As I step through the circle that the game summoned for Wind's duel, I can't help but feel worried about him. It's not just because I want to fight by his side, but because he’s accepted that rude player's challenge without any hesitation. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous. He gets to be a hero and I end up on the sidelines not because I'm a magician. If I can try to get the chance, then I...

"Wait, that's all that crafter do? Man, I was hoping he turn this battle around."

"I thought so, too. I don't care what he said about the [Masteries], that jerk already harassed a lot of players here and he needs some kind of karma coming right at him."

"Still, he's just a crafter. There's no way a low-leveled player would go up against a well-equipped player."

"Well, there goes my [Lapi]... I've been betting on a crafter for nothing!"

Huh?! Wait. What's with the changed attitude with the spectators? As I turn my attention to the battle, I gasp to see that not only has Wind dropped his sword a few feet away from him, but he's surrounded by the rude player about to raise his sword above him

"WIND!" I scream before I start pounding my fist on the barrier. Even so, it remains intact and just gives a small window notice informing me to not punch the barrier. I can't just sit here and do nothing! I need to get in there and...

"Hold it, Kazu!" I hear Star behind me as I find myself being grabbed on my collar and carried up to see her face. "I know you're worried about Windy, but you know this duel is supposed to be 1-on-1. Even if you want to, the game just won't let you."

"Seriously?! That's not fair! Wind is my older brother and partner! I can't just let him leave him like this!" I scream as I continue to try to get into the fight, but Star pulls me up again and frowns.

"Hey! Calm down, Kaz! Geez, I thought you believe that your brother can win this bout."

"I-I know, but..." I sigh in dismay as Star gently puts me down. "It's my fault for dragging him into this. I try to protect the stand from them and I just ended up being the load again. I know he's always protecting me from bullies and other dangerous stuff, but the more he steps in, the more I feel useless to him and everyone else."

It's not an exaggeration. Even though I’ve tried to stand up to myself many times, I’ve mostly been forced to rely on Hayate to protect me when it's too much for me. The more he steps in, the more I doubt my abilities to defend myself. Because of this, I wish that I can find something that I can be useful to him. Yet even in [Isekai Online], I can't even try to stand up or defend myself as his partner and guide. Guess no matter how hard I try to help him, I'm still under my brother's shad-

SMAAACCCKKKK!!!

"Ow! What the heck was that?!" I scream in pain as it runs through my cheek. When I look up, I gasp to see that Annie is the one who slapped me.

"Because you keep telling lies to yourself! You're not useless! You helped me back to my s- I mean, Star, and you finished that very important [Quest]. If you're really useless, then you should have failed them! You just have to believe yourself. At least that's what Star told me."

Believe myself, huh? I didn't consider that until now. Wind always tells me that I can't keep being scared for all of my life. So...

"H-Huh?! Hey, what the hell is happening over there?!"

My eyes widen when I hear another one of the spectators call out. We then turn around and gasp again at what we saw. Rather than seeing the rude player stabbing Wind, he screams in pain as I notice that there's an arrow stuck on his shoulder. Before I can question what happened, I see Wind up in the air holding his bow and arrow before he fires the latter, which stabs through one of his opponent’s eyes. I see Star cover Annie's eyes upon seeing this, yet I just keep watching as I see him falling and shooting his arrow. At that point, I quickly cover my eyes just before the player screams in pain and before the weird pixel things cover the whole fight, knowing that Wind doesn't want me to see this anymore. Instead, I just hear the rest of the battle until I hear his sword slash through something. When I open my eyes, I gasp to see the rude player's body disappear into data and after a few seconds, a window appears above the battlefield.

[BATTLE OVER!]

[The winner is [Wind]! The winner and spectators will be transported back into their original location in a minute.]

At first, I hear nothing but silence around me. But then, some slow clapping starts from a [Elf] player behind me, and slowly, several more players join in until they start cheering over the battle. As for me, I'm speechless at what I’ve seen and after a few seconds, I begin to smile, happy to see that my brother has won, causing my doubts and worries to wash away. As the barrier begins to disappear, I take the chance to run up to my brother to give him a big hug.

"H-Hey! Calm down, Kazu. They're just a few scratches," he calls out to me as we continue hugging for a few more seconds. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're good," Star says as she approaches us with Annie following behind. "But I'm shocked that you had to go so far to defeat him. I even had to shield Annie's eyes in the last half of the battle. You're more hardcore than I thought."

I agree. While I did shield my own eyes during the last few seconds, I do have an idea of what really happened.

"Oh. Sorry about that. But if I hadn't done that, I would have lost the [Duel] and you know I can't lose against that jerk after what he tried to do to Kazu."

Well, I guess that's the reason why. I frown after he mentions it in front of me.

"Y-Yeah. It's because of me that you had to endure that jerk's attacks in that [Duel]." I sigh as I look down, trying to avoid Wind's eyes. I don't even know if I'm worthy to face him due to my usele-"

"Kazu, you big idiot!"

SMAACCKKKK!!!

