“That was one of the most odd dreams I’ve had in recent memory, It was so vivid.” I thought to myself as I proceeded to open my eyes to see Yui’s face staring directly at me from above.

“G’Mornin, Akio!”

“This has happened more than once hasn’t it? I mean, who can blame me? Everything leading up to this point was so bizarre that any rational person would believe that they’re dreaming.” I thought to myself as I stood up.

“Good morning to you too” I said to Yui while performing some basic morning stretches. Yui then walked over to our room's window and slid it open letting in a fresh breeze.

“Ahh, It sure is a wonderful day here isn’t it?” I hear Yui say to herself while taking in the view from outside the window.

“‘Here’ you say, I know this is a silly question to ask but please humor me for a second okay? We’re still in Japan right?

“Japan? First you’re from earth and now you’re from Japan? I don’t want to come across as hateful but You’re not making much sense” Yui said worryingly confidently.

I immediately put an end to my casual morning stretches and stared dumbfounded at Yui.

“Is this some kind of game she’s playing or is she completely serious?” I thought to myself

“You know, What you’re saying right now is eerily reminiscent of scenes of an unaware protagonist in one of my isekai manga. You almost had me worried. I bet next you’re gonna tell me that that”

I stopped mid sentence and pointed my index finger into the air signaling Yui to give me a second. I jumped onto the bed and stood on both legs as tall as possible before thrusting my arms behind my back and my chest forward in an overdramatic motion.

“Umm Akio, what are you doi-” I made a point to interrupt her.

“Our world is in peril! An Evil force is showing no mercy on our helpless world as we send our strongest men to war but to no avail. Even the finest mages trained in the art of magic stand no chance against him. Though it is prophesied that on one fateful day a group of warriors will approach the castle with no lack of will and conquer the world's enemy once and for all!”

“I’m right aren’t I”

“Yeah, More or less” Yui mumbles without batting eye

I stare at her for nearly five seconds straight before jumping off the bed, running towards her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her back and forth in pure frustration.

“Is this funny to You? What are you getting out of playing this absurd fantasy!?! If you don’t want to be useful I can inquire about my location from someone else!” After this shakedown Yui looked as if she were about to collapse.

“But I’m telling the truth,” Yui said unwaveringly.

“While it may seem ridiculous to you, I’ve been traveling for years towards the castle of this evil force and intend to defeat him once and for all. That’s the purpose behind my getup too, I need the dagger for combat purposes.” Yui said in a worryingly informal manner.

“I use the dagger to fend off against stray monsters while making my way to the next village. I’ve made a habit out of using villages as checkpoints of sorts. I’ll stop by to sell anything valuable that I find on my way and put the money towards a night at the nearest inn.”

“Okay, if this is some kind of joke it’s not very funny. But let's say you aren’t joking. How do you expect to beat this so-called ‘evil force’ on your own?”

“Actually! I’ve had that same thought and have been looking for someone willing to help me on my quest!” Yui said enthusiastically.

“Oh nice, that should make this easier on you, Whatever ‘this’ is supposed to be. Have you found anyone you like yet?”

“Actually, I have something I need to tell you about that.” Yui said as her tone shifted to sounding increasingly nervous.

As if on cue I hear our room's door being slammed open with no warning making a loud slamming sound that proceeds to echo throughout the room. The person that stood before me along with his getup made me wonder if what Yui was saying about me no longer being on earth was true. He was wearing a blue mage robe that followed the stereotypical design so well that it was almost comedic. He was also wearing a massive hat matching the same overly traditional style. I could also barely make out that his hair was seemingly dyed blue under the hat. The cloak didn’t even look that cool either, With no context You’d think it was some fantasy themed bathrobe. He looked relatively muscular but not to the point where he'd definitely beat me in a fight if we ever got into one, more so just likely. But I digress, Either way he stood there with a stupid grin and an oversized staff likely used for some sort of magic.

