Walking on over to the moat like lake encircling the mountain's base, we had a very friendly meeting with a previously thought to be extinct Megalomanic. The huge shark like beast was this close to biting off Cecily and Cene from the face of the world, but thankfully they managed to get away quickly enough to make it out alive. Now we're following Aru around the mountain, as she claims there's a secret entrance on the side which doesn't have any traps set up for unwanted visitors.

"See? Most people come from the side we came from, so no one even bothers to go around the back." She proudly smiled, "They just take the Megalomanic as some sort of trial they need to overcome, so they just die in vain like idiots."

"But what if someone does manage to make it over the beast alive?" Eleanor inquired.

"Phah! Good luck with that!" Aru laughed audibly, "The Megalomanic is an invincible beast. The only thing that would allow for a person to survive it is luck, nothing else matters."

Damn, I actually thought to try and challenge the Megalomanic, actually... I guess I'm one of those foolish travelers she's talking about that'd probably die in vain. But even still, the path on that side is well paved, so if that's the only thing standing in your way, doesn't it make more sense to challenge it?

"Nope, wrong again, Edward Saint!" Aru fwipped around to point at me, "To answer your question: No, the path on that side only looks safe, but it's actually riddled with trap after trap!"

"Oh, is that so?" I chuckled before getting a bit mad, "And stop reading my mind!"

"Kinda hypocritical of you of all people to say that, don't you think?" She joked about my Brown Iro Ability.

"Huh? You can read minds, Edward?" Othelia tilted her head.

"Ah, yeah." I showcased the Ability as my Eyes glew Brown, "I named the Ability Analyze, and it basically makes someone's thoughts show up out of their head, like a scroll is being unfurled from their brain."

"Oooh~, cool!" Issei's Eyes sparkled, "Then, what am I thinking of right now?"

Focusing all my mental strength on Issei, I stared him down until he started getting nervous. Without blinking for even a second, I saw the scroll like thoughts pop out from the side of his head. It wasn't a long scroll, indicating he wasn't thinking all that much at the moment. Though, something interesting appeared. It was an image, but it was moving, as if alive. On it, I saw...

"Eugh, what the fuck, man?!" I immediately shut my Eyes and looked away, "How the hell can you think of sex even at a time like this!?"

"Pheh, seriously?" Cecily smirked, "This guy must be backed up, then."

"I-Is that so?" Othelia blushed, "T-Then, if you don't mind, Issei..."

"Huh, you actually got it right." Issei was just blown away that I was telling the truth, "Those Iro Abilities are OP as hell, though... Hey, I just got an idea!"

"No, I'm not reading any more of your filthy mind!" I interrupted.

"No, not me!" He shook his head, "Did you ever perhaps think about reading an animals mind? Say for example, a cat?"

Huh? How did he...? No, he doesn't possess a Brown Iro, so he can't have read my mind. So then, how did he think up the idea so quickly? What does he have in mind...

"I... I did, actually." I furrowed my eyebrows and cocked my head back, "They speak in a unique language shared by all animals, a language I dubbed Animal Tongue."

"Uoooohhhh! That's so cool! So you can establish a meaningful conversation with them, then?!" He seemed quite excited to hear it.

"Y-Yeah, and depending on how willing they are, I can even ask them to do stuff for me." I explained further.

"Awesome! Ed, you're my best friend now!" He wrapped his arm around me, "Listen, you're gonna teach me that Animal Tongue of yours. Say something in it and I'll see if I recognize it."

Why is he so interested all of a sudden? And what's this about best friends? Sorry bud, but no matter what, Grim is my best friend for life, and you can't take that away from me. Still, what business does he have with the animals of this world?

"U-Uhm..." I cleared my throat as I called out to the squirrel on the other side of the moat, "Sciurus! Quaeso salire paulum!"

"T-That's...!" Issei reacted almost immediately as the squirrel jumped around in place to honor my command, "That's Latin! Animals speak Latin!"

"Huh, you know of this language my bro's talking about?" Eleanor tilted her head.

"Yeah, I studied a bit in my childhood out of boredom, ahem!" He cleared his throat, "Sciurus, quaeso... fac ut ego! Yeah, I think that's how it went!"

"Eh!?" We all stood mouths agape as the squirrel flailed its arms around to mirror Issei's arm flailing.

The little critter even started dancing just like him, seemingly sliding backwards in a mesmerizing motion. Ending with a wild spin before raising one arm high towards the sky and the other firmly holding its crotch, the squirrel had all but had it with Issei making a fool of it and himself and promptly ran away. Still, this was enough to both prove to us that Issei spoke the Animal Tongue, as well as to move Cene to a happy applause.

"Hahaha, hooray!" Cene was all smiles from the performance.

"Not bad, kid..." Aru looked impressed, "But tell me, how did you learn the secret language before we implemented the story quest?"

"Hm?" He seemed intrigued, "Story quest? So this world really IS like am MMORPG!"

"No clue what that is, but I can at least now believe you with a bit more confidence regarding your supposed origins." Aru smiled.

"Still, you definitely have some sort of sleazy plan or ulterior motive behind all this." I gave him a squint full of doubt, "You're awfully interested in such a seemingly random topic. Tell me, Issei, what's your agenda?"

"My agenda? In other words, my plan?" He smiled before pointing to his noggin, "It's something so magnificent, so beautiful, that I'm afraid my words won't do it justice. Please, just ready my mind again, and you too shall be enlightened."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Again with this? Sigh, I really don't want to but..."

