like she had something else to say, but simply dropped it. 

“Anyways, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Botan waved.

“We? Oh. Yeah, I’ll see you and little Myskel tomorrow~.” She waved back with more energy than he did.

They parted ways and Nimbus felt a pep in her step as she practically skipped along. “Finally! Just had to find a foreigner to agree! Now I get to have my own adventure! The first of many! If only this Botan stuck around longer.” Nimbus slowly came to a stop as she realized. “Botan… Why do I know that name…?”

Botan made his way to the Forge with some pep in his step as walked up to the front of the large building. Two guards stood at attention at the front. Their armor was even more well-kept than Saul’s armored squad, looking like they were forged this morning. 

They eyed Botan, then his cart before speaking. “If you are here with contracted materials, present your contract, otherwise get lost.”

“Uh huh. Well-” Botan placed his right hand on the Holy Flower on his chest reverting it to one of his weapon forms while the left reached into his pocket and retrieved his letter from Princer Raucer. “-I’m Botan Nakaya, the Evergreen. They should already know I was coming.” He told them.

And they seemed to, as they stood firmer at attention as they opened the door. “Dame Beaumont will show you to the prince. The honor is ours.”

Botan was completely sold on being treated this way all the time, but every once in a while? Sure! He took his first steps inside the Dark Genius’ Forge, unaware of who he was about to meet and how their interaction would lead to world-changing consequences in the future.

.

[Otherworld Index]

Today we will be discussing the Ventus military, their ranks, divisions, and purposes. Firstly, squads are the smallest grouping, an individual party of 6. All groupings structure themselves in this manner to not suffer EXP penalties. A party of 1-6 will receive the same amount of EXP individually from a kill, meaning it’d be wasting EXP not to have a party of 6. However, at 7 members or higher, the total EXP 6 members would receive is divided up further. 

Most ranks have a Second and First Class distinction, think of them as half ranks.

In squads, most members are the starting rank (Officer). One of these six members is the leader of the squad and is usually a rank above their fellow party members (Knight).

After the squads are the divisions. These consist of five normal squads and a sixth squad made of higher-ranking members. Five of these party members are each responsible for communication and issuing orders between those above themselves and one of the squads within the division (Lieutenant). One of them serves as the division leader (Captain)

After divisions are the platoons. These consist of four divisions plus a squad made of higher-ranking members. Four of these party members are each responsible for communication and issuing orders between those above themselves and one of the divisions within the platoon (Major). One of them serves as a second in command and direct assistant to the division leader (Lieutenant Colonel) and one serves as that division leader (Colonel).

Above them are Generals who can command multiple platoons at a time. The number they are trusted to lead can be anywhere from two to seven depending on history, rank, and achievements. They are equal on paper to one another but not in practice. 

As for the different branches of the military

Rain: Entry-level general forces. The bulk of the army. With few exceptions, all those that occupy any of the military branches start in this branch. Twice a year they are tested and those that do well and wish to transfer to other branches can do so after receiving the necessary training. Those who enter military service are not only paid well, but when they exit the military they continue to receive their pay for a length of time equal to how long they served. If they die in duty, this money is instead given to whomever the departed designated in their signing papers and will continue to receive pay for that same length of time with a minimum of five years.

Fog: Stealth and recon specialists that often are sent to spy in foreign nations and in some instances terminate lone targets. They usually use ranged weaponry and do whatever they can to stay as removed from a situation as possible. They have also received heavy psychological training to not surrender information under torture or threat of death. They possess a badge to denote their rain, same as every other branch, however, they are not supposed to show anyone who isn't also in the military or a member of the royal family. Many members of this branch can spend their entire career in a foreign nation sending information back to Ventus and never taking a life.

Thunder: Information and communications specialists (Previously not its own branch of the military, but after Typhus' Voice Cannons and other inventions, one now needs specialized training to handle their more modern equipment). They are not meant to engage in battle, wearing more modern military uniforms than other branches. They are allowed to carry a weapon but are not required to. They have a central information center that serves as the base of their branch but the bulk of this branch serves in roles within other branches or operates Voice Cannons within towns throughout the country.

Hail: Those who manage, operate, and tend to the armored vehicles and/or armored mounts that make up the spearheads of their military. They consist of two regiments; Armoured, and Mounted. The Armored Regiment repairs and maintains the armored carriages and armored ships of the Ventus military. They raise, train, and ride several types of large monsters into battle, fully armored like a Cataphract. They wear the heaviest armor during military operations due to them not being expected to travel on foot.

Lightning: The true elites of the military. They must pass several trainings, such as at least qualifying for each other branch in some capacity. Those in important positions outside of leadership tend to be from this branch. Each member of the royal family can appoint one of their members as their sworn knight. The Gatekeepers at the four major crossings of the country's border are also of this branch. Those of this rank are well-rounded, able to use multiple weapons, well-versed in magic, and experts on several important subjects. Why not necessarily of higher rank, no Colonel or General has ever not belonged to this branch

Chapter Text

As Botan entered the building’s reception area, several things felt odd immediately. The floor had tiling that looked too modern, and a receptionist wore a uniform similar to the more modern outfits Cetus and the others operating the Voice Cannons did. He almost felt like he was back in Japan. The interior felt climate controlled, the lights were much brighter, and it left Botan a little stunned.

“Hello, can I have your name?” The receptionist asked from her well-kept desk.

“Botan Nakaya, the Evengreen.” He supplied.

The woman’s eyes widened a bit in surprise as she quickly flipped through her paperwork.“I’ve cleared his schedule for 2 hours. Please wait just a moment.”

Botan saw various expressions among those waiting in the area. From mercenary types, soldiers, and even well-dressed nobles, all eyeing Botan up. Some scowled at his preferential treatment, others seemed like they were arguing with themselves on whether they should approach him to start a conversation. One of the nobles stood and began approaching Botan, but stopped themselves as someone appeared from further within the building.

“Greetings, Evergreen. I believe you wish to speak with my Prince, correct?” A woman’s voice asked. Botan turned to see a knight wearing armor that put his to shame. 

Black armor with a faintest hint of deep blue polished without error, she stood as tall as him, her height partially due to her not wearing boots but solid metal high heels built into her greaves. She was a dark beauty, not unlike Nimbus, but she was taller, and her eyes were blue and fierce. She also had bright blue hair that flowed naturally out of an opening in the back of her helm. Her most standout feature, however, was her choice in weapons. She carried a serrated round shield that looked like a circular saw blade paired with a serrated single-edged broadsword that seemed to slide into a designated spot between her shield and her gauntlets.

Overall, she seemed as serious as Cole, as strong as Selene, and as graceful as Freona. Botan sized her up as best he could with his limited fighting experience and determined that hero or not, if they fought right now, the only question would be how long Botan could last.

“...Yes. I have multiple commissions I’d like to discuss with him as well as get some more information before I register to the Dragon Hourglass in Halcyon.” Botan kept it pointed and short.

She nodded lightly and turned to address the room. “The Evergreen will be taking up the rest of my Prince’s day. If you have finished your contract and are being freed from slavery, you may wait. The rest of you can return another day. My Prince and I appreciate the flexibility you are showing in the face of such important changes.” She said with a practiced smile and commanding tone.

Everyone except for those that looked like mercenaries got up to leave. They seemed upset but smart enough to keep it to themselves.

“That means these mercenary-looking people are slaves? And she said they were being freed because they finished their contracts… Does that have anything to do with the Contractor’s Office?” Botan spared everyone a passing glance before facing her again.

“And your name is…?” He asked.

The woman took a knee and placed her right closed fist over her heart. “I’m sorry for not introducing myself immediately. I am Dame Arabella Beaumont, Lightning Branch, and the sworn knight of Prince Typhus Stratos.” She said in a stern tone.

“Ah, no need to be dramatic. I’ve actually heard of you. A knight that helped me get here, Saul, was singing high praises of you.” Botan really hated people placing themselves below himself, literally or metaphorically.

She stood and gestured for Botan to follow. “If you insist.” 

She reached for the cart to pull it instead of Botan, but he waved her off. “It’s fine. I’ve been pulling it since Weldroe, might as well pull it the whole way.”

They began moving toward the back, her leading as she spoke.  “You haven’t registered with our hourglass yet, nor visited the palace?” She asked.

Botan realized that he may have done things out of order. “...No, if that’s a problem-”

“Not at all. I’m just happy to hear my Prince has become so indispensable that even you would prioritize meeting with him over those things.” She said with swelling pride.

“Well, he sounded like a big deal. From Mosden’s royalty, to random passerbys, to even my own old blacksmith.” Botan confessed.

“That is good to hear… If you are commissioning armor, do you have the measurements for your party members?” She thought to ask.

Botan hated having to repeat the same depressing and disappointing news. “Uh, Myskel, here is my party. I found someone at the Contractor’s Office that might work out, but can’t say for certain yet.”

They arrived at a very large and wide elevator, one that could fit three of his cart. She pressed a button, and they went down. That seemed odd to Botan, as the building had a large upstairs section he assumed was the workshop area.

Dame Beaumont gave Botan a long look. “Between your subpar armor, your lack of companions, and having to pull your own cart… Mosden didn’t provide you with much, did they?” Her voice sounded more judgeful than sympathetic.

“In all honesty, they expected to fail in summoning me. Once they succeeded, or I guess ‘failed to fail’… they did what they could, but with how poor they are as a country and Enrich dying…” Botan didn’t like such negative talk about Mosden and wished this part of the conversation was over.

She picked up on it but maybe misunderstood as she continued. “He was a good man, Enrich. The king of Ventus, Typhus’ father, King Alto Stratos, meant to attend the funeral had tensions with Eld not been so high. Still, they wasted a month of your time. If it’s not too much trouble, what level have you managed to reach?”

“...44.” Botan answered honestly, feeling it was a reasonable question.

Her eyes slightly widened at that. “That’s… actually quite remarkable. We’d have gotten you further than that, of course, but still, they did something right.”

“They did what they could. And due to the nature of the Holy Flower and the abundant exotic monsters within Mosden, it is an ideal place to be.” Botan dropped another hint that he’d be returning to Mosden and to stop badmouthing them.

“I can understand that.” She finished, seemingly getting the message.

The elevator stopped, and only then did Botan think about how long they had been going down. Dame Beaumont stepped out and, using a key, opened a very large solid metal door with a circular design. The pieces seemed to pull away from each other and the door collapsed orderly for them to pass through.

“He’s right inside. I’d announce you, but he hates when I do that.” She said, somewhat comfortable with Botan now. She entered the room first and took a sharp right. Botan followed and entered an enormous room full of moving gear and such along the walls. Dame Beaumont went to an area with comfortable seating where other women waited. Opposite them was an unorganized work area with what appeared to be a young girl, only a few years older than Mira, messing about. At the center, a large metal floor section and a man hunched over something as he worked a piece of metal with a tool.

Botan took it all in for a bit. The ceiling was four stories tall, the room was at least 150’ wide. For all of this to be built underground without any outward indication felt wrong to him. After a moment to collect himself, Botan slowly approached the man. Botan made it about 20’ from him before the man seemed to have noticed him. He sat what he was working on down, a seemingly useless piece of metal with incredibly intricate itched designs on it. Then (and Botan didn’t know how) this large piece of eyewear meant to magnify the vision of one of his eyes vanished in a soft light as a chunk of metal and glass fell onto the table next to him.

He leaned back in his chair and stomped on the table, kicking himself away. He shot towards Botan as the chair spun around, stopping when he stood a few inches from Botan. Without saying a word, he grabbed the Holy Flower and raised Botan’s arm to look at it.

“Not a physical material at all. A spiritual construct. How would I even…whatever.” He looked up, looking at Botan now. “I’m Typhus Stratos, the Dark Genius of Ventus, and future king. You got business with me?” He said, almost challenging Botan.

He had long hair for a man, hell, long hair for a woman too. Besides his blonde hair and dark skin, his purple eyes seemed a bit familiar. He wore white pants with a matching black shirt. His devilish grin and overly designed white coat reminded Botan of the character Seto Kaiba, which he found amusing. He also was far more fit than Botan thought he’d be, but as a blacksmith, it made sense now that he thought about it.

Botan began to speak. “Yeah, I brought-”

“Gate beast materials, and damn fine ones too. I assume you want a Demon Jar?” Typhus cut him off, but it only moved the conversation along, so he didn’t mind.

Botan could tell this guy liked to control the conversation, but despite his weapon, Botan was never a wallflower growing up. He’d dealt with this sort before.

“Among other things. Heard you were out of those materials and figured you’d take material as payment.” Botan began.

“Hmm, I’m not sure.” Typhus said with faux consideration.

“Then I’ll come back when you are.” Botan said and turned to leave.

“Tsk, alright, alright. Yeah, I ran out. So, one Demon Jar in exchange for the remaining material?” Typhus called out to him, Botan turned back around.

Botan just crossed his arms. “Not even for 10, c’mon.”

The man laughed it off. “Damn, and here I was hoping you’d be a pushover. Fine, fine. But I want all that material, what else do you want? I assume better armor. Cuz that shit is not cutting it.” He said, insultingly, at the armor that saved his life and that Willow put all that effort into.

“...Yes, using some of the materials I brought.” Botan, again, let it slide.

Typhus walked past Botan abruptly and sank his hand into the cart, pulling out a piece of the wave boss. “I assume with this? This is the best material here… and it’s not something I’ve ever seen before. Explain.” He demanded all of a sudden.

“Yes it-It came from the boss of the wave I repelled in Mosden.” Despite Botan’s efforts, this guy had firm control of the conversation.

“Huh, material from beyond Paradise…” Typhus looked at the cart for a moment.

“What else?” He asked

Sometimes, he rambled so fast that Botan couldn’t tell if he was saying something important or talking nonsense. He gave off the vibes of both a mad scientist who never developed basic social skills and an annoying businessman.

“Besides a Demon Jar, and new armor?” Botan thought aloud.

“Yeah, duh.” Again, somewhat rude and abrasive.

“You’re also the guy that made healing potions, right?”

Typhus raised his head and smiled widely. “What can I say? I am a man of many accomplishments. How many you want?”

“Well, I don’t know their price or effectiveness. So you tell me.” Botan asked impatiently.

Typhus pulled one out of his coat pocket as he spoke. “We only got one grade as of now. It’s being a bitch in maintaining high medical use after conversion. Right now, they’re going for 10 silver a bottle, but they rapidly heal any non-fatal wounds. As for fatal ones… reports have been mixed on their success.” He said, not sounding completely sure at the end.

“So do they only heal a certain flat amount of HP, or what?” botan asked.

“Flat. Half immediately, half over five minutes. Enough to be all you need at level 50. Oh, but if you drink another potion within those five minutes, the gradual healing does not stack. So, try not guzzling them down back to back if you can help it. And they’re 10 silver each.” Typhus said, placing the potion back in his pocket.

“...10 of them then.” Botan decided.

“Anything else?” Typhus repeated.

“Truth be told, those are the main things. The Holy Flower can copy plants and weapons that look like flowers, but commissioning weapons just to copy them seems so wasteful.” Botan admitted.

“So it has that kind of function, huh? Well, normally it’d be wasteful, but… Nevermind. Real talk, if I made both of these for you, you still brought way more material than what it takes to cover the cost. So, do you want coin for the rest or what?” He asked. 

“Don’t suppose you could use some of the materials to make Myskel here something?” Botan asked.

“I was gonna ask, the hell is that thing?” Typhus asked, looking at Myskel with suspicion as she tensed herself, ready to claw Typhus’ eyes out.

“They call her species living nooses, but-” Botan went to explain.

Typhus, for the first time, seemed to break character completely. “And you wear it around your neck? Ha ha ha, you're crazy.” Typhus started laughing.

“If she meant me harm, she’d have done it by now.” Botan defended.

“No, I get that. But you come here and the best thing you’re wearing is a damned suicide pet. Hehe.” Typhus seemed to make himself laugh louder when he put it like that.

“I mean…” Botan looked down at Myskel, who looked up to him. “When you put it like that…” Even Botan half-smiled at that.

“I knew you were crazy, but this is nuts.” Typhus commented, stifling his laughter.

“What do you mean? Why do you think I’m crazy?” Botan took offense to that.

“I heard you decked Raucar in his smug face. Punching the crowned Prince in the throne room? Figured you were some freak.” Typhus clarified. Despite his words, Typhus didn’t look like he disapproved of the action.

“...How do you even know about that?” Botan was more concerned with that than defending himself.

Typhus waved his hand like it was nothing. “Mosden is low priority, but even we can spare a spy or two for Weldroe.” He said it like that was normal.

“W-Well, I didn’t do that for no reason. He beat his brother, who I became friends with. So, he had it coming.” Botan kept defending his actions.

“Sure he did. Word from the wise; don’t try that shit in Ventus. It won’t end well.” Typhus went from joking to dead serious jarringly quick.

“Don’t give me a reason.” Botan responded, not intimidated.

“...” Something in the air changed. A tension was forming. Before Botan knew it, physical action was being taken.

Without saying a word, Typhus grabbed the Holy Flower and tore it free of Botan’s grip. Fully separated him from the Holy Flower that he couldn’t remove for any reason up to this point, Botan saw several stats drop dramatically. He was barely able to react before Typhus unceremoniously bonked Botan on the head with his own weapon. As he staggered back a moment, he was caught by his cart. As soon as he found his footing, he went to act, but when he looked up, Typhus had already tossed the Holy Flower back at him. He managed to put his arms out in time to catch it, his bonuses returned to him.

“What the fuck was…? What did you…?” Botan stood bewildered.

“Like I said, don’t pull that shit here. If I hear you got rough with my brother or either of my sisters, I’ll beat your ass with your own weapon, mister Evergreen.” Typhus threatened, saying his title with heavy sarcasm.

Botan took a moment to compose himself. “Then if you or one of your siblings lays a hand on one of my friends, I assume you’ll take care of it before I have to?” Botan asked through gritted teeth.

“Naturally.” Typhus said, returning to a calm demeanor. He sat back in his chair and kicked himself back over to his desk.

“So, you wanna talk shop or what?” Typhus returned to a light tone, seeming to put the previous altercation behind them.

“...How much do you sell Demon Jars for?” Botan swallowed his feelings and continued.

“Normally 10 gold, the secondary market scalps the shit out of them. But like I said, these materials are top tier. They could hold a lot more. I could probably get 15 gold per unit with these.” Typhus said, eyes closed, yet he acted like he was still examining the materials.

“And how many could you make with this amount?” Botan asked.

“...” They both narrowed their eyes. Botan had no frame of reference to call Typhus out if he low-balled him, and they both knew it. Just before Typhus spoke, a pale woman with unnaturally beautiful white hair and blood-red eyes approached from the small collection of women in the corner of the room. She wore a black robe and walked so smoothly it was like she was floating. 

“...Yes, Varsha?” Typhus’ tone was completely different. There was no arrogance, no domineering or argumentative tone, he almost sounded respectful.

“Varsha? According to Saul, she’s a priestess of some kind.” Botan noted. She gave off a feeling that Botan was in danger, yet her next words seemed to be the opposite.

“Do treat the Evergreen with respect. I need to speak with him after you're done.” She said, her voice sweet but dripping with something Botan might have misunderstood as a threat.

