SING CRIER CH.3 - Paradise Lost 『 Ha...haha...! 』 『 Ahahahaha...! 』 I can't stop crying and laughing at the same time. A flood of hate has welled up in my chest; it just has to escape somehow. ...Why -- you ask? Why am I filled up with hate, you mean? Well... that is... because... the meaning of life has been revealed to me... It's suddenly clear to me now, that obscure thing... I can see it so easily now... so obviously... Ah, you want to know what it is? It's... really simple... "Don't die." That's it, just don't die... Simple, right? But maybe a bit too simple to understand...? Think of every story you've ever experienced. Once upon a time, life tried not to die, the end. That's how all stories go, right? All about trying not to die... ...Ah, sorry? You still don't quite understand? You think there's more to those stories than not dying? Well, unfortunately... only those who have died will truly understand... You could never hope to fully grasp this feeling without actually dying... Ah, but here, how about this... perhaps you can grasp... ...pain? Pain, pain mitigation, pain avoidance, pain thresholds, pain tolerance... Instead of thinking of it as death, try to think of it only as pain, and consider how fast it approaches you. The threat of "Hell," you can understand that fear as meaning, can't you? Am I making a bit more sense now? It's a gross understatement... and you won't know it until you die... but... this so-called "Hell..." ...you could say, is the event called death. Death but stretched out over an eternity, made easy to digest as an idea... If you could but crumple it, fold it, compress all of "Hell" into a single moment... Perhaps then... you could scratch the surface of understanding... Of that split moment of oblivion... how it concentrates an unfathomable agony. Aaaaah... I never knew... If I had known I would have endured any torture to avoid it. I would have fought tooth and nail for a mere extra second of life. Would you sacrifice a loved one to save yourself? There was a time when I would have said no in a heartbeat, but now... Sorry mom, dad, sis; I've become a broken daughter who would easily sacrifice all of you to live an extra second if given the chance. I'm not even hesitant to say that in the slightest. Isn't that sickening? Isn't thinking like that deplorable? But I can't help it. Nobody could. Nothing is truly comparable to the experience of death. Death hurts more than a thousand paper cuts. It hurts more than branding your body against searing coals. It hurts more than losing your loved ones before your very eyes. It hurts more than being crammed into a small space for a century. It hurts more than having your flesh flake from disease like rust. It hurts more than being gored into with a dull knife. I have never experienced any of those things, but it's already obvious to me that dying isn't even remotely comparable to death. Once you've been hit by a baseball, would you think you'd need to get hit by a beach ball as well, to say that a baseball would hurt more? Absurd, your memory of the pain crushes it in an instant. If I could live longer by enduring all of those tortures, I would take them smiling. And so, if you have a copy, please hand me the registration form for an eternity of torture. Yes, anything to guarantee I live even if just short of actual death. Huh? You don't have one? Ah, that makes me cry. Ahaha... ha... ...Why, God? Why didn't you delete me after I died? Nobody else has to come back to life with the memory of death. Why me? Hey, why would you do that? Why? Why? Tell me, why? What could be the reason? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? 『『 Why!? Finish me off! Why are you keeping me alive!? Finish the job! Let me rest! I hate this! I hate you! I hate living! I hate everything! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! Aaaaaaaaah...!! 』』 I cry out until my lungs hurt, and a pathetic echo mocks me. I can hardly believe this... sickening voice is supposed to be mine. 『 Ha...ahahaaa...! 』 『 What is this...?! 』 I don't even know where I am. How long have I even been here for? Where is... "here"? Where... what...? I... this place... I'm in... A forest... ...Though, there's something clearly... unusual about it. It would take several minutes to walk from one tree to another, the trees themselves so tall that clouds have formed beneath their branches. If we're talking about width, then perhaps each trunk is wider than a city block...? I... have no idea where I am... At least, beyond lying on my back in a sunlit clearing... Daylight just manages to pierce through the thick forest canopy here. Dozens of minutes away stand the nearest trees, between them, thick darkness. Had those trees stood any closer, that darkness would be here as well. Surrounding me are tiny floating particles, spiraling up towards the sky in an updraft, flickering in and out of existence whenever the sun shines on them or a leaf's shadow hides them. They remind me of fairies, but also of embers. I don't know what they actually are because if I try to focus on one, I can only describe it as shapeless. The ground is splattered with all sorts of colourful flowers and fungi, but it's dominated by grass, immaculately fuzzy, so much as to tickle. It's the kind of scene you'd expect to find in a fairy tale. I'm... used to being fully equipped in Myriad Worlds, so this brushing of foliage against my arms and backs feel... It's... It's nice...