“Yo, How’s it goin Yui?” says this bizarre new character as he prances into the room worryingly casually.

“Hold up a minute” I say as I reach out my palm facing forward signaling this new person to stop.

“Before we get all buddy-buddy like you are with Yui I need to at least know one thing. Who the hell are you?”

“Oh me? I suppose I haven’t properly introduced myself to you yet have I? My name is Nendo Hirose.” he reached out his hand with intent to shake mine.

“I don’t like this guy very much” I thought to myself as I turned away from Nendo and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

“You two must be well acquainted with each other to be acting this close. How long have you known each other” I ask both of them

“I’ve only just met him yesterday while searching for party members, But he seems like a nice guy.” Yui Said innocently after inviting someone we were barely acquainted with.

“It’s nice that you found a new party member so soon. But why are you acting so casually around us? Hell, aside from Yui of course, This is the first time you’ve met me.” I asked with a hint of concern

“So it doesn't come off very well does it? I’ve always wondered what the point of formality was. I mean, we’re gonna be an adventuring party, not businessmen so we should act like it.” Nendo said triumphantly

“I suppose you make a point, Not a very solid one but a point nonetheless” I said to Nendo

Without warning I hear nendo scream

“ONWARD!” before spinning around in a circle and proceeding to dash out of our hotel room at breakneck speeds. Soon after I hear a loud thud sound echo throughout the main lobby that may or may not have been related to Nendo though I didn't care to take the time to check it out for myself. Instead I turned my head towards Yui to inquire about what had just transpired.

“So Yui, What the hell was that supposed to be about?” I asked genuinely confused.

“Oh! I haven’t told you that yet either have I?” Yui asked while playing innocent after leaving me out of the loop on seemingly crucial information.

“Here, take a look at this.” Yui said while pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolding it.

“I thought that as a newly formed party we should start taking quests” Yui exclaimed while I shifted my focus towards the paper that she was now holding out in front of me.

“Wanted. Keith Kenzo. Reward: 450 gold”

. . .

“What is that in yen?” I asked.

“Huh? Yen?”

“Nevermind . . . By the way, why are you planning on going on a quest? Wasn’t our goal to take down this so-called evil force?

“Well, The thing is we aren’t even close to being able to take on someone like that yet. So in the meantime it’s not a bad idea to take on quests. It’s a good source of both cash and practice.” I suppose she made a good point.

“If you don’t mind me asking, We’ve been referring to this thing as an ‘evil force’. Does it have an actual name for me to call it because ‘evil force’ can be a bit of a mouthful.” I asked.

“That’s tricky, no one has ever really seen him and the ones who have are long past dead. Though he has been dubbed a variety of things such as ‘Satan’ and ‘the devil’ because he’s believed to be the ruler of the underworld, Again that’s just a the-”

“Okay, we're going with that” I say dismissively to Yui before making my way outside our room and down the stairs. Upon doing so I caught sight of Nendo profusely apologizing to the bar staff after seemingly collapsing directly into their shelves of expensive booze.

“Hey Nendo, What’s up with all the commotion down there? Wasn’t there something you were really excited about before you dashed out our door? Come with me.” I said to Nendo while beckoning Yui to follow me. I then hurriedly dashed out the door with both allies in tow in hopes that we could avoid having to pay for Nendo’s damage.

“So Satan huh? I wasn’t expecting to have to battle him at all during my lifetime” I sigh “What a pain” I mumble to myself while walking down a brick path that supposedly led to a place for me to stock up on some beginner gear. This was a good opportunity for me because while Yui had her dagger and Nendo was a self proclaimed magic wielder I had nothing but my fists to defend myself in this world. While we were walking I could start to see a large wooden building with a golden plate above the door housing an engraving of both a sword and a shield. I didn’t think much of it until

“Akio Akio, look! We’re there” I heard Yui yell in my direction as she started bouncing towards the building.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“Just as I thought, this is the place” I thought to myself as I started walking towards the building.