“I know. Just had to lay the ground rules. If he laid a hand on my family or any of you-” Typhus began to weakly argue.

“Then he wouldn’t have a hand, I know. And he knows now, too. So behave.” She said with a thin smile.

“Yes, dear.” He replied promptly.

She leaned against the desk behind him, now sort of overseeing the business arrangements.

“With this much… 50, maybe 55.” Typhus answered, no longer joking around.

“So, 750 gold in product?” Botan asked.

“After labor, yes.” Typhus reminded him.

“How much for my armor?” Botan moved right along.

Typhus seemed more docile with Varsha at his back. “If you want the best I can make, 50 gold plus materials.”

“So, how about this: 375 gold, half of what you’ll get for the finished product, minus 81 gold, covering the armor, my potions, my Demon Jar, and the materials for said Demon Jar.” Botan made the first offer.

“So, 294 gold?” He sighed heavily. “I can live with that. What do you want to do with the rest of these materials?”

“I want some of the yoklan and orf materials used in the armor if you are able. Sentimental reasons.” Botan hadn’t the time or inclination to say more.

“Orf leather is really comfortable, that’s easy to add. For the yoklan… I can use the antlers for decoration, but generally, you use that material for weapons. It’d be a waste, too. It’s of great quality.” Typhus argued.

“...I’ll keep the antlers then. It’ll be easy hauling them around in a Demon Jar.” Botan settled on that for now.

“Then let’s get the Demon Jar out of the way. Veda!” Typhus called.

“Already on it~!” A young voice replied.

The girl he spotted who had her own messy work station promptly got up and ran over to them with several items in her arms. Her skin was darkened gold, not of Ventus, but she appeared to be Egyptian if Botan were to equate it to Earth terms. She wore a white lab coat and glasses over her brown eyes, with her black hair half braided and half not braided in a chaotic manner.

“She’s a kid, but Saul called her ‘Lady’ Veda?” Botan thought.

Halfway over, she tripped, and the items went flying toward Typhus. Instead of reacting to catch the items, Typhus just sighed. Suddenly all the materials that were flying towards him disappeared in a soft light as well as one of the pieces from Knob in the cart. Instantly in Typhus’s hand was a black jar with golden trim, a thin and long enough throat served as the handle with the bottom of the jar barely being bigger than Typhus’ fist. A small golden chain dangled from it, used to fasten it to one’s belt.

“How?” Was all Botan could manage.

Typhus looked back toward Varsha; she nodded. “This is one of the many reasons why I’m the best smith and artisan in the world. I can make anything instantly just I could make it by hand, as long as I have the materials.”

Typhus expected Botan to be amazed, jealous, confused even. That wasn’t Botan’s reaction. “You want me to agree to 375 gold profit for you because of ‘labor’ and your ass ain’t even gonna do anything to earn it? I think we need to alter the deal.” Botan said with some sass.

Typhus got upset, but Varsha spoke first. “As the Prince said, it uses his own skills as a craftsman to create. It’s still the result of years of hard work with the best blacksmiths and artisans of Ventus. Even when you came in, you saw him improving his etching by hand. While his power is impressive, it’s only so powerful because he makes it so…” Her voice was soft, alluring even. Yet somehow, Botan felt a small amount of fear when she spoke.

Botan thought about it. “If he can instantly make something, the only reason I can think of for Typhus to etch metal himself is, as they said, to keep practicing and improving. And him getting a good deal isn’t bad for me. If anything, this guy is endlessly more useful than I thought he’d be.” Botan considered.

“And to be honest, more than 250 gold is already draining his coffers more than we’d like.” Another voice joined in, one belonging to one of the women who had stayed out of the conversation until now. She was also from Ventus, given her dark skin. She had bright pink hair and matching eyes. She wore a loose purple garb that signified herself as a dancer, and she had the slender build of one, minus two extremely out-of-place features. Her legs were missing. From just above the knee were intricate prosthetics that ended in a pair of fine metal blades that seemed to hold their edge even while constantly treading ground.

Botan began putting the remaining faces to names, given his conversation with Saul. “Rithma Lasakk, the dancer.”

“He is from another world. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t fully grasp the scale of such a sum. It might be better to educate than berate him.” Another of the women joined in, standing beside the last one. She had a light complexion that seemed similar to those from Mosden, a few scars around her neck, which she tried covering with a high collar and rather tall brimmed pointed hat that fell to one side covering most of her face and her orange eyes and white hair; she sort of reminded him of Tia. Her clothes were all dark and more modest than the others, including dark leggings to cover up.

“You’re not wrong, Asher. What’s your name again?” Typhus asked Botan.

“Asher Windemere, the witch.” He noted further.

“Botan Nakaya…?” Botan stated.

“Japanese? Figured. Well then, mister Middle Valley, that 294 gold you’d be leaving here with would be roughly equivalent to about 22 million yen at the least in buying power. So, realize I can’t do better than that.” Typhus said, sounding more annoyed than angry.

“That much? In this underdeveloped world? I don’t know the prices, but that’s at least enough to buy 10 homes with. Botan Nakaya, home owner, hell, landlord!” Botan thought wistfully for a moment.

“I get it. I guess there’s no reason to complain. We’re both making out like bandits with this deal.” Botan admitted. “And given I’ll have a Demon Jar, I’ll have plenty of materials to sell you in the future if my pockets ever get light.” He commented further.

That earned him a smile from Typhus. “Starting to get it, huh? I’m too valuable not to be allied with.” He bragged. “So, do we have a deal?” he put his hand out.

There was something, a strange feeling he got, maybe from the Holy Flower. Something was telling him not to shake his hand. But the numbers made sense; Botan ignored the feeling.

“Sure.” They shook on it. “So you can do the armor instantly, too, right?” He asked.

“...Normally.” Typhus began, eye diverting.

“Oh, what now?” Botan asked with mild annoyance.

“Like I said, this is entirely new material from outside this world. It’ll take me a day or two to understand it fully. After that, I can make the armor in a snap.” Typhus explained.

“Well, I can wait that long.” Botan said.

“You’re staying in the capital?” Typhus felt prompted to ask.

“I have a temp party member I’m trying out. Doing some basic contract to test the waters with them.” He told him.

“Speaking of contracts…” Varsha prompted.

“He says he was level 44.” Dame Beaumont told the room.

Typhus reformed the chunk of metal and glass on his desk into a telescope in his hand and used it on Botan. “Yup, 44.”

“But as the Evergreen, his practical level is easily 50% greater.” Varsha argued.

“Uh, why are you discussing my level?” Botan asked with some concern.

“One, for your armor, but two, this.” Typhus pulled out a map and used his ability to mark three red circles on it while erasing others as he handed it to him.

“This map keeps track of the Monster Villages Prince Typhus built years ago.” Dame Beaumont began to explain.

“What?” It was all going too fast for him.

“The best way to gain levels is to fight monsters frequently. Well, I just built huge dungeons in key locations that are so beneficial to the wildlife that they move in and populate them easily.” Typhus explained further, making sure to brag about himself some while doing so.

“Every six months or so, we’d travel out and clear them. After we hit our respective level caps, it became a training ground for those of the Lightning Branch to reach the required level.” Dame Beaumont finished explaining.

“Though we’ve waited a little longer than normal since we’ve last had it cleared.” Asher warned softly.

“...How much?” Botan sighed as he asked.

“Oh, it won’t cost you… money.” Typhus answered playfully.

“What do you want?” Botan’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m going to tell my father you're here, in the capital. After I get your armor squared away, I’ll invite you to meet him. And all you’ll need to do is accurately explain what aid I’ve given you.” He said with a wide smile.

“Gold on one side, accolades on the other.” Botan understood.

“And I suspect he’ll add heavily helping me to his long list of reasons he should be king over his siblings. But at least according to Saul, he’s already the frontrunner.” Botan thought.

“Well, if we are fully in agreement, here you are.” Typhus said as he tossed the Demon jar to Botan. “Like I said before, the capacity for this was quite high. I’d say a capacity of about 3500 lbs.”

Botan caught and stared at it a moment. It wasn’t just incredibly useful, it was also the best-crafted thing he’d ever seen. The gold trim had dozens of tiny details that made it feel like a priceless heirloom. “And for 15 gold, I guess it is.” He thought, now appreciating how much gold was actually worth in this world.

“Another thing you can brag to your father about helping me with: I need some basic information.” Botan started.

“Such as?” Varsha asked.

“Explain the Contractor’s Office and how slavery works here. They seem connected.” Botan clarified.

“That’s because they are. The Contractor’s Office is the largest section of the Ventus government after its military. They are in charge of keeping track of money owed, whether it be to opportunistic sellswords, traditional business dealings, government spending, that sort of shit.” Typhus answered. 

Veda piped up. “Slaves in Ventus are not so permanently. They owe an amount as determined by whatever laws they broke or contracts they failed to follow through on after previously agreeing to. Once they’ve made enough to pay their fines or repay the victim, they are once again a free man.” She sounded like she was reciting a book she was studying in school.

“Another important detail, the victims are compensated immediately upon receiving a lawful verdict. The government pays the victim out of pocket, and it is now the government's job to seek compensation from the slave. It’d be really silly if we made victims wait to receive small and sometimes infrequent payments.” Rithma added.

“Ventus has holding cells, but not prison. You are either executed if your actions are too heinous or you make direct reparations for your crimes. A far better system than wasting prisoners away for no greater purpose than ‘punishment’.” Dame Beaumont commented, sounding very happy with the law herself.

“So, debt-based slavery? But doesn’t that mean that someone who has more money, or is more capable of acquiring money, say through a skilled trade, would unfairly be able to either afford to pay their fine upfront or at least spend significantly less time as a slave for the same action as someone poor or unskilled?” Botan asked, seeing a huge problem in this method.

“Yes, but again, Ventus laws are not focused on punishing criminals and liars equally. Our laws are in service to the victims of their misdeeds.” Rithma spoke again

Botan thought a moment. “I still don’t like it, but if they prioritize entirely different things, there’s not much to be gained by arguing with them about it right now. More important is knowing how it works. While there is no good form of slavery, this does seem to be the least egregious. As long as-”

“And they only have to work? Are they allowed to be abused? Do they have fewer rights than those who are free?” Botan asked them.

“We’re not the Empire. Physical abuse is strictly forbidden and, if discovered, will result in their abuser owing them compensation, usually ending the slave’s time as a slave upon the judgement being rendered.” Rithma responded. She sounded like she was offended that he’d even think they’d allow such a thing to happen.

Dame Beaumont added to that. “Slaves must work a minimum of 8 hours a day doing whatever job makes them the most money without bringing them harm. It can and often is grueling work. And if the best work for them is not near their home, as is often the case, they will be made to stay in government shelters near their work site, which admittedly have low standards. It doesn’t make sense to spend money on the living standards of those that are themselves trying to pay off a debt.” It felt like Botan’s questions were so basic and shallow that it was annoying her.

“And they obviously have fewer rights. They can’t leave the country, they must keep a shackle on one of their arms that keeps track of how much they’ve paid and how much they owe; they must report to work each day or be labeled a runaway, with the exception of three national holidays. It’s the least envious position to be in.” Asher spoke, having said little in this conversation thus far.

Throughout the conversation, Botan slowly and awkwardly put the materials he was keeping, including Betty’s antlers, in the jar. He simply had to attempt to touch an item to the end of the jar, and it entered. He also placed his hand in, but couldn’t feel anything inside at first, but once he thought about what he was looking for, it suddenly reached his hand. Botan nodded to himself as he understood how the device worked now. It was truly amazing. And the fact that only Typhus could make it probably gave him as much importance as his princely blood.

With information and his business deals stuck, he nodded at the Prince.

“Ladies, do you mind?” Typhus spoke.

“We’ll get the gold from the vault.” Asher offered. Rithma nodded and followed after.

“I’ll help too~.” Veda offered.

“No, no! We don’t need a mess of coins on the floor again.” Rishma said with a tapping of her bladed foot.

“That was one time!” Veda argued with balled fists.

“Three times.” Dame Beaumont corrected. Veda hung her head in defeat.

As Botan was putting all the items he had been carrying into his new favorite container, he decided to crack a [Scrying Marble] for Typhus and each of his girls to see exactly how strong these people were.

.

[Name: Typhus Stratos]                [Name: Veda]

[Title: Dark Genius]                      [Title: Great Inventor]

[Level: 107](Max)                          [Level: 64](Max)

.

[Name: Arabella Beaumont]          [Name: Asher Windemere]

[Title: Sworn Royal Knight]           [Title: Venefica]

[Level: 100](Max)                          [Level: 92](Max)

.

[Name: Rithma Lasakk]                 [Name: Varsha]

[Title: Blade Dancer]                     [Title: White Tower Priestess]

[Level: 89](Max)                            [Level: 120](Max)

.

“...” Even if Varsha was accurate in saying Botan was roughly 50% stronger than his stated level when compared to non-heroes, that still meant he was barely above the little girl in stats. “What the actual fuck is going on!?”

After getting everything else, Botan looked at the cart itself before pulling it into the Demon Jar without issue. All the other material fell to the ground. “Huh, even something this big?” Botan commented.

“Yup, weight is the only limited factor. Size is never an issue. Well, you also can’t keep anything living inside because they can instantly free themselves. So, no kidnapping.” Veda added.

“It wasn’t kidnapping. She literally asked me to take her.” Botan defended, only to be met by a collection of puzzled faces as they apparently didn’t know about Mira and the issue of the Blue Gate.

“Hehe, maybe you do have some game. Could have fooled me.” Typhus commented, wrongfully assuming what Botan meant.

“I have game!” Botan barked. “You haven’t seen the girl that’s going with me tomorrow. Cute face, cute hair, perfect eyes, great curves both top and bottom. I have game!” Botan sounded desperate.

“Who are you trying to convince here, me or you?” Typhus countered, still laughing.

“Easy for you to say, you’ve won the race five freak’n times!” Botan yelled, half-defeated.

“Hehe, I guess.” Typhus surprised them both by patting his shoulder. Veda, Beaumont, and Varsha exchanged looks. They were not used to Typhus being so friendly with a man. “You’re the Evergreen. Even without game, you’ll land something.” Typhus offered faux comfort.

“I! Have! Game!” Botan was now sounding fully defeated.

“What are you two talking about now?” Rithma asked, her and Asher both carrying bags filled with gold back into the room.

“Nothing important.” Typhus said, trying to reign in his laughter.

Botan’s mood was quickly lifted by the sight of his gold. He got an accurate count as he placed it into his Demon Jar; it was all there. Botan fastened it to his waist and nodded.

“I’ll see you again in two days then.” Botan promised.

“Plan to stay a bit when you come. My father will find a way to make it bothersome.” Typhus warned.

“Looking forward to it.” Botan said sarcastically.

“Then I’ll walk him out.” Varsha offered. Botan gave a wary look but said nothing.

Once they entered the elevator, she spoke as she pressed the buttons. “Do not be nervous, wielder of the Holy Flower. I am not currently your enemy.” Varsha said in an authoritative tone.

That grabbed Botan's attention. He faced her as she continued. “I’m glad this meeting turned out beneficial for both sides. Typhus seems to like you. That’s rare for him. The only men he’s ever gotten along with are his father and brother.”

“Um, thanks?” Botan tried remaining composed through his confusion.

“Indeed, I am grateful to you. And with it, a word of advice.” She began.

“That being-”

“Use your damned power-up methods.” Her words stung like venom. “I can tell you only use two of them. The Holy Flower has four native power-up methods. I’m not sure why you’ve neglected them, and I don’t care. Just use them. You’ll need to prove yourself useful if you’ll be of any help to Typhus… or me. ” She said with grave seriousness.

“Oh yeah, I never did finish reading the help menu…” Botan realized as he opened up his menu while Varsha stared daggers at him. Sweat mounting as he found it.

[Spell Growth]

[When you level up, you gain special points that you can allocate to known spells to boost their efficiency and power. Different spells cost different amounts of points to boost. Spells powered this way apply a suffix ranging from I to X depending on how many times they are boosted. Any one spell can only be boosted to a maximum of ten times. After a cooldown of 24 hours upon applying these points, the points can be refunded from the spell and reallocated.]

Botan knew he screwed up sometimes, but this? Magic was literally his greatest strength, and boosting some of his weaker spells would allow him to stop relying on his skills as much. He looked at the spells he’d managed to learn.

[Updraft]

[Launching Palm]

[Executioner’s Axe]

Only to realize his supposed specialty was looking a little… underdeveloped.

Botan wanted to faint. Here was this woman (who scared the crap out of him for some reason) telling him to use his power-up methods, and he was so behind in the spell department he couldn’t really make use of it. [Updraft] merely set up [Launching Palm] , which, itself, was barely stronger than [Spring: Seed Strike] , his weakest skill. And while [Executioner’s Axe] had power, it also required him to attack with his leg, which was less than ideal.

And all that was ignoring the much larger point.

“How do you know that? How do you know any of it?” Botan asked.

Varsha kept her thin smile as she spoke. “My secrets are my own. All you need to know is that I am a priestess of the White Tower. The most sacred place in Ventus. We venerate, but do not worship, the three heroes. It is the will of the White Tower that you succeed.” She answered.

“Well… I promise to use them, but I can’t reasonably use two of them at the moment.” Botan admitted honestly. “The best I can do is-” Botan continued while navigating his menu.

[Topiary Menu]

[Select recipient]

[Party member “Myskel” selected]

Myskel tilted her head as she was prompted to choose something.

[Subject has chosen to sacrifice 6 of their levels]

[Subject has chosen to increase their MP in exchange]

[Subject has gone from level 36 to 30]

Botan couldn’t see the raw numbers to know if those six levels were worth the increase to her MP, but she seemed content. He’d have to test it himself to have more information.

Unable to determine more at the moment, he turned back to Varsha. “I’ll explore my options as soon as I can.” He promised her.

She showed no signs of approval or disappointment. “Do so, quickly. The wave is fast approaching.” The elevator came to a stop as the doors opened. “I know you’ve received far from ideal help up until now, but I promise that changes now.” She reached out her hand to Myskel, and a soft white flashed from it.

As she did so, she thought aloud. “How odd that you would gain a monster companion of that body type. I’ve increased her power. I can’t do more as I am now. Focus on mastering your current methods, and wait until Typhus is done with your armor. I promise you will be more than satisfied with the results.” She said the last bit with complete confidence.

Botan cautiously backed away, exiting the elevator, grabbing Myskel’s head, and turned it to face him to look her over, making sure she was okay. She seemed better than okay. She seemed super excited.

“My~My~My~.” she chirped.

“What exactly did yo-” Before Botan could question further, Varsha had already closed the elevator and was making her way back down.

.

Below, in the workshop, an important conversation was had.

.

“I’m surprised you’d go through the trouble of stealing the Holy Flower just to immediately toss it back to him. It’s said to be the most powerful weapon in the world.” Asher commented. The other girls nodded along in agreement.

“There’s so many reasons to not keep it. Firstly, it’s a damned flower. Imagine how lame fighting with that as your weapon would make you look. No wonder he has no game.” Typhus mocked.

“I mean, is it lame? It’s the most iconic and recognised weapon in the entire world. Revered and cherished by countless people.” Rithma countered, having much respect for the weapon herself.

