Nozomi abruptly knocked on the door, waking Shuku up as he began falling asleep.

"Yeah, it's me, can we talk?"

Although he wants to enjoy the bed more, he can't keep her waiting. Thus, he gets out of bed and walks to the door.

"Why are you here-"

The moment he opened the door, a girl with long black graphite hair, dressed in a nightgown, stood before him, the flimsy gown reveals the round curves of her body. Her hips and chest appeared as though they were softly inflated, snugly embraced by the thin sleepwear crafted by the royal tailor. One way to describe these soft areas is that Shuku would love to shove his face in them rather than into his pillow.

Seeing this, he was almost mesmerized, and Shuku had nearly forgotten that Nozomi was a beautiful girl he had a crush on.

"So what's the matter?"

"I want to talk to you about what happened this morning."

"Okay...?"

"I just want to say that... don't do that again."

"Do what?"

"Whatever you were attempting to do this morning when you were in a fight with Kubo. I was scared that you have given up on everything and were going to go all out with him. Especially when you say those words, I thought that things might go too far and..."

She paused at the "and..." to avoid saying anything sensitive, but Shuku was fully aware of what would happen next.

"I understand, I will try my best. But that doesn't change the fact that Kubo is a total douchebag, if not me, then it's Sano. As long as he is with us, there's no way he would stay down-"

"Then I will protect you! I will protect Sano-kun, and you! I will talk it out with Kubo tomorrow, and if he still doesn't listen, then... we will quit."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. The King can't afford to lose three Heroes, so either we leave, or the King will force Kubo to stop all of his bad behaviors. In any way, we can expect you and Sano will not be mistreated."

Hearing these words stunned him, but they also warmed up his cold heart a bit, as a result, he smiled.

"You're always that intelligent and that kind of person, Nozomi, and I'm glad I had a friend like you."

"Thanks, Shuku..."

"But, like the Pope says, I can't use magic. So does it even matter whether I stay or not when I can't help with anything?"

Nozomi placed her hand on her chin.

"Maybe, if you can't be strong, how about trying to be smart?"

"What do you mean, exactly?"

"I mean, no matter how strong an army is, it will become meaningless if the strategist or the commander is stupid right? How about you try to become the smart one, and maybe your intelligence could be more necessary than the ability to use magic.

You could, I don't know, figure out how to defeat the Demon Lord and how to get us home. If you could do that, you will be a lot more helpful to us than when you have magic."

"Ok, I will take that advice, thank you."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"All I wanted to say is, in our circumstance right now, we should not have a conflict with each other. We are not in our world anymore, who knows what could happen to us tomorrow, we could only depend on each other to stay safe. And I don't want to see any of my friends in danger!"

"..."

Shuku is speechless; just a few minutes ago, he was desperate and tired of everything and felt as if the entire world was against him, but then Nozomi showed up, and reminded him of a friend, someone he could rely on and that he won't have to suffer alone.

"I understood. Anyway, I think it's time to go to sleep."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm feeling sleepy too."

Shuku was lying; he wanted to end the conversation before it became cringe because he don't know what else to say, not because he was sleepy. He watches in silence as Nozomi begins to walk away from him. Just before she turns a corner, he calls out to her one last time.

"Hey!"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for talking with me, you made my day less terrible."

In response, Nozomi smiled: "Goodnight, Shuku-kun."

"Goodnight."

Then she left. Shuku closed the door and returned to his room, standing with his back against the door.

"Man, I love her."

He went back lying on his bed.

"Maybe this new world isn't so bad after all."

At last, he can really unwind and recharge for the next day-

Knock, knock. Once again, there's a knock on the door.

"Nozomi-san? I thought you went to sleep?"

Shuku thought that Nozomi might have forgotten to tell him something, so she returned. Strangely, his question was met with a creepy quiet.

"Nozomi?"

Knock, knock.

The knocking continued despite no words being spoken from outside. Shuku feels that something was wrong, and worry started to creep in. But he couldn't stay silent any longer because whoever was outside already knew he was there, so he got out of bed and slowly approaches the door.

He grabs the handle, spins it, and begins to pull the door open.

"Ok, who's out there-"

A sparkling figure stood in front of him, his entire body clad in metal plates and armor, so Shuku couldn't see his face but can easily recognize him as one of the King's guards. And the guard immediately SWING the sword he was holding at Shuku as soon as he opened the door.

"Woah, woah, hey!"

But Shuku was fortunate enough to dodge in time and avoid death. Regardless of how it looks, the Guard appears to be serious about his actions.

