I wasn’t sure when I woke up, but I quickly realized that I wasn’t the first.

And it took a few seconds, but when I saw the messy sheets of the bed and started recalling the night before…

“...I fucked up.”

I had done just about everything I told myself not to, if not more.

Not only that…

I had finished inside of her!

“Ah, shit. I was way too drunk…”

I felt waves of regret.

This seriously wasn’t good for either of us. And I wasn’t thinking I’d become a father just a couple months after coming to an entirely new world.

Well, I’d own up to it like a man if I had to. Still…

I spent close to half an hour wallowing in shame before finally pulling myself up.

I knew she had a shower since that was one of our stops the night before. So walking into the bathroom connected to her bedroom, I threw it on and washed up.

As for the hangover, I barely had a headache. All the alcohol was high quality, and combined with my vigorous body, I guess I had avoided a large part of the hurt.

When I rinsed and came back out, I found my clothes folded on the bed that had been remade. Feeling another wave of shame, I threw on my pants and shirt while slinging my coat over my shoulder.

It looked less like a walk of shame that way.

Then, I steeled myself as I left the bedroom.

My heart throbbed in my chest when I saw Rayla in the kitchen. She was holding a jar, grabbing small cookies out of it and tossing them in her mouth with seeming anxiety.

She froze when she saw me, and for a few seconds, neither of us reacted.

Until she smiled.

“Hey. How’s the hangover?”

“...Fine. Just a small headache.”

“Impressive.”

“...”

I didn’t smile as cheerily as she did. First, I glanced out the window, seeing that the sun was already setting.

Then I sighed and walked over to the dining table, standing behind a seat.

“...I’m sorry, I have to ask.”

I could feel my face burn as I spit it out.

“Last night, beyond all other outstanding issues… I wasn’t exactly restrained with how much I finished inside you.”

“...That?”

As if not expecting that to be my concern, she tilted her head.

“Putting aside the difficulty for Magi to have kids anyway, there’s tons of magic for that.”

“So…”

“No, I’m not going to be pregnant.”

“Oh thank the lord…”

“That seemed to be weighing on you pretty heavily.”

She had a small smile as I slumped over the table in relief.

I sighed.

“Of course. I’m 22 and absolutely not ready to be a father. I mean, I’ve still got so much to do before I can settle…”

I stopped there.

…That might’ve been insensitive.

I could imagine that the crux of the matter for Rayla was if she was willing to get in a relationship with me, who was only 22, and when she had the baggage that she did.

We were supposed to stay friends. That way, both of us could be happy.

She would have a friend that brightened up her life, and I could still pursue someone that would be a better fit for me while having a close friend of my own.

But those plans of simplicity all shattered when she went in for that kiss.

And now we were here. For a while I couldn’t seem to raise my head and face her, because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do now.

But it seemed she already had an idea.

“Hey, John.”

She called with a soft voice. When I lifted my head, I saw her gentle smile.

“...What happened last night was entirely on me. I know what you wanted… yet I let my desires take hold. I won’t make excuses. So I apologize. And… shit, I don’t know…”

“Hey.”

I interrupted her, giving her a smile.

“We’re both straightforward people, right? Let’s not make it complicated.”

I said that as I walked over, putting myself in front of her and sticking my hand out.

“Things are good, yea? Let’s just keep having fun like we have been. Okay?”

“...”

She stared at me for a second before glancing down at my hand that was waiting for a shake.

Rolling my eyes, I reached out and grabbed her opposite hand, placing it in mine and shaking it.

“Pleasure doing business.”

“...Bwahahaha!”

She broke out in a fit of laughter, making me smile wide.

“What?”

“Haha, you… I don’t think I’ve ever had a guy end something like that with a formal handshake. You’re really something else.”

“Hey, handshakes are universal.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

She chuckled a bit more before pulling my hand and wrapping me in a hug.

“Thanks, John. Really.”

“...Of course.”

We hugged for a while before separating and smiling at each other.

“...So tell nobody?”

“Nope.”

“Smooth.”

……

…

I was worried that things were going to get weird, despite what seemed like a good resolution.

But my worries were unfounded.

Rayla took it amazingly well, which is what I wanted. She was the one I was worried about, after all.

If she had any lingering feelings or if she was just pretending, then she would’ve no doubt drifted away. But we still continued to talk almost every day, occasionally meeting for a night out, or doing some bigger jobs together.