“But Typhus will become just as recognizable, just as iconic, He will be revered and cherished. He doesn’t want that to come from something he holds.” Veda said while waving her hands for dramatic effect. She understood Typhus’ ego because she wanted the same for herself.

“Exactly, and secondly, stealing the Holy Flower would cause such a fuss. Even if we killed him quietly, Mosden would come snooping, and that’s a hassle.” He waved his hands in annoyance.

“But Mosden is weak and can’t afford to bother us.” Dame Beaumont argued, thinking Ventus’ might would be too great to overcome.

“Doesn’t matter. They have Tia, the queen of dance. She is the real force we ought to avoid angering.” Rithma countered, knowing much about the world’s greatest dancer as a dancer herself.

Even Typhus nodded at that. His father and mother had stories to tell of what that woman could do to a battlefield. “Thirdly, I’ll easily make a weapon five times more powerful than that hunk of junk. If not today, in time. Makes having it pointless.” He bragged.

“Hell yeah!” Veda agreed. The other girls nodded, all agreeing with him, in sentiment if not reality.

“And lastly, and most importantly, are you fucking kidding me? The heroes are just mall cops that guard my paradise. Hell, less than that. They clean up the messes that spill through. They’re janitors, my janitors. Why would I steal my own janitor’s mop? I want him to clean my damned floors. Let him deal with these waves so I can focus on important stuff.” He said, fully expressing his real feelings on the matter.

“Yes. Like completing those back orders for Demon Jars now that we have the materials.” Veda reminded him.

“Indeed, Veda. Our Prince will more than double his money in a week from the deal he made with the Evergreen.” Dame Beaumont agreed.

Asher tried recalling the details. “Those are all for the Champions of the Golden Sea if I remember correctly.”

“Most. A few were some rich businessmen from the Arden Republic.” Varsha said, just rejoining the conversation after leading Botan out.

“So, how’d your little one-on-one go?” Typhus asked, more to play with her than actually curious about the answer.

“He listened and promised to improve. For now, that’s good enough. More importantly, why’d you reveal [Creation] to him? That was unnecessary.” She criticised.

“To be honest, I got a little comfortable, but so what if he knows? I still have [Production] and [Domain] in my back pocket. And even if he was three times as strong as he is now and knew all my tricks, who do you think would win in a one-on-one fight, Varsha, and be honest?” Typhus asked, already knowing the answer.

“In Ventus? You, obviously, but at three times what he is now… He’d make you earn that kill.” She answered with a warning.

He nodded as he looked at the materials at his feet.

“Bring me the other needed materials for the Demon Jars, we’ll get that done quickly. But my main concern is this.” Typhus held a piece of the metal carapace of the [Interdimensional Heavy Hive Queen]. “I was beginning to think I was about to plateau, but if Botan keeps bringing me materials from other worlds, I might start improving again. It’ll take me at least a day to crack the code on this one. Let’s get to work.” He announced.

.

[Otherworld Index]

[Paradise Index]

The section formerly known as “Otherworld Index” will hereafter only be referred to as “Paradise Index”. This is a rebranding effort done on behalf of our new owner and CEO, Prince Typhus Stratos. 

Our new leader had this to say. “What the fuck even is this nerdy shit…? Just like, add explosions and tits to it. Oh, and talk about the ‘Tongued-Devils’ next. Those things are badass!”

And we will do just that… next time! 

Chapter Text

Following the meeting with Typhus, Botan went to register at the Dragon Hourglass. However, he found that it was inside the royal palace itself, with more than 100 knights and soldiers within sight. He knew they’d have no reason to deny, but at the same time, if he announced himself, that’d cause more headaches. He approached cautiously, eyed by several knights who stopped him.

“Are you here to change your title?”

Botan shrugged. “Something like that.” 

“That’ll be 10 silver upon completion.” 

“Understood.” Botan nodded, walking inside. Two knights escorted him to the Dragon Hourglass that took up most of a very large room. As soon as he got close enough, a beam of light shot out of the Dragon Hourglass to coalesce into his Holy Flower, still hidden as a decorative flower over his heart.

9:00:12:53

9:00:12:52

“Nine days, huh? So the waves in Mosden and here are around an even 15 days apart.”  

Botan thought for a moment, then spoke. “I changed my mind. Bye.”

The two knights stood dumbstruck for a few seconds. The moment they regained their senses, Botan was already halfway out of the palace.

Almost immediately, the two knights scrambled—one to tell the king, the other to catch Botan. Botan, however, evaded them rather easily. The verticality of Halcyon, combined with his mobility, made pursuing him too difficult for the average knight. He hopped a few roofs and leapt off the cliff to a street below. [Jet Burst] softened his landing considerably.

The next moment had Botan spend the rest of the day looking at items for adventurers and anything of interest. He settled in for the night earlier than normal to spend some time getting used to the Demon Jar. When he finally put everything in, leaving his bag empty, he noticed something he’d forgotten.

A stone, one given to him by the head of the Mosden branch of the Ivory Company, Valtor Meisser. 

He had completely forgotten about it. 

Holding it felt uncomfortable to him. It was as if his energy was being sucked as he was holding it. He considered that maybe he had no real use for the stone. Nor did the Holy Flower glow to indicate it could be absorbed. If anything, it appeared to be a liability. The impulse to throw it away crossed his mind. But on the off chance it was worth something, he’d sell it. 

“Maybe Typhus would buy it.” He considered for a moment, before shaking his head as he decided to let unresolved problems be the stuff of tomorrow.

Next, Botan looked at his power-up methods. 

Botan reluctantly used [Topiary] on himself.

[Topiary Menu]

[Select recipient]

[Self selected]

[Subject has chosen to sacrifice 1 of their level]

[Subject has chosen to increase their Magic Attack in exchange]

[Subject has gone from level 44 to 43]

Botan then checked his stats. They were all lower than the last time he checked prior to touching the odd stone. One thing that stood out was Magic Attack, which might be a bit higher than it was before, but still lower than it was at 44. “It affects the growth rate. Meaning it’ll be more impactful at higher levels. I might even get to the point where a stat goes up from deleveling more than the stat loss of losing that level.”

Botan sat cross-legged on his bed while Myskel poked him. “Even if it doesn’t seem smart in the short term, there are still short-term benefits. If I am a lower level, I get more EXP from the things I defeat, and it takes less EXP to level up.”

He used the power-up method several more times. He spent a level upgrading his speed. Then he did the same back and forth between Magic Attack and Speed until he was level 36. The bonuses were less each time. One might think this wasdue to the bonus granted being less the more you use it, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Just to be sure, Botan lowered his level one last time to 35, but this time to up his Magic Defense. The bonus was less, even though this was the first time upping this stat.

“Meaning the deciding factor is the size of the level sacrificed, or maybe more accurately, how much EXP was sacrificed in the process.” He realized.

He then looked at his tiny spell pool, three spells. Then he looked at his points. He had less than before he lowered his level, so that meant if his level went down, so did it. He lost more than he thought he would, meaning higher levels granted more points. Since he could retrieve the points later, he went ahead and upped all three of his skills to III.

He glanced over [Bouquet Bonus] , which he was gaining full effect from. The only way to get more out of it was to unlock more weapon forms. Which left him with one method left to review.

[Cultivation Menu] . The method that helped in the least number of ways and was the least well-rounded. But it was undeniably the one that granted the most immediate power. He looked through his strongest weapon forms, or the ones that he expected to be the most useful if Bloomed, and four sprang to mind. [Interdimensional Heavy Hive Queen Rose] , [Gate Beast Flower] , [Memorial Flower] , and [Belfry Lance Carina Branch] .

.

[Subject: Interdimensional Heavy Hive Queen Rose]

The strongest weapon form he had that hasn’t yet bloomed. This could become his weapon of choice moving forward. He met the requirement for natural sugar and other fuel resources, but still needed 3 gemstones, each worth at least 2 gold, and 3 more metals that had an exceedingly high melting point.

.

[Subject: Gate Beast Flower]

Given that gate beasts are among the rarest and most powerful monsters there are, it certainly makes sense that a weapon form derived from one would have more potential than most. He still needed jawbones, eyes, and very strangely, brass? Either way, that was all he needed that he didn’t already have.

.

[Subject: Memorial Flower]

…His own tears and 7 more bodies of dead allies. This one soured his stomach, but if it could benefit those around him, the taste was well worth it. Of course, he’d never seek the materials for this one.

.

[Subject: Belfry Lance Carina Branch]

It lacked stats and importance, yet the skill it granted was one of his strongest. If it could become greater, he’d gladly accept it. All he needed was some leaves, glass, and… 100 sunflowers… “Have I even seen one since I came here?”

.

He stared at them for a moment. Three of them were easy enough to complete. He could buy the materials in town for most of them or dissect the monsters he kills more thoroughly to get them bloomed. But looking at the [Memorial Flower] soured his mood. He stopped using his menu and thought for a bit.

“Can’t have Nimbus knowing I’m the Evergreen right away. She might make a great party member long term… and if I end up asking her out, I don’t want another Iris situation. But do I stick to one weapon form to not clue her in? No, I have the Demon Jar. I’ll just act like I am swapping weapons with it when I am actually changing forms. As for skills… I could probably pass most of them off as spells to any layman.”

With that settled, Botan turned over in his rented bed and drifted off.

The following morning started well enough. Myskel had woken him up at a good time, and he was able to get ready with some time to spare. Finding himself in front of the Contractor’s Office, Botan got early pickings from the available work. However, he couldn’t read and had to wait for Nimbus to arrive.

“Sorry! I’m here!” Nimbus announced, jumping a bit so her waving hand was seen over the forming crowd.

She was let through the line without Botan having to explain they were teammates, which Botan found odd, but his attention quickly went to their search for work.

“Ah, I see you got one too.” Nimbus said, pointing at Botan’s Denom Jar while swaying her hips a bit to show off her own hanging from her belt.

Botan couldn’t believe she had one too. “Yeah, so much better than pulling a cart all day… How did you afford-?”

“Oooh~, what kind of work are we going to do? A marked extermination? Caravan protection? Maybe clearing a monster village!?” Nimbus asked with excitement.

“Well, I actually have exclusive rights to go clear a few monster villages, but I need to be in town tomorrow. So, let's find something that won’t take more than a day, and we can explore some big monster villages the day after tomorrow.” He supplied.

Nimbus made an unreadable face, then drew closer. “You promise?”

“Um, yes.” Botan managed, fidgeting under her expectant gaze.

“Hmm”.  Her brow furrowed as she drew closer with a skeptical look. Her chest touched his, and with it, she felt his heartbeat. She pulled away a moment later. “Okay, but remember that you promised.” She walked over to the board and pulled one quickly.

Botan did his best to reset himself calmly after she’d suddenly gotten so close to him, touching his hand to his chest a moment, trying to control his breathing. “So, what’s that?” He managed to ask.

“Kinda boring, actually. A regular-smegular investigation request.” She teased.

“Huh. You sounded like you wanted a more exciting job. Why this?” Botan said, seeing she seemed too easily placated.

“Well, I’ve been trying to party up with someone for a while. So, I’ve spent a lot of time watching people come and go to the Contractor’s Office. This request was already accepted by someone two days ago, and it’s only 8 hours of work…” She began.

“So, you’re worried something happened to them?” Botan acknowledged.

She nodded. “Yeah, he also declined me joining him, but he seemed like a nice guy. I’ve seen him here a lot. He did jobs all the time. And he never dragged his feet like this.” Her tone sounded only a hint concerned.

Botan took a step beside her and looked at the paper. “What are the details?”

“They are building a new road, and a Monster Village was right in the way. It’s been cleared, but the road work was delayed. They just need someone to ensure that it’s still cleared out before they send workers out there.” She explained, touching certain words on the page as she spoke, giving Botan his first lesson.

Botan nodded along. “So if he still isn’t back, it’s very likely reoccupied. Aight, sold. It’s close by. Plus, he may just be hurt. I don’t have healing spells yet, but I have health potions. Let’s hope we find him.”

She seemed satisfied with his answer and sent him an invite. They were then in a party, Botan, Nimbus, and Myskel. It took little prompting for both to start to leave the city. Nimbus showed Botan the closest exit to their destination. 

The travel was quick. Nimbus set a fast pace, and no longer burdened by the cart, Botan found himself traveling even faster. Soon, Nimbus felt she was the one going too slow, and her face kept looking up momentarily while she stressed about something. 

She had Botan look at the paper as she read it word for word slowly when the pace got to be too much. That slowed him down at first. She eventually had to pull out her secret weapon much earlier than she anticipated. 

A children’s story book.

“This was one of my favorites growing up. The sentences are short, simple, and easy to follow. I got two other books as well. I can read them to you as you follow along, then have you read them back to me. We can go over the alphabet first, if you want.” She offered.

With Botan occupied, he slowed down, now listening to her as she drew letters in the air with her spear. 

Frankly, she was an awful teacher, jumping between things half explained, covering what she thought was the most interesting about whatever she was talking about, and sometimes not circling back to the original subject at all. 

Botan almost wanted to call her scatterbrained, but that wasn’t it. It wasn’t that she couldn’t stay on point; it was that she simply didn’t want to. 

She seemed very aware of herself, aware that she wasn’t doing a great job of explaining, but enjoyed her way of talking all the same. And Botan found himself liking it too. There was no way he could get distracted when whatever she was talking about was the most interesting thing she could think of to talk about. 

Botan was bad at small talk, but there was none to be found here. It was nice finding someone that seemed to match whatever weird frequency he was on.

She was also very physical. When Botan went to look up, she grabbed his chin and made him look at her. It was embarrassing, but again, it kept him in the conversation. People in Japan did touch each other like this in random conversation. It was going to take some getting used to.

While Nimbus spoke, her hips swayed, and as any man would, Botan looked in that direction, but something else caught his attention.

“That’s right, I meant to ask; how did you manage to get a Demon Jar? Those things are pretty expensive, yes?”

Nimbus lost the playfulness in the way she walked and it made Botan think he asked something he shouldn’t have. “Well, not that it really matters, but my family has a lot of money. I’m technically a noble.” She said with her face turned away.

And the wheels in Botan’s head started turning until they stalled. “She’s a noble? No wonder all the locals refused to take her out on their contracts. They probably didn’t want to risk some noble girl with wanderlust getting hurt, and it falling back on them.” Botan thought. 

“...Is that a problem?” She asked expectantly.

“But I’m not just some random Contact Jockey.” He finished thinking. “No, just thinking it made sense that you didn’t care much about getting a cut of the rewards for the contract.”

“Hrm.” She huffed. “No changing the terms now.”

“Of course. Still, surprised you could stand that Typhus guy long enough to buy one of his Demon Jars. He was a bit obnoxious to me, I can only imagine how annoying he is when attractive women approach him.” Botan thought aloud, maybe a bit too honestly.

Something about her face changed; she seemed defensive. “Like he’d even care. You know he has an entire sisterhood at his beck and call.” She said with a huff.

“That’s a nice way to say ‘harem’.” Botan said bluntly.

“That’s rather crass...” She weakly complained, not really having a comeback to that.

“Either way, it’s a great help to have one. This thing is seriously convenient.” Botan said, grabbing the Demon Jar as it dangled from his waist.

“Yup. That one invention blew him past his siblings and placed him firmly in first place when it comes to being the next king, as he loves reminding people… Let’s talk about… literally anything else.” She grew tired of the topic rather quickly.

“Hmm, how about-” Botan switched the subject, and the two continued on their way for a total of two hours before reaching the designated location. They managed to pass once, but upon doubling back, Nimbus held the map and proved a better navigator. They found the entrance to the former Monster Village to be a dug-out hole reinforced with sticks and stones. Various claw marks of different sizes decorated the path to it.

“So, a cave. Easy enough.” He commented.

“A shallow artificial cave. Try not to damage the wall with… Wait, I never asked, what weapon do you use?”Nimbus just now thought to ask.

“I had quite a few made, like this-” Botan grabbed the flower pin from his chest and pretended to pull something out of his demon jar, but was really changing the Holy Flower into its [Grass Blade] . “This is short enough that it shouldn’t be an issue.” He said, posing with his weapon.

And he thought he looked cool, but from Nimbus’ point of view, he looked a little dorky. “And a green blade, why?” She thought to herself.

“Well, we might as well take a break.” She suggested.

“But we just got here?” Botan thought aloud.

“Exactly! Do you go into, what could very well be a fight, exhausted?” She argued.

“...Usually I don’t have a choice.” He admitted.

Botan removed Mr. Lokkan’s cart from his Demon Jar. It’d serve well as a chair for a while. Then he removed a small bit of sweets for Myskel. “Say, do you want som-”

He cut himself off when he looked back to see Nimbus had set up a lavish king-sized bed with a full canopy and curtains. Then he watched as she sat on the bed eating a plate of grapes.

“Isn’t that a bit… much?” He barely managed to say.

She replied while popping grapes in her mouth. “Hmhm, if I can carry it with me, hmhm, and set it up this easily, hmhm, is it really that much?” She asked with smug satisfaction as her head hit her pillow.

“I guess…” Botan conceded the point, then looked down at the worn-down cart he was forced to use, no longer as grateful for it.

Nimbus stole a glance at his face when he thought she wasn’t looking. “Get on the bed.” She told him.

“...” Having no idea how to respond to that, Botan pretended not to hear her.

Unfortunately, she just repeated herself louder. “Get. On. The. Bed.”

“But uh, you know…” He couldn’t find the words.

“This bed is so large that we could both do our best to take up as much space as possible, and we’d never touch. Now stop giving me that look and get over here. Y’know, it makes me feel bad when I got this fancy bed and you have that dirty old cart.”

Wordlessly, he stood and sat on the edge of the bed. And he planned to just sit there, but- “Fu-u-uck~.” It was so comfortable that he practically melted into lying back. It was even better than any modern bed he had lain on. 

“See?” She asked rhetorically. “Grape?” She then asked for real.

As they laid there, Botan thought to ask. “So, you said this guy was some friend of yours?”

“Sort of… I’ve spoken to him a lot, tried to join him a few times. I really wanted to help him out.” She only hesitated a moment before divulging.

“Help him out?”

“Yeah. See, he was in the military but had to leave it. Needed the kind of money only risky jobs could provide. He could have gone far in the military, so I felt bad for him and wanted to help him.”

Botan sat with that a moment, then continued. “...Not sure if it’s rude to ask, but… why does he need the money?”

“His brother is a real jackass. He was always in trouble, while Sir Dustrum aced the military academy.”

“Sir Dustrum, huh? So he was already a knight.” He thought.

“His brother finally got himself in some deep legal trouble. Owes a lot in damages and barely a copper to his name. So, he was made a slave until he paid it off. Standard Ventus stuff.”

“...” Botan kept his opinion about that to himself for now.

“He didn’t want his brother living like that, so Sir Dustrum has been working tirelessly to pay off his brother’s charges. Last time I checked, he’s already paid about half of it off.”

“But even if he does pay it off… He can’t just rejoin the military, right?” Botan realized with a frown.

“Yeah… he’ll lose about three years of his advancements if he’s lucky. All that hard work, only to throw it away for a screw-up.”

