Encounter (3) (Revised) – A New World Arc 10

1 day after the lord sent his first patrol:

"We need to be careful when we go out of our house or when we enter it, there might be a trap at every corner of the house. We barely managed to hide from the first patrol yesterday."- I looked at Hana's hands and how they masterfully moved among the cooking ingredients she had laid on the table, every move bringing her closer to a complete dish.

"Well, I don't like where this is going Hikaru, this whole mess with the local Lords and King Wieka wanting us to kill them is going too far for me."- For a split second, Hana gave me a look of frustration, and anger and then she turned back and continued cooking.

"Well, don't worry too much about this. I got it covered, at least part of it. You won't have to assist me in any way. I will do everything on my own."- I looked at Hana again. I got out of bed and walked up to her to see what she was cooking, she was making a vegetable stir fry with wolf meat. In the last days or weeks, I got kind of sick of wolf meat and I don't even know how monster spawns work in this forest

!The monsters spawn in every season differently, now we are in spring so you will see a lot of wolves since the more dangerous monsters are migrating towards more temperate regions. You don't need to worry about other monsters right now such as Ghouls, AOrcs, and Juggernauts!

"What are AOrccs and juggernauts?"- Hana asked via the telepathic link.

!AOrc is the feral version of an Orc, Orcs are sentient but AOrcs attack on instinct, Juggernauts are giant versions of an Ogre, and most of these monsters are at a minimum of level 20, it will help you evolve faster since you need 20 times the exp to evolve to level 30 and 40.!

"So, that means there are other versions of monsters that aren't sentient? Are there non-sentient demons?"- Hana got the pan out of the fire and placed food on the table for the 2 of us to eat. She was nice enough to give me a fork as well.

!Yes, those are called Imps, there were other versions but those were exterminated a long time ago. Imps can be both big and small but they are always non-sentient and have a spiked tail at the end!

"Sia, can you tell us how things will work out with the local lord? I mean is this plan even going to work? In his current state, King Wieka doesn't remember us and he is under the control of Goddess Ifrit, who will surely hinder us, and maybe he will place a bounty on our heads?"

!Negative, in his current state he can resist some of the control and still has vague memories of the 2 of you since the control doesn't run too deep inside his mind you can still reason with him, and he still wants to execute the 2 Local Lords so, if you do that for him he won't suspect it, or mind it. This plan will work by the next set of rules: 1. Offer the lords help with a political rival, 2. Make the rival kill the lord, we will need to give him a reason to, 3. Kill the rival using the poisoned wine and make it look like a murder-suicide!

"That looks like something out of a book with mafia gangs"- Hana sat down at the table and started to eat out of the bowl of vegetable stir fry that she cooked. I started eating as well, the taste and flavor were there, but the wolf meat made it taste not as good as I would have hoped.

"Well, sounds like it, anyway, we need to get to Welcia soon, the guards will start patrolling again if we are not careful. We can't spend too much time here."- I looked out of my window to see Masamune and Ryu outside with the other 3 classmates, all of them weren't brainwashed.

"Who is there?"- Hana got her katana ready and slowly leaned in to peek through the window

"Just the people that are on our side from the Academy, Masamune, Ryu, Yuzuru, Hinatsuru, and Naomi, those are the people who will be searching for us? I hope they don't become brainwashed by goddess Ifrit"

!Negative, I don't think they will be vulnerable to such a thing due to my mind spoofing, they already have strong mental barriers against goddess Ifrit inside their mind, and my mind spoofing only made them stronger. And they won't even think of betraying the two of you, you got way more power than they could ever have, plus they fear your powers as monsters and what the two of you could do to them if they ever betray you. The bad image of monsters helps here since you will be feared and will be harder to betray.!

"I don't want things to come to this when it's about our classmates. I have many fond memories of them."- Hana lowered her Katana and sat on the chair.

"I do understand but we might have no real choice in this matter if they chose to oppose us, but as Sia has said, the chance of this happening is low"

!Hana is currently not feeling well Hikaru, it is apparent that you don't know how to talk to people, neither with me nor Hana you managed to get something out of either of us. Until now I feel little attachment or connection to you. Hana is your sister and will unfortunately continue to be this way if you continue to act this fucking stupid and oblivious to everything just like you always do Hikaru. Try to be more attentive and caring when you talk to people, an apology will surely help!- Sia disconnected Hana for a bit and talked only to me. I guess she is right about his. I shouldn't be so blunt or sound like a jerk when talking not to just Hana but to anyone in general.

"What did Sia tell you? Why was I disconnected?"- I didn't even see where Hana was, she was holding a hand on my cheek and one hand slapping my left cheek.

"Crap, Sia what do I do now, why don't I know what to do?"- I disconnected Hana for a second.

!Answer: You are an isekai protagonist from the light novels you read. Congratulations, you became what you dreamed of in your last world!- Sia said in a mocking robotic tone

"Sia, look I am sorry"- Hana started to laugh out loud. Wait, she was connected? Sia connected with her while talking to me.

"......."- Great, now Sia disconnected me and I can't hear her talking to Hana, both of them are now talking about me behind my back.

Hana starts laughing harder.

"What happened are you guys ok?"- Hidaka entered the house and saw Hana laughing at me, while my face turned beet red. Were the 2 of them conspiring against me? Well, it was funny but at the same time embarrassing for me.

"Yes, we are ok. Hana is just having a laughing fit, you can enter if you want"- I need to use my real voice while talking to them since they don't have a skill that will allow me to use telepathy with them.

"Yeah, I am ok. I just laughed a lot at a joke about Hikaru"- What did Sia tell her exactly? Was it the Isekai Protagonist joke?

