A warm and gentle smile rests on her face as she stands before me. The surroundings slowly gain color, and the girl standing in front of me looks at me. I immediately recognize who she is. The violet fur ears and the tail, the blue eyes—all of that fits only this one girl. I walk toward her.
"Hey Lisa. That we meet again... then I can ask you directly about the legend," I say with a voice somewhat different than usual. This time serious, not so light and normal. I look around. Behind me stretches the Royal Castle of Lagoon. I recognize the place instantly: we are standing in the square where I tested my new magic power and helped the little beast-person girl. Lisa nods.
"Just ask. I will tell you everything you want to know," Lisa says.
"Good. Then first: why was the legend no longer correct after my death?" Lisa looks at me as if this question makes no sense. But if you think about it more closely, it does make sense, because this event is actually the end, or so one might think.
"The legend is wrong about everything and makes no sense anywhere," she replies to my first question with an ease as if it were obvious.
"Good. Second: what is the deal with the gods?" I ask her again. Her gaze suddenly changes into a serious and yet worried look, as if this question were not so easy to answer. She looks briefly into the air to consider how she should tell me.
"The gods want the war between humans and demons, which is why you are a thorn in their side. You give courage and hope, and besides that, you are powerful. The Status was only created to show false data so that humans would become reckless. The Status you see is the correct one. And it is not over yet. Three more," she says. My eyes widen when she mentions the Status. My Status with only one number is probably the true one. The levels and exact values are all just false information to make people think they have power. Many puzzles dissolve because of this. Maybe I can manage to show Mia and the others the true Status. At this moment, while I am unconscious, I do not yet know what happened to Mia.
"Good, then last question: what does 'Find Lisa' mean? Those words were in the legend back then." Now my voice is firm and more serious than before. Lisa smiles lightly, even though she already knows my decision that I have chosen Kira. Lisa looks at me softly, with an incredible warmth.
"Well, I..." Lisa finishes speaking, but only her lips move. I nod with a satisfied smile. I simply accept it.
"Thank you, Lisa, thank you for everything." My voice becomes gentle. This is the first time I appear vulnerable from the outside. Usually, I am always motionless or I cry when no one sees—not because crying is weak, but because whenever I cry, no one was around. I look at the surroundings; they turn snowy white. Lisa waves one last goodbye. The white light envelops me completely. This was the moment I woke up, when Luna cast her spell. With her ice-heat, which destroys all remaining demons. I tell them everything Lisa said afterward. Then I immediately look at the Status of everyone who was there, or rather, of those traveling with me.
Lilly: Strength: 1,201,200 Suri: Strength: 1,201,000 Milo: Strength: 701,000
Thanks to Milo, I realize that these values are not like before without intelligence. These values here include everything, no matter how senseless it seems. Whether it's intelligence, clumsiness, or the like—everything plays a part.
Luna: Strength: 1,100,000 Kira: Strength: 200,000
Kira has an average strength, even if I can't quite understand the calculation. My values have also risen well in the meantime; from 3,102,400, they are now at an incredible 4,050,000. I look at each of them individually.
"Wow, you are all strong. Kira, you too, you just only have healing magic," I say to them with a motivating voice. I smile lightly. The King approaches us with a joyful and serious face. He looks at us all. I quickly hide the Status windows of the others and my own as well. The King looks at us more closely. He notices that one is missing.
"Where is the girl with the pink hair?" he asks straight out. One cannot blame him, as he knows nothing about it. We step aside and the dead Mia comes into view. The King looks at us with pity. I hate such pitiful looks like the plague; after all, pity is just like someone looking down on you from above.
"That happened while Min was unconscious," Lilly says with a slightly sad voice. Everyone nods in agreement. The King looks at me.
"What was with you, Min?"
"I was exhausted from the General," I reply. The King looks at me with a look of understanding. He points to the castle.