“It’s what siblings do.” He argued.

“Huh. Do you have siblings?” Nimbus had not thought to ask.

“I have a little sister who causes all sorts of problems. I can’t count the number of times I bailed her out after she broke something… or someone.” He answered, his words filling her with confusion, given the chuckle and accompanying smile those words brought with them.

“...And do you ever resent her for putting you through all that?” She pressed.

“Maybe until the following morning. Even if she does something that upsets me, blood trumps all that. If she were anyone but might sister, I’d have never forgiven her several times over. But she is, so I guess I always will, y’know?” He tried explaining.

“I can’t relate.” She thought, but did not say.

They spoke a bit longer. Myskel loved the grapes, maybe a bit too much. Ever since Varsha did whatever she did to Myskel, she’d been eating more and more. The three of them took nearly 30 minutes to relax. During that time, they went through that children’s book again. Nimbus was right. It was better to recover after traveling so much. Botan had gotten used to hauling that huge wagon through the swamps that two hours of walking normally had felt like nothing to him.

“But that was beneficial.” Botan thought, tracing his hand down his other arm, torso, and leg. He’d always been athletic, but he felt more muscle than there was before.

“I’m already looking great, but if I keep fighting monsters and traveling, I’ll be completely shredded in a few months. Then-” Botan’s train of thought was cut off by something that caught his eye. Botan turned to see Nimbus checking him out. As quickly as he’d turned his head, she did the same.

Botan decided to say nothing and leaned back and watch the clouds. When he did, he was shocked. “Like Halcyon!?” Above them was a perfect wide circle of missing cloud. The storm clouds filled the rest of the sky, but just like the capital, the area directly above them was a clear sky surrounded by clouds.

Noticing this, Nimbus threw herself off the bed onto her feet. “Guess we should get started.” Nimbus did not wait for a response and instead started placing her bed back into her demon jar.

Botan had the bed disappear beneath him, but he was now good enough to still land on his feet. Moreover, he didn’t let a distraction steal his attention this time. Not with the very sky as it was.

“Nimbus, why is the sky like that? Is it not just Halcyon? Why right above us?”

Nimbus looked toward him before her eyes travelled down, then she spoke. “...It’s a phenomenon that only happens in Ventus. I don’t know all the details, but holes in the clouds have been around for at least 300 years. Back in the days of the Bi-forked-tongue Devil.”

“The what?”

“Just some big, scary monster that people say is sealed at the White Tower. But to be honest, it’s doubtful something like that was ever real. A mile-long snake? That’s more ridiculous than the Sovereigns of the Nine Peaks.”

After a moment of thinking about it, he nodded at her before glancing upwards one last time. “I don’t remember it raining as we traveled, but everything was always wet. Was… Was it above us the whole time?” He considered before entering the small cave opening, Nimbus right behind him.

The two slowly descend into the cave, the ground below them something less dangerous than a flat ramp, yet far less stable than stairs. Logs and sticks form rows that they stumble through. The monsters had claws to dig into the dirt and wood, Botan and Nimbus had nothing of the sort. Had Nimbus not had her spear to use as a third leg, she’d have been sent to the bottom with little to stop her. 

The whole time, they also knew a monster could attack from anywhere beyond their sight. Nimbus pulled out a decorative metal cage and snapped the flower within, grantly them light. It was the same style of lantern Botan had witnessed in Mosden.

“This’ll only give an hour of light, and the second half will only be half as bright as this.” She warned.

“I have a spell that can help when it’s needed.” He offered, passing off his Hero skills as spells for the time being.

As they reached the first chamber, they smelled something foul, and the two of them readied themselves. She hooked her lantern to her belt, opposite her demon jar. She then took her spear with both of her hands and slowly walked forward. 

He pointed the Holy Flower, currently in the [Grass Blade] form, forward.

[Illuminate]

A bright ball fired off the end of his weapon and cast enough light to fully see the room. There were a few dead monsters scattered about the room. Light decay from these kills had soured the stale air. They both winced and moved forward. Myskel covered her nose as the smell grew stronger. They moved from chamber to chamber, seeing more and more dead monsters. Must have been at least 20 in total. 

More than once, they came across forks in the road, so to speak. Botan initially waited to see what Nimbus decided, yet she turned to him, expecting him to decide. With that expectation, he chose. Each time she’d turn, and he decided. He eventually started acting before she turned to him. He could barely make decisions for himself, yet here he was making all the decisions for the both of them. The look she gave wasn’t a helpless one, she was perfectly capable of making these choices herself. If anything, she was better suited to it. 

“It could be that it’s just the gender dynamic, that men made more of the decisions in this less developed world. Maybe she was offering me to lead because she saw me as the party leader. Or maybe she just wanted to assess me in some way.” Without a clear answer, Botan did what he always does: overanalyse.

Their worry and fear soon turned to confusion, as the entire monster village seemed to be cleared out. But if that was true, why had the man who did the deed not reported as much and received his pay?

The next room held some answers. They had searched all the offshoot tunnels and chambers, leaving the obvious main area for last. Nimbus was impressed by his thoroughness, but in truth… this was simply a habit of his in RPGs. You always go the wrong way before you go the right way. Still, it meant nothing would come up behind them. They found a heavy stone lying poorly against the entrance. Botan alone was more than enough to push it aside, with the soft soil giving way.

They both saw the same thing at the far end of the room, yet their reactions were very different.

Botan saw a man, injured but breathing. He happily expressed his relief. “We found him!”

Nimbus, however, saw the injury for what it was. “It can’t be…” She removed a scrying marble from her demon jar and crushed it in her hand as she stared at the large sore on the young man’s right shoulder. As soon as she did, she dropped her spear with her other hand and reached out to pull Botan away as he went to assist him. 

“Stop!” She screamed, her spear bouncing off the overturned stone, ringing in the air.

The noise roused the man, or something. As his body moved oddly and stood up inhumanly, his head still slumped down as if he were sleepwalking.

Botan turned to see her face, one of complete horror. Slowly, he did as she did, removing a scrying marble and breaking it while looking at the man.

[Devil-on-their-shoulder]

[Level: 38]

His eyes widened as the wound swelled, the right shoulder and arm twisted and wrapped into a veiny mass of flesh with a long barrel replacing the arm, almost looking like a cannon of sorts.

“A devil? This close to the capital?” She asked herself aloud in a low, trembling whisper.

“What… what is that ?” He managed to ask.

“It’s a parasitic monster… My friend is gone…” She couldn’t say more as a lump formed in her throat and tears stole her sight for a moment. She tried to wipe her tears quickly, only for more to replace them as she began to sob.

Almost immediately, the body lunged forward, the man’s left arm still holding his own spear, which he had in life, and attempted to impale her in her brief opening.

[Shimmer] !

Botan swung his sword upward, deflecting the thrust and creating a visual illusion to shroud Nimbus from the monster’s view. Confused by this, the creature hopped away, shocking Botan as that simple movement caused it to reach the edge of the large chamber. The room was easily 40ft in all directions.

“I might actually be in some trouble here.” He realized.

The cannon fell, leveled at Botan. His eyes grew wide as he knew what was coming. The lump of twisted flesh ripped open, revealing a mouth with two howling words. “[Brio Culverin]!”

As a bright beam of light escaped the barrel of the cannon, Botan raised his Holy Flower, twisting his grip, still trying to add motion to his skills to masquerade them as spells.

[Sunray] !

It was a wise decision to clash attacks. Who can match the magic might of the Evergreen after all? 

The two beams met in the middle, drowning the chamber in light.

However, there were two things Botan didn’t consider. 

At first, Botan couldn’t tell which attack was winning due to the brightness.

Firstly, his current weapon form heavily favored physical attack over magical attack. Something he had already fallen victim to overlooking in his battle against the wave boss.

But as he focused, he began to piece together what was happening at the center of the clash.

Secondly… What the devil fired was neither mana nor magic.

His skill was pierced through by the superior might of the opposing attack. He attempted to leap out of the way but was unsure if he was going to make it in time.

“MISK!” Myskel had uncoiled herself from around Botan already, having seen the outcome of the attack before he had. She shot out to the large stone he had overturned before and dug into it with her claws to anchor herself. She then used all her strength to pull Botan to the rock, making the attack miss.

Five large crashing noises filled the chamber and reverberated. The light from the attacks faded. As the echoes continued and the chamber grew dark again, Botan found himself struggling to figure out where he was in relation to everything else. His eyes weren’t adjusting fast enough, and his ears were ringing. But when he looked up, he saw a hole through the chamber wall. And the next. And the next. Five chamber walls, each more than 10ft thick, all broken through.

“Beating my skill is surprising, but still understandable with this weapon form… But that much power after beating it? And I… I didn’t feel it. There was no mana in that attack…” Botan considered.

“A spell that is stronger than mine, yet not magic at all… Nimbus, what was that!?” His voice betrayed his newfound panic.

“...” Yet Nimbus was still struggling to compose herself. “I-I’m no expert. I don’t know what that was. It just-. All I know is if it touches you, it’ll infect you too.” She said, stumbling over her own words.

“Melee can doom us, and we’re beaten in ranged…” Botan summarized the issue. 

All the while, the parasite only slowly moved towards them with a short, measured stride. It swayed a bit, with the new bloodied mouth grinning. Then a moment later, the smile dropped. “You… The. World. Pillar… You should run.” The grizzled voice choked out. It sounded like a warning, telling Botan it would allow him to escape.

But as it took another step forward, Botan took only one step, to his left, putting himself between Nimbus and the parasite. “You remember the layout, right? Retreat, I’ll follow behind.”

She looked up to him for a moment, hesitating. “N-No. It’ll get you! Let’s just… collapse a section of the monster village and-”

“It can bore a hole straight through.” Botan cut her off, pointing to the massive hole it had placed through five walls.

“Hehe.” A cruel giggle escaped its torn lips as it began striking various stones nearby, launching them all at both of them with fatal force.

With her eyes clear enough, both of them began defending themselves. Nimbus spun her spear far better than Botan would have expected. While his stats meant that debris wasn’t much of a threat at all. The moment the parasite ran out of stones to launch, it leapt forward at them.

“Fu-” Nimbus went to curse, too busy still deflecting the remaining projectiles to prepare for its assault.

[Spring: Seed Strike] ! [Sickle Throw] !

Botan shot multiple attacks at the creature to intercept its approach to Nimbus, forgetting to even pretend to add movement to hide their nature.

“No way!” Yet, he watched as the creature’s control over the human body exceeded his expectations. The top half of the body fell back to avoid the first attack, but the bottom half still moved towards Nimbus. The second was aimed lower, but it merely jumped with its upper body still hanging backwards. This allowed it to make a small backward flip, landing easily with its top half reoriented back to how it was before it started dodging.

“Tsk.” With a clicking of her teeth, Nimbus was given only just enough time to raise her spear to try forcing distance between them.

“Hehe.” Again, it giggled maliciously. It completely ignored her thrust, letting her pierce it, as it stepped into her thrust and reached out to touch her.

[Grizzly Claw] !

Despite the situation, she wasn’t defenseless. She let go of her spear, abandoning it still impaled inside the body of her deceased friend, and curled her fingers subtly before scratching at the beast. Her fingernails became covered in mana and took on a more lethal appearance as she slashed at the lump of flesh, the mana creating a buffer between the pair that avoided directly touching it.

“Hssssss!” The giggling was gone, replaced by an off-putting hiss. Her spell landed, but the creature was still advancing on her.

“Misk! Misk! Misk!” Surprising everyone, including Botan, Myskel fired three small white beams of energy, traveling far faster than most of Botan’s skill. They each landed center mass and threw the creature away from Nimbus. It was thrown in the air, but simply turned itself upside down and dug itself into the ceiling to stop itself. It remained there, suspended from the ceiling, several moments, thinking.

“How did Myskel…? Probably whatever that Varsha woman did to her before. No time to worry about it.” Botan shut his wandering thoughts off as he moved in front of Nimbus.

“I can still fight.” She argued.

“You’re down your weapon. I lead.” He shut her down. 

“...I have two spells, he has many. Probably a dozen or more.” She reasoned, still misattributing his hero skills as spells. “Understood.” She conceded.

Just as they were readying themselves, her lantern’s light began to lower to half strength, making the chamber even darker than it already was. They never took their eyes off the target, but their breathing became a bit forced as their anxiety rose.

“World Pillar, leave without the girl, and I will not pursue you. After all, if you die, the rest of us soon follow.” The creature spoke, still suspended upside down.

“Huh, ‘world pillar’. Never heard that one, but it’s clear it knows I’m the Evergreen. But more importantly-” He stopped thinking to himself and started speaking. “It’s speaking more clearly than before… Why?”

“They slowly take over their hosts. So, maybe…” She began considering.

“It’s gaining control of his brain… But I thought he was dead?” He asked in confusion and disgust.

“No. Sir Dustrum is gone, not dead. All the more reason to lay him to rest.” Nimbus clarified.

At hearing his name, the head jerked a bit, but little else.

“...I see.” Botan understood well enough now. “Not even allowed to die. A fate worse than death.”

Botan watched carefully as the devil let go of the ceiling and began to fall back to the ground. In an instant, he shot off toward the parasite. “To get off the back foot, I gotta step forward!” His rushing took the creature off guard and caused a meaningful hesitation. Unable to do much but fall for the brief two seconds it had, by the time it touched the ground, Botan was already right on top of it. It jabbed at him with its barrel, but he spun out of the way and seamlessly transitioned to using his strongest spell

[Executioner’s Axe VI] !

Now powered up with his new method, the axe head that formed along his leg was larger and brighter. He brought it down, leaving the parasite with little option but to block with its barrel.

Sparks flew as the two collided. Nimbus inched forward before breaking into a full sprint, not confident that Botan would win the clash.

But he did. 

After an intense match of force, the barrel of flesh surrendered to the Evergreen’s magical might, carving into it before severing it completely. Next, the blade ran across their chest, blood leaking generously. Seeing that, Botan backed off, not wanting to be infected. But as he retreated, the devil advanced. 

However, both were so focused on the other, they forgot there were two other participants in this battle. Nimbus misjudged the outcome of the attack, but she felt she still had a part to play. She ran past Botan and tried getting behind the parasite, nearly succeeding. She reached for her spear, still lodged into the chest cavity of the abomination. It attempted to intercept, but then the other participant acted.

“Misk, misk, misk!” Three more small white beams of energy escaped the small creature’s mouth and struck the central expanded area of wrapped flesh.

“Nice! I’ll take it from here!” Nimbus called as she gripped her weapon with both hands from behind and raised the skewered devil above her before following through and sending it off of her spear and violently into the nearby chamber wall.

With a solid cracking noise, the body fell limp. Botan and Nimbus shared a look as they breathed heavily. Her lantern was nearly dead, and the room was so dark they had to draw closer to see each other clearly.

“You okay?” She managed to ask between deep breaths.

“Yeah… Did its blood get on you?” He replied, fighting for air as well.

“Waterproof gloves.” She answered showing that blood only reached that close to her.. “Most Ventus gear is waterproof.”

“We’re going to need to get rid of those.”

“Agreed.” She said, removing her gloves carefully and throwing them out of sight.

“What do we do about, Sir…”

“Sir Dustrum… We can’t take his body back. We have to burn it.” She said as her expression changed more than Botan could decipher.

“Burn…? Me…?”

[Illuminate] !

Botan immediately lit up the room fully, only to see the parasite peeling itself off the wall, once again giggling to itself.

Botan and Nimbus looked at each other for a moment and took to their feet again, him a bit slower, her leaning on her spear for support. But the body did not move at first. It seemed to be watching them, or perhaps thinking. Then, after that long moment, it pointed the broken barrel at them and screamed. 

“[Brio Culverin!]”

Unlike the first time, the attack was much wider due to the damaged barrel. They couldn’t dodge the incoming attack as it took up the entire chamber. Botan went to move in front of Nimbus, only for her to try doing the same. They ran into each other awkwardly, only for both to be saved.

“Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Myskel stiffened and fired an attack of her own, this time many times larger than the more precise beams she utilized earlier. The two attacks clashed and shook the entire room. Now exhausted, Botan and Nimbus fell over each other, yet Myskel kept her attack going.

“Myskel, keep it up!” Botan encouraged. He pretended to swap his weapons in his demon jar while really all he did was change the weapon form, taking out the [Grass Reaper’s Scythe] .

“I gotta time this right. I can’t just spam skills.” He waited, one eye open, one eye shut.

The attacks from both sides persisted for nearly a minute and a half, then both attacks ended.

“Misk…” Myskel slouched forward as she attempted to catch her breath. She was so tired that she’d have fallen off of him had she not been wrapped around him several times.

[Sunray] !

[Spring: Seed Strike] !

[Sickle Throw] !

[Vile Toss] !

As soon as Myskel’s attack ended, Botan swapped eyes, closing the one adjusted to the light of the clashing attacks to the one that wasn’t. He immediately fired every harmful ranged skill he had in the window Myskel created. Each landed and struck a meaningful blow to the devil. [Sunray] pierced its chest, burning a clean hole through it. [Spring: Seed Strike] and [Sickle Throw] both struck each shoulder, causing it to fall back into the wall. [Vile Toss] landed on its upper right leg, beginning to melt that section away.

[Rolling Thunder] !

Nimbus managed to get up enough to follow Botan’s lead. Using the only other spell she knew, she threw her spear at the parasite while putting a small, precise spin to the shaft as it left her grip. After which, the spear was surrounded by lightning that helped it pierce the creature’s stomach and stun it as the electricity ran through its body.

With the collective damage they dealt and now being down a leg, surely they had won?

But no. Even with all the damage they’d done, the devil rose again. Now using only its left leg and its victim’s spear for stability, it began preparing itself.

Botan’s eyes widened. “It’s going to use that again!”

They had a short window and seemingly limited options. Yet he immediately put the pieces together to solve the problem. As quickly as he could, he removed a health potion from his demon jar and began forcing it into Myskel’s mouth. At the same time, he touched his weapon against Mysekl.

[HP/MP Exchange]

Myskel let out a wince of pain as Botan used his skill to turn some of her HP into MP, causing her much pain and damage. The health potion in turn, helped mitigate the damage.

“I’m so sorry, Myskel. I’d do anything else if we had the option.” 

With enough of her mana restored, she once again readied herself.

“[Brio Culverin!]”

“Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!”

They clashed for the second time, neither dominating the other. Botan’s plan was simple. After Myskel holds it off for another minute again, he’d use all his skills again. And with that, they’d win.

However, only ten seconds into the exchange, Myskel was starting to lose the clash.

“What!?” He exclaimed as he saw she still didn’t have the MP to last long enough.

For a moment, Botan considered using [HP/MP Exchange] on her again. But the pain could cause her to stop using her attack, and even after being desperate enough to try, it was on cooldown. He thought as hard as he could, but unless Myskel managed to hold on until the devil’s attack ended, they were going to die.

Nimbus saw how things were going and turned to Botan for assurance. His eyes were wide open, sweat rolling down his face, and he was taking sharp, shallow breaths. His naked expression told her everything she needed to know.

“It already got Sir Dustrum, I’m not letting it get us too!” She said, fighting to stand.

“Wait!” Botan shouted for her to calm down.

