Volume 2 - CH 4

A grand scene spread out before them.

Mountains pierced the heavens, as tall as could be, unburdened even by clouds. Ryner Lute stared up at a massive cliff that ran perpendicular to the horizon.

“…Are you fucking kidding me,” he whispered. He had messy black hair and eyes where motivation had gone to die. His usual slouch was amplified as he held himself for warmth. It was a bleak, rocky landscape, devoid of even plants… 

Ryner stared up at that sheer cliff for some time in blank amazement before turning back. “You can’t be serious, Ferris. There’s no way that we can climb this… Look how tall it is. It’s disappearing past the clouds, you know?”

The beauty answered with a perfect monotone. “Mm. No problem.” She had long, glistening blonde hair and an unbelievably beautiful face. She wore leather armor on her delicate body, and held a longsword that definitely looked too big for her.

Climbing a mountain like this - no, how could a sheer cliff like this even be called a mountain? Either way, it was impossible.

“We can’t reach the neighboring Iyet Republic if we don’t climb this,” Ferris continued. “So climb. I don’t see any problem here.”

“We’re definitely dead if we fall. You know that, right?”

“Then don’t fall.”

“…No, that’s not the…”

Ryner’s words trailed off. He knew that saying anything was pretty useless at this point, so he was silent for a while, just staring at the sheer cliff. 

He tried again, changing his approach. “There’s something that’s been bothering me for a while now. The Iyet Republic’s surrounded by these crazy mountains, right? But it’s also connected to other countries via the ocean. That goes doubly for the Runa Empire, since they’re so close. We could’ve taken a ferry there instead. So why have you been completely ignoring that option?”

Ferris averted her eyes. “Mm. That. Even I could be in trouble if I was locked inside of a ship with nowhere to run with a sex maniac like y—”

“No, even if I attacked you, I’d be found dead in the ocean sooner than later… Wait, this isn’t what we’re supposed to be talking about! Answer me - why aren’t we just taking a boat there?”

“…So you haven’t heard the rumors. They say that there’s a monster lurking in those waters—”

“Liar! Why are you dodging the question? It’s so un-Ferris like. C’mon, tell me the truth. Take a deep breath and just say it,” Ryner said, and staaared at her. 

Ferris wouldn’t make eye contact, and she didn’t say a word. Then she finally spoke in a whisper. “I get seasick.”

Ryner was silent for a moment, then turned on his heel and began to walk back the way they came. “Let’s catch the next ship out!”

“We’re not riding in a boat.”

“Noo! I’m not risking my life for a stupid reason like that! I don’t even like exercising! I’ll collapse… auh.”

The sharp sound of Ferris unsheathing her sword echoed throughout the mountains.

“……”

“…Uuh… I don’t wanna… It’s so much effort,” Ryner whined as he moved to what looked like the easiest portion of the cliff to start scaling.

A little ways away, by huts nestled around the cliff, numerous bearded men spoke amongst themselves.

“Why are they climbing that mountain? Why this mountain?”

“They’re unfamiliar faces. Don’t tell me they actually want to climb it…”

Another one of the bearded men snorted. “What are you saying, Rick? There’s no way. This is the hardest mountain to climb. We climbers know it as the holy mountain Bethlude. Do you think these amateurs could climb it without any preparation?”

“R-right. Do you think they’re tourists? Then they shouldn’t get too close to it. This isn’t just any mountain. It is God’s home.”

“See?” Ryner mumbled as he listened. “They said it’s reckless to climb this mountain without any preparation. I told you that this was dumb as—”

Kaching!

“Ugh, okay, I know!”

“Mm.” She put her sword back away with unreal speed, then turned to the bearded men. “God, you say? What do you mean?”

The bearded men’s eyes widened. “Hah? You came here as tourists without knowing anything about it? Whatever. I’ll explain, and then I need you guys to hurry on out. Umm, where to start… You know that these mountains host goddesses, right?”

Ferris shook her head.

“Ahh, I heard about that,” Ryner said. “They say that they’re ugly and envious and won’t forgive women who try to climb their mountains, right? That’s why it’s said that a woman climbing up here will cause a calamity. It’s just a superstition, though.

