(POV - Daniel)
Arghhh! Daniel, get Rose away from you, you idiot! Don't let her get closer!
"Fufu. Your face is red, Daniel. How cute."
"T-t-thanks, b-but I…!"
Arghhh! She stole another kiss! Daniel, be brave and push this lip-violator away from you!
Uwaaah! She pushed me to the ground!
No, Daniel, don't let nerves take over!
S-she's kissing my neck and… is she touching my crotch?
"No."
I pushed her off and stood up. Anything but that. I can handle a lot, but not that.
"I don't want a wife. I don't want a girlfriend. I don't want sex. I don't want friends with benefits… I never want to be with a woman in my life. If you're going to help me, it's because you want to be my friend, just my friend. I'll never have sex with you. You'll never kiss me again. I'll never have a girlfriend again. Never. Got it?"
"Oh… Fufu. A tough challenge, huh? I like it. Will you at least let me try to win you over?"
"I promised myself I'd never have a girlfriend again, so I don't think you'll succeed. But if you want to waste your time, go ahead and try."
"Since I met you, I've realized nothing's impossible in this life, so I don't think it's a waste of time. After all, you're Daniel, the one who makes the impossible possible. And if I try hard enough, you'll end up falling for my charms."
"… I despise cheating, and I consider a harem to be cheating. In other words, if by some miracle I fall for you, you won't have another boyfriend, and I won't have another girlfriend. But if I get a girlfriend who isn't you, you'll give up immediately. That's my only condition. Do you accept?"
"Oh, you're giving me the chance to have you all to myself without sharing you? Fufu. I'm more than okay with that. What do you want to name your first child?"
"Hmm. I think that's a decision we'd make together, but if I had to answer, I'd say Daniel, because my father and grandfather were named Daniel, and I want to keep that tradition. And if it's a girl, I'd name her Nadia, after my late mother."
"Daniel and Nadia, huh? Nice names. I like them. That's what we'll name our kids when they're born."
"And what names would you pick…? Arghhh! Wait, wait, wait! You're manipulating me into imagining having kids with you and wanting them!"
"Oops. Guilty."
"Arghhh! That's playing dirty!"
"Fufu. You're adorable."
Liz arrives with her stuff and lands next to us. My savior!
"Let's go!" Liz said.
"L-let's go!"
"See you later, Daniel," Rose said, winking.
"S-see you… Arches Nexus!"
Liz and I fly off.
"Daniel, are you okay? Your face is red," Liz said.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
… I'm sorry, Rose… I'm really sorry.
I want to be alone… I don't trust women… I don't believe in love anymore… I want to be alone… I'm sorry.
But… yeah… Having a son was one of my dreams, but it was a dream that included Sonia.
But that dream is dead, just like my love for her… Dead… Dead…
"Dead…"
Sandro… I'm sorry.
•
•
Thirty minutes later, we finally arrive.
It took longer because I had to fly at Liz's speed. My magic power is stronger, so my speed is much faster than hers.
Liz and I reach the spot where the others are. We land in front of Sara.
"Sorry, I'm back."
"Liz? You went for her?"
"Hi!" Liz said, smiling with a slightly loud tone.
I cover her mouth with my right hand.
"They're sleeping; don't shout."
I remove my hand.
"Sorry."
"I went to tell Liz's sister something."
"You went to the castle? But it's so far. How'd you get there so fast?" Sara said.
"I'm really fast when I fly," I said, smiling.
"Amazing," Sara said… blushing.
… Damn idiot. Stop smiling, Daniel… Ugh, I'll keep watch.
"You can sleep; I'll keep watch… But first, I need to do something. I'll be back in a minute."
"Alright."
I walk away from them and approach my grandma, who's asleep. Sorry, grandma, but I need this.
I shook my grandma until I woke her up.
"Is something wrong, Dani?"
"Grandma, could you hug me? Please. I'd really appreciate it…"
My voice breaks, and tears come out… Again… Damn it. I can't control myself.
"Dani…"
My grandma hugs me tightly, and I hug her back.
"Everything will be okay, Dani. Things can always get better; don't lose hope."
"Thank you… Thank you…"
This is what I needed… My mistake can't be undone, but that's exactly why I shouldn't dwell on it too much. No matter how much I think about it, it'll never be fixed, and it'll only make me feel worse. I need to move forward, for my grandma.
My grandma is my only motivation to keep going… Sandro… I'm so sorry… I promise I won't make the same mistake again… I won't.
"Thank you, I needed that. Go back to sleep."
"Dani, what happened?"
"I'd rather talk about it in the morning. Rest."
I kissed her cheek and tried to leave, but she grabbed my arm.
"Dani, I know you perfectly, and I can tell you're sad. What happened?"
"You were right, grandma… I shouldn't have killed Sandro… Let's talk in the morning, please, I'm begging you. I don't want to talk about it right now."
