“… And that’s all the races in the world.” [Trish]

It was morning and everyone was eating their breakfast at the inn. Trish was telling Ryner about the different races when he asked her, but he selfishly stopped listening halfway through because there didn’t seem to be any races that he hadn’t met before.

“Mmhhh is that so? Then how come there are only humans here? Shouldn’t there be some beastmen and elves walking around?” [Ryner]

“Didn’t you listen to what I just told you?” [Trish]

“Of course I did.” [Ryner]

He easily lied through his teeth.

“It is often prohibited for other races to enter another’s capital city. It’s the case for Sakael, which is why there are only humans. If you want to see beastmen, then you’ll need to go to another city. As for the elves, I just told you.” [Trish]

“What about the elves? I don’t remember.” [Ryner]

“… The elves keep to themselves inside the Spirit Forest. Seeing any of them outside is very rare.” [Trish]

“They don’t like to go outside? Are we at war with them?” [Ryner]

“Did you really listen while I was talking?” [Trish]

Trish asked skeptically to which Ryner replied while sleepily looking at her.

“Of course I did.” [Ryner]

“… Like I just said, the elves aren’t really hostile or friendly with other races. We trade goods with them at the border of their forest. But, they aren’t allied with anyone and never get themselves involved in any war, unless they’re the ones being attacked.” [Trish]

She once again repeated herself for the forgetful idiot before her.

“That so? So we’re not at war with any races?” [Ryner]

“… You didn’t actually listen, did you?” [Trish]

“Of course I did- ouch!” [Ryner]

She pinched his cheek while angrily staring at him. Normally she wouldn’t act like this towards someone she just met yesterday and barely talked to. But his face, presence and actions just made him easy to get along with, mainly because he looked like he’d say “I’m too tired to get angry at anything~”, so she was pinching his cheek before she knew it.

“Then once again, we aren’t on the best terms with the other races, but we’re not at war. All except for the demon race that seem bent on destroying us. Are you listening?” [Trish]

“Yeesh.” [Ryner]

Satisfied after hearing his dumb answer, she released him while smiling and walked back to the kitchen. Once he was done eating, Ryner left the inn and went back in the alleys, where he last fought the group of men calling themselves the Green Crowns. Sure enough, there weren’t any bodies lying around, the place was deserted. He then started looking around at the spots where he last saw the corpses and the beaten men. Prints of shoe soles, faint traces of dried blood, small marks caused by dropping a bladed weapon, these clues were left everywhere. Sure enough the ones that attacked him weren’t professional hitmen as they did a sloppy job of covering their tracks.

Ryner followed them, although he would lose his way because of the sea of people walking around early in the morning, he still managed to find a dried patch of blood here and there. Eventually, he reached a deserted looking building with opened windows near the roof and a huge door. It seemed to be a warehouse and there weren’t many people around this area. He went to the alley on the side of the building and pulled out a rope with a hook attached. He threw it to one of the opened windows, climbed up and easily sneaked inside. It was filled with wooden crates piled on top of each other and a group of thirty men were talking in the middle of the place, standing around three bloody white cloths wrapped around what he assumed to be the men he killed last night.

“What do we do? This guy is tougher than he looks.” [Random thug]

“OBVIOUSLY! We find him and make the bastard pay!” [Random thug]

“How?! He took on nine of us without breaking a sweat and killed three guys! Two of them were magic users!” [Random thug]

“Yeah… I was there. He didn’t look like he was even serious! He’s not someone we can beat.” [Random thug]

“But we can’t just let him go! Did you guys forget? We aren’t just some street thugs, we’re the Green Crowns! Soon enough we’ll rule this city, and anyone who dares oppose us needs to die!” [Random thug]

“Yeah! He’s right! So what if nine of us lost? Just bring thirty guys next time!” [Random thug]

“I don’t know, I think we should lay low until we get more orders...” [Random thug]

“Then you can go and hide like a coward! I’ll bring back the bastard’s head myself!” [Random thug]

“Track him down! He must be staying somewhere in this city! We’ll burn down the place while he’s asleep!” [Random thug]

While they were arguing with each other, Ryner was sneaking around, hiding behind the crates until he got close to them. Then, he pulled out a weapon from his pocket dimension. His hand went in the pale bluish rings before pulling out a red sword handle. The rings then expanded to let through a large single edged blade. The back of the blade was red while the side with the edge was pure white. Overall the sword was nearly as tall as him.