The bearded men nodded. “True. But that’s said about the other mountains. This mountain is a little different. A real Goddess lives on Bethlude Mountain. And to add to that…”

The men’s expressions wavered. “They say that she’s unthinkably beautiful. We would die for her. We planned to climb her mountain with a tribute today, as we always have…”

But then they looked at Ferris. “You, too, are beautiful. Far more beautiful than what a human could be. Could it be that you’re also a goddess…? No, you are wearing armor; are you a man, then? Are you perhaps a god who’s come to take the goddess as his wife? Y-you can’t do that. We will not give you our goddess!”

So they said… even though Ferris was unmistakably a woman. But people in Runa mistook her as a man time and time again due to the simple fact that she wore armor, and women in Runa couldn’t join the military. That was so deeply ingrained in their brains that they couldn’t comprehend Ferris being anything but a man.

Ryner figured he’d better set them straight. “You guys are misunderstanding something. Ferris isn’t a goddess or a man. She’s actually a demon—ugyaah!?”

Ferris ignored his screams and spoke. “I see. But don’t worry. It’s true that I am a transcendent, world-shattering beauty, but I am human. It sounds like this ‘goddess’ is my opponent in otherworldly beauty.”

“You’re the one that said you’re just a normal, human beauty… ugyaaah!”

“Mm. Now, Ryner—”

“Y-yes, ma’am?” Ryner’s voice was feeble as Ferris lifted him by the neck from where he lay on the ground, on the brink of death. 

“—We’re climbing this mountain.”

“W-we just told you not to!” One of the bearded men said, flustered. “If the goddess fell in love with you…er, no, I’m sure that the goddess would hate to see an outsider climbing her mountain. If you go regardless, I just know that she will bestow devine punishment upon us…”

Ferris completely ignored him, never releasing her hold on Ryner’s neck. “Let’s go, Ryner,” she said as she placed her foot on the perfectly vertical cliff. She took five, six quick steps up. Then, when she couldn’t get any higher by stepping up alone, she rammed her sword into the cliff.

She continued at that rate for a while before addressing Ryner. “You’re heavy. Climb it yourself.”

“Uh, haven’t I been telling you that I can’t do that this whole time? My head’d get smashed to hell and back…”

“Hehe.”

“You did this on purpose!?” Ryner half-yelled as he gripped a suitable rock jutting out with one hand, then used the other hand to draw a spell. “I wish for a spark of light - Cursed Tether!”

A string of light appeared from his magic circle. He gripped it with his free hand. 

“I have to find a good rock to tie it around,” he whispered. “Then I can climb.”

He did the same thing several times, slowly making his way up.

“Aah…what a pain. I’m so sleepy.”

And so he successfully climbed up the mountain. “

Ferris watched him to confirm that he was fine. “Mm.”

She took a few steps up, using extremely thin perches as her guide as she climbed the steep cliff so fast that it could almost be considered running. She made it look far easier than it actually was.

The bearded men watched from below. “Th-this is the hardest and most dangerous mountain in this whole range… They can’t be human!”

That’s what they thought they said, anyway. They were so far down that it was hard to tell.

---

A while later— 

“Wow, it’s so tall!” Milk Callaud said from the base of the mountain. She had a flaxen ponytail and big, cute eyes that shined at the sight. She was a sweet sixteen year old girl who was supposedly the chief of a squadron of Taboo Hunters, but… 

She turned back to her subordinates, who were all older than she was.

“Hey, Luke! Luke! We’re climbing this, right? So can we climb it now? Can we!?”

The man she called cute was a twenty-five year old man whose hair had already gone white. His expression was troubled, but Milk was a cute kid, so he couldn’t help but look at her with the eyes of a father. “Chief Milk. It may look fun, but climbing a mountain like this is dangerous. You understand that, don’t you?”

“Yeah!”

“Then let’s start preparing for our climb.”

“Yaay, mountain climbing! ♪ Yaaay!”

Milk hummed as she took her backpack off. It was a cute bag with an embroidered bear on the back, and it was filled with everything they needed to get to climbing. Her subordinates all watched with fondness.

“No matter how fun it may seem, our sources are saying that the taboo breakers are climbing this mountain,” Lear, one of her subordinates, said.

Luke nodded. “If possible, I’d like to avoid ever meeting them… I want Milk to forget all about that Ryner guy.”

“Yes. We cannot allow our chief to marry that motivationless man.”

“Hm hm hmm…”

And so on and so forth. As usual, they worried about her just the same as fathers might. Did they even remember what their duty was supposed to be…?

Anyway.

They finished their preparations.