“Hm..Hmmm? What?” A voice, drowned out by the loud struggle of attacks, somehow reached Nimbus’ ears.

She turned, wide-eyed and shaking. “Sir Dustrum…?” She said with a trembling voice.

The head, now more off-center than before, stirred. He leaned up and slowly opened his eyes.

“W-What…? What? What!?” As if waking from a coma, the man took a moment to understand what was happening.

“You’re still in there!?” She screamed.

“Yes, I-Why did you come!? You shouldn’t be here!” His confusion turned to anger and concern.

“I was trying to save you!” She screamed.

“I… I see…” He took a moment. “But you can’t. Not anymore.”

“...I know…” She struggled to admit.

He took another moment before responding. “...But maybe I can save you.”

“What?” The parasite asked in a frightened tone.

“Grrr!” Through gritted teeth, Sir Dustrum began regaining control of the arm that held his spear.

He cut the leather strap over his left shoulder, creating a large gap with his breastplate, exposing some of his chest.

“No. You die when I say so.” The parasite's mouth lashed out and bit the spear, stripping it from his arm’s grasp.

Nimbus’ sight was again taken by tears as she struggled to speak. “...It’s okay… really. We’ll figure out a way to win. Don’t do this… You’ve suffered enough.”

Myskel’s attack shrank in size and power. She could not hold on much longer.

“...I was too scared to do it when I first got infected. I thought I was brave, but I’m not. But living one more hour at the cost of another human life? Even a craven would make this choice!” The man’s voice slowly gained strength as he reached out and ripped Nimbus’ spear free.

“No!” Nimbus screamed.

“No!!” The devil screeched, dropping the other spear from its mouth.

“Tell my brother that I’m sorry.” He said sternly and with complete clarity before plunging the spearhead into his own heart.

The devil staggered. The strange light it was firing shrank to half the size as before. Now even smaller than Myskel’s. It only held on for a moment longer, then Sir Dustrum’s fist hammered the spear in further. After which, it ceased its attack entirely and was engulfed in Myskel’s. Hers, in turn, only lasted a moment before she stopped, falling unconscious from pushing herself so hard.

She hung onto Botan as the parasite was left dead. With the attacks gone and her lantern exhausted, the room grew pitch black. Only their breathing filled the room. Botan first felt Myskel and did what he could in the dark to check up on her. He reoriented her so she was more comfortable around his neck, then crawled towards the sound of Nimbus crying. He eventually reached her. He placed her head on his shoulder and his hand on her head. He didn’t know how else to help her.

She cried until they both passed out.

[Paradise Index]

Today, as decided by the handsome and always correct Prince Typhus, we will be discussing the monsters that have gained the title of devil. “Devil” was a non-scholarly term used by common folk to refer to certain species of monsters said to be so incompatible with humans that it is always best to kill them down to the last. The sentiment being that the world would be better off if humanity were able to make these species extinct. 

This sentiment isn't universal, and there have been rare instances of individuals finding some way to cooperate with a devil. However, these cases are either without proof, or very brief, or involving outstanding individuals that can't be compared to their fellow man. Such as the very first Vassal Saw Hero, the first Sultan of Slaughter, who was said to have enjoyed the company of monsters over that of humans and allied with three different devils.

The Lokkan family has also long since advocated for tolerance and protection for the various monsters designated as devils. Saying that there is plenty of land for all of them to live, even if they cannot live peacefully together. They’ve historically pressured the Mosden kings, and this is what first led the Nine Peaks to be made an off-limits area. As seven of the nine sovereigns of the peaks at the time were devils.

The Eld Empire takes a much different view, seeing the bodies and materials of devils to be great trophies and proof of doing their society a great service in removing them. Eld itself having several intelligent monsters hold positions of power and influence has done little to change this way of thinking. Many of these monsters themselves share the view that devils should be slain, seeing them as a source of distrust for their kind that should be removed.

Some of these devils are as followed:

• Devil-on-their-shoulder: A parasitic monster that slowly takes over and transforms its victim. This transformation usually involves a hole of some kind, whereby life energy from the victim is shot out. The transformation takes two weeks to complete; in that time, the victim feels unimaginable pain, but can control their body. Many have sought help after being infected, only for their solution to be executed before they become a threat. After the first two weeks, they lose the ability to command the smallest portion of their body as the parasite has fully taken over. Those taken over by the parasite can live for up to five years, if you could call such a thing 'life'.

• Lucky Devil: A white ape-like creature known for having large amounts of supernatural luck. Like most devils, they are near human intelligence, but unlike most devils, they do not act uncooperative with humans. You might be asking why they are labeled as devils, then, seeing as devils refer to monsters that can't cooperate with humans. It's because their good luck is your misfortune. If an attack would normally strike them, you may trip into the attack to spare them to your own detriment, you may land violently from a fall first, so they may land safely on you, your weapon may break to make you a more appealing target to a shared foe, allowing them to escape while you are killed. They do not mean to harm humans, but circumstances will bend themselves into pretzels to see them safe, and that means anyone, friend or foe, can be made a victim of their luck to see them survive.

• Shift Sharks: Black sharks that can swim inside of solid objects by creating ethereal pocket spaces. They can swim down a tree, into the earth, seamlessly transferring from one thing to another, only their back fin showing when they get ready to attack. Their back fin is an excellent blade that can cut straight through trees and stone. They can also enter something as thin as paper, or even swim inside another living thing. There are documents showing them living inside a target when they are currently full, only attacking when their target once hunger sets in. Their one major weakness is that damage dealt to something while they swim inside it also happens to them. Therefore, they tend to avoid swimming in something they deem too fragile.

Among the devils is a subset said to be intelligent and even more evil than the others. The "Tongued-Devils". So named because their tongues are notable features. These Devils are often associated with a legend of the bi-fork-tongued devil, whose description and myths are so different from culture to culture that the only thing agreed upon was that it existed, That it had the tongue of a snake, that it destroyed an entire country, and is said to be sealed in or around The White Tower in Ventus.

• Silver-tongued Devil: A monster with the oddest of body structures. Shaped like an ant with its head and limbs removed, able to rotate the three sections of its body independently of each other, mouths appear sporadically throughout their body. They can speak in a way that anything can understand them, are able to expertly use the nuances of any language, even those from other worlds, as well as communicate with anything that can perceive sound (even if they otherwise wouldn't have a language, such as most animals). They are considered the most intelligent devils and often trick prey in countless ways. They are named such because their tongues can exit their mouths and form nearly any shape, then change into solid silver. This allows them to form any sort of limb desired. They can also bite/cut off these tongues afterward to produce silver. They often use this to bargain with humans. However, unless heated and recast before the Silver-tongued devil regrows that same tongue, it'll fade to worthless dust. As adults and while using silver limbs, they can be as large as 10ft tall and wide.

• Red-tongued Devil: A blood-drinking, cave-dwelling beast that is always hostile. They walk on four legs and look like shaved pale dogs. They drink blood through their tongue, which is essentially a long, sharp tube. The main issue with Red-tongued Devils is that they have no maximum HP. When they drain a victim of blood, they gain their HP, and any damage they take removes HP permanently. For this reason, how strong they are varies, and you can never be sure. They often play dead after taking a hit that'd kill anything else. It's recommended to pay attention to EXP notifications to be sure they're dead.

• Twin-tongued Devil: Despite the name, these monsters have two heads with one tongue each. The body is heavily armored with four legs, two torsos, and two arms, and a heavy tail (Think of a centaur-like body from traditional fantasy with a large lizard tail and two heads, all covered in heavy black and gold armor). The two heads have different personalities and souls, meaning they can and will sometimes argue with themselves. They have incredible stats for their level and have a human-level intelligence. While they possess a heavy armored tail and large claws for attacking, but their main weapon is their tongues. By performing certain opposing motions, each head's tongue can form half a barrel of a magical cannon spell known as [Last Breath] that can destroy well-made stone walls, destroying an entire building. It takes several moments to cast, but once cast can rarely be matched in raw power. In speed, defense, strength, magical power, and intelligence, this monster has it all.

Chapter Text

She felt a cool, pleasant breeze brush her hair just enough to rouse her. Nimbus’ eyes opened slowly to see that she was on the road, carried by Botan on his back. 

“Wha?” She managed.

He immediately stopped and softly lowered her to her feet. “Sorry, I thought it was best to leave.”

“Sir Dustrum… his body…” she questioned.

“I burned the body. Thought it was best given that parasite,” he lied. He had absorbed the body and all the other monster remains in the cave.

“...Thanks.” She replied after a moment. 

Several moments passed as the silence mounted.

“I’m… sorry for your loss.” His words were strained, but he still preferred it to the silence.

She said nothing and just nodded. During the silence that lingered between them, her whispered breaths caressed the crevice near his nape. He felt her heartbeat, it seemed calm enough, that only worried him more. Whatever storm was raging in her heart and head, he was left unable to help her.

Her fingers slowly curled tighter around his shoulders. “Could you… carry me a bit longer?” She asked.

Immediately, Botan stood again and continued walking. “If this is all I can do to help…”

He carried her along in silence for nearly half an hour. A sharp contrast to their extremely chatty journey on the way there. Nimbus’ mind was full of so many conflicting things. Sadness and anger in equal measure, that much was clear. But also so many other things she had no way of identifying. After staying in the storm cloud in her head for some time, she craved a distraction. She turned to her side to see Myskel unconscious, still hanging from Botan’s neck.

“Is she alright?” Nimbus whispered.

Despite this, she was close enough he heard her clearly. “She will be. Myskel exhausted all her MP and then some. Just pushed herself hard… What about you?” He asked with the same concerned tone he used to describe Myskel’s situation.

“Me?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t exactly check you for injuries in the cave.”

“I’m not injured.” The implication was clear in her tone.

“...Do you want to talk about it?” He barely managed to ask.

“No. It doesn’t involve you.”

“...” Botan said nothing, the words just hung in the air.

“Sorry, just, sorry.” She tripped over her own words.

“It’s fine…” 

But it wasn’t. He kept stealing glances at her as they walked, and she did the same. All he could do was carry her. Meanwhile, her head was a whirlwind. After entirely too long, she spoke.

“What do I do?”

“If she’s speaking, she wants help, right?” “I guess the first thing to do is tell his family. Better you than some guard.”

“You’re right.” She said with more volume. “...But… I-” She suddenly started crying more. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and she buried her head into his neck.

“It’s okay. Just breathe.” Botan tried comforting her. “If you want, I can go with you if you need someone.” He offered.

“What good would that do? I don’t even know where his mother lives!” She revealed with a sob. 

He tried coming up with a solution. “...We could go to the places he frequents and-”

“I only spoke to him at the contractor’s office! Dammit. I don’t know the first thing about him!” she cried.

Every time he opened his mouth, he made it worse. As much as he wanted to say the right words to her, he didn’t have them. If those even existed. The only thing he could do right was carry her home.

Eventually, they reached Halcyon. She forced herself to climb down and walk on her own. Finally taking a look at her face fully after the long trip back, she looked like a mess. She reached out to hold his shoulder to keep herself steady as she recentered herself, then took one step.

“I’ll, uh… I’ll see you around.” Botan blurted out as she moved away.

She slowed and turned, making eye contact with him. “Thanks for everything. I know you were just trying to help… Goodbye.” With that, she left.

Botan had the sense not to stop her. He slumped down on a nearby bench and sulked.

“I thought I found a companion… But all I got is this.”

He peered at one of the weapon forms he gained.

.

[Devil Parasitic Root]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: HP + 67, Skill: “Snare”, “Root of All Evil”

Equip Effect: Hook

.

The individual stat values of the weapon were exceedingly excellent. The weapon had the highest stats of any non-bloomed weapon form, it even rivaled some of the bloomed ones.

Glancing at what it would take to bloom, it was muscle, skin, and bone, all from dozens of different creatures. However, he’d only been properly dissecting his monster kills since the first wave. Not to mention all the monsters he failed to dissect in the cave earlier today due to the circumstances.

It was frustrating. These conditions seemed relatively easy to achieve, but he’d yet to meet them. Just like his magic. “Supposedly talented, and trained by the best dancer there was. And I know a grand total of three spells. Am I taking this seriously?”

Before he got too stuck in his own head, there were other people that needed some attention.

“But first-” He gently unwrapped Myskel from around himself and thoroughly examined her again. It was the same as last time; nothing was wrong with her. Yet, he almost went to check a third time when all the movement caused her to rouse.

“Mi…” She chirped. Botan nearly fell over in shock.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you hungry?” He blurted out one after another too quickly for her to respond.

She simply huffed, then began begging for sweets.

“Sure, sure. All the sweets you want today. You were amazing.”

“Mysk~.”

After letting her go to town on some honey and hard candy, he found her slowing down enough to ask, “Myskel, that blast you did… Could you always do that?”

She shook her head ‘no’, a lollipop stick still hanging out of her mouth.

Botan’s eyes narrowed. “Was it what that Priestess Varsha did?”

She nodded ‘yes’, now having eaten even the lollipop stick.

“We’d have been screwed without it, but… She’s dangerous, whatever she is…” His concerns over Varsha only grew.

After treating Myskel gently for a while, Botan thought to make his way to the contractor’s office. However, by the time he went to report it, Nimbus had already come by and done it herself.

“She already got paid, said to give you your half when you stopped by… She seemed very upset. If you wouldn’t mind me asking, how did Sir Dustrum die?” The older man asked, but it felt more commanding given the base in his voice.

The image of him smiling as he drove Nimbus’ spear into his heart flashed in Botan’s mind. 

“...A hero’s death.” He told him abruptly.

“Figured. He was a damned fine soldier.” The man didn’t seem to press further, thankfully.

“Did…” Botan hesitated. “Did she ask you where Sir Dustrum’s home was?”

“She did.” He answered simply.

“Could you tell me-”

“Son, give her more credit than that. She can face this alone.” The man scolded him lightly.

Botan lacked the bravery to press further. “...She said she was here all the time. So I guess you’d know her better than I.” He rationalized.

“I’ve known her for about a third of my life and all of hers. She wants to be anywhere else but here… It’s a good thing for her to learn this lesson before she leaves.” The man sounded less like he was speaking to Botan and more to the air.

“You think after this, she’ll still want to leave?” Botan asked, still worried he had lost a party member.

“Her? Of course. Not even sure her own death could change her mind…” He looked like he had something else to say, but swallowed the words.

“You sound like you know a lot about Nimbus.”

Just hearing Botan say her name casually caused a reaction in the man. “And it sounds like you don’t know that much at all.” His tone made it sound like an accusation.

“Yeah… To be honest, I only met her yesterday. Say, do you think you could give me some basics here? I feel like I said something really stupid earlier. I was just trying to make her feel better. But every time I opened my mouth, I only made it worse.” Botan admitted.

The man waved Botan off. “Heh, you kids. All worked up about saying the wrong thing. Live your life with a filter and you might trick people into liking whoever it is you’re pretending to be, but none of them will know the first thing about you… Just like Sir Dustrum.” He said the last part bitterly.

Botan tried listening to his advice, but only time would tell if it would bear fruit. 

The rest of his day was spent shopping for things to bloom his weapon forms. He visited a butcher’s shop, a flower shop, three general goods stores, and a carpenter’s shop. He collected anything he felt was useful. He made it a point to buy more supplies for living outdoors, now that he had a demon jar to depend on. He also got more things to keep up his hygiene on the road, something that he might have slacked on before. Still, the entire time, all he was thinking about was how he should have handled that conversation with Nimbus differently. Thinking that had he only said the right words to her that things would have been better.

With the start of the next day, Botan went straight to Prince Typhus’ workshop. The entire way, he was troubled about who or what Varsha really was. He had genuine excitement for his armor, in how strong it’d be and how it might make him look more the part of a hero. The concern of Varsha and the excitement of the armor muddied his mood in conflict.

And above those two, Botan had one more reason for wanting to visit Prince Typhus. Advice on girls. But not from Typhus himself.

As he entered the building, the front secretary spoke. “Ah, Evergreen, welcome! You are the only appointment for the Prince today. I’ll let him know you’ve arrived.” The young woman greeted, scrambling to be as quick as she could.

The one to guide him to the workshop’s underground wasn’t Dame Beaumont, nor the Priestess Varsha. It was Rithma Lasak, her bladed prosthetic legs striking the metal floor as she walked, announcing her arrival.

“Sup, Evergreen!” She offered a smile and a wave as she greeted him. Of all the women Typhus kept around, Rithma was the one Botan felt was the most normal.

“Nothing much… I thought someone else was going to come get me.”

Rithma just brought her leg over her head, showing her flexibility. “I just wanted to stretch my legs.”

He just stared, then she laughed. “Tough crowd, huh? It’s a joke.”

“O-Oh, ha ha.” Botan tried to force himself to laugh.

“Geez, I guess I’m not as funny as I thought. No need to force a laugh.”

“Sorry. It just didn’t seem appropriate to laugh at that.”

“Oi, I’m the one who got her legs chopped off. I get to make all the dark jokes about it I want.”

“It’s not that, I just didn’t to-”

“Don’t pity me. I got legs that’ll never get tired. I can dance for an entire day without rest. If anything, the rest of you should be jealous.” She said with a smile.

“Huh. Well, as long as you're okay with it. Shall we?” He motioned for them to walk.

“Let’s.” They walked onto the elevator and began to descend.

Botan found himself wondering about her legs. He’d seen no other prosthetics like them. Seeing him looking, she just asked.

“Wondering something? How I got them? How they work?” She seemed eager to share.

“Uh, well-”

“You need to just speak your mind. These babies were custom-made by Typhus 2 years ago and upgraded often. I was a dancer back then, not in combat, just for entertainment. Danced at several clubs and a few palaces. I always planned on moving on to combat, but the locations and the rich people… I stuck around too long.” 

“Got old enough that some men approached me about things other than dancing. I declined them all, but some never experienced being told ‘no’ before, and one thing led to another… He had his guard chop off both my legs. That was three years ago… How time flies.” She said casually, throwing Botan off completely.

Seeing his reaction, Rithma continued. “I doubt he understood how pathetic that made him look. Like, he failed to pick up a girl, so he has her crippled? And the little coward couldn’t even do it himself. What a loser. Of course, he suffered a lot more than I did. He and his guard both, once Varsha showed up. I probably would have given up if I were left alone. It was a good thing she was in the same palace at the time.” She spoke like her life and future weren’t almost extinguished that night.

“Varsha? Not Typhus?” That was the one thing that surprised him about her story.

“Yeah, she happened to be in that palace when it happened. She told me that she knew someone who could help. I was crying and bleeding everywhere at the time. So embarrassing.” She added.

“Must have been nice, having someone there to give you what you needed when you needed it.” He said, thinking of how he failed to comfort Nimbus.

“I was lucky, I won’t lie. But I’ll say, the most comfort didn’t come from Varsha’s words or the Prince’s actions. It was the Prince’s words. When Varsha promised that someone she knew could help me walk again. She sounded confident, but I still doubted her. But when Typhus said, ‘You will dance again’... That’s when the doubt went away. While Varsha and I were talking about just walking again, Typhus aimed higher. Said there was nothing he couldn’t fix. Said he’d give me legs better than the ones I lost. With the arrogant way he declares things, I knew I would dance again.” She said with a soft smile.

