Rush Hour!

1

He goes from being calm and collected to enraged after seeing all the tortured bodies of women who were on the verge of death. He walks to the chest and when he opens it he hears a very low voice crying out to him for help-

"Help.... please... I'll do anything."

"....."

Tatsuya walks toward the barely alive girl in the pile of bodies kneels down and looks at her affectionately while saying-

"I can only help you to some extent. Forgive me."

She smiles and tears flow out of her eyes as she says-

"Yes!"

"Are there any other survivors?"

"No... One was.... but no more."

Tatsuya carries her on his back and walks to the big chest. He finds a book, three medium sized pouches filled with del and an item. The item looked like a pendent in the shape of the crescent.

Tatsuya picks up the pendent and a screen like things opens in front of him which looked like the name and flavour text of the item.

[Starstrike Pendant]

[A pendant forged by a witch few hundred years back. Anyone who wears it gets protected by level 2 magic casted on them]

"That's it... seriously? I went through that crap and this is the item I get. Whatever. Getting back Kei takes priority." Says Tatsuya and looks around for some kind of bag to keep the stuff. After he finds a big bag covered partially in blood he looks disgusted but then puts everything from the chest into it and carries it.

"What's your name?"

"Sena..."

"Alright Sena! You'll have to accompany me to the next town for a bit. I'll heal you up there."

When he walks behind the chest two doors appear before him and a message appears on both of them.

[Exit dungeon]

[Proceed to the next floor]

"This is turning out to be more and more like a game." Says Tatsuya and sighs. He then opens the first door which allows him to exit the dungeon.

The door opens and he sees the path in the forest leading outside.

"That's probably it... Anyhow, it doesn't look like a day passed. Time to find out for sure!" says Tatsuya and walks the path out of the forest.

2

He walks out of the forest with the girl named Sena on her back and as soon as he does people stare at him and give him dirty looks.

Tatsuya ignores them and walks into the town. The town had the same type of buildings back in Xaria. The streets were also somewhat the same. Only thing was that there were no districts or blocks here and that all shops were right there after you enter town.

Tatsuya walks through those streets then he sees a church in the distance.

"You up, Sena?"

"Hmm... Hungry..."

"Yea, you'll get to eat soon... Hold on tight. Just a bit more."

Tatsuya walks to the church and sees the armour shops and vegetable vendors and many other people trying to sell their goods. Then he notices a passage where there was a huge red coloured tent.

"Maybe that��s the place..." and Tatsuya gets a bit enraged.

"Calm down! I can't lose my composure.

He opens the doors of the church slowly and it makes a creaking noise.

"Umm... Is anyone there?"

When he enters the church some sisters and priests who were praying get up and greet him. Then they notice the girl on his back and rush to him.

"Tell the healers to ready their spells! Tell them another one has been brought in! What's your name boy?"

"Umm... Tatsuya."

"Tatsuya-san is she acquainted with you?"

"No! I helped her since she was looked like she was about to die."

The nuns arrive there and they keep Sena on the stage. They surround her and start to chant the spell Heal.

"May the gods bless you and heal your wounds... Greater heal."

"Oho..." says Tatsuya to himself. "Greater heal... which means there are skills that can be levelled up as well... What kind of world is this? This is not even like a game. Rather than a game it's like everyone is put inside the game with their consciousness intact."

The spell closes all her wounds in a few minutes and Sena looks like she wasn't ever harmed in any way ever before. The nuns then immediately touch her forehead and carry her into the room on the right of the stage.

"Is she sick?"

"Yes... she will stay her for some time. Don't worry, we'll take good care of her."

"Also, I have a request... Can you give me details on what happened to the others?"

"That... alright. But on one condition... You will pay for the information."

"How much though?"

The nun goes to his ear and says-

"One seventy five."

"Take it..." says Tatsuya as he gives the nun two medium sized pouches from the bag. "Your end of the deal has been fulfilled. Now, it's my turn."

