Volume 3:PROLOGUE

With a new family called Night, my life on Earth began to be more fulfilling, but in the other world, I was supposed to head to the royal castle to fulfill my promise to Lexia-san and the others, but we were interrupted by a mysterious attacker.

And that mysterious attacker was the one who trained in this Great Devil's Nest together with me, albeit for a short amount of time─Luna.

Why Luna attacked Lexia-san, I don't know the reason behind it. But now that she attacked Lexia-san, the princess, she would be treated as a felon.

Even though it was to save Lexia-san, I attacked and defeated Luna, and I told Lexia-san that I wanted to at least take care of her at home until her wounds were healed without handing her over immediately… and to my surprise, she followed me straight to my house.

Once I shook off the fact that Owen-san was chasing after us, I had no choice but to allow Lexia-san to take care of Luna at home as well.

＊＊＊

"──And so, Yuuya-sama. I've vaguely understood the relationship between Yuuya-sama and this girl. Then what is the magic that moved us to this house in an instant just now?"

"Eh?"

When I was sitting near the bed where Luna was sleeping for a little while to see how she was doing, Lexia-san, who had a somewhat serious expression on her face, asked me that.

"What can I say… it's a new magic I created for transportation."

"You created it?"

"Y-yes."

Huh? Did I say something strange?

"Yu-Yuuya-sama? Do you have any idea how amazing that was? Speaking of teleportation magic, it's the kind of magic that can only be described in legends!"

"I-is that so?"

"Yes! Therefore, your magic is a historic achievement. Everything will be fundamentally overturned!"

Despite her serious expression, Lexia-san is closing in on me as if she can't control her excitement.

"With Yuuya-sama's magic, you can limit the damage of bandits and monsters when moving through the city and… More than anything else, you're able to rush to the actual scene in case of an emergency, it's a magic that only existed in fairy tales… Until Yuuya-sama used it before."

"T-to go that far…"

For me, I created it because I needed it at the time for field study, and other than that, I just thought it was useful magic that made it easier to explore the Great Devil's Nest.

However…

"But… you can't show this to the public."

"W-why?"

"I told you before, right? Everything is going to be turned upside down. And that includes… war."

"Ugh!"

If I think about it carefully, Lexia-san is right. Even on Earth, if there is a power like mine, it can be abused in any number of ways. And that's also the case in this world. Rather, why didn't I think of that possibility… I'm afraid of my own optimism.

As I realize the dangers of teleport magic after all this time, my face turns blue, but Lexia-san's eyes shine in spite of such a look on my face.

"Well, all I have to do is to keep my mouth shut, and it must be more convenient than anything else! As I expected of Yuuya-sama!"

"Eh, that was light? Are you sure you want to be that light?"

"It's fine. Ah, but, Yuuya-sama. You should not tell people about that magic unless you're sure about it, okay?"

"O-of course!"

"Okay, then. Well, I don't think anyone would be able to use it even if you taught them."

"Eh? Why?"

When I asked that straightforwardly, on the contrary, Lexia-san gave me a strange look.

"Why, you ask? It's because teleportation magic is a legendary level of magic, a magic that's packed with all kinds of complicated and esoteric magic theories. At least, not even the best magician today would be able to do that."

"….."

As expected of sage-san. I really did create and use magic unconsciously, but the sage-san's magic circuit is so different. In fact, if it weren't for sage-san's magic circuit, I wouldn't have been able to use a single magic like I imagined. Well, besides magic theory, my transfer magic includes ideas unique to Earth, such as taking pictures and recording the location, so even if I had to teach it to people, people in this other world might not understand it in that way.

"So? How long will you continue to pretend to be asleep?"

"Geh."

"Eh?"

As we were having this conversation, Lexia-san suddenly called out to Luna, who was sleeping in the bed. When I looked at the bed in surprise, Luna slowly got up with an awkward expression on her face.

"…How long have you been aware of me?"

"From the beginning. You were already awake when we arrived at this house, weren't you?"

"Eh? Eeh!?"

Was she awake? From the moment we arrived at this house? When I was unable to hide my surprise at the unexpected fact, Luna's cheeks twitched.

"Y-you knew that much, but why didn't you point it out?"

"Of course, it's because I wanted to have a private conversation with Yuuya-sama. But since Yuuya-sama is so kind, I pretended not to notice and kept an eye on you in this room."

"Ugh…"

Eh, she didn't point out that Luna was awake for that reason? You were attacked, you know! And I… I didn't even notice it…

"Woof."

"Fufu. With Night around, I guess I couldn't have been alone with Yuuya-sama anyway."

"Woof!"

