“What’s up with you two?”
Mitsuki asked while licking her ice cream and watching the afternoon anime. Akane sat at the far side of the couch and so did I, not even managing to watch the television. This was something that happened the last time and I was hoping to prevent. The first benchmark in Akane’s descent into degeneracy! And it was my fault.
“I-I don’t know what you mean, Mitsuki.”
I said.
“Disgusting, horrible, evil, vile, pervert.”
Akane shot hurtful statements at me.
[You have lost 100 Health points!]
[You are dead!]
I died on the spot. That was how the system would have probably reacted to any of it.
“Come on, you can’t be angry at me forever.”
“Can too.”
“Cannot.”
“Can. Too.”
She said with more intent than ever.
“I-Is there any way to make it up to you?”
“Haa~ Nii-chan, nii-chan, nii-chan. You still fail to understand the heart of a woman. At this rate I pray you have enough money to pay a prostitute to have your baby.”
Mitsuki was patting my back.
“When did you get here?! Go back to your anime.”
I kicked her away and faced Akane. She was moving uncomfortably in the chair while muttering something.
“B-baby? Prostitute? Heart of a woman?”
I overheard her. This girl was so innocent I couldn’t believe she actually degraded into the perverted bully/best friend. Time to change the future then.
“Akane. Will you have my child?”
I went on my knees in a shoujo prince kind of way and proposed to her. Her eyes sparkled and her face turned boiling red. I could feel Mitsuki’s smug gaze piercing me from behind, seeing as I got a result I wasn’t expecting.
“I know quite a few styles we could try.”
“Huh? Wh-Why do you know that?”
“Um… that’s because-”
“LOL, that’s weird. You knowing any of this. Go back to being innocent.”
DING!
[Scenario failed!]
[Returning the soul to the host body]
It was dark once again, with the exception of the screens in front of me.
‘Huh… so it really was something the system master made up. Argh! I could have changed my life! Been the guy who didn’t get bullied! Damn it all!’
My eyes snapped open and light just stabbed them in an instant.
[You are currently under the sun]
[All your stats have been reduced by 50%]
[Find shelter to hide from the sun]
[Prolonged exposure to the sun will lead to reduction in health points]
The screen warned.
‘Oh, how I have not missed you in my last few hours.’
I rolled my body over and jumped up to stand. All around me I saw burnt and felled trees. The ground was still destroyed and I could still see some corpses. That just made me remember why I even came back in such a rush.
‘Minerva!’
I immediately took the sky to see if I could get any better view. What laid before me was way worse. Goliath, in his dragon form was on the ground, with a gaping hole in his chest. I looked elsewhere and I could not identify anymore lives.
I sent a message to all members of my familia using the familia system function.
[Me: Is everyone alright?]
[Nukeme: Lady Hinotori!]
[Kara: Lady Hinotori, you are well?]
[Shiroi: Master!]
[Ulva: Big sister! T-There was a fight when we got back. Somethings happened. We tried calling you, but the fight with the necromancer must have gotten intense]
[Me: Where are all of you?]
They all responded with the same message. The [Forbidden Dungeon]. Quickly, I teleported in there and was shocked to find almost all members were at the bottom floor, with my dungeon mobs standing on the first floor.
[You have evaded the sun]
[All stats are back to 100%]
I moved to the bottom part where several creatures were. Goblins, sprites, dryads, weird panther monsters, Timberwolves and the twigs. Ichi, Nichi and the other twigs all rushed at me. As did all the goblins and Timberwolves. Most of them were injured, but their bloods had dried and their wounds were already closing. The more severely injured were groaning and one was even killed by his mates.
‘Hinotori-sama.’
‘You came to save us!’
‘Where the hell were you last night?’
‘The gracious leader has come.’
‘Useless chicken. You let Gorm and Oda die!’
I could hear all sorts of thoughts, and some of them made me feel extremely sad and angry. Across the hundreds of members in the burrow, I identified those I had interacted with, all sitting together having a council. They looked at me, finally having noticed the commotion and ordered for the others to give me way. I flew to their side and they all had glum expressions. Some even looked enraged.
“Where were you!?”
