A New Destination

    We got back to Calpa right before eleven, when they closed the gates for the night. Monsters always were more active at night, so having all the gates open was dangerous, even for Calpa. The main gate was left open for late night travelers, but that was it, and the line to get in was typically massive

      Evelyn led us to an inn she frequented when she stayed in the capital, called the Shady Tree. It was located right in the middle of the city, close to the knights' headquarters, making it rather expensive. The money that Austin earned for turning in the Flame Wolf request was barely enough to allow us to break even. We were rich enough though. Thanks to the money Geovanni gave us, gold would not be an issue for a while. It was definitely better than sleeping outdoors.

      We went up the long flight of stairs to our rooms. They only had single beds here, so we checked out four rooms, all next to each other. Thinking about it, the chance of four rooms grouped together was rather slim. I guess my luck stat was becoming useful.

      I turned the key and went inside my room. It was nice, with leather furniture and a huge king sized bed in the middle of the room. The bathroom seemed to be made of marble, with what looked to be a large shower and a toilet. Evidently, it only took fifteen years for the earthers to bring modern plumbing to Palsu. Understandable.

      I collapsed on the bed. Its softness enveloped me, making my aching bones sigh in relief. Being an adventurer was hard. We needed things like this from time to time.

      After laying there for what seemed like forever, I heard noises outside my room. My window started to shine with flashing lights, coming from the city street far below. They seemed to be moving back and forth like someone was carrying them.

      I slowly got up and moved towards the window. There was no way I would be able to sleep with all the flashing lights. I started to hear a noise while getting close to the window. It was like a festival back in Japan, or when everyone went to go see fireworks.

      Outside, people were marching along the city streets. Giant floats were being pushed on the roads, partiers celebrating around them. The floats were huge, at least ten meters tall. They were formed to look like several different animals. One looked like a blue swan, while another looked like a bull. There were also a few monsters in the mix. The second biggest one I could see was of a round slime. A man was dressed up as the slime's core, bouncing around the slime's interior, probably with some sort of magic.

      By far the biggest float, however, was that of a man. He stood at least five meters taller than the slime, his hand out in greeting, his face completely blank, with no features on it at all, like a whiteboard. He wore what looked to be some kind of black suit with gold markings on it. I couldn't read the markings, but they looked to be in some weird language, probably of this world.

      It would make sense that I had some sort of auto translator. I was speaking Japanese this whole time, yet I never had any problems understanding anyone. Emilia was from Germany, and the citizens of Enfar probably didn't speak Japanese. I would have to ask Emilia about that later.

      “That's the festival of the New God.” Evelyn was standing at my door, which was wide open. I guess I had forgotten to lock it from exhaustion.

      “The New God? Whose that?” I knew they had a state religion in Palsu, but I hadn't looked into it at all.

      “The creator of Enfar. According to the church, a long time ago, there was an empty planet, a stone bigger than the world we know today. The New God saw the stone and decided that it was wasting its potential. He breathed life into the planet, creating Enfar. He then created animals and humans and gave them dominion over Enfar. The only issue was that the animals kept killing the defenseless humans, so he created the status screen and skills/classes to help the humans defend themselves and create dominion over Enfar.”

      “Really? Are most people believers?” The religion sounded like a mix of a few from Earth. I was always interested in religions, but never got the time to look into them. Austin was Christian, I knew, but other than him, I didn't know too many deeply religious people.

      “Practically everyone is. I know it's a little different on Earth, but here, God's existence was proven by science long ago,” she said.

      I thought about that for a minute. Was it a good thing to have God proven by science? I could see several positives and negatives that mindset could cause, especially in certain parts of Earth.

      “Anyway, the festival of the New God is to celebrate the anniversary of the creation of our world. The floats you see out there represent several figures important to the church who did incredible things when they were alive.”

      She walked over to the window next to me and looked outside into the parade below. “It's amazing. I went from being by myself, traveling from city to city, all alone. Now I have you guys and a goal. I never thought I would be in a situation like this.” I couldn't tell if Evelyn was speaking to herself or me as she stared out the window, her eyes almost looking like stars.

      She closed the window and laid on my bed. “I never thought that I would ever meet people as strong as you, much less two S ranks. I guess I should be giving thanks as well.”