“Not all of us can be that arrogant,” Botan commented.

“Sometimes it’s not about what you say, it’s that you say it with your whole chest. He wasn’t trying to comfort me or assure me when he said those words. He was saying what he believed to be true. Genuine, clumsy words help a hell of a lot more than well-mannered words that don’t come from the heart.” She said with a knowing smile as she looked at Botan.

“How does she-?” The elevator reached the bottom, cutting off his thoughts.

“It’s the same for Asher and Veda, too. Typhus saved them, much the same way he saved me. And his confident declarations brought light to their eyes, too. Even though Veda was far more vulnerable, and Asher went through more than all the rest of us combined. Sometimes, saying your truth has far more profound an effect than choosing the right words.” Her knowing smile broadened.

“So that’s his angle? He finds women at the end of their ropes and saves them, and manipulates them to grow his harem? Bastard.” He thought.

Seeing his thoughts plainly on his face, Rithma added, “It’s the same with Typhus, too. Be yourself. He doesn’t have any male friends. Everyone just does what he says and nods their heads. He needs equals. If he does something rude, be rude back. Trust me, it’ll work.” She nodded to the other ladies and turned back to Botan one last time.

“Welp, here we are. Hopefully, next time I can get you to tell me about Tia’s dancing training. As a dancer, she’s the ideal we all aim for.” She said casually and with another wave as she exited the elevator first and walked over to the other ladies.

After collecting himself a moment, he approached Typhus’ desk at the center of the room. Just as last time, when Botan reached a certain distance, he somehow became aware of him and turned to face.

“Sup?” He greeted casually.

Botan looked around the Prince’s work station and saw… nothing. “So, where is this armor?”

“Haven’t made it yet.” He said with the kind of forced grin that just made you want to punch him.

Botan’s carefully constructed polite face was robbed from him as he immediately adopted the sort of annoyed face he’d have when dealing with his friends or sister. “What? Why? You said-”

The Prince smiled, having apparently gotten what he wanted in making Botan break character. “I know what I said. I’ll make it in just a moment. I can make things instantly, remember?” 

A vein formed on Botan’s forehead, which only prompted Typhus’ grin to grow wider.

“Misk!” Myskel hissed at him while coiling aggressively around Botan.

“Oi, don’t hiss at me, you little depression solution.” Typhus said, standing from his chair.

For a moment, Botan thought to back off. But thinking about what Rithma had just told him, he felt it better to but heads with Typhus a little.

“So you wasted the whole time playing with your girls in your basement?” He accused.

“I was learning everything I could about these new materials, dick. And you're just jealous. Each of them is an 11/10.” Typhus boasted.

“One of them is a child. If you weren’t a Prince, you’d be in jail.” Botan gave him a tired, judging look.

“Oi, Vera is my business partner. She’s a genius. Together we make inventions. We don’t have the same sort of relationship as I have with the others. She helped me make Suspension Saucers™, which I used to make the self-propelling wheels of all the armored vehicles in our military.” He suddenly got defensive, his arrogance slipping.

Botan’s response was to simply stare at him with a deep, judging blank expression.

“Oi, oi! Veda, show him one of your latest inventions to prove the point.” Typhus was feeling pressed.

“Sure thing~! See this? This is a new chemical solution I’ve been working on.” She waved around a jar full of purple liquid.

“What does it do?” Botan asked.

“It dissolves clothes with strong acidic properties while being harmless to the skin! The solution also works as a lubricant! A truly wonderful-” Her excited answer was swiftly cut off.

“Shut up! Shut up! Damn you, this isn’t what it looks like!” Typhus shouted, looking back and forth between Veda and Botan.

Veda couldn’t contain her laughter, while Botan’s stare somehow gained further judgment.

“Last month, it was a potion that promoted appealing body development.” Dame Beaumont added from across the room.

The ladies' laughter grew louder as Typhus’ face was now the one with a vein showing.

Asher stood, taking great effort to keep as much of herself covered as possible. “Before that was that device that took your measurements instantly… But it was WAY too detailed. It had 55 measurements if I remember correctly.”

The ladies laughed even louder while Veda fell onto the floor laughing as she held her sides.

“Stop…” Typhus said, doing everything he could to avoid Botan’s eyes.

Rithma went to speak. “And before that, there were those skin-tight body suits that-”

“Enough! Those suits had really good stats… And regardless, Veda always does shit like this. You know none of them were my idea!” Typhus was now defending himself from the entire room.

“She does it on purpose,” Varsha admitted, then turned to Botan. “She acts out strictly because Typhus doesn’t offer her the same affections he does the rest of us.”

“But instead of outright telling her ‘no’, you do this? So, you’re stringing along a child for a free intern.” Botan said, Myskel nodding alongside him, agreeing with what he said, yet not understanding any of it.

Veda perked up. “What’s an intern?”

Typhus’ eyes shot open as he whirled himself around. “H-Hey, Veda, sweetie, I really like that invention of yours. Think you could make a few gallons so we can run some tests?” He ushered her.

“Of course! I knew you’d like it. I’ll have it all done by the end of the day~!” Veda promised as she ran off into a deeper part of the lab.

As they watched her leave, all eyes fell on Typhus, now being judged collectively.

“So, me accusing you of taking advantage of her sexually is only embarrassing, but me accusing you of taking advantage of her financially sends a shiver down your spine and makes you trick her into leaving.” Botan wasn’t accusing him of anything, more just stating the observable truth.

“Piss off. If I sign a real contract with her, she has some say-so in what we make… and as you have now witnessed, that little pervert can’t be allowed to make her own decisions.” Typhus argued.

The ladies nodded in agreement, having known Veda long enough to fear her idle mind. Botan, however, gave a look of disappointment and disgust that only pissed Typhus off more.

“Okay, okay, enough. Can’t even joke around for a moment.” The Prince complained.

“You can, but expect to receive as much as you give,” Botan warned.

“Whatever. Ready for the armor?” The Prince sat back in his chair and shifted uncomfortably.

“Yeah, go ahead.” Botan nodded.

There was a short pause. “I need your consent,” Typhus said with a completely serious face.

“Uh, what?” He asked in confusion.

“Just do it.” The Prince urged.

Botan pinched the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb in annoyance. “Nope. You are explaining whatever it is you are doing.”

Before he could look up, Typhus and Varsha shared a glance from across the room, then Typhus sighed and clicked his tongue. “Tsk. Fine. Basically, I can’t tamper with other people’s bodies or their possessions without consent. The armor you’re wearing currently is trash, as I’ve said before. But the cloth portion is beyond excellent, and the malmetal used in the armor isn’t bad.”

“So, you’ll be using this armor as materials?” He asked.

“Duh,” was said rudely in response.

“Whatever, sure.” Botan tried matching his abrasiveness.

“You have to actually say the words. I know, annoying.” The Prince informed him, fiddling with a piece of the metal from the wave boss in his hand.

Again, Botan felt a weird tug, like someone was telling him not to agree, but logically, it didn’t make sense to hesitate. “I consent.”

Typhus smirked as he snapped his fingers. Botan’s armor and the gathered materials around the desk glowed for a brief moment before his new armor was completed, with him already wearing it.

.

[Royal Carapace Armor]

Defense Power Up, Impact Resistance (Small), Pierce Resistance (Small), Slash Resistance (Medium), Fire Resistance (Medium), Water Resistance (Small)

Agility Increase (Medium)

Climate Control (Heating), Airwake Processing, Automatic Cleansing

.

Botan stared at the screen, trying to figure out everything he was seeing. As he did, Typhus began explaining his work.

“Couldn’t give more resistances like wind, lightning, or dark due to material selection. I was able to add water resistance using those Orf materials, which were seriously top-notch. Tried prioritizing speed and magic attack, but only agility took. Unfortunately, the materials weren’t the best for magical potency. Still, it’s a reliable base and very susceptible to further upgrades.” Typhus began explaining.

He leaned back and began going through the more specific bonuses. “[Climate Control] keeps you comfortable by controlling the temperature while wearing it. These sorts of effects draw power from you, sort of your MP, but not entirely. It’s one of the main things restricting lower-level users from higher-level equipment. Some low-level loser couldn’t maintain these effects, wasting these abilities and exhausting the little loser. Get me?”

“...You say this [Climate Control] controls the temperature, but it clearly says ‘heating’ here. So it only provides temperature control in one direction, not both, right?” His eyes narrowed on the Prince.

“...Yes. I said that, right? …Anyways. The draw from you is similar to accessories. The same can be said for [Airwake Processing], which reduces the weight of the armor significantly. Most of the time it’d be better to just make the armor thinner and lighter the normal way, but the materials were rather heavy, so this step was absolutely necessary.” 

Botan moved around as he heard him. He admitted to himself that this armor was lighter than his previous one, despite being a bit larger and containing a lot more materials. In fact, it felt like he was just wearing normal clothes. So, he wasn’t lying about that. One thing did catch his attention, though.

“Accessories? Stuff like that exists? Effect giving or stat boosting jewelry?” He’d never even considered such a thing.

“...That is some serious broke ass behavior… Yes, they do.” Typhus said under his breath while holding his face in his hand before affirming.

“Okay…” Botan realized his blunder in embarrassment.

“The wave boss’ wings were actually far greater a prize than the metal. Able to hold its massively heavy body off the ground without risk of tearing. The material is soft to the touch, and the color is already striking. So I used it to form that cape, which gives [Fall Control], allowing you to control the angle and speed of your descent… I know that doesn’t sound that useful, but it makes mid-air maneuvering a lot easier to perform. I also made it attach to the inside of the collar of the armor instead of the back or shoulders, so your hissing little coward’s escape won’t complain.” He was laying it on thick, like a used car salesman trying to earn that commission.

“Misk~!” Myskel felt the material and found it extremely comfortable. She took back half of the terrible things she thought about Typhus.

“I also made sure to add [Automatic Cleansing], which slowly cleans the armor over time. If we’re going to be allies publicly, I can’t have you being an embarrassment. I don’t waste time on losers.”

Botan just nodded along, now used to the way Typhus talked.

“Overall, the metal of that wave boss is more useful for something that prioritizes defense over anything else, especially mobility, like a shield. Still got a lot of it leftover, so maybe consider that for future party member equipment, which you’ll get made here, yes?”

“Of course, where else would I go?” Botan asked genuinely.

Typhus just smirked. “Of course. I am the best after all.”

“Sure, sure. You’re the best.” Botan said sarcastically while trying to pat Typhus’ head.

Typhus swatted away his hand. “What the hell were you just trying to do?”

“Don’t fish for compliments, then get frustrated when you get treated like a child.” Botan lectured.

Typhus grabbed Botan by the collar. “What was that!?”

“Typhus. Behave.” Varsha’s voice came.

It was a soft voice, yet both Typhus and Botan felt a hint of fear.

The prince let go immediately and sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just get a move on.”

“Fine by me,” Botan replied, not wanting to goad him further with Varsha nearby.

“Well, I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll bring you all a plate.” Typhus promised, waving to the girls.

Dame Arabella Beaumont stood and followed behind him. Botan stared a moment. “None of them can go? Varsha is a priestess, and she can’t? huh.”

The three of them left Typhus’ ‘palace’ and traveled along the main road to the real palace. Many people stopped and stared, others tried speaking to the Prince, one or two even tried asking Botan who he was. Anyone approaching was swiftly stopped by a very stern look from Arabella. Once they arrived, dozens of guards stepped aside so they could enter, then reformed a barricade to keep others out.

Botan had entered here the other day, but only as far as the dragon hourglass room. It was already an impressive building with its walls carved straight out of the mountainside. It was a match for Mosden’s royal castle. 

Then they moved in further. 

Polished stone made way for strange crystals in ways that seemed to collect and reflect light. Contrasted against the dark stone, it was like looking at the night sky in the middle of the day. The further they went in, the grander the presentation and the greater the beauty. Soon, Mosden’s castle couldn’t hold a candle to this.

Many soldiers and knights offered Botan a greeting as the Evergreen. He tried replying kindly to them at first, but as the number of greetings piled on, he soon stopped responding to each of them. More importantly, a lot of people now knew who he was. It’d make it hard on him in several ways but it couldn’t be helped.

Finally, after several corridors and hallways, they made it to the throne room.

The room was a dome that had an even larger concentration of those strange crystals. No other form of light was needed to fully light up the large room. The throne itself was made entirely out of the crystal, almost appearing as if the king was sitting on light itself.

“We are most grateful for your visit, Evergreen. I am King Alto Stratos.” A booming voice said.

After a quick glance around, Botan’s eyes landed on the king. He was large, larger than Botan expected. Typhus was tall, around 6ft and 2 inches, yet this man was nearly 7ft tall. His face was worn and tired. His hair was bright blond with the same purple eyes as Typhus, yet these same features gave a completely different vibe to this man. He felt unreal, the bright colors contrasted harshly with his age.

He wore something that would probably be best described as a poncho. Long, no sleeves, etc. It covered most of his person. The only other thing Botan saw was his crown. It was adorned with the same crystals that filled the castle and was made from silver instead of gold.

Botan stole a glance at Typhus, figuring he’d be eyeing the crown. Yet, he was instead looking to his mother, the queen, Currio Stratos, who stood beside the throne. She didn’t share the eye or hair color with her son, instead having bright green hair and matching eyes.

“Yes, thank you for your hospitality.” He finally replied.

“I was told you registered to the Dragon Hourglass that predicts these ‘waves’. If you don’t mind, how long do we have until the wave comes exactly?” He asked, curious.

“Just shy of eight days.. Your majesty.” He added awkwardly.

“And what do you have to defend against this wave?” He inquired further.

“...I’m level 43. I’ve been trained by Tia, the queen of dance. Your son Typhus here just created top-of-the-line armor for me… And I have Myskel here.” He listed off.

“Misk~!” Myskel announced herself.

“...I see. So you’re in need of party members.” He reasoned.

“Whoever is in my party at the time of the wave will travel with me. If you’re offering assistance when the time comes, I would be grateful.” He replied.

“Of course. You’re helping us after all… If the waves do indeed exist.” The king added with slight suspicion.

“Pardon?” Botan was confused.

“I just haven’t received information that allows me to believe in something so fantastical as random holes in the sky that flood the world with countless new monsters. The only information I’ve received from Mosden was that supposedly Lokkansted was hit and heavily damaged. But given its location, several other explanations exist. Such as some threat from the Nine Peaks came down.” He explained himself.

Botan glanced at Typhus, then several other people in the room. This felt like a joke. “If you don’t believe the waves are real, why offer your men?”

“I have a healthy skepticism, that is all. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to help if the possibility does exist, though. I’d prefer to be correct and prepare for if I am wrong." He clarified.

“I see.” Botan could understand that position.

“Typhus, my son. Tell me, what aid have you offered the Evergreen?” The king asked.

To Botan’s surprise, Typhus took a knee respectfully and spoke softly. “I created a Demon Jar for him, created his armor, sold him the rare health potions we have, and offered him the use of the training caverns.”

The king leaned over, staring at his son. “You offered him much then. Perhaps too much. The training caverns are for the military, are they not?”

“Three of them were already approved for me and my party to clear them, I’m just letting him have my turn. As for the last one, it’s still new and not yet military property.” He continued acting as a prince should. Botan kept shifting his eyes towards Typhus then back to Dame Beaumont, as if asking, ‘This motherfucker had manners this whole time?’.

“Your ‘party’ is more than strong enough as is. And you made yet another monster village without my approval?” The king asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

“Yes.” The Prince offered no other excuses.

“Hahaha. Outstanding as always, my boy!” The king shifted tone and laughed joyfully.

“You need to rest more. You overwork yourself.” The queen added.

“It’s fine. Varsha handles my schedule.” Typhus assured her.

“Yes… Varsha… You know, I think it’s about time you marry Dame Beaumont here.” The king lectured.

“I’ve already told you, one wife isn’t going to cut it for me. You can’t make me pick one over the others.” He complained, more casually than a moment ago.

“All the good you do, then you keep up this nasty habit. You’d be the next king for sure if you just decided already.” The queen complained aloud.

Botan just stared at them as they went on. Somehow, the hero became a wallflower in his own meeting.

Noticing his expression, the king spoke. “Oh, sorry about that, Evergreen. This isn’t the venue for such conversations.”

“Yo, pops. Can we hit the dining room then? Talking to you when you’re perched up there is a pain in the neck, literally.” Typhus said, now fully casual, almost spitefully.

“...Please forgive my son’s… casual demeanor, Evergreen,” The queen said.

“To be honest, I prefer his attitude to this formal stuff. I may be the Evergreen now, but I was just an average person of no notable standing in my previous world.” He expressed himself honestly.

“...So be it then. We will move things along. I wish to hear of your travels and what you plan next, Evergreen. I offer advice and aid as compensation. As well as the company of the rest of the Stratos family.” The king announced.

They were led to a nearby room that was nearly as large as the throne room. Several people waited eagerly to greet Botan. These people weren’t just soldiers; they were the remaining members of the royal family and their knights. Each member of royalty had a single knight by their side. They seemed assigned to them in a way.

The first to greet him was a taller man who wore a military uniform with some armor, many medals decorating his chest. “Greetings, Evergreen. I’m Matus Stratos, the first Prince and general of Ventus’ military.” He offered his hand, larger than Botan’s own.

He possessed the same purple eyes and blond hair as the King and Typhus, though his hair was cut short. 

Matus continued. “I heard you are lacking in party members. I’d gladly offer you some of our finest members of the Lightning branch for as long as you’d need them.” His voice, size, and manners really felt like those of a king as he spoke.

“And head of the entire military… Maybe Typhus doesn’t have this succession in the bag like he thought he did.”

“During the wave, I’d gladly accept any help you’d offer me.” Botan answered with a polite smile and attempted to pull his hand away.

Matus held his hand a bit longer. “But not elsewise?” He pressed Botan.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way. I am new to this world, and I need allies. What I need most are people who are on my side first and foremost.” He answered, managing to free his hand from Matus’ grip.

The Prince and General continued unbothered. “And our fine knights would side with Ventus’ interests if the choice ever came to it. I can understand that. But there is no reason for there to ever be a conflict of interest between us, yes?”

The room focused on Botan, waiting for an answer. All but Typhus, whom seemed confident enough in his own usefulness to Botan to care what his answer was.

“I’m aware enough to know I’m too ignorant of things to answer that with clarity. And besides, I don’t agree with some of your laws.” He didn’t have to say ‘slavery’. It was implied.

“To not be blinded by things unknown to you is a worthwhile trait to have for one as important as yourself.” A woman's voice called.

Botan turned to see a beautiful woman with the same royal features, her blond hair braided meticulously. She wore a gorgeous white dress and nearly knocked Botan off of his feet.

“Uh, thanks,” was all he managed to say.

“She’s too slim for me and just a bit too old, but damn…” While not quite his type, she was possibly the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. And that included celebrities he saw on TV back home.

Having successfully stolen his attention from Matus, the woman approached and greeted him. “I’m Lenti Stratos, first princess of Ventus, and head of foreign affairs. Had the ceremony happened at any other time, I’d have met you earlier during the late King Enrich’s funeral.”