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And nothing romantic ever happened. We continued to be great friends, and nobody could sense that anything was different between us besides the fact that we seemed to be quite a bit closer than before.

Libitus had come to me a couple days after and asked me how it went since he knew I went back to Rayla’s place. And I told him that nothing had happened, that I just slept off my hangover.

He sighed in relief at that, totally believing me.

That basically concluded everything.

That night was one I would never forget. I’ve had experience with girls on Earth, but nothing had ever been so hot and passionate. None of my past experiences even came close to comparing.

I suppose it was because we were both letting out pent up feelings. Knowing that it would be the one and only time. So we poured out everything without inhibition.

But given some time to cool down, we both leveled our heads and continued as we had before.

Neither of us tried anything, keeping it strictly platonic.

Of course, we deeply cared for each other. We were even closer than before, and we’d managed to build something quite unique.

It seemed to work, because even a week later, we were still basically best friends.

……

…

“You’re almost there? You’ve been training for all of what, a month?”

“Something like that.”

“Shit. I gotta admit, even for the low level, that’s some talent.”

Rayla’s surprised voice echoed in my mind.

I was sitting in my room, the book and White Crystal in front of me. I was preparing for another training session, one I sensed would be my last before entering the Magisterium.

I asked while opening the book and viewing the spell.

“How long did it take you? You’re at Authority 8, right?”

“Yea. I don’t remember exactly, but my first four Authorities took about 3 years to achieve. Everything after that was a slow crawl. But then again, my talent isn’t the greatest.”

“Still, Authority 8 is massive.”

I let out a breath.

The maximum level achievable was Authority 12. So while there was technically an uncrossable chasm between them, Authority 8 was still amazingly high.

Rayla was powerful, that much I knew. And that was despite her getting injured whenever we ran jobs.

The reason she got injured was because, unlike me, she was dealing with truly powerful opponents. It was like when Plex came back from the Trenches with the shit kicked out of him after meeting Apocryon.

According to my experience thus far, the best I could handle was an Authority 3 Knight and up to Authority 5 Warlocks and Summoners being an Authority 2.

But even that was only doable because nobody knew the nature of my weapons. Knights were my bane because, unlike Warlocks or summoners, they didn’t need to preemptively prepare defenses to survive a bullet.

I couldn’t imagine Authority 8 Knights, and I barely understood the crazy powers of an Authority 8 Warlock.

Whenever Rayla battled, she would always disappear for a while. That was to keep me out of the crossfire.

So I never actually got to witness the full power of someone at that level. But the flattened buildings, crevices in the ground, and the occasional sounds I would hear gave away the fact that it was a whole other league.

Rayla chuckled.

“When you get to that level, you start to realize that no amount of power you attain is truly massive. Things only reach further and further extremes the higher you climb. The you as an Authority 2 might see an Authority 8 or 9 as some kind of god. But as an Authority 8, I’ve met Authority 10s that seem like gods, and those above them… I couldn’t fathom their power, let alone try to reach it.”

She sighed, her words making me realize just how insane those levels were.

“Besides, I’m not even a good Authority 8. A good Authority 7 could match me just fine.”

“Please, you’re amazing as is. Plus, the higher you go, the more problematic things get. Would you really want to live that kind of life?”

“...No. I wouldn’t.”

“So then you’re golden.”

“Hm, thanks. Now go train. I expect to see some new summons tomorrow since you’ve been yapping about how amazing they’re going to be.”

“Right.”

I smiled, and after some goodbyes, we hung up.

Picking up the book, I started forming the spell that I had already memorized.

And with the crystal, I used its energy to drive the spell and expand my power.

Like last time, I was close to unlocking the third star. It took a lot more energy than last time, at least several times more. And yet, I had gotten this far much faster than prior.

It was because I had finally gotten used to forming these complicated spells. And without that barrier, most of my time was spent training.

In that sense, it had actually taken longer to train, being four weeks of accumulation instead of three.

Regardless…

Everything was coming to a head.

The feelings were almost identical to last time.

The energy reached a tipping point, and then, the barrier of the star was broken through.

With a massive drain in energy, the third dimension was opened.

I slumped in my bed, my mind exhausted wth the outpour. But keeping myself awake, I observed what few spirits I could see in the dimension.

And the sight caused me to smile.

Six shooter revolvers.

Lever action rifles.

Break action shotguns.

Old school weapons, no doubt. It was the kind of stuff you would see in depictions of the wild west. There weren’t semi-automatic pistols or rifles, not even pump action shotgns.