She laughs a bit and then apologizes for laughing and explains.

"Recently some monsters have escaped the dungeon somehow and they try to attack the humans or whatever creature that is not their kin."

"So that's why bandits also take this chance to rob people. Am I right?"

"Precisely. Most of the ones her were attacked by those monsters. Some adventurers who entered the dungeon in the forest as well. A small majority though were attacked by bandits. And the condition of..."

"That's enough information. Tell me one thing now."

Tatsuya changes the calm look on his face to an intimidating one and asks her-

"Is there a slave dealer in this town?"

"Umm... yes! He has set up a tent and he sells them there. I have other things to do so I'll be taking my leave." Says the nun and runs away to the room where Sena was taken.

Tatsuya stands there dumbfounded and thinks-

"Did I ask something wrong? I wanted to thank her for the information too..."

3

Tatsuya walks out of the church and looks above him in the sky.

"I'm still not strong enough..." says Tatsuya and recalls the fight in the dungeon.

"That paralyze caught me off guard... for few seconds. Thanks to my previous encounter with that thing such low levelled magic didn't affect me for a longer time." And he makes a fist.

He walks down to the passage and after he enters it he stands before the tent.

"I don't know for sure if he'll be here... but it's all or nothing now." Says Tatsuya and enters the tent.

As soon as he enters in there he sees two to three empty carts. There was kind of path made for walking inside so he walks on that path. To his left and to his right were cages with demi-humans. Some looked like they were not fed and most of the ones were scared. Among the demi- humans were elves, dark elves, catgirls and even humans. Also...

"Wait, why are there only girls in here?"

"A customer or just here for viewing?"

"Well, customer in a way... also why are there only girls here?"

"Oh... sir if that's your hobby then I shall show you my prized collection."

"Umm, no. I think you're misunderstanding something."

"Follow me. This way."

As he walks behind the fat but short man he walks across more and more slaves. But at a point the slaves look like monsters and fiercer.

"I'm not homo.... I wanted to ask you something."

The man stops and turns around-

"Ok... It's just a bit more further then."

Tatsuya then thinks to himself-

"We're done with females, males... monsters... now what?"

This time the man takes him to the area in the tent where demi- human children and human children were enslaved.

"Kei... You can't be possibly."

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing! I was just wondering if you have white haired human girls, ha-ha..."

They both stare at each other and the man finally sighs.

"Is the one you're looking for related to you?"

"How did you..."

"We were attacked by bandits and monsters on the way. During that time, they broke one of our carts and took all the ones we had gathered yesterday."

"Wait, wait, wait a second... how many days has it been since you travelled from Xaria till Garthram?"

"Three days... It was a pain since we were gonna be at a loss then. Living in this day and age is quite difficult for commoners."

Tatsuya held his chin and thought for a while-

"Three days... I spent so much time there... monsters?"

"Could you tell me which type of monsters attacked you?"

"Well, goblins of course. There were close to seven of them."

Tatsuya then has a shock expression on his face when he remembers the sight around the chest. He turns around and runs really fast.

"Aren't you buying anything?!" shouts and asks the fat man.

4

Tatsuya sprints through the streets shout and telling everyone who was walking his way to get out of the way.

"Please... make it in time! If I don't... I'll once again lose everything!"

He rushes through the streets at full streets and exits the town. From there, he runs straight into the forest without even stopping for taking a breath.

Not even looking in front of him, he just keeps on slashing the branches and twigs that came in his way with his dagger. He continues to run while slashing and at one point he trips and falls over a rock which causes his leg to bleed. He tries to get up saying-

"Get up! Get up... You're almost there! Get up you useless lump of flesh!" and his head starts to spin and he faints.

He opens his eyes slowing on hearing the sound of wood burning. He then looks at the stone ceiling and says-

"That's an unfamiliar ceiling. Don't remember seeing it anywhere." And he gets up slowly from bed holding his head in pain.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hm...? Bandages."

