Chapter 7 – In Another World, Getting To Know Each Other 2

She just talked. I can’t be hearing it wrong, she even wiped a drool on her lips following her statement of ‘that looks really delicious’.

As I’m currently locking eyes with the floating lady, Nimbus who is seating next to me, enjoying his food, asks me whether there is something wrong. He sees that I’m looking back at something instead of enjoying the food in my hand.

“Did you hear that?” I ask him for confirmation.

“Hear what?”

“Someone saying something looks delicious.” I explain to him.

“Hm? I thought it was you who said that. I definitely heard someone said so in low voice from your direction.”

That confirms it. I look at her again, she’s now hiding her face behind her fingers which is pretty pointless. Let’s test her a bit.

I extend my hand which is holding the grilled meat to her and she peeks at it between her fingers. Her gaze is shifting between me and the food. It only took a few seconds before she suddenly tries to snatch the food in a flash.

*Swoosh*

The food is still in my hand. Her hand just went through the food, unable to touch it, much less grab and snatch it. Now she has an upset face and her hands are tightened to a fist in anger.

Weird, can’t she touch the food?

*Munch*

I take a bite at the food.

I can eat it just fine, and of course, it tastes really delicious! I’ve never tasted such a juicy and tender meat like this, it feels like it almost melts in mouth and meat juice also splurges out inside my mouth. It’s already delicious as it is but I feel that it could tastes even better with stronger seasoning.

As I unconsciously savor the taste, something grabs and pulls my hair. It’s her, she’s yanking my hair!

“Grrr! Why are you the one eating it!?”

Our table once again attracts unnecessary attention due to her yelling.

“Ouch, stop it lady! Take the food, take it!” I try to give the grilled meat to her but she’s unable to grab it again, much less take a bite. She can hold my hand and yank my hair though, so that at least means she’s not some kind of illusion.

“Axl? Something a matter?” Tokyo asks me with a concerned look due to my hair suddenly getting messy and a yell that came from nowhere.

Now the floating lady is pouting while facing away from me, her previously aloof and proud attitude drastically changes into one that’s like a child who’s upset because she doesn’t receive her long-awaited Christmas present.

“It’s alright, it’s alright.” I reply him as I tidy my hair a bit with my fingers.

I look toward Nona who’s also looking towards me because of the commotion.

“Nona, this place also has an inn upstairs, right? Is there currently any empty room?”

“Eh, ah, right…. We have an inn upstairs~. The furthest room is also available~.”

“Great, let me take that room right away.”

“Eh, right away~?”

“Yes, here’s the money for all the food and the room.” I take out the pouch containing our group’s Trixium crystal and hold it in my hand.

“Er, okay, please wait, I’ll fetch the shop’s crystal~.” She runs back behind the shop counter and come back with a Trixium crystal and a small item that’s apparently a room key.

I hold the pouch close to her crystal and chant the Trix transferring spell, Galdean Senalis. I don’t need to take out the crystal out of the pouch, this is a common thing to do by the people in order to hide what kind of wealth one might bring with oneself. And in our case, it’s an important thing to do, knowing that our Trixium crystal is pretty high grade and can catch more ‘unnecessary attention’, especially from the wicked minded.

The cost of today’s lunch and the room is nearly 900 thousand Trix, around half of it is from treating the guests in the restaurant to a glass of alcoholic drink. I don’t pay much attention to the cost and receive the key from her right away.

“Thank you for your patronage nya~.” She happily checks and confirms the amount of Trix received.

“You have something to do?” Ms. Latina asks me.

“Yeah, the three of you also please come upstairs when you’ve finished your lunch.”

“You’re not going to finish yours? Is the matter really urgent?”

“I’ll grab something else for lunch later. It’s not dire, but best to be taken care of right away.”

“I’ll come with you, I lost my appetite after I heard that it’s orc meat…” Tokyo joins the conversation.

Nona looks dejected after hearing that.

Realizing the blunder he just made, Tokyo immediately try to fix his statement.

“Ah! No, I mean, it’s not like the food is bad, I just personally can’t eat orc meat. I’m sorry, I’ll order something else later for sure.” He looks a little bit in panic, I wonder why he can’t eat it. It’s not like he’s a vegan since he asked for a meat dish and the steak also looks very tasty in my opinion.

Nona nods to his reasoning, showing her understanding of his cause.

“I’m coming with you too, boss.” The food on old Vodka’s plate is already gone, he sure eats fast.

“…..For you to ask us to come too means it involve our case right? I’ll come with you too then.” Ms. Latina says so in understanding.

“We, we…” Namine and Namira are somewhat at loss on what to do in regards to the situation. I can understand them, we were the one who’s treating them for lunch but we suddenly decide to leave, knowing their character, they must be anxious on what to do to cope with the situation.