(*Author* Imagine Nero’s Red Queen from Devil May Cry 4 and Asuna’s pactio weapon from Mahou sensei negima combined together)

Then, without any warning, he jumped out from behind the crate that he was hiding with and charged at the group of thugs, stabbing the closest one from behind right through his chest. The men were all surprised by this sudden attack but what happened next shocked them even more: bright red flames erupted from the wound, burning the poor victim as he screamed in agony.

“If you guys want to burn my house, then why don’t I return the favor?” [Ryner]

Ryner pulled the sword out from his first kill and leaned the sword on his shoulder as he calmly asked the silent crowd. The blade was emitting flames as it rested on his shoulder, yet it didn’t burn him or his clothes at all.

“A-a magic sword…” [Random thug]

A type of Artifact and they were very rare and not just anyone could obtain one. Most of the time it was the rich or the powerful that had a magic weapon in their possession.

“Me-Men! Show him what Green Crowns are made of!” [Random thug]

Soon enough the thugs broke out of their stunned state and reached out to the open crates nearby, all of them filled with weapons. What happened next wasn’t a fight of one man versus thirty thugs, but a massacre of thirty victims by one monster. As they charged at him, the volume of the flames suddenly increased, completely engulfing the blade, making it looked like he was wielding a word handle that continuously spit fire. The heat also increased as the closest thugs could feel it hitting their skin. Then, with one quick swing of his sword, three people were cut in half, their wounds seared shut. Although they flinched at this sight, but the remaining gang members renewed their attack.

The bravest of them all, the one that wanted Ryner’s head, raised his sword high in the air to chop into his skull. Ryner casually swung his sword left to right and melted through the steel sword. The blade was sent flying while the man held onto a handle with a reddish orange melted top. He then raised his eyes to see fire covering his vision before descending into darkness. Ryner cut him in half from top to bottom, or rather, the flames were so intense that he melted his way through before cutting him. Once again, the men stopped their assault. The guy they were looking for had a magic sword that could melt through their weapons. Their instincts were telling them to run, but Ryner didn’t let that happen.

He charged at them, slashing them to pieces, spinning around to create a wave of fire as the flames undulated, following his every motion and burning down anyone too close. Intense heat, fire, burnt corpses and painful screams soon filled the warehouse. After going through two thirds of them, the survivors turned around to try and escaped but Ryner chased them down and killed them all. The last three almost made it to the door, but two of them were bissected at the waist by the thrown sword that was spinning at high speed while spewing fire, making it look like a flaming disc. The flames died off and the weapon embedded itself into the wall right next to the last survivor.

“Hiii!” [Survivor]

He fell on his butt while letting out a short scream, turning around to see the murderer walking slowly towards him. He was shaking with fear, but then it hit him. That powerful magic weapon was right next to him while his enemy was unarmed. He could still turn this situation around! He quickly got up, ran to the sword and grabbed the handle, pulling on it to yank the blade out of the door. Strangely enough, the sword felt light in his hands and power was welling up inside of him. He turned around and pointed the tip at the sleepy looking idiot that was about to die at his hands.

“Ehehe, you shouldn’t have thrown your weapon dumbass! IT’S MINE NOW! And I’ll kill you with it!” [Random thug]

After his declaration, flames were starting to emerge from the blade. At this sight, he was ecstatic and trembling not with fear, but excitement. After all, he will manage to survive this horrible situation and kill the man causing them so much trouble. Best of all, he got his hands on a fire-type magic weapon and seeing what it did to his fellow gang members, it is a powerful one that will make him invincible. While he was fantasizing about his future filled with money, fame and women, Ryner stopped ten feet away and called out to him while scratching the back of his head with a laidback attitude.

“I should probably mention this, anyone unworthy can’t wield that sword.” [Ryner]

Hearing this, the man felt a bad premonition and looked at his new sword once more. The flames covered the blade completely and they were fluctuating strangely, expanding and contracting like a beating heart.

