“Why are you here?” I asked the black swordsman cautiously. He looked at me, annoyed, and snorted coldly. Seriously, what was he doing in my home? Not to mention my room. Alone.

“The last time, if I used a real sword, I would be the winner.” He said while looking down on me. Well, it couldn’t be helped. I was lying in my bed while he was standing beside my bed, so he looked down on me.

“…I always said that I admit defeat. More importantly, what are you doing here?” I asked him once again as it was really awkward to have him standing right beside me while I couldn’t move. That silly Goddess had pulled her brother and left us alone. What if this pervert attacked me? I wouldn’t be able to fight back if he attacked me, right?

“Don’t think anything rude!” He yelled at me. I wondered how people could read my mind!? Seriously, every time I thought something rude about that silly Goddess, she would glare at me, and now, this black swordsman yelled at me because I was thinking things like that.

“Cough, I just can’t think a reason why you are here…” I said while looking away from him.

“Just looking at your face, I know that you are lying.” He said. He sighed, “Well, whatever. Anyway, Zero.”

Zero?

“That’s my name! No, my nickname! You better remember me!” The black swordsman, Zero, yelled at me again. Seriously, I was thinking about what kind of Zero he suddenly said, who would ever think that it was his nickname?

“Zero as… people with zero potential?” I asked curiously.

“…shouldn’t it zero power with unlimited potential?” He sighed. He shook his head, “No, it’s not that. It’s Zero, the one who zeroed your health.”

…should I comment that he was actually a genuine chuunibiyo? I shouldn’t laugh at his hobby though.

“You are already laughing!” He retorted even though I was only thinking internally. Did I speak what I was thinking out loud?

“No, well, your face is telling me everything.” He said.

…and I was so confident in my poker face. Anyway, since he had introduced himself, I should introduce myself too, right?

“My name is Fey.” I said casually.

“Fey? From Fae or Fairy? Well, you sure are small like Fairy .” Zero said with stifled laughter.

“…” I wanted to say that it came from Fanarie, but I didn’t want him to know my true name. The System had clearly said my name so if I used that name, everybody would know that I was actually a Demon Lord that they had to kill!

“…so, why are you here?” I asked once again.

“No reason, just want to see your pathetic state after being defeated by the great Zero.” He said after controlling his laughter. Seriously, couldn’t he become less annoying?

“If you had nothing to do, it’s better for you to go away. I need a lot of sleep.” I said.

“…actually, I want to ask you something.” His expression turned serious for once. I perked my ears to hear him as he piqued my interest. It was the first time I saw his serious face after all.

“Are you the one who made all the EXP Potion?” He asked bluntly.

“…why do you ask?” I asked back.

He shrugged. “Just asking. If you are really the one who makes all those EXP Potion, I want to make a deal with you.”

“…”

Since I didn’t know what he wanted, I didn’t ask and kept my silence. I wasn’t good at negotiation, however, I once read that in negotiation, you had to have an initiation to gain the advantage, and sure, I didn’t have any advantage as I didn’t know what he wanted.

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“It’s not for my own good. No, should I say, it’s for everyone’s good, including me?” He continued after watching me kept my silence.

“…oh, I see. You want me to give free EXP Potion, don’t you?” I instantly noticed his intention when he said it was for everyone’s good. After all, there was a Boss-type monster roaming outside the village and we couldn’t defeat it without increasing our level and we needed it fast. And since the Players would be punished if they failed to protect this village, they would try their best too. And that was how he came to this conclusion, which was giving EXP Potion freely to every Players.

And as expected, he nodded.

I sighed silently. “Unfortunately, I don’t want to. Wait, don’t misunderstand! Do you know how many Players are in this Village?”

“…no.” He shook his head.

“Actually, I don’t know myself,” I replied honestly. As he glared at me, I continued, “But I’m sure there are more than a hundred, perhaps even more than a thousand, don’t you think so?”

He nodded. Even though it was a small village, there were really a lot of Players here. There were only a hundred villagers living in this village, yet the Players easily overwhelmed that number by ten times.

“And I can only make around a hundred EXP Potions every day, even if you assume that I have unlimited ingredients.” It was not because of my equipment was limited, but rather my Mana was limited. A hundred bottles EXP Potions was my limit.

“So, you understand, right? If I gave a hundred free EXP Potions every day, it will be counterproductive to what you plan.” I ended my speech when the silly Goddess entered the room. She sat beside the black swordsman, Zero, and smirked at me.

“Don’t be fooled by her, that’s not what she is truly thinking. She just thinks that giving them free will reduce her income. Yep, she is just a greedy girl.” The silly Goddess commented. I had to say that she was really good at reading what I was thinking!

“…no, of course not.” I forced my brain to think another reason as fast as possible. Yep, until, finally, I found another good reason. “I just think that giving the EXP Potions to random people would be counterproductive. Why don’t we give them to the strongest five or ten?”