“It’s okay, take your time and enjoy the food. We’ll back soon, I’ve something to ask you too after this, so please wait a bit for us, okay?”

“Okay, sir Axl.” Namine politely answers me.

And like that, the four of us plus one more go upstairs towards our rented room. This floating lady still follows me even when she looks angry at me, that means she’s restricted to keep following me by some kind of rule. It’ll all be clear soon.

Inside the room, everyone is still standing. I look toward the still pouting beautiful woman.

“Alright. I’ll say it again. We’re alone now, you can talk.”

“…..” She’s frowning and is folding her arms while glancing at the other three for a bit.

“Who are you talking to?” Ms. Latina asks me while checking the room.

“I’ll be honest, there is actually another one being summoned together with the three of you.” I blatantly tell them about it.

“Eh, another one? Where?”

“She appears to be invisible. I don’t know why, but it looks like I’m the only one who can see her. She can touch me and you can hear her yelled before so I’m sure it’s not a hallucination.”

“I did hear a woman yelling…” Ms. Latina confirms my statement.

“Invisible… is she a ghost?”

“I’m not sure, let’s ask her directly. Lady, can you reveal yourself to them? I know that your voice can be heard by them, so you probably able to reveal yourself too.”

“….” She still keeps being silent.

“If you’re not going to do anything, then I’ll let it be as it is and you can stay invisible like that while watching me eat all kind of delicious food from now on.”

“NOOO!” She panics right away, the simple threat is super effective.

Hearing a yell coming out of nowhere again, Tokyo and Latina are shocked. As for old man Vodka, he’s just standing there as if nothing special is going on.

“Then please reveal and introduce yourself.”

“Umumu…” She’s frowning and looks really displeased.

In the end she complies with my demand and reveal herself. A slight glow appears on her skin for just a moment then according to the other’s reaction, she can be seen by them now.

I can hear Ms. Latina gasping in awe and says, “How beautiful…”

Even from a female point of view, an already beautiful woman herself, this floating lady’s beauty is still beyond earthly comprehension.

Then right after her gasp, the other one’s reaction does not fail to amuse me. Tokyo suddenly throw himself toward the floating lady and perform a grovel while sliding which later on I learn that it’s called a sliding dogeza.

“PLEASE GRANT ME CHEAT ABILITIEEEEEES!!!” He shouts so after finished sliding and with his face nearly kissing the floor.

The very act surprises us all, even Vodka who always looks indifferent is raising his eyebrows in surprise.

“Kyaaa!” She instinctively flies away and hides behind Ms. Latina.

“O’ graceful Goddess, please give me super strength! Ability to fly as I wish! See-through vision! Laser beam from my eyes! Fire breath! Invisibility! And… and….” He vigorously asks her without knowing that she’s not in front of him anymore.

“Hey man, calm down a bit, will you? You’re unnecessarily scaring her.”

“No! You don’t understand, this is very important! We finally meet the Goddess, this is the moment we can receive special abilities when we are transported to a different world. I didn’t receive any ability before so I must ask for one right now!” He realizes that she’s not in front of him so he locks onto her new position and performs another sliding dogeza toward Ms. Latina and the floating lady’s direction.

“Kyaaa! Don’t ask me! Ask him!” She points her finger towards me while still hiding behind Ms. Latina.

Why is she pointing at me?

“Both of you, calm down!” The two stop shouting, but she’s still hiding and Tokyo keeps the begging posture.

“Alright, please first introduce yourself and explain why you’ve kept being silent all this time.”

“Why would I want to talk with someone like you, humph!”

“Why? Did I do something that upset you?”

“Of course, you took my precious! My everything! And you wasted it all like it’s nothing!” She angrily yells at me.

“I did what!?” I’m almost speechless toward her sudden accusations. Tokyo also shows a very surprised look and even worse, Ms. Latina is glaring daggers at me.

“Boss, you’re a real pimp!” Vodka, this old man, his grinning face definitely shows that he understands there is a misunderstanding, but he actually decides to add oil into the fire.

“I misjudged you, you dare to taint a woman and avoid taking responsibility. You don’t deserve to call yourself a man!” Ms. Latina falls to Vodka’s unnecessary provocation easily, she extends her hands to the sides as if covering for the one behind her.

“Wait, no matter how you look at it, something is amiss! Lady, don’t spout something so outrageous!”

“What’s wrong with what I said? You definitely took all my power and authority away from me then wasted it all for nothing!”

Ah, that clears things up a bit.

“Power? Authority? Please explain in detail because I can’t remember to have ever done something like that.”

“It was when you came to this world! Don’t tell me you can’t remember it.”

“I really can’t. I don’t remember meeting you at that time, much less taking something from you.”

“You don’t remember it? Truly?” She’s calming down a little.

