By the time I arrived, the members of “Epic Seeker” and the two girls had moved to a less crowded alley to avoid causing a commotion. In the darkness, one of the girls was cornering a member.
“Just take me to Palinkron!”
I hurried into the alley and called out.
“Wait, I’ll listen! I am the Guild Master of ‘Epic Seeker’, Aikawa Uzunami!”
I shouted loudly to get their attention. As if on cue, the girls shifted their focus to me. Their eyes widened, looking at me as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
“Huh… what, huh? Christ…?”
The girl with the pigtails turned towards me with a bewildered expression. It seemed I had succeeded in getting their attention. However, just to be sure, I yelled at them again.
“Palinkron is my subordinate! If you have business, I’ll convey it! So, get away from my members!”
In response to my second warning, the androgynous girl in the back spoke up.
“Ch-Christ?! It’s me, Dia!”
“Dia.”
Presumably, it was a nickname for Diablo Sis. However, something was strange. The girls had been calling me “Christ” since earlier. Even though I had introduced myself as Aikawa Uzunami, they kept repeating that name, just like Snow.
“Alright. So your name is Dia. In any case, please get away from my people.”
Despite having many reservations, securing my members’ safety came first. I urged them to step back. The pigtail girl, deep in thought, followed my instructions and distanced herself from the members. However, the girl who called herself Dia walked this way without caring, shouting. As she approached, I noticed something. Diablo Sis was missing an arm. She appeared to be a one-armed mage.
“Christ, what are you saying?! Just come home!”
“Home…?”
I couldn’t understand what Diablo Sis was saying. After all, they were getting my name wrong.
“What have you been doing until now?! If you’re okay, why didn’t you come to Griad?!”
“Wait, you said your name was Dia…! Don’t come any closer…!”
Sensing that Diablo Sis might not be mentally stable, I drew my sword from my Inventory and got into a stance. Seeing the sword, she froze. I initially thought she was scared of the blade, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. She pointed at my sword and muttered something.
“Th-that, Christ… My sword…?”
“Your sword…? Wait a minute. I truly don’t understand what you’re saying. First of all, my name isn’t Christ. Aren’t you mistaking me for someone else…?”
Assuming it was a case of mistaken identity, I pointed it out.
“Mistaken identity? There’s no way I’d mistake Christ! It’s you who’s not making sense. Hey, Christ, stop joking. This is too cruel for a joke… Without Christ, I… I…!”
However, upon hearing my explanation, Diablo Sis approached me with a strained smile, her face devoid of composure. Her strange aura sent a shiver down my spine, and I instinctively shouted to stop her.
“Y-you’re dangerous! Don’t come any closer!”
Her abilities and behavior were extremely dangerous. Her eyes, which were gradually losing their light, gave me a chill. Called to a halt, Diablo Sis looked at me with vacant eyes, her questions directed at me like a plea.
“…Hey. Why are you pretending not to know me? No, why do you have that sword? Where’s my sword? Hey, what’s wrong? …Did you discard it?”
Her face was smiling, but her eyes were filled with sorrow. She seemed confused, facing an unbearable reality.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“…Wh-what?”
After confirming my members had retreated to safety, I answered honestly. Diablo Sis’s expression contorted upon hearing my words.
“I’m not that person called ‘Christ’. I am ‘Aikawa Uzunami’. Please, try to understand that and talk to me… Otherwise, I won’t understand anything you’re saying at all.”
Sweating bullets at the girl’s explosive reaction, I spoke gently and slowly, hoping to de-escalate the situation. However, in response, Diablo Sis collapsed to her knees as if having lost her mind.
“Ugh, ugh… A-again…? I, ah, am I being abandoned again…?”
“Please, calm down. It’s not that I’m not listening. If you can slowly explain your situation, then–”
“Ugh, *sob*! Ugh, uuuuh, aaaagh—!!”
And then, she started to cry.
“Wh-what?! Why are you crying?”
“Aaaagh, wail, aaaaagh aaaaaaaaah–”
“P-please don’t cry. Look, I have no ill intent. I-I’ll put my sword away. See?”
I was bewildered by Diablo Sis’s sudden tears. From her Status, I had assumed she was a strong individual with emotional stability, but it was the complete opposite. Her fragility was so profound that it made my rushed exit from the office seem comical.
“Oh dear, you made someone cry. That’s not good.”
Rustiara Fuziaze, the pigtail girl who had been observing from the back, stepped forward upon seeing her companion cry. Patting Diablo Sis’s head, she reprimanded me with playful words.
“Did I make her cry?! I don’t understand any of this! What exactly are you two?!”
“What are we? Let me see.”
Rustiara Fuziaze seemed calm, unlike Diablo Sis. Hearing my inquiry, she chose her words carefully, taking her time to reply slowly.
“Yes, we’re companions.”
Rustiara Fuziaze looked beautiful as she answered. I wondered if it was due to her otherworldly appearance, but it wasn’t. Her beauty wasn’t visual; it was the strength in her voice, her lack of hesitation—and above all, the weight of her words that made her appear beautiful. There was a solemnity there, like an answer to life she had found over many years. Hearing this filled me with an unusual excitement, and my face flushed.
“C-companions…?”
It was an incomprehensible answer. There was no way we, who had just met, could be companions. But still… Rustiara Fuziaze looked directly at me and said “companions” with no hint of falsehood. It was more fantastical than a scene from a fairy tale, more divine than a painting in an art museum. There was a profound power there, capable of making black seem white. I felt my heart quicken. My cheeks grew hot. An unknown emotion seemed to ignite within me.
“Yes, I think I understand the general situation now. I can see, so I’ll ask Kanami properly instead of Christ. —Hey, what happened to Maria?”
However, that fervor cooled in an instant.
“—What?! Wh-why is Maria’s name coming up there?”
