Before anything else…
“Fatima, can I contract you right now?”
She was now a monster. Given that fact, it also means that she can now be contracted! Furthermore, since she’s only at the first stage, it wouldn’t be too much of a burden on my mental capacity. It was a little disheartening that she fell to a very low level, but I guess the fact that I can contract her directly at the moment is the silver lining beyond the dark clouds.
“Well, I didn’t come with you just to go with another tamer, after all.”
Fatima’s teasing smile made me scratch my head lightly. I cleared my throat and quickly formed the contract in my head; the contents were basically identical to Ember and Fang’s contracts.
As soon as the contract was formed, I quickly sent it to her. The instant I did, her body immediately shone in a bright white light, indicating that the contract was completed.
“You didn’t even read it, did you?”
I smiled wryly, seeing that she just accepted it without much thought. However, her expression turned into something that made my heart skip a beat. A mix of a powerful gaze filled with unbridled desire.
“Why would I refuse? Now that we’re contracted, you can no longer escape from me.”
Seeing her lick her lips lightly, I felt a chill run down my back. Did I get bound by her instead of the other way around? I guess I should say “as expected of a previous god-tamer,” but her attitude was definitely something else.
“A-Anyway, we need to move back to King Leonard’s kingdom soon. Everyone, make sure you’re all prepared to set off!”
Well, the only ones who weren’t prepared were the three who still had hangovers. It was still early, so I decided to buy some anti-hangover potions just in case they couldn’t recover enough to walk around when the time came.
Ember and Fang didn’t return to sleep, however, but instead chatted with Fatima for hours on end. Their topics were pretty random, going from simple things like what they ate on certain days to their favorite skills or such.
When their talks steered toward the pink area, I was almost forced to block my ears. These girls were talking in vulgar words like it was normal! I was slightly surprised, as I hadn’t even heard them talk dirty before, but before Fatima, it felt like their talking that way was normal.
Were they being reserved with me? I guess they did; otherwise, I would’ve known already.
While I was squirming in agony from being the center of their chat, the time to return approached. When the sun had set, everyone was already back on their feet. I was thankful that I didn’t need to use the potions, so I just stored them in my [Spatial Storage] for future use.
Although we weren’t in a hurry, Ember opened a portal straight toward the kingdom’s castle gates. After all, it was better to come early than late. If we get stuck in this kingdom, then that’s a little problematic after all.
“Will…? You’re pretty early! Well, I’m not one to talk, though.”
As soon as we came out of the teleportation portal, a familiar duo greeted us. It was Threya and her tamed pug, Peabody.
“Well, I’d rather not miss our ticket back home after all.”
I just shrugged my shoulders as I looked at her face. The two of us stared at each other, smiling, hiding our intentions behind the facade of being amicable. Even now, I still haven’t figured out this woman at all. I know for a fact that she initiated contact with me under the king’s orders, but other than that guess, I couldn’t figure out anything else.
For example, she was trying hard to hide it, and I almost missed it, but she was equivalent to a 9th stage. But the monster with her was only an 8th-stage pug. It was unnatural to reach that stage before the tamed monster, so she must have another one that’s at least at the 9th stage, which I haven’t seen a shadow of from the start.
“…”
Well, thinking about it isn’t my style, anyway. And she’s definitely not an enemy after all, so I’ll just let it slide. For now, since we’re about to return, we can relax.
An hour later, other tamers started gathering around the courtyard too. I could see some familiar faces, but I hadn’t had much interaction with them before, so I just listened by the side while passing the time.
Their topic was mostly the reward from this excursion and the loot they gained from hunting the Demons around. Apparently, there were even some who found artifacts with the Demons and claimed them. That part made me frown, though; after all, isn’t it unnatural for a Demon to have an artifact in the first place? They aren’t skilled enough to use one unless it’s a weapon-type artifact.
I tried to peek stealthily, but the object he was boasting of was just a small crystal of a purplish-black color. It possessed an intense amount of energy, making it impossible for me to see what was at its core. In the end, I couldn’t figure out what that ominous-looking orb was, but I got a bad feeling from it.
I scanned the surroundings for similar presences and found that there were dozens of those orbs scattered around, carried by other tamers.
