The Hero’s Party

Explosions continued to echo across the land as we continued to head away from the battlefield. The girls in the second carriage signaled over to us.

No signs of any followers.

“That’s good and all, but I wish we could have helped them out”

Toshikasu’s expression darkened a little as he slumped on the carriage floor.

“We’d run out of stamina before we even get to the demon portal if we did that. This is for the best”

The mage girl tried her best to comfort him. I also tried my best not to think about it. Defeat the Demon Lord, obtain their mana stone, and head back home. This was not my fight in the first place.

“You’re right. Thanks Hannah.”

“Welcome.”

Toshikasu immediately stood up, looking renewed.

“We haven’t properly introduced ourselves. My name’s Kobe Toshikasu, you can call me either Kobe or Toshi” He grinned, extending his hand towards me.

“My name is Al. It is good to meet you.”

Head Knight Grayson peeped inside the carriage. “Al’s our group’s hero by the way”

“Oh! That’s cool man! Which country are you from?”

“Same as you. Japan.”

Please do not ask where in Japan. Do not inquire me about that.

“I was in Tokyo, headed for work when a bus hit me out of nowhere. What about you?” 

Great, he asked. Time for a random excuse. The same thing that happens to most of these otherworlders.

“I was playing an mmorpg when I suddenly got transported into this world.”

“Damn, that’s a noble way to die. What game was it?”

"..." I kept quiet.

He sat down beside me. Looks like he wanted to keep talking.

“Did the Goddess also summoned you?”

“No”

“That’s a shame, just kidding lol. Me, I was summoned by the Goddess. Her name was Amaris. She looked so beautiful. And hot. Maybe I’ll use my wish for a chance at her hand in marriage” Toshikasu grinned. 

Lines appeared all over my face. I wanted to blast him to oblivion.

“Amaris is not going to marry a human. And most likely never will.”

“Ehh, well who knows? Things change-”

BOOM

An explosion a few meters away shook the carriages.

“What was that!?”

“Are we under attack?”

Everyone looked to the side, expecting an attack. Except me, who is just sitting calmly in my seat. Toshikasu reminded me of the worst of both Mr Head Knight and the female otherworlder.

“You’re awfully calm Al.”

Head Knight Grayson noticed my indifference to the explosion.

“It is nothing. No one is here except us. Just a misfire.” I replied.

“Misfire by who?”

“What else? Probably a stray projectile from the battlefield.” I scoffed, taking a few breaths. 

Alright I’ve calmed down. Toshikasu was probably joking.

The unit then entered a forest.

---

A few hours later. It is noon.

The sounds of explosions are replaced with bird calls, ambient sounds from nearby rivers and shaking leaves. We arrived at a clearing. An area in the forest without much tree cover.

Head Knight Grayson stopped the carriage. The rest follow suit.

“Alright time to set up camp.” He hopped off the carriage.

The rest also got off the carriages. The two girls from the other carriage quickly ambushed Toshikasu.

“Toshikasu! Ride with us in the carriage next time.”

“I agree. It was very boring without Toshikasu.”

The last two girls whose names I do not know. One has a bow strapped to her back. She is wearing light armor and has brown hair like Mercedes. She removed her ribbon, her long hair blowing loosely in the wind.

Toshikasu proceeded to pat her head. “Alright once we move out, I’ll switch out with Shaun.”

“Hooray! Toshikasu is riding with us next time!” She jumped gleefully.

The other one had silver hair and had multiple daggers strapped on her belt. 

She went deep in thought. “Oh, so his name was Shaun. Noted. Toshikasu, who is that guy with you?” She asked, pointing at me.

The two then looked at me. Who asks someone's name from someone else?

“Ah this guy is Al, he’s like me! Also ask his name from him, it’s quite rude.” He beamed at the two girls.

You are quite rude as well, otherworlder. 

The two walked up close to me.

“My name’s Elen, nice to meet you Al.”

Alright, bow woman = Elen.

