"Ah, God damn it," Soph heard Lone mumbling as she woke up.

Her head was pounding, but she still managed to roll over to look in the direction that she'd heard Lone's voice. "Where are we...?" she asked a bit drearily.

Lone perked up a bit upon realising that Soph was finally awake. He closed the blank-paged book in his hands and tossed it onto a table before he climbed into their king-sized bed and snuggled up to the still confused Soph.

"We're back at the inn. You were so drunk that you fell asleep as soon as we left Grimsley's," Lone explained as he squeezed the girl a little. "Ahhh... You're the perfect stress ball..."

"Stress ball?" Soph asked as she welcomed the tails that wormed their way through the sheets and ended up in her hands.

"Yes, stress ball," Lone replied as he buried his face in the girl's hair. "You remember how last night I tried to make a gun, right?"

"Um... The more advanced crossbow thingy that you explained a few months ago? I wasn't paying much attention to your experiments last night... Sorry," Soph confessed bashfully.

She was enjoying Lone's warm embrace. It was so nice, in fact, that she almost felt like her hangover was being cured as the seconds passed.

"It's fine, and yeah, pretty much. Well, I kind of expected that to blow up in my face since I know nothing about guns nor their creation. That's a future project on the backburner now anyway since I've got Lightning Bolt. I just wanted to see if I could make one for you," Lone explained.

He tightened his hug slightly, forcing a cute sound to escape from Soph's lips. "Haha... The perfect stress ball..."

The girl's cheeks flushed with a shade of scarlet and a pout formed on her face. "So, um, what went wrong with today's experiment?"

"Ah, right," Lone said in realisation. "Well, I was trying to make a book about magic. My thinking was; if it exists, then surely I can make it, yeah? I understand paper and ink well enough. Not perfectly, admittedly, but good enough for me to be able to make a book, surely. I was even prepared to have my mana sealed temporarily for overexerting myself, but like the gun, it just flat-out failed."

"Why'd it fail?" Soph asked as her pout disappeared and turned into an interested expression instead.

"Well," Lone rested his chin on Soph's soft head of hair as he continued, "my current theory is that I didn't know the combination of the words needed to make a book on magic. Either that or I didn't know the content and the theories behind the content. That's why the cost got hiked up exponentially."

Soph frowned as she thought. "Hmm... I don't get it."

"Haha... You don't need to. Just keep being adorable to heal my soul, 'kay? It can get pretty fucking frustrating failing over and over again," Lone asked as he kissed her head.

She blushed even fiercer. "Potty mouth..."

Lone stayed silent after that for a moment as he cuddled the girl he loved. Eventually, he resumed the conversation. "Anyway, I tried to make a blank book first. That went well. It was a bit pricey mana-wise, but I was able to make it. After that, I tried to basically create the book's content word for word. That did not go well."

"How come?" Soph questioned as she felt herself drifting back to sleep.

She had to blame Lone for this. Soph was already lying in bed, and her head hurt a bit from her hangover, so his warm and fluffy tails paired with his strong and comforting arms all coiled around her made the girl feel very comfortable.

"Well, a single word costs me five-hundred mana. That's just insane. Books have hundreds of thousands of words in them, maybe tens of thousands if the info is sparse. That's a big fat waste of my mana. I'm gonna have to shelve this idea too in favour of grinding my Lightning Bolt. I can only hope that the book stores and the library have the kind of information that I want," Lone explained.

"Mmm..." Soph groggily replied.

Lone chuckled once again and kissed her head for the second time. He stored all of his clothes except for his boxers. This was a very handy feature of his ever-useful Dimensional Storage. He didn't even have to take off his clothes to put them away. He could think of several uses for that particular trick, but for now, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A knocking at the door roused Lone from his slumber.

"It's me, Phil. Pa just got home. I told him you wanted to talk to him, so he's in the back room on the ground floor waiting for you. I'm off to bed, so see you tomorrow morning."

Lone slowly opened his eyes as he stretched. He uncoiled himself from Soph and kissed her on the forehead. "Teleport to me if something happens while I'm away, 'kay? I'm counting on you, Sophie."

As it would so happen, whenever Soph was asleep, Sophie was still fully conscious, and vice-versa. It was mostly because of this that Lone was certain that Soph's split personality was, well, more than just a split personality.

The girl frowned upon realising that her fluffy tails had disappeared, making Lone smile wryly. He retrieved a big plushie of one of his tails from his Dimensional Storage and let her cuddle that instead. Instantly, her droopy smile reappeared.

Lone got dressed after that and made his way down to the inn's ground floor. He gave Phil's sister - Grella - a polite smile and greeted her as he passed her and entered the back room.

Once there, he saw several seats and couches as well as a single chess table in the centre. Sitting next to the chess table as he arranged the pieces, was the man who was presumably Phil and Grella's adoptive father.

Lone approached him carefully as he studied his features. 'Is that bark, not skin? So a Lesher is a type of sapient tree? He's surprisingly well dressed for a tree person. Doesn't that suit chaff against his bark?'

"Oh, hello there. I didn't hear you coming in," the Lesher claimed as he slowly stood up and bowed his bark-covered head. "It is my honour and pleasure to meet a fabled nine-traited beastkin. My name is Lofakern, but please, call me Kerny."

He moved his twiggy hand as he gestured to the chess table. "Care for a game? The rules are very simple, I assure you. We can talk as we play if you don't mind."

Lone took the offered seat and glanced at the chess table in confusion. "What's this game called and how do you play it?"

"Ah, my son did say that you and your companion are on the start of a worldwide journey. If it pleases you, Ninetails, I'd be more than happy to explain," Lofakern said.

Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Acting] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4.

