Their group gathered to find Sony von Bishory had grown to six, with Satoshi, Raul, Sivina and Ana joining Yu and Yurine a few days earlier.

They would meet Lylphia, who was waiting for them when they arrived at Redchapel, and the search for Sony would begin with their new group of seven.

Yu had another duty besides looking for the missing son of the headmaster of the Wizarding Academy. That was to deliver the letters he had brought with him at night to the houses he had predetermined. They would have to wait until nightfall and work late into the night.

Yu was afraid to go out at night, as the Redchapel was a dangerous area. Yu would ask Lylphia to accompany him, it would increase his sense of security.

Apart from these, an important event for Yu was the epileptic seizure that came shortly after the founding of their party. When they returned to their inn from the police station, Yu first sensed the attack and then it came.

Because the seizure came during the meal and not when they were alone, everyone present witnessed Yu lying on the floor and shaking.

Fortunately, thanks to Yurine's intervention, Yu quickly recovered from the moment and returned to normal.

Lucia, who was with them at the time, was so flustered that when Yu came to, he could see tears in her eyes. She then gave him a good scolding for not disclosing his illness.

At this moment, their group was approaching the harbor of Redchapel on a ship.

“How did you get here?” asked Satoshi.

Sivina and Ana had come up on deck for air. Satoshi and Raul sat opposite Yu and Yurine. Yurine had fallen asleep with her head resting on Yu's shoulder, just as she had done on the expedition from Urta village to Redchapel.

“When I opened the door of my house, there was this city.”

“WHITOUT DEAD?!”

“Don't shout!” Satoshi's reactions were irritating. “Please stop these contrived, exaggerated reactions. It's extremely irritating.”

“I'm sorry,” Satoshi bowed his head.

They'd had the chance to talk a few more times since they met at the guild, and Satoshi's reactions were always the same, always contrived and exaggerated. He must have thought he was an anime character.

“Satoshi does this obnoxious behavior so often that I began to wonder if he was normal and it was abnormal that I felt uncomfortable with him, and the fact that others were bothered by him reminded me that it was this idiot who was abnormal.”

Raul folded his arms, closed his eyes and leaned back. “And what do you mean by without dead?”

Yu wouldn't have made a gaffe like Satoshi did.

“He's just bullshitting about something.” He didn't want to tell everyone about the existence of other worlds. Raul didn't need to know. Of course, Satoshi could have run his mouth and told everyone.

“Did you get hit by a truck or something?” Yu asked.

“How did you know?”

“Because you have to get hit in the head to be like that.” Raul made fun of Satoshi, as he does every chance he gets.

“You bastard!”

The relationship between them was exhausting. Sivina and Ana were nice girls but he didn't want to be friends with these two, he didn't have the energy to argue all the time.

“I hope the truck wasn't too badly damaged.” Yu accompanied Raul, though Satoshi was not one to ingratiate himself.

“You bastard!!”

“So he was dead before he came.”

Satoshi possessed light-type magic that could be used as a healing spell. This meant that Satoshi had the core that Yu did not, reinforcing Yu's earlier theory.

Yu was not summoned or reincarnated into this world; he passed into this world. During this transition he gained a soul, but the soul did not have a physical form. The core for casting spells was an organ and existed physically. Yu could not acquire a core during the transition.

Satoshi was reincarnated in this world and was able to obtain a core and the ability to cast spells.

“How long have you been here?”

“Three months, while crossing the street at night.”

“It must be the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“So...” Satoshi lifted his head as if to look up to the sky, but a ceiling greeted him. “I didn't have a very good life. I'm glad I came here.”

“Deep down... Me too...”

What would have happened if he had not come to the Second World? He was at university, popular among the people and his grades were always high. After the loss of his sisters, his grades had dropped, but if he tried, he could have gotten better grades than before, and after graduation he could have found a good job and prospered with a high salary.

Was this what Yu Valarfin desired? He did not see happiness in the possible future he would have had if he stayed in the First World. Because happiness only existed when there was someone to share it with.

Yu had no one to share the happiness of any success he might achieve.

Of course, he was never one to say ‘it's all over.’ Even though the death of his sisters hurt him deeply and he stopped enjoying life, he still had awareness. If he focused on the future, he could be happy.

But he didn't want to. Because he didn't believe he deserved it.

“How long have you been here?”

“It'll be three weeks.”

“What could have happened in three weeks to make you want to have a child?”

Yu didn't answer, he didn't like to talk about his troubles.

“Well, how did you get the things you're wearing? You dress very well, they must be very expensive. I've been broke since I got here, even though I'm working.”

“I sold my phone. It's a smart phone, do you know what that is? What year are you from anyway?”

“Of course I know what a smartphone is, I have one! I'm from two thousand twenty.”

