Who Are You?

Earlier on that same day, Kaito found himself in a weird situation.

The group had just returned from Nakamura and was dismounting Fiona at Alisha’s farm.

“Man, what a wild ride!” Khrom announced as everyone stretched.

“I’m never wearing anything like this again,” Rina stated, referring to the dress she was still wearing. “Is there any private place here? I want to change ASAP.”

“You can just change in the barn,” Kaito responded.

“Great, I’m going to change,” Rina announced.

“Come on, ladies, let’s all go together,” Rachael suggested.

All the ladies headed to the barn, but Rachael suddenly stopped to turn back to Kaito.

Rachael warned Kaito, “Kaito, don’t you dare think about spying on us.”

Kaito held up his hands to claim innocence. “I don’t have a death wish, go do you.”

Rachael was skeptical, but chose to believe him as she left to join the other ladies in the barn. Kaito and Khrom swiftly changed outside. They were not worried about being seen, especially so early in the morning.

“I’m surprised you’re not going to try to peak,” mentioned Khrom.

“Oh, Khrom,” Kaito responded in a posh tone. “I’m definitely peeking.”

Khrom shook his head with a smile as Kaito used Phase to run off to the barn.

Kaito snuck around to a window he knew was always open and crept inside the barn. He maneuvered around, ensuring he didn’t make any noise until he got into position. He peered over a pile of hay and got a good look.

All the girls were dead.

Kaito stood there in shock at the blood splattered across the barn. He was distraught and almost puked at the sight, but he managed to compose himself.

Despite feeling sick, he ran as fast as possible to inform Khrom. He swung the large barn door open and shouted out to him.

“Khrom! Get help, everyone is—”

Kaito’s eyes widened. Khrom lay on the ground, unmoving as he bled out.

“This isn’t happening,” he thought.

Kaito’s vision blurred, but he tried his best to stay conscious. As his vision stabilized, a figure appeared.

It was Mauld.

Kaito, alarmed, went to grab his dagger, but it wasn’t there. When he looked back up, there were more bodies.

Xavian, Edwin, Elise, everyone was dead.

Kaito couldn’t keep his composure. Everything started spinning, fading into nothingness until everything stopped.

SLASH!

Kaito’s head flew into the sky, and as it hit the floor… he woke up.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Crazy nightmare, right?” Kaito told the group. “I was sweating and everything when I woke up!”

“K-Kaito, please,” Iori studdered as she floated behind Khrom. “I’m not good with scary things.”

“Why are you bragging about a nightmare?” Rina said, getting a small laugh from Kaito’s story.

Kaito, Rina, Khrom, Evona, and Iori were positioned on the outskirts of Giora in preparation for an approaching Stampede.

All the called-upon adventurers were informed at the Giora Guild that a Stampede is when multiple monsters raid a human settlement together. Stampedes usually only happened when the Demon Lord was alive, so the situation was of great concern.

“Evona sees them!” Evona announced, getting all the nearby adventurers’ attention.

Everyone looked at where Evona was looking and witnessed a whole swarm of different-looking monsters.

“Whoa, that’s… a lot,” Kaito said.

“It’s not a Stampede for nothing,” Rina replied. “Let’s get ready for—”

“METEOR STIRKE!!!”

A large meteor came from nowhere and blasted the mob of monsters. Bodies of monsters were scattered throughout the area, some dying while others were alive.

“Oh… that has to be Xavian, right?” Kaito hesitantly asked.

“He doesn’t patrol the Demon Realm border for nothing,” Khrom mentioned.

In the distance, on top of a tree, stood Xavian. Laughing heartily at the destruction he had caused to the Stampede.

“Isn’t that the Natural Disaster Sorcerer?” Rina asked. “When did you guys meet him?”

“Long story…” Kaito responded.

However, the group didn’t have time for any more pleasantries, as the monsters were upon them. Kaito’s party, alongside the other adventurers of Giora, fought off the mob. Under the instruction of Guildmaster Gillain, their strategy was working well. Xavian’s recklessness in the vanguard was the only outlier as he kept scattering the monster’s position.

Kaito was called to the backlines to address the issue.

“Kaito, could you sneak upfield to order Xavian to retreat?” Gillian asked. “Some of the scattered monsters may end up flanking us.”

Scratching his head, Kaito responded, “Yeah, I can do that. Hopefully I don’t get caught in one of his spells…”

Gillian gave a small laugh, “Hopefully not. I wish you luck.”

Under Gillain’s orders, Kaito used his Phase skill to sneak to the frontlines where Xavian was firing off disastrous spells left and right. Xavian landed upon another tree and began to taunt the enemy.

“HAHAHA, Is that all you got, demons!?”

“Psst, Xavian,” Kaito called to Xavian from a lower branch on the same tree.

“Oh, Kaito! Did you see how I blasted those numbskulls away!” Xavian bragged to Kaito.

“Yeah, yeah, I saw,” Kaito got the compliments out of the way. “The guildmaster wants you to retreat for now, so blast them away from the backlines so everyone else can see.”

“HAHAHA, that’s a good idea!” Xavian decided to oblige. “Just one more spell for the road!”

Xavian jumped down from the tree and unleashed his Earthquake spell. The spell put Kaito off balance, and he fell out of the tree. He landed on his face and lost consciousness shortly.

Upon recovering, Kaito found himself surrounded by monsters. A large Oni-looking monster with a spiked club was mere seconds away from thrashing Kaito with said club.

“Are you serious, Xavian…” Kaito thought to himself. He sighed, “At least I’ll just respawn if I die.”

THUD!!!

Kaito was crushed by the club and died.

Kaito instantaneously appeared within Giora, standing out in the open. As Kaito looked around, he concluded that some time must’ve passed. Everyone was going about their day as if a Stampede didn’t just happen.

“Welp, let’s look for everyone,” Kaito said to himself.

Kaito headed to the Giora Guild, as that’s likely where someone would be, but coincidentally, he saw Rina along the way.

“Hey, Rina! I’m a-okay if you were wondering!” Kaito called out to her.

Rina turned to Kaito with a confused face and responded…

“Who are you?”