…

…and that brought us to the new event, the first tournament held by the Players. Since there were only a thousand Players in this village, the tournament should be concluded quickly. Even if all the thousand Players participated in this tournament, it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

“Let’s make a battle royal for the qualifying round!” I suggested this idea after knowing that the number of participants was almost a thousand. Yes, a battle royal. The strong wouldn’t be eliminated easily and it was easy to see who was truly strong in this kind of situation.

The silly Goddess and the others agreed to it. Speaking of which, the silly Goddess and the silent God became the organizers of this tournament that would be held the day after I gave this idea. Yep, they only had one day to prepare everything, and so, they were quite busy.

As for me, I was still lying on my bed because of harming my soul earlier, so I couldn’t help them even if I wanted to. No, even if I was healthy, I wouldn’t want to help them, unless my job required me to stay inside the room.

Today was the tournament day. And I had to say, both the Goddess and the God had done their job quite well. They not only prepared the arena in a single day, but they also gathered all the villagers to be the organizers too. The blacksmith, for example, would give the top ten his masterpieces weapons and armors. The herbalist would prepare potions and tonic. The village elder would give them a reputation and a bit of money.

The tournament would be held in the plaza. Well, even though it was called a plaza, it was actually just an open space in the middle of the village. Sometimes, it was used for events like this.

Anyway, since the venue was in an open space, I wouldn’t watch the tournament at all. Yep, I planned on sleeping all day long. After all, without that silly Goddess disturbing me every morning, I could sleep all day long… or so I thought.

“Wait a minute, what is that? A wheelchair? What for?” I asked when I looked the silly Goddess smiled brightly and brought the wheelchair to my room. Where did she get that thing? I meant, it was a small village and I was sure that none of the villagers needed a wheelchair!

“You already know it, right?” She smiled. There was only one person who needed a wheelchair in this house, and that person was me. Did this silly Goddess want to bring me to the tournament venue? Did she want to torture me so badly?

“…you know the tournament is in the plaza, right?” I asked to make sure of it.

The silly Goddess looked at me as I asked that silly question. “Of course, I was the one who prepared everything yesterday.”

“…and you know that there is no roof in that place, right?” I asked again.

“Of course.” She replied without missing a beat.

“…and you’ll still force me to watch, won’t you?” I once again asked the silly question and the silly goddess nodded enthusiastically.

“…don’t you know forcing a person who has a phobia will make her even more scared for her whole life?” I asked her with a serious expression.

“Hm? Phobia? What is that? Can you eat it? Is it delicious?” She replied with foolish expression.

“…you know that I’m scared of open space, don’t you?” I tried to change my wording a little.

“Oh, that! Haha, don’t worry, I read that you have to face your fears someday!” She laughed it off easily as she picked me up from the bed. I couldn’t move at the moment. I thought after a day of rest I would be able to move, but it seemed my calculation was wrong. Anyway, she put me in the wheelchair and pushed me to the door outside.

“Wait, wait, if, if you bring me outside, I will… I will…” I didn’t know what to say as I didn’t know how to threaten her. She was stronger than me and I didn’t know her weakness at all. Seriously, was there a perfect existence like her…? Nope, she was not perfect. She was an idiot.

“You will what? Are you going to threaten me?” She smiled even more brightly, but somehow, it was even scarier to me.

“…I will cry.” I said with a helpless sigh. I couldn’t threaten her at all, so I tried using this kind of card. Honestly, it was so shameful, but shame wouldn’t help me deal with my fear. Yep, like this idiot Goddess said, ‘what is shame? Can you eat it? Is it delicious?’

“Really!?” The silly Goddess exclaimed and looked at me with a hint of excitement. Did she want to see me crying badly? Did I just dig my own pitfall?

“…no, I won’t.” I refused. If crying could make her stop taking me outside, I would cry without hesitation, but if it was useless, why would I cry?

“Oh, though I would consider taking you outside if you are crying. Since you are not, let’s go then!”

“Wha-!?” I was tricked! This silly Goddess tricked me!

Before I could react, she already pushed the wheelchair outside and the bright sun blinded me… not. I hurriedly closed my eyes. I saw nothing, yep, I was still inside the house. I was definitely not outside. As for the wind blowing, it must be that silly Goddess trying to scare me. Yep, it must be that.

“Look, the sky is so beautiful!” A certain voice resounded from behind me. Yep, we could still see the sky from the window.

“Oh, the flowers are blooming.” The same voice spoke again. I didn’t remember that there were any flowers that could be seen from windows though. Oh, perhaps, they were just blooming. Yep, that must be it.

“Don’t you think to hear the cicadas crying make your heart goes floating?” What do you mean by floating? Honestly, hearing their sounds was annoying as I couldn’t sleep. Oh, right, my patient floated away when I heard the cicadas sound when I was sleeping.

“Just accept the reality, we are outside.” The silly Goddess smirked. Shut up, I didn’t want to accept it!