As the credits started to roll, Lyle reached forward and turned off the video. He looked at Callan. “Well, what did you think? Pretty cool, right?”

  Callan frowned and thought for a second. Finally, he said, “Is that it? He just defeated the demon lord and the show ends?”

  “Pretty much. There was an extra afterword chapter released for the light novel, but...” Lyle made a so-so gesture with his hand. “I wouldn’t bother reading it, honestly. This ending was better.”

  “But he didn’t get to go back home!”

  “Man, it’s an isekai. Why would he want to go home? Did you see the way that elf girl practically draped herself on him before the final battle? You know they’re going to bone down hard after this.”

  “Seriously? ‘Bone down’? What are you, twelve?”

  Lyle punched Callan lightly on the shoulder. “Shut up, you know what I mean.”

  “All I know is you’re putting a weird amount of energy into thinking about a cartoon character’s sex life.” Callan shook his head. “And why wouldn’t he want to go home? The guy had parents who cared about him, if that one weird flashback was anything to go by. There was also that girl from his class—”

  “She rejected his confession, man!”

  “Technically he never got to hear it. That bus got him before she could respond—”

  “It’s called Truck-kun. At least try to get that right, it’s an isekai tradition!”

  Callan rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatever. My point is, if I was in his place, I’d still want to come back. I’d never be able to live with the guilt of knowing my parents would spend the rest of their lives wondering what happened to me.”

  Something unreadable passed over Lyle’s face. He turned away. “Well, that makes one of us.”

  “C’mon, Lyle, are you actually saying you would be fine leaving without a goodbye? Even to me?”

  “If I was killed and reincarnated—”

  “Say you weren’t. If you just ended up transported to a fantasy world like this guy was, would you really start a whole new life, just like that? Without a thought for all of us you left behind?”

  A quiet moment passed before Lyle looked at him. He grinned. “I guess I would miss being able to show you how a man of culture lives.”

  “Oh, yeah. Because this really counts as the pinnacle of cultured entertainment.” Callan snorted at the idea. “Pretty sure there were more panty shots in this show than there were actual fight scenes.”

  “Hey, those are critical to the plot!”

  “Keep telling yourself that, Lyle.”

  From there, the moment passed. However, Callan kept glancing at his friend. He knew Lyle’s home life wasn’t the best, but...

  Well, it was all pretend talk, anyway. It wasn’t like either of them were actually going to be swept off to some world of magic and destiny. Especially one where even goddesses dressed like they worked at a friggin strip club. Lyle didn’t mean anything by it.

  At least, he hoped not.

  Callan opened his eyes, the dream breaking apart as he blinked sleep away. A few fragments lingered. Something about Lyle again? Why was he dreaming about Lyle, of all people?

  Whatever the particulars had been, they faded as he sat up. Callan glanced around and saw canvas walls all around him. The entrance flaps rippled in a slight breeze next to his feet.

  We have to stop meeting like this, mortal. Xeph’s voice had an amused lilt, like a pile of scree settling after an avalanche. Falling unconscious not once, but twice? I worry for what sort of permanent damage you might be doing to yourself.

  “Xeph! Am I glad—Wait. Shouldn’t you be in quarantine?”

  There and back already. You’ve been asleep for over half a day.

  “Really?” Callan blinked. He knew from personal experience it was possible to fall unconscious for that long, but this time felt excessive. His injuries hadn’t been that bad. Nothing like when he’d collapsed outside of Tok.

  Had they?

  I may be partly to blame for that, Xeph continued, as if he’d read Callan’s mind. When quarantine activated, it withdrew a large portion of the strength and stability I was providing. Combined with the injuries you sustained during your fight as well as the residual effects of your earlier fall, I think it was more than your human body could handle. You passed into unconsciousness mere moments after exiting the portal.

  That did explain why Callan couldn’t remember much after the fight with Veritas. There had been a wave of orb monsters chasing them, and Sevvir had supported him with reaching the teleportation ring. After that...

  Nothing.

  Pulling his blankets away, Callan inspected his leg. There was no sign of any injury from Veritas’s knife. Nor was there anything on his arm or shoulder, other than a very pale scar on the latter. It seemed as if Sevvir had healed him while he slept this time. Guess their minor contract still counted for something.

  Mortal, Xeph said. He sounded worried about something, which immediately brought Callan’s attention back around.

  “Yeah?”

  I need to apologize for not taking your suspicions about Rym more seriously. If we had investigated the yeth back then, much of this conflict could have been avoided.

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it, Xeph. I’m pretty sure things would still have gone mostly the same. We wouldn’t have known who the rest of the cult was, and knowing Rym was the avatar wouldn’t have mattered if we couldn’t find him.”

  Still...

  Callan shook his head. “It’s done. Besides, you made some good arguments at the time. How were we to know that Veritas had a way to manipulate Rym even when he was comatose?”

  That is true. Xeph sounded notably relieved. Callan glanced around.

  “This is Rym’s tent, isn’t it? I recognize some of the patches to it. Did Sevvir bring me here?”

  “I did,” came a voice from somewhere outside. A moment later the tent flap pulled back and Sevvir’s grinning face poked through the opening. “Glad to see you’re finally awake, Callan.”

  “Hey, Sevvir, were you out there listening this entire time?”

  The mjolk frowned. “It’s somewhat difficult not to. Fantastic hearing, remember?” She tweaked one of her ears.

  “Oh yeah. I guess I can’t blame you too much, then. Thanks for healing me by the way.”

  “Hmm.” Sevvir knelt next to him. She took his head in her hands, then leaned in, pressing her forehead to his own. They stayed like that for several seconds before she pulled away. “Well, you don’t have a fever anymore. That’s a promising sign.”

  “Fever?” It took Callan a moment to remember his time in the dveorg cage. “Oh. That was probably because Xeph’s powers got turned off for a while. I sometimes get a bit loopy when it happens.”

  “Ah, that does explain why you suddenly collapsed into a delirium when we exited. I was afraid you’d been poisoned.”

  “Nope.” Callan pulled the blankets away again, realized he wasn’t wearing pants, then quickly threw them back on. He felt heat shoot up his face. "Uh, Sevvir...?"

  "Yes, yes. I’ll give you some privacy.” She stood up to leave.

  What are you so embarrassed about, mortal? She’s already seen you without pants before! Who do you think removed them in the first place?

  “It’s the principle of the matter, Xeph,” Callan said as the flap swung closed. “Besides, the last thing I need is her cracking some joke—”

  “I would never do something so crass,” Sevvir said from just outside the tent. Callan froze with one leg still half into his pants. “Besides, you have nothing to worry about, Callan. You’re very average sized. For a yeth, anyway.”

  The mjolk giggled and walked away. Callan waited until her footsteps faded completely, then let out a groan.

  You know she can probably still hear that too, right? Xeph asked.

  “Buddy, just... not right now, okay?”

  They set out from Rym’s old camp a few minutes later. Before leaving the tent, Callan gathered up what few personal effects remained—Rym didn’t need them anymore, and maybe his mother or brother might like to keep them.

  After that, the tent had a rather forlorn feel to it that gave Callan the creeps. He departed as quickly as he could and didn’t look back.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’m off to find my priests,” he told the mjolk.

  “Any idea where they might be?”

  The lud are almost certainly searching for us, even now, Xeph noted. Their powers are still active, so they know you yet live. They won’t wander far.

  He nodded in agreement. “With luck, they’re still back where I fell. If I know Kivi—that’s my high priestess—she’s probably still searching for me in the rubble.”

  “Then best not delay,” Sevvir said with a grin. “You don’t need the poor old thing suffering any further anguish.”

  Callan didn’t bother correcting her assumption that his high priestess would be an old woman. After all, most of his other priests were or had been elders, so her guess wasn’t that far off. “Which way are you headed?”

  “I’m not entirely sure, but... that way, I think.” She pointed in the direction of the cultist camp.

  “Then how about we walk together for as long as we can. Unless I need to sign another contract just to spend time with you...?”

  Sevvir laughed. “Not for walking, no.”

  “Good. I wasn’t exactly sure how this was going to work since our original contract ended.”

  “Did it?” The mjolk looked at him sideways, her lips curling into a slight grin.

  Xeph shuddered. I do not like the look of that expression. Tread carefully, mortal.

  “Um.” Callan thought back over the terms again. He didn’t remember the exact wording, but... “Wasn’t it something about how we would work together until our goals were accomplished?”

  “Correct. And while you may have fulfilled your goal, I, however, have not.” She let out a sigh.

  “Oh yeah, you never turned up your treasure, did you?”

  Mortal, his head mate-mate interjected. Ask her about what Veritas mentioned near the end. What was this nonsense about half of an existence?

  “Yeah, I was wondering about that, too.” He repeated Xeph’s question to the mjolk.

  Sevvir shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. The god had nothing I was interested in, or at least nothing I’m aware of. Perhaps he assumed I was there for something else.”

  “I guess that’s as likely an explanation as any.”

  They walked in silence for a bit longer. Eventually Callan noticed Sevvir watching him. “What?”

  “Before your fight with the other god, you mentioned being open to the idea of a longer contract. Is that still true?”

  “Oh. Oh!” Callan brightened. “You mean you would actually teach me willcasting?”

  “If that is what you wish. I can’t share all of my clan secrets, but some of them are less protected than others. Mostly the ones that any school out there might offer to teach you.”

  I still say this is nonsense, Xeph grumbled. Callan shushed him, then returned his attention to the mjolk.

  “What exactly would a contract entail?”

  “Nothing much. No more than what I originally offered you in the dungeon. As I mentioned before, I already have a master-mjolk contract, so this would just be a lesser, provisional one.”

  “I guess that’s fine, since I don’t actually know what a master-mjolk contract even is,” Callan noted. Sevvir looked at him in surprise.

  Human, maybe we shouldn’t just reveal our ignorance to every person we meet? There is such a thing as subtlety.

  “Xeph, she was going to figure it out eventually.” He looked back at Sevvir. “How would this work?”

  “My current master-mjolk contract requires I return home at the completion of my mission, but as you just saw, it appears to an impossible task...” The mjolk spread her hands. “I have some leeway in how I interpret those commands. If I am gone for several more weeks, it will not raise any eyebrows. That is more than enough time to teach you the basics, a foundation you can continue to develop on your own. Or you can seek out other teachers afterwards that can advance your skills further.”

  Callan nodded. “That sounds fair. What would you want in exchange?”

  He hadn’t forgotten the costly lesson from before. A mjolk never worked for free.

  “I’m sure we could come to some sort of arrangement,” Sevvir said, glancing away. “You must have some valuables back at your temple, yes? Or are the stories I’ve heard about gods of stone and mountain untrue?”

  Ah, so she seeks the wealth hidden beneath the earth, Xeph seemed to noticeably relax inside Callan’s head. At least we know her true motives now. Should she return with sufficient quantities of gems and other valuables, it will likely appease her master, or at least get them to overlook her failure at completing her mission.

  Callan thought back to the emptied treasury back at the temple. “But Xeph, we don’t—”

  Mortal! What did I JUST say about not revealing everything to those we meet? Subtlety!

  “Fine, fine.” Callan rolled his eyes, but he still followed the god’s advice and shut up. After all, if Xeph wasn’t worried about paying Sevvir’s price, he must have some plan for accumulating enough wealth to pay for her services.

  “Xeph says that shouldn’t be a problem,” he said instead. Sevvir nodded in satisfaction.

  “In that case, just give me a minute or two to draw up the proper terms.”

  She settled down right on the forest floor, pulled her writing supplies from her bag, and went to work. Callan watched her for a bit, grinning. Contracts were a weird obsession, but he couldn’t deny that she was rather cute when her brow was furrowed like that in absolute concentration.

  Are you truly certain we want to do this? Xeph asked. As I’ve explained before, my gifts are a much faster and reliable way to power. Even if my techniques for expanding them are a bit outdated, you cannot deny that your growth has accelerated since our followers increased.

  Callan nodded. “You’re absolutely right, Xeph. And I fully intend to continue focusing on growing the number of our followers. That’ll always be priority one.”

  But—

  “—But Zavastu is coming, and we’re going to need all the advantages we can get. Besides, Kivi and the others can focus on gathering more followers. What am I supposed to be doing with my spare time? Gaining a new trick or two seems like a good use.”

  While Callan guessed some more advanced skills like healing were beyond the scope of what Sevvir could or would teach him, even if all he learned was how to throw fire around, it would time well spent. There was a lot he could do with that one trick alone.

  And Zavastu was a goddess of fire, after all. What better to fight fire with, than more fire?

  “There, I think that covers everything.” Sevvir handed him a sheet of papers that looked identical to the first contract she’d offered, along with a pen. “Just sign at the bottom on the last page, and we’re good to go.”

  “Okay.” Callan started skimming over the contract. While most of it was in legalese and thus incomprehensible to him, he still knew better to sign anything without reading it first. At the very least, he wanted to absorb the general tone.

  “Um...” Sevvir said after a moment. “Is something wrong?”

  “I’m just looking it over. Only be another minute.”

  “There’s no need to worry.” The mjolk stood and tapped at the papers. “As I said before, this is a standard mjolk contract. I would never shame my clan by offering anything otherwise.”

  “Then you won’t mind if I look it over for a bit.”

  “I thought you were in a hurry to find your people.” Sevvir stepped closer. She laid her hand over Callan’s. “Just sign it, and we can get moving. I’d also like to gather the supplies at my own camp before any wild animals get to them. We shouldn’t delay for too long.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m reading as fast as I can.” Callan frowned. He read a section of the contract again. “Hey, Sevvir, what does this part here mean?”

  “Which part?” The girl’s voice squeaked a bit as she spoke.

  “This one here, labeled 28e. ‘In the event that contract holder and contracted mjolk form a connection that results in—’”

  “Avatar! Drop those papers immediately!”

  Callan glanced up. Kivi was practically running towards him, branches snapping and plants crushed underfoot as she fought her way forwards. A short distance behind, Paeral tugged unsuccessfully at a bush which had ensnared the hem of his robe.

  “Oh, hey—”

  Kivi leapt over the last of the underbrush. Without a further word, she snatched the contract from Callan’s hands and tore it to pieces. Dropping them on the ground, she stomped on them several times for good measure.

  Callan gaped. He felt similar waves of shock coming from his head-mate. That seemed rather excessive. She could have simply returned the papers to the mjolk.

  “Tell me you didn’t sign anything else yet,” Kivi said breathlessly, heaving from her sudden burst of effort. Before Callan could respond she rounded on Sevvir. Despite the difference in their heights, she seemed to suddenly tower over everyone else.

  “How dare you, mjolk! I knew your conniving kind were untrustworthy, but trying to contract with an avatar? That is a new low.” She raised herself up further. “As his official representative, I invoke paragraph 176 of any contracts you might already have tricked him into signing. Now, begone!”

  Sevvir let out an extremely cat-like hiss. She looked at Callan. “Who is this girl?”

  “Oh, right, introductions. Kivi, this is Sevvir. Sevvir, this is Kivi, my high priestess.”

  “Your... high priestess.” The mjolk looked at Kivi in shock. Then something seemed to pass over her face. “And you wish to invoke paragraph 176, do you, girl? Brave. Very brave.”

  Kivi stared the mjolk down, not budging an inch. After a long moment, Sevvir smirked.

  “Lucky for you, the avatar signed no other contracts. You’re safe—for now.”

  Does that mean the small contract from before doesn’t count? Xeph asked. Callan didn’t bother voicing the question. Now didn’t seem like the right time.

  “I can see my presence here is no longer desired. Callan, it appears those casting lessons will have to wait,” Sevvir continued. She glowered at Kivi again, then shot him an apologetic smile. “Despite what lies this one is likely to tell you about my people, I truly did have your best interests at heart. Sadly, it appears that is not to be now.”

  “Um, okay then.” Callan wasn’t sure what else to say.

  “If you’re ever in Amon Tul, be sure to look me up, okay?” And with a quick wave of farewell, Sevvir bounded into the forest. She was far more skilled at avoiding the underbrush than either of the lud had been. Paeral gave a yelp of surprise and fell over as she rushed past.

  A moment later, she was gone.

  Callan turned back to Kivi. “Okay, what the hell was that—Ooof!”

  The lud girl had thrown all four of her arms around him, and now seemed rather determined to strangle him via hug. Callan flailed for a moment before he managed to get his arms untangled enough to halfheartedly return the embrace.

  “Oh, Avatar, I was so worried about you.” Kivi’s voice was muffled, pressed into his stomach as it was. She must have gone onto tiptoes to accomplish that.

  He gave her an extra squeeze. “It’s okay. I’m back now. Everything is alright.”

  “And Veritas?” she asked, pulling away slightly. Her arms lingered on his own, as if she was afraid to let him fully out of her grasp just yet. “Does she still live?”

  “He. And no, he doesn’t. I’ve got a lot to tell the both of you.”

  “You can explain everything on the way home.” Kivi turned to Paeral. “Go back and gather what supplies remain. We’ll have to stop at Restaro’s farm to resupply, but he should be amenable to that.”

  “Actually, hold off on that order,” Callan said. “We need to go back to Aos first. There’s... something I need to tell Belinda.”

  He rather dreaded that particular conversation, but the yeth woman had the right to know the truth. Even if she wasn’t the mayor anymore, she’d set all these events in motion. She deserved to hear the ending.

  Kivi pursed her lips. “If that is your desire, Avatar.”

  “Thanks, High Priestess.” He frowned down at her. “Now, do you want to tell me what all that yelling at Sevvir was about? How do you know so much about mjolk contracts?”

  The lud glanced away, an embarrassed expression slipping onto her face. “I... actually don’t know anything about them, Avatar.”

  “Huh?” Callan blinked.

  “I only once overheard Master Parias warning his son about them before a long journey. He spoke of being wary of any contract offered by a mjolk, and if one could not be avoided, to invoke that paragraph once the mattered was settled. Beyond that, I know little.”

  Does that mean she chased off the mjolk over nothing but hearsay? Xeph scoffed, which sounded reminiscent of a boulder cracking in half. Callan resisted the urge to groan.

  I wonder if it’s too late to go after her? he thought. Probably. The way she was moving, there’s no chance I’ll catch up, even with my enhanced Momentum.

  Something else Kivi had said sudden clicked. He glanced at her. “You know, I’ve heard you refer to Parias as your master several times now. You didn’t have to sign a contract with him, did you?”

  “No?” Kivi looked at him, confused. “Master is a title in lud society, Avatar. It is awarded to certain distinguished members who are not yet old enough to be considered elders.”

  “Oh, okay then.”

  “Why would I have signed a contract?”

  “Nothing, nothing.” Callan waved the question away. “Just something Sevvir said. Guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  Still, this is interesting, Xeph mused. It appears that the contract obsession must be exclusively mjolk. And here I’d hoped that our high priestess could provide some further insight into the matter. Alas.

  “You’re one to talk, Xeph. Every time we find out about some new quirk caused by all this tinkering with people’s brains you’re practically salivating. Try to keep it in your proverbial pants, would you?”

  I don’t wear pants, mortal. Nor would I even if I possessed the physical framework to do so. They appear far too constricting.

  Callan shook his head. “That actually explains a lot about you Xeph. Probably more than I wanted to know, honestly.”

  What does that mean?

  “Never mind. Come on, everyone, let’s get moving.”

  My Cheat Skill Is So OP, Even I Feel Bad For The Demon Lord, based on the light novels by Yokohama Tashi and produced by Studio Rama, who also made Lyle’s favorite anime, Meow Meow Maid Sisters.