“I’m Julie, pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

And daggers woman = Julie. Toshikasu’s party is really odd. They all seemed to worship him. Regardless, I should just play it cool. 

That is quite a weird thing to think for someone like me.

“It is nice to meet with both of you.”

Toshikasu spoke aloud. “Yo, Jace! Renz!”

He nodded to the two of them. They come over.

“Sup Al, what is it Toshi?”

“It’s pretty obvious Jace, we’re gonna practice.”

All 5 of them started to leave the camp.

“Don’t go out too far! Lunch will be ready soon!” Hannah yelled at them. 

Iris and Elizabeth are helping her prepare the food.

“Nadia, Aidan, let’s follow them.” I called out to the twins. 

I want to observe how Toshikasu’s party fights.

“Okayyy! Let’s gooo!!” Nadia ran on ahead.

Aidan quietly followed behind. We walked towards the direction of Toshikasu’s group.

---

“Eaaahhhhh!!”

slice slice

Several goblins are sliced in half. Toshikasu ran around, brandisihing dual blades of light, hacking the monsters several at a time.

His group came upon a gathering of a few hundred goblins by a river. Despite being such oddballs, the group is quite strong.

A goblin aimed his bow at Toshikasu’s head.

“Dash!”

The arrow did not reach the target though, as Renz quickly steps in front and blocks it with his shield.

“Dive Impact!” Renz yelled, aiming his spear at the goblin archer.

Rank 8 Martial Arts. His arm glowed as he readied his spear, then threw it at full strength. The spear flew with such a force that it went through the target, blowing away the goblins' upper body.

The spear then landed in the middle of the goblin forces, impaling another one in the process. Renz immediately disappeared, appearing at the spear’s location.

He swiped in an arc, slicing through 7 goblins at once.

“Woaahh that guy is so strong!” Nadia exclaimed as she looked at them from afar. 

Aidan observed silently, writing it down in his journal. We were currently watching them from behind, unobservable because I cast a cloaking spell on the three of us.

“Watch out! Gonna rain some arrows! Strafe!” Elen called out, aiming her bow at the sky.

Elen shot multiple arrows to the sky in quick succession, the arrows glowing mid-air before falling on the goblins.

Attribute: Homing.

Martial arts and Magic combined. She already chanted the spell ahead of time. Each arrow suddenly curved, landing directly into the heads of the little monsters.

Lots of bodies are on the floor with their necks sliced. I surmise this is the work of Julie. I do not see her anywhere though. Neither do I see Jace.

A few minutes later and all the goblins are reduced to corpses. Toshikasu then pointed at a spot in the ground. It suddenly glowed and Jace appears, tied up in ropes.

“Ahhhhhhh that took foreverrr! Why didn’t you just untie me instead of cloaking me? Next time, let’s make Renz the bait!” Jaze exclaimed as Renz untied him.

“That is only if I lose at rock-paper-scissors next time.” Renz jeered at him.

“No fair! You always win at that game!”

Elen went off to pick up the arrows. Toshikasu then walked over to our spot. Julie appeared right behind him.

“Well, aren’t you guys gonna come out?”

Oh? He can see us? This otherworlder is better than I thought.

I undid the spell. Aidan and I calmly walked to the group.

“WOW! That was amazing!” Nadia rushed over to Toshikasu.

“Thanks! So anyways. Did you enjoy watching us fight?” He grinned.

He then looked at me.

“I simply did not want to ruin your fun. You guys are quite skilled.” I said with a smile.

“You think so? We’ve been training a lot for the past week.” He rubbed his head, smiling.

He is quite the simple guy.

“When will we practice?” Aidan talked from behind me. 

I have never seen the two fight, neither did they see me fight as well. This is a good time to test our skills.

“Now sounds like a good time. How about it Al? We’d like to see you guys fight as well. Don’t worry we’ll back you up if something bad happens.” Toshikasu grinned.

Time to step up to the challenge.

