It was only the first few hours of our first day in the human lands, and we had just barely slipped past the guards. Drawing attention was the last thing I wanted, so I was ready to swallow my pride and play nice. I worried Midori or Aoi would cause trouble, but I never thought I would be the one stealing the spotlight.

  “Hahaha!” the crowd burst into cruel laughter as I walked toward them.

  With my first step, they were still laughing, ugly and loud. By my second step, it was like something stuck in their throats, laughter snapping into rough gasps. On the third step, half the guild slumped over their tables. By the fourth, no one was left awake.

  Midori tried to grab my arm, but only brushed it before she collapsed. I didn’t look back. My eyes stayed on the guy, my domain spread wide. When I reached him, his forehead was already resting on the table. I grabbed his hair anyway, yanked his head back, and smashed it down again with all my strength.

  

  The table cracked under his head and then broke apart, falling to the floor with his still body. I turned to face the other man, but in the next second I was back at the guild’s front desk, right where it all started. I was still confused and trying to understand what had happened when Aoi suddenly wrapped me in a hug.

  “Alright. That was fun to watch, but I need to cut it short,” she whispered. Then she shot a sideways glance and added, “or you’ll end up killing this weak little snail. Not that I care much—”

  I slipped out of Aoi’s hug and followed her gaze. I saw Midori on the floor, on her knees, breathing hard.

  “Midori!” I shouted as I ran to her and dropped down in front of her. “Are you okay? Sorry, I—”

  “Y-yeah, I’m fine…” she muttered, her voice weak. Then se lifted a shaky hand and pointed at the quest board on the wall.

  I looked at the board. It was huge and dozens of quest notices were pinned on top of each other, leaving almost no space. I stared for a moment, confused, unable to tell which one she was pointing at.

  “What?”

  “Quest… edelweiss…” she said, raising her finger to point higher.

  I lifted my head and saw it. Above the quest board hung a separate notice, neatly framed. Fine parchment, clean handwriting, and a lifelike drawing of an edelweiss flower. Below it were the words: Kingdom Quest: Edelweiss Flower. Reward: 100 gold.

  Before I could read the rest, Aoi grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Come on,” she said fast. “We need to get out of here.”

  “You’re… right.”

  I lifted Midori, letting her lean on me, while Aoi supported her from the other side. The moment we stepped outside, we hurried away without looking back.

  After we put enough distance between us and the building, I gently set Midori down on a park bench. Guilt twisted in my chest, and I couldn’t meet her eyes. She was already low from the teleport, and I had drained her even more.

  “Hey, Midori… I'm—”

  “It’s fine,” she said weakly, waving her hand. “That bastard… he had it coming.”

  “Forget him and pull it back in already,” Aoi urged. “You’re drawing way too much attention.”

  “What? Pull in what?”

  “All the mana you took from the guild guys is around you. You… you look like you’re going to explode at any second.”

  “What?!”

  I opened my mana vision at once and looked at myself. She was right. Enough mana to fight a boss level monster was spinning around me. After the mountain mess, I didn't even realize I could gather this much. Panic hit me, and the shock faded fast.

  “Come on, suck it in before anyone notices,” Aoi said.

  “Stupid worm,” Midori muttered, still weak. “He has no mana source. He can’t pull it in like us.”

  “Right,” I said. “So what now? And don’t tell me to make another fireball. I have enough memories of that I really don’t want to remember!”

  I looked at Aoi. She was thinking hard, foot tapping, hand on her chin, eyes on the ground. She stayed like that for minutes. Then her eyes lit up and she looked at me.

  “If you can’t pull it in,” she said, “then push it out.”

  “...What?! What does that even mean?”

  “I mean spread it. As far as it can go.”

  “That sounds crazy. I don’t even know if that’s possible!”

  “Of course it is,” she snapped. “That’s how I survived all these years.”

  “How even?” Midori asked, just as shocked as I was.

  “Remember the mana on the mountain? I spent every day spreading it out. If I didn’t, it would pile up and crush me.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Wait,” I said, trying to clear my head. “So when you were spreading death everywhere… you were actually trying not to die?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Okay,” I said, rubbing my forehead, “so how did you do it? And how do I do it?”

  “That’s easy,” Aoi said. “You just do the opposite of what you do when you pull it in—”

  “But I never pulled anything in!”

  “Oh, right,” she said, forcing a stiff smile.

  “We should first explain how we pull mana in,” Midori muttered, thinking. “Even if he can’t do it, understanding the idea might let him try it in reverse.”

  “That actually makes sense,” I muttered. “So how do you pull mana in?”

  “That’s the problem,” Midori said. “We do it on instinct. Like walking. Try explaining to an adult how to walk…”

  “It’s very simple to do,” Aoi added, “but hard to explain...”

  “So,” I said, my shoulders slumping, “this means it won’t work, huh?”

  For a while, we just stood there, staring in different directions and letting out tired breaths. Midori and Aoi were straining their minds, trying to explain it to me. I was doing the same, hoping to figure it out myself, somehow. But trying to do the opposite of something I’d never done before felt almost impossible.

  “Hey!” Aoi shouted. Then she slowed down, mumbling as she gathered her thoughts. “Maybe you should think of it like… drinking water from a river.”

  “How?” I stared at her, confused.

  “I mean,” she said, waving a hand, “there’s a source flowing toward you, and… taking it in, pulling it to yourself… you get the rest.”

  “I can't—” I was about to scream in anger, then I stopped, remembering something. “Could it be?” I muttered.