“Truly. If you’d be so kind as to explain what you mean, it would be much appreciated. Please start with introducing yourself first.”

“Okay… I’ll explain first. Let’s see whether you remember any of it.”

She’s somewhat convinced and agree to explain herself first. The others have also calmed down, especially Ms. Latina, at least she has stopped piercing me with her glares. Thus we decide to hear what she’s got to say.

“I’m Sephiria Pixiv Lilumel Makhia, the revered Goddess of the Human kin in this world.” To our surprise, she really is the Goddess. Tokyo was right to some extent.

“I’m the one who administer souls which travel into this world through the unnatural mean of summoning by the Human race. In their terms, it’s commonly called as hero summoning ritual. All those souls who managed to be summoned will come to me first for an introduction and to receive certain blessings before finally forming their body in the new world and enter it.”

We are all silently listening to her explanation, this could explain a lot of important things. She then points a finger towards me.

“You were the last one to come after some period of time has passed since the previous one came. Like all the previous ones, I welcomed you and introduced this world to you. Most souls will be restless when they travel here, you were no exception, except that you quickly regained your composure. It was a normal introduction, nothing was wrong. It’s when I gave you blessings that problems started to occur.”

When she tells us this, some images of an event flashes in my mind.

“I gave you the basic blessing of language translation in the form of thought transmission then asked you what kind of unique ability you would like to receive. *sigh* You asked me how many abilities you can receive and I explained that you may only receive one and it’s also limited to your own aptitude. You then shamelessly asked me to just give you my power as a Goddess so that you can bestow all kind of abilities to yourself whenever you need it. I strongly rejected the idea and you laughed, saying that it was only a joke. But then to my surprise, my power really got absorbed by you!”

I nearly facepalm myself. Bits and bits of seemingly lost memories resurface in my mind, I slightly remember the scene she’s describing. That was really only meant as a joke. I’ve previously heard jokes about a genie who’d only grant three wishes and the receivers would ask for more wishes as their first wish, exploiting the possibility of making the number of wishes infinite. So on that occasion, ‘it won’t hurt to try it’ I thought.

“Your power got absorbed by me? So the thing you mentioned as your precious is really this power as the Goddess?”

“Of course it is! What else could it be?”

“Well, miss Goddess, when a woman says ‘my precious’ like that, it can mean a lot of things, especially that one ‘thing’.” I especially put a higher intonation when mentioning the word ‘thing’.

“And that is?”

“Why don’t you ask her, she seems to understand it very well.” I throw a glance at Ms. Latina.

She looks somewhat apologetic after learning the real story.

“I-, I’m sorry…. Again…” She faces down in embarrassment.

“Hey, can you tell me what he’s talking about?” She’s curious to know what it means, I thought she was very simple-minded when she pouted over a food, but this lady is probably even more of an airhead and childish than I thought.

“Umm, that… *whisper whisper whisper*” After hesitating a bit, Ms. Latina whisper to her ear in low voice.

This airhead Goddess, Sephiria, listens closely to what Ms. Latina whisper and her face immediately turns red like a tomato with a very shocked eyes, even her hands cover her mouth which is gaping in embarrassment.

“You pervert! Beast! You… You!” She one-sidedly complains to me for understanding common sense.

“Geez, it was you who created the mess first. Even if I did take your godly power or something, you shouldn’t say something like it’s your everything, that would really make people misunderstand.”

“That… really is my everything...” She faces down with a dejected look, traces of red is slowly fading.

“Excuse me?”

“My body is ethereal, so when I said you absorbed my power, what I meant is you absorbed me whole…”

“Boss, you really ‘ate’ her up.” Old Vodka strikes again with his lame jokes, I find a pattern that shows he only speaks when there is a chance to tell a lame joke.

Tokyo, Me, and Ms. Latina only glance at him for a moment and unanimously restrain ourselves from commenting.

“Ethereal as if not having physical body? Like a spirit? A ghost?”

“Correct, my body is made of mana, it doesn’t have a physical body.”

“Wait, let’s get back a bit. How did I able to take away your godly power in the first place?”

“That’s… I don’t know. It’s as if your very soul has greater standing than me, it simply superseded my authority as one of the administrators of this world. Truly, such a thing is unheard of before.”

“Okay, so far I get it. Now that you mention it, the memories of meeting you are slowly coming back, that far I can be sure of. Other than taking your ‘everything’, you also mentioned I wasted it all for nothing, what was that about? Do you also know why I lose some part of my memory?”

“I’m not sure why, but your transfer was partially incomplete, resulting in some part of yourself being sealed, which probably include a part of your memory too. I, as the one being absorbed is also sealed inside and has no way to do anything. As for you wasting it all… It was later on when the seal happened to be weakened and I managed to break free for a moment that I realizes the situation. You used an ability to tear through realms and return to your world, but you used it very inefficiently, costing a lot of unnecessary mana that’s beyond your capacity. And when I say your mana, what I mean is my mana that you absorbed!” She’s sighing and looks upset after remembering the event.