“Let’s climb!” Milk said, all smiles.

Luke and the others nodded.

But then—

“W-wait, you guys!” A bearded man said from afar. “Don’t tell me that you plan to climb this mountain? Not only is this a holy mountain, it’s also said to be the hardest mountain to climb around here. Only experienced climbers like us should—”

Milk’s voice drowned them out, though. “Mountaaaain climbinggg! ♪”

With that, Milk began to climb with a grapnel and rope. Sure enough, she was a military elite… 

“Ah, wait for us, Chief!” Her subordinates said, then began to climb just as easily.

Milk looked back at them. “Ah, Moe, not like that! You have to grip it like this.”

And so Milk and her subordinates climbed, humming all the while.

The bearded men watched in blank amazement. “The other guys made climbing our mountain look easy, and now these guys are too…”

They stood still for some time before one suddenly spoke. “Ah! But won’t our goddess be angry with all these outsiders climbing her mountain?”

The men all looked at each other, then paled. “Th-this is bad. What should we do? The last time the goddess got angry, she brought many to the brink of death and demanded more sacrifices than usual for the next three months…”

“We have to stop them!”

“Y-you’re right. Okay. We’ll use magic to send a message to them - that they absolutely cannot climb any further!”

““Yeah!”” 

---

Ryner and Ferris were high enough that they might as well have been in heaven. They were surrounded by thin clouds. They couldn’t see the ground at all when they looked down - hell, they could hardly see the other mountains.

Ryner stepped up, finally free of the need to use his rope of light. Ferris sheathed her sword from beside him, then looked up at the sky. She was holding a dango skewer, though Ryner had absolutely no idea how she’d gotten a hold of dango in a place like this. Such was the heartwarming scene of two people who’d absolutely die if they fell.

They were the only two living breathing people there.

Ryner sighed. “I’m so tired, Ferris… I hate mountain climbing, and I’m sleepy…”

“Mm. Your dullness never fails to amaze me.”

“Says the one who decided this’d be a great time to eat dango.”

“Mm. I have a separate stomach for dango.”

“That has nothing to do with what I was saying… Well, whatever. Give me some, too.”

Ferris’ eyes narrowed. Then she brought the dango skewer to Ryner’s lips.

“Aah.”

She fed him the dango. It absolutely looked lovey-dovey from an outside perspective. “Heh. It’s feeding time, Ryner.”

“What am I, your dog…? I don’t really have the energy to argue though…”

A grapple suddenly flew at them, landing by their feet.

“Mm?”

“What?”

They didn’t have time to be surprised about the first one when several others soon flew at them. They dodged them all with ease, though… 

The bearded men from earlier rose from the edge of the cliff, all their eyes on Ryner and Ferris as the grapples continued to fly towards them. 

“Oof! Uwah, w-wait,” Ryner protested. “Why are you guys attacking us? We’re… uah, they’re not listening at all. What should we do?”

Ferris, however, was still eating her dango, completely unperturbed. “I’m busy. You figure it out.”

“Hah? Busy? All you’re doing is eating dango.”

“‘All I’m doing?’ Don’t take dango lightly,” Ferris said as a murderous aura began to spread around her.

“Oh, um… r-right. You sure are busy! I’ll do my best…”

“Mm.”

All Ryner could do was sigh. He looked around at his foes, tired to his core as he dodged their attacks. For some reason, the men were on the verge of tears.

“You! You! Why can’t we hit you!? If our goddess were to see this… if she were to see…”

“Hurry! We don’t have the time for this. We’re in the goddess’ territory!”

Ryner, on the other hand, was perplexed. “You know that’s just a superstition, right? You don’t need to be so scared… But what should I do? I can’t attack them back, and this isn’t exactly the kind of place you can escape from… Guess I could try anyway.”

With that, Ryner used the rope of light to support himself as he slowly moved along the wall. He moved like his heart wasn’t in it, and like all he wanted was to go to sleep… Even so, the men couldn’t manage to hit him with their grappels. 

Eventually, Ryner’s smooth but leisurely movements brought him to one bearded man in particular. “I saaaiid that you need to stop this.”

“Uogh!? How did you do that? I-if you’re going to kill me, then just kill me! If our goddess will forsake us either way, then I have no will to live any longer!”

“Whoa… You seem to think I’m a super terrible person? I’ve been going out of my way to avoid killing you.”