"Wait, who is telling the joke? Do you guys have some sort of linked ability like the Great Sage ability that allows it to generate jokes or something?"- Masamune looks around the house and then his gaze lands on us, going back and forth between Hana and me.

"Well, yes and no. This is a thing we would like to keep secret between the 2 of us"- We invited our classmates over for a meal, I don't know if anyone is watching us right now but it's good to be nice to them, maybe they won't fear us as much anymore. I had to cook this time, so I didn't know what to make so I made some pancakes with some sweet syrup that almost tastes like maple syrup from our world but a lot more sour and sweet. That's about it.

"So, what brings you guys here?"- I asked them while sitting in the corner of the house. The small cabin that we call a house is now getting too cramped with 7 people in it.

"Well, we told the king that we want to catch the 2 of you as repentance for our sins and he agreed, shortly after that he assigned us to your house so we can find the 2 of you and bring you to the king for execution, but we won't do that, we can say that you 2 are the best at hiding or whatnot."- Masmune looked pleased while eating my pancakes.

"Well, it's not too late for you 2 to do something about that lord, he is a total pervert and picks on the girl heroes at the academy trying to find a reason to punish them every time, what's worse he offered us to become his servants as well. I want that guy gone"- Naomi shared her opinion with the group.

"Who doesn't want him gone, at least what commoner doesn't want him gone? I have seen some nobles that say he is crossing some line but I don't know too much about that. All of the people there who are related to him are using his title as a shield to do all the nasty things possible, we must put a stop to him"- Masamune said, making Naomi's point stronger.

"Yes, but you do realize that none of us have the strength to do anything here, let alone kill the local lord ourselves, we are barely level 7, and our stats haven't gone up one bit. I wonder how you 2 are doing in terms of levels, we are lagging on gaining exp."- Ryu is leaning against one of the walls of our house, he is the closest to the door where it's less cramped.

"Well, I am level 24 and Hana is level 18. Here are our stats"- I opened my stats screen and showed them our stats. Stat screens are pretty standard but Sia telling them to me is a lot easier than this.

All of them are looking at us mouths agape.

"Well, with those stats you will be able to beat any monster that will migrate here in the forest in no time. Do you know a way for us to get as strong as the 2 of you are right now?"- Naomi looked at us, she was still in shock from seeing our level, granted, ours are pretty low compared to our goals.

"Yes, we do know a way, and that way is real combat experience, training helps but you won't have your stats go up just by training, you need real fighting experience that is live or death, that's why the people at the academy force you to join the adventures' guild early on so that your stats can be trained"- I noticed that Sia is silent, wait, what happened to her?

!Note that heroes gain higher stats in proportion to the monster that they defeat, heroes are best dealt with at a low level rather than a higher level!- Phew, there she is, I thought she didn't want to speak to me anymore

"Look Sia, I am sorry. I should have been more considerate"

!Apology accepted. Try to be better with Hana, if you treat her the same it won't lead to anything good between the two of you, I just gave you a warning. You shouldn't neglect your sister like this.!

They stayed at our house until it was night, they left and went back to the Academy, and Hana remained there.

"Hey, Hana, what did Sia tell you about me that got you laughing this much?"- I looked at her, and she grabbed my left hand.

"It was about your insecurities, I already know them, but it was funny hearing someone else talk about them. I know that it must sting a little. Plus I also laughed at the isekai protagonist joke more. It was fitting of the current situation."- I turned my back to go to bed, Hana was still holding onto my left hand.

"Doesn't matter, go get some sleep. Also, I am sorry, I should have been more considerate about your feelings."- I turned to look at Hana and then wanted to turn back and go to bed but she grabbed me and didn't let me turn.

"You know, you are right, if push comes to shove I can't do much about it. Even if I don't want anyone to die I still can't change the fact that people will still die. I need to get used to this new world that we live in."- Hana and I sat on one of the beds, looking at each other.

"You are insecure about your memory and sanity, afraid that you will lose them again like you did in our world"- The realization was ugly, I know that Hana's parents had abandoned her when she was little, and our family well, they took her in, we grew up together, we are the same age right now, almost, Hana was officially adopted by our parents after her parents went missing, the thing was that my parents and their's were good friends and decided to take care of Hana after the 2 of them vanished. I don't even know how to explain this in a better way. I heard rumors that Hana and I might be blood-related in some way, that she is my half-sibling or something. I remember once going to a high school when I was in middle school and seeing 2 girls talking about us, I think one of them was named Ayame, wait, it couldn't be the same Ayame that King Wieka mentioned

"Yes, what about it? I think you know all my insecurities so far Hikaru. I mean we grew up together and such, me, you are my older brother and that always took care of me"- Hana leaned in closer to me

!I detect that Hana lied. There is about a 100% chance that she has a romantic interest in you. To her the fact that you are siblings is null. And I can confirm after analyzing the Hand and yourself, that you 2 are blood-related half-siblings!- Hana was disconnected by Sia just to tell me this.

"Well, we are almost the same age, Hana. Don't say that I took care of you, I didn't do anything that great, most of my life I complained rather than doing something"- I looked at the bed sheet, Hana got a hand on my chin and made me look straight at her.

"It's ok Hikaru. Don't worry about it."- Hana pulled me in a tight hug.

I don't think I even deserve this from Hana of all people.

"Thank you"- I can't say no to her at this point.

"Hikaru, why won't you just sit here"- Hana made me sleep the night in her lap, she fell asleep with her left hand on my head. I don't know how appropriate this is after what Sia has told me but what can I do now, nothing, that's what I can do.

The next day when we woke up it felt like tension had been released from our bodies, a tension we didn't know we even had to begin with. Tomorrow it's a new day, so will be the rest of the days to come. I can only say one thing, we must do everything we can in this world to survive and accomplish what the king had told us, if we become demon lords then this world will see better days than it ever will!