knock knock knock

Knocking snaps me awake

“Oi. Is anybody in here?” I hear an unfamiliar voice ask as he opens the door

Still, a bit dazed from waking up, I nearly answer him until I notice the situation around me. I quickly scramble to remove evidence that I was sleeping here.

“I’m coming in theeen.” The man says in a jovial tone

I bury the cushion where I found it and gather the books that have symbols of monsters on them

Curcha

I hear a nearby book fall just on the other side of the wall of books. Surprised and still unprepared I instinctively hide.

“What? Man, I left this area easy to get to last time. That’s not good; if somebody discovers the gap then they might figure out that I’ve been coming here to take naps.” I hear him say as he shuffles books around

…I lost my opportunity to come out just now didn’t I? Dang it… it’s already been way to long for me to come out without looking suspicious! Maybe I can sneak out? … This is ridiculous. There is no need for me to go sneaking around just so this guy doesn’t realize that I know his secret.

shwiii

There is an odd sound off whistling… maybe wind? Is there a draft in here or something? I look around for the origin of the sound and notice something odd.

shii

My hand is… somewhat translucent. I can see through myself for some reason.

“Now where did I leave my cushion?” I can hear the man say as he gets closer.

I make a small gap in the books opposite to the man and slip through as quickly as possible. Great! Now I really have to sneak out! I have no idea what is happening to me, but it may be something that only happens to the Maou. I can’t risk that.

I keep crouched low behind the books trying hard not to be seen.

“Did I leave it over here?” I hear him ask as he peeks over the wall of books I just went through

My blood runs cold as he stares directly at me, and I stare back at him. He is a lanky man somewhere in his 30s with long curly unkempt grey hair that covers his eyes. Where he doesn’t give off a feeling of success or achievement, he does give off a somewhat intimidating air. My eyes swim and my face flushes as I attempt to prepare myself for the follow-up questions.

“No, doesn’t look like I left it over there either… has somebody really found my alcove? I wish they would ask me before letting people in here.” The man says as he casually withdraws his head

…What just happened? He looked straight at me, yet he acted like he didn’t even notice me.

I look back at my hand and see now that it has disappeared entirely.

Shwiiii

“What is that sound? If there is a draft shouldn’t the papers be moving?” The man ask looking over the wall again and scratching his head

What’s happening to me? Is this some kind of skill or status effect?

I decide to check my stats tab first

Level: 15 Self:95

Attack:1700 Ailments: None

Defense:1520 Occupation: Traveler

Intellect:1820

Wisdom:1630

Speed:1590

Dexterity:1500

...I thought so, it happened again. I completely forgot that when I sleep is when my stats go up. I didn’t level though, so why did my stats decide to go up now and not when I slept last night? I suppose I’ll have to ask Gero about it…. Wait, what’s that? My MP is dropping rapidly! At the rate it's dropping I will be out in about two minutes! If I run out I’m going to be laying here like a corpse just waiting for somebody to find me and make me explain the situation… What’s causing this?!

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I open my skills tab to try and find the culprit.

Skills:

Bind: The earth entangles a target for a short duration.

Force entwine: The earth makes creatures bend to your will

Earth Manipulation: The earth bends to the will of the user.

Fireball(s): Creates a ball of fire proportional to the amount of magical power of the owner.

Fireball(m): Three balls of fire are created and moved by the will of the user.

Haste: Makes target 10% faster. (Caution advised)

Clear: Makes target harder to perceive. Activated automatically when one wants to hide.

Restore: Restores and object to a previous state by undoing the ravages of time.

Restora: Uses magic to restore something to its preferred state.

Perception (Passive): Grants further knowledge of one’s self and of what exist around them.

Born Leader (Passive): Raises growth and stats of monsters and allies.

Natures Knowledge: Ability to communicate with any intelligent monsters or animals.

Peck: A repeatable thrust that uses mana to increase damage

Disgust: An illusion that makes one unattractive in many aspects

Vitality (Passive): Enhanced regeneration, powered by mana

Leaders Howl: Call your allies and intimidate your foes

Long run: Run quickly for long periods without running out of stamina

I’m beginning to lose track of what skills I have… is this why games hand out skills slowly? I run through the list as quickly as possible and find the culprit. “Clear: Makes target harder to perceive. Activated automatically when one wants to hide.” This must be it. The reason it’s draining so much MP must be because it’s made me completely invisible… I don’t know how to control it though!

I look again at my rapidly dropping MP bar and begin to panic.

