Next Step

Even after we won our decisive battle against Two and killed the crazy bitch once and for all, we found ourselves in quite the precarious situation—at least at first.

I’d immediately gone to heal Kai and Saga, an act that pretty much drained all my remaining magical energy, but by then we found ourselves surrounded by the townspeople, mainly armed guards.

“H-hey, we can explain!” Kai immediately raised his hands to show he wasn’t carrying any weapons. His bow had been discarded during our scuffle with Two and I actually couldn’t see it anywhere. “We’re the ones who beat the crazy woman responsible for this!”

True, from the chaotic scene it was probably hard for them to tell what side we were on… but hopefully they were going to see sense.

“It’s true, I think!” said someone in the crowd. “I saw them fighting against her!”

Ah, the old reliable eyewitness report.

The guards now looked a bit more relaxed. “But who are you, anyway?” one asked. “You… you two are men.”

The crowd immediately grew noisy at this revelation. I’d never get used to this situation. Besides, it didn’t help me establish a harem or anything anyway.

But I had an answer ready for them.

“Who, us? Why, we’re the Three Warriors from the prophecy,” I said with a smirk.

“…I thought we weren’t going to…” mumbled Kai from the side.

“The situation’s changed,” I told him very quietly. “We might become their heroes now.”

One guard carrying a mace stepped forward. “Why have you done that?” she asked us, sternly.

I blinked. “What do you mean? She was slaughtering people left and right!”

The guard frowned and even looked away. Or perhaps glanced at Two’s corpse still lying there, her face covered in both black and red now.

“Wasn’t she the His Highness’ mistress?”

“How could they have done that?”

“But the prophecy…”

These kinds of conversations and more drifted to my ears from worried citizens and town guards alike. The one right in front of us groaned and put a hand to her head.

“She was making a lot of trouble for us, the surrounding towns and beyond,” she admitted. “But now you’ve possibly landed us in great shit.”

“Hah, does that matter?” asked Saga, talking for the first time after the fight. “We’re going to kill Three, too.”

The crowd sank into a shocked silence.

The guard glanced at the corpse once more. “If anyone could do it at all…” she muttered, then gulped. “The prophecy… was real? But the news will spread, and…” She suddenly glared at me again. “Come with us right now. We’ll sort this out.”

I had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.

We were taken to the police station—or would the right term be the guard barracks or something? Whatever. There, we were promptly investigated about everything that happened.

Not just the fight with Two that left so many victims, but even before that. Starting from our very arrival in this world.

I was expecting a man for this part, but it was a tough-looking woman past her prime who apparently served as the guard captain that interrogated us.

“Your story sounds too crazy to not be true,” she admitted, her expression grim.

I snickered. That wasn’t the first time we were told that.

“And this puts us in trouble. Once news of Two’s death reaches the capital… the Emperor will definitely send people to hunt you. Especially if you really are those from the prophecy… or if he believes you are, anyhow.”

“I wondered about this before, but… an Emperor?” I assumed that was their nickname for Three, but it wasn’t what bothered me. “This place is barely a small kingdom.”

For a moment the woman looked confused, but then her gaze softened. “Right, you are not from here. Avallux is the Crossroads of the Worlds.” Come to think about it, I think we heard this name before. “This isn’t the only world Three is in control of.”

I widened my eyes.

Of course! I nearly forgot the reason we were here in the first place. I still had no idea how exactly Mana summoned us, but apparently my game somehow became connected to this world.

Crazy to think that this happened almost two weeks ago. So much changed since then.

“With how odd you are, I can definitely believe you came here from the Crossroads, too,” the captain continued. “If anyone can topple this empire, it’d be you. That being said, I’m sorry, but we can’t help you much. Especially not after what happened here.”

“Isn’t it time for a revolution or something, if only Three remains?” suggested Kai. “Look, I’m not here willingly at all—but I’m ready to fight. After spending some time here and seeing what the Three Warriors did to this world, I’m not going to turn my eyes away when people are suffering like this.”

She actually smiled at him. Ugh. He sounded like a real hero there and his charm worked even on women more than twice his age?

However, she sighed immediately after that smile. “Not quite that simple, unfortunately. There are stories about entire towns erased from the map for daring to go against the Emperor.”

“Probably exaggerated,” suggested Kai.

“I wish they were. Even if there weren’t, Triccius has way too many soldiers and mages at the Emperor’s disposal. We can’t take the risk. I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her gaze. “We’re going to get in enough trouble for letting Two die as it was.”

Welp, not like I was expecting much. Pretty much everyone we met on the way would give us only material support but never actually join the cause.

That was fine.

I was going to beat Three for them.

“…So I take it that you seek to enter the capital? That will be difficult, especially when two of you are men. Triccius has the largest percentage of men in Avallux, but it also means they’re quite… well… competitive.”

“Mhm, I bet they’re sickos trying to hog all the women,” said Kai, giving me a brief glance.

…What was he implying here? He was the one who resembled them, anyway.

The captain leaned forward. “We can’t fight by your side. However…” She paused for a moment, wearing a smile unfitting for the situation. “I think I do have a suggestion for how you’ll be able to get into the capital.”

I had a bad feeling about the meaning behind that smile.