  “What could it be?” Midori asked.

  “Wait a second,” I said, turning to Aoi. “This ‘drinking from a river’ thing… can you explain it a bit more?”

  “How? Alright…” Aoi started thinking, looking a bit unsure herself. “Think of the mana around you as water,” she paused. “Or better, wait.”

  She raised her hand slightly, palm up, and made a small sphere of water. “Now, imagine this water is mana, okay?”

  “...Yeah?”

  The water spun into a tiny whirlpool around her hand and began to shrink.

  “Now think of it as pulling the mana into your body,” she said. When the water disappeared entirely, she looked at me. “See? It all went back.”

  “That’s not quite right,” Midori muttered, confused. “When you destroy a spell, it doesn’t turn back to mana. You actually use extra mana to—”

  “Shut up, bug!” Aoi shouted. “He’s already having trouble understanding. And I’m just giving an example—”

  I grabbed Aoi’s arm and shook it to snap her attention back. “Okay, okay, I think I get it… somehow.”

  “Really?” she said, her eyes lighting up.

  “Maybe... I’m not sure, but I’ll try. Just give me a second.” I closed my eyes, then opened them again in panic. “And try not to kill each other while I do.”

  I closed my eyes again and remembered what Grandpa always said. Let the water pass, don’t fight it. It felt a lot like how people pull mana here. Aoi’s water trick also pushed the thought further. No harm in trying, I thought. First, I had to calm down. Then feel the mana around me.

  But good luck with two SSS-tier troublemakers breathing down my neck. Only a few seconds had passed. Yep, that was all the time they gave me to focus. Not long after, Aoi’s voice rang out.

  “Move your butt aside, I’m going to fall!”

  “You move aside, giant butt!”

  “Huh? So you admit mine’s bigger…”

  “Get lost, worm-head!”

  “Snail-head fool!”

  “Shut up!” I yelled, pointing at them, my finger trembling with anger. “I’ve got enough mana to explode right now. You really don’t want to test me!”

  Finally, silence. Midori slid aside, giving Aoi some space, then crossed her legs. Aoi mirrored her, their bodies like perfect reflections, glaring in opposite directions. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes again, and went back to focusing. But only a few more seconds passed.

  “Hayato,” Aoi called out.

  I ignored her to death. Fully focused, eyes completely shut, I could finally feel the mana around me. Something was happening. That was a good sign.

  “Ha… Hayato,” Midori called this time, nervous.

  I ignored them both. I kept my eyes shut. I could feel the mana clearly, that part was easy. Now I just had to push it out, or make it grow, whatever worked. I didn’t know how to do it right, so I pictured it first. I held the image in my mind and let it expand. Something shifted. Just a little.

  “Hayato,” Aoi called again, shaking me this time, her voice tinged with panic. “Look—”

  “One second, I’m almost done,” I muttered.

  At last, I felt the mana started to expand. The moment I noticed it, I pushed harder, sending it away as fast as I could. I imagined it like blowing up a balloon, praying it just wouldn't burst.

  The mana stretched and thinned around me. Time blurred. Aoi kept shaking me, but I stayed focused. In the end, it worked. Not perfectly, but the mana around me no longer felt dangerous.

  “Hayato!” Aoi yelled this time.

  I lost it. I opened my eyes, grabbed her by the arm, and shook her. “What? What? What do you want?!”

  “Calm down, brat!” a deep, rough voice barked. At the same time, someone with insane strength grabbed me and yanked me aside. “Did no one ever teach you how to treat women?”

  I turned and saw two guards beside us. One was tall and skinny, the other huge and bulky. The big one glared at me first, clearly frustrated, then shifted his gaze to Aoi and Midori.

  “Ladies, is this brat bothering you?”

  “No! Why even—”

  “You stay quiet!”

  The man’s deep voice and scary size hit me to the bone. A long scar nearly closed his left eye, a thick mustache sat on his face, his muscles bulged under the armor, and his grip on my arm sealed the deal.

  “No, you got it wrong,” Aoi said. “He is actually—”

  “Don’t worry, milady,” he cut in. “We’re the kingdom guards. As long as we’re here, no one can touch you. So if this one is threatening you or something—”

  “What? Threatening?” Midori jumped in, barely holding back a laugh. She walked over calmly, linked her arm with mine. “My husband would never treat me badly.”

  The man almost swallowed his tongue. He looked at me, then at Midori. For some reason, he stared at Midori longer. Then back at me. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, sure,” Aoi said quickly. She stepped in, brushed his huge arm off me like it weighed nothing, then took my other arm. “He’s our husband. Well, mostly mine.”

  The man wobbled the first time, then completely collapsed the second. He was still standing, but I could feel his spirit hitting the ground. Still, his suspicious glare didn’t change.

  “Alright,” he said, holding out his hand. “Let’s see your identity cards, then.”

  He took our cards and checked them one by one, mumbling as he read. “Hayato Fujimura… Midori Fuji—” His eyes went wide. He stared, reread the name, then moved on. “Aoi Fuji… Fuj…”

  His face twitched. He let out a slow, sad breath, gave the cards back to Aoi, and turned away, his body shaking. At first, we didn’t understand what happened. Then the guard next to him tapped his shoulder.

  “Are you alright, sir?”

  “I…” the bulky man muttered, sniffling and sobbing like a child. “I hate my life!”

  He shot me a quick glance over his shoulder. His eyes were bloodshot, snot hung wildly from his nose, and tears streamