“That settles it,” I said. “Everyone get ready to go.”

We finally had our party for the trip.

The next morning, Ethnobalt focused his awareness on the anchor accessory, confirming again that everything was in order. Everyone else had made preparations and were ready to go. I’d also made enough soul-healing water for each of the heroes, so we could enhance them if we met with Glass.

“See you later, Bubba! Everyone!” Keel yipped.

“I won’t be gone long, Mel-chan!” Filo said.

“I know, Filo. Just take care,” Melty replied. Pretty much everyone from the village had come out to see us off.

“Ah . . . hoping for your safe return, I made this accessory. If you keep it with you, it may keep you from harm,” Imiya said, handing me an accessory.

Two Spirit Charm (four benevolent animal protection, all stats up [medium], freely imbued random effect)

Quality: excellent

It combined materials from the Spirit Tortoise and Phoenix around a gemstone called a pastel diamond. It also looked like it could be imbued with magic. “Freely imbued random effect” was an effect slot that could be increased via magic. Each time it was imbued, the stats would randomly change. It was quite a powerful effect.

I was impressed. I’d been making accessories myself in order to combat status effects, but I wasn’t sure I could turn out something quite like this. It really was the result of all the hard work Imiya had put into making accessories.

“Thank you,” I told her. I accepted the accessory from her and then ruffled her hair. I could see her cheeks flushing. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding before. I gave you totally the wrong idea.”

“It’s fine. No need to worry about it. Just please come back with Raphtalia and everyone else,” she responded.

“Yeah. It’s time to bring Raphtalia home,” I said. Everything finally ready, I gave Ethnobalt the signal. More voices called out, telling us to come back safely. There was even a “dafu” mixed in. The assembled party gave everyone a wave.

“It was only a short visit, but thank you for everything. I will repay this kindness at a future date. Here we go,” Ethnobalt said and raised the anchor accessory. It started to glow and a gentle light surrounded those of us who were making the trip. Then the world around us changed. It felt very much like after using a portal.

We set out for Kizuna’s world.

Chapter Four: Arrival into Conflict

I looked around. It was like passing through a tunnel of light, exactly like the first time I visited Kizuna’s world.

“Oh my?”

I heard a voice I was expecting.

“Oh my!”

Then I heard another that I certainly wasn’t. I turned around amid general exclamations of surprise from the rest of the party. The one who had spoken was looking around with the same surprised expression on her face too.

“I thought we agreed you were staying in the village. What are you doing here?” I asked. As far as I recalled, she had been standing next to Ruft and waving goodbye with everyone else. “Don’t tell me, as we departed you did a ‘don’t leave me behind!’ and dashed into the light?” I asked her. Whatever the reason, Shildina was among our little group as we proceeded through the tunnel of light.