“Ah, nice to meet you,” Botan said, recovering from his daze.

“Hmm, you don’t seem impressed by her title, despite her young age. Do you suspect she didn’t earn it?” Her knight behind her asked, seemingly offended that Botan didn’t give much of a reaction.

“Not at all, Sir…”

“Malpis.” The man provided.

“Sir Malpis. I’ve traveled alongside Tia’s son Alder in Mosden. He, too, held a high place in their court. I just assumed this world was blessed with many incredible talents.” Botan deflected.

“...That it is.” The man relented.

“Hush, Uthr. He meant nothing by it.” The princess scolded him.

“Yes, my princess.” The man said those words like he had said them a thousand times before and would a thousand times more.

After most of the introductions were through, Typhus came up again. Botan thought he was there to sort of rescue him from being overwhelmed, but instead came to speak to his mother.

“It’s almost time. Where is that gremlin of a little sister of mine? She knows this is a very important gathering.” Typhus asked with annoyance.

“Your sister isn’t feeling very well. She was so sad about something that happened yesterday.” His mother began.

“Yes, she was beside herself with grief. She likely won’t make an appearance.” Lenti, his sister, added.

“As her brother, you should know these things.” Matus chided him.

“I was busy working on Botan’s armor materials all day yesterday. What happened? Is she injured?” Typhus’ annoyance and arrogance slipped away, replaced with genuine concern.

The queen, Currio, began to explain. “A close friend of hers died. She-Oh! There she is!”

Everyone turned, Botan a bit slower than the others. When he caught sight of the last member of royalty, he wanted to scream.

“Nimbus, my dear. Are you sure you’re up for this?” Her mother asked, but instead of replying, she stared at Botan with the same slack jaw and wide-eyed expression as him.

.

[Paradise Index]

Today, we will be covering more of Prince Typhus’ brilliant inventions. This is to clear the air and remove any misconceptions about what products he is liable for and which ones are solely the machinations of Lady Veda.

As mentioned in this very chapter, Prince Typhus and Lady Veda worked together to create Suspension Saucers™. Large, specially shaped silver plates that once spun in the air will descend slowly. It takes roughly an hour to fall 1 inch.

What's the point?

The use of the word "suspension" isn’t just in reference to how slowly the plate falls, but how slowly things on the plate are affected by anything while on the plate. These tools are primarily used to preserve food, hence the plate shape. Food will not rot, grow stale, or change temperature while on a functioning Suspension Saucer. As long as they are regularly reset at a higher elevation, there’s no risk… (The effects of this product do not stop bugs, mold, and other forms of life from feasting upon the food, so a controlled environment is still advised).

Another marvelous invention is Compass Security Paper. They are perfectly square papers meant for writing down sensitive and important information. Once you are finished writing down what you want, you simply can flip it over to the right, left, top, and bottom any number of times before lifting it up off any flat surface for 5 seconds. The words will now be gone. To view them again, one must place the paper back down and repeat the same flips (direction and order, like a combination lock or security code). Because of this, one Compass Security Paper can contain an undetermined amount of documentation.

These papers are used to send and receive coded messages as well as secure national secrets and top-secret information in Ventus.

Lastly, we’ll cover Dungeon Cores™. Combining several materials from dozens of different monsters can result in an object that attracts monsters and pleases them. This makes monsters want to steal the object, but if you mount the object well enough to make that impossible, the result is that monsters will want to be near it.

By placing these inside man-made structures, Prince Typhus was successful in making monster villages that always reliably repopulate. It’s the main reason his party managed to reach the high levels they are at.

Some say that Dungeon Cores™ existed in the past, and that Prince Typhus merely improved upon the design, and therefore didn’t invent them. But they are all liars and all evidence to the contrary has been dealt with.

Chapter Text

Botan stood there just staring. Luckily, the attention was momentarily on Nimbus, who was staring at Botan with the same disbelieving look. Her eyes were wide but lost, her gaze sweeping the room left to right and back again. Seeing Botan surrounded by her royal family and other high-profile guests left her stunned. She kept trying to find some sort of additional detail that’d make this all make sense.

Seeing her clearly confused, her mother stepped to her side. “Dear, this is the Evergreen, Botan Nakaya. Please greet our guest.”

Nimbus’s confusion was wiped away by those words. She instantly saw the Holy Flower and realized Botan never actually switched weapons, just weapon forms. She found herself kicking herself in the head for not piecing it together.

“Could speak Ventusian fluently but couldn’t read it. He was stronger than his experience and level would indicate. Was able to go toe to toe against a devil and win on his first time ever seeing one. Looks as good as he does and isn’t even engaged.” She listed the reasons internally.

Eventually, her gears turned again, and she remembered the world around her. “E-Excuse me. I’m Nimbus Stratos, second daughter of the Stratos family. It is an honor.” She offered her hand meekly.

Botan was stunned about as long as she was, but when she acted like they didn’t know each other, then presented her hand meekly, it felt like she was a different person. Nimbus was feminine and very girly, but meek? That didn’t click at all.

Then, as his eyes traveled up her hand to her beautiful clothes to her smiling face, and to her eyes. Those were definitely the eyes he knew. It was annoying to now realize that only the royal family had these beautiful purple eyes. He knew Typhus; he should have picked up on that. But now those eyes were staring a hole through him. It was like her eyes were saying, ‘don’t fuck this up’.

After entirely too long, Botan took her hand with his. “The pleasure is all mine. Botan Nakaya, the flower hero.” He introduced himself to her stiffly.

Most of those surrounding them thought it was just normal awkwardness between them, but Nimbus’s older sister sported a knowing smile from this point forward.

Botan was introduced to many nobles. Many of them offered him all sorts of things from soldiers that’d fight beside him, to riches, to lands, in exchange for meeting their daughters. Botan kept feeling a hostile heat from Nimbus each time this happened.

“They're the ones offering! I’m the victim here!” He cried internally.

During all the shuffling of people, both Botan and Nimbus had brief windows where the other was looking at them, and no one else had a clear view. In those moments, they both used exaggerated movements and acted incredibly childish towards each other, all while mouthing things slowly at each other without making a sound.

Nimbus motioned to stomp her food several times while stopping short of hitting the ground to make noise. Her eyes were wide, and she pointed at Botan and mouthed at him. ‘I can’t believe you lied to me! You are a complete jerk!’ All while bobbing her head back and forth with much attitude.

Botan honestly would have found it cute if her eyes weren’t still screaming ‘murder’ at him.

Then, when he got his chance, he fired back with his hands moving back and forth below his waist, indicating two things side by side while also doing his best to conceal his movements from the others. ‘If I lied, then you lied too! You’re a freaking princess!? What the hell? How is what I did bad and what you did fair!?’ He mouthed.

Now moved above them, Lenti watched the two from the only vantage point while drawing the attention of anyone else up there. She did her best to keep others from watching the two of them have their spat.

Then she saw Botan actually fire back at her, and her smile grew wider. “Oh~ He fights back. She likes that.” She said to herself, amused by the situation.

Nimbus’s eye twitched in frustration. “Is this motherfucker talking back to me!?” She thought briefly.

She mouthed at him again, this time with shaking fists. ‘I have to lie! Who would take me on any adventure if they knew who I was!? How else am I supposed to do this!?’

Botan fired back just as angrily. ‘I have to lie too! If people know who I am, then all sorts of people just start offering me stuff without any real consideration for me! You know, like right now! There’s no way paid mercenaries or suck-ups would stick with me when the going got tough! I can’t afford to have a party of fare-weather fighters!’

She flinched at that. Given the mountain of evidence in just the past 20 minutes of brown-nosing nobles, she couldn’t say he was wrong. She turned her head side to side, recalling what she knew of each of these nobles. While some were better than others, she believed none of them would be stupid enough to exploit the Evergreen in a way that’d upset him… None of them would stick with him if doing so was even slightly inconvenient.

There was a part of her that wanted to admit this, but there was a louder part that said she was still way more justified than he!

‘You could have told me after I joined you! You could have told me after the quest!’ She argued. She nearly bumped into someone as she continued her exaggerated motions.

Botan fired back. “You could have told me too! And how was I supposed to say anything after that quest! You were crying! I was trying to console you, not upset you more!”

‘Well, maybe I was planning to, but then things ended poorly.’ She defended herself, now feeling even more called out. Again, his reasons seemed better than hers, and that made her feel more guilty.

‘I can say the same thing!’ Botan mouthed.

‘But were you?’ Nimbus asked.

‘What?’ Botan tilted his head, wondering if he misread her lips.

‘Were you going to tell me?’ She asked again.

‘I don’t know. Were you?’ Botan didn’t have an answer, and so he deflected.

‘I don’t know…’ Nimbus admitted.

For a moment, it looked like things would stop there and the two would just calm down and discuss things like adults when they had the chance later… But neither of them were mature enough for that right now.

‘Then why are you mad!?’ Botan asked, having taken the wrong lesson from their conversation.

“Because shut up!” Nimbus was easily goaded into renewing her anger.

And on and on they bickered. Both growing angrier and angrier, nearly resolving things, then one of them just had to get that last word in, restarting everything. Lenti found herself having to control herself from laughing as she watched her little sister make a complete fool of herself.

In her capacity as a professional shit starter and big sister, Lenti made sure that Botan sat directly across from Nimbus when they sat for the meal. It took nearly two hours before they made it to that point. Botan was starving by the time they were seated, but when Lenti exchanged seats with Nimbus, and now the two were right across from one another, suddenly his hunger was less of a priority.

Before the food was served, Typhus had an announcement. “At my invitation, the Evergreen came today to shake hands and break bread with those of us who rule Ventus.” 

Botan just remembered the point of this event. 

To establish their ‘partnership’ of sorts so that he can get more credit when the time comes to choose a successor. Yet, now staring across the table at Nimbus, he found himself avoiding her gaze as Typhus spoke. He fidgeted with his hands while wondering how badly this would affect Nimbus’ chances of winning the throne.

What little childish anger he still held was doused now that he considered how he may have ruined the rest of her life for some armor.

“He has registered to our Dragon Hourglass and has 7 days before we face the same disaster that nearly wiped out Lokkansted.” Typhus continued.

Botan tried to look at her, but wasn’t brave enough.

“In my capacity as Prince of this country, I’ve crafted him priceless armor.” Typhus began listing his contributions.

“Provided him with tools only I can make.” Typhus added. Botan was annoyed that he used the word ‘provided’. He literally paid for them himself and provided the materials.

“And offered him several other forms of assistance.” Typhus kept talking.

“Did you really just do the equivalent of not having any other examples and so added ‘et cetera’ at the end? That’s something I would have done in school.” Botan grew more than annoyed.

“So, to help him further, so that he can help our country, I’d like to announce the newest monster village project! This one is greater in size than any two known monster villages in the country! I call it, Alamaze!” Typhus said proudly.

Botan didn’t realize it was this large.  “Wait… ‘Alamaze’... Wasn’t that the name of an old game? Like some late 80s game before I was born? Weird.”

“Alamaze had finished its construction more than 7 months ago. Meaning it’s already met the 6-month requirement between clearings. The Evergreen will be gifted the rights of ‘first clear’, and should gain much power from the endeavor. Thereafter, it’ll be under the supervision of Lightning Branch as another generous donation to our military.” Typhus finished, receiving much applause for his yapping.

Botan did his best to play along and act grateful. It was a tremendous help to him after all. Judging by the expressions of everything else, ‘first clear’ seemed to be a big deal too. “Maybe because the strongest local monsters move in the first time but not afterwards? More importantly, this sounds like a one-of-a-kind endeavor. Something that might even cause Nimbus to forgive me a bit if I bring her along?” 

Botan finally looked at Nimbus, only for her to be pouting. Not seriously mad, just upset. The next thing Botan knew, Nimbus kicked him under the table.

“Uh!” Botan couldn’t fully contain his reaction.

“Hmm? Is something wrong, Evergreen?” Lenti asked, her knowing smile betraying her faux ignorance only twisted the knife further.

Botan saw this and figured Nimbus was roping her sister into this on purpose. 

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.” He immediately kicked Nimbus back. Her eyes widened with a small yelp as she never would have thought Botan would hit her back. She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

While the meal was lovely and wildly different from anything Botan had ever eaten, the only thing he focused on the entire meal was his continuous kicking war with Nimbus. They’d kick each other, dodge each other, and pretend like they were acting like the adults they clearly weren’t. If either one of them had a clear head, they’d be embarrassed by their behavior. But their mild dislike of being deceived by the other, without the means to have an open conversation in this situation, has resulted in an excessive amount of juvenile behavior.

Throughout the secretive exchange, Lenti’s smile grew wider. This was true entertainment.

Eventually, they both left the table to lick their wounds. Botan’s first instinct was to stick close to Typhus. He caught a glimpse of him, seeming quite smug and satisfied. It only annoyed him slightly. However, before Botan could reach him, Botan overheard a few nobles.

“Quite the big day for Prince Typhus, yet, he has no woman on his arm.” One noble observed. The man looked old and bitter.

“Of course. You’ve heard the rumors about his love life, I’m sure. You can’t bring any of those whores to an event like this.” Another noble brazenly said, bolstered by too much alcohol to speak more subtly.

Botan heard them and watched Typhus’ face. His smile remained, but it no longer reached his eyes. “He heard them.” The Prince slowly moved towards a door and excused himself.

“You need to choose your words more carefully. You’re insulting Lord Beaumont’s daughter.” The first argued.

The drunk waved his friend off. “I obviously don’t mean her. She’s the only one among them with any pedigree. If anyone owes her an apology, it’s our dear prince, treating her as interchangeable with a viper, a child, a cripple, and a damned witch.”

The bitter noble nodded along with each insult. “His bedroom activities are probably the only reason Alto hasn’t chosen him yet.” He admitted.

“Gambling his crown with harlots. Maybe Matus is the best choice?” The drunk one said seriously.

“Excuse me, we’ve not been introduced.” Botan approached the pair.

At the sight of ‘The Evergreen’ approaching them, both straightened their posture and tried to put on airs.

“Ah, Sir Nakaya, it’s an honor. I am Lord Elzbert. This is Lord Oreg. What is it we can do for you this evening?” The bitter Lord Elzbert greeted.

“You already have. Excuse me.” Botan went to leave.

“Wait, I’m confused. A moment, please.” Lord Oreg struggled to say.

“I wanted your names, that's all.” Botan clarified, not turning around to meet their eyes.

Lord Elzbert’s tone changed to a sweeter one. “Surely we can provide more than that. How about-”

Botan wasn’t having it. His tone became more assertive. “Your names are more than enough. Makes it easier to never have to suffer your presence again.”

“Huh!? There must be a mistake. Have we insulted you, Evergreen?” Elzbert asked, panic clearly heard in his voice.

Botan grew mad enough to stop briefly and look at the pair. “You insulted women who are not here to defend themselves. Typhus’ women. And the two of us are in a partnership of sorts as was plainly announced for all to hear.”

Lord Oreg tried to speak. “M-My apologies, Sir-”

But as soon as Botan heard ‘sir’, he knew they were talking to the wrong person. “Don’t apologize to me. I’m not the one you insulted.” He then walked away, leaving the two men scrambling.

“You idiot! You just cost me the Evergreen’s favor! This isn’t a party, it’s politics! Put down the bottle!” Elzbert shouted.

“I admit I got carried away, but I’m drunk. What’s your excuse? I wasn’t the only one running my lip!” Oreg fired back.

They carried on for some time, but Botan grew out of earshot and soon forgot the entire encounter. The rest of the nobles and attendants did not. The remaining royal children: Matus, Lenti, and Nimbus, seemed to enjoy that bit of drama.

As the event continued, Typhus returned, and Lenti made sure to place Botan and Nimbus close whenever possible, allowing them to continue their childish fight. It kept Botan so distracted that most approaching nobles were brushed off completely with his attention on Nimbus. Something Botan might’ve struggled with if he gave them the time of day.

After enough nobles were rebuked, Botan noticed Nimbus, who had been near him the entire time, was gone. He scanned the large room, not seeing her. But as he started to worry, he saw Lenti staring at him, pointing toward the balcony. His eyes followed, and after seeing Nimbus, so did his feet.

The Flower Hero did his best to reach the other side of the room with as little attention as possible. Unbeknownst to Botan, several of Lenti’s knights and allied nobles intercepted the few people who did notice him, trapping them in long-winded social interactions.

“It’d be a fate worse than death if their target was me.” Botan thought thankfully.

He slowly, awkwardly walked out onto the balcony. He could see a series of dozens of such outcroppings carved out of the side of the mountain. Botan had spent too much time inside; he’d already forgotten the castle was carved out of a mountain. His glance to the side caught Nimbus’ own, and they both paused for a moment.

“...Hey.” Botan spoke first, monotone and quiet.

“...Hey.” She mimicked him perfectly.

“...” Botan walked up to the railing near her, but neither spoke immediately.

But as the silence became too uncomfortable, Botan spoke first again. “I, I’m sorry about before. I just-”

“Me too. I can see them swarming you. I kinda get why you did what you did. I just… I wish you’d have told me.” She tried apologizing but circled back to feeling lied to.

Botan tried defending himself. “And I planned to, but you were-”

“Yeah, I know.” Nimbus relented.

“You could have told me your secret, though.” Botan, however, was not eager to just let it go either.

“Oh yeah, sure. Let me tell you I’m royalty. Then you drop me off and never adventure with me again.” Nimbus accused.

“No way! I wouldn’t do that.” Botan denied, not raising his voice too loudly.

“Oh please. I’m not blaming you. I know how much of a headache adventuring with me would be, the trouble it’d cause. I know it’s asking too much.” Nimbus sounded different, defeated. She lacked the fight in her voice that was ever-present before.

“Nimbus, you realize I attempted to assault a fortress, fought a gatekeeper, and illegally crossed into Ventus because I wouldn’t wait 30 minutes? And that I assaulted the new king of Mosden the first time I met him, in the throne room?” He told her, only realizing as he spoke that he was an entire problem.

“Da fuck!?” Nimbus broke her prim and proper girl act entirely. Or more accurately, she couldn’t remember to maintain it while receiving such ridiculous information. She then immediately started laughing.

“Yeah, I’m crazy!” Botan added, laughing too.

After the laughter died, she thought of other reasons Botan wouldn’t let her join him. “...You’d ruin your alliance with my brother.”

“Meh, I’d feign ignorance and just take corrective action when he found out.” Botan waved his hand.

“Huh, ‘corrective action’, as in abandon me?” Nimbus asked. Her brow parted and her shoulders sank.

“Well, I’m kinda supposed to save the whole damn world here. Not that adventuring with you isn’t fun, but I gotta find real party members.” Botan told her, not seeing anything wrong with how he responded.

“...’Real’ party members?” Nimbus repeated, her brow now furrowed.

“Don’t be offended. You’re fun to hang out with, but adventuring isn’t always fun, especially with me, as we’ve both seen. I’m gonna be in life-or-death situations with other people’s lives in my hands. I can’t just have a party full of buddies. I need people who’ll risk it all with me. Because if they can’t, the moment things get rough, they’ll bail, and I’m dead.” Botan tried explaining his reasoning.

“So, you’re calling me a coward?” Nimbus more accused than asked, anger clear in her voice. She leaned in, pressuring him.