“As I’ve said many times, she’s a precious companion.”
I was surprised that my sister Maria’s name was mentioned. At the same time, I felt a sense of dread. Few people knew Maria’s name. It was partly because she had spent little time here as a “Foreigner,” and primarily because I had decided to take the spotlight. This girl knew about Maria, whom I had kept hidden backstage.
“Companion? Why are you and my sister companions?!”
“S-sister? Hmm, that sounds interesting, but Christ is undergoing some troublesome mind control…”
Realizing my sister, whom I treasured more than my life, might be in danger, I couldn’t help but raise my voice. In response, Rustiara Fuziaze used the words “mind control” and “Christ.” I had heard similar things before. I also knew that the person who said them was hiding behind some objects nearby.
“Then who the hell is Christ! Snow, what is ‘Christ’ supposed to mean?!”
“…P-please don’t ask me.”
Snow reacted to my question, emerging from the shadows with a troubled expression. Rustiara Fuziaze, noticing her face, spoke to her with a curious tone.
“Snow? Snow Walker? Why are you here?”
“N-no, I don’t intend to oppose you. —H-here, Kanami, repeat! The thing you told me to remember!”
Snow spoke with an unusually clear tone. It seemed she was afraid of this girl with such abnormal power.
“R-repeat?”
“The night Kanami joined the Guild!”
She was trying to make me recall that night. The same night she had called me ‘Christ,’ just like Rustiara Fuziaze.
“Um, are you talking about the thing where I was being manipulated by Palinkron…?”
“…That’s right. I warned you properly. It’s not my fault. In fact, I worked hard.”
Upon hearing my answer, Snow conveyed it to Rustiara Fuziaze.
“Hmm…”
Rustiara Fuziaze put her hand to her mouth and pondered. It was obvious now. Snow and Rustiara Fuziaze knew each other. And they were sharing a story I was unaware of.
“Nope, guilty. You’re probably just slacking off in life using Christ for your own benefit.”
“Ehhh…”
Rustiara Fuziaze took a step forward with a smile, while Snow stepped back.
“Wait, I won’t let you touch Snow!”
Sensing Snow’s fear, I stepped between them and drew my sword.
“Ohh… You’re protecting Snow and pointing a sword at me? I see. How cool. Christ, you sure like changing the girls you protect, don’t you? Wow, amazing. Just like a ‘Hero’.”
The moment I stood in front of Snow, I felt the magic radiating from Rustiara Fuziaze intensify. Her smile remained, but a vein seemed to bulge on her forehead.
“I told you, my name is Aikawa Uzunami! K-a-n-a-m-i! I am ‘Epic Seeker’s’ Guild Master, Kanami! I will not forgive anyone who lays a hand on my guild members!!”
I, too, flared my magic in response, confronting Rustiara Fuziaze. I switched my “Dimension” to the combat-oriented “Dimension – Decisive Calculation” and scanned the surroundings. If this girl moved towards Snow, I decided I would capture her without any compromise. Behind me, the other guild members I had commanded were gathering. Sensing their comrade’s peril, they all entered combat readiness. Catching sight of them, Rustiara Fuziaze calmed her immense magical power and sighed.
“Haa… But with so many interruptions, it’s disadvantageous. It’s an unexpected variable that Christ’s status has increased more than I calculated. It’s difficult to resolve Christ’s magic while being cautious about various things, and if Dia gets serious, the town will be razed to the ground. Hmm, what should I do…”
The “Epic Seeker” members were not low-level. Most of them were fierce warriors specialized in combat. Yet, surrounded by these formidable warriors and facing their hostility, Rustiara Fuziaze pondered calmly. Her composure was unnerving. While I vigilantly watched her movements, the girl who had been crying while sitting down stood up. Wiping away her falling tears with the hem of her clothes, she nuzzled against Rustiara Fuziaze.
“U-ugh, *sob*, ugh… H-hey, Rustiara… Christ is just being manipulated, right? Everything just now was a lie, wasn’t it? It was, right? Th-then, I have to save him! I have to save Christ quickly! If I don’t save him, I can’t bear this suffering! Ah, aah, Christ… No matter what it takes, at any cost, I’ll save—”
“Y-eep!”
“Augh!”
Rustiara Fuziaze mercilessly knocked Diablo Sis unconscious with a hand chop, interrupting her. Then, cradling Diablo Sis in a princess carry, she spoke to me.
“If we fight here, I feel like it would play into Palinkron’s hands… So, for now, I’ll retreat… For now, though…”
Then, with a shy, faint smile, she continued.
“Thanks to Christ, I was able to become who I am… I was so happy… So this time, I, who am no one else, will surely save you…”
Her words were very gentle. At the same time, her voice was frail, unlike her Status suggested. I couldn’t fathom her inner feelings. With no words to offer someone whose name I didn’t even know, I remained silent. Seeing my silence, Rustiara Fuziaze smirked, a sly look crossing her face, and left me with a parting shot.
“Well, that aside, remember today. Once everything is over, I’ll have to grant Dia’s selfish requests a hundred times. And I’m quite angry too. —Well then, goodbye for today!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Rustiara Fuziaze leaped. Carrying a person, she jumped several meters into the air, kicked off the building wall, and landed on the roof. She then ran across the rooftop.
“Wh-what, so fast—!”
I hesitated to pursue her. It was likely only I who could keep up with that speed. Even Snow was questionable. If I chased them, it would inevitably lead to a battle between me and those two. I had no desire to prod a hornet’s nest against two monstrous beings of unfathomable talent. Therefore, I settled for pursuing them using “Dimension – Multiple Expansion.” As I explained the situation to the gathered guild members, I continued to track them magically. The limit of my pursuit came around the time the two girls entered Griad, a country to the southeast.
