Miki, The New Girl

“What was that spell?” Prix hissed to Idalec as they walked,

“I told you already it’s White Grate.” Idalec shrugged,

“I thought that spell would just knock everyone out! What does it actually do? Does it send their mind to hell?” Prix rasped,

“No,” 'but you can’t be sure.’ “Again, it just-” Idalec tried to think of the right way to describe it,

“It’s like a flashbang.” Sato chipped in,

“It’s just an illusion. It’s not real.” Idalec said, moving his hand in a gentle circle. “You're not actually getting hurt; it's just your mind playing tricks on you.”

“Then why was everyone screaming?” Prix demanded,

“Well…” Idalec said they had gotten to Letin, the two demons Luna initially slaughtered, lying there, “... it’s a good illusion.” Idalec guessed the only reason He even knew was that the officer who had discovered it told Vazove he hadn’t observed any ear or eye damage directly linked to the spell.

“Where did you learn it? Who else can cast it?” Prix asked, pale as she saw people- villagers- breathing ragged, short breaths, lying around.

“So I killed that one-” Sato said, pointing to a hacked demon, “-Sunya killed that one-” Sato pointed to another demon lying nearby, a single claw swipe across the neck,

“I got forty-one of them.” Luna scratched her chin,

“Now we don’t compare kills in this party.” Sato said, raising his hands as if surrendering, “We’re all in this together, so everyone helped equally-” Sato made finger guns at Prix, “- isn’t that right, Prix? We’re all equals here?”

“I had no part in this,” Prix said, hanging her head,

“But this was your plan?” Idalec said, raising an eyebrow,

“This isn’t what I wanted- and-” Prix went silent.

The five of them ended up wandering into the middle of town, where three middle-aged, important-looking men stood, talking in shaky voices.

“Village elder?” Prix asked, giving them a curtsy. “My name is Prix.”

“He-hello,” one of them said, noticing the five heroes. The three village elders’ eyes quickly moved from Prix, landing on the very blood-soaked Sato. “Yo-you killed the demons?”

“Yep.” Sato nodded. “Sure did.” Luna snorted as she kept licking at her paw,

“T-Thanks.” The man nodded before turning back to the other two,

“Do you have a moment to talk? This is actually the heavenly hero Sato who will defeat the coming calamity.” Prix asked politely,

“Sure.” The man turned around with the speed of a god. “Thank you, Hero Sato.” The man bowed, followed by the other two elders,

“Do you think I can get a reward?” Sato whispered to Prix, who looked pissed at that request,

“Ok of course you’d ask for a reward,” Luna said sarcastically as the three elders rose,

“What would the hero want? A feast?”

“One slave girl~” Sato said with a fake deep voice, pointing his index finger at the sky.

The three elders looked at each other, processing the request without words, “We can arrange it by tomorrow mo-morning?”

“Perfect~” Sato continued,

“We would greatly appreciate a place to rest and a simple meal as well,” Prix asked, still holding up the corners of her dress,

“Faus, can they stay-ay with you?” the main talker said right away.

“Gladly,” Faus replied, looking like he wanted to roll his eyes at the request.

“Man, I'm shot.” Sato yawned and walked off without Faus.

“What an idiot.” Luna chuckled as she watched Sato stroll on and off.

“…”

“It must have been by chance,” Luna whispered in frustration as Faus ran to get ahead of Sato,

“If you like, Captain," Idalec said,

Sato had actually walked in the right direction by chance.

Faus showed them inside his modest home, feeding all five porridge. “Uhmm… Hero Sato, what was that-” Faus’s hands jittered, “-that painful whiteness?”

“Oh-” Sato said thoughtfully, speaking between spoonfuls of porridge, “-it was just an illusion, lil bro. Did it actually bother you?” Sato bragged

“How could it have been an illusion?" Faus asked, entranced,

Sato tapped his index finger on his mouth as if telling Faus to go silent. Faus obliged.

Once they were done, Faus laid out some blankets for Luna and Sunya and gave up his bed to Sato, one guest room to Idalec, and one to Prix. Before laying out a blanket for himself near the fireplace. Everyone then turned in for the night.

It was another pleasant night, and in the morning Sato, like a low-battery smoke detector, kept chirping, “Where is my slave girl?” which made the morning not so pleasant.

“I’ll go check on it,” Faus said, leaving his house in a hurry right after he was done giving everyone bread with butter and a cup of water.

“Call me Ayanokoji; how I’m manipulating that man.” Sato rubbed his hands together in satisfaction.

As everyone was eating, Prix spoke up in her noble voice, “Are your ears alright today, Sato?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah.” Sato nodded, getting a smile from Prix,

“Sunya and Luna, are your ears alright?”

Sunya scratches at her ear, “It’ll be fine soon.”

Luna didn’t give Prix the time of day; instead, she kept grabbing more bread,

Prix nodded, slightly sad, but she kept eating.

Once everyone was done eating, Sato rallied everyone to go, “Let’s find my slave girl!”

The five heroes wandered towards the center of Letin, the streets lacking the dead demons of yesterday. A small crowd was at the center of town,

“SUP CHAT!” Sato made his presence known very effectively,

“Hero Sato.” The three elders from yesterday bowed; everyone else in the crowd followed that was except one: a girl with thick cast iron cuffs,

“My slave girl!” Sato ignored everyone to walk over to her,

“Would she do?” the main elder asked nervously,

“Welcome to the team!” Sato said, standing in front of the girl, “How are you doing, Miki?”

“That’s not my name,” Miki said, rolling her eyes,

“You look like a Miki; let's go,” Sato said, just walking off,

“Don’t you want her deed?” The main elder said, producing a piece of paper, causing Sato to pause midstep, sweating, “I-” Sato spun around like a toy soldier bouncing on one foot, “- was just- testing you.” Sato concluded by putting his lifted foot down. The elder cast the spell to transfer the deed before handing him the deed. “Thank you, senpai,” Sato said, giving the man a formal bow before accepting the deed.

“You're welcome, hero.”

Once that was done, the six headed out of town.

“Those handcuffs look awfully heavy,” Prix said sympathetically as she led everyone out of town. “Shouldn’t we take them off for her?”

“Why?” Sato asked, looking back at Miki, who was struggling to keep up with them,

“Because they’re heavy?” Miki joked,

“Why do you have them on?” Prix asked,

“I’m too fast on my feet.”

“She’s a thief.” Luna clicked her tongue. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Idalec slowed to walk beside her, black hair, brown eyes, and a slightly tanned complexion. She was wearing a pair of overalls with a simple black shirt. “Why are you looking at me?” Miki snarled at Idalec,

‘Those boots are well polished, surprisingly good leather as well.’ Idalec looked at Miki’s shoes with a distant gaze.

“Hey!” Miki shouted,

“Quiet,” Luna said, walking on Miki’s other side. Miki went silent.

“So you think we can defeat the calamity already?” Sato asked, pulling out his sword and swinging it around,

“We have to liberate another city before that.” Prix moved a bit further from Sato,

“One more girl for harem-sama.” Sato giggled. Miki was the only one with a confused expression out of the six.

As they made steady progress back into the woods,

“Hey, what if Miki carried our tent for us?” Sato suggested, putting away his sword and walking backwards,

“Where are our tents?” Prix asked, coming to a standstill.

The only two people carrying anything were Idalec, who had his suitcase, and the tent. Prix had her messenger bag, but otherwise nobody was carrying anything.

“Did they dissolve?” Sato suggested,