“Hoho, finally. My enemies can feel the true wrath of my power. Now that I have access to significant funds and a shop that sells magical items the sky's the limit of my power.” I hear Nendo mumbling to himself behind my back.

“That sounds about right.Yui can be pretty helpful but did she just get the both of us stuck with a chuunibyou? I bet he can’t even use magic. I can’t believe I thought he was an actual mage for even a second.” I thought to myself as I pushed open the doors to the shop.

“Welcome” I heard the voice of a young woman, seemingly an employee, welcoming us to the shop. She seemed to have been an adventuring enthusiast too. She made this extremely obvious too. While she greeted us she was casually spinning a pocket knife around in her hand as if it were a toy despite the apparent danger in doing so. She had an orange shade of hair that was tied up into a ponytail and swung around her shoulder. She was wearing dark grey adventuring getup similar to that of Yui’s. It was obvious that she wasn’t going for a very feminine look. From what I could she gave off a very tomboy-esc aura.

“Take a look at this,” she said as she dropped something into my arms.

“This can be yours for only one thousand gold! Whudduya say?” I took a look at the item now resting in my hands. Before unsheathing it I could tell that it was definitely some kind of katana and a quality one at that. Upon revealing the blade though, the value of this weapon became apparent to me. The metal making up the blade was so well polished that I could see my reflection just as well as if I were looking in a mirror. It was a high class weapon that could pack a punch but felt surprisingly lightweight making it extremely easy to use. This truly was the optimal adventuring weapon.

“One thousand gold though, I don’t have the slightest clue on the conversion rate. I’m not sure if that’s out of our price range.” I thought to myself . I gazed back at the rest of the store to see what the rest of my party was making of this. I saw Nendo inspecting the store’s magical staff display. He seemed to have his eyes set on some fairly expensive ones at that. I then looked towards Yui who was leaning against the wall staring into space waiting for both me and Nendo to finish browsing. I took this as an opportunity to call out to her.

“Hey Yui! You never told me our budget yet did you? I’ll need to know that before I make any decisions.”

“Oh yeah! Sorry about that, Around thirty”

“What? . . . Do you mean we only have around thirty gold?”

“No, around thirty silver”

I dejectedly put the katana back on the shelf knowing full well I would likely never own something of that quality in my lifetime. I proceeded to trudge my way to the employee who greeted us earlier.

“Excuse me ma'am, what would you recommend I buy here within a thirty silver budget.”

“Pardon me, I must have misheard you. May you please repeat that.”

“You heard me correctly. I’m looking for a weapon on a thirty silver budget.”

“Oh . . . I’m afraid we don’t carry many weapons of such low value here. We have these wooden swords as you see here but they’re most commonly used as props. Though . . . If you absolutely need something that holds melee potential this is an option, I just don’t recommend it.” The employee said worryingly.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll take one of those” I said while pointing at one of the aforementioned wooden swords hanging on the wall.

“Thank you for visiting, please come again” I hear the employee call out to us as I make my way out the door.

“Well that was a bust. I was expecting to walk out feeling like a newly formed adventurer ready to take on anything. Yet I feel like the same person, just now holding a sharp piece of wood that holds nearly nonexistent combat potential.” I muttered to myself

“Don’t be such a downer, we’re almost there! I’m sure you’ll find a way to make that thing useful” Yui said while prancing forward.

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot the reason I bought this sword. We’re going on a bounty hunt aren’t we? Maybe I can finally put this thing to use and put the money towards buying a better weapon.” I said jokingly.

“We must be getting close, Supposedly this is an area that Keith is known to frequent. But of all places, Why here?” I said while looking ahead, not talking to anyone in particular.