A...haha... How pitiful... I lost control of myself... so disgracefully... Death... death has changed me... hasn't it?

I already know... I can feel it... An unfamiliar pressure in my chest... An undefiable drive to live by any means... Where eating, breathing, and drinking were urges I felt that just conveniently happened to prevent me from dying, I now feel a direct crushing weight that pushes me just as much to survive, as I am pushed to eat, now out of a desire to avoid the pangs... for extra seconds. It's an animalistic feeling. It gnaws at me from the inside out... This feeling... I can already tell... It's... going to drive me insane. Thinking about it... makes my breath shudder... I... I have to live... I have to survive... I don't have a choice... That's all I can do now... That's... all I can choose to do... I have to fight against death, by any means necessary... Ah... I suppose... I may as well do my best to live then... from now on... If I'm proactive, just maybe I can keep my head on straight... Yes... that must be correct... I have to be proactive... And do my best... right? Then... My first step should be... to give myself a checkup... Bodily report... feeling fine physically, I don't feel any... immidiate physical pain. Location... a giant forest with unknown plant life... unfamiliar... Immediate danger... none, apparently... It's silent, and although I can't see far into the forest... I feel relieved knowing there wasn't something waiting for me to make eye contact... Well... at the very least, this means I have time to figure out what I need to do... Haste will lead to a sudden death, surely. ...I swallow my breath. My joints feel stiff, and groggy, as if I were lying in bed for too long. Somehow, I manage to sit up anyway, and find that sitting across from me... is... ...my other body. That observation comes from both of my perspectives, from both of my bodies. 'Sing' the red iris twin, and 'Crier' the pink iris twin. They're sitting across from one another... Is this what they call, reincarnation? Rebirth in two virtual bodies isn't what I had in mind... They're, or rather, I'm wearing two white summer dresses. These were basically my undergarments in Myriad Worlds Online. It's to be expected; even if I were to retain everything I was wearing, that would amount to nothing. It all burned away, remember? ...I watched it all turn to embers as I quit the game. Although, there is one small discrepancy. I'm still wearing my red & white, and pink & white flower hairpins. I saw them too burn up with my other accessories back when I died to the Hero. The only reason for them still being here, that I can imagine, is because I was wearing replicas of them as Streya... However, even that being the case... I can't imagine why an exception would be made. Hm. For now, I think this is a dead-end investigation. Next, I'll close my eyes and try to access Myriad World's menu. Expectedly, it doesn't appear, but I don't think I would have tried logging out even if it did; I'm too scared of the possibility of it being a suicide button. At least for now, I'll have to come to terms with the fact that this will be my life from now on. A life where I live in two bodies...

...I take a deep breath in ...and breathe out slowly. This isn't too hard to accept. How do I look? Both of my faces are soaked in tears. I must have been crying for a long time in order to look this way. I'm guessing at least an hour has passed since I'd arrived. It's such a pitiable look... I'm looking down on myself already. Let's just... wipe these expressions off.