Oki charged at me, but Nukeme jumped in front of me with his dagger pointed at him.
“You know she went to the South.”
“That doesn’t matter. She was supposed to come back when we needed her.”
“She was also busy. Understand that.”
“What? A leader is supposed to throw away anything for their people! That was what Gorm thought me. What kind of leader are we following then?”
“Hold your tongue, little one. She was off on an important mission.”
Yuuna defended me.
“Important mission? So, a tyrant from a different portion calls and you run, but when yours needed you, you were nowhere to be found!”
“W-Where is Minerva?”
I asked and the entire room turned silent.
“How dare you?”
“SILENCE!”
Shiroi’s aura spread throughout the room. She was glaring menacingly at him and did not look to be in the mood. I remembered seeing Kuro’s corpse out, but decided not to ask about that after seeing Shiroi’s rage.
‘What happened here?’
I sent a message to Aeri. She looked at me disappointingly and walked past me to the door leading to the outside. Her heavy footsteps shook the very ground and her demeanor just made me feel awful.
‘L-Lady Hinotori. Can you hear me?’
Kara came in, looking dejected at the back.
‘What happened?’
‘T-There was an attack. By a black knight. He burnt down the forest. Goliath and Minerva went to fight him, but we don’t know what happened after that.’
‘A black knight? It couldn’t be the one she mentioned, could it? Why did no one inform me?’
‘We sent several messages to you.’
‘What? If you did, I would have received them. The system would have app- Akira…’
‘What?’
‘It’s nothing.’
‘D-Did something happen outside?’
‘Thank you, Kara. I now have a proper understanding of what happened.’
I groaned and called Akira out.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about their messages for help?’
‘Don’t ask like it would have changed anything.’
‘Of course, it would have! If I had known, I would hav-‘
‘Would have what? I’m you, if you have forgotten and I made the same choices you would have made, but faster. I handled the system messages and fusions and you did the physical part. Knowing about their situation would have changed absolutely nothing.’
‘Tch… I might have thought out another way. Someway to help them.’
‘By what? Sending them your mana so you would have died even earlier? Maybe abandoning the chance for survival and a high experience gain, for a suicide mission?’
‘What the hell is your problem?’
‘If both Minerva and Goliath couldn’t beat this foe, what chance did you have? Even the necromancer was looking to absorb tons of undead just to fight this one black knight. Did you think our appearance would suddenly change the tides of the fight?’
‘I could have done something.’
‘What the heck? Did spending a month in another world with everything being easy for you make you think you were some novel protagonist?’
‘I…’
‘Unlike you, I did not have the displeasure of being in here for more than a month. And I do not want my stay to be a short one too.’
‘… You don’t like the thought of disappearing?’
‘Yes. So?’
I deactivated [Multiple Minds].
‘Yo, agent. It’s just me and you again.’
<<I am not->>
‘I will deactivate you too if you don’t stop joking around.’
<<Noted>>
“Shiroi.”
‘Yes?’
‘I… I need your help.’
‘How so?’
‘Right now… I am really not in the best of moods. But… Oki is right. I’m not a leader. Could I burden you to handle the duties of a leader for me?’
‘No.’
She rejected my plea.
‘W-What? Why?’
‘I will never covet the position, nor the responsibility. That is yours to bear and it would be very dishonourable of me to use your name to control them. If you wish to be a leader, then act like one. Take up the responsibility. Perform your duties.’
‘What? That’s bull! I have been performing my responsibilities enough!’
‘No, you have not. As a leader, you have done absolutely nothing for your servants.’
‘Ho ho, now we’re talking about doing things for servants? Damn it, Shiroi. You couldn’t even save your father from death. You had no problem coveting his role after his death. Just take this on like I were dead.’
‘I refuse.’
[You have activated [Absolute Command]]
Sparks flew about Shiroi’s body and the Faery hound collapsed to the ground, whimpering in pain. I noticed others looking at her, but I didn’t care.
‘Do it, or I find someone else to do it.’
‘Then… find… someone!’
Even under what I imagined to be intense torture she did not falter.
“FINE! Whatever! You guys have never needed me to lead you in the first place. Do whatever your hearts please.. I’ll focus on finding Minerva.”
