Common street thug.

Level: 14

Type: enemy of the city.

Work under: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in. So yeah.

Special: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this. A pity.

Resistances: See above.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this. A Shame.

Extremely deadly murder-crazy thug.

Level: 35

Type: enemy of the city.

Work under: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in.

Special: Ha. Ha. Hahahahaa. See above. [Just a warning…you may want to run.]

Weakness: See above.

Resistances: See above. You’re dead.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this.

Snuggly-Wuggly Teddy Bear shop owner.

Level: ???

Type: Honest merchant

Work under: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough for this nor do you know the information to fill this in.

Special: See above. Kind of feel sorry for this entranced guy.

Weakness: See above.

Resistances: See above.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this.

Clyde attempted to flee again, eyes widened in both horror and confusion, but Harumi held onto his arm.

“Let me go—I’m not trying to die here,” Clyde said.

“Come ‘mere ya punk,” said the murderous guy. “We’re going to fuck you up. Blend ya, ya here. BLEND YA!”

The cashier cried something frantically over the phone, Clyde assumed had to be the cops.

Harumi stood her ground, raised her other hand, while holding Clyde’s arm.

“If they kill me, I’m haunting you,” he said to Harumi. His heart threatened to blast out of his chest. The thugs continued forward, grinning, and wiggling their tongues at the pink-haired girl.

[Harumi has activated Refresher!]

[Enemy status effects removed x 3!]

The men grunted then gave confused looks.

“Why in the hell was I about to beat the shit out of some kid? I need a drink. Come on Bernie.”

“Let me join you two,” said the Teddy Bear shop owner. And just like that, they were gone.

“Let’s get going too,” Harumi said. “That stupid girl got away.”

Clyde’s heart dropped. Having a menace of that magnitude on the street was just too fucking dangerous. He needed a way to prevent himself from getting sucked into that charismatic AOE (area of effect) or he’d be either broke or dead. Or worse: both. Clyde secretly vowed never to die broke.

The duo returned to Toru and Kitome then explained the situation.

“We’ll need to do something about her later,” Toru said, “but for now, let’s focus on making mystery man here less embarrassing.”

Clyde’s glare combated against Toru’s defensive, but somehow playful, blank look. He shook his head.

“Freaking rich boy types,” he muttered as he pushed past Toru.

[Toru and Kitome have temporarily joined your party!]

The group decided to hang out at Clyde’s apartment, against his protests. He didn’t feel any joy from impressing Toru, but the girls were fine. Chika’s texts came a bit more frequently. She even asked to call, but Clyde lied, stating it was a bad time. He considered inviting the silver-haired young woman over, but came to his senses, realizing this was a battle party, not a regular party. At eight, Clyde received a welcoming prompt.

[Quest completed. You have earned 20 EXP and $20]

[Quest: Explore the dangerous, super deadly night city. This quest is mandatory and cannot be refused. Reward: $50 and 150 EXP.]

“Let’s get moving,” Toru said.

“Who died and made you leader,” Clyde said but was met with a blank stare. “I’m kidding. Let’s go.”

“Your sense of humor is lacking, weakling,” Toru said then stepped outside. Clyde muttered a few choice words under his breath then followed. He pulled his sword out of his inventory, causing everyone to flinch, jump back, and stare at him open-mouthed.

“How did…you made a sword appear out of thin air,” Kitome said then touched the handle. “It’s real. How did you do that?”

Clyde’s eyes widened. They knew nothing about inventories. Should he tell them? Would that bring Mortem down on him? Oh well, Clyde thought.

“You mean you don’t have an inventory?”

“Inventory?” Harumi said.

“I guess this is one of my abilities,” Clyde said. “I can store items in a separate dimension and view them as a list in my head. Whenever I need something, I select it and pop, summon it.”

“Oh, that is so cool!” Toru exclaimed, surprising everyone. He cleared his throat. “Go on.”

Clyde gave him a victorious smirk then said, “that’s pretty much the gist of it. I can’t go telling all of my secrets.” The starry eyes of Harumi and Kitome made the young man frown. “Let’s go before I grow old standing here.”

The group nodded at Clyde, which made him sigh, then off they went. It didn’t take long for the first enemy to show up, two blocks away. A creature with blue skin and pointy ears spawned from seemingly nothing. It stood at a height of three feet. It glared at them with large yellow eyes the size of softballs, irises as dark as midnight. Clyde found it funny that it wore a dark brown loincloth. He analyzed it.

Generic Imp

Level: 10

Type: monster.

Clyde canceled out the rest of the prompt, not in the mood for the sass. He decided to beat everyone to the punch and attack.

[Your party has entered combat!]

He dashed at the imp, activating Precise slash. The imp dodged, laughing.

“You humans are ballzy, I’ll give you that,” it said in a comical voice. “Let me repay your kindness.” The imp kicked Clyde in a spot that lowered his chances of having kids, just a bit. The young man squealed and collapsed, holding his groin. “I call that attack, the nutcracker.” The imp laughed.

[Clyde took a critical hit!]

[Clyde’s HP remaining: 78%]

[Clyde is stunned!].

Toru shook his head.

“Clyde if you’re going to be the man of mystery with a cool ability to store literally anything in a pocket dimension, please try not to embarrass yourself.”

Clyde groaned and tried to ignore the facepalms of the women. Toru suddenly moved fast—almost a blur. His hook sent the Imp upward. A glowing giant pink heart emerged from Kitome’s direction and finished the job.

[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 50 EXP and $20.]

Clyde felt Harumi’s healing touch. A second later, the pain vanished, enabling him to stand.

[Your HP has fully restored.]

“Well, that happened,” Clyde said. Harumi giggled.

“I should tell you the story of Toru and the goat.”

Toru blurred over to Harumi and covered her mouth.

“Don’t you dare. Or I’ll unveil what happened at the beach.”

She laughed as he removed his hand.

“Fine, fine, it’s a truce.”

Toru sighed in relief. Clyde laughed inside. If he raised his relationship high enough with Toru, he may learn that secret. He pushed the evil thought to the back on his mind.

The party continued the patrol and encountered seven pumkos, marching like a group of soldiers.