"… Do you promise?"
I raised my pinky and smiled.
"I promise."
"Alright, I'll hold you to it, but if you need to talk, don't hesitate to wake me."
"Don't worry. Sleep well."
I walked away. My grandma is so kind. She realized I really didn't want to talk about it and didn't push… I don't deserve her.
"I'll keep watch; go sleep."
"Did something happen? Your eyes are teary."
"It's a private matter, sorry… I'll keep watch; go sleep."
"Thanks."
The two go to sleep, and I start keeping watch.
"It's gonna be a long night."
Are there zombies or vampires? I wonder if the demon that'll destroy the world is the classic Demon King.
What if it's a loli? That'd be too cliché… Ugh, the future's a mystery.
… Sandro, he… No… I won't think about him anymore; I'll just keep hurting myself.
I'll just keep watch… Ugh, so quiet… Peaceful nights like this are nice but boring. It's gonna be a long night.
•
•
I thought it'd be a boring night, but that just changed.
An hour later, something interesting finally happens in this dull night.
I see a boy and a girl approaching me, floating. The boy has red hair, red eyes, and wears a black suit, like the nobles in this world. The girl has short pink hair, pink eyes, and wears a black dress. They look about my age. Both are transparent.
Ghosts?
They look so young… Ugh, this world's too dangerous. Anything can kill you, huh?
The boy approaches Rem, and the girl approaches me. Perverts?
"Let's have some fun, sister!"
They're siblings… That makes it sadder.
The girl gets too close to me.
"Yeah!"
The boy pretends to touch Rem's face, and the girl starts pretending to touch mine.
What are they doing?
I'll pretend I don't see them to figure out their intentions.
"They're so pretty!" the boy said.
"He's so cute; I wish I could really kiss him!" the girl said, blushing?
Can ghosts blush? That's weird… What?
Huh? I've got a bad feeling.
The girl brings her lips close to mine, and I step back, pretty nervous. Arghhh! Are everyone in this world perverts and sexual harassers?!
"What are you doing?!"
"Huh?!" the girl said, scared.
The boy tries to pretend to kiss Rem. Damn perverted ghosts!
"Get away from her!"
The boy turns to me, surprised.
"You can see me?!" he said, scared.
"Both of you, come here!"
I move away from my companions, and the ghosts follow.
I know being a ghost is probably boring, but that doesn't give you the right to sexually harass people!
"What are you doing?"
"Why can you see us?" the boy said.
"It's a power I have; I can see ghosts."
"Amazing!" they both said, surprised.
Ugh… "Amazing"… I've heard that word a lot today. It's getting annoying.
"Why did you try to kiss me?" I said to the girl.
I turn to the boy.
"Why did you try to kiss my companion?"
"It's what we do for fun; being a ghost can be really boring," the boy said.
"You look young. How old were you when you died?"
"I was 17, and my sister was 14," the boy said.
"I'm Molly, nice to meet you," the girl said, waving her hand while smiling.
Wow, wow. I'll admit she's pretty cute.
"I'm Zero, nice to meet you," the boy said.
I felt a chill hearing the name Zero… Why? That was weird.
"… I'm Daniel, nice to meet you. Listen, I don't want you going around harassing people. It's wrong, and you'll probably go to hell for it."
"Don't worry, they can't see us," Molly said.
"Yeah, besides, scaring and harassing people is the only fun thing we do," Zero said.
"How long ago did you die?"
"A few months ago, some guards from King Dreisi killed us," Zero said.
"I guess he's one of the kings in this country. Why did he kill you? Did you find out something you weren't supposed to?"
"For revenge. He killed us because our father refused to join the fight against the demi-humans," Molly said.
"Your father?"
Is he some famous adventurer or politician?
"Our father is King Finder," Molly said.
Wow, wow… What a huge coincidence… It's too convenient to meet them… It must be fate… Or God's helping me.
Whatever, it doesn't matter; it's not worth overthinking.
"Our father doesn't want to join a fight fueled by hatred," Zero said.
This is the perfect moment; I can get valuable information.
"Fight fueled by hatred? Can you explain? I don't know anything about the demi-humans; I'm a bit ignorant."
"Humans hate demi-humans; they think they're demons and want them dead," Molly said.
"And demi-humans hate humans because they're treated like disgusting monsters," Zero said.
"This hatred causes humans and demi-humans to fight each other often," Molly said.
"Three of the four kings in the country teamed up to fight the demi-humans," Zero said.
"Our father was the only one who disagreed. He thinks demi-humans are like us and don't deserve to die," Molly said.
"The kings tried to convince him, and when he didn't change his mind, they started threatening him," Zero said.
"When they threatened to kill us, our father sent us far from the Kingdom to keep us safe," Molly said.
