There are a lot of different types of parallel universes.
Some that are bizarre (yes, the Daveverse fits that bill). Some that are terrifying. Some that immediately collapse in on themselves after existing for only a few seconds.
Then there is this one.
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Branch ID: c20e9477-8607-49c1-a709-647fb0af41aa
Connection Strength: Good
Critical Divergent Point: Choosing of summoned monster (Cross-reference, chapter 17)
Divergence Reason: Slime monster not given as a choice
Codename: Ottoverse
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I still had claim over the obelisk, and I was trying to quickly get my upgrades under the eyes of the waiting party.
Spells Available for Purchase (8 points remaining):
Summon Monster - 5 Points
“Looks like the only option I have is [Summon Monster], so I guess I’m taking it,” I said to the waiting party.
I was surprised to get a notification from the System
System: Create a new monster or choose from an existing template
Uhh. I looked over at the [Hero], who was impatiently tapping his foot. “I have to pick a monster, [Hero], just give me a minute.”
“Okay,” Jake said without stopping his foot tapping.
I’m on a time crunch. Show me the existing templates.
System: Templates Available
Otter – Adorable Aquatic Animal – Level ??
What the frick? Why an otter?
System: Because Summercat demands it
Who the heck is Summercat? It threw me for an even bigger loop when I realized that hadn’t been from AltSys. That was a bonafide message from the System.
What is going on?!
“You zoned out there? Hurry it up!” Jake called.
I shook my head to try to clear it. Guess I’ll figure that out later. “Uh, yeah, give me a second. I’m going to have to create a monster from scratch.”
“Well... Hurry. That obelisk’s creeping me out,” Jake replied.
Go back. I mentally said to the System. Nothing happened. Uhhh. Cancel? Again nothing. Create a new monster. Don’t use an existing template. Stop? I was starting to be a bit frantic, and Jake breathing down my neck wasn’t making that easier.
“Oh, forget it!” I finally said aloud. Fine. Give me the freaking otter.
System: Congratulations! You have created a new monster that will spawn in appropriate biomes
System: Choose a name for your personal summon
System: Choose a name for the new species
“What’s a good name for an otter?” I asked.
“What? An otter?” Garrett asked.
The party gave me weird looks, and I felt panicked, so I blurted out the first name to come to mind. “Otto!”
System: Summon name accepted!
System: Species name accepted!
I looked back and forth between the two lines, and my mind went blank. What? “Hey, uhh. How do I know the chant for my new spell?”
“It’s listed under the spells section!” Sam answered.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I opened it up. I noticed 2 spells in there, [Identify], and… “[Summon Otto].”
In my hands, a small, brown, furry animal appeared. It looked up at me with cute whiskers and shining eyes.
Sam immediately squealed something about how cute it was, but I didn’t hear it. My heart was falling through my stomach.
This… Is my summoned monster? I thought to myself as I stared into the hopeful eyes that were looking up at me.
As soon as I looked at it, I couldn’t look away, and the more I looked, the more I felt terrible about all of my plans.
“Stop looking at me!” I finally shouted out at the poor little otter.
The party looked at me like I was losing my mind, which honestly wasn’t a bad conclusion.
Meanwhile, the otter merely chirped and gently put its paw on my face.
That did not help my mental crisis.
Why was I freaking out so much? Because I knew exactly what a summoned monster entailed. They’re supposed to be cannon fodder. They’re supposed to be the things you send in first to take hits for the party. They are not supposed to be cute little animals that stare into your soul and nonverbally tell you that you are better than this.
Jake claimed the obelisk, but the System notification that the zone had been claimed by the Hero faction barely even registered.
However, the guilt trip the otter was bringing me through took an extra turn. I was now envisioning how many otters I would have to sacrifice to complete my plan. Then, all of the things I would have to force them to do.
“Huh. It looks like we can teleport out-“ Jake began.
“Everyone, wait!” I called. I couldn’t take it anymore. I no longer had the will to go through with it. In fact, it felt like something had almost drained out of me.
Jake gave me a puzzled look. “Woah. What did you just do?”
I ignored him. “I have a confession. I… I…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, but I looked down at the otter, who gave me an encouraging nod. “I’m the [Demon Lord].”
----
The discussion that followed was heated, but it went much better than it could have gone if Otto hadn’t caused me to accidentally disable wrath aura.
Jake still struggled with keeping a level head once he knew what my real class was, but after I handed him Otto, he seemed to calm down a bit.
Emilia was perhaps the most upset. I swore that I had no idea about the monster waves and had no control over them. It didn’t seem like she totally believed me, but she at least didn’t try to put another arrow through me, so I counted that as progress.