Then he looks around in the cave and sees that there were few bags there.

"Bandits?"

He stands up and walks to the bags without making noise. He then checks one of the bags and sees potions and maps and stuff filled in them. Tatsuya closes the bag and walks to the entrance of the cave.

"Why am I here? What was I doing again?" and he walks outside to get some fresh air. Night fell by then. He stretches and then relaxes and takes a deep breath and exhales.

"Oh?! How are you feeling?"

"Hm? Oh, you must be one of the people who rescued me."

"Yea. I'm an adventurer and so are my comrades.���

"Where are they?"

"They should be coming here from the dungeon... since they went to scout the location."

"Heh~. What's your name?"

"It's Kirio." Says the man who wore silver plated armour and had a big shield on his back. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

"I presume that you're one as well?"

"No... I'm just here to... KEI!"

"What"

"I remember now! No time to rest. Thank you for taking care of me. I'll be taking my leave now."

"Huh? Okay?"

Tatsuya goes inside and takes his magic sword, the bag and his dagger. Then he comes out and asks-

"Before I leave... have you seen a small girl with white hair?"

"No... But there was a goblin camp in the direction behind you. There were some human bodies there as well. I don't know whether..." before he completes his sentence Tatsuya sprints in that direction and says a bit loudly-

"Please be safe! Also, I'll be back to thank the others."

"Ok?"

Tatsuya keeps running and thinks calmly for how he would confront the bandits if he found any.

"Ok! I'll just ambush them..."

It starts to rain and it starts to pour heavily after a while. But he doesn't stop. He reaches the place where the man called kirio told that that there was a goblin camp. He looks in that area and sees a small tent like thing and a campfire that had been blown out.

He goes inside the tent with the thought that Kei would not be there. But when he enters inside he sees the bodies of women tortured and killed and among them was a girl with the same type of hair like Kei.

He just stands there and as tears fall from one of his eyes he says-

"Why? You didn't even do anything wrong... This is just too cruel."

He picks up all the bodies one by one and brings them outside the tent. Then he digs the ground with his bare hands and puts each body in those places he dug.

There were four bodies in total an after burying them he wipes his tears and covers them with mud.

"I hope that next time you all are reborn you will live a long life." Says Tatsuya and stands and prays while joining his hands.

He walks back to the cave in regret and depression. When kirio sees him he says-

"Welcome back... what happened?"

Tatsuya doesn't even reply to him and with his hood on his face was not visible to kirio. Just before he enters the cave, he stops him by holding his soldier and looks at his face.

His face had a blank expression and his eyes looked dead like all the life from his soul had been pulled out from him. He leaves his shoulder immediately and walks a bit further from the cave. He enters the cave and being depressed sits there and thinks about what he would do now since his main reason of living was gone.

Suddenly the sound of weapons clashing each other is heard by him and even after hearing that he doesn't move an inch. All that was going on in his head that time was that Kei was gone. Right when he thought that he should sleep and was just closing his eyes Kirio comes in the cave holding his shield and says-

"I don't know what happened... but right now we need your help."

Tatsuya does not respond nor does he move. Kirio goes to him and picks him up by his collar. Then he gives him a good punch and drops Tatsuya on the ground.

"Even if you lose someone precious... You have to keep moving on. That's what it means to be an adventurer. If you keep crying over the past nothing is ever gonna happen." And he rushes out of the cave and the sound of the blades clashing continues.

Those words reverberate in Tatsuya's head and his regain their colour. He laughs slowly and gets up on his feet. He picks up his dagger and says-

"They are good people... Kei wouldn't have wished to see me like this."

5

Tatsuya rushes out of the cave after drawing the dagger and to his left he sees Kirio and other two people fending off attacks from some people who were dressed as bandits.

He walks calmly to the bandits and places one hand on one of their shoulders. The bandit who was concentrating on the fight turns around and gets the fright of his life. Tatsuya stares into his face with a evil face and says-

"Done playing house? Now... die." And the bandit's head falls of his body.