      “Please, you’re strong too. I’m S rank, and you're way more powerful than I'll ever be. You saw Emilia today. We're the same rank, yet she destroyed the flame wolves in one punch, while I struggled against them.” In a one-on-one fight, I would probably lose to all three of my party members. Austin and Emilia were guaranteed losses, and getting close to Evelyn during a battle was next to impossible. She was good at keeping her distance during combat.

      “You have the ability to create a tool that can one-shot a huge demon. You have an incredibly high ceiling, one I could never reach.” She breathed in and out and continued. “You know, there's something I was thinking.”

      “What's that?”

      “I've faced demons, and been an adventurer for a while, and I've never been in a stronger party than this. Sure you were being overwhelmed, but if you created a grenade with your magic, then you would have won easily.” Apparently, they had grenades here on Enfar, who would have thought.

      “So I was wondering if you were ok with going to the Demon Lord’s Castle. The Demon Lord has been a bane of Palsu as long as I've been alive, and this is an opportunity to take him out. I know we're strong enough!”

      “Say what now?” Did she really want to challenge the Demon Lord? I knew that she thought we were powerful, but she thought we were that powerful? The lesser demons were a pain to deal with, real demons were probably really strong.

      “Think about it! That's the whole reason you were summoned right? We can solve the issue that's been plaguing the world for generations.”

      “I don't know. I know you think we're strong, but this is the Demon Lord we're talking about. I'm not sure we will win.”

      “Come on. I think we'll be fine. You saw Emilia today. Can you see anyone even standing a chance against that?", she said.

      “Well no, but.”

      “Exactly!” Evelyn got off the bed and dragged me back with her. We fell on the bed with a thump. She was on top of me, looking down. I got red faced. Evelyn was as beautiful as always. She smelled like the ocean breeze. It was like I was sailing in the middle of the ocean, steering wheel in hand. The ocean seemed to be around me, her body feeling like the water pressed against me. I loved every moment.

      “Well I guess that we are strong, and Emilia could probably destroy that building in one hit if she wanted to.”

      “The Demon Lord is probably not that strong anyway. I'm sure someone strong like you can defeat him easily. We haven't sent someone to the Demon Lord’s castle in ages. I'm sure we've become strong enough to take him down.” Evelyn spoke soothingly, rubbing her hand against my cheek.

      “You have a point. Worst case scenario, a gun has worked for every boss we have faced so far.” Evelyn was right, I was strong! I just needed to use my magic more, and not rely on my sword as much. I could create a nuke, and blow up the castle, or a machine gun and shoot the place to smithereens. I'm sure I had enough mana for that, I just had to think of it a certain way, I was sure of it.

      “So are you ok with going?” Evelyn looked hopeful, her cute eyes staring at me. She was adorable. Her face was one I couldn't refuse, no matter what she was asking. I was trapped to say yes from the beginning because she was so cute.

      “Yeah, let's kill this Demon Lord!” I said. Evelyn climbed off me, looked elated. It was worth it just to see her smile. I could die happy now, my life was now complete.

      “To be honest, I was not sure if you would say yes, but I'm so glad you did. You’re amazing Kazuma.” She ran up to me again as I finished getting up and hugged me. She felt warm and soft, exactly what I was expecting. I wanted to hold her and never let go. The warmth enveloped my whole body, making me feel happy.

      “I'm sorry to cast doubt on all this, but we need to convince Austin and Emilia about this as well.”

      “That's true." Evelyn let go of me and frowned. “That's probably going to be harder. Austin listens to you Kazuma, so you should be able to convince him, and then it's three to one. That's our best chance to convince him.”

      “I'm not sure. Austin always does his own thing. If not for him, who knows where I would be. If anything, he would be convincing me to do something like this. I'm not sure I can do the same.

      “Stop undervaluing yourself. Austin listens to you more than you think. I know he is better with a sword, but he views you with a ton of respect. He won't disregard anything you say.”

      Evelyn yawned and walked towards the door. “I'll leave you tonight to think about it. I have faith in you Kazuma. I know you can do this.”

      “Thanks. Good night Evelyn.” I said.

      “Night.” She walked out the door towards her room. I closed the door behind her, making sure to lock it. I was exhausted, but my body still remembered Evelyn’s warmth. I laid in my bed and pulled the covers over myself. The exhaustion of the day washed over me and I fell asleep to the marching of the parade outside.