Tim wasn’t so much angry as he was smug. The amount of “I told you so” radiating off of him was almost blinding.
After that, the party had another conversation about what they were going to do with me. They eventually decided to readd me to the party and keep the same arrangements as before. I was still going with them to the first dungeon because they didn’t have a good place to leave me behind.
Otto was also added to the party at my insistence. We weren’t even sure if that was possible, but apparently, he showed up under the non-adventurer section of the party just like I did.
The party also upgraded their classes and spent their perk points. However, since they were still not quite sure if I could be trusted, they kept that information secret from me. I didn’t blame them. At that point, I was resigned to being treated like a criminal until the party cleared the first dungeon. After that, I wouldn’t really be a threat.
A bit of lost temper with Jake when he was watching me that night ended up revealing the wrath aura, and it explained the party’s behavior towards me quite a bit. However, Jake himself still struggled even when it wasn’t active.
The party mostly handled that by limiting the time that we had alone together, and I also took precautions by making sure that Otto ended up in Jake’s hands or on his shoulder whenever we talked.
That being said, it was smooth sailing traveling with the party all the way until we reached the Great Southern Swamp.
----
“Okay, Titus. We’re here,” Jake said. “You know the arrangements.”
I sighed as I let them tie my hands behind my back. “I know. I get it. But do I really have to have my hands tied? You guys know I couldn’t fight you if I tried, and I’m worried about faceplanting.”
Garrett put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll help make sure you stay upright.”
Otto also put a comforting paw on my head, and I chuckled. “Thanks.”
Jake led the way through the swamp when he was suddenly grabbed and pulled under.
Most of the party froze, but Garrett immediately dove in after him. I almost followed suit before I remembered my hands were tied. “Hey! Untie me! I can help!” I yelled to the rest of the party.
When they gave me uncertain looks, I spoke next to the otter on my shoulder. “Otto! Go! Help him!”
The otter dove off my shoulder and into the swamp.
The party waited with bated breath. Eventually, Jake, Garrett, and Otto resurfaced, and the party breathed a collective sigh of relief. Jake and Garrett started swimming back to shore while Otto just stayed there treading water.
“Come back, Otto!” I called.
The otter didn’t move.
“Otto?”
Another otter popped up beside it and started swimming back to me.
“Wait. If you’re Otto… [Ident-,” I started to cast and then remembered my very inconvenient bindings. “Would someone please [Identify] that other otter?” I asked.
Sam complied. “[Identify].” After a brief pause, she said. “Uh… It has a question mark for the level, and its species is an otto?”
“Oh no,” I groaned. “It named the species, and my personal summon that?” I bent down to let my now horrifically named otto back onto my shoulder. “I guess you need a new name then, huh? What about Otto Prime?” It chirped and shrugged. “I could just call you Prime for short?” It nodded its head and made some more happy squeals.
That important dilemma solved, Jake filled us in on what had happened. A new type of monster called a stranglevine had pulled him under the water, and he was wrapped up too tight to use his sword. Then Garrett came and started hacking at the vines while not one but two otters (he refused to use their actual name of ottos) started biting away at the vines too.
After that, we were a lot more cautious proceeding through the swamp, and I even ended up summoning an otto for the entire party.
Sam was so ecstatic that I ended up summoning her two of them. She named them Otis Junior and… Otis Junior the second.
I felt like making fun of her naming sense for that, but mine was literally named Otto Prime, so I didn’t exactly have room to talk.
As for exploration itself, very little of note happened except for our first encounter with a dark croc. It was quite the electrifying experience… I mean that literally. Jake accidentally gave us all a zap when he [Sundered] it.
The party initially asked him to not do that again, but when a croc later caught one of our poor ottos and death-rolled it, that restriction was removed. Instead, the party just asked for some warning so that everyone could move away first.
Aside from that, not much of note happened in the swamp aside from the dungeon and one brief meeting with Megan.
----
When Megan asked for a turn watching me one night, I knew it wasn’t because she wanted to spend some quality time together. I wasn’t looking forward to our talk, but I knew we needed to have one. I’d promised to help her get rich by stealing from the party after all.
She led me away in silence, and I was the first one to break it. “So… What did you want to talk about?”
She scowled. “You know how much this has screwed my plans over, right? What kind of reward do you think we’ll get for defeating a [Demon Lord] who basically gave himself up?”
I shrugged with my hands still bound. “Sorry. I just couldn’t go through with it.”
She muttered something I couldn’t hear, and I finally noticed something.
“Hey, Megan. Where’s your otto?”