...There -- next, my hair. No matter how I touch it, it seems to return to its original shape, as if it were some kind of sentient fluffy elastic. This was how it was in Myriad Worlds... but it's reality now. I wonder whether it's possible to learn why my hair can do this. Myriad Worlds Online was a fantasy world built on mountains of code. However, since this is reality for me now, and I'm maintaining a sense of consciousness, it's possible certain physical laws and elements have changed to support this new reality. ...Unless I'm virtual. Ah, well, let's keep going for now. That rabbit hole is too deep to traverse in one sitting. On closer inspection, I see I still have my ahoge too. Aside from colours, these rebellious locks of hair at the top of my heads are the only asymmetrical feature between my twins. Sing has one lock, Crier has two. I made them like this so they could be easily distinguished in situations such as... moving about a pitch-black room. I kept them covered by headgear for the most part though, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see them again... They remind me of... more innocent days... ...Boing. Springy. Heh...hehe... ...Ahem; next. Sense of touch. It feels weird having my bodies touch each other. There are conflicting feelings of whether I'm touching a separate person, or touching my own body. It's a bit embarrassing but I don't feel appalled. Which reminds me, I noticed it back when I was lying in the grass, but it seems that my senses are much sharper than in Myriad Worlds. Was... I always this squishy? Does this raise my appeal? My bodies feel soft and warm against the sun while the cool updraft breezes around me and through the clearing. Normally I'd be happy, but when I think of the enhanced pain... Well, I suppose I'm feeling 100% less persistent physical pain right now compared to my life as Streya; really, I should consider it an improvement... But then again... faced with death, does any of that really matter...? ...Forgive me for brooding, I'm not used to this alien sense of dread. Moving on... Sense of smell? Smells like nature. It's pleasant... I suppose. Smell actually had a combat purpose in Myriad Worlds, but I don't seem to have any abnormal perceptions when I sniff the air. So, I think it's safe to assume that I've lost numerous abilities. Voice check. 『 Hi Crier. 』 『 Hello Sing.』 Hello me. Vocals feel natural. It's weird to say but, I can feel my body itself producing the sounds. Myriad Worlds had the feeling of a speaker playing in your throat. How about... taste...? You couldn't taste player bodies in Myriad Worlds... of course... Now that my senses are realistic though, maybe...? ...Ah. Sing is salty, Crier is sweet. That's... adorable, but shouldn't they taste the same? Or rather, shouldn't it be the other way around? Aren't tears salty? I thought their ahoge and colour were the only ways to tell them apart, but if there are other differences it could end up affecting me later. ...See? It was warranted. It was a good idea. I had legitimate reasons. I didn't have my bodies taste each other for any weird reasons. Anyway, this calls for a re-examination of smell. What do Sing and Crier smell like? ...Huh? They both smell... like the Demon King's castle; metallic like blood, floral like roses. It's... the Demon King's miasma...? and the scent is actually really strong... Oh... that's not good. Very not good... I need to mask this somehow... ah, can I even mask it? If I spend too long in stagnant air it will definitely become a problem... Well, for now it's fine; the clearing's updraft is pulling the miasma up and away, but if I want to move out I'll have to find a solution... Otherwise, I'll attract monsters like a bleeding fish to sharks. Let's just make a note of that, there's more testing that needs doing. As long as I stay here, the scent won't put me in immediate danger. And who knows, maybe the tests will unveil a solution? Let the testing continue! Next up, checking whether I can use in-game skills or not. In Myriad Worlds, there was no such thing as a "Skills Menu" where you could just check what skills you had at any time. If you forgot them, you'd have to go through the process of looking it up online or asking someone else... ...although, a magical tome could also remedy that. High-quality tomes reveal skills available to you, so you can just read off of them to cast magic and such. More importantly, those tomes explain your skills in-depth. It's quite important with magic that has multi-page-long descriptions... ...but it's not like that matters right now either. I don't have a tome with me, of course! Did I mention? Myriad Worlds had no magical inventories either, so I can save myself the trouble of checking since I already know I don't have one. Hahaha... ha... W-Well... it's not like I need a tome! Let's just cast «Identify» on my selves, and see if it works! It's a skill that's cast on a target, revealing its information to you until you either target something else or lose a clear line of sight. Yosh! Let's try it! Low-level players have to shout skill names out loud, like chuunibyou! ※¹ 『『«Identify»!』』 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.1 ▬ Sing '' Streya

ᵈᵢBlack-Lamb Pure-Demon

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

HP ▐ 10/10

MP ▐ 0

SP ▐ 10/10

P.ATK ▐ 1

P.DEF ▐ 0

M.ATK ▐ 0

M.DEF ▐ 0

Effects ▐ ◈ ᵈᵢⓈ∞

▐ ◈ Ancient Shadow King Miasma

▐ ◈ Pure Demonic Blood

▐ ◈ Ruptured Mana Pool

▐ Eldritch Fear[LV.1]