But these weapons meant a vast jump in survivability for me. Also, with my increased pool of Psyka, I could empower my spirits more, meaning more overall killing power.

With that, I passed out in glee.

I was really looking forward to the future.

……

…

“Yeehaw, motherfucker!”

*BOOM*

I let out a shotgun blast toward the man in front of me. His body unceremoniously went flying, his chest turned into paste.

I wiped some blood splatter off my face, turning toward the others.

“See that, assholes?! I’ve got an upgrade!”

“The American is stronger.”

“Shit! Just give me that damn coin!”

From a distance, a bold but inexperienced warlock prepared a couple spells.

But with a flick of my wrist, the shotgun was put away and a rifle took its place.

Firing a .30-30 cartridge, this wooden bodied beauty was a monster that had already made my life easier in several ways.

Particularly, in this way.

*BOOM*

Another explosion shook everyone’s ears, even mine.

And across the way, the bold warlock looked down to find a new hole in his chest.

He had even put up some kind of magical barrier, but it had done absolutely nothing to stop the bullet.

I had already become notorious in the Trenches, so much so that not many came to bother me anymore. The only ones who came were those in groups.

And everyone knew that when I aimed my boom stick, the person on the end of it would get hurt. So they used their brains and started preparing barriers.

Before, they might’ve had a chance to mitigate some of the damage. But with these new weapons…

I was about to enter a whole new level of notoriety.

I could see everyone look at me like I was a freak as I breathed in the wonderful scent of gunpowder smoking out of the barrel end.

“Anyone else? I’ve got enough lead for you all.”

“...Fuck!”

They grit their teeth, and ultimately, they ran away.

I smirked and waltzed my way out. But before long, there was someone who stepped in my path. He snarled at me.

“Remember me, American?”

“...Didn’t I run away from you one time?”

I scratched my head while looking at the short man who appeared.

He had no shirt, showing off his bulky muscles, and a nasty scar in his abdomen. I put that scar there with my flintlock while I was injured and running away.

I only recognized him since he really was short. I called him a gremlin no few number of times.

“What, you back for revenge? Fucking gremlin.”

“...Call me that again one more time.”

He grit his teeth as his muscles bulged in rage.

I smiled.

“Just get your stubby feet over here, gremlin.”

“AGGHHH!!!”

With a bellow, the little man came charging at me.

At the same time, I raised the rifle.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

I let out four shots. One hit his leg, one hit an arm, and the other two landed somewhere in that pile of abs.

But he only stumbled in surprise before continuing.

“Is that all you got?! You summoners are trash!”

Frowning, I waved my hand, grabbing the shotgun and throwing in two new shells with skillful hands.

In that time, he closed the distance even with me backpedaling.

“Eat this slug.”

*BOOM*

This time, he couldn’t be so arrogant.

Though, I would give him a bit of internal praise. Instead of getting his head outright blown off, he only lost an arm.

“GAHH!!”

He dropped while clutching his empty shoulder socket. But perhaps riding the wave of shock, he quickly stumbled back up and moved to take me down.

“You’re dead!”

“Two shells, dumbass.”

And that was it.

*BOOM*

I put a hole in his chest, causing him to freeze. He stood there for a few seconds before I pushed with my barrel, knocking him to the floor.

I smiled as blood soaked the dirt ground beneath him.

“I’ve told everyone to just leave me alone. Besides, it’s not like I got my gold just sitting in my pockets. Now look at you. Dead. Was it worth it, gremlin?”

I stepped over his corpse and continued walking.

When I finally got out of the Trenches, I walked around before finding a specific bar.

It was there that I saw Rayla standing outside, who noticed me and waved.

“Hey, sweet cheeks. You’re covered in blood.”

“And this time, none of it’s mine. I even killed that gremlin from some time ago.”

“Yes, those weapons of yours are insane. You’re also more aggressive than usual.”

She laughed while pulling out a handkerchief, wiping my face down.

Then, she smirked

“You forgot to wear your air mask. No wonder you’re enjoying yourself so much.”

“Oh, crap.”

I suddenly remembered that. Normally I had it on while in the trenches, but I forgot it today.

“I was cleaning it yesterday. I think I forgot it in my bathroom.”

“Of course you did. Well, getting high for just one day is fine. There.”

She finished cleaning and pat my cheek.

“Now let’s get a drink. Libitus and the others are already inside.”

“Sure.”

We smiled and went inside, meeting the others and having a small post-work party.