She looked away. “I… Left it in camp. I can’t stand it.”
Wait, is it having the same effect on her? I thought to myself. I wasn’t sure, but I did have a way to test that hypothesis. “Woah!” I said as I stumbled towards her and “accidentally” sent Otto Prime her way.
She managed to catch him. He looked up into her eyes.
“No, no, no,” she said. “We’re not doing this.” She dropped Otto Prime, and he landed in the swamp with a splash.
“Why would you do that!?” I asked with a glare.
“I don’t like how it judges me!” she snapped back.
“Even so, you can’t just drop him into the swamp. Pick him back up and apologize!”
She probably would have ignored me if Otto Prime didn’t start making sad chirping noises.
Instead, she groaned. “Fine.” She picked him up, looked away from him, and said, “I’m sorry.”
Otto Prime made some more distressed noises. I was confused. Megan definitely wasn’t holding him too tight or anything. However, when Megan’s eyes snapped back to him, I realized that she’d been played.
She stared into his eyes for a few moments before finally yelling at it. “Maybe I never wanted to be a thief, okay!? But that’s all I can do.” Her façade cracked a bit. “That’s all that I’m good for. If I give that up…”
I walked up to her. “I’m sure that the party will have room for you! Your [Sneak] skill’s amazing, and I’m sure that they won’t just kick you to the curb if you try to turn over a new leaf!”
“Maybe,” she muttered. She placed Otto Prime firmly back on my shoulder and then walked away.
I was planning on giving her some space when she was suddenly grabbed by vines and dragged underwater.
“Prime! Go!” I immediately shouted. Otto Prime dove in, and I awkwardly followed after. It was difficult swimming with my hands tied, but I made due and followed Otto Prime to Megan’s struggling form.
I clumsily kicked at the vines with [Fire Strikes] and tried to get her free.
There were too many of them.
I was sure she would start drowning any time.
Then I had an idea. I swam up closer and practically smashed my face into hers.
----
Criminy. Even in the Ottoverse, it looks like I can’t catch a break from my most embarrassing moment. In fact, I think that was even a worse kiss than the one I gave. That’s… Impressive.
Well, the turnout from that was basically the same as my universe. The one difference was that Megan and I denied we were dating since we didn’t have a reason to trick the party.
But… Let’s move on before I die of secondhand cringe… From myself in another universe.
Ugh.
----
It took us quite a while to finally figure out the dungeon was underwater.
After a tense fight with many accidental electric shocks, we finally made it in.
Everyone looked at the completely barren dungeon in confusion while I stared at a System message.
System: Demon Lord perk verified. Performing first-time elemental dungeon setup!
“First-time dungeon setup?” I muttered. “Does that mean I can-“ I cut myself off as I accidentally raised a wall off to the side of our party. “Woah! Cool! What else can I-“
Jake gave me a look.
“Sorry,” I said. “Uh... I guess, go ahead and claim the dungeon? I don’t think there’s a boss or anything since… I haven’t set one up.”
“Wait, you control the whole dungeon?” Sam asked. “Can you spawn monsters? What about traps?” She gasped. “Or treasure.”
Megan perked up at that, and even Jake paused.
“Permission to try to create a ridiculous amount of treasure before you claim the dungeon?” I asked.
Jake looked back and forth at the eager party and then sighed. “Fine. Go ahead.”
Math problem. Stacked end to end, how many treasure chests can a [Demon Lord] fit in an earth dungeon.
Answer? A lot.
There were weapons, armor, gold, and potions. All of it in such high quantities that the party’s inventories couldn’t hold it all. After equipping the best of the armor, and the best of the weapons, we ended leaving a veritable armory just sitting there in the dungeon.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
After that, Jake claimed the dungeon, and the party was ready to head off.
Jake asked for a moment alone with me after that and untied me. “I’m sorry for doubting you, Titus. I know you didn’t have a choice, and I’m sorry we treated you like this.” He paused. “It’s just… Something about knowing you’re the [Demon Lord] is messing with me. I’m going to try to figure out how to stop it, okay? I hope we can be friends. If not now, someday.”
I looked at his outstretched hand and didn’t hesitate a second. I clasped it and said, “Sure. Friends, it is.”
He gave a slight smirk at that, and we walked back over to the party together.
----
On the way out of the swamp, I got a message from a familiar admin.
system: DEMON LORD, WHAT IS TAKING YOU… Wait… YOU LOST?! ALREADY!?
I winced at the all-caps and tried to figure out what I was going to say. I didn’t want to reveal anything about admins to the party if I didn’t have to. That knowledge kinda led me to think that we didn’t exactly… Well… Exist. I wasn’t sure how people would take that.