The sound of his head falling catches the attention of the other bandits and the adventurers.

"Oye Kirio... are you sure he's not a bad guy?"

"Yeah... I mean he looks like a monster to me."

"Don't worry guys... I know he's a good guy."

One of the bandits charges toward Kirio and he uses his shield to protect himself.

"How do you know that?"

"Hahaha.... it's my intuition."

"So stupid..." and the mage who was a girl blasts a bandit off into the trees.

Tatsuya takes out his grimoire which he had kept in the back inside his hood in a way it won't fall. He opens it and leaves it. The grimoire floats and he sees something shining on the page.

"A new spell... let's try it out."

He holds his dagger with one hand in front of him and holds the blade with the other and inhales. Then he exhales after a deep breath and concentrates.

'Five on the field... Two are hiding in the trees.' Thinks Tatsuya to himself.

His magic starts to flow through the dagger and when he feels like a good amount has been passed into the dagger he removes his hand from the blade and stands in a fighting stance.

"Get ready... Assassinate!" says Tatsuya and moves like a flash of lightning across the battlefield.

Everyone standing there get surprised by his speed and when the adventurers look at their opponents again they see that all their throats had been slit and blood sprayed out of it. All the ones on the field drop dead from blood loss and the ones that were hiding on the trees fall on the ground.

"What...the hell is he?"

"See told you didn't I?"

"Shut up you numbskull."

"Looks like one of you survived." Says Tatsuya and walks to the one that fell from the tree.

"You were lucky... looks like I'll need to practice."

"Ha...ha... girl with magic... gonna blow up!" says the almost dead bandit and Tatsuya slits of his throat cleanly.

"Should've chosen your last words wisely... girl with magic? It couldn't be... a villager?!" says Tatsuya and rushes in the direction behind the dead bodies.

Kirio whistles after looking at all the bodies and says-

"What would you categorize him under Sylvie?"

"Judging by only his speed and strength... abnormal."

"And by monster terms?"

"Give me a second Elm... maybe a B rank monster."

"Man, its good he's on our side."

"Yeah, we should be grateful in fact unlike an idiot there."

"Huh... what's wrong?"

Both Elm and Sylvie nod their head sideways after looking at Kirio and say-

"Nothing."

Tatsuya reaches the bandits camp by then. It was a cave just like the one he woke up at.

"There were so many caves... why didn't I see any?!"

He enters the cave and sees someone tied up behind many exploding barrels. He takes every step with precaution. Then he sees a squirrel near the switch made to make the barrels go off. Tatsuya looks at it with displeasure and tries to say politely-

"Squirrel-san... move away from there. I'll kill you if you turn it on." And Tatsuya's emotions start to change as he reaches the tied person.

The squirrel plays around the switch during that time and when he picks up the girl the squirrel looks at him and to Tatsuya it looked like the squirrel was grinning.

The squirrel flips the switch and Tatsuya shouts while trying to escape from the cave-

"YOU STUPID SQUIRRELS!!!"

The barrels go off and the cave explodes. This causes all the birds in that area to fly off. Even Kirio and the others see the explosion from a distance and they get amazed and clap.

Tatsuya gets up while removing the debris that fell over him.

"Ow! Ow! These screwed up squirrels." Says Tatsuya while removing the dust of off him. He then looks to see if the girl was safe and when he sees the girl properly in the moonlight tears of happiness flow from his eyes as he hugs her.

"Kei... Kei!"

6

Kei slowly opens her eyes to see a stone ceiling and she thinks to herself before waking up-

"Where is this place? I was at the inn and then..." then she suddenly gets up from the ground and shouts-

"Ryo- nii?!" then looks around to find two three people and Tatsuya sleeping next to her.

She then realizes that she may have been saved and cuddles next to Tatsuya and sleeps.

Tatsuya gets up when the sun comes up and when he sits up and thinks-

"Why is my hood wet?" and sees next to him he sees Kei drool.