So that event really wasn’t a dream. I’ve suspected so since I lost the shirt which I gave to crazy Joe in that dream-like event.

“Personal mana would normally regenerate after resting for a period of time, but in your case, it was depleted way pass the point of no return! It was truly gone for good! You wasted all my mana for nothing. It could never regenerate back to its previous level because the mana consumption continued and progress to eat up your life essence instead, reducing your mana capacity to the extreme. That was also when your condition turned from mana exhaustion to actually dying for real. I couldn’t believe you were still able to stand as if nothing is happening back then, the pain of having your life essence eaten up normally would have been very excruciating, normal people would go insane just by experiencing it for a few seconds.”

It did feel a little bit painful, but not to the point where I would go insane from the pain. In fact, that feeling is pretty nostalgic, I used to experience something similar everyday when I was younger after all.

“That event you’re saying, it must be when I went back to Earth through a weird space hole that appeared out of nowhere. I do remember feeling tired and feverish back then. Glowing cracks also appeared all over my skin.”

“That’s it, your body is made from implemented mana, so when the consumption began to eat your very being, that means it began to consume your body as it is.”

“Wait, my body is made from mana? I thought you said your body is made from mana and it’s not a physical body.”

“Yours and I are different, mine is from pure ethereal mana, untouchable by physical being, while yours, a summoned entity, formed an unnatural body made of mana to exist physically in this world.”

“By summoned entity do you mean they also have the same kind of body as me?” I point on the other three here.

“Correct, you summoned entities originally travelled to this world only in a form of soul, ethereal being like me now. When you enter the world for real, you formed a physical body through the implementation of mana, an avatar that needs to keep consuming mana to stay exist. It’s like casting a simple fireball for example, you keep on channeling your mana to keep it formed and it will disappear when you stopped the mana channeling, your body is like that fireball, a perpetually casted spell.”

“I see… I understand. So, were you the one who brought me back here in that dire moment?”

“I am. At that moment when I realized your situation, I was able to take control of your weakened body for a moment, immediately stopped the inefficient mana consumption, casted another spatial hole to this world, and return immediately.”

“Such a critical situation actually happened without me realizing it. Thank you miss Sephiria, for saving my ass, and sorry that I unknowingly took your power and even wasted it all.” I sincerely mean to thank her and apologize for being a scumbag who messed up her peaceful life, even if it was by mistake.

“Wha-, what? What are you apologizing for, what’s done is done, the noble me is not so petty to scorn you over something small like that. No need to thank me too, it was only proper for me to save the one in need! And no need to call me with honorifics, just Sephiria is fine!” She’s being very aloof again, she was bashing me for my mistakes just a minute ago and now she’s acting very noble. This lady, could she be…

“A tsundere Goddess!” Tokyo quickly exclaims.

“Right, that was very cute of you to suddenly act all high and noble.” I’m not sure what ‘tsundere’ means, but I can guess of what it probably means, thus I complement Tokyo’s statement, teasing her.

“Umumu…Stop teasing me!” She puffs her cheeks. The appearance of a mature heavenly beauty puffing her cheeks like an upset child is very refreshing to look at.

Vodka is also nodding in agreement while Ms. Latina is…

“According to your story… does it mean he has the ability to return to Earth, our original world?” Ms. Latina asks with a look full of hope.

“That would be correct. Even if my Godly mana power that he absorbed is already gone, the fact that he could create a spatial hole means he still has the authority to use all kind of abilities. Opening another spatial hole as a gate to your original world should be feasible.”

“Then please! I have to go back! Someone needs me, I have someone to protect there. I need to go back! I have to!” Droplets of tears are forming under her eyes and she’s even down on her knees while grabbing my clothes, desperately pleading for me to take her back to Earth.

“Please stand up, I’ll definitely take you back! but I don’t exactly know how to do it. Do you know how I can create that spatial hole, Sephiria?” I try to help Ms. Latina stands back up again.

“It shouldn’t be hard. Abilities and spells obtained from blessings don’t need a chant, it can be evoked just from thinking about it, but doing a gesture or certain actions like loudly yelling the spell name may help in making it easier to cast or make the spell output stronger. I can’t help you cast it myself, so try to remember what were you doing when the spatial hole created for the first time back then.”

What I was doing back then? I was… thinking about boss Ben’s pizza and wish that I could eat it one last time. Is that it? A desire or a wish for something.

“I understand, let’s try it.”