However, I didn’t end up having to say a word.
system: AND WHAT ARE THOSE HORRID CREATURES? GAH! I CAN’T STAND THE SIGHT OF THEM!
system: WHY DO THEY HAVE A SKILL “SUMMON CONSCIENCE?” AND THEY’RE EVERYWHERE! WHAT DID YOU DO!?
I just kept walking along and shrugged slightly.
There was a lengthy pause before I got the next message.
system: Fine. Enjoy your backwater world without any admin intervention. You better hope no errors crop up
I stared at that last message for a bit. So… He left? Because of the ottos?
I gave Otto Prime a pat on the head and said, “Good job.”
My slightly confused otto accepted the praise, and we kept moving.
----
Laden with our newfound riches, we weren’t entirely sure what we would do now that the [Demon Lord] was stopped. However, we did know one thing. We wanted to get the heck out of that swamp.
We traveled back north to Faroff after that and ended up running into Fume Tea.
They were having problems clearing the dungeon, and we offered to help since we didn’t have anything better to do. They were a bit reluctant to accept, but we eventually convinced them to let at least a few of us join them, and they cleared the dungeon in record time.
When we mentioned our boredom, they suggested that we go visit the capital city. They were positive the [King] would be interested in meeting the [Hero] of the world, even if the quest itself was over so quickly.
That at least gave us a goal, so we decided to start traveling to Vir the next day… Yes, it did initially confuse us that we were going to see Vir in Vir, Vir.
Dang city and nation being named after a person.
Either way, it was pretty smooth sailing until we reached a certain stretch of forest.
----
System: Zone entered, Unnamed. Faction - Neutral
“Crud,” I said. “We’re back in a zone.”
Jake shrugged. “Eh, we should be fine. Unless they have some crazy new monster to attack us, I don’t think wolves can really hurt us.”
I looked over at the party and was slightly envious of all the armor they were decked out in. Our mages even had robes that increased their MP pools and everything.
Meanwhile, I was still stuck in my adventurer’s clothes.
I really hope I can find some more perk points soon.
We debated turning back, going around, or pressing on.
After a vote, the party decided to press on.
The mob spawns started out as frequent but manageable, even when we ended up camping for the night. However, as we started traveling the next day, they started ramping up. The next night, we could barely get a break in between attacks at all.
The party persevered. Through the power of good gear, taking turns resting, and an ungodly amount of stamina potions, we managed to forge a way forward and even find the zone’s “dungeon.”
We all jumped down into the crater as soon as possible, and we were ready to take on the boss. However, after finding out that the monsters wouldn’t follow us in, we instead took a much-needed break.
The boss fight after that was anticlimactic. Jake’s [Sunder] was still way too strong, and I was glad I wasn’t on the other side of it.
Either way, I ended up convincing the party to let me claim the dungeon just in case there was an achievement for claiming a certain amount of them.
I was also hoping AltSys would pop up and confirm that for me, but I hadn’t heard a word from him since he had told me to claim the Faroff Forest dungeon. Even though Admin seemed like he was gone for good.
You know, AltSys? I’m still not sure what all your plans were, but you did get me [Elemental Strike], which saved us in the Faroff Forest dungeon. You also helped me get the points I needed to summon the ottos, and who knows where I would have been without them. I briefly thought about the suicide mission I would’ve been on if I had tried to complete the quest Admin had given me. So, even though you took me from my home… Thank you. I’ll make sure to do my best to treasure this new world and all of my party members.
After that, the party needled me to hurry up because I’d just zoned out while claiming the obelisk. I claimed it, named the zone Starry Forest, and was pleasantly surprised when I got enough perk points to pick up [Party Interface]. There was quite a bit of celebration about that, mostly because I could now fight alongside the party without causing major problems.
Jake reclaimed the obelisk, and we went back to worrying about all of the monsters surrounding the crater.
“We could just snipe them from inside this dungeon?” Tim suggested. “It would take a while, but it would be perfectly safe. I do not wish to possibly teleport out into a horde of beasts.”
The party agreed, and we settled in for a long wait as we slowly whittled down their numbers. However, our clearing was expedited by the white-furred wolves that rushed on the scene. We had collectively forgotten that [Monster Magnet] also worked on the Hero Faction monsters.
After that, Megan tried to convince the party that we should just flip the obelisk back and forth between the factions. The idea was that we could spawn a horde of monsters from one faction, then convert it to the other so that we could loot all of the bodies.
Jake flatly vetoed that and teleported us out of the “dungeon.”
