New World

A new world opened up for us.

No longer was there the oppressive forest that left us with so many wounds and bad memories, although some awesome fights and achievements as well.

We now came to open hills, high enough for us to be able to see what awaited us beyond the absolute boundary that used to be Harko Forest. Many towns spread all over the area bordering the mountain.

We now completed the first major step of our quest—defeating One, the first of the Three Warriors.

As for how we’d done it…

“What the hell?” I’d asked a couple of hours before. “He’s… a robot?!”

Although his head was missing, it was clear that One was no flesh-and-blood human. His scattered body parts shed not blood, something that looked like oil.

“When did you realize it?” asked Kai, looking as shocked as me. He directed the question not at me, but at Saga.

She looked awful. Her face was a closed mask but she was covered in sweat, blood and burns and could barely walk.

“Hah, it was odd from the very beginning,” she replied, using her sword as a crutch. “Nothing seemed to hit him, not even my sword, and he didn’t even sweat. And when he activated those mines, I heard beeping from time to time… so I tried splashing him with water.”

Hmm… I suppose a splash of water could definitely cause a machine to short circuit, even if it did seem a tad too easy. But there was something else that obviously bothered me.

“This is supposed to be a fantasy world!” I complained. “Why is there a freaking robot here, of all things?”

Kai scratched his chin. “I admit that’s wild, yeah. Then again, recall we technically got here through your game… maybe it was SF all along?”

“Bullshit.”

“Chill, C. We can continue on our way, and maybe we’ll finally find some answers.” And then the smug bastard actually smiled. “Did you see that amazing last shot, though? I saved our asses and beat that dude.”

I froze as I looked at him.

I obviously couldn’t claim any credit here… if anything, it was Saga that beat him. I barely provided a distraction as all of my attacks were nullified.

Still, thinking about the fact that it really had been Kai who caused him to explode at the last moment there… that really pissed me off.

I gritted my teeth and did my best to remain silent.

“…Whatever,” I spat. “Let’s get out of this place already, I’m sick of it.”

“Yes,” agreed Saga, despite not looking to be in a fit state for walking, “we must find Two and Three now.”

Even after leaving One’s territory, it still took us almost the rest of the day to finally leave the forest. Although we could see various towns, we decided to stop there for the night.

“So, uh,” said Kai as we sat around another fire. “Think Diane and her village will have easier lives from now on?”

“Will they? This is still a beast-infested forest,” I noted, while also mentally noting—really? He was thinking about that girl again?

“Sure, but now that One’s gone, they might be able to cooperate with the other villages and stuff. And I’m sure people will get into the Forest from this side, too.” His smile widened. “Feels like we’ve done something good, right?”

I did not return his smile.

He might be right, but… I didn’t really feel this way.

In the end, although I was clearly the strongest of us, my contribution for this fight was minimal. None of my attacks worked. Saga figured out the enemy’s identity and weakness, while Kai gave the final shot.

It was supposed to be me, dammit.

True, I technically killed Squeaky, but finishing off a miniboss felt much less fulfilling after facing its master.

I looked at my hands—hands that possessed an incredible power yet proved so useless. And I clenched them.

I had to somehow find even better magic.

—Come next morning, we set out again toward the nearest town we could see.

We were in desperate need of further supplies. Even though we only spent a few days in the Forest, I really missed some proper civilization. Whether a medieval town would fit the bill remained to be seen, however.

Our appearance there seemed to catch some immediate attention. Well, considering our getup and the way we were all clearly injured and tired, perhaps that was a given.

“…Where did you come from, strangers?” asked us a middle-aged woman who noticed us from the moment we entered.

“Harko Forest,” I stated simply, pointing behind us.

She blinked at us. “Harko Forest?” she mumbled. “But…”

“We beat One,” added Saga.

“Yeah, we’re supposedly the Three Warriors from the prophecy or something,” said Kai, also sounding casual.

The woman gawked at us. A few other bystanders did, too. I noticed with a delay that, just like back inside the forest, there were only women around.

After some delay, the surroundings immediately burst in frantic whispers and murmurings.

“One? But he—”

“Look! There’re two men…”

“But Harko Forest is too…”

“Someone call the guards!”

I yawned. I somewhat expected to cause a sensation like that. Hopefully the so-called guards wouldn’t give us any trouble, though…

It turned out that they didn’t.

We were led to a wide building at the center of town that we were told was the mayor’s residence. And, just like I suspected—the mayor was a man.

You’d think that with women being the vast majority it would be a matriarchal society, but nope. Apparently some things never change.

Unlike the Elder from the village, the mayor was a middle-aged man who looked rather shabby but otherwise dressed and looked the part.

“Have you…” he started. “Have you really done everything that you claim? Coming from another world, passing through Harko Forest and even defeating One…?”

“We could’ve brought you his head but it went off flying somewhere,” said Kai with a smile. The man looked at him, probably unsure if this was a joke or not.

He blinked, then spoke again. “…Well, the fact you’re here is probably proof enough. Very few managed to pass even since that man took residence there so long ago. Not to mention two of you being men…”

“Have you never tried fighting him?” asked Kai.

The man shook his head. “Not for quite a while. Besides, he never bothered us.”

“What about the others?” Saga immediately attacked. “Two and Three?”

He shook his head yet again, looking frightened. “W-we don’t… Two passes in the area, from time to time… Three still rules the capital of Triccius, but…”

“We’ll beat them all. Don’t you worry,” I said, smiling.

Despite my words, the mayor still looked hesitant. Did he still find our story hard to believe despite everything?

“You… you’re not One, Two and Three, are you…?” he mumbled all of a sudden.

“What?” I spat, causing him to flinch.

“Hah. Don’t be ridiculous,” said Saga.

The mayor shook his head. “N-no… of course you aren’t. Forgive me. This is a lot to take in at once. I do apologize.” He wiped his sweating forehead with a handkerchief.

I hmphed and crossed my arms. “That’s fine. You don’t have to worry at all,” I told him. “All you need to do is provide us with food and shelter—and we’ll save the world for you.”