"You shall be well rewarded, come into the castle," the King says with a grateful voice while many people come out of the castle. They cheer because the threat is over—but only for this country. I still have to tell the King once he has announced the reward. We walk to the castle, where people are still pouring out. We push through the crowd, while the King can simply walk through because the people make way for him. We push further through and arrive at the castle. The King is already waiting for us. We walk through the palace toward the throne room. We arrive at the throne room. The King walks forward to the throne. He sits down slowly. First, he looks at me and just smiles. I am curious what the reward will be. I hope for powerful daggers or finally a good bow for Suri.
"Min, say, what do you want?" the King asks with a formal voice. I know exactly what I want, of course, but maybe I can make a bit more out of it. But how do I go about it? Everyone suddenly looks at me.
"Good. May I choose five weapons? Two daggers, a greatsword, a rapier, and a bow," I ask directly, without pretending in any way. Honesty makes you vulnerable, but it is also the simplest way. The King looks at me with a confused face.
"You only want that? Do you have examples of how strong they should be, Min?" The King looks at me. I take out my daggers. The King is startled for a moment but then realizes I only want to show them to him.
"The weapons should be roughly on this level. So, if possible, on the level of the God-monsters," I say with an explanatory voice. The King looks at me bewildered. When he hears that, he no longer knows if it is possible. He orders the guards to search the entire treasury for such weapons. Now I can also tell the King everything in peace.
"I have to tell you something regarding the demons..." I tell him everything Lisa told me. The King looks at me with understanding. He realizes what I deal with every day. I look at the door, which is just opening. Three guards enter the throne room with the weapons I requested. The bow is laid before me first. It is green-gold, which looks super good. Its string is well-made. I take the bow, create a straw doll as a target, and take an arrow from Suri's infinite quiver. I draw the bow.
"Min, can you handle every weapon?" Luna asks with an impressed voice. I release the arrow. With a hiss, the arrow flies toward the straw doll. The arrow hits perfectly with a powerful thrust, piercing right through it, which one couldn't achieve with Suri's current bow. Next, the rapier is placed at my feet, which I naturally try out as well. I try out the other weapons too. All are improvements, except for the daggers for me—they are exactly as good, making them completely irrelevant. Everyone around me looks at me enthusiastically.
"You cut through the straw doll with every weapon like paper with scissors," Suri says, even more impressed than Luna was before. I give Suri the bow, Luna the rapier, Milo the daggers, Lilly the greatsword, and Kira simply the daggers that I don't need. Everyone thanks me as if it were something special.
With the gods, Kronus is currently planning and organizing the second wave of demons.
"When can the next wave start?" Freyja asks Kronus with an impatient voice.
"In ten days," Kronus replies. Freyja sighs impatiently but simply has to accept things as they are now. Lisa already told me all this—that a next wave comes every ten days and I have three days to stop the waves, otherwise the respective country falls. I told the King this as well, of course.
"We will set out in two days for Poran, the capital of Hutanien." The King nods at my statement. We say our goodbyes. Since our house is still standing, we could have lived there from the start, but the guards thought it too dangerous while the demon general was rampaging here. We walk out of the castle. People are already busy rebuilding the city. We walk through the half-destroyed city to get home. Our house only remained standing thanks to the barrier enveloping it. To be more precise, I created the barrier when we were back here. We arrive at our house.
"Min, can we please eat something from Milo's homeland?" We are just walking in when Suri immediately thinks about food. You can't blame her, though, as it was exhausting fighting the demon army today. Milo and I go to the kitchen after relaxing for a short while.
"Milo, what do you want to make from your world?" I look at Milo while he thinks for a moment. His decision falls between curry, pizza, and sushi—all things unknown in our world.
"Let's make sushi. That's something with raw fish, seafood, dried seaweed, and vegetables. That should be everything," Milo says with a joyful voice. He immediately takes fish from the refrigerator that he got only a few days ago. Plus seaweed that I pull from the dimensional hole and that I got from some monsters several years ago. The vegetables are not hard to come by, as I already have some standing around in the kitchen. We start preparing the sushi. First, we prepare the fish, then we dry the seaweed. A few minutes later, we are finished with the sushi preparation. We walk through the hallway of the house toward the dining room, where everyone is already waiting impatiently for the food. We enter the dining room. Everyone looks at us expectantly. With the help of magic, I have created so-called chopsticks, which are supposedly a tradition in Japan. No idea why something so complicated should be a tradition.