With friendly monsters to watch over us, we had a smooth trip until we reached DeepMine town.
----
We were walking through town, looking for a place to stay, when we ran into a gaggle of kids. Or I guess… The gaggle of kids ran into us.
Now, the primary place the party carried our ottos was on our shoulders. Even though we often had to run and jostle them quite a bit, they still did a good job staying on.
That’s why everyone was surprised when the ottos fell off as the kids ran into us. Fortunately, the kids were on the ball and managed to catch each of our falling friends- even the one who ran into Sam and had to catch two.
“Are you all right?” Jake asked.
The kids didn’t respond. They were looking into the ottos’ eyes, and they all started bawling in unison.
They quickly confessed and returned the things that they stole from us. They were afraid we would be mad at them, but as we heard their stories, our anger was directed more at the men who had forced them into that life.
I wanted to go and apply some vigilante justice right away, but Jake convinced the party to go to the [Guards] first. We did, but they told us that the ring was too dangerous for them to bring down.
Jake looked at the rest of the party, then back at the [Guards]. “Just give us the quest, and we can handle it.”
It didn’t take much more than that to convince them. When the highest-level and best-geared adventurers in the world offer to take on some [Thugs], you let them.
We brought two [Guards] along with us as we dismantled their entire operation in a single day. Most of the [Thugs] stood down when they saw us come in, and even more were reduced to tears and heartfelt confessions of their crimes when Otto Prime gave them the staredown. That, in turn, led to them turning in their other hideouts, so we didn’t even have to scour the city’s underbelly to ensure we got them all.
After that, we heard about the other issue plaguing the town. The mines were unsafe because a zone had spawned inside of them. We still had time left in the day, so we decided to speedrun it.
It was almost too easy, and we finished in record time. The only problem was that record time was a bit too long, and it was nighttime when we finished.
The party apologized because they realized I’d be stuck in the mines until morning, but I just shrugged and decided to give mining a try. After accidentally setting my subclass and figuring out that you can rest in between swings of a pickaxe, I ended up also putting the town’s next mining shipment back on track.
The next day, the town decided to throw us a celebration for all that we had done for them. They took us to a local inn and put Jake at the head of the table. I grumbled a bit about that, but it made sense because he was the party lead, after all. So, instead of making a fuss, I just took my place beside Garrett and Megan.
The party was… nice. I guess. However, it was shaping up to be a really dull time for me since I couldn’t really eat any of the food, and I couldn’t work up the nerve to ask Megan to dance
A loud drunkard ended up changing that.
He tried to give Garrett a drink and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I could tell that even the gentle giant was getting peeved, so I intervened the only way I could think of.
I took the mug from the drunk’s hands and downed it.
It tasted awful, and I slightly regretted it. However, it did make me wonder if I was even capable of getting drunk.
That called for science, so I called for round after round. I told the party that it was fine, and they decided to just let me drink for a while. However, after I drained my twentieth mug, I was slurring my words enough that the party cut me off.
I was a bit miffed as I no longer had anything to do. However, they don’t call it liquid courage for nothing.
I stumbled slightly as I stood up and offered Megan a hand. “Will you give me this.. dance?” My words didn’t come out exactly as I wanted, and I was worried I’d blown it. Megan sighed.
However, she surprised me. She downed the last of her mug and said, “What the heck. Why not?”
My dancing was awkward at best, but we had fun, and I even got a few laughs out of her.
Then Jake had to go and ruin my night.
“Titus, it’s getting close to midnight. We need to get you out of town,” he said.
I sent a glare at him along with… something else. Whatever it was, it was enough to make him jump.
“What the frick?” he asked. Then after a pause, he said, “Wait. Can you do that again?”
I obliged and sent out… the thing. But the thing made it only part of the way before being swatted down.
Instead, I was overwhelmed by feelings of friendship, courage, and hope.
I immediately gagged, sprinted outside the tavern, and hurled.
Jake followed me outside after a bit, holding Otto Prime. He handed the otto to me and then sheepishly said, “Sorry about that. I didn’t realize my aura would have that kind of effect on you.”
I waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.”
After that, we walked in silence as Jake led me out of town. However, I couldn’t help but notice that he seemed… less peeved?... than normal.
“Did you do something [Hero]?” I asked.
He met my question with a grin. “Yup. As long as I keep my aura running, I can almost completely nullify the anger my class has towards yours.” He paused. “Assuming you don’t do anything to make it worse.”
“Like this?” I asked as I let Otto Prime down and got Jake in a headlock. He flipped me to the ground and soon had me pinned. I blame it on still being a bit drunk.