I think up about the pizzeria again and how I wish to eat it one last time. 10 seconds…. 30 seconds…. Finally a minute passed with no result on sight.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“That’s weird, the spatial hole previously appeared when I strongly wish to eat my favorite food on Earth, but now when I wish for the same thing, the spatial hole does not appear.”

“Maybe your desire for that is not strong enough at the moment. Using blessed abilities may be easier than casting a normal spell, but it still need you to get used to it too. Try to think up of something else that has strong impression, maybe it will work. The more recent one probably will be better too.”

“Something from Earth that’s impactful and recent? The last one should be…”

An image of me negotiating with the suicidal man together with Azeez comes to mind, then poof, with a unique spatial sound effect, the spatial hole appeared right before me like last time.

“It works!” I say so in surprise. For Azeez to be useful in times like this, that’s also a surprise in its own way.

“Quickly enter! Keeping the gate open is the thing that cost enormous amount of personal mana, just a couple dozens of seconds would deplete your current mana capacity!” Sephiria strongly inform us the condition with a serious face.

“I don’t want to go back!” Tokyo suddenly says so when we begin to enter the spatial hole

“We can return here again later on, this is only a trial! Get in!” I immediately drag him inside too.

We all manage to quickly enter and with Sephiria’s instruction, I close the spatial hole. I can already feel some kind of energy leaving me, making me feel a little bit tired.

I look around, right now we are on the rooftop area where I fall from, inside Azeez’s glass house studio to be precise. Several turned on computer monitors showing videos being edited are in front of us, some other equipment like video cameras and costume props are scattered around messily like when I last came here.

“We’re in Brooklyn, USA. This area is near the place where I work at and this place belongs to someone I know.” I inform them about our location.

The four of them, including Sephiria is looking around, analyzing the place.

“Is this a studio?” Tokyo asks me.

“Yes, this is a studio of a prank video maker. The prick has been making prank videos for years, I’ve even become his victim ever since I moved in to this city back in 2013.”

“That’s tough.” Tokyo tries to comfort me out of courtesy.

“The exit is over here, we are on the rooftop of a six floor building so we can see some view if go near the fence.” I tell them so and we exit the glass house.

I notice that Sephiria has been looking a bit uneasy, maybe the distinct objects of our world scare her a little. As for Vodka and Ms. Latina, the both of them are unexpectedly silent, even the usual grin on Vodka’s face is nowhere to be seen.

We approach the fence and silently look at the scenery for a few moment. The building we are on right now is located between the residential area and the city central, so there are only a few other tall buildings in the area, allowing a good view of the many tall city buildings some distances away from here.

Then the door behind us, the one that connect the rooftop area with the inside of this building suddenly opened.

“Huh, someone’s here?” A familiar voice can be heard. Not nostalgic, and if possible, I’d like not to hear it.

“Azeez!” I yell his name as soon as I see who it is.

“Eh? Who are you peo-, no way! NO! It can’t be! I saw you died! I was at your funeral, I saw you being buried!” He panics upon noticing me being alive and well.

“Well damn, I’m here am I not.”

“This is bad! Open the gate, we have to return to Archeloz right away! Go back, now!” Sephiria who has been restless for some time now suddenly shouts in panic. Could she be mistaking Azeez with that look-alike King? Archeloz is the name of the foreign world, the name of the planet we were in to be exact, the other one visible on the horizon is called Genexeus.

“Don’t worry, he’s not that imbecile King, he just looks very similar.”

“It’s not that! Quickly, open the spatial gate or we will die!” She’s looking even more panicked.

Die? I’m not sure what’s this about but it’s better to follow her advice so I try to open a spatial hole connecting to the inn room from before. Thankfully this time the spatial hole appeared on the first try. We immediately enter the hole and disappear one by one with me entering last.

“I’ll be back!” I shout toward Azeez before entering the spatial hole.

The last thing I hear right before entering the hole is, “Please don’t haunt me! I’m sorr—“.

Looks like he mistakes me as a ghost or a haunting spirit, that should be normal considering his point of view. It’s not bad, at least I could left him with a ‘present’ before returning.

Back in the inn room, I inquire Sephiria of what was the matter.

“That world of yours… was odd.”

“Odd?”

“There was no natural mana at all. I sensed that the entire world was devoid from the presence of natural mana!”

“The concept of mana is unknown in our world. That probably means that mana really doesn’t exist at all in our world, is that really bad?”

“It is! Remember that I told you our bodies are made of mana and need to perpetually being supplied with personal mana? If there is no natural mana around us to be absorbed so we can regenerate our personal mana, then eventually our personal mana will be depleted just to keep our body intact and there will be no mana left to create a return spatial hole. We would die just by staying there for a few minutes!”

The explained fact is like a thundering bad news for some of us. I look toward Ms. Latina, she only stays silent while slightly looking down.

