The Southeastward Outpost

Kanie looked at Mylo, who had fallen asleep in front of him.

“I don’t get it…” he said. “What happened?”

“It’s Dharvix’s Kip,” said Eric, floating down toward them. “Turns out the spell was effective, after all.”

“Sure took its time to kick in, though…” he added.

“So… What happens now?” Kanie asked.

“Now, we, uh… deal with them,” said Eric. He pointed toward the crowd of adventurers gathered in front of them.

Kanie felt himself start to sweat. In all the commotion, he hadn’t even noticed them come out of the outpost buildings.

A swarm of angry comments swept over the area.

“What do you think you’re doing, barging into here, haah!?”

“Who’s going to pay for all this damage???”

“Do you clowns have any idea how important this place is!?”

Kanie felt someone grab him by the collar. It was a young man of tall stature. He was dressed in plain, evening nightwear.

“The hell’s the matter with you!?” the man yelled.

He pointed to Mylo, who was catching z’s.

“And what’s that over there? This isn’t some place to bring your pets, you know!”

“Um, o-ho-ho-kay, wait a second here,” Kanie said. “—First of all, who has a giant thirty-foot hellhound as a pet? Well, minus Kimora, of course.”

… Damn that hot dragon lady for putting us through all of this, he thought.

The adventurers fell silent upon hearing Kimora’s name.

“… Did you just say Kimora?” the man said.

“Yeah?” Kanie replied.

“Actually,” he said proudly, still being held by his collar. “I’ll have you know that we are pet-sitting right now.”

He pointed to the sleeping Mylo.

“That’s Mylo, Kimora’s ‘little’ fire puppy. She asked us to bring him back to Impes Lux for her.”

“Hah!” the man scoffed. “Surely you lie! Nobody’s ever seen a dragon queen before, and you expect us to believe one of them entrusted her pet to you?”

“They wouldn’t lie,” said a voice. “Those two are the reincarnated heroes of Jandariu.”

The man let go of Kanie’s collar and turned to face the voice’s owner, who walked into the area. It was a young woman of average height. Her brown hair swayed in the cool evening breeze.

“Willow…”

The other adventurers made a pathway for the woman. She strolled up to Kanie and Eric.

“My name is Willow. Willow Zeforya,” the woman said, introducing herself.

“… Zeforya?” said Eric. “Don’t tell me…”

“Yes, I’m the daughter of Albert Zeforya, the headmaster of Narvec’s guild.”

“Ah, good ol’ Albert!” Kanie exclaimed. “I take it you heard about us from your pops, then?”

“I did,” said Willow. “My father told me that he met you guys yesterday, and that—”

“Hahahaha! You’re here to romance Jandariu’s dragon queens to save the world.”

She laughed. Her laugh bore a close resemblance to her father’s.

Kanie frowned.

“… Hey, come on, not you too,” he said. “Is it really necessary to laugh at that?”

“… Fufu… hahaha.”

Beside him, Eric had also let out a minor chuckle. Kanie clicked his tongue.

… Eric, if you weren’t a petite little witch girl now, I’d smack you for that, he thought.

Willow glanced over at the sleeping Mylo. His belly expanded and contracted as he breathed.

“So, what’s the story with pooch over there?” she asked. “Mind telling me how the two of you ended up dog-sitting for the ruler of Impes Lux?”

“See, that’s kind of hard to explain,” Kanie said. “But if you insist…”

He proceeded to recount the events of the day to Willow.

“I see…” she said, nodding her head. “So, if I’m understanding this correctly, Kimora entrusted her pet hellhound to you as a test of sorts… ?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Kanie said.

“Did she give you a time limit to bring him back?” asked Willow.

“She didn’t,” Eric said. “But even so, we have to hurry. … Kanie.”

He gestured to Kanie. Kanie pulled the golden locket out of his pocket and flipped it open. He showed the interior to Willow. She narrowed her eyes, observing the countdown on the locket’s display screen. It read ‘363:22:58:49.’

“As funny as it sounds, we do have to make all five dragon queens fall in love with Kanie before this counter hits zero,” Eric explained. “Also…”

He looked at the hourglass symbol above Mylo’s head on his HUD.

“… We have less than seven hours until he wakes up,” he said. “We need a plan to get him the rest of the way to Impes Lux.”

Willow thought for a moment. Her face lit up.

“Actually,” she said. “There might be a way we can help you with that. Right this way.”

She led the heroes through the crowd of adventurers still littering the area. The three of them walked toward the center of the outpost, where an ornate marking rested on the ground. As it came closer into view, Kanie and Eric realized what it was. It was a magic circle.

The circle was relatively small, only spanning about seven feet across in diameter.

“What you’re looking at is a teleportation circle,” explained Willow. “Using this, it’s possible to instantly warp to Narvec’s guild and other outposts scattered throughout the world.”

“I see…” Kanie said. “That sure sounds handy.”

Willow pulled out a worn-down map of Jandariu and pointed toward a location on the outskirts of Impes Lux.

“There’s an outpost about ten miles out from Kimora’s kingdom,” she said. “Its name is Wyndros.”

“Right, I remember seeing that on my map, too,” Eric said.

He paused.

“But wait,” he said. “If you mean to send us to there, how are we supposed to bring Mylo with us? He’s way too big to fit on this tiny little circle.”

“We’ll use a shrinking spell,” said a voice. It belonged to one of the spectating adventurers.

“Yeah,” another adventurer chimed in. “We’ve done it many times before to transport bigger objects.”

“A shrinking spell?” asked Eric. He pointed toward Mylo.

“That thing’s a divine-class monster. You really think that’s going to work?”

“A-a divine-class monster!?” the adventurers shrieked. Their voices were synced in unison.

“Never mind,” one of them said. “We’ll let you guys take this one, after all.”

… ! These guys—they’re useless, Eric thought.

“Divine-class monsters… So they really exist…” Willow whispered. “Until now, there’s only been a single record of one in all-time.”

“… Zarcothida: the Dragon of the End.”

Ah, yes, our good buddy Zarcothida, thought Kanie.

“It is said that divine-class monsters are immune to all spells, save for forbidden ones,” Willow explained. “If the hellhound—Mylo, was it—really is that powerful, then we can do nothing to assist you. Truly, I’m sorry.”

“—No, you’ve already been a great help,” Eric said. “Thanks for the info.”

He scrolled through his spell roster, searching for a possible solution. A smile spread across his face.

“We’re in luck,” he said, beaming. “I do have a forbidden spell for shrinking targets—to up to one twenty-fifth their original size.”

“Alright, let’s hear it for the Infinity Mage!!!” Kanie said.

Eric’s smile disappeared.

“The bad news is… I’ll have to wait for my MP to refill before I can use it.”