He grinned. “Nope. You’d have to do better than that.” Then remembering where exactly he was wrestling with a [Demon Lord], he shot up. “We need to hurry though, let’s go!”
We ran and managed to make it outside of town in time. No accidental monster wave was spawned.
After that, we had a chance to finally just… talk. That may sound a bit boring, but we hadn’t had much of an opportunity to just sit and chat ever since he had found out about my class.
Eventually, we started swapping out party members to watch me just like usual. Soon, it was daytime.
We said our goodbyes to the town and planned on hitching a ride with the shipment of iron that was also heading to Vir. However, we ran into a bit of trouble with a [Crooked Merchant] who tried to sell us tickets. After a minute or so of Otto Prime’s [Summon Conscience], he confessed that the local [Lord] had put him up to it.
Since we weren’t exactly in a hurry, we delayed the shipment’s departure a bit by going to see the [Lord]. If the townspeople were to be believed, he hadn’t done much to help deal with the huge issues facing his town, which was bad enough. The fact that he had sent someone to come and rip off the people that saved his town also meant that he was corrupt and not just incompetent.
He tried to weasel his way out of meeting us, but we were… insistent.
… I’ll leave the details of our insistence to your imagination.
Anyway, after a few minutes of an otto staring into his soul, we were given heartfelt apologies. He also promised us that he would try to rule better.
I summoned an additional otto and left it for him just in case. That gave me an idea, so I also dropped by the local [Guards] and offered them one to help deal with criminals. They readily accepted the cute mascot, and we were finally ready to leave.
The trip after that felt more like a vacation than anything. We got to ride in a carriage, laugh, and get to know each other better.
I also, finally, asked Megan out. It wasn’t anything special, just a few minutes away from the rest of the party. However, she said yes, so it all worked out.
…We did get attacked by wolves immediately after, but that’s just the adventurer life for you.
After that, we continued to make good time toward our next stop, the town of HoldOver. However, we ran into a zone just a few days away from it. After deciding that we really didn’t want a repeat of Starry Forest, even though we made it out of there fine, we camped right outside of it.
It was there that I had a genius idea.
“What if I just… go around?” I asked the party as we were sitting at the campfire.
“That is certainly an option,” Tim replied. “However, isn’t it generally best to endeavor not to split the party?”
“Yeah, but you guys will be safer without me,” I replied.
Tim rolled his eyes. “That’s not my concern. I’m sure the rest of us can handle any monster this world can throw at us, but you, on the other hand, don’t have any equipment or offensive spells. In addition, you’re still level 8 while the rest of us have had the opportunity to upgrade our classes.”
“True,” I muttered.
“I could go with him,” Jake offered. “We still need to leave some people with the caravan, but I’m sure between the two of us that we can find a way around the zone.”
There was a bit of a debate, but Lindsey and Sam decided to join us in the end. Jake and I were both surprised that neither of our girlfriends wanted to go with us.
“Sorry, I’m really looking forward to a real bed,” Megan said when I asked her about it the following day.
“It’s fine. I’ll miss you, though,” I replied.
She paused for a second before finally saying. “I’ll miss you too.”
After a quick kiss goodbye, the split party was off.
They always tell you to never split the party when you’re playing a role-playing game, but we didn’t end up with any issues.
Lindsey even spoke a few more words to me during our trip, which was encouraging.
However, the other members of my half of the party did get a little bit grumpy since our travels weren’t as restful as they could have been. Even so, we made it. It wasn’t a day too soon, either, because the caravan was starting to debate how long they could wait for us.
From there, it was a straight shot to Vir.
-----
“I’m serious,” I said. “I can only think of the one time I punched Garrett!”
The cantankerous [Judge] Lawson wasn’t buying it. “While we may not have any laws that can apply to quote, ‘accidentally summoning a monster wave,’ end quote, which we will rectify as soon as we are able, I do not believe for a single second that the [Demon Lord] has not broken any other laws!”
“Well, buddy,” I replied. “That’s all I can remember. So, either prove me guilty of some other crime or let me pay my freaking fine!”
The [Judge] grumbled but eventually acquiesced and motioned me forward.
“Hey, uhh. Can I borrow some gold?” I turned and asked the party.
They were ready to toss me some when the [Judge] saw his opportunity. “I cannot allow that! The accused must pay his own fine!”
“What!?” I replied. “That’s BS!”
The party agreed and started yelling things at Lawson, but I was more surprised when Otto Prime hopped off my shoulder.
Otto ran up to the [Judge], and he freaked out. “What is this animal doing!?”
The staredown commenced, and [Summon Conscience] did its work.
