"Min, I am a reincarnated person, a human from another world." His voice is sincere, making me realize that he would never lie in his life. That explains his power, his level boost—it explains everything.
"Tell me everything, how and what happened." My voice is curious as I look at him.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything." His voice becomes more serious as he begins to narrate.
Milo is walking down a street in Tokyo while some people look at him. In Tokyo, he was a voice-acting star who voiced many animes and series. Animes are series that are drawn. He goes into a shop that is open 24/7, just like in Manduro. There, he bought a manga—those are books with drawings and speech bubbles inside—plus a few snacks and instant noodles. He pays for everything with these so-called Yen, the currency from Manduro. Through this, I also learn that the King of that land is Japanese.
Milo walks out of the shop. He has just broken free from a story-action-adventure game after 15 days. His eyes are starting to fail him, which is normal after pulling four all-nighters. He goes back home. He walks up a steel staircase. He loses his balance due to his lack of sleep. He reaches for the railing but cannot hold on. He falls to the ground, back of the head first. Blood runs from his head while he lies lifeless on the ground. Everything turns white before his eyes. A voice rings out.
"Oh, you human from another world," says a voice that resembles Freyja's.
"Where am I?" Milo's voice is frantic as he looks around constantly. Freyja appears before him. She looks at him with a gaze that announces joy.
"Good, you will kill this boy here, for he is a threat to this world. His name is Min." Freyja says it with a murderous voice. "Like in a game," Milo thinks amidst all the franticness. Freyja raises her hand without saying another word. Her explanation is vague, as if she has no more time.
Milo dissolves. A rift appears in the air, invisible to everyone. Milo falls out of the rift and sees from the air how my magic destroys the entire forest. That was at the point when I fought against the Star Orc Lord and where everyone forgot me, except for Min. Only he remembered me thanks to his divine power.
He sees the girls running past him, whom he also saw when I was shown to him. The news is just spreading through the city that the entire forest has been destroyed. Milo looks at his status, where all the values are listed and also that he levels up faster than normal humans.
Meanwhile, I have already arrived in Kimura. Milo follows me. Now I also know what was going on back then when I felt that unease. Milo casts an invisibility spell on himself and sneaks into the guild. He observes everything—the dropping of the Star Orc Lord, or rather the corpse—he notices everything.
The next day, he found out where I wanted to go and which way I was taking. That's how the situation with the orcs came about. Actually, he wanted to intercept me without monsters and train on goblins, but unfortunately, it didn't go as planned. This situation reminds him of the game he played in his previous life. He sees how I defeat the orcs. "Why? I thought he was evil. What is this?" Milo thinks during this. He sees how incredibly strong I am. "What is this? This power, it's not normal. He kills them in seconds," Milo thinks again.
We train and practice, sleeping during the day. When we encounter the Reaper, I sever one of its arms. "What was that? I didn't even see anything," Milo thinks with a fearful inner voice. Milo also runs off when I give him the instruction. From that point on, Milo began to regret hiding it from me. He struggles with it the whole time, even when we were having fun.
While he was enrolling at the school, Milo had also walked past a church. For every time he prays in a church, he is brought to the gods. He intends to stop by the church after registering at the school. He goes back from the school, passing the church. He even goes inside, which is why he was a bit late that day. He begins to pray in the church.
A bright light appears, and he finds himself before Freyja again. The other gods have specifically left, while Freyja sits at a two-person table for show, without the orb in the middle. Suspecting nothing, Milo sits down. Freyja gives him a cup of tea.
"Oh Milo, it's nice that you visit u... me." Freyja saves her cover just in time. Milo simply doesn't question this "u," leaving Freyja safe for the moment. Milo drinks some of his tea.
"I wanted to ask what is so bad about Min," Milo asks with a serious voice that also sounds a bit confused.
"He is so strong that he cannot be controlled, no matter by which god or in which world. He could never be erased from history. Not even I, the Author, can manage that. The only possibility is to be stronger than him, but I can think of no one who is stronger than... although," Freyja says with a fearful and pity-seeking voice.
"What do you mean by although?" Milo looks at her confused, while the room where the two are sitting begins to flicker. He looks around in confusion.
"I'm sorry, time is up." Freyja sounds panicked when she sees that time is up. But Milo notices her frantic actions, which makes him skeptical.
"I will help Min," Milo says at the moment he lands back in the church. Freyja looks grim, while Milo destroys the statue of Freyja with a determined look, but with an extra quiet attack so that no one notices. He exits the church with a cloaking spell, so no one notices him.
"Gods are filthy beings; they don't care how we humans are doing." Milo's voice is so quiet that it cannot be heard, no matter how close one might stand. He walks along the streets, and so we have arrived in the present, where Milo was considering whether he wanted to tell me. And you can see how he decided.
"If I only knew the coordinates of Freyja," I say to Milo with a reflective voice while he takes a breath after the whole narration. He looks at me thoughtfully but reaches no conclusion, as he couldn't see the surroundings.
"I am sorry, Min, truly. You may even kill me, since I am technically a traitor." His voice sounds submissive. I wave my hands hastily to show that he is mistaken.