Ow! I don't know how Annie is somehow strong enough to smack me upside the head.

"Kazu! How many times do I have to tell you?! You're not useless and I will keep knocking your head until you get some sense into it!” My eyes widen when I see Annie narrow her eyes as she glares and shouts at me. "You're a hero to my eyes, and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here right now!"

"Normally, I would stop her. But she's got a point," Star speaks up. "While you didn't stop them, you did something that we didn't manage to react quickly. You stand up to them and insult their leader right on his face without any hesitation. A gutsy guy would have done that and your crazy act proved it!"

Really? I hadn't known that. I just did that to protect Annie and the stand that we worked together to set up so we can save the game. As I look up, I notice that Wind is patting my head and smiles at me.

"I understand your frustrations over the situation, but Star and Annie are right. Without you, I wouldn't have the motivation to step up and confront him. So thanks, Kazu."

I-I didn't know... I thought he would be sad about my hopeless state. But I’ve never thought that I'm the reason that he was moved because I had to.

[NOTICE]

[You will be transported back to your original location immediately.]

H-Huh? Already?! I guess I have no choice but to let the game teleport us back to the stand.

As I regain consciousness, I find myself back in front of our stand with my brother and friends by our side. As I turn around, I see that Wind's friends already recovered from the rude party's "greeting". I’m shocked at first, but I then sigh in relief that it's all over thanks to Wind. However, I'm suddenly startled when several players happily gather together and carry both of us on their shoulders and hands as if they're carrying a large package. I can understand Wind, but to be honest, I haven't done anything great other than my failed attempt to stop them.

"Hey, hey! Come on! This is not a parade!" Wind shouts in shock. Yet for some reason, he also laughs not out of annoyance, but out of relief and appreciation. Guess I'm not the only one who enjoys this moment.

"Hold it, brats!"

The celebration momentarily stops as we and the players turn to see the other members of the rude player's party. It looks like that despite their leader's fake demise, they still want to make trouble.

"Do you really think that defeating our leader would make you all winners here?!" One of them shouted before the others follow as I watch them in anger.

"Yeah! That fight was totally rigged! You must have beat him with cheats or glitches!"

"Plus there's no way bow-wielding newbie would win against our leader!"

"Forget the rigged fight! We'll just have to take the stock and the brat with us!"

Seriously?! Even after Wind beat them, they still won't give up! Well, he did his part. Maybe...

BAAAAAMMMM!!!

Huh?

"Hey, you jerks. If you're planning to bring more trouble to their shop, then go ahead." To my surprise, an armored [Beastfolk] came between us and use his shield to protect me, Wind, and my friends. "But if you want to, then you have to go through us!"

Before long, my eyes widen as I see several more players join our side with their weapons and fists raised against the rude players. I never expected that after that battle, many of them willing to step up to protect us and our shop.

"Huh. What do you know? Looks like after you try to protect your shop and Annie and Wind's successful attempts, they decided to jump in and help you guys," Star speaks up as I see her smile at this.

"It's more than that!" one of the players speaks up next, much to my and Wind’s surprise. "You supplied us with enough potions during the shortage along with those delicious foods. Of course, we want to help you guys!"

I-I had no idea. I can't believe this. Just seeing all of this makes me so happy that everyone is willing to help us.

"Y-You're kidding me. Don't tell me you're protecting a bunch of newbies!" another one of the players in the rude party shouted.

"They're not newbies anymore! They're one of the best players we ever encounter!" A [Feles] player in a leather outfit spoke out, much to my surprise at their comment about us. "And we will beat your ass if you try to harass them!"

I can't believe it. Everyone is helping us and from the rude party's expression, I can see that they're starting to lose their cool. Eventually, Wind steps forward and says, "You heard him. You got two choices: Face me in another [Duel] or face resident players. And by the way, if I recall from my friends, your leader should be reviving in a few seconds somewhere in this town."

We wait for a few seconds for the standoff to end. But eventually, they slowly back away before they run away screaming that they will be back. With this, everyone cheers as I quickly hug my brother in relief. Then as the cheers are about to die out, we turn to the players and bow to them.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience, everyone. We'll start restocking on the potions once our friends from [Force Blade] arrive here."

Once that's done, we decide to continue our operations so once Azel, Wallaby, and the others arrive with the fresh stock of herbs. But as we do, I begin to wonder what happened at the last moments of Wind's battle. I wish I could’ve witnessed it, but considering the settings of the [Guardian Player] settings, it’s best to not imagine it too much.

Wind's Masteries

[Archery] Level 18

[Woodcrafting] Level 7

[Swordsmanship] Level 16

[Cooking] Level 6

[Wind] Level 15

[Physical Enhancement] Level 15

[Hunting] Level 14

[Blacksmithing] Level 6

Kazu's Masteries

[Arcana] Level 19

[Thunder] Level 16

[Wind] Level 14

[Alchemy] Level 15

[Magecrafting] Level 10

[Magical Affinity] Level 17

[Scribe] Level 4