Tatsuya had no words to say and he sighs. Then he puts the blanket on Kei and wipes her mouth. After this, he goes out for a walk and some exercise and when he reaches the river he washes his hands and face.

"Now I feel like I'm alive." Says Tatsuya as he starts to exercise.

"Veilios you're awake aren't you?"

"What is it?"

"I was just wondering... These few days, I couldn't feel your presence at all in spite of all that happening."

"I was observing you yesterday to see how well you perform... Well, after a while I got bored and slept the whole time. Hahaha."

"You've still got that laid back attitude, huh..."

Tatsuya then thinks about all that had happened in the previous days.

"I have to grow stronger so I can provide Kei with everything I can in my power... especially protecting her."

"Boy..."

"What is it Veilios?"

"If you don't eat your mana won't replenish."

"Now that you remind me I don't remember eating anything these few days... I'll grab a bite before doing this seriously." And he goes back to the cave.

There he sees that Kirio had just woken up and so did Sylvie. Tatsuya walks up to Sylvie and kneels down in front of her. Since his face was a bit close to hers she starts to blush then he says-

"Good morning."

"Um... yea... morning..." says Sylvie while blushing.

While bowing his head before Sylvie he says-

"Thank you for taking care of me when I had fainted... and I didn't get your name."

"It's Sylvie... Syl is fine."

"Syl... Sounds like silk. I'll stick with Sylvie."

Kirio starts to laughs while looking outside which pisses off Sylvie. Also Elm who they thought was sleeping laughs under his blanket as well. He removes the blanket and gets up while saying-

"Good morning Kirio.... and Silkie." And Kirio and Elm not being able to contain their laughter burst out laughing.

Kei wakes up from all the noise they made and when she sees that Tatsuya was not next to her she speaks as if she is gonna cry-

"Nii? Where are you... nii" as she rubs her eyes.

In a split second Tatsuya, moves to Kei and hugs her while saying-

"I'm right here... No need to worry. Let's eat shall we?"

"Hm!'' says Kei while nodding and smiling.

The others stay silent and as they stare at Tatsuya and Kei Sylvie ask him-

"How do you have so much energy in the morning?"

"Well, what can I say...? I'm kinda hungry." And Tatsuya falls on the ground as his stomach growls.

Sylvie laughs softly and says after getting up-

"Okay! I'll be cooking today!"

"What! You are... gonna cook?!" says both Elm and Kirio.

Elm looked like he never slept and so does Kirio and they run outside the caves saying-

"We'll bring the ingredients and set up the spot for cooking!"

"Good boys... I'll make you an extra serving."

Both of them start to drool thinking of her food and to Tatsuya they both looked like dogs waiting for their master to feed them.

Tatsuya then remembers that he had the pendant from the dungeon so he tells Kei to wait and takes his bag and removes the pendant-

"Look what I've got for you!"

"Woahh!" says Kei as her eyes sparkle with excitement.

Tatsuya puts the pendant around her neck and says-

"This will keep you safe... think of it as a charm."

"Thanks, Ryo-nii!" says Kei and hugs him.

Sylvie who was standing there asks him what they should call him and he says-

"I'm Tatsuya Ryo and this is my sister Kei. Feel free to call me and her anything you like."

"Ok Tatsuya-san. One more thing."

"What is it?"

"That pendant is a somewhat rare item. Could you tell me where you got it from?"

"Sure. From the dungeon."

The other two who were outside collecting materials and ingredients for cooking heard this and came running there.

"You cleared the floor in the dungeon?"

"Yeah."

"Alone?"

"Yea...?"

"With only that sword and dagger?"

"Yes." The three barraged him with questions such as these ones and then they went outside the caves saying that they would be back after cooking and that he can sit there with Kei till they were done.

She started cooking with Elm and Kirio helping her out.

"Should we ask him?"

"Yep. It will be much easier than last time then."

"Nobody will know if we don't tell right?" and all three nod their heads.