"What kind of cutlery is that for eating?" Kira asks with a confused face. The others agree with her.
"Those are chopsticks. Look, this is how you use them," Milo replies. He takes a pair of chopsticks, breaks them apart, and shows them how to eat with them. He picks up a sushi between them, which sits perfectly. It doesn't slip out, nothing at all, as if it were stuck to them. Suri now also takes a pair of chopsticks, breaks them, and tries it out. At first, she can't grab the sushi at all, but after a few attempts, she actually manages it quite easily. Since it is already relatively late, this will probably be the only and last meal for today. Luna tries it now as well.
"Huh? How are you all doing that?" she says, depressed and pouting, while we all manage it except for Luna. Only she can't do it. With an amused smile, I give her a fork and a knife, with which she can eat it very easily.
"Man Min, you're mean!" Luna says, while her pouting becomes even stronger. We all start to giggle. Luna giggles along and it turns into a laugh. We all enjoy ourselves after this hard day. We have all well-earned it. Without Kira, I would have died this morning. I have to tell her soon. I have to tell her that I love her, even if it means giving up on Lisa—but she surely understands. We finish eating in peace. The day passes quite simply and calmly.
"Hey, do you want to have a girls' night? All in one room," Kira suggests with a cheerful face, while Milo and I do the dishes.
"Hey Milo, is there a girl you love?" I ask straight out.
"Yes, you even know her. It's Suri. She's kind, sweet, and she always worries," he answers with a slightly quieter voice.
"And you?" he asks this time.
"Kira. I've known her a bit longer too," I answer with a slightly reddened face. The girls go up to Luna's room to talk in peace. Milo and I talk for a bit while doing the dishes. After a few minutes, we go to our rooms, while the girls slowly start to get going.
"Let's play spin the bottle! Milo once talked about it. You spin a bottle and the person it points to has to answer a question," Suri says with an enthusiastic face. The others nod in agreement. Luna takes a glass bottle from the nightstand. She places it in the middle of the circle where the girls are sitting. Luna spins the bottle first. The bottle starts to spin and slowly slows down. It stops at Suri first.
"Good Suri, since I spun, I'll ask first: is there a boy you love?" Luna's voice is excited because of the answer. Suri turns bright red at this question and the reaction the girls might have.
"If I say it, you say it too," Suri says with a bashful voice. The other girls all nod. Suri looks briefly at the floor. Everyone else looks at her tensely, with expectant eyes. Suri gives in and looks up again.
"Mi... Mi..." She is watched by everyone in such a way that the name does not cross her lips. But then she decides to finally go through with it.
"Milo! I'm in love with Milo!" She is watched by everyone with astonishment. Suri then looks at Luna first.
"Who do you love, Luna?" Suri asks Luna with an interested face.
"Min. I'm in love with Min. Not because he is strong. He showed me what freedom, fun, and true strength is. Not that strength is only magic and muscle power," Luna says with a convinced voice. Everyone looks at her with understanding. It is clear to me, of course, that she loves me. But a harem as a peasant wouldn't be okay. Because of this thought, I can't do it. The other girls also say my name. It's clear to me that everyone except Suri and Mia loves me. I am standing in front of the door where the girls are inside. My gaze is lowered slightly. I must accept that there can only be one girl for me.
"Then we will be his harem," Kira says with an enthusiastic face. I am just about to walk away from the door when Kira says something like that, as if it were something completely normal. The others look at her with an agreeing face, except for Suri, who abstains completely. Her heart already belongs to Milo, which I am completely fine with, because Suri is a girl I could never love, as she is far too good for this world. As if she were also from another world. But anyone can prove that she comes from here. I crouch down next to the door with only one question: "Should I tell them that I love them?" I stand up again after a few seconds and place my hand on the door handle. I slowly press the door handle down. What if they find it weird that I eavesdropped? How will it go once I've told them? I look determined. It doesn't matter what they say. I will behave the same as always. I slowly walk through the door.