“And the only way to be worthy… is to receive my permission.” [Ryner]

Suddenly the flames burst towards its wielder and covered the handle, burning the unworthy one’s hands and engulfing the front of his body which set him on fire. This caused him to scream in pain as he dropped the sword and rolled on the ground. Eventually he stopped moving and twitching altogether, having turned into a badly burned corpse. Ryner picked up his sword and took a look around; the place was littered with burnt bodies and some of the crates were on fire. Then he covered his mouth with his hand as if to endure a sudden wave of nausea before bending down and puking. He vomited whatever he had for breakfast and unsteadily stood back up. After resting a few seconds to catch his breath, he realized that he made a mistake.

“Ah crap! I forgot to ask if they had any more hidden safe houses… Ah whatever, let’s just destroy this place.” [Ryner]

Deciding to deal with it later if more of them showed up, he then proceeded to burn and melt everything in the warehouse before sneaking out through the window again, just in time before soldiers opened the door and stormed the place. Some of the people outside notice the commotion with the screams and the smoke, so they called the authorities. In the burnt black mess, the soldiers managed to identify some black chunks as human parts and destroyed weapons, but they had no idea what caused this or that this was an important location for the Green Crowns.

After training, Leila was patrolling the noble district again. Her usual escorts were following a good distance behind her, within view but out of earshot. This was because the prince was accompanying her today.

“I agree with Tiffany, I really don’t think you should keep doing this.” [Sirius]

Prince Sirius said, sounding worried about her.

“It’s alright, I want to do this. I feel better if I move my body.” [Leila]

Just like with her sister, she tried to reassure the man.

“Well, alright then. But remember, we’re family. I won’t let anything happen to you. You can come see me if something’s troubling you.” [Sirius]

He said while putting a hand on her shoulder, tenderly looking at her.

“Yeah, thanks Sirius.” [Leila]

‘He really is a nice guy’, she thought in her mind. Even so, she couldn’t help but brushed his hand off her shoulder.

In the palace, inside a private room, the king and first princess were sitting on sofas face to face, a table between them with tea and cakes laid out. While they were enjoying their tea time, the king suddenly spoke to his daughter.

“I’m sorry.” [Adrian]

Startled by his sudden apology, Tiffany put down her cup of tea and looked at him with a puzzled face.

“I know you’re not happy with your marriage. It has been bugging me for quite some time, but…” [Adrian]

“I know father, I have a duty to uphold as a princess. But why are you suddenly apologizing now?” [Tiffany]

“It’s nothing. It’s… It’s just that with your mother sick, it got me thinking about some things. And I realized that, although I can’t call myself a bad king, I’m a horrible husb-“ [Adrian]

“Don’t say that, father! What happened was not your fault! We don’t know if it was poison, a spell or an Artifact. How could you blame yourself? You’ve been good to mother, you’ve been good to us.” [Tiffany]

She looked at him with a serious expression, trying to convey her words properly.

“Mother was always happily smiling when she was around you, and me and Leila are proud to be your daughters.” [Tiffany]

Seeing his daughter trying to cheer him up made him smile before looking out the window.

“Haha, it’s hard to tell who the parent is now… Thank you, I’m proud of you too.” [Adrian]

Truly his daughter was all grown up. She will make a fine queen when he retired.

“You want to know some fun places?” [Trish]

After the event at the warehouse, Ryner walked around town all day, eating from stalls and looking at the various merchandise on display. When dinner came, he returned to the Sleeping Duck to eat there and asked Trish about some good spots to check out later.

“Yeah, any fun places around the world, like active volcano fields, or a mysterious foggy sea where sailors often disappear.” [Ryner]

“What the heck kind of fun sense do you have…? And you’re really lacking common knowledge, you know that? Where did you come from exactly?” [Trish]

“In a distant land… From another world... On a far far away star… Somewhere~ over the rainbow~-ouch!” [Ryner]

For some reason the idiot started singing in a deadpan tone after spouting some gibberish, so once again she pinched his cheek.

“Well, it’s fine if you don’t tell me. If you’re looking for a dangerous sea, then I suggest the Sea of Monsters, aptly named because of the various giant sea creatures that live there. I heard a survivor miraculously drifted back to shore after seeing his ship swallowed whole by some huge fish.” [Trish]

“Seriously?! That sounds like a fisherman paradise!” [Ryner]

“Right, right. On a more normal note, you can visit the Elea Kingdom. I heard they summoned heroes from another world.” [Trish]

“Ohhh really? Do you know what they are like?” [Ryner]

At this piece of news, Ryner stopped messing around and urged her to continue.