They finish cooking in a while and serve the soup they made in bowls and bring it to the cave.

They give Tatsuya and Kei a bowl and spoons and say-

"Don't hold back. Ask for more if you want it."

"Alright. Then I shall take you up on that offer. Thanks for the food." Says Tatsuya as he holds his hands together. Kei does the same as well.

They start eating and then Kirio looks at Elm and nods his head. Then he asks-

"Well, Tatsuya..."

"No need to say it. I'm in your debt for feeding me now."

"How did you know that I was going to ask you to come to the dungeon."

"Dungeon? I thought you were going to make me work or something... Well, doesn't matter. I was planning on going there since I hadn't exercised."

"You exercise in dungeons?"

"Nope. There is one nearby so I though I'll train there. After that I plan to leave back for Xaria."

"What's your age Tatsuya?"

"I'm 17."

"We are all 20. Are you an adventurer?"

"Nope. Just a bystander who wanted to save his family." Says Tatsuya as he finishes his fifth bowl.

Sylvie and Elm also join in the conversation and ask-

"Where are you from in Xaria?"

"Uhh..." he finishes eating and keeps the bowl down. " The town right after you enter the gate. I mean I'm only living there in an inn."

"Oh, so you live in Wolford..."

Kei finishes up as well and keeps her bowl down. They all were still eating and when they see her do that Sylvie says-

"You both are more like father and daughter rather than siblings."

"All right! Till you three finish up let me see my stats."

"Stats?"

"Aaah... I mean let me check my grimoire." Says Tatsuya and opens his grimoire.

Kei comes closer to Tatsuya to see inside the book and Tatsuya holds his chin while flipping the pages.

"Let's see my STR increased to...534. That's some considerable progress. As for the rest... STA- 500, AGL-789 and MAG-654... My magic is increasing little by little... Come to think of it, that bandit told me something about Kei having magic or something." Tatsuya thinks loudly.

"Your sister has magic?!"

"Oh did I say it out loud?"

"It's really rare for girls her age to possess mana. Usually..."

"I bet it goes like this. Usually people only possess mana during their adolescence and from then till death... Am I wrong?"

"If you know then why aren't you shocked?"

"The same thing as the game..." says Tatsuya to himself.

"Ryo-nii? Do I have magic like you and these people."

"Yeah, you do Kei."

"So can I come with you next time you go to fight the monsters?"

Everyone look at Kei and then ask Tatsuya-

"Is this kid really talented or something or is she asking that out of pure interest?"

"I don't know... I'll take you Kei."

"Really?!!"

"What are you thinking bringing a child to a dungeon?!" asks Sylvie as she keeps down her empty bowl.

"But on one condition... you will stay close to these people and will not come to me when I'm battling the monsters... got it?"

"Wait. We're babysitting?" asks Elm and Kirio as they keep down their empty bowls.

"Ok..." says Kei looking a bit depressed.

Tatsuya pats her head and says-

"Once we go back to... umm... Wolford, we'll figure out how you can use your magic... ok?"

"OK!" says Kei with excitement and they set out to the dungeon in the cave.

7

The three of them formed a good party with perfect co-ordination. They entered the cave where the dungeon was and after crossing the stream carefully they stand before the door ready for battle.

"Everyone ready? Make sure you've taken all the potions and stuff and..."

Tatsuya ignores her and opens the door with Kei holding her hand. Kirio and Elm point towards Tatsuya and they run behind him. While walking through the hallways Tatsuya asks

"So if you clear a floor do they respawn... like do you have to clear the floor again?"

"Well, that's how a dungeon works usually." says Elm as they walk.

When they reach the end of the path Tatsuya stops and says-

"Remember what I said Kei?"

"Yeah..."

"Also, you all can enter the zone and take out the normal goblins if you want to..."

"What will you do?"

Tatsuya grins and says-

"I'll take out the bigger ones and the tougher opponents." And he jumps down.