I was appalled, but when Night barked cutely at me, Lexia-san stroked Night gently.

"But is it time for you to explain why you attacked me?"

"…Do you think I'm going to be honest with you about that?"

"Ara, why do you think you have the option not to talk to me about it?"

"….."

W-what is this atmosphere? Is this a psychological warfare being played out like a movie or a story? I-I don't understand…

As I was surprised by the exchange between Lexia-san and Luna, eventually Luna let out a small sigh.

"…Hmph. Even if I tell you, the fact that I attacked you won't change anyway. Just kill me."

"Right. It doesn't change the fact that you attacked me. But I want to know about you."

"What would be the point of you knowing it?"

"I don't know? But you couldn't kill me. You had already lost at that point. And since you lost, you will obey me, the winner!"

Luna's eyes widened as she looked overwhelmed by Lexia-san, who told her that with a chest full of royal dignity.

And then…

"…I'm jealous of you."

"Eh?"

Smiling yet somewhat sadly, Luna dropped her gaze.

"What, it's not much of a story. It's a boring story that can be found lying around everywhere… Do you still want to hear it?"

"Yeah."

"I… I want to get to know Luna too."

It wasn't just Lexia-san. I myself didn't know anything about Luna, even though we had trained together for a short time. That's why I wanted to know about Luna.

"…Haah, the two of you beat me to it. As I said, it's not much of a story. I was an orphan, struggling to get through the day. Scavenging trash, drinking muddy water, and stealing… Fortunately, I managed to live with that, so I didn't have to sell myself. Well, no one would have bought the dirty me at that time anyway."

"….."

"In addition to living that life, I also developed my own powers to protect myself. Then one day, I was picked up by someone. That person was the master of the assassination business who apparently sensed something in my thieving movements and the power I had acquired in my own way, and then he trained me. From then on, I worked with him as my master. He taught me a variety of knowledge and skills… And many of those skills were mainly assassination-related. Well, that was the way the master worked."

"…The dark guild, huh?"

"Dark guild?"

I tilted my head at the unfamiliar words, and then Luna informed me about it.

"The dark guild is… well, to put it bluntly, it's a group of criminals. Theft, fraud, drugs, murder… It's a place where you're not tied to a specific job, and you take every possible criminal activity as a request."

"…Basically, they're a group of bad people, but just like everything can't be done on a clean slate, there's not a few relationships between the dark guild and aristocratic society. Well, I suppose that's the connection that resulted in me being attacked anyway." said Lexia-san.

The aristocratic society is scary! You can't spend your time in peace! No, I thought it was a murky world even when I studied history and such, but it's even more so when I hear such stories from a real princess.

"…As the princess said, I belonged to the dark guild just like my master, but one day… my master broke the rules of the dark guild, and I was chosen to deal with it. I killed the man who raised me… in spite of all the conflicts I had to face, my master passed away with a relieved look on his face the moment he was killed by me. That's because he believed that I would be able to live in this dark world. From there, I decided to take over my master's work and live in the dark world. And as I worked in the dark guild in my own way, I ended up being called the [Head Hunter] or something like that before long."

"Kuh, the [Head Hunter], you said? I heard about you, aren't you a brilliant assassin? Were you really that person?"

I don't quite understand what they're talking about, but it seems that Luna was an amazing person in her field.

"…Hey, Night. Did you know that?"

"Woof?"

"It sounds like you knew something…"

Maybe he didn't actually know that Luna was a terrific assassin. Still, Night was more alert to Luna from the beginning than anything. He must have sensed something, after all. As expected of my Night. He's cute.

"Anyway, as the princess said. I was sent by a nobleman to kill her… the result is this."

Luna mocked herself as it concluded. But then she turned her gaze towards Lexia-san with a somewhat clear expression.

"Now I have told you everything. Do what you want."

"Do what I want, you said…"

"Yuuya. You know what I'm talking about, right? The moment I attack the princess, and you prevent me from killing her, I have no choice but to die. In the dark guild, one mistake can lead to death. If you overlook me here, the dark guild will send assassins to silence me to keep my mouth shut."

"No way!"

...I know in my head. That when Luna attacked the princess, Lexia-san, it was already irreversible. But… still, I can't dismiss it so easily.

When Luna saw my face, she smiled bitterly.

"Hey, hey, Yuuya. Are you worried about me like this? We only trained together in a short amount of time. That's all there is to it. It's nothing more or less than that. So there's no need to be worried about it──."

"How could it not be?"

"Huh?"

Luna laughed as if she had given up on everything, and I was spontaneously burning in anger.

"Why do you say such tragic things? I enjoyed my time training with Luna, and I already think of you as a friend!"