"But the adventurers protecting us turned out to be King Dreisi's guards, and they killed us here in this forest," Zero said.
I feel anger in my heart after hearing that story and clench my right fist tightly.
Tch. Going that far over mere hatred… Those kings are the real monsters.
"I really can't trust the kings."
"Well, we'll leave; we won't bother you anymore," Zero said.
"Bye!" Molly said, smiling.
Molly pretends to kiss my cheek.
"If you ever see our father, can you tell him not to feel guilty about our deaths?" Molly said.
"You'll tell him yourselves. Resurrection Espiris!"
A circle appears under Molly, and she revives.
"Resurrection Espiris!"
A circle appears under Zero, and he revives. Done.
"Huh? What did you do?" Molly said, confused.
They haven't realized, huh?
I pat Molly's head.
"I revived you."
"Huh?!" they both said, unable to believe what they heard.
Zero and Molly start touching my face.
"We're alive?!" they both said, still shocked.
"I know a resurrection spell and brought you back to life."
"Thank you!" Molly said, excited.
"You're wel—Uwaaah!"
Molly jumps on me and starts kissing me. Arghhh! This is way too illegal! Someone stop her!
"Thank you…"
She kisses my lips.
"For…"
She kisses my forehead.
"Reviving me."
She kisses my nose.
"N-no problem," I said, embarrassed.
F-fortunately, they were innocent kisses, not adult ones like Rose's.
I step back a bit, pretty nervous. I-I don't want another heroine popping up in this story. Arghhh! Why does this keep happening to me?!
B-better get back to the main topic.
"We're going to your father's Kingdom. Want to come with me?"
"Yes, of course! Thank you!" they both said.
Wow, wow. They even seem like twins.
Molly and Zero touch their bodies and hug each other, crying.
How beautiful. This is what I needed to see after all the problems today. Something touching and beautiful.
"We're alive, brother!"
"We'll see our father again, sister!"
How beauti—Huh? What's she doing?
Rem gets up from the bed and heads toward them.
"I'm trying to sleep! Shut up!"
She hits them on the head with her fists. Ouch. That must've hurt.
"We're really alive," Zero said, rubbing his head.
"My head hurts!" Molly said, complaining about the pain.
I pull Rem away from them. She ruined a sweet, touching moment, but they deserved it for being sexual harassers.
After pulling Rem away, she lies back down to sleep and doesn't ask anything about them.
Yeah, I guess she was really, really sleepy.
"Well, do you want to sleep, or do you want to stay with me and keep watch? Some company would be nice."
"I'm not sleepy; I'll join you," Zero said.
"Me too," Molly said.
The three of us start keeping watch… It's too quiet… It's nice, but a bit boring… I want to talk.
"So… Are you an adventurer?" Molly said.
The silence is gone. Thank you.
"Yeah, though I'm new."
"What kind of magic do you have? My sister and I have summoning, light, and earth magic," Zero said.
"All of them."
"Huh? What'd you say?" Molly said, confused.
"I have all types of magic."
"Huh?!" they both said, confused.
I cover their mouths with my hands, and Molly blushes. I don't want them waking my grandma.
"I know what you're gonna say; wait."
I remove my hands from their mouths and pull my card from my pocket.
"So you believe me."
They both examine it closely. I wonder if there's a way to confirm cards are real that I don't know about. Anyone could forge one, but since Sara didn't doubt me when I showed her mine, it means there's a way to tell if a card's legit. I'll ask them later.
"Daniel, you're amazing!" Molly said, excited.
She starts kissing me again, and I step back. Arghhh! This is way too illegal for me!
"Stop kissing me!"
No, I'm not a coward; it's just that I barely know her. I'm not a womanizer! And she's too young for me!
"Amazing, I didn't think it was possible to have all types of magic," Zero said.
"The adventurer with the most magic types was Lina; she has five types, but you have all ten. Amazing!" Molly said.
An adventurer with five magic types? Wow, wow. Sounds interesting.
"Is she strong?"
"She's very strong; she's S-rank," Molly said.
"She has water, fire, earth, wind, and summoning magic," Zero said.
Great, a strong person. I need to get her help.
"Where can I find her?"
"Last I heard, she went to Soular," Zero said.
"It'd be interesting to talk to her; with so many magic types, she must know a lot of spells."
"What are you going to do in our father's Kingdom?" Molly said.
"Just want to find out something, that's all."
Well, honestly, I don't know exactly what I'll do.
Lina… She doesn't seem useless.
I need to find her.
•
•
7:03 AM. I gave them three extra minutes of sleep to show I'm a nice guy, but it's time to wake up!
I wake everyone with a loud shout.
"Up, soldiers, we need to move out!!"
They all get up slowly, yawning… They woke up quickly… Great. I thought it'd take longer.