▐ Pathetic

Titles ▐ 「 Prophet of Death 」

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ...What is this? Crier has the exact same result, the only difference is her first name. But still, what is this? Aren't there too many strange things here? Pure-Demon was my race at death, so it's unsurprising, but why am I also a ᵈᵢBlack-Lamb? What is that even? Level one? Understandable, I was reincarnated after all. Their last names are Streya? Why? That makes me feel exposed. My health points are ten? Less than a beginner slime? Mana points zero?! I don't even have a max capacity?! I'm a caster you know? Are you telling me to cast without MP? Isn't that asking for a bit too much? Isn't that a bit too cruel? ...Sigh. Stamina points, ten; again, less than a beginner slime. And the base values for my combat stats... I'm going to cry again. P.ATK, and M.ATK, are, in short, the maximum damage you can do per-hit, physical and magical respectively. It's calculated including your equipment as well as your skills, so if you carried a nuclear bomb, P.ATK would be huge... but only for a while. Once you used the bomb they'd drop back to normal. P.DEF, and M.DEF, are conversely, the maximum damage you can negate. You can wear a helmet that gives you a million physical defence points, but if you got hit anywhere else you could potentially take full damage. Alternatively, if you have a magic skill that gives you a billion M.DEF, but it's not turned on, you can still get one-shot killed. Well... in relevant terms... This means, I have no offensive or defensive skills whatsoever, if I did, they would have increased my combat stats, even while off. My regular smell also tells me I don't have utility skills. Which means, all I have are the basic skills that everyone starts with. «Identify» ...Did I say skills? I meant skill, because there's only one. I'm a caster that can only cast «Identify». Kill me. You may be thinking "At least you have one P.ATK!" Well that doesn't make me feel better at all. If I had zero it would mean I couldn't move or breathe. You'd have to be a rock to have zero P.ATK. I am one P.ATK away, from being as harmless as a rock. Please understand my despair here. It's not that I can't hurt someone if I use the environment, if I pick up a stick or a rock it might even go up. The problem is, a child with ten P.ATK can kill me accidentally, by hitting me with a rock. Woe is me. I hope I don't die of dehydration. Next is... "ᵈᵢⓈ∞" D...I...S... infinity? Ha...? Of course I won't know what that is. I do know it's an innate effect because of the diamond icon, but that just means I'll probably never be able to get rid of it. Maybe it means: Despair Inevitable, and Suffering Infinite. There's overwhelming evidence that this is the case, so I'll go with it. Let's move on before I drown in self-pity. Ancient Shadow King Miasma... I actually know a bit about what this effect could be... In Myriad Worlds, there was an effect called Demonic Miasma, which caused the affected to emit a unique foul odor that marked their domain. All regular demons had this effect. However, the Demon King that I knew, had the effect: Demon King Miasma, whereupon the affected would emit a unique scent that smelled like blood and roses. It also marked his domain, but had the bonus effect of attracting and enthralling monsters to his side. I lost my own unique Demonic Miasma when I became a Pure-Demon, but in turn, I was able to acquire the scent of other miasmas if I spent a long time in them. In tandem with the fact that I spent almost all my time in the Demon King's domain, and his castle in particular where miasma would stick, it was only natural that I pick up his scent. Hmm? It's not weird. It had an important influence on gameplay and combat! It's not a relationship thing! Anyway...! After being exposed to it for a long enough time it became innate, permanent more or less. I can tell by sniffing my other body, that this is no doubt the scent of demonic nobility, specifically, of the Demon King I betrayed. So, the only logical conclusion, is that the Demon King I knew, has become known as the Ancient Shadow King! ...Pfft. Sorry, that makes me laugh. Ancient, sure. That just means a long time has passed, but Shadow King? Did he name himself? That name fits him so well! Ha! So lame! Although... this trait has become problematic since the Demon King is nowhere in sight... It won't attract and encourage monsters to fight for a king who isn't here; it's just going to attract and encourage monsters to eat me since I'm unguarded, edible, and weak... No good at all... Moving on. Pure Demonic Blood. Regular Demonic Blood tastes foul, smells awful, and poisons whoever consumes it, even other demons. The only reason a faction of demon monsters can even exist, is because they can't eat each other. Pure Demonic Blood however, is a unique trait of Pure-Demons; demons who have survived a full purification from an Arch Bishop. I remember the original description of the effect, word for word: Pure Demonic Blood – A variant of Demonic Blood. The affected has appetizing blood that restores their HP every second equal to 1% of their maximum HP. When the affected's blood is consumed by any other entity, Death is dispelled and the consumer's HP is restored by an amount equal to the HP lost from the affected's blood loss at a maximum rate of 1% of the consumer's maximum HP as HP per second. I was, proudly, the only Pure-Demon in Myriad Worlds. The evolutionary process was known only to me, the Demon King, and the participating Arch Bishop. I know I should be happy to have such a rare and powerful positive effect... ...but I have no way to defend myself. It's this pure blood that makes me edible! I'll be hunted by both the bad guys, and the good guys...! Ah... please let there be some helpful effects coming up... ...Ruptured Mana Pool This is surely the cause of me having no mana. It's innate too... This is the opposite of a helpful effect! Next! Eldritch Fear [Lv... Huh? Eldritch Fear went up to level four from level one. Hmm? Eldritch... Fear...? ...Oh. ...I know what this is. This is my fear of death, right? When it comes down to it, I really fear nothing else. Avoiding death is really the only thing I care about at this point. So, I think it's reasonable to assume that this Eldritch Fear effect, replaces the regular Fear status effect. Ah, It just went up to level five. I don't know what will happen if it levels up further, but I don't want to find out. Okay, I just have to think about nicer things! Like, how the next effect will surely be help...ful... ...Pa...thetic. The name of the effect is Pathetic. Pathetic – Appears when the affected has a combat stat total of less than 10. The target can be captured by a non-Pathetic entity even while resisting. It's an effect used for making pets out of weakened monsters. No player has ever gotten this effect before... and yet I... I've reached Eldritch Fear [LV.9]...! Ha... Ahaha... I'm going to die... Eldritch Fear [LV.10]... I also have the title Prophet of Death, but I have a feeling I know what the title does and why it's there too... It's because I've experienced death, and understand its nature. I would go so far as to say, this title is what causes Eldritch Fear to replace the regular Fear effect. ...My starting hand is hopeless! Eldritch Fear is still rising! Even if I look around me, the clearing is just surrounded by darkness! Even if I try to leave, my miasma will probably attract monsters! Even if I stay here, I'll get hungry eventually...! Ah... I need... I need to do something! Run into the forest where my miasma has nowhere to escape and it's pitch black? Try my luck at the poisonous-plant lottery? Ah... I'm already hungry... no! Don't eat the plants! They're glowing! Maybe I can call for help? Ah, but I already screamed really loudly just a moment ago... Nobody came then, and I don't think I could scream at that volume again anyway... Then... do I... ...eat... my other body...? ...No...no! That's too far right?! My hunger would fill and I'd regenerate with my special blood but... I feel like I'll be crossing a line I can't return from if I do that...! Ah... so hungry... Two stomachs... double hunger... Okay, let's try the lottery, maybe the plants will be edible! I'll just change the targets of «Identify» to the mysterious plants! 『 «Identify» 』

