Published: September 10, 2025
Correction made on 2016/7/18.
Added some content on 2016/8/11.
Warning: There are some slightly graphic descriptions. Please be cautious if you are sensitive.
This is Satou. When I meet with friends I haven't seen for a while, we tend to lose track of time chatting away. After we finish talking thoroughly, sometimes we laugh and bluff our way out when neither of us can quite remember who the other was—that's a kind of aesthetic, I suppose.
â—‡
"Toramimi~?"
"A person with wolf ears!"
Turning around, I saw Russus and Fifi, attendants of hero Hayato.
When we met in the Duke's Capital before, we barely had the chance to interact, so without the AR display showing their info, I would have been in trouble.
Why were these two, who should be fighting alongside Hayato in the labyrinth, here in such a place?
"Wow, those are terrible injuries..."
Arisa was speechless as she looked at their bodies.
Russus was missing everything below her left knee and her right arm from the upper arm down, and Fifi had lost her right leg near the base. The eyepatch over her right eye wasn’t for fashion; it was probably protecting the lost eyeball.
"We kind of messed up in the Demon King battle," Russus said lightly.
"Until the Saga Empire sends prosthetic arms and legs, we're useless in battle and just hanging around here," Fifi added with self-deprecation.
Although limb loss was not uncommon even in Labyrinth City Selbira, these two served as the front line of the hero party and would surely have been healed no matter what.
"Did something happen to Lady Loleiya?"
I mentioned the name of the gentle busty beauty who was the high-ranking Holy Magic user in the hero party.
She should be able to heal missing limbs, so I imagined either she had died, or their stock of elixirs had run out.
"She’s definitely with Hayato."
"And Lean and Mary too."
Lady Weiyali, a Long-Ear Tribe archer who hadn’t been mentioned before, caught my attention.
"Both of you, this isn't the right place for such a conversation."
Hidden behind the two bulky women was a short woman.
According to the AR display, she was Nono, a scribe and one of the hero’s attendants.
I had often communicated with her via comms, but she seemed quite different in person.
Though she spoke brusquely to hero Nameless, here she seemed like a relatively ordinary person.
Could it be that she dislikes hero Nameless?
She was surprisingly short, about the height between Arisa and Lulu.
Her face was age-appropriate, and her body line sufficiently defined, so no one would mistake her for a child.
"Viscount Pendragon, please forgive the two for their rudeness."
Nono, looking even more expressionless than Nana, bowed her head to me in apology.
It seemed the Saga Empire people had a custom of bowing when apologizing.
We continued the conversation from earlier and accompanied them to the upscale inn where they were staying to learn about Hayato and the others’ current situation.
"Gii~?"
"Dari is here too."
"Right on."
Following the children's gaze, we saw a carriage bearing the Pendragon family crest.
Lulu wasn’t there, but according to the map, she was at a resting place where coachmen gathered inside the administrative offices.
"Really. I wonder if that property is the administrative office?"
I nodded at Arisa’s question.
"Could you tell Lulu we're here?"
"Got it."
I thought I had asked Tama, but it was Mia who confidently thumped her flat chest and took the task.
Just in case, I assigned Tama and Pochi as escorts and had Mia run the errand.
â—‡
"A curse from the Demon King, you say?"
"Yes, even the Wish Ring couldn't dispel the curse."
When I asked why Russus and Fifi’s missing limbs hadn’t been healed, Nono explained the cause was a "curse of the Demon King."
The AR display showed no “curse” status on them.
"If you stare at me that much, I get embarrassed, nya."
"Want me to rub them?"
Russus blushed, and Fifi lifted her chest from below, pushing it out.
They seemed to have misunderstood that I was staring at their chests.
Fifi apparently liked teasing those younger than her.