He ca down hard. The ground cracked as he slamd the flaming sword into the center of the vines, where the monster-girl was rooted.
The monster scread, her vines flailing in chaos—only to be sliced and set ablaze one after another.
His eyes glinted madly, teeth bared in a crazed grin. "It’s been SO DAMN LONG since I got to go wild!! You like luring people in, huh!? THEN HOW ABOUT THIS—!!!"
He drove the sword straight into the ground. Mana surged down the blade, igniting the roots below in a blast of concentrated fire.
A shockwave rippled through the area. The monster shrieked—a twisted, gurgling scream—as her vines withered and charred, curling into black ash.
The ground erupted in a burst of flas and splinters.
When the smoke cleared, the twisted tree-stump monster was nothing but smoldering wood and scattering embers.
Hazuki stood in the center, panting, sword still raised high.
Ridan, voice flat, chid in from the blade. "...You’re nuts."
Hazuki wiped the sweat from his brow, still grinning.
As the monster’s remains crackled and smoldered behind him, the ground around Hazuki began to shift.
One by one, skeletal arms poked out of the dirt, followed by skulls and ribs, until dozens of buried remains surfaced in eerie silence. Their bones clattered, finally freed after gods-know-how-long beneath the forest floor.
Hazuki blinked, then took a slow step forward.
"...Whoa. This monster really went full-ti gardener, huh? So many fertilizers..."
He imdiately dropped to a crouch, eyes gleaming with excitent. "Alright, ti to loot!!"
He grabbed the nearest coin pouch. Clink-clink-clink. "WHOA! This thing’s packed! This guy must’ve been a noble adventurer!"
Then his hand landed on what looked like an unassuming, worn-out bag. "Ehh, just a sack?"
"Wait!" Ridan suddenly shouted. "That’s a magic storage bag."
Hazuki paused mid-toss. "...Huh? Really?"
"That bag," Ridan said sharply. "It’s a magic storage bag."
Hazuki blinked. "Like... an inventory bag?"
"Yeah. Dinsional storage. You can throw tons of stuff in there and it barely weighs anything."
Hazuki’s jaw dropped. "NO WAY. That’s OP!!"
He dove back for the bag like a man possessed. "My sweet little baby! Co back to papa!" He clutched it lovingly to his chest.
He instantly shifted into goblin mode, sprinting from skeleton to skeleton, grabbing gold, jewels, enchanted accessories, necklaces, rings, coin pouches, even boots.
"OHOHO~ I’m RICH!! RICH I TELL YOU!!!" Hazuki howled, tossing everything into the bag.
Hazuki spun around, arms wide. "LOOK AT , RIDAN!! The soon-to-be landowner!! I’ll buy a house! A villa! A harem—"
ZAP!!
The pinky promise ring gave a soft electric jolt.
Hazuki twitched. "Owowowow—FINE!! Just a modest villa! Geez..."
"Well... all things that look worthy-sothing-sothing are now secure!!" Hazuki shouted triumphantly, arms raised like a conqueror atop his golden mountain.
He hugged the magic bag tightly to his chest, his eyes gleaming with manic joy.
"MINE!! ALL MINE!! My Preciouuussss~" he whispered, doing his best creepy, unhinged grin while stroking the bag like a treasured pet.
Inside the sword, Ridan let out a long, soul-weary sigh. "...And here I thought I was the one with issues."
Hazuki began spinning in place with the bag still hugged to his chest, muttering about how one day he would build a big house, with a bedroom made of jewels.
"...Anyway," Ridan interrupted, trying to redirect this goblin-level energy, "What about the remains?"
"Huh?"
"The skeletons. The poor souls who actually got turned into fertilizer. What do we do with them?"
Hazuki stopped spinning, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "Oh... yeah..."
He stood still for a second, then a soft smile ford. "Of course we bury them properly. I may be a greedy bastard, but I’m not heartless."
Ridan blinked. "Wow... color surprised."
"Surprised? Hey! I might act like an idiot sotis—but I’m not a jerk."
"...You say that while stuffing twelve rings into your magic pouch like a squirrel on pinenut."
Hazuki ignored him and got to work.
He found a spot away from the monster’s root patch, grabbed a spare piece of the broken staff as a digging tool, and began digging graves. One by one, he placed the remains into the holes, covered them gently, and even said a few words.
"May you all rest in peace... and thanks for the loot."
"...Beautiful eulogy," Ridan muttered sarcastically.
Hazuki stood, dusted his hands, and gave a small salute to the newly made graves. "Alright. Job well done. Shall we go?"
"Please. Before you start building altars to your magic bag."
Hazuki grinned again and adjusted the bag on his shoulder. "Let’s go, partner."
Ridan smirked from within the sword. "...Now that sounded cool. Say it again."
"Nope. One-ti special. Moving on!" And with that, Hazuki whistled as he walked away, leaving behind the monster’s graveyard.
"Oh, by the way, Ridan."
"Hmm?"
"You can float now, huh?"
"What do you an?"
Hazuki raised an eyebrow. "I thought you couldn’t co out of the sword. Like, you were stuck inside. Spirit jail or sothing."
"Well..." Ridan hovered slightly above Hazuki’s head, glowing faintly with his usual ghostly outline. "At first, yeah. When I first got sucked into that cheap, disgraceful, dignity-destroying ten silver coin sword—"
"Oi."
"—I could barely even blink ,okay? But now... I don’t know why, but I can float." He spun in a lazy circle mid-air, arms crossed proudly. "Still connected to that glorified butter knife, though. That’s my main body."
Hazuki tilted his head. "So basically... you’re a balloon with a leash."
"...Excuse ?"
"A glowing, floating balloon... with a magical leash called a ten-silver sword."
"I hate you."
Hazuki grinned. "No, you don’t."
"I really do."
"Admit it, Ridan. You like the view now that you can float around and see the scenery, huh?"
"...Okay, yeah, the sky is pretty. And the clouds look like lons."
"Oi!"
"What!? You were thinking the sa thing!"
They both burst into laughter—one idiot human and one sarcastic spirit tethered to the world by a hilariously cheap sword... floating onward into adventure.
Then Ridan paused mid-air. His flickering form stopped its lazy bobbing as his glowing eyes scanned the path ahead, then glanced behind them.
Sothing was off.
Inside his mind, a sharp realization echoed. "This road... this isn’t the sa one from earlier."
The grass was too vibrant. The trees had subtly shifted species. Even the air felt... different. Cleaner, warr. Magic-dense.
"...Damn. We just passed through a dinsional rift."
Not a normal path. Not a shortcut.
It was an invisible gate—one that shouldn’t exist naturally. A rift in space, silently placed between one spot and another. What would normally take five days by horse, they had sohow crossed in re minutes on foot.
"A door like this doesn’t just appear..." Ridan thought, narrowing his eyes.
Then, he rembered.
The two figures. The sa ones who had watched from afar.
It was them.
They signaled him to ensure Hazuki walked this path.
They knew.
They always knew.
"This is a mission," Ridan muttered internally. "They’re guiding him step by step... testing him, pushing him into battles they know he can win."
He clenched his ethereal jaw, hovering silently above Hazuki, who was still humming like an idiot, completely oblivious.
Ridan stared at him. This dumbass. This absolute walking disaster.
And yet...
"What’s your next mission, huh?" Ridan mused.
Because whatever it was, it was no longer just fate.
It was orchestrated.
And Hazuki?
Was already on the stage.
( End of Chapter )
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