# SHIELD BEARER, ALBERT

Bert and his small unit walked through the forest with their new guest in tow. The guest followed several meters behind them, walking silently behind their rolling carriage.

"The Restless really aren't going to attack?" Mary asked from across the carriage and Bert shook his head.

"I haven't seen a single corpse twitch since yesterday," Bert replied.

"There are still regular monsters in these woods. We shouldn't be negligent," the captain called out from beside the carriage.

"Perhaps I can finally put this shield to good use?" Albert said, nudging his great shield. The artifact had been bestowed on him for their tremendous journey. But he hadn't been able to properly show off. With Mary able to kill the Restless instantly, and the monster's natural avoidance of the undead, they hadn't had any drawn-out battles yet.

"With all those undead dragons, I'm sure we might run into a live one soon enough," Sid joked from the front of the cart.

But their 'guest' shook their head. "I won't allow anything like that to slow us," they replied and a chill ran down Bert's back.

Suddenly, the canopy crunched as branches snapped. From above, a large feathery body tumbled to the forest floor. The body of a Great Hawk twitched on the ground. The monster's wings spanned multiple human body lengths. But it had just dropped dead from the sky.

"Let's keep moving," their guest instructed them and Bert nodded dumbly. He briefly glanced at his shield, wondering if he'd get to use it again. When they got to the capital, he'd have to return the artifact after all…

-

The 5 of them and their guest sat around the campfire later that night.

"So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Sid asked their guest, trying to start a conversation. But the captain glanced at him sharply, telling him to not question the stranger.

"It's a fine question. Although, I'm not here by choice. Since I am here though, I decided I'd take a look around. Hopefully learn a thing or two."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you looking to learn?" Wallis asked from across the campfire.

"The primary factor right now is… Magic," the figure replied. "What methods do humans use to activate magical effects?"

"Uhm… Humans can't use magic. That's something only monsters can do," Mary replied tentatively. "I was heralded as a Saint since I alone seemed to have magic abilities. I'm sure the Goddess was the one who bestowed them upon me. But it's not like I did anything to obtain them. In fact, if I were to choose, I'd rather have just lived a quiet life…"

Mary stared into the fire, grimacing, and the captain leaned towards her whispering something in her ear.

"Humans can use magic tools though," Bert replied, taking the conversation forward.

"Oh, and how do humans create magic tools?"

"Eh…" Bert hesitated.

"That's not something humans can create." Wallis continued. "Artifacts aren't easy to come by. But people have tried studying them in the past. I'm sure there is a book or two about them in the capital."

"I look forward to it," the figure replied.

# LIBRARIAN, RUTH

Ruth sat at the entrance to the 3rd Library of the Holy Briar Dominion. Just as she did every day, she read a dry book from one of the many shelves. With the maintenance work for the day already done, there was nothing to do but wait till sunset. But on this day, a knock came on the door.

"W-W-Whaa?!?" She jumped back in her seat in surprise and the chair began to rock backwards. Dropping her book, she scrambled for purchase on the table. She barely caught the edge of the table and avoided toppling backwards. "C-Coming!" She shouted, standing up and walking towards the door.

"W-Who might it be?" She asked, opening the door a crack.

"We've come to read a few books," A grizzled scar-ridden face replied through the partially open door. "Open up, will you?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let anyone in without written approvals and at least three days' notice," Ruth said, attempting to close the door. But the man's foot shot forward, jamming the doorway. "What do you think you're doing!?!" Ruth shouted.

"Excuse the captain," A softer voice came from behind him. A sudden elbow hit the old soldier in the side and he grimaced, stepping to the side.

"S-Saintess?!?" Ruth exclaimed in surprise. Standing in the crack of the doorway, the unmistakable features of the Holy Saint stared back at her. Ruth remembered them distinctly from the parade only two seasons prior.

"Could you let us in perhaps?" The Saint asked, and Ruth nodded profusely.

"Come in, come in," She said, swinging the door open. "Would you like some tea perhaps? No wait, we can't serve that in a library. Perhaps we can go get tea after you're done here? Perhaps I can help you find what you're looking for?"