I was too embarrassed to say it out loud, but Luna and I had naturally become very close friends since we had been training together. That's because, in the course of our training, we entrusted our lives to each other and laughed at the little things we did with the monsters.

Unlike Lexia-san and Owen-san, I felt that I had made friends as equals for the first time in the other world, like Ryo and the others on Earth…

"…Woof. Woof."

"…Night?"

Night jumped on the bed and gently licked Luna's cheek as he quietly approached her. Night, even though he was wary, in his heart, he wanted to get along with Luna, too.

"Hey, Luna. Do you really think that Night and I are just mere people who trained together with you?"

"….."

Luna didn't answer my question.

"…Yuuya. Regardless of what you say, the future can't be changed anymore. Therefore──."

"Hey, can you just stop putting me on the sideline?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Lexia-san said that while puffing out her cheeks. On the contrary to the dark atmosphere of Luna and I, I was unconsciously taken aback by the somewhat comical atmosphere of Lexia-san.

"You, can you not flirt with Yuuya-sama without my permission? I will be the one to flirt with Yuuya-sama!"

"Eh, is that what the whole conversation sounded like?"

I think it was a pretty serious conversation! Luna and I had felt that way, but apparently, it was different for Lexia-san.

"And that's not fair! Even though Yuuya-sama had also called me his friend! And yet you still address me with an honorific!"

"T-that's… sorry. As I thought, against royalty is…"

"It's okay! I'll make sure you get rid of the honorific one day!"

"What an amazing positivity."

Lexia-san's world is in full swing everywhere, and I'm caught up in her atmosphere. Then, with a self-mocking laugh, Luna asked Lexia-san.

"Did you see my interaction with Yuuya like that? Unfortunately, even if it looks like that, I'm pretty sure I'm going to die since the moment I failed to attack you. You can rest easy and go after Yuuya."

"You see, why do you have to assume you're going to die?"

"Huh?"

Not only Luna, but I was also taken aback by Lexia-san's words.

"What do you mean by that… I attacked you, a royalty. Isn't that a definite death sentence?"

"Yes. But no one except Yuuya-sama and I know that you attacked me. Owen didn't see your true face."

"…D-do you think you can overlook it? As I said before, the assassins will go over…"

"No. Now that you're here, you're going to serve me."

"...….Heh?"

A dumb voice came out of my dumb face for I don't know how many times today.

"That's why I'm hiring you as my escort."

"D-do you know what you are talking about? I'm a murderer. That's what I am, a criminal who's killed a lot of people!"

"God, you're so detailed! I know you're good at what you do, so why don't you work for me? Then you can protect us from the assassins of the dark guild. And Owen, who is also my guard, is very strong as well!"

"….."

Luna was just frozen, thinking about Lexia-san's words. As expected of royalty. The way she thinks and the size of her capacity is different from a small citizen like me. I'm still cringing because I don't know what's going to happen, but Night seemed relieved, and now he began to sleep at my feet. Eh, is this okay? Does he feel like Luna is safe?

"Princess. The dark guild is stronger than you think. Besides, I am too dirty to stand next to a light like you. With my hands, I have killed and defiled many people. Even if I killed someone for the sake of the country…"

"What are you talking about? You have beautiful hands."

"Huh!"

Lexia-san took Luna's hand without any hesitation. And after looking at that hand for a bit, her eyebrows furrowed.

"…It's really beautiful. What did you do to make it so smooth?"

"T-that's because of Yuuya's bath… Wait, no! That's not what I'm trying to say──."

"Shut up, shut up, shut uuuuuup! Shut up and obey me!"

Lexia-san said as she stood on the bed and pouted.

"Besides, you might get Yuuya-sama… anyway! You are my guard now! It's been decided!"

Perhaps because Lexia-san's momentum was too great, Luna spontaneously nodded her head.

＊＊＊

"Kuh! Lexia-sama, Lexia-samaaaa!"

By the time Lexia had succeeded in convincing Luna, Owen was desperately trying to get to the depths of the Great Devil's Nest in order to get to Lexia in a hurry.

"It's no good, Commander! The monsters are too strong…!"

"Did we actually come back through this place?"

"No, it wasn't because of us. It was because of that young man!"

"W-we can't do it anyway!"

However, the monsters in the Great Devil's Nest were overwhelming, and they were driven to the vicinity of the entrance while desperately fighting against a group of goblin elites.

"Ah, damn it! It's because His Majesty spoiled her that she became such a stubborn tomboy! When we return to the royal capital, I will definitely tell His Majesty…!"

When the hard-working Owen made that decision, he had no choice but to retreat from the Great Devil's Nest temporarily.