“Terry!” One of the other bearded men yelled. “Shit! He got Terry!”

“Wait! Don’t kill Terry! We’re in the wrong, and we won’t attack you anymore, so please!”

Ryner was more and more dejected by the second. “I just said…”

Then Ferris spoke from behind him, dango still in hand. “It’s useless. This man is a demon - he is everything from a kidnapper to a sodomist. Accept your fate and offer him your bodies.”

The bearded men turned as white as a sheet. “Hii! He’s a true deviant! Please, anything but thaaaaat!”

Ryner sighed. “The bright side is that it was easy, I guess… You guys won’t attack us anymore, right? You’ll let us climb in peace?”

The men nodded and nodded.

But then a voice echoed through the mountains. “Hoh. You dare to betray me, the great Estella?” It said, with a voice that was somewhere between sexy and immature. 

“Huh? What?” Ryner said. He looked around, but all he could see were the bearded men. If they weren’t in despair earlier, now they definitely were.

“G-Goddess! That’s not it! Th-that’s not it! We would never betray you…!”

“Then pray tell, why have you led these people here?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Enough! I will not listen to the excuses of your lot. You will have your fair share of punishment from this. I command thous to wait at the base of the mountain.”

“U-understood…”

With that, the bearded men descended, dejected.

Ryner watched them leave, astounded. Then he turned to Ferris. “What’s going on? Think there’s really a goddess?”

“Maybe,” Ferris said, completely disinterested.

“You, the trespassing man and woman—doth thou think that I will let you leave so easily now that you have so carelessly infringed on my territory?”

“Huh? Man and woman?” Ryner repeated. “You know that Ferris is a woman? She’s wearing armor… oh, wait, are you not from Runa?”

“What a strange thing thou hath said,” the maybe-goddess said, as if she thought that Ryner’s question was stupid. “I am a goddess. I do not think as you lowly humans do.”

Ryner shrugged. “She says she’s a goddess, Ferris. Do you believe her? Because I don’t.”

“Mm. It’s a bluff, beginning to end. It is impossible for there to be someone more beautiful than I am.”

“Hey… Don’t you get embarrassed when you say stuff like that?”

“……Not particularly.”

“Your face is getting red… Not that it really matters right now. Anyway, I don’t believe it. Show me some proof that you’re a goddess. I need the proof! If you don’t have it, then we’re leaving.”

They stood there for a second, waiting for the goddess of the mountain to descend from the clouds or something without a shred of anticipation. Instead, they were like the part of the audience at a magician’s show that didn’t believe anything they were looking at.

“Mrrgh… How dare thou make a fool out of me… Fine. Let there be proof!” She said, agitated. 

The clouds began to part.

“Ohh, cool. That’s cool,” Ryner said, still not tense in the slightest.

The parted clouds made way, revealing a human - a woman with long, dark hair, robed in a shrine maiden’s outfit. She was scowling, but even so, she was far too beautiful to be considered human, just as Ferris was.

She had long, glossy dark hair. Her facial features were flawless. Her skin was perfectly smooth. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. She seemed to float through the air.

“She’s… floating?” Ryner asked. “I thought flying magic was so difficult that Runa gave up on it. Maybe she’s a real goddess…? What do you think, Fer…”

When Ryner looked to his partner beside him, she was gone. Instead, she was in front of Estella, killing intent radiating from her to the point that it felt like it had a heavy sound… 

Ferris stared at Estella with her usual blankness. Estella stared back with a triumphant look on her face. Then they spoke at the same time—

““Hm. Big talk for someone as ugly as you.”” 

Then they glared at each other.

“Mm.”

“Mrgh.”

Ryner looked at them for a moment before taking a step back. “Um, I don’t really know what’s going on, so I’m gonna head on over to Iyet now—”

Estella cackled. “Aiming to escape? Of course. My beauty is undoubtedly enough to make you run with your tail between your legs.”

Then Ferris’ sword nearly crashed into him. “You’re running? From who? I don’t see why you would need to run from this mountain’s affected master, even if she’s so ugly that she’d look better with a beard hiding half her face.”

“What!? For you to say such a thing! I will not forgive you. No, I will bestow upon you my divine punishment!”

“Mm. Come at me,” Ferris said. Her sword glinted and she rushed towards Estella at lightning speed.