I don’t have time to think anymore! I quickly rush for the door, knocking a few books over on the way.

“Who is there?!” The man asks, frightened by the sudden falling books

I ignore him and quickly move for the door. It’s difficult to find the handle since I can’t even see where my hand is. I bash my hand into the door a few times before managing to find the handle with my hand and quickly swing it open.

I start running down the hall, trying to find the entrance to the manor.

“Long run!” I say attempting to use one of my new skills

Hopefully, this doesn’t speed up the MP drain even more. As I rush past people in the manor the wind following me knocks the papers out of their hands.

“Iyaaa! Ghost!” one girl yells as I run past

My menu is still open and I look at my MP again. I still have about a minute left. I can make it!

I find the entrance at last and run out the already open front doors. I continue my mad dash for Kera’s shop. My unfamiliarity of this town almost makes me run out of time, but I find Kera’s shop just in the nick of time. Quickly I go in the front door and sit against the adjacent walls, all the while pulling up my inventory. I quickly tap the button for Kera’s com-stone.

“Kera! I need you to come and help me! I’m going to be in your shop, don’t let anybody find me!” I say before my body becomes invisible and I lose the ability to control it

“What was that? My shop?... Ooooi are you there?... We will be there soon hang on!” Kera says as I stare unable to respond

…Phew! My heart was racing like crazy there! I’m glad that I made it out without being discovered. I don’t feel like I was running more than a couple feet, but the way my heart is pounding makes it seem like I ran a marathon.

So… Sleeping is now on the growing list of things I have to be careful not to let others see. It seems like the growth during my sleep is a bit too unpredictable to risk in front of others. I try and calm my heart down by slowing my breathing. As my mind calms, a sense of joy fills me. Why am I suddenly so happy? The only thing on my mind now is… that was fun.

I attempt to smile, but I can hardly even feel my face twitch at the command.

“Mano-san!” someone loudly yells as the door next to me flies open

I discover it is Kiel as he finds me and crouches in front of me with a worried expression.

“Mano-san! Mano-san! What's wrong! Are you okay?!” Kiel ask as he shakes me by the shoulders

My eyes are open and my expression is blank… maybe he thinks I’m dead.

“Are you hurt anywhere?!” Kiel as he adjusts himself to observe me

““Get off Maou!”” I hear two shrill voices

“Bufu!” Kiel grunts as two imps come flying from out of my vision to kick his face.

…His distorted face is actually kind of funny.

“But! She may be hurt!” Kiel yells at them rubbing his face

“Don’t worry so much. She simply ran out of magic, this has happened a couple times already. Don’t underestimate our Maou’s strength.” I hear Bik say nearby

“Hm? Hey, what happened to the beret I gave you?!” Kera says as she crouches in front of me and removes my hat

As she holds it out in front of me I notice two holes in it. How did that happen?

“She won’t be able to answer you. Until her magic returns to an acceptable level her body won’t move… according to Gero” Bik says walking over to look at the hat as well

“What… she can’t move at all then?” Kera ask with a sly smile

…Don’t you dare!

“Not until her magic restores at least,” Bik says ignorant of Kera’s intention

“I see… Can you go into the back and find my sewing kit for me? I want to fix this while we wait.” Kera says staring at me with a completely evil smile

Don’t do it!

“Sure” He responds turning to leave

Darn it all!

He quickly disappears into the back room… I am about 90% certain Kera doesn’t have a sewing kit.

“So princess there is something I’ve been wanting to ask… but I just didn’t think you would let me.” Kera says as she stares at me with lustful eyes and a blush on her face

What is she going to do to me?!

“I’ve been wanting to know what they felt like this whole time! I just can’t resist anymore!” Kera says as she lunges at me

…Her aim was higher than I imagined it would be. She begins to fondly my horns.

“Hey let go of Maou!” Mak says with Kay backing him up

“Here! Candy!” Kera says quickly grabbing something from her pouch and throwing it behind her

“Mine”

“No mine!” They say as they forget about me and fight over the candy

Traitors!

My attention turns to my last hope and I look to Kiel

“Um… sorry?” He says looking away with a blush on his face

Why are you blushing?!

I try to clench my fist and notice that one of my fingers twitched… I continue this until my hand can move without obstruction. I look at Kera and give an evil smile in return.

“Oh…crap.” She says as her face turns blue

I grab one of the hands that on my horn and hold on to it tightly.

“Help?” Kera says turning to Kiel

“Um… sorry?” He says looking away with a face turned blue