“I know, right? This place is pretty freaky.” I heard Yui respond while nervously taking in our surroundings. I’ll admit, The place was far from normal. Though Yui may have been mildly overreacting. We were walking through a dense forest of trees and brush. Despite that a path was thankfully cleared through noise that we were using to find our destination. Due to the high amount of trees there didn’t seem to be any natural light projecting through the forest though there were a number of light blue bioluminescent mushrooms lighting the forest grounds giving the place a blue-ish hue. In all honesty, in contrast to Yui’s view, I thought that the scene was rather beautiful. Not that it matters though, As of now we’re bounty hunters and I doubt the target would make a notable presence. I’ll have to keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

“Hey Akio, You might want to see this.” I heard Yui call to me from a fair distance. She was pointing into the depths of the forest with a look of curiosity on her face. After making my way to where she was pointing I peered through the darkness to no avail.

“Give me a second to check this out guys. You should probably stay back.” I said while I made to push through the shrubbery concealing this mystery location.

“You know, Yui never told me what she saw back there, Maybe I should have made a point to ask. Whatever, I’ve already gone this far.” I thought to myself as I pushed the final branch to the side revealing an unexpected clearing.

“What was Yui going on about? I don’t see a thing.” I thought to myself as I began to observe the location in an effort to see what Yui was trying to point out to me. It barely took me more than a second after I shifted my eyes away from the ground to see this “thing” though. Before me stood a massive throne engraved with a variety of seemingly expensive metals. It had to have been around twenty feet tall give or take. Unless the user was a giant this size was comically unnecessary. And that’s when I noticed. Atop it sat a person.

Similarly to Yui he seemed to be around my age. At first, the most noticeable thing about him was his neon green hair that tapered into black near the back. Similarly, his eyes seemed to be a similar shade of green. He was wearing a Button up shirt glistening with silver sequins that despite its name was not buttoned. Upon closer inspection he seemed to have a tattoo in the shape of a lightning bolt on the right side of his face along with a smug expression that I couldn’t shake off. Oddly though, the tattoo conformed to the same light green color palette instead of taking the usual shade.

“Ho-Ho, You dare enter my domain” I heard the figure called out to me in an extremely smug tone. Soon after he dramatically leaps into the air and shifts into a gliding motion towards the ground while still holding a dramatic pose. If anything were to convince me that I was no longer on earth, it would be this. It was likely some sort of magic based ability.

After his feet made contact with the ground he looked directly at me while still playing into this dramatic persona. He had his hand resting on his right cheek while softly glancing at me.

“Hee-hee, So someone finally found me despite my greatest efforts. Not that it matters. I, Keith, will serve my opponents a taste of my true beauty and greatness. They will be in such awe that they wouldn’t dare lay a finger on my immaculate figure.”

Kieth exclaimed while striking a variety of bizarre poses. It was at this point that the rest of my team decided to try and catch up with me, likely because of the amount of time that I was missing. The second Nendo pushed his way into the clearing he made to speak.

“So you’re the one we’ve been after aren’t you? Keith. I’ll let you know, me and my magic aren’t something you’ll want to mess with, That’s your warning. I won’t hesitate to make use of my trademark ability I’ve acquired that I’ve dubbed the holy diver. It makes my eyes as if they were those of a cat in the black in blue. Or in other words, It allows me to receive a fifteen second prediction of the future however I am exempt from fate. This means I can get a glimpse of the future and bend my fate if I find the results undesirable.”

“Ho-Hoo, What a showcase. Now you in the bushes, reveal yourself.”

Yui, who up until now was hiding within the bushes, worriedly revealed herself.

“So that’s all? Just you three? I could take every one of you on and win without breaking a sweat!” Keith excaliamed.

“This guy really gets on my nerves.” I thought to myself as I began to reach towards my back in an attempt to grasp my sword before

“Nendo, Do it!” I hear Yui exclaim from behind me.

“So the time has come . . . HOLY DIVER!” I hear Nendo shout before closing his eyes.