“… Why am I feeling something’s going to happen?”
I hope it was a mistake on my part, but my gut feeling was mostly accurate, unfortunately.
“What? What’s going to happen?”
Threya asked, hearing me mutter to myself. I turned to her, about to say something about the suspicious orb-like artifacts, but before I could, a resounding voice echoed.
“Everyone, thank you for responding to my call!”
The one who raised his voice was an old man, his face covered in so many wrinkles that it looked saggy. ｂ𝚍𝚘𝚟ｌ.ｎｔ
“As a reward for your enthusiasm, I added a little bonus to your rewards!”
“OOOOOOH!”
A wild cheer echoed after hearing about a bonus. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as them, since I probably spent more money than I would be receiving. Rather, I should prepare myself to get scolded by Guren and Lady Luo when we return.
“Then, everyone, although it’s sad to part like this, we can’t let you all stay in our kingdom for too long. Your kingdom needs your powers too, so, unfortunately, we need to send you back.”
He was packaging it nicely, but in short, it’s just “We don’t have any more use for you, and your kingdom is nagging us to return you guys, so shoo!” I guess the bonus was a little bribe for everyone too so that they wouldn’t get too angry at being deported a little too early.
“Everyone, please move to your respective teleportation arrays and wait patiently. We will be sending you back soon enough!”
Fortunately, unlike before, when we came here, they were planning to use those big-ass arrays from before to send us back to our respective kingdoms. It was convenient since it could send everyone to the designated place at once without any delay. However, these circles were apparently a one-time use and would need to be set up from scratch for each use.
“Let’s go.”
I called to the girls and walked to where the teleportation portal back to our kingdom was. While walking there, the two men from before who were talking about the “time travel device” saw us and waved amicably from afar. I waved back too, with a little smile, but I was struggling to recall their names. Did I hear them introduce themselves in the first place?
As we stood in the middle of the teleportation array, I suddenly felt danger. It wasn’t an instant one that required me to dodge automatically, but rather something that was “looming” in the air, like poison gas spreading around or something like that.
“…”
I can no longer dismiss it as imagination, so I quickly notified the girls of the danger. As soon as I did, the smiles on their faces turned to frowns as they went into battle mode instantly. They gathered around me, sticking closely together, preparing for whatever was to come.
“Then, without further ado!”
As the old man prime minister spoke, the teleportation arrays suddenly let off a faint white light. It was a soothing glow that made me feel sleepy, but I didn’t dare even blink. I could feel the danger coming closer and closer as time passed!
“Once again, thank you, young heroes!”
At his last words, the teleportation arrays were finally activated normally… At least, it should’ve.
“…!”
Black arcs of electricity spread across the ground. I quickly traced the source and found that the suspicious orbs from before were the source.
“Kukuku, hahahahaha!”
Along with the headache-inducing danger sensors that were blaring in my head, a loud and familiar voice echoed, letting out an evil-sounding laugh. I know the owner of the voice, but I have no time to think about that.
“Ember!”
“It’s no good, Master! The teleportation is already activated, but the coordinates have changed!”
“Sh*t!”
I really hate it when bad premonitions come true!
It was too late to do anything, so I just grabbed everyone nearby and held them closer. After all, I can’t deny the possibility of getting teleported to different locations.
The soothing white light of the teleportation turned bloody red as it increased in intensity. After it became bright enough to rob us of our vision, we were finally teleported away.
When I opened my eyes, the red light from the teleportation vanished slowly. However, the surroundings were too dark to even judge where we were.
Without even waiting for my command, Igni had already lit a small fireball, creating a light source for visibility. We were in a cave-like environment, but the cave wall was eerie, with what looked like human faces etched on it, as if they were beyond the walls and were trying to escape.
“This place…!”
Fatima, however, paled as soon as she saw those figures. She gulped audibly, making us feel anxious instead. After all, just from seeing the wall, Fatima, a previous God Tamer, was already shaking in her boots.
“Fatima, you know what this place is?”
I asked to confirm, bringing her back from her slight shock. She quickly nodded her head and, with a small voice, muttered.
“If I’m not wrong, then this place is known as the Forbidden Land, the backside of the real world, and the source of all demons, the [Otherside]!”