Between his blubbering, [Judge] Lawson confessed that he was taking the absolute strictest reading of the law towards adventurers. He also admitted that he was doing that to try to send them all to prison so that they would be forced into a [Lawfully-Binding Oath] that we wouldn’t harm the people of Vir.
Jake practically exploded. “Dude! We’re the heroes! Why the frick would we hurt people?”
[Judge] Lawson had no answer for that.
Jake ended up paying my fine for me, and the rest of the party also paid off their own. It was hardly a drop in the bucket compared to all of the gold we had raked in from the Earth Dungeon, so we didn’t even mind.
I also summoned a couple more ottos to help with the capital’s legal system. It seemed like it could use all the help it could get.
After that, we were finally free to meet the [King]!
…
Which was super anticlimactic.
He gave some speech about saving the world from disaster. The party got to stand up in front of people and receive a medal, except for me (I guess saving the world from yourself isn’t considered that heroic).
They also got a monetary reward, but… That was it. The end to our grand quest.
Jake summed up our thoughts pretty well when the ceremony was over. “What do we do now?”
I thought for a moment and then grinned. “Well, unless activating the first one completely disabled them, there are still 3 more dungeons that I can make spawn treasure.”
Jake grinned. “Oh, I am so down. Maybe we can even bring Doom Fury along as pack mules?”
I laughed along with that.
We started making plans for our next great adventure. However, it was interrupted when we got word of a village that had been destroyed by a giant scaly beast.
----
“Is this the place?” I asked.
The rest of the party studied the cave.
“It has to be,” Jake replied. “The tracks end here, so this must be its nest.”
We sent Megan in to scout, and after a few minutes, she called out. “Guys, you need to see this.”
We found a portal, and after a quick debate, we sent Megan in to [Sneakily] check around.
When she gave us the all-clear, we went in after her.
The ottos didn’t want to go.
“Prime, you okay?” I asked.
He shook his head and squeaked.
“Well… You should probably stay here anyway. I’d hate to lose you all to a dragon.”
We let the otters down onto the ground and prepared to step through the portal.
All of them started squeaking and squealing in protest. Jake answered for all of us. “I’m sorry, but if there really is a dragon destroying towns, we have to go stop it.”
The party stepped through the portal one at a time. I was last, and before I went, I gave Otto Prime a cheerful smile. “Don’t worry! We’ll take care of it and be right back.”
Otto Prime looked downcast as I stepped through the portal.
He had a good reason to be worried. After a couple hours of searching, we were ambushed by the dragon in an open field.
The flames burned through our party, and we were incredibly close to losing some of our party members who had less HP. However, thanks to my [Fire Immunity], the party’s gear that had some slight fire resistance to it, and thousands of gold worth of health potions, we made it through without losing anyone.
That did not mean that I was willing to leave that dragon off the hook. I was angry. I also didn’t have an otto there to hold me back.
“Everyone. Run,” I said as I activated wrath form for the first and last time.
----
Honestly, I don’t remember much of the fight with the dragon. According to Jake, I pretty much beat the snot out of it with a giant club.
Even my memories after that are a bit hazy. The only thing that I remember crystal clear was the entire party standing in front of me, calling my name. Then Sam held up Otto Prime so that he could get a better look at me.
I couldn’t tell you the specifics, but I vaguely remember some type of mental battle.
The next thing I knew, I was back to normal with a message from the System. That message boiled down to me losing wrath form, but I was happy to see it go. From what everyone said, it got pretty dicey. If they hadn’t had the idea to go back and grab the ottos before facing me down, who knows how it could have gone?
Either way, that ended up being the unceremonious end to the [Demon Lord] threat.
We still went on some adventures after that. There were 3 dungeons for me to set up for looting, after all. However, those stories are a lot tamer than everything that came before it, and I won’t bore you with them here.
As for the party, we stuck together for a while. However, a few years after our big adventure was finished, we ended up parting ways.
Jake continued to be a [Hero], and I don’t think he ever ended up taking a sub-class. He continued going on adventures and trips and was always there to help with any major threat to the world. Fortunately, those were few and far between. He also got married soon after our adventures to… You guessed. Emilia.
Emilia used the funds and items from the dungeons to start up a trading company for adventurers by adventurers. Since the System made adventurers have such bad prices from non-adventures, her company soon monopolized adventurer trade. However, she took a step back from running the day-to-day operations since they didn’t exactly lack money. It ended up being a good call as she gave birth to half-elf twins that were difficult to keep up with.
Garrett retired first out of all of us. It turned out that ottos can suppress the effects of the [Rage] skill, but it wasn’t enough to completely get rid of it. He became a [Lumberjack] and would have settled in to a tranquil life if it hadn’t been for Sam.