"No, we are friends after all." My voice is kind, and a smile is on my face. Milo looks at me as if a weight is being lifted from his heart. He had a heavy burden to carry the entire time. I only realize through this story what friendship is. It may not be blood, but it is thicker than anything else in this world. It is probably the strongest thing in this world after love. I will crush them into the ground.
"Milo was able to deceive you, Freyja, but I know now. It is perfectly clear to me that you are not the only one. No, there is even a god who is 100, maybe even 1000 times as strong as you. I will crush you if you think I am just a toy. But first, the demons are next." My voice is full of murderous intent and hatred. Milo looks at me.
"I'll help you, Min." Milo looks at me confidently. I look at him with a smile that resembles a psychopath's. The girls come around the corner, having overheard the whole story with Milo and my decision, even Lilly.
"Hey Min, you forgot us." Luna looks at me with crossed arms. In me, that feeling of togetherness rises again. Tears form in my eyes, but they are not tears because I am sad, but because I am overjoyed.
"Thank you, you are wonderful," I say with a crying voice. The girls nod and Milo extends his fist. With tears on my face and a smile, I give him a—as they would say in Japan—ghetto fist. At least that's how Milo said you can call it.
The restaurant owner also comes around the corner.
"Hey, were you planning to skip the bill or what?" The owner sounds angry. I shake my head and give him the necessary money for what we ate and drank. The owner says goodbye to us, and we go to the inn across the street.
The paths between the tents are completely empty. Only the roaring of the Demon General can be heard in the silence of the night. We walk toward the tents belonging to the inn. We go into our tents that we got. Only Lilly still has to get a single tent. We go to sleep. Everyone falls asleep well, except for me.
After a few hours, I go out of the tent again. I look up at the starry sky and lie on my back on the lawn by the hill behind my tent. My hands under my head, my left leg bent, and my right leg crossed over it. The starry sky twinkles beautifully.
After a few minutes, I hear a strange noise. It sounds like a faint "help." Through my perception, which I've had from birth, I can hear even from 10 km away, but here I hear it clearly. A fearful "help," with panicked low screams in between.
I run to the tent from which it comes. The cries for help become more hopeless and fear-filled. I open the tent without hesitation. This time it is not a beastman, but it is a girl who is at most 15, and a man who must be over 30. He turns to me.
"Shit, why couldn't you keep your mouth shut, you damn bitch!" The man says it with an angry voice. I look at the girl, who only has her underwear on. But one notices that she didn't want this. Her face is full of tears and her eyes are like glass. I create a small fireball and aim it directly at the man.
"You, the girl, come here! I will protect you." My voice is even angrier than usual. Hitting and abuse are one thing, but rape is something that simply cannot be forgiven. I fire the fireball, but mid-air they transform into fire chains. No one notices the commotion. As soon as he resists, he gets burn wounds, which hurts incredibly. I take the rapist guy while the girl puts her clothes back on. I remain completely cold at the sight of a half-naked girl.
"Why do you have no expression in your eyes?" Her voice is quiet and shy, as if she were waiting for a reaction from me. Well, I turned 13 three months ago.
"Well, I generally don't react to things like that. But how old are you actually? Because this guy was... well, he raped you or at least wanted to."
"Yes, if you hadn't come, I probably wouldn't be a virgin anymore. Oh, by the way, I turned 13 a few days ago and my name is Kira," she says after my question. But her voice is still very quiet and reserved. She is fully dressed again. With red cheeks, she approaches me and holds onto me hesitantly.
"Please stay with me." Her voice is fearful and pleading. I smile briefly and then nod. We walk through the camp to find a guard. Finally, we find one to whom I then hand the man over.
"He raped the girl, I've settled it," I tell the guard with a relaxed but not arrogant voice. The guard nods gratefully. After we leave again, Kira looks at me.
"Can I sleep with you? I'm afraid alone." Her voice is still trembling and fearful, but also as if she trusts me completely. Which makes me happy, though such people are betrayed most often. I nod in agreement, albeit without Milo's consent, but the idea...
"Why am I only surrounded by girls?" I say very quietly to myself with the wish to have more than just one boy in this group. If only I had known at that point which four people I would still meet, I probably would have looked for them immediately. Especially for a certain person the Legend already mentioned: "Find Lisa." That's what the Legend said before the demon attack. But at the time I thought: "Oh, that'll just be another error again, after all, the Legend has been wrong the whole time."
We arrive at the tent for me and Milo. We go inside. Milo is sitting awake, waiting for me.
"I saw it, you saved the girl, didn't you?" Milo sounds somehow strange, as if he were disappointed in me. I look at him in confusion.
"What's wrong?" my voice sounds as if I am worried about him, which of course I am. He tells me what happened. Freyja supposedly descended to her and told her something about me destroying humanity as soon as the demons are dead. But that doesn't fit my personality, Milo says so himself.
"So, it's just that I'm worried about you. Sorry if it sounded like I was disappointed." Milo's voice is justifying, as if he hated himself for believing Freyja, even if only for a short time.
"It's alright. Is it okay with you if she sleeps here?" My voice is cheerful, without putting him down for thinking such a thing of me. Milo nods in agreement to my question, while Kira is already lying down. Hesitantly, yes, but she can relax in my presence.
"This world is cruel... crueler than my world," Milo just murmurs to himself, while Kira and I have already fallen asleep.