“Huh?” Ryner’s eyes widened. A scarlet pentagram rose up in each of his eyes. With that, he’d be able to see any magic used during this fight down to its composition… 

“…This is…”

Lightning shot from Estella’s hand, and Ferris leapt up to dodge, then turned it into a kick. She removed the tie from her own outfit, wrapped it around her sword, and got a good hold on it to bring herself back to the cliff.

“Mrrgh… Youuu…”   

“Mm. This is a bad place to fight. I’m at a disadvantage…”

“Ferris,” Ryner called out to her, “She’s definitely not a goddess. She’s using a spell that wraps transparent wires around herself so that she can move through the air like a puppet. It looks like she’s floating to us, but it’s really just magic. So she’s definitely human. She’d probably fall if you sliced the wires.”

Ferris nodded and looked Estella up and down.. “Just as I thought, you’re human. That means…”

“‘That means!?’ Finish thyne sentence! Oh, how you get on my nerves! But this man is something. True, I am not a goddess. I am from Iyet, and I am most certainly not a woman of low birth. Instead, I am a woman whose beauty surpasses even that of a god’s.” With that, Estella laughed, seemingly in good spirits.

In Ryner’s opinion, both of the women were beautiful beyond words with personalities that were terrible beyond words… But he was pretty sure that he couldn’t say that out loud.

“However, I shall not allow you to leave, as you know so much,” Estella continued. “I have enraptured the mountain men, who bring me money tributes so that I can build myself a small white house on the peak, where a prince will come to see me while riding a white horse… Heheheh! ♡” She giggled and reddened as she detailed her commonplace dream.

Ferris snorted. “What a small dream. It cannot compare to my magnificent dream of building a dango shop in the cozy countryside, running it together with a husband, and where we will win the Most Delicious Dango Award three years in a row.”

“What!?”

“Hm.”

Ryner could only stare at the shockingly dumb competition that was spreading out before his eyes. Then he yawned and gripped the rope of light in his hand. “Uh, anyway, I’m gonna go take a nap, so can you guys wake me up once this is settled?”

But just then, the familiar voice of a girl echoed through the mountains. “Aaaaaah!?”

Ryner instinctively jumped away. “Huh? Are you serious? Why’s she all the way up here…?”

She had a flaxen ponytail and big eyes, and yeah, explaining it again is pretty redundant. It was Milk.

“Ryyneeer, I’ve found youuu!”

Her voice seemed to echo up from hell.

Ryner shivered. “S-scary…”

He’d taken his time climbing up here, fully believing that she wouldn’t show up. But here she was!

“Whoa whoa whoa…”

Ryner took his rope and began to climb up higher to escape. 

“Ah! Ah! I won’t let you escape!” Milk said. “I definitely won’t let you get away again! Luke, Lach, Lear, Moe! We’re catching him! Cover for me!”

“Y-you want us to fight him here? That’s impossible, Chief. W-we’re dead if we fall.”

“Just don’t fall then!”

Ryner felt like he’d heard that somewhere before. 

“Alright, Ryner! I’m coming!” Milk yelled. She took both her hands off the wall, moving to flip herself.

That set Luke off into a panic. “Uwagh, Chief! Please don’t push yourself!” He shrieked as he grabbed her to keep her from falling. 

Milk didn’t seem to care in the slightest as she used both hands to draw a magic circle. 

“A-are you kidding me!?” Ryner asked. “You’re using offensive magic here of all places? And isn’t that a pretty wide-range spell?”

“What!?” Estella followed. “A wide-range spell would cut my wires! This is ridiculous… What are you, a demon!?”

Ferris nodded. “Mm. This man threw her away as though she was garbage, and now her grudge has turned her into a demon. He’s also made demons of other women, children, and men… Exterminating them is my job.”

“Wh-what a grave fate that thou hast endured!”

“What are you saying? She’s obviously human,” Ryner said. “Though she’s just as much of a pain in the ass as real demons…”

Estella glared at Ryner. “Silence, enemy of women. Enough snide remarks.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that…”

“Okay, Ryner!” Milk said, somehow smug that her magic circle was complete and aimed straight at Ryner. “I wish for a burnt prairie - Crimson!” 

Bullets made of fire shot out from her magic circle with explosive sounds.

“Uwagh!”

“Mm.”

Ryner and Ferris simultaneously jumped back. In the second that they were airborne, Ryner grabbed Ferris by the arm and used his other arm to draw a magic circle and fire a rope of light at a cliff.