"We won't be long," A new voice called out and Ruth looked up in surprise.

Behind the Saintess and Soldier, a figure stood in completely different clothes. As Ruth met their eyes, she let out a short yelp in surprise. Where their eyes should have been, black balls of liquid stared back at her. "Uhm, I'm sorry…" Ruth apologized for some reason.

"I'd like to see any books you have about humans able to use magic," the figure replied.

"I'm sorry?" Ruth asked back, looking for an explanation from the Saint or Soldier. But they just gave tired shrugs back. "Humans can't use magic…" Ruth tried to explain. "We have several books on magic tools though!"

"That should be enough, bring them all."

Ruth nodded and hurried into the back. The 3rd library was small, so she didn't have many options to choose from. But she selected three that she remembered had information on magic tools. "How about these?" Ruth replied as she returned, setting the books down on the table.

The figure did not respond and silently picked up the first book. Using their thumb, they riffled the pages. The paper buzzed as the countless sheets flipped from one side to the other, and the figure paused.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"There's nothing between the pages, if that's what you're looking for," Ruth tried to add helpfully. But the figure did not respond and they silently riffled through the pages twice more.

The figure paused and then picked up the second book. They flipped through those pages as well. In less than half a minute, they had thumbed through every book three times.

"That should be sufficient," the figure announced. "Do you have any magic stones on hand?"

"We wouldn't keep anything like that in a library…" Ruth apologized.

"I got something," one of the soldiers accompanying the Saint stepped forward. He wielded a giant shield and looked at Ruth, "Mind if I set this on the table?"

"Not at all," Ruth nodded back and cleared away the books.

He set the shield on the table and flipped open a panel on the back. Rows of small thumb-sized glowing stones filled the insides of the shield. "Go on ahead and take as many as you need, not like I was using them anyways…"

The figure held out a hand and blue, green, and red stones popped out of their sockets. They floated up gently into the stranger's hands. Like a piece of hard candy, the figure popped the magic stone into their mouth.

"Eh-?" Ruth started as the stranger took the crystal into their mouth. Everyone in the room widened their eyes. Loud crunching echoed through the tiny library. In front of all of them, the stranger chewed up the stone with their bare teeth and swallowed.

They followed the same process for the other two stones as well, sickening crunching sounds resounding through the silent library. Ruth took a half step back, but couldn't look away.

The figure nodded after finishing the magic stones. "Time for the main course," they said, pulling out a pale-blue ice crystal with their bare hands. They popped it into their mouth and swallowed it directly.

"I-Is this really alright?" Ruth asked the others. But they all just shook their heads and shrugged.

The stranger stood frozen for several seconds. Then they shuddered. Despite showing no emotion so far, a sickening smile arose on their face. Then they disappeared.

Where the figure had stood, only empty space now resided. Ruth glanced around the library, but saw no sign of them.

"A-Are they finally gone?" the Saint asked, visibly relaxing.

"Perhaps this nightmare has come to an end?" The captain asked.

And then their world disappeared.

# METAVERSE SUPERVISOR L2, HOMUNCULUS, BARLOR

"Sir, you have a call," one of the subordinate homunculi called out to Barlor. "It's from the meta-universe 0x1D85B6."

"Ah, how nostalgic. I wonder if the goddess I left behind there has finally decided on a name for herself…" Barlor smiled and he accepted the receiver gratefully. "You may leave," Barlor nodded to his subordinate.

"As you wish…" The white robbed mannequin-esque homunculus disappeared, leaving Barlor alone in the white void of his control room.

Pulling the receiver up to his ear, Barlor smiled. That goddess never called, so he was looking forward to seeing how her personality had developed. They hadn't talked in hundreds of years after all. "Hello-" He started to say, but froze.

A screech echoed from the receiver. But Barlor didn't flinch. He couldn't move even if he wanted to.

Black sludge poured out of the receiver. The dark liquid enveloped his left side. It crawled up his unmoving form, scaling his neck and up to Barlor's ear. As the fluid entered his body, black clouds formed behind his glass homunculus eyes.