'Nice. I'm not sure if chess is normal on this planet, but a level-up was definitely worth the risk of looking like an idiot. Anyway, 'Ninetails' again, huh? The elves called me that too, but Grimsley didn't. I wonder why? Is it because he's a more city-lived demi and the term 'Ninetails' is a more traditional form of respect for someone with, well, nine tails?' Lone wondered and he pretended to be interested in Lofakern's detailing of chess' rules.

Several minutes passed like that until Lofakern was done with his telling of the game's rules.

"Out of curiosity, Kerny, who invented chess? It's such an interesting game from what you've told me, so whoever created it must have been a genius of some sort, right?" Lone asked.

Lofakern stroked his leafy beard thoughtfully. "I wonder about that. The man who created this game was said to be an incredibly powerful demi who lived over a million years ago. Apparently, he was a hero."

"A hero?" Lone asked as his mind wandered. 'A million years ago? That's a really fucking long time ago. So chess has been here longer than it has been on Earth? It's a pretty big coincidence that two completely different worlds both created the exact same game, isn't it?'

"Yes. One of the heroes of Earth. Much like our own current hero, however, this fabled one was supposedly a powerhouse amongst powerhouses. It's a shame that he went missing only a few years after he invented chess," Lofakern lamented sadly.

'What?... What?! Heroes from Earth?! That's a thing?!' Lone was incredibly interested by this. "We have a hero? Forgive my ignorance, but I'm new to Milindo, as you already know." Lone was hoping that the hero was exclusive to Milindo or at least lived here so he could meet them.

Lofakern nodded as he moved his first chess piece, a knight. "I believe his name was Daisuke Tamiko? I may be misremembering. From what I know, he's not the nicest man to have ever existed, especially to demis. He's fond of slaves, you see. Particularly of the sexual kind."

"I see..." Lone was ignorant on this subject as well, so he chose to keep the discussion centred on the hero himself as he moved his own chess piece, a pawn. "Why was he summoned? Is Milindo in danger?"

Lofakern's face cramped up in surprise before he laughed softly. "No, it's not. I see you are from a very remote part of Altros as my son claimed."

Lone raised an eyebrow. "It isn't? Then why did they summon a hero?"

"Oh, many reasons. Many reasons indeed. I suppose you could boil it all down to political power, though. It's practically a show of wealth and strength to summon a hero from Earth at least once every century for the human-run countries. Few of them have the mental fortitude to extend their lifespans by ranking up beyond C-rank. Even fewer are born as demis, which obviously means that they lack our natural longevity. As a result, they are rarely actually used as pawns of war, but more as trophies for international meetings and the like," Lofakern explained.

Lone slowly nodded as he responded to the Lesher's advancing knight. "I suppose that makes sense. It's rare for the ruling caste to not feel the obligation to puff out their feathers to their rivals, I guess."

"Indeed. It is a bit of a shame though that this century's hero is a philanderer. He also has a very weak unique skill from my understanding. A shame indeed," Lofakern expressed.

'This 'Daisuke' guy has a unique skill? He might know a bit more about my and Soph's situation then... Damn. I'm kinda torn. Do I go meet him to investigate, or do I avoid him since he might set his eyes on Soph? She's not a demi, but she's gorgeous. Then again, he might not be a pedo... Hmm... So much to consider,' Lone thought.

After that, he and Lofakern focused on their match as they exchanged small talk.

"Checkmate. That was a great game, Ninetails. For a beginner, you really had me on the edge of my seat," Lofakern praised honestly.

'Beginner... Hahaha... Yeah, it's not like I used to be a part of the chess club and even won a small-scale tournament or something... Hahaha...' Lone swept back his hair with one hand as he stretched the other. "I can't believe you thrashed me with only your knights. I never knew that was even possible."

"It was risky. I didn't expect that you would capture my queen and a rook. It's been a long time since I last considered using other pieces, to be perfectly honest. You had me very close to using my bishops there, Ninetails, which is honestly very rare," Lofakern admitted humbly.

Lone couldn't help but wonder if the Lesher seated across from him was actually a grandmaster at the game. Regardless, he stood up and bowed his head lightly. "Thanks. It was fun and informative. I'm glad to have had the chance to meet another demi, especially one so well-lived."

Lofakern shook his head. "The pleasure was all mine. I'm just an ageing tree while you are a young nine-tailed Golden Foxkin. It was truly the highlight of my life to meet you, Ninetails."

Lone laughed a bit awkwardly. "My name's Lone. I know 'Ninetails' is a respectful way to address me, but please, just 'Lone' is fine."

"Just 'Lone', then," Lofakern said as he smiled faintly. "Shall we play another match tomorrow evening? I'd be glad to have another conversation with such a polite young man again."

Lone grinned. "I'd love that."

And with that, he left the back room and returned to his and Soph's room before he went to sleep.

"Are you sure we should trick him like that? Grandmother definitely said that we need to make a good relationship with him," Trella - the young boy with bright red hair - said to the girl in front of him.

She was like a spitting image of Trella save for the fact that she had a long braided ponytail and a slightly rounder face. "Yup!" she shouted. "He'll understand after we reveal ourselves anyway, so it'll be a-okay!"

Trella frowned. "Okay, but if he gets upset, I'm snitching on you to Grandmother."

"Boo!" Tiera - the young girl - stuck her tongue out at her twin brother. "He's a foxkin. Sure, he's not a Crimson one like us, but he'll understand! There's no better way to introduce yourself to family than by tricking them!"

Trella just held his forehead and prayed to the Primals that the nine-tailed Golden Foxkin had a forgiving heart. Once Tiera had an idea in her head, nothing short of the matriarch herself could stop her.