---

Further up the river. A pack of Kobolds sat around a fire, roasting some meat. A little taller than goblins, but their ferocity however is more than double. They look like inferior versions of werewolves.

Takashiro’s group is right behind us. He covered them with the same spell I used last time.

“Alright you guys ready?” I took out my grimoire, checking the pages.

It has Attribute:Homing and Light Cloak stored in its pages.

“What’s the signal?” Aidan pointed his crossbow at the Kobolds.

“The moment I dispel the cloaking spell.”

Time to take them out. I deactivated the cloaking spell, pointing my hands at the kobolds.

“Gravity Well!-”

“Dash!!”

The kobolds are held to the ground. Nadia is right there with them. Looks like she lopped the heads of two of the unlucky kobolds right before my spell hit.

“Wha-whatttt! So heavy! Oof-”

She gets held down as well. Numerous arrow bolts are on the ground near them.

“Tsk!” Aidan immediately repositioned, chanting a spell. 

I Immediately deactivated my spell. The kobolds got up before Nadia.

She should not have rushed like that. I teleported her behind us. Looks like she is knocked out.

I aimed at the kobolds one more time. “Chain Lightning!-”

“Duplicate!”

Aidan unleashed a torrent of arrows which double in midair and fall on the kobolds. They all go down.

crackle

A chain of lightning continued to burn the already dead bodies to a crisp.

There’s silence for a brief moment. Then a laugh.

Toshikasu walked over to us. “Lol what was that? Have you guys never fought together before?” 

“I know we all h-hate monsters but t-that was overkill! Hahahahaha!” Jace kept on laughing.

Toshikasu observed us. “You guys were powerful but lacked teamwork.”

Renz slapped Jace on the back.

“Ok-okay jeez, it was so hilarious I couldn’t stop myself.” Jace simmered down.

This feels... embarrassing. I did not expect Nadia to just rush in carelessly.

“It was a mistake on our part. We didn’t know Al could cast spells without chanting.” Aidan seemed to have taken the blame.  The arrow bolts on the ground near the kobolds disappeared.

Now I understand how his weapon worked. His modified crossbow can shoot multiple arrow bolts quickly and it has an enchantment which gives it infinite ammunition.

“uughhh… huh? Oh I’m still alive!” Nadia jumped up quickly. 

She looked at the burning carcasses.

“Eh?”

“It’s all taken care of sis.” Aidan patted her head.

I gathered the mana inside the grimoire. The pages went blank.

“Nadia, Aidan. Let us go for another round. This time I know what to do.”

“O-okay!!” Nadia followed behind.

Jace smirked. "Gonna go overkill again pfff-“

Takashiro cloaked them again. This time we went downriver. We meet Head Knight Grayson along the way.

“You guys, there you are. Come back to camp, lunchtime.” He grinned as if he made lunch himself.

Unfortunate, looks like this will have to wait.

He looked around. “Where are the others?”

“Right here.” a voice called out in front of him.

“Huh? Where?”

Takashiro’s group reappeared in front of Head Knight Grayson.

“Oh.”

We went back to camp.

---

“Woah, what happened here?” Head Knight Grayson looked around.

We arrived to see several demon corpses litter the area around camp.

“You guys are late, let’s eat lunch.” Hannah is currently being healed by Shaun. 

We need to leave this area soon.

Head Knight Grayson walked towards her, ignoring the corpses. “It’s too early to be found by the demons, was it a scout patrol?”

“It doesn’t matter. They’ve all been dealt with. Our cover is safe.” Hannah wiped her staff. 

Nadia poked at the corpses with her katana. The corpses began to smoke.

“That’s so creepyyy.” She backed away slowly.

Jace sat down. “Way to ruin my appetite, girl.”

Takashiro sat down as well. “Let’s just eat, who knows when we can eat in peace like this again.”

His group gathered around him.

I looked at my group. They’ve already grabbed some to eat.

Iris sat down with me, handing me a plate.

“Aelius, let’s eat together.”

“Thanks Iris.”

She nodded.

Alright then. Time for lunch.