But Milk had already readied her next attack. “Geez, Ryner! Dodging isn’t allowed! I went through too much trouble to cast that for you to just dodge it! Okay, take two!”

Fireballs slammed against the place that Ryner’s rope was tethered to and broke pieces of the cliff away.

“S, seriously…?”

“Hm!”

Ryner managed to find a foothold, and Ferris jumped again, grabbing a wire that held Estella up.

“Ryner!”

“Huh!?”

Ferris outstretched her sword, and Ryner clung onto it for dear life.

Ryner turned back to look at Milk. “You’re gonna be the death of me one of these days…”

Just then, he realized that there was something strange about her. She was shivering, and tears were building at the corners of her eyes.

“Hey, what’s wr—”

But before he could even finish his sentence… 

“Wh-what’s going on? There’s another beauty now!? And she’s flying! I want to be a bird, too! Oh, I’m mad now!” Milk said as she started to draw yet another magic circle.

Estella could hardly believe it. “Wh-what is wrong with these people…”

Ryner sighed. “Where did I go wrong…”

Ferris nodded, reached into her pocket, and pulled another skewer of dango out.

Milk’s magic circle exploded, and Estella’s wires broke with ease.

“Mrgh.”

“Haah…”

“…Mm…”

Were those supposed to be screams? Either way, they began to fall towards their deaths.

---

They were swaying from a cliff, back and forth with the wind as if on a swing, nearly grazing the ground. Countless spells had been cast to keep Ferris’ sword close enough to the wall to offer them some protection from falling. Ferris was hanging from the sword by her legs, and Ryner and Estella were stiff like cooked shrimps as they hung from her.

“I-I was sure we were dead meat,” Ryner said. “We really kept falling until the last possible second.”

“Hmh. True,” Estella agreed. “Time and time again I saw my dead grandmother attempting to strangle me, yelling madly that she’d never forgive me and I’d better get over there nooowww… I suppose that’s what they call life flashing before your eyes.”

“What did you do to your grandma…? Guah! Ferris! Why are you trying to fall on me?”

“Mm. Does it hurt?”

“No shit! Ugh, I’m so over this. I’m tired of living. Can I sleep now?” Ryner asked, exhausted to his core.

Then a ruckus built up around them.

“Oh… Isn’t that our goddess? She fell from heaven…”

“Ah, and that beautiful man is there, too. Did he elope with the goddess…? No! We can’t let that happen! Come on, guys!”

““Alright!”” 

Bearded men began to swarm around them, each one radiating murder.

And to top it all off, a voice suddenly echoed from above. “Ryneeerrr! Wait right there! I won’t let you get away!”

Yup, that was the voice of the devil alright.

“Uuh… I want peace. When will I finally have some peace and quiet around here?” Ryner wondered as he cradled his head in his hands. He stayed like that for a moment, lamenting. Then he raised his head and sighed. “What should we do, Ferris? There’s a demon above us and we’re surrounded by these bearded guys…”

“Mm. It’d be troublesome if the demon got a hold of us. I suppose it can’t be helped. We’ll take a ship to Iyet.”

“It is about time that I return home as well,” Estella said. “I have hidden out here for long enough. I will take a trip back, and tidy up my grandmother’s grave…”

“Hey…”

Estella got up, completely ignoring Ryner, and took off in a run. “You, woman. I place our competition in your care until we meet again. Then we will determine who is the beautiful woman between us, and there will be a loser.”

Then she drew a circle of light. Her surroundings became vague, and then she disappeared… 

“The goddess disappeared!” One of the men said. “W-we’re nothing but filthy men… This is your doing, isn’t it? Give us our goddess back!” Once again, they radiated murderous intent.

Ryner sighed. “I feel like… Like, is it just my imagination, or are more and more pain in the ass women forcing their way into my life?”

“Hm. I don’t suppose you’re counting me in that list?”

“No, no, you’re not on the list, so you can take your hand off your sword now. Anyway, let’s go before we get killed.”

“Mm.”

With that, Ryner copied the spell that Eslina just used, and disappeared like mist into the air… 

---

By the way, on the following day, in about the same place, a story began to unfold.

It was a legend about the mountain goddess and a legendary hero fading into mist as they escaped a demon… 

The story flew through the grapevine until it eventually reached Ryner.

“…I was the number one victim, but they forgot that I was there at all?” He whispered, pitiful, but his voice fell on deaf ears.