Focusing all of my energy on him once again, I braced myself for the worst. After all, this is the guy that was thinking about sex way out in the South Pole, so what exactly could he be imagining now that'd excite him so much? Let's take a look, the scroll reveals...

"Nyan nyan nyaaaan~! Master, your tea is ready!" A cute girl that just barely passed as legal with what resembled cat ears and a tail appeared on the scroll, "Hm? What's wrong, Master? Are you dissatisfied because there's no milk?"

"Eh?" My face shriveled up in a mix of confusion and fear, "What the fuck is this?"

"Nyaahn~! M-Master, I'm sorry! I've been a very bad kitty, nyahn!" The poor girl seemed to be getting assaulted by her deadbeat master, "Meow, master, even if you suckle harder, no milk will come out, nyahn! B-But, please keep going, ahn..."

"Just keep going, man!" Issei said as he continued letting his imagination run wild.

"T-The catgirl race came to be from centuries of interspecies relations, nyan!" The maid catgirl quivered, "S-So now... Won't you give me your kittens?"

"Issei..." I stopped Analyzing with a sigh, "Keep this between us, okay?"

"Huh? What's going on?" Everyone else asked, "What'd you see?"

"Issei, I'm just gonna say this once, and I urge you not to tell anybody else." I repeated, "Do you understand?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah man, lay it on me." He seemed unsure of my answer as well.

"What can I say?" I took a deep breath before smiling, "If this is the future you're imagining, then I'm all for it."

Gasping with pure joy in his tone, Issei's expression resembled that of a young boy in a candy shop. With a smile that went quite literally from ear to ear, he started listing off the other possibilities as well.

"I knew you'd get it!" He jumped for joy, "Ed, you're the only one who can make this a reality, so please start teaching Latin or whatever you call that language to the people of this world! I'm afraid I wasn't sent here at the proper time, but maybe someone else will come by centuries later, and I want them to experience the beauty of another world fully!"

"It's truly a remarkable idea, though the origins of this new race are a bit iffy..." I scratched my cheek.

"Trust me, teach them to communicate and people will get the idea on their own!" Issei reassured me, "Plus, it doesn't just have to be cats! I've seen all sorts of animals in my doujinshis, from dogs to wolves to bears and even dragons!"

"Dragons are a bit..." I looked away bashfully, "How the hell would that even work?"

"No clue, but take a peek at how those look and you'll understand." He pointed to his noggin again.

The two of us had a lovely conversation about the possibilities of catgirls, doggirls and other similar beast girls, though of course we had to separate ourselves from the others just in case. Wouldn't want them to label us as weirdoes, after all, since the topic's true beauty can only be understood by visionaries like Issei and I, it seems. Let's not risk it, for now all I have to do is teach as many people how to converse with the animals of this world and that's it. Heh, can't wait for the future...!

"Hey guys, we're gonna go on without you, so pick up the pace." Eleanor yelled back at us as they made a makeshift raft.

"What the? That ain't gonna hold our weight." I immediately pointed out the flaws in her design.

"Do you have a better idea?" She clicked her tongue.

"Hmm... Oh! I know!" Issei immediately got an idea, "Sciurus! Capto funem hunc!" He said as he popped open an Instarope capsule.

Doing as it was instructed, the squirrel jumped high above to grab the rope as it was being fired across, and after that, it calmly awaited its next order.

"Nunc, discurrere uhh, I think it was... Ah, right, lapis!" He commanded.

Immediately heeding his command, the hardworking squirrel ran around a nearby stone, thus tightly tying it up and giving us a proper link to the other side.

"Now, everyone! Hold on tight!" Issei bunched all of us together as he pressed the button that retracted the rope, "We might get a little wet!"

"That won't wor-!" I tried pointing out the numerous flaws in his logic as well, but it was too late, "Baaaahh!"

"Meeehhh~!" Cene cried out.

"Huoooo!" Aru was all but laughing from the excitement of getting launched at such high speeds.

"Guys, we're not gonna...!" Cecily warned, but we had already fallen down into the freezing water below us.

"Puah!" Eleanor and Othelia emerged first as we swam the rest of the way over, "S-S-S-S-Stupid plan... Rgh, s-so cold..."

"Cene, bud, you doing okay?" I looked at the miraculously dry boy who was smiling away, "Huh?"

"Gods' favor, mortals." An equally dry Aru smiled as she took the boys hand, "Now, tiny mortal, let us commence forth while those dumdums dry themselves off."

"O-Oi! Quit playing favorites and dry all of us off, damned Goddess!" Cecily shouted, "And quit stealing my child!"

"Oh come on, you're Lune's wife. You can handle this much, right~?" Aru turned around to mock Cecily's previous harsh and unforgiving words towards her son, "Dry yourself off, would you? Unless of course you're not capable enough to do so."

"What a useless Goddess..." Othelia groaned under her breath, "I'm so gonna tell that Ouroboras about her behavior the moment I see him!"

"O-Oi! That's not fair, you guys!" Aru immediately switched gears, "A-Alright, I'll dry you off! I-I'll even warm the water up before I evaporate it to help raise your body temperature a little, so please don't go telling on me, okay!?"

"Wow, that actually worked." I gave Othelia a friendly fist bump, "Man, this warmth feels nice..."