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.40 ▬ Strysanthea

Fungus

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Effects ▐ ◈ Toxic[LV.40]

▐ Bioluminescence[LV.10]

▐ Regeneration[LV.4]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 『 «Identify» 』

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.35 ▬ Magural

Magical Flower

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Effects ▐ ◈ Toxic[LV.25]

▐ Paralyze[LV.35]

▐ Mana Restoration[LV.15]

▐ Bioluminescence[LV.15]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』 『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』『 «Identify» 』 Identify, identify, identify...! Ah... of course glowing things aren't edible... Wait! The grass! 『 «Identify»! 』

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.60 ▬ Michinuraeda

Magical Grass

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Effects ▐ ◈ Hemorrhage[LV.60]

▐ Insanity[LV.30]

▐ Paralyze[LV.60]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The grass is the most dangerous plant. Never eat the grass. Ha...haha... What the hell... Was I was reborn... just to die...? 『 No way... 』 『 Hah... 』 『 I'm really... 』 『 Going to die again...? 』 ...I don't want to die. I have to try harder against this forest. I have to take a chance and- As I try to stand up... I feel... an eldritch chill... twisting my spine...? ...W...h...at...? ...I lose strength in my legs, and collapse onto the grass. I... I... can't do it... there's no way! There are definitely monsters in there! I'm 100% certain that if I walk out into the dark I'll die! Then... I'll... I'll scream for help! Right? Isn't... isn't that the only thing left that I can do? Scream... and... leave it up to fate again... ...I swallow my breaths. I feel my bodies shivering, inside and out. What will I do if this fails...? What if my HP starts dropping...? I'll... I'll have to... eat... 『『 ... 』』 Just don't think about it! 『『 Aaaaaaaah!』』 A desperate echo returns to me. It's like the forest is laughing at me as it blocks my desperate attempt to cry for help. Again... 『『 Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh...!!』』 Again...! 『『 AAAA-』』 I cough, choking on myself as my throats burn again... So... this is how it is huh...? ...Eternal suffering... huh? A hell just for me, right? Ha...whatever... I'll do it when I stop crying then... I'll resign myself to fate...

