“Hey, Ririna, can you explain what happened? Why did the dirt you made attract monsters? It wasn’t on purpose, right?” Ririna and I left the town and stopped near the forest where we first met. We found a clearing with some clean logs, so we sat down for a talk.

“Of course… I’ll tell you everything I know. The recipe I received was fake… No, not fake. It was just tampered with. That’s why that happened. The good part about maximizing plants’ growth still worked. But either Armand or someone else tampered with it. They made it so that the magic in dirt attracted monsters instead of just being good for the plants.” Ririna looked down at the floor with her shoulders slumped.

“Wasn’t there anything you could have done? How didn’t you notice there was something wrong? Like when you made the sample, weren’t there any signs?” It’s pointless for me to even be asking about this. What’s done is done. We can’t change the past.

“No… I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I figured out the problem. When I made that sample, I just improvised on the spot, so I didn’t have all my equipment. There was a part in the recipe that required me to boil a certain flower first, but I skipped that step and mixed it in raw. I’m sure that’s what attracted the monsters. The longer that flower is boiled, the stronger the luring effect of the magic.”

“Then, if you had made the sample at home, you would have noticed it was wrong?”

“No, it still wouldn’t have helped. Even if I made things properly, with such a small amount of dirt, it wouldn’t lure any monsters. It was a trap. There was no way for anyone to know what was going on until it was too late. But even if I did, it was a job I couldn’t refuse.” Ririna shakes her head while biting her lip.

“No way…” I knew something was off from the beginning. The way Armand reacted when he saw me with Ririna, the way the alchemists’ guild treats Ririna. It’s all too much. They had to be working together. The alchemist’s guild knew what was gonna happen, which is why they gave the job to Ririna. I don’t have any proof, but they have to be in on it.

“I can’t believe someone would tamper with an alchemy recipe like this. Alchemy is meant to help people, not to harm them! It’s just so… awful… I should have been more careful.”

“It’s not your fault. It was all to set you up. You didn’t do anything wrong. The merchant and the alchemists’ guild are ones at fault.” Ririna scoffed when I finished speaking.

“Thanks, Iroha, but that’s not true. Even if they did try to trick and use me, I’m still the one responsible for what I make with alchemy. It’s the dirt I made that’s attracting monsters. It’s the dirt I made that’s causing people trouble, not theirs.”

“That’s not true…” It’s not fair for her to blame herself. I know she’s trying to take responsibility for her actions, but it’s really not her fault. She’s a victim, too. No one can blame her for what she did, right?

Ririna didn’t say anything and continued to look down with a pained face. “Hey, Ririna, at least you’re not gonna die… You can run away! You’re not actually thinking of trying to fight the monsters, are you?”

Ririna remained quiet, and I knew exactly what that meant.

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“You can’t be serious! There are too many of them! You’re gonna die! You don’t need to do this. You can come with me. I have a house really far away, and no one’s ever going to find you there. Don’t throw your life away!”

“You know, Iroha, I love alchemy… I can’t give it up. It’s a part of me. If I can’t deal with the monsters, I’m gonna get kicked off the alchemists’ guild, and I’m not going to be able to continue studying alchemy. Even if I do survive like that, what’s the point? That part of me would die, and I wouldn’t be myself anymore.” I don’t want her to die. She doesn’t deserve this. “I also have my pride, you know? Ahaha… I wouldn’t be fine doing alchemy ever again, knowing I didn’t do anything to make up for my mistakes. I have no other choice.”

I hate this! Why did it have to be Ririna? Wasn’t there someone else who could have taken her place? Ririna is so nice and cute. I don’t want her to die. I want to help her. But fighting hundreds of monsters is too much. Even with the two of us working together, we wouldn’t be able to defeat that many monsters. Even if they say I’m guilty and I can’t come to this town anymore, I can still come to this world and explore. It would be inconvenient, but it’s not something worth risking my life over. If Ririna’s determined to try to face the monsters, I guess I can accompany her. We have a week to try to find a way to wipe them out, and if it doesn’t work out, I can just give up then. These hordes might not be as big as everyone’s saying, they might not even be that strong. There’s no need for me to give up on Ririna just yet.

“Iroha, thank you for everything you’ve done these past few days. We haven’t known each other for very long, but I enjoyed our time together. I’m sorry that I dragged you into my problems. You don’t need to worry about the monsters, just leave me and survive. Forget about me, okay?” No no no no no… Don’t say that… You don’t deserve this. You should be worried about your own survival. You should be asking me for help. Why shouldn’t you survive? Why is my life more important than your own?

“I… I- I can’t do that! I can’t forget you, I can’t leave you like this!” This whole time, I’ve just been worrying about myself. Ririna’s been worried about me, even now, with life on the line, she’s worried about me. She’s too precious, I can’t believe she cares this much about me. I can’t leave her! I love her too much! I don’t know what else to do! Everything’s been going wrong. I don’t know what more I can give up, so I have to hold onto Ririna! I can’t let her go!

“No, no. Iroha, this is my problem! I can’t drag you into it!”

“I don’t care! You’re not gonna convince me! If you’re guilty of making the thing that attracted the monsters, then I’m also guilty of getting you the materials. It’s my fault too! It’s not just your problem!”

“That’s dumb! I’m the one who did everything! You just did what I asked. You didn’t know this was gonna happen. None of it is your fault!”

“You didn’t know either! You were tricked! So it’s not your fault either!”

What am I doing? I wanted to help Ririna… So why are we screaming at each other?

“Forget about me, Iroha…”

“No.”

“Please…”

“Never!”

Me and Ririna stared at each other for a long time. After more than a full minute of silence, Ririna saw I wasn’t backing, down and she let out a sigh.

“You’re really not gonna listen to me, are you? I thought you were meek, but you’re surprisingly persistent. I was actually just going to turn myself in and put an end to things. If you’re really not backing out, I guess I can’t do that. You’re gonna force me to try to actually deal with the monsters.”

“I’m not backing out. Are you not gonna throw your life away now?”

“I’ll at least try to find a way out of this. But with so many monsters, I don’t think the two of us are gonna be able to solve this problem. I certainly couldn’t do it alone, but you keep surprising me at every turn, so maybe you’ll surprise me again. Maybe with the two of us…”

“We’ll find a way, I’m sure!”

“Just promise two things, Iroha. Don’t be too reckless if you have to fight. And if we can’t solve the problem by the end of the week, forget about me and don’t involve yourself with me anymore. Can you at least promise me that? I don’t want your life to be ruined because of me.”

See? She’s still worrying about me. This chick… At least she’s not trying to get herself killed anymore. That’s an improvement… “I promise.”

“Okay, good. We don’t have a lot of time, so maybe we should get started right away.” Ririna paced around and did some light stretches. She’s gotten some of her energy back. How nice.

“Where do we start? Can’t you make anything with alchemy to blow up all the monsters?”

“I wish… I shouldn’t have focused so much on medicine and helpful alchemy. Maybe firepower truly is the solution to all problems.”

“It’s one way to put an end to an injury…” I played along with her joke, and she liked it. Ririna let out a small laugh as she turned to me.

“Blowing up the problem is out of the picture, so I’m out of ideas. I got arrested before I could see what the situation actually looked like. We should start by checking out the fields where the hordes are. Then maybe we can come up with something.”

Ririna’s idea was a good place to start, so we went to the fields to check out the situation. Nothing is going according to plan, but we’re not giving up without a fight. We’re gonna figure a way out of this. We have to.