Botan felt misrepresented. “No! Dammit, how do you keep reversing this on me!? I’m saying that this is a lot more serious than some adventure. It’s not what you signed up for. Look, I know you’re probably mad at me for helping your brother look more-”

“Wow, people really don’t know me.” Nimbus cut him off, some of her anger replaced with sadness. Her sharp features now dampened and smoothed.

“Huh?” Botan felt lost.

“I don’t want that stupid throne. I don’t care which of my siblings sits on it. I don’t want to walk around this stupid town all day being treated like someone important when I’ve never done anything worth glorifying!” Nimbus hissed, barely containing her voice, her hands gripping the railing so tightly that it was close to wrapping.

“...Well, what do you want?” Botan thought to ask.

Nimbus’ frustration lowered immediately. She took a breath and collected herself. “No one really knows me, but… he at least wants to know…” She thought.

“I want to… I want to travel the entire world. I want to fight every sort of monster there is, to discover hidden caves, unearth buried treasure, escape an island as a volcano destroys it… I want to live the kind of life I wouldn’t be bored reading about.” She rambled without thinking, but that only made it more honest.

“...” Botan didn’t reply right away.

“I know it’s both selfish and self-serving. I get that. But that’s the person I want to be.” Without an immediate reply, Nimbus grew vulnerable and started defending herself more.

“She’s the exact opposite of who I was… and who I still am in many ways. I couldn’t decide who I wanted to be with near-endless opportunities. She knew exactly who she wanted to be despite everything in her world telling her not to. I was crippled by hesitation, she is hindered by everyone else and reality itself…”

“Listen… I could use more party members for Alamaze, and I have only four days to clear it… So if you’re willing, I’d like to have you.” Botan invited her, sending her a party invite alongside it.

“Are you saying-?” Nimbus’ eyes widened as she started to question his meaning.

But even under that cute gaze, he retained some sense. “I’m saying you might as well get in on all this EXP. When you go on your grand adventure, you’ll need these levels. What do you say? It’d help us both out for the time being.”

“...Yes, thank you.” That was all she said. “This is my only opportunity… in more ways than one.” Nimbus resolved herself.

“Hmm.” Botan looked down and memorized the area below. “I guess to avoid any annoying conversations, we’ll just meet up here tomorrow at 8 am,” Botan suggested.

Nimbus looked confused at first, but a smile overtook her as she began to understand his meaning. “Sounds like a plan.”

The pair returned to the event as quickly as they could, Lenti seeming far too satisfied with herself.

“What has you in such a good mood, my princess?” Her personal knight asked.

“How could you tell, Sir Malpis?” She didn’t deny it, instead opening up a fan made of silver to cover her face partially.

“It’s not that hard to discern. You’re smiling.” He said plainly.

“I’m always smiling.” She said with a tapping of her shoe.

“You always wear a smile, but currently you’re not wearing any mask at all.” He said with a smile of his own.

Instead of anything sweet or kind, she made a slightly upset face and wrinkled her nose at him. “Uh, Uthr, stop revealing me like that. Don’t you know that women are most beautiful when they are afforded a little mystery? A woman in ravishing clothes can make promises to the eyes that a naked woman could never hope to fulfil." She said with a sigh.

“You can’t speak for both the women and the eyes.” Her loyal knight pointed out.

“First, you see through me, now you critique my metaphors? Let me be alluring!” She scolded him, now stomping the same shoe she was previously tapping. Her elegance was irreparably damaged by her display, not that her sworn knight was stupid enough to say as much.

“Yes, my princess.” He bowed and stepped back a bit.

“...Make sure no guards are in this room tomorrow from 7 am to 9 am.” She said in a calmer tone.

He placed his left hand over his heart. “As you command.” He didn’t question this order. 

Lenti didn’t like just how flawlessly her knight knew her, but that had its uses. Such as now. If she used the right tone, he’d do anything she ordered, knowing her general intention. 

“He’d fall on his sword if I ordered it.” She mentally complained. “Not that I’d ever do that… Which just validates his dedication, I suppose.”

The event went on for nearly three more hours, and Botan had to avoid associating with Nimbus too much, but besides her, there wasn’t anyone whom Botan was keen to be around. Nimbus’ siblings were the best options he had. But he felt something akin to bloodlust from Nimbus if he spoke to her older sister, Lenti, too much or was too friendly with her. This just made Lenti talk to Botan more. No matter how Botan acted with her oldest brother, Matus, Nimbus seemed fine. Unfortunately, the man was the living embodiment of constipation. He was wound up so tightly and seemed so serious. Excellent for anything outside of social interaction.

And that left Typhus as Botan’s main island to rest upon in this sea of boring lords.

“I know they’re important… All of this is important, but… this entire thing went from a full session at the diet building to a bunch of jaded middle-aged upper-management types bragging about their stuff like it’ll fill the void that happiness and their moral consciousness left years ago.” He complained.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Typhus said to Botan without turning to face him.

“Doing what wrong?” Botan asked with a tilted head.

“This.” Typhus opened his hand flatly, gesturing to the room. “Understand your standing is above most of the people here by a lot. The only people you need to show respect to are royalty and our sworn knights. If you just start talking about something you find interesting, most will cater to you.”

“That sounds extremely manipulative and an abuse of my status,” Botan complained.

“Just try it, nerd.” Typhus ignored his argument.

Botan somewhat relented. “Hmm.” Botan caught a noble approaching him. “Tell me, do you recognize what sort of monster Myskel is?” He asked, presenting his small friend.

“Mysk~.”

The man adjusted his glasses. “I’m afraid I do not. But that is your only companion at this time, yes? I assume it must be a very useful monster to meet your high standards.” The noble began.

A shine grew in Botan’s eye. This was a chance to boast about the glory of Myskel. “Ah, yes. She is something of a treasure that I believe future generations will laugh at our current scholars about.”

“Quite the claim. Why would you say that?” The noble asked.

“The ignorant monster ‘experts’ of this world have completely misunderstood her species. They call them ‘living nooses’, the jerks.” Botan began his sales pitch.

The noble took a step back. “Wait! That’s a living noose around your neck!?” This grabbed the attention of many around him.

“It’s a complete misunderstanding,” Botan assured him.

“You seem so confident in that. Even wearing it around your neck. Tell me then, what is the truth?” Another noble asked.

“Monster experts only ever found their bones wrapped around the remains of other monsters’ vital spots and assumed they fought to the death. But Myskel’s abilities are mainly that she can buff and heal whoever she is wrapped around. Her whole species seems to be supportive specialists that choose and bond with another companion of a different species.” Botan explained.

“...That would indicate that they are so loyal, they die alongside whatever companion they’ve chosen… explaining the bones. Magnificent.” The first noble thought aloud.

Even Prince Matus found that to be interesting enough to join the conversation. “If true, that makes living nooses one of the best options for someone who wants the benefits of being a monster tamer but doesn’t wish to alter the way they fight. Something of a ‘best default’ option.” They could already see the gears turning in the man’s head.

“Yeah! They’ll become very popular in the future. Count on that… I just wish that when that happens, they’ll find a better name than ‘living noose’.” Botan curbed his own enthusiasm.

“Misk~.” Myskel agreed.

“I know, girl. Using such a morbid name to describe a forever-hug-buddy is an injustice I will correct!” Botan promised with a raised fist.

“Misk!” Myskel raised a claw in solidarity.

Using that momentum, Botan discussed monsters with anyone who’d listen. “...Prince Matus, do you know of any monsters of note specific to Ventus?” 

Matus brought his hand to his chin. “For someone like you, I doubt anything shy of a devil could be of much concern… Actually, there is one kind of monster we have within Ventus that may still be worth noting. Ianuagolins, often living in pairs, they have heavily armored plates of [Malmetal] covering themselves. They often serve as gate and gate keeper for monster villages. It takes a lot to overcome their defense… I’d say they have armor equal to a twin-tongued devil.” The Prince answered.

“I’ve never seen a twin-tongued devil, so I have no real comparison.” Botan answered.

“Heh, that’s not surprising. People who see a twin-tongued devil don’t tend to survive it. They are probably the strongest devil species besides that fabled ‘Bifork-tongued Devil’. With your speed, though, you could probably outrun it.” Matus answered.

“...Probably?” Botan raised an eyebrow.

“I mean no disrespect. Twin-tongued devils have four legs and a pair of large wings. They are faster than a yoklan on land with the option to fly.” Matus warned.

“O-Oh… So it’s heavily armored while also being fast and can fly… No big deal.” Botan tried remaining confident while hearing about this nightmare.

“Then you take into account that it has the single most powerful attack among the devils.” Matus continued.

“...Stronger than the Devil-on-your-shoulder’s cannon?” The Evergreen asked with some doubt.

That question surprised Matus. “Ah, you’ve heard of that, have you? Yes. Stronger, though those two are very similar. They fire life force, not magic. That means it bypasses most defensive attacks.”

“So that's what it was attacking us with… That thing has it all, power, speed, defense. Geez. Definitely running away from that if I ever see one.” Only after he thought that to himself did he realize he wasn’t acting as a hero should in front of such an important person.

“Sounds like quite the foe. All the more important that I find one and slay it. I can only imagine the weapon forms that’d grant.” Botan said, trying to sound confident and brave.

If Matus noticed Botan’s attitude was forced, he had the grace to ignore it. “Indeed. But also remember that Ventus’ government has a standing bounty for any tongued-devils you find. You can keep the materials; just presenting the remains to a contractor’s office will garner you 10 gold. I know it doesn’t sound like much given the task, but that’s in addition to the materials you could sell.”

Botan paused at hearing that. He’d come to understand that 10 gold was a substantial amount for most people. And to give that much away for each and every devil? And they even get to keep their materials?

“Ventus must really hate devils to run such an incentive program.” Botan thought aloud.

“If we didn’t hate them, they wouldn’t be devils, Evergreen,” Matus said as though it were a common phrase.

“But that’s specifically for tongued-devils. That’s a subset of devils.” Typhus chimed in, adding clarity.

“Yes, of course. I forget I need to explain things more fully to our hero friend here.” Matus told his brother. “If there is nothing else, Evergreen.” Matus disengaged.

“So your focus is on weapon form unlocks?” Typhus asked.

Botan waved him off. “I am aiming for them, but the reason I asked him that was that I’m just interested in monsters in general. Shape dictates spells, right? So there are things we humans simply can’t do ourselves.” He explained.

“Yet.” Typhus slipped in.

“Huh?” Botan caught him speaking under his breath.

“Things we humans can’t do ourselves yet. People just lack imagination. Our military would just be men riding beasts without me. Our long-distance communication would be sending damned letters tied to birds. But now we have vehicles and Voice Cannons™.” Typhus clarified, sounding a little too proud of himself.

“How the fuck do you say ™? I’m hearing it and I still don’t understand it.” Botan thought briefly.

“I get innovation. But there’s just something about monster taming. You and a buddy can overcome anything. Sure, technology will do the job, and do it better, given enough time… but if I’m traveling by myself, or off-road, those vehicles of yours aren’t an option. If I want to send information to someone, I’d have to travel to a communications tower, then pay them, and they’d not allow any privacy. Freedom becomes the price of convenience, and oftentimes that’s not a good deal.” Botan answered, not entirely agreeing with Typhus’ sentiment.

“...Nuh uh.” That was all Typhus said before escaping the conversation.

“You can’t just say ‘nuh uh’ and leave. Hey!” Botan called for Typhus, but he too escaped.

 Another noble approached. “You are interested in monsters, Evergreen? Come to my province and I’ll show you many exotic creatures you won’t find anywhere else. I’ll introduce my daughter to you and-”

Another noble interrupted. “Oh, hush. Your province has few notable monsters. I’m sure the Evergreen would be more excited to visit my province. We have several interesting monsters. Just a few months ago, we had reports of a Lucky Devil. Quite the prize to find the monster that possesses supernatural good luck, yes?”

 The first noble wasn’t having it. “You’re making that up! Some tall tale to reel him in, with no means to allow the Evergreen to face such a rare specimen. If indeed you haven’t fabricated the entire thing, whole cloth. My province is coastal. Countless oceanic monsters can easily be found there.”

“Then why visit your province and not just charter a boat!?” The second chastised.

Botan learned to escape these conversations. It seemed like a useful skill to master. Social stealth, weaponized wallflower behavior. “Heh, ‘wallflower’.” Botan was as easily amused as he was distracted.

But eventually, time’s cruel grip on his life loosened ever so slightly. The event ended, and Botan escaped. It took so much of his day that he couldn’t really justify leaving the city for any reason. Instead, he continued to explore the shops, trying to find new materials to unlock weapon forms. Among them, two weapon forms seemed interesting.

.

[Herbal Leaf Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: HP +5, Healing Boost (Small)

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[Ventus Fly Trap Mancatcher Flower]

<Abilities Locked> Equip Bonus: Magical Defense +3

Equip Effect: Vice 

.

He knew what the herbal leaves looked like because he remembered the two brewing newts ate them often. As for the fly trap… It’s a fly trap, of course, he’d copy and absorb that. Although he was expecting it to be more offensively focused, it was more defensively focused.

Besides those things, he tried being smart about properly abusing the convenience of his Demon Jar. Buying snacks and other treats that’d normally be too cumbersome to take with you on a… “Do I call it an ‘adventure’? A ‘quest’? A… ‘journey’?”

And just like that, his mind shot off to something else.

The following morning Nimbus prepared herself for the journey. Her sister Lenti had taken the liberty of repairing or replacing her gear. She paused briefly, momentarily thinking about how lucky she was to have some people who understood her so well.

She quietly made her way to the main dining hall but found it far easier than she assumed. There were basically no guards to speak of. Then she entered the dining room to see four figures waiting for her. Dame Arabella Beaumont, Rithma Lasakk, Asher Windemere, and Varsha all waited in chairs, positioned to see her enter.

“Uh… Did my brother send you, or…?” Nimbus began.

“No. If Typhus knew what you were doing, he’d have come himself to stop you.” Rithma replied.

“So, why are you ladies here?” Nimbus asked hesitantly.

They each stood and held something out to her.

Arabella sat a pair of expensive metal boots and greaves that reached above Nimbus’ knees. “These were part of my armor set when I first joined the Lightning branch. They’ll serve you well.” Nimbus had little time to say much as she found the knight taking her old shoes off and helping her into these new ones.

Rithma presented her a clawed gauntlet—one thin and sharp. “Something I outgrew, it’ll make it easier to cast those claw spells.” She slipped it on Nimbus’ left hand before she could respond and latched it firmly.

Asher passed Nimbus a charm made of bound cloth and silver, forming a closed eye. “A warding accessory to keep you safe.” Nimbus learned to just stand still at this point as Asher placed the accessory on her collar.

(Asher Windemere art! - Done by Alemo on Discord)

Varsha didn’t have anything with her. Instead, she leaned in and spoke softly. “Please tell the forgetful Evergreen to check his drop item menu. He has a handy item waiting for you.” She then leaned back and adjusted Nimbus’ clothes a bit.

“Um… Thanks…?” Nimbus managed.

“No problem. Just run along before my Prince figures out your leaving, or that forgetful hero stops looking up.” Arabella said, causing Nimbus’ eyes to widen.

“...” She bowed sharply to the four of them. “Thank you all. Truly.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Rithma motioned for her to leave.

The four stood there smiling as Nimbus ran out onto the balcony and vaulted over the railing without even checking below. Botan was ready, but a little surprised she jumped without warning. He readied himself and caught her as he planned. But there was no time for flirting or tension. Nimbus hopped out of his arms and grabbed his arm, pulling him along.

“Adventure awaits!” She announced with genuine excitement.

.

[Paradise Index]

On this entry of Paradise Index we will be going over the political structure of the greater kingdom of Ventus.

At the bottom, you have slaves. As previously told, slaves in Ventus must work off an amount of money to repay the government. That amount is equal to how much the government paid to the victim(s) of the slave’s crime. Once the government has recovered the legal amount, their status as a slave is removed, and they regain status as a citizen.

Which leads us to the next group, everyday citizens of Ventus. This is the largest demographic we will discuss. Citizens have the most social maneuverability, able to join the military, become a lord, become a slave, etc. Royalty is the only position that common citizens cannot become through any legal means.

Members of the military are next, with a few exceptions. Those in the military, as well as the former military have the privilege to write to lords and royalty directly. They are not guaranteed a response, but they are promised to be read. During impactful political events, it’s not uncommon for lords and the king to receive 1000s of letters urging for one action or another.

Some members of the military are high enough in rank that they can marry into the family of lords, or even become one themselves (if such an opening is available).

There are 37 provinces in Ventus, each containing 1-3 cities. These provinces are roughly equal in size and population. Lords are chosen to govern individual provinces on behalf of and in direct service to the royal family. Most crimes in a province are judged by the acting lord, with only the most severe crimes receiving direct judgment by the crowned monarch. Rarely, a lord’s decision can be overturned. This can be done by the crowned monarch or 6 other important figures, including other lords, members of the royal family, and those in the highest positions of government.

The children of lords do not always inherit their parents’ position as lords. Likewise, a lord can be removed by the crowned monarch at a moment’s notice. This results in the bluebloods of Ventus being less confident in their positions and, therefore, more eager to impress. More than one lord has lost their position, not because they did anything wrong, but simply for being the least impressive at a time the royal family felt the need to reward someone’s service or actions with a lordship. While this means lords are usually more competent, it also means they spend a lot of their time retaining their position and not actually governing correctly.

After the lords are the uncrowned royal family members; even a child who can barely speak carries more weight than a lord if they are recognized as related to the king. The children of the current crowned monarch often leverage their power to gain more influence and control. Often, whoever succeeds at this the best is crowned the new monarch; however, that isn’t always the case.

Alongside the members of the royal family are their sworn knights. Each member of royalty may appoint a single knight as their personal guardian. Not even the crowned monarch is legally allowed to separate the two, being seen and leaving the prince/princess vulnerable. They are able to ignore all other orders in service to their assigned prince/princess. This can include disobeying the crowned monarch, no longer adhering to their local lords or military superiors, and more. Once appointed, they may speak with the authority of their prince/princess. Of course, their prince/princess can be punished for their sworn knight’s actions. 

Because sworn knights have the same social and legal rank as their prince/princess, it’s historically been used to raise the status of someone whom that prince/princess intends to marry in an attempt to make them more acceptable. 

Above the princes are those who serve directly under the crowned monarch. The general of the military, the head of foreign affairs, the royal magician, and more. With the first two also being held by the first prince and second princess, respectfully. This elevates their authority, and therefore the authority of their sworn knights.

But in the humble opinion of this Paradise Index, we believe that Prince Typhus has contributed so much to the future and progress of Ventus that a new position should be created. Head of Research and Development. And that it should carry the same weight as the positions held by his older siblings. (This is a reminder that Paradise Index is now owned by Prince Typhus. The opinions we are forced to express are not our own.)

Here is roughly where a hero would sit in the hierarchy, assuming they were a Ventus asset and ally.

And lastly, the crowned monarch themself. There is very little their authority can’t do. The only thing not already mentioned they can’t do is execute (or otherwise call for the death of) any of the three heroes.

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Asher Windemere by Alemo on Discord