「 ... 」 ...? Who's there?! 『『 «Identify»!』』 As I shout «Identify», a cold feeling like metal wraps around my necks. I barely hear the following two clicking sounds, because... ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.21 ▬ Mak 'Euvier' Jing'ra

Scarecrow Demon

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

HP ▐ 228/228

MP ▐ 89/141

SP ▐ 352/394

P.ATK ▐ 481

P.DEF ▐ 160

M.ATK ▐ 4

M.DEF ▐ 180

Effects ▐ ◈ Goddess's Blessing

▐ ◈ Heroic Bravery

▐ ◈ Suppressed Demonic Miasma[LV.21]

▐ Wind Walking[LV.8]

▐ Night-Vision[LV.14]

▐ Fear[LV.100]

▐ Infatuation[LV.112]

Titles ▐ 「 The Hero 」「 Demon Slayer 」「 Human Slayer 」

▐ 「 Criminal 」「 Ally of Elves 」

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ It's staring at me. It's wearing a theatrical mask, but even so, I know it's staring at me. Even though it's crouching, it's way taller than me, perhaps double... triple my height. Like its mask, its clothes are expensive and regal in appearance, like a noble, or royalty. Although it's lanky, there are various daggers holstered all over its body. It has four arms; two arms are curled behind its back. What... is this thing? Hero? Demon? Criminal? Political ally? Why are two of its status effects ridiculously high level? My miasma should only cause Infatuation[LV.40] at most, right? Where did the other seventy-two levels come from? And where did it pick up such a high level of Fear? What kind of impossible monster did this Fear come from? How...? I... I don't understand...! Isn't this impossible?! 「 ▯▯▯ ▯▯▯ ▯▯▯? 」 I understand even less! A guy's voice? Why is a scarecrow demon talking to me? Is this even Myriad Worlds Online anymore? Scarecrow demons are mindless mobs that players kill for low level quests right? Am I mistaken? Ah... but... it's not killing me right away... Or rather, these things around my necks... They're pet collars with leashes...? It... it captured me...? H...Huh? Am I... the first player ever... to be captured with pet collars...? ...Really? 「 ...▯▯▯▯. 」 I don't understand this foreign language, and the demon isn't moving. Is it judging me? ...Should I talk? It's clearly able to think. Is it thinking about killing me? Will talking convince it I'm worth more alive? It captured me because it thinks I have value right? Then maybe, I should show that I have intelligence?

I'll say its name. 『『 Mak Euvier Ji-』』 It pushes me onto the ground and covers my mouths. It didn't like that at all. I'm sorry, please don't kill me. It was an accident, I won't do it again. I'm sorry. I'll even stop calling you an "it" since you have a male voice. In fact, I'll just never speak again, I'll become a pair of mute twins. Please find the mercy in your demon heart not to kill me. I clamp my eyes shut in the off chance it dissuades him. There's no point in being on guard anyway with death so close. Whether I live or die right now... is entirely based on his whim... Ah... even post-death my life dances on a thin wire... 「 ▯▯▯▯▯▯. 」 ...Huh? 「 ▯▯▯▯▯▯. 」 He lets go of my mouths and points at himself. Whatever he's saying isn't any of the names I saw, so, is this a word? 「 Alphae. 」 I remember it this time, because it seems to be important. He keeps repeating it, but I just stare at him. I feel like he wants me to say it, but when I think about talking I remember the force of his hands on my mouths, and glue my lips together. 「 ... 」 『 ...! 』 Crier's leash is pulled, and she's held by her shoulders. The grip is tight! It... it hurts! I can't get him to let go?! Ah... wait a minute... I forgot, resistance is pointless.

Let's give up. He stops squeezing me once I stop wiggling. Then he stares again, into Crier's eyes through his mask.