“Ms. Latina, I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say to comfort her, she seemed so desperate to go back and when she found a glimpse of hope, it’s soon shattered.

“No, it’s okay… I was being rash. It doesn’t matter much anymore. I’m sorry for putting us in unnecessary danger.” She looks slightly dispirited but not desperate like before. I wonder why she suddenly changes like this.

“Don’t blame yourself, it was a good opportunity to test things out, no harm was done anyway.”

“Thanks…”

Now that one thing is sorted out, let’s check on the other one.

“By the way, what about your current situation now? Didn’t you say that you were sealed within me? Why did you suddenly appear together with them when they were summoned?”

“I’m not sure why, but something powerful broke the seal and complete your partially broken transfer. Allowing me to break free from being trapped inside you. Although I’m still bound to you and can’t leave your side, at least I can look around freely instead of staying in a lonely desolate space which is no different than a prison.”

Something broke the seal? Could it be the beam of light that hit me during the summoning ritual this morning? That must be it, she appears right after that event after all. So just by being there during the summoning ritual, I happened to fix something broken within me that I myself didn’t realize? What a coincidence, lucky me.

“What exactly do you mean by being bound and can’t leave my side? Is that why you have been following us around?”

“Correct... I’m bound to you and is restricted to stay near you all the time. As I said, you have taken my everything, and I don’t know how to unbind myself. Even if I could, without any mana left, I’ll just be a powerless ethereal being. So sticking to you would be the best choice for me right now.” She timidly explains her current condition.

“So... you’re like being bound by master and slave situation with him?” Tokyo cuts in and asks her.

“Sl-, slave? That’s... not entirely wrong...” She looks very depressed but still acknowledge the question.

“Uwaaah! Goddess familiar in early start! Get~!” He cheerfully says so, sometimes he can be a thoughtless guy, read the situation a bit.

“Umumu...” She looks down and frowning in depression, but that expression of her instead looks adorable.

“We won’t treat you like a slave! Isn’t that right, Axl?” Ms. Latina immediately hugs Sephiria by the shoulder to comfort her. Contrary to Tokyo, she’s a pretty sensitive and understanding person, isn’t she?

“True, we won’t ever treat you anything like a slave. You are a former Godly being after all, even if you lose your power, you should still have vast knowledge over this world which can help us a lot. You could be a living Gooogle of this world, an all-knowing being that can answer most questions we have.” I help comforting her and hit Tokyo’s head lightly to punish him.

“About that...”

“Hm? What about it?”

“I can help you with the basic rules, history, and magical laws of this world, but I... can’t help much regarding the common knowledge...”

“Eh? Why is that? I thought you were a Goddess that administer this world?”

“I was, but I lived in separate space and has never entered this world myself. All I could see and hear from that place was through the prayers of people made under my name.”

“So you can’t tell us information like where secret treasures are located?” Tokyo asks her again.

“I can’t.”

“Sensitive information regarding the powerful people of this world so we can blackmail them?” I ask her.

“Don’t know.”

“Latest market prices of items so we don’t get scammed?” Tokyo again.

“Sorry...”

“Type of weapon and level of technology the countries have?” Me.

“Uuuh...”

“...That’s pretty... useless isn’t it.” Both of us.

“UWAAAAA” She bursted to tears towards Ms. Latina’s chest.

“You two!” Ms. Latina who’s patting Sephiria scolds us.

“We’re sorry for being blunt, but calling it anything softer wouldn’t change the fact.”

“Uuuu, I can help in learning all kind of spells.”

“By that, do you mean we can learn all kind of magic we want?”

“You can, I still retain the knowledge of how to learn them. But I can only teach you, you need to still pass the learning requirements yourselves.”

“That’s still pretty cool! Alright!” Tokyo is excited upon hearing the statement.

“True, that will be a really major help.” I complement her too.

Indeed that can be a really great help later. We have zero knowledge about magic in this world that runs on magic for almost everything after all.

“It’s settled then, welcome to the group, miss former Goddess. Let’s reintroduce ourselves on this occasion, this time for real. I’m Ryan Maxwell, Half-American. I’m often called as Axl but you can call me as Ryan or Max too.”

The moment is good, so I take the initiative to get the group closer by introducing ourselves with our real name this time. The first to be caught by the moment is of course Sephiria who is being welcomed.

“I’m next then! As said before, I’m Sephiria Pixiv Lilumel Makhia. People worshiped me by the name of Goddess Sephiria.” Her expression quickly changes from being sad to slightly cheerful when she reintroduces herself.

“Is there many people with the name of Sephiria in this world?” I notice something that might become a problem.

“No there isn’t. The name is considered sacred and is almost considered forbidden to be used to name someone. Why are you asking?” She puts her index finger to her right cheek and tilt her head a bit while having a question-like expression on her face.