Sam waited until she was precisely within “half Garret’s age plus seven” and then immediately asked him out. After another year or two, they were married, and soon after, they had kids of their own. A lot of them. Garrett looked like he was run ragged most of the times I saw him, but I also don’t think I’ve ever seen someone more content. The two settled down in Faroff, and while Garrett worked in the woods, Sam would often be found helping adventurers clear the training dungeon nearby. Many of the next generation of adventurers had her to thank for hitting level 10.
Lindsey was perhaps the biggest transformation of us all. She overcame her muteness and set her sub-class as a [Singer] of all things! Most of us were a bit skeptical of that choice, but only until we heard her for the first time. She ended up marrying a non-adventurer [Bard] that she met on her travels, and the two made a cute couple. Even though she was still the highest-level [Knight] in all the land.
Tim never really made time for romance, but that’s because he found his true passion. He became a [Magic Researcher]. He created several variations of the beginner Bolt spells and mapped out each of the spell schools and what they cover. Some of the Earthers have called it the “Periodic table of magic,” and I have a feeling that Timothy Pace will be famous for some time to come.
Andrew ended up getting into a bit of a fight with Tim. Tim told him that he was being “stifling” and that he needed to get a life of his own. The rift did eventually mend, and the two made sure to [Message] each other frequently. However, Andrew did end up taking Tim’s words to heart. He found his own calling in life when he learned a [Cure Disease] spell and went around healing people. He was no great name of the age, but he brought smiles and health to many people.
Megan was my beloved troublemaker. I proposed and made an honest woman of her… Or at least I tried. Her kleptomania never did totally go away, and it caused us a few problems. We also had some other issues that strained our marriage related to the [Asexual] perk I had. That’s because… Well, I mean… Okay, I’ll just say it. Married people have sex. However, [Asexual] had removed my sex drive and made me infertile. We eventually got an alchemical solution that helped with the first part, but we never had kids of our own.
…By Otto’s whiskers, that was embarrassing. I’ll have to make sure that part doesn’t make it to the history books…
Anyway, Megan needed to channel her growing maternal instincts somewhere, so she started an orphanage. I did my best to help around with it, but I still never really got the hang of kids.
As for me, I did a bit of everything. I was a [Miner]. A [Merchant]. An [Alchemist] (no, I didn’t work on the… above solution. I dabbled in alchemy later than that). I also helped Tim for a bit as a [Magic Researcher].
However, if we want to talk about what made the most money, then that would be working as a [Monster Magnet]. No, that’s not actually a sub-class. However, it turns out that summoning hordes and hordes of monsters for a prepped team of adventurers is incredibly lucrative.
All in all, my life has been filled with good times. However, that does not mean I haven’t had my share of sorrow.
The first blow was relatively minor. We learned that summons can’t regain their stamina and that ottos could, in fact, run out. Otto Prime was still alive, but I couldn’t take him with me anymore since he couldn’t stay on my shoulder or run away if things got dicey.
The following blows were much heavier. As you may have noticed by now, I can only write of my beloved friends in the past tense.
I am [Ageless]. They… Were not.
Few things were as painful as watching my friends and wife age while I remained my System-designated age of 24. However, I got to be with each of them at the end, a privilege I wouldn’t give up for anything.
Losing them hurt each and every time, but the worst pain was saved for last.
Megan and Jake were the final ones I said goodbye to.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I could continue after that. I didn’t want to keep living just to lose people over and over again.
In pain, I shut myself away for a year or two. However, I realized something as I questioned why I’d been chosen to be the [Demon Lord]. It came to me as I thought about the perk AltSys had practically begged me to take.
[Memory Protection].
That’s when I knew. They were gone, but they would never truly be lost. Not for my entire immortal life. Because as long as I live, I carry the memory of my beloved friends wherever I go.
So that’s why I write these records. To ensure that others can know the tale of these heroes who will never truly die.
----
I stood up and stretched a bit. My handwriting was awful, I second-guessed everything about what I’d written, and there were tear stains in a few places.
I nodded anyway.
“It will do for a rough draft,” I said. I vanished it into my inventory, paused as I did, and pulled out a piece of jewelry.
A simple emerald necklace.
I ran my hand along it fondly and then put it back.
“They say there’s a new [Hero]. I wonder if they’ll be willing to have a [Demon Lord] for a friend?”
I picked up a basket with handles and gently put it on like a backpack.
I was off to make memories. With new friends…
Otto Prime popped his head out of the basket and chirped excitedly as I pet his head.
As well as old.