I freeze my bodies completely, and hold my breaths. 「 ...Alphae! 」 ...Staying quiet isn't what he wants either? 『 ...A-Al...phae...? 』 〖 You are no longer able to attack your owner. 〗 The collar suddenly feels hot around Crier's neck, before cooling. It feels like its become contoured to the shape of her neck. So... Alphae means... ...Ah! I'm such an idiot! 『 Alphae!』 〖 You are no longer able to attack your owner. 〗 I quickly have Sing sit up and hang her head. For her too, the collar heats up, then becomes fitted to her neck. This seems to satiate Jing'ra's wrath, because he lets go of Crier. Somehow, the first word I learned in this world... was... ugh, "Master." Pets in Myriad Worlds that were able to speak always addressed their owners with "Master" but... how did things get to this point for me...? This is... humiliating... Hurriedly, I run Crier back to Sing and huddle them together. I feel... marginally more secure having them close like this. As this happens, Jing'ra watches, as if he finds it amusing. This person is supposed to be a Hero? Really...? When he's had enough of my cowering, he stands up, and I quickly do the same to avoid being pulled. He rummages through a pouch behind him, before pulling out two rings and extending them to me. I stretch out my hands, and he puts them on my pinky fingers. I have no idea what these rings are for. 『『 «Identify» 』』

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

LV.30 ▬ Kaligo Suraeda

Demonic Miasma Suppressant Ring

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Effects ▐ ◈ Demonic Miasma Suppressant

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Jing'ra doesn't like me doing that. Crier is hand-chopped in the shoulder with a bone cracking sound. I bite my lip and hold my voice in while Sing catches her so she doesn't fall. The spot bruises immediately. If he'd chopped Crier in the head instead, it's possible that she might have died on the spot... Well then! Who needs «Identify» anyway, right? I'll just never cast «Identify» again for the rest of my life! Haha...ha... ...Why is he staring at me so intensely? Please stop...? Hello? Do you have a sense of decency? You're abusing your position just to stare at me? That's a bit gross you know? I frown with Crier, and grit my teeth with Sing. The delicate imouto, and the defensive onee-chan. ※² Ah, I wasn't planning to have them act with different personalities, I just... just acted it out reflexively... out of habit... ...Hmm? He pulls a thin red vial out from a pouch and pushes it at me. Huh? A health potion? Is he making fun of me? Giving me a health potion just to heal four HP? I mean... that's 40% of my health, but isn't this a massive waste? 「 Irei. 」 Drink? Take it? Something like that? Whatever, I take the potion and drink it to heal to full health.

Don't expect me to be okay with just bribery though. 「 ...Mainidai. 」 Stop? That's enough? Give it back? I stop drinking when I see him reaching out to grab i- ...Huh? Is he... Is he patting my head...? What the heck is wrong with this scarecrow demon? Should I kill him? Should I start plotting his death now? Wait... stop... what are you doing?! Nooooo! Don't pat Sing too!

Tch!

Nothing is ever free...

Well, it's better than having my bones broken... I guess.

Not ideal, but... this is more or less what I was hoping for in the first place.

At least until I can develop some strength of my own in this world,

it should be fine to sit in his shadow for a bit...

When he finally lets us go, I feel my bodies begin to float into the air.

A powerful gust of wind bellowing from below levitates us.

Wait, no, this skill is... «Fey Breath», I think... A breezing wind, mostly used for niche... utility... I... I'm just a bit lighter than average, okay?

「 Kei. 」 He opens and closes his hands around the leashes repeatedly. Eh? Grab? The leash? Wait, I can't, I need to hold my dresses down, you know?

Gah?! My necks?! I'm being pulled?! Wait-!

Ah... forget it! He's already running off! I'll get hanged at this rate...!

T...There...

Hah... Ha... Accelerate slower you stupid scarecrow!

You think just floating is enough to stop my necks from snapping?!

Would you have put a collar around a kitten's neck and pulled?!

So you're that kind of a person?!

A person who kills kittens?!

Ah... what am I thinking, of course he is... he's a demon...

Why is my adventure in another world starting like this...

I can't tell if my starting hand has gotten better or worse...

He's running towards the tree-line at what seems like top speed

while pulling me along like a pair of balloons.

Did he even notice I almost just died again?

What the heck... there's no way I can maintain this near-death relationship.

I need to seriously devise a plan to kill him before... he kills... me...?

...? I look back across the clearing, and dart my gazes everywhere they can reach

but nothing.... looks out of the ordinary.

...I felt it again. An eldritch chill... twisting my spine...?!

[END]