“It will be bad if we talk with you using Sephiria in public then, even if you were invisible to them. So we should call you as Vivi or Lilu instead.” I tell what the problem is and make a simple recommendation as the solution.

“Mmmn! I like it! Please call me Vivi or Lilu from now on.” She has a wide cheerful smile. Now that’s a more fitting expression as a former Goddess.

“I’m Matsumoto Junpei, no need to call me by my family name, you can call me Junpei instead.” Next is Tokyo who tells us his real name, but it’s...

“Tokyo sounds much better, so I’ll stick on calling you with it.” I nonchalantly declare so.

“Eh?! But it’s.... can’t you just call me Jun instead?”

“Nope, Tokyo is a good nick. You look like a city boy so that name suits your image very well, you chose it yourself too anyway.”

“Err... okay then... it’s true that it’s not bad and I did chose it myself anyway.” He finally concedes to be called with his self-claimed codename.

“What about you Ms. Latina?” I proceed to ask her.

“Stop calling me Latina. I’m indeed a Latin descent from Venezuela but I have a proper name too.”

“Alright, so what is it?”

“What?” She seems to be somewhat at a daze.

“Your proper name.”

“That... umm, it’s Amelie...” She looks slightly depressed upon mentioning her real name.

“Why do you look like you are uncomfortable with your name? Is there something wrong with it?” I inquire her about it, this much should be okay, I’m planning to stop asking if it turns out to be too personal.

“That name was given by someone that I loathe, it’s tainted and bears old wounds, but it’s also the name that the people I care about use to call me...” She has a bit of sad expression while explaining it. So she dislikes her name but it’s also the name that her important people know her as.

“I see. Why don’t you change it a bit then?”

“Change it?”

“Yeah, change it so it won’t be the name you received from that person you hate but it will still easily recognize-able by the people you love. Something like... Emelia, for example. Yup, just swapping the first and last letter already gets you such a nice name, different but still similar, perfectly fits the criteria we’re looking for.”

“Emelia...” She ponders about this name. I myself think that it’s a really great name, not only it perfectly fits the criteria, it also perfectly fits her character as she herself is not only hot and beautiful, but is also gentle and caring like what the name means. I’m amazed I could come up such a great name on the spot like this.

“Wow master, you are very good at giving names!” Sephiria cheerfully acknowledges my suggestion. Why does she suddenly call me master, this woman is already influenced by Tokyo...

“Please, one already calls me boss and another calls me master... stop it.” It could become an unnecessary trouble if someone heard it.... I think.

“Maybe I should call you as sempai too to make it merrier. Oh, I also need to create a maid uniform for Sephiria. Yosh!” Tokyo is falling to his own delusion while striking a winning pose, let’s just ignore him.

“It’s a wonderful name, Emelia... I really like it, thank you Ryan, I’ll take up on your suggestion.” She looks happy, an honest smile can be seen on her face. She also decides to call me as Ryan which feels closer compared to the usual Axl nickname.

“You’re welcome. It’s a pleasure to see that you like it.” Now that one is settled, last is Vodka.

“What about you, old man?”

“Russia and my real name is Vodka.”

“Haha, enough with the joke, old man.” Tokyo laughed at what Vodka said.

“….”

“…. For real?”

“My name has, and will always be Vodka.” He affirms his statement.

“…Somehow I’m not really surprised, it’s as if I’ve expected this to happen.” That’s what I have in mind, Emelia also nods to what I say.

“Okay, now for the last thing to discuss, what happened to you guys before you were summoned? I noticed that you were all in terrible condition, holding weapons, having blood splattered all over you, or even being put in such restriction. You can choose not to tell if you don’t feel comfortable to do it.”

For this topic, the first to tell their story is Tokyo.

“That… I killed myself… I was forced to do it.” He looks dispirited while telling us. I’ve predicted this much, after all, he appears to be not the type that have the courage to kill a person.

“I killed that person I hate, and was probably got killed on the process too.” Emelia also looks down when she tells us about it. For someone as kind and gentle as her to do that, that person must have been a real bastard.

“I see, I’m sorry to hear that, but thank you for being open about it, it will help us easier to trust each other. What about you, old man, will you tell us your story too?”

“…I went into a building, killed all the people inside, then got caught by the police. I was sent to prison, and I butchered everyone in there too before I finally being sent to the execution chamber. I think I died there, the last think I can remember are sparks and zaps.”

“….” We all fall to silence.

“Hahaha nice one, old man. You almost scared me there.” Tokyo then laughs at Vodka’s story.

“….” Vodka don’t say anything and only have the usual grin on his face.

“This one is also not a joke?” The expression on Tokyo’s face immediately changes. He who stands next to Vodka take one step away from him.

“Hehehe.” Vodka specially grins toward Tokyo.