“Apparently, all of them are blessed with great powers. They have huge mana pools in their bodies and are proficient in casting various magic. It seems that some of them have unique abilities too. Also, except for one, they’re not older than me! I heard their leader is a dreamy guy, a real white knight in shining armor!” [Trish]

Trish spoke excitedly, imagining what this handsome guy could look like.

“Wow. That’s pretty cool. What else do you know?” [Ryner]

After getting all the info he could from Trish, Ryner went back to his room to meditate once again.

“So there are otherwordlers here… ” [Ryner]

He was curious to know what kind of people they were since watching others summoned from another world was always interesting.

“Well, I’ll visit that place later, for now… Let’s go see Red again.” [Ryner]

And so, he waited till the middle of the night to go to the red light district for another massage session.

Late at night, in one of the bedchambers of the castle, a man wearing a simple shirt and pants sat on the balcony, sipping on wine. It was Sirius.

“You’re late.” [Sirius]

The former prince of Stornith said without turning while lightly spinning the wine in his glass. A cloaked figure then climbed up from the edge of the balcony. No distinctive feature could be seen because of the hooded black cloak covering him from head to toe.

“There was some… complications.” [Cloaked man]

The deep voice of a man answered Sirius while the new arrival stood near the railing of the balcony.

“What kind of complications? Will it affect our plan?” [Sirius]

He asked while frowning. They had spent nearly a year preparing for this and the plan had been progressing for months.

“One of our weapon stashes was destroyed. It wasn’t the army and there were no survivors either, so we don’t know who attacked it and why.” [Cloaked man]

Sirius shattered his wine glass with his hand. With trembling fists, he took deep breaths to calm himself. He had played the role of the good and loving husband, brother and son ever since coming here. Masking his feelings was what he did best and now wasn’t the time to let them out. Once his shaking stopped, he talked to the man beside him in a calm voice.

“We move on ahead with our plans.” [Sirius]

“What if it’s the royal family that suspects us?” [Cloaked man]

“Use your head! If they did suspect anything from me, they would have arrested me right away to ask for the cure and save their queen.” [Sirius]

The cloaked man asked, feeling uneasy, but his accomplice quickly refuted his hypothesis. The prince then went on to complain to him.

“Besides, why is the queen still alive? She should be dead by now. That Artifact you planted in her was a failure.” [Sirius]

“As promised, it cannot be detected by any healer or magician, but it takes time for the target to die. Soon the queen will perish.” [Cloaked man]

“Tch… If only you had more of those, we could poison the whole family… No, it would be too suspicious if only I survive, a prince from another country.” [Sirius]

He then reached into his pants’ pocket and pulled out several folded sheets of paper before handing them over to the cloaked figure.

“Here. These are the plans for the ball tomorrow night. While I make a toast and all eyes are on me… kidnap Tiffany. I’ll have the perfect alibi.” [Sirius]

His accomplice then took the papers that contained various details for the party. Their plan was simple and bold: break into the party and kidnap the first princess for everyone to see. It was a crazy plan that was only possible after making ample preparations.

“Just to confirm again, we can sell her off right? You don’t plan on keeping her around as a pet?” [Cloaked man]

The man asked one more time. Selling off a princess in their underground auction would fetch a high price. Plus, he and his men wanted to try her out.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Go ahead and do what you want with her, I’ve already had my fill. Frankly, she bores me in bed.” [Sirius]

He answered while waving his hand as if shooing off the idea the other one brought up.

“I am grateful that you agreed with us. It is better for profits… and morale, if we abduct the beautiful princess instead of killing her.” [Cloaked man]

“That’s fine, just make sure you don’t fail... And once I become king, I will properly reward you.” [Sirius]

The mysterious figure bowed to his words before leaping off the balcony, disappearing into the night. Sirius, with his shattered glass, drank directly from the bottle, a twisted smile plastered on his face, a crazed look that no one has ever seen. While the two were talking, Princess Tiffany was deep asleep, unaware of what will happen to her tomorrow night.