Wow. My grandma's hair is super messy and tangled. Hmm… I saw a comb around here… Here it is. It's Sara's, but I don't think she'll mind sharing.
I approached my grandma and started combing her hair.
"Good morning, Cristina."
"Good morning, Dani."
"G-g-good morning, Daniel!" Sonia said.
"Good morning, Daniel," Cris said.
"Good morning, Cris."
I kept combing my grandma, ignoring Sonia.
Ahem. "Didn't you forget someone?" my grandma said.
"But…"
"No exceptions."
"Ugh… Fine…"
Sonia looks at me with puppy eyes, and I sigh.
"Good morning, blonde girl with black-dyed hair."
"Dani."
"Ugh… Good morning… What was her name again?"
"Dani!"
"Alright, alright… Ugh… Good morning, Sonia."
"Good morning, Daniel!"
Sonia hugged my arm, and I didn't need to push her away; Cris pulled her off me.
"You have no shame, do you, sister?"
"Stay out of it!"
… Did she slap Cris?
"N-no… I-I didn't mean…"
"Sister, please, accept that you lost him and stop being so selfish."
I picked up Cris's glasses from the ground and fixed them since they broke. It was just a matter of using the object creation spell and thinking of Cris's glasses, but new.
"Here."
"Thank you so much."
I approached Sonia.
"D-Daniel, I-I didn't mean…"
I raised my hand, and she tightly shut her eyes, thinking I'd slap her, but I just patted her head and then shook her hand… A simple handshake.
"Huh? Daniel?"
"Sonia, please, stop trying to win me back; it'll never happen. Honestly, I'd rather die than get back with you. But that doesn't mean we can't be friends again… Being a couple was a huge mistake. That's all I can offer you: friendship. Goodbye."
I walked away and sighed.
"Get in the carriage; we're leaving."
"So early?" Alex said.
"If we leave now, we'll get there by afternoon."
Sara looks at Zero and Molly. Yeah, yeah, I know. More people.
"Who are they?" Sara said.
"They're King Finder's kids. I saw their ghosts and revived them. Get in the carriage; we need to go."
"King Finder's kids?!" they all said, confused.
"No time for explanations. I'll fly since there's not enough room in the carriage."
And I don't want an unnecessary scene where one of them gets too close to me; I don't want to give anyone false hope… Uwaaah!
Rem climbed onto my back! I'm not ready yet!
"I'll go with you!"
"Wait, I haven't activated the strength spell yet!"
I fall to the ground with Rem.
That hurt…! Arghhh! Her breasts are in my face! How is that possible if we fell face-first and she was on my back, not in front of me?! Love God, I'm telling you I don't want to make any moves with any of them; don't give them false hopes!
"Daniel! I-I'm sorry!" Rem said, worried.
Rem helps me up. Arghhh! I refuse to talk about this! I'll erase it from my mind!
"Get in the carriage. Divine Horse, come to me!"
Treis appears.
"Hello, good mor—Huh? W-what?"
He froze when he saw Molly and Zero. Did he know them?
"Molly and Zero?"
Oh, they know each other? What if they were enemies?!
"Treis!" they both said, excited, with no trace of hatred in their voices.
No, they don't hate him. They were friends, huh?
They both hug Treis… and Molly cries a lot… Wow. Did they miss him that much? It's sweet to know Treis is treated well and not like a slave despite being a summon.
"I guess you know each other."
"My family used him to transport us," Molly said.
Treis starts crying… Wow, wow… It's cute, though it's weird to see a unicorn cry.
"How are you alive? I saw you die," Treis said.
He was in the fight, huh? It must've been hard for him to watch them die and not be able to save them.
"Daniel revived us with a resurrection spell," Zero said.
"The Royal family's resurrection spell?!"
"Yeah!" Molly said.
"But no one's been able to use it in two hundred years!"
"I guess I'm a lucky guy," I said, smiling and winking to boost Treis's confidence in me.
"Are you from the Royal family?! Only they could use it!"
"Nope, I'm a poor commoner."
Zero and Molly keep hugging Treis while I load the stuff onto the carriage.
It's a beautiful moment, and I wish it could last longer, but an army's after me, and we can't afford to rest.
"We missed you!" Molly said.
"I'm sorry; if I hadn't let my guard down, you wouldn't have died."
"Don't worry, it wasn't your fault; those guards were too strong."
From what I heard, the guards killed them quickly. They didn't assault Molly or do anything disgusting to her body.
But they killed two innocent people… I already have the perfect punishment for those guards when I find them.
•
•
After talking with Treis for several minutes, I got bored of listening. The trip's long; they have plenty of time to talk.
"We need to go now," I said in a serious tone, so they know I'm not kidding.
"Yeah, sorry."
Treis gets into position, and we leave.
You can talk more with them on the way; we can't stay here any longer.