“Uwaa!” They look like a senior bullying his junior, except that the senior looks almost fifty and the junior is only early twenty. Perhaps saying it as a father joking with his son would be more correct.

“Even if it’s really true, I believe that he must have a proper reason for doing that. Am I right, old man?” Somehow I just feel like this would be the case, he did voluntarily beat up the douche noble from earlier after all.

“Bad people, they were all bad people. I killed them all to protect my loved ones.” He’s still grinning, but it feels different, a slight look of grievance can be seen on his face.

“So you were like me too. I can feel your pain, Vodka.” Emelia kindly shows her sympathy to Vodka.

“As expected, I know that you’re not a bad person.” I express my thought to him.

“Right, right, I also thought like that!” Tokyo speaks up very contrary to his action just now.

“So we all indeed died right before being summoned here and only our soul is transferred to this world. I can vouch this much because I also saw my own grave when I return to Earth last time.”

“Oh right, you haven’t told us about how you died. What’s your case, X?” Tokyo realizes it and immediately asks me.

“What X, you punk. Geez, my name just got shorter and shorter.”

“It’s okay right? So, how did you die?” He ignores my dissatisfaction of the shortened nickname. I can’t object it though, I did force a nickname on him too.

“Like Vodka and Emelia, I died saving someone too. But the different thing is, the one I saved was a stranger. He was about to kill himself by jumping off a high place but I saved him and I was the one that fell to my death instead. I died saving a suicidal stranger, kind of a laughable death if I must say.”

“No! It’s not laughable at all! It was a very noble act, to sacrifice yourself and save someone you don’t even know, at first I thought I was bound to an evil person who would steal my power and exploit them, but now I’m glad to see that the person I’m being bound to is actually such a great personage. You all also don’t discriminate and saved the beast kin children from before, just that much has already show how noble the four of you are.” Sephiria strongly objects my modest statement and expresses her admiration on our feats. It doesn’t feel bad to have someone appreciate our actions.

“Right, about that, how much did you get, boss?”

“Oh, so you did realize it, old man.”

“Of course, I also got his wallet.” He takes out a nice looking leather pouch from somewhere inside his pants. I don’t dare to guess where exactly he stored that leather pouch.

“Nice, I couldn’t get that one because it was kept in front of his body, but I managed to strip him off of his unnecessarily flashy accessories. Look, these can fetch a pretty good sum if sold correctly.” I take out several expensive-looking jewelries that I hid within my shirt.

Except the both of us, all the others stare blankly toward the things in our hands.

“What’s this?” Sephiria asks us with a blank expression on her face.

“Still need to ask? Of course this is the loot from that commotion. Why do you think I wriggled on top his body instead of simply beating him up?”

“WHAT!? How? Wait, really? You! I misjudged you! I take back what I said! You thief!” She suddenly yells in disdain and is about to grab my hair again.

Whoops, I evade her and she almost stumbles and falls.

“You were not exactly wrong, I may really be a noble. Haven’t you ever heard of Robin Hood? That douche is definitely the evil rich man and I’m the noble thief.” I nonchalantly declare the messed up logic, teasing her.

“You!!” She’s turning into her furious mode again like before.

And so the bunch of misfits finally get to know each other better and really become a group that will venture and eventually wreck havoc in the foreign world together.

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Charioles’ SHORT and FRIENDLY Q&A Corner #2

1. Do you realize that your previous chapters have many typos and grammar errors?

Yeah, I re-read chapter 2 for plot alignment and noticed some typos like missing ‘s’ for plural object and missing ‘to be’ too… There might be more that my limited Engrish not able to notice.

2. What are you going to do about it?

For now I’ll finish the book first and edit/fix them all in one go because I post this series in multiple sites and fixing them will take a lot of time.

3. Archeloz and Genexeus, how did you came up with such names?

Everyone has their own dark past…

4. It seems there are multiple type of mana, what are they?

If it was not clear enough, here is a short summary. Personal Mana is the mana your body have. Natural Mana is the stray mana lingering all around the world that can be absorbed by the body to become personal mana or absorbed by the earth in which will become Raw Mana in Trixium Crystal.

5. When can we finally see some action? It’s been 8 chapters ffs!

Alright, alright, chillax man. I’ll rush to the adventurer guild plot after this.

6. Yaay! I notice that it’s mentioned Axl has the Goddess’ power, does that mean he can use all kind of spells?

If he wants to, yes. But he still doesn’t have enough personal mana to do that.

7. Cool. Ah right, you’re late in posting this chapter!

Well, uh I was hospitalized?

8. Lies!

I was working all day long?

9. There was a holiday yesterday!

Arrgh, this is getting out of topic again. I’ll try my best to follow the schedule, I’m out! *Run away in a flash*