In an instant, the entirety of the sludge poured inside of him. Once no trace of it remained, Barlor began to move again.

"I have to make a call…" He said absent-mindedly to himself.

# METAVERSE SUPERVISOR L3, FORMER HUMAN, MALHAAR

"Sir, you have a call," one of Malhaar's subordinates called out to him. He had created her as a being of unimaginable beauty millions of years prior. But he had grown bored with her after only a thousand. "It's from the meta-universe 0x7E1C2A." she continued.

"Right, right. I'm not accepting calls though," he replied, waving her away. But she suddenly disappeared from in front of him.

"You're going to take this call," she continued.

"Huh?" Malhaar looked up to see her standing at his side. But she had already placed the receiver at his ear. He briefly saw strange black clouds floating in her eyes. Then his entire body stiffened.

Black sludge poured out of the receiver and enveloped Malhaar in seconds.

# DEMON GOD, BLACK DRAGON, DYNASTRID

"Sir, it has escaped containment," a hulking minotaur bowed before the dragon, making a report.

So it has finally come to pass, Dynastrid replied, bowing his head. He pulled up a monitor to view the world the infection had started on. What a terrifying creature.

The town the Demon God had sent dragons to was completely restored. Despite being in ruins mere days prior, it appeared as thriving as the day the whole mess had started. Like nothing had ever happened, all traces of the being they imprisoned were gone.

"It seems, they are trying to hide their existence once more," his Minotaur attendant commented and the dragon nodded. The being was resetting the world back to its position several hundred years prior, to before it had entered the world.

If it has this much power, it most likely has infected the other worlds as well…

"What has infected what?" The minotaur asked, tilting their head.

The dragon turned towards their attendant curiously, but a black fog descended over the demon god's mind temporarily. What were we talking about again?

"You have a call from the Guiding Goddess of Life," the Minotaur replied. "Would you like to answer it now?"

Very well, put her on. The black dragon opened his blue menu and the goddess's voice echoed clearly into the void around them.

"Hey, I decided to transmigrate another mortal to a different realm. Can you, like, make a new demon king there or whatever?"

"Goddess…." The Dragon struggled to speak with their gravelly voice. "You… should show- more… restraint."

"Ah, come on, I'm so bored. And this transmigrator was a super smooth talker, so I sent them off with tons of boons. I'm sure it'll make things more interesting."

"Very- well…" Dynastrid replied.

"Oh yeah, since they're so strong, make the demon king as unmanageable as you please. I sent them to that boring twidldy world or whatever."

"You… Ought to- remember the names… Of your worlds," the demon god chastised her. She had only been governing their metaverse for a brief 500 years now and he still thought of her like an unruly niece.

"Ugh, there's so many though. But if you'll make the demon king, then fine. I'll end this call for now."

"Call again… Soon…" The Black Dragon murmured. But the connection was already cut.

# FARMER MARY

Mary gulped down water from a canteen. As she pulled it away from her lips, she gasped in satisfaction. Sweat poured down the back of her scratchy plaid shirt. Dirt caked her overalls. Her muscles cried out in soreness. The hot day had even turned her water tepid, but she was satisfied.

"Are you sure you're fine with just this much?" Marlowe asked from beside her. He wore a similar farmer getup with similar stains of their day's labor. "That thing said we could have anything in reward, y'know. An entire world to ourselves."

"I should be asking you the same. Are you sure you wanted to join me in these boring fields?"

"A couple hundred years relaxing in the countryside doesn't sound like too bad a life," Marlowe smiled back. Scars still marred his face. But his expression had softened after the first couple days.

The former guard captain stepped closer. He brought Mary into a gentle embrace and she scrunched up her nose.

"What's this all of a sudden..?" She asked. But he didn't respond and Mary slowly relaxed into his arms. As the tension left her shoulders, the worries of their previous world disappeared.

The constant presence of the Restless, the burdens and expectations of becoming a Saint, and the pain of killing with her ability. It all slowly disappeared in the silent embrace.