“Ahh yes, I can see it clearly.” I hear Nendo mumble to himself. All four of us stood there waiting for a response for nearly the entirety of the fifteen seconds before I hear

“AKIO, DODGE!”

Entrusting myself to Nendo I leapt to my right as he instructed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Keith dashing towards where I was standing no more than a second ago with what seemed to be some sort of short sword.

“Huuh, it seems as if you three may mean more trouble than I expected. I was hoping a stealth attack would do well but Nendo’s holy diver rules that out. How interesting.”

“OKAY, THIS IS OUR CHANCE, GO FOR IT NENDO! . . . Nendo?”

Looking at Nendo, he wasn’t showing a sliver of the courage he had before.

“He didn’t tell you?” Yui whispered into my ear

“Nendo’s ability has a critical weakness, you see. His eyes are charged with such an extreme amount of holy energy that for the next hour or so they . . . for a lack of better words. Stop working.

“So he’s blinded?!” I asked. Yui nodded her head without saying a word before slowly backing off from Keith in fear. I looked towards Nendo who was aimlessly stumbling around the forest floor swinging his staff around in random directions seemingly in hopes that he would strike Keith through sheer luck. I then hear a loud thud noise followed by a subsequent “Ouch” from Nendo.

I looked down to see that Nendo had walked directly into a nearby tree and was now laying face first on the ground.

“Ohh my, I take back everything I just said. You three are the exact group of novice adventures I pictured you to be. Not only does my skill greatly outclass yours but the money that I’ve collected from purses I’ve stolen has come in handy to buy me a variety of high tier gear.” Keith exclaimed as if it were a completely normal thing to say.

“Well that explains a lot, No wonder I’ve found your face on a variety of wanted posters. Let’s make things simple, if you turn yourself in no harm will befall you. Got it?”

“Harm? Befall me? Your puny team couldn’t even if you wanted to. Aside from that, You make it sound as if my ‘crimes’ were at all taboo. Anybody could understand that beauty such as mine is above the law”

“Okay, I’ve seen about enough of you,” I said while reaching for my sword.”

“Oh you have, have you? How unfortunate.”

“TAKE THI-” Suddenly I found myself falling face first towards the ground as if someone had tripped me. To my left I find Nendo, still aimlessly stumbling around, who seemingly blindly walked directly into me and tripped the both of us.

“Damn you Nendo!” I say moments before my face collided with the ground.

“What happened to my sword?” I mumbled to myself. In an attempt to resolve the question I glanced off the ground to see my sword flying nearly ten feet above ground. It was likely flung up during the commotion, hence why I’m only now noticing. However, the one person to have not taken note of my airborne weapon was Keith. He was busy boastfully chuckling at the scene that just transpired. Therefore, Soon after I hear the distinct sound of hardwood making a collision with another tough substance.

“AAAHHHH, How dare you harm me? My-My beautiful face. How could you? Please, I’m begging you to stop before my complexion loses it’s wonderful glow!” After being struck Keith completely broke character and started begging for forgiveness. I, for one, took advantage of this opportunity.

“You aren’t quite as skilled as I thought you were.That display with Nendo was all an act to divert your attention away from my true goal.”

This was a lie.

“As I can see, you fell for it. Now don’t worry. No more harm will befall you as long as you do what I say, got it?

“Yes, as long as you keep my beautiful body in one piece, I’ll do anything for you!”

“Anything?” I asked.

“Yes, Anything” Keith confirmed.

“Wonderful, We’ve been looking to recruit party members to aid us on our quest.You’re definitely not the kind of person I was hoping for, but we’re not really doing this for fun are we?” I said as I reached my hand out to Keith.

“I’d be honored to join a party that could counter my tactics with such ease,” Keith said while grabbing my hand and beginning to stand upright.”

“Does this mean we don’t get the reward? I heard Yui call out to me in an extremely disappointed tone.

“I suppose not, not this time anyways.” I said equally disappointedly

Chapter 2 Fin.