"What are you doing? I'm not a bad guy."

Despite Shuku's efforts to explain, the guard once again strikes Shuku with the sword.

"I told you, I'm not a bad guy! I'm one of those heroes-"

"GGAAHHHH!!"

The guard charges at him and is ready to swing his sword with full force, yet Shuku evades out of the direction of the guard's attack and reflexively pushed him back. The guard loses his balance as a result of being pushed; he continues to move inertly and ends up smashing against the window, breaking it, and falls outside.

"Shit!!"

Shuku rushed towards the window just as he realized what he had done.

"AAAHHHH!!!-..."

A piercing scream appeared followed by quiet and a pop, and Shuku was terrified when he realized what that meant.

Looking down from the window, he sees a shiny figure lying on the ground, with red liquid coming from it.

"He's dead..."

Falling from a window that was at least 10 stories high has killed the guard and blood has spilled. Everything happened so rapidly and unexpectedly, leaving Shuku shocked and bewildered without time to grasp the situation. As his mind was still processing the events, a familiar voice suddenly emerged from behind.

"Well, well, well. Look what we just found. A murderer."

The person Shuku despised seeing the most came and stood directly in front of his room's open door.

"Kubo? Why the fuck are you here?"

"Why am I here? I'm because of you, I heard someone screaming and I was also accidentally nearby so I went in and checked, is it right, your Highness?"

Then a man with a long silver beard and hair, the one who had previously falsely accused him of murder, appeared, followed by two guards, and standing behind Kubo.

"Yes, it's true, and it's so sad to know that there's a corrupted hero in my castle who killed my innocent and obedience guard."

"Oh, I get it. You two both find me annoying, so you two decided to team up and get rid of me by sacrificing your own guard to set me up for a fake murder, right? Like how I was accused this morning."

The King and Kubo remained quiet, neither confirming nor denying his theory, yet Shuku already knew that it was all their plan.

'I'm sorry Nozomi-san, but looks like this bastard cannot be forgiven.'

Remembering Nozomi's advice to move on and neglect Kubo, he concludes that there will be no peace working with this motherfucker.

"Fine. If you hate me that much, then I will leave. You won't see me here from tomorrow, I'll go somewhere far away from your sight so you don't have to worry about being annoyed."

Both of them maintained silence with straight faces as if that was not what they wanted.

"What? Isn't that what you want?"

"We just want to make sure... that you can't come back."

The King snaps his fingers, and the two guards behind him start approaching Shuku. One of them is holding what appears to be a huge metal ring or collar. A guard goes behind Shuku, grabs his arm and neck, and pushes him to the ground.

"What the-?!"

The one holding the metal collar opens it and places it around Shuku's neck. When the metal collar is locked again, it starts to glow with a white light, and Shuku feels a surge of electricity run through his body.

The guards then let go of Shuku and kick him to the ground.

"What the hell is this?"

"That is what we call, a slave collar. With this you won't be able to resist my commands, you won't be able to fight back, and you won't be able to do anything but my order."

"What?! Why? Why do I have to wear this? Why don't you just let me leave peacefully?"

"Because... who knows what would you do if you are free out there doing whatever you want out from my sight? If I let you free now, who knows that you won't come back and put a knife on my neck?"

"Why do you keep insisting that I'm a murderer?"

Kubo smirked lightly as he observed Shuku's suffering, his boiling rage now reached its peak and was visible in his blazing eyes.

"You are not going away from this Kubo, others will know! They will know the truth! They will know that someone like me can't win a trained and armed guard! And they will soon realize your wicked and corrupted side! You cannot escape this!"

"They won't." The King speaks with a cold voice.

"What?"

"Because I already make sure that none of them, will know anything. And I really started to feel sleepy. Guards, take him away."

The two guards obeyed the order and began dragging Shuku away, locking his hands and grabbing his neck.

"Have fun, Shuku! I hope you enjoy your new life and your new necklace!"

As Shuku was dragged out of the room on the floor, Kubo's sarcastic words echoed. At that moment, all he felt was the bursting hatred he held for Kubo.

"I swear to you Kubo, that the next time we meet I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND I WILL MAKE IT AS PAINFUL AS POSSIBLE!"

"We'll see about that."

"Guards, make him silent!"

"UGHH!! Ugh..." A guard used his hand to block his mouth while the other one knocked him unconscious.

"Send him to the Dungeon! Maybe he'll come in handy, and make sure that he can't find his way back here!"