“Two thousand twenty? There are one year between us but we are the same year… He came from future. How?”

He thought this information would please him, but what he got was discomfort. He had come from two thousand nineteen, a year earlier than Satoshi. Yet the fact that they were in the same year in this world showed him that time flowed differently between the two worlds. The idea of going back was frightening enough, but he was more than afraid that if he somehow returned, he would find himself fifty years in the future. In that case, the only thing he could do would be to commit suicide.

“But selling the smartphone? God, I didn't think of that...”

“It's no wonder you didn't think of it.”

“Again!” Satoshi gritted his teeth. He was being made fun of again and again. “How much did you sell it for?”

“Fifty gold pieces.”

“Whoa, that's good! I haven't made that much money since I got here.”

“Wait a minute...” Raul interjected. “I understand that there is something called a 'smart phone' and that he made fifty gold coins selling it. And you have the same jewel and you still haven't sold it? Fuck you in the head.”

“Watch your mouth when Yurine is here.” Even though Yurine was asleep, he didn't want her to somehow wake up and hear bad words.

Raul didn't say anything.

“Unfortunately, I can't sell my phone anymore, the battery is dead.”

“I say what Raul said,” Yu said. Satoshi's was another level of stupidity.

Satoshi smiled as if he had come up with a brilliant idea. “Can't we charge it with electric magic or something?”

“No, there's a volt and ampere value to the power they can take. If you give them too much, you'll blow it up. Also, is the electricity produced by electrical magic direct current or alternating current? These are also important, but in the end, no.”

Disappointed by Yu's explanation, Satoshi's smile disappeared from his face and the corners of his lip drooped down.

“I'm not sure if he is going to be a burden or if he is going to be useful. I'll try to get as much information as I can.”

“Have you thought about the language?” Yu asked. Even though he was not hopeful about Satoshi, he wanted to know if the language they spoke was the same or different, and for that he needed to get to the point.

“No, why should I?”

“You come here from a foreign country, you are surrounded by foreign people and you can communicate with them. Don't you think it's strange?”

“They speak Japanese, they just changed the name to Rolderish.”

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It was a possibility, but Yu believed it wasn't so. Why did these people speak Japanese of all languages?

Yu studied the alphabet and realized that the number of letters in the Japanese words he knew from anime did not match the number of letters in the language they spoke here.

“Raul, you listen to what I'm going to say now.” Raul opened his eyes and focused on Yu. Satoshi was also listening to him. “First word, arigato. Second word, thank you.”

“So?” said Satoshi.

“Satoshi, repeat the first word and the second word I said. Say what you heard.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

“Are you deaf or stupid? Wait, you are stupid.” Raul was surprised. “He said two different words.”

“Don't make fun of me, the same word repeated.”

Yu's guess was right, what they were saying was being translated to Satoshi in his native language.

“Raul, you tell me, what did I just say?”

Raul repeated Yu correctly. “Arigato, thank you.”

“You're saying the same thing.”

“To you it's the same, to us it's different. The language you speak is different from the language of this world, Satoshi.” Yu, careful not to disturb Yurine, took a pen and paper out of his bag. He wrote ‘arigato’ and then ‘thank you’ in the alphabet of this world and showed it to Satoshi. “Read these two words.”

“Thank you, thank you.” Satoshi's answer was the same.

“Now compare the number of letters in the words.”

Satoshi must have perceived both the same, Yu wondered how many letters he saw in the two words.

Satoshi looked and looked and looked at the writing. He seemed to be in a trance, not saying anything. After a few seconds of trying to read the writing, his focus wasn't even on the writing anymore, he was just watching the paper in Yu's hand, drooling.

“Hey, Satoshi?” Raul put his hand on his shoulder and nudged Satoshi.

Satoshi didn't react. When Raul shook him again, he moaned, then shuddered and vomited on Raul.

“God damn it! Fucking idiot!”

When Satoshi fell on Raul, Raul pushed him and knocked him down. Satoshi did not react, he fell and continued to tremble with his eyes open.

“Yurine, Yurine!”

Yurine opened her eyes slightly, the way Yu was used to seeing her do. She had slept through the night and had had a good afternoon nap, but she kept having trouble transitioning from sleep to wakefulness.

“What happened?”

Yu gestured to Satoshi.

***

“Mr. Valarfin and~ people I don't know.” Lylphia looked at the people Yu had brought with him. “Hello.”

Satoshi was conscious but unable to walk and Raul had to carry Satoshi on his shoulder as he vomited on him. Needless to say, he was told to do so.

Sivina and Ana were waiting for Yu to introduce them.

“This is Ana and Dame Sivina Ecues,” he said, pointing to the girls. Sivina is a knight, so she introduced them using the title that precedes her name. “Raul Kathein and on his shoulder is Satoshi.”

“Dame Lylphia Ardere, a mage knight from the Wizarding Academy.” Yu introduced Lylphia as well and they retreated to greet each other

“Let's get along!”

“Shut your mouth, idiot. It's uncomfortable enough to feel your breath.” Raul again responded insultingly to Satoshi's over-exaggerated and contrived reaction.

After they met, they found the adventurers' guild in Redchapel, where they would reside during their stay.

Because the group needed to stay together, Lylphia had to leave the inn where they had been staying.

“It might be cheaper for you to stay in the adventurers' guild, but not for me,” Lylphia said. They were unpacking their things in their rooms in the guild.

Rooms in the adventurers' guild could cost the same or higher than in other inns, but were always cheaper for adventurers on a quest.

Lylphia, on the other hand, was a member of the Wizarding Academy, so she could not be an adventurer and would have to pay a higher amount than they had paid at their first inn.

“Doesn't the academy cover your expenses?”

“Yes, I'm even getting the bill.”

“Then you don't need to cry, it's not coming out of your pocket.” It was Yu who had asked Maron to give Lylphia an allowance, not to save the money, but to spend it. “You can pay for Yurine and me to eat.”

“I don't think it's ethical.”

“We're risking our lives, let Maron buy us two meals.”

Food became one of their main expenses when they traveled outside the capital. Neither of them had a set meal schedule lately, so they ate less, but they still had to pay for food.

“We've finished settling in.”

Sivina entered Yu's room. Behind him was Ana.

“Are those two settled yet?”

“They are still discussing which room to take,” Sivina said.

Yu and Yurine's room was on the top floor and next to their room was Lylphia's room. On the second floor, Sivina and Ana shared a room.

They had taken two more rooms. One of the rooms was opposite the girls' room and the other was on bit away of the girls' room. Satoshi and Raul were fighting to stay in the room opposite girls.

“Those two can continue their discussion later. Let them come here, we will talk now.”

“I'll call them.”

Ana left the room to call the two of them. It wasn't long before she came back with the boys.

There were on Sivina and Ana’s room. There were two beds, but Yu, Yurine and Sivina sat on one bed. Lylphia sat on the second bed. Ana was on a chair, Raul was standing and Satoshi had his butt on the table.

“We told you to investigate, did you find anything?” Yurine asked, reminding Lylphia of her mission. “Stupid human, I knew you wouldn't find anything.”

“I haven't said anything yet!” Lylphia puffed out her cheeks and sighed.

“Your impression of me is so inadequate that my expectations were low from the beginning. It's your fault for creating such an impression.”

“Uh-huh, so get ready to be embarrassed.” Lylphia puffed out her chest, her big breasts greeting people again. “I found something.”

“What did you find?” Ana asked.

There was no one in the room to hear them, but Lylphia lowered her voice anyway.

“After you left, there were two more murders in Redchapel. It was the Redchapel Killer.”

“What's this got to do with Sony? IS HE DEAD?”

Even though Yu had warned Satoshi earlier, he was still having the same exaggerated reactions. Yu was feeling embarrassed for someone else. He wanted to hit Satoshi.

Ignoring Satoshi, Lylphia continued, “Only one person survived the break-in, and he heard the killer mention Sony's name.”

If Sony was dead, their mission would have failed in its early stages.

But he couldn't imagine the Redchapel Killer killing him. Why would someone who wanted his crimes to be known would kill Sony in secret?

Sivina asked, “What exactly did he say?”

“That's the only name he could deduce.”

“Only, what do you mean? Did he mention other names?”

Yu stood up. “Where were the murders committed?”

“It's not far from here, less than half an hour away. Shall we go there?”

Yu nodded to Lylphia. He didn't want to waste time, today they would question the surviving eyewitness and tomorrow they would spend all their time investigating.

“There's no need to go there en masse, a few people are enough. The others should start gathering information about the killer now. Maybe we'll find something Lylphia missed.”

***

Yu, Yurine, Lylphia and Satoshi arrived at the house where the murder had taken place, while Sivina, Ana and Raul left the group to investigate further.

“Is the survivor inside?” Yu asked.

“He was here when I arrived.”

Lylphia knocked on the door and a woman in her thirties opened it without waiting.

“Again?” the woman sighed when she saw Lylphia.

“I'm sorry, I know it's hard for you, but my friends wanted to hear it too.”

The woman seemed reluctant, after a moment's thought she numbly opened the door fully and let them in.

Most of the furniture was covered with sheets, making it difficult to comment on the house. The curtains were also closed and it was dark inside. The woman drew the curtains to let the sunlight shine in, but it was still a little dark inside because the clouds blocked the sun.

“Her name is Numi, the sister of Aletin, the eyewitness.”

While Lylphia was telling them about the family, Numi called his brother from inside. The boy was no more than fourteen years old. He had red hair and green eyes, and they were black from lack of sleep.

The boy's cheeks were tense, his green eyes were still wet and his lips were trembling.

When Numi called out to him, he acted meekly, but he looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

“Hello, my name is Yu Valarfin.”

Yu introduced himself in a calm voice. The boy didn't answer him, he just turned his eyes to the ground and his expression became more pitiful.

“I know this is difficult for you, but you have to tell us what happened so we can get justice.”

As soon as Yu finished his sentence, the boy exploded and started crying out loud.

Numi rushed to his brother to calm him down, but he didn't know what to do. “It's okay,” was all he could say.

“I understand your situation is difficult. I hope we can get back without spending too much time here.”

Otherwise, every time he saw Alatin crying, he would empathize and his heart would break.

“My bro-bro-bro-bro-brother,” Aletin started to speak, stammering because what he had seen had affected him so much. “He t-told me to-to hide-de in the-there.” He pointed with his finger at the covered closet.

It was a small cupboard for stuffing junk, one would have had to force oneself to fit in there.

“D-d-d-d-d-dola-la-lab's kak-kapa-lid...” Aletin started crying again. Lylphia whispered in Yu's ear as Numi tried to calm him down.

“The closet door was ajar and the boy was able to see what happened. After killing Aletin's father, the murderer killed his brother. He cut open his brother's abdomen, emptied his organs and nailed the body to the wall.”

Yu now understood why it had been so difficult for Aletin to tell the story. He had witnessed a scene of brutality.

“Do you remember what the killer said?”

They waited until he calmed down, and when he did, he started stuttering again.

“Said-sa-sa-sa-sa-just S-So-Son-Sony and N-N-N-N-N...”

“N?”

“Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh.”

Aletin started crying again, Numi was patting his back to calm him down and Lylphia whispered to Yu again.

“He mentioned a couple of names, one Sony and another one that starts with the letter N. He realized that the others were just names, but he can't remember them.”

“Did he say anything about the killer's appearance?”

“Long red hair, stubble and sharp blue eyes. Worn black clothes and a brown straw hat. This is what he told those who questioned him before.”

Aletin couldn't speak any more, they left the crime scene after inspecting the house for a while.

***

“We came here for nothing, we learned nothing but what Lylphia knows.”

“No one asked you, don't speak unless you're allowed.”

“You're so rude.”

Yurine, unsurprisingly, along with Raul, was among those who did not respect Satoshi.

“We could have found out, it was better to come just in case.”

As Satoshi said, they had no new information except what Lylphia could tell them.

“What do we do with what we know?”

Lylphia looked at Yu. The mere mention of Sony's name was important information, but it alone wouldn't help them find Sony.

“We may need to catch the killer first,” Yu said. “And our task becomes more difficult if it comes to that.”

If they couldn't find Sony on their own, and so far all attempts to find him had failed, they could first try to catch the killer and interrogate him.

This was a different mission in itself, and Yu alone might have given up at this point, but he wanted to honor the agreement with Yurine. He had no particular motivation for it, he just felt it was the right thing to do.

“So, how do we catch him?”

A lot of work was piling up. To find the killer, it was necessary to investigate previous murders, and to catch the killer, it might be necessary to wait for him to target someone again.

There was also no regularity to his killings. They happened at random intervals and there were three months without a murder. They didn't have three months.

They arrived at the inn discussing how to catch the killer and Yu explained what he had in mind to Sivina, Ana and Raul, who arrived an hour later with no information.

“Eh? So we have to catch the killer?”

“There's no way to reach Sony, I know it's very annoying,” Satoshi answered Sivina as if the plan was his own.

“But that's outside our remit,” Ana said.

Yu looked Ana. “Do you want to give up?”

Yu knew that dealing with the killer was dangerous, but he couldn't afford indecision and didn't want to listen to excuses. It was better for him to do this mission with them, but it required everyone to sharpen their resolve.

“I never thought I'd think that.”

“No,” Ana replied, shaking her head.

“Tomorrow we'll disperse to investigate the killer's murders. We also need to figure out the algorithm for the murders. If his targets are random people, it will be hard to catch him, but if we can find a connection between the targets, we'll have a clue.”

It would be impossible to find a pervert who kills only for pleasure, he would have to have an algorithm to find the killer.

“Assuming he's really William Berry, he can't live in town with a recognizable face and name. He must live in the woods outside of town.”

“Most of the murders took place here, including the last four,” Raul said. “I haven't investigated it specifically, but I've heard about it.”

“We can ask other adventurers, I know a few.”

Sivina had been adventuring more than a year, Ana had been adventuring for six months, and they had formed a team before Satoshi arrived.

They talked about what to do and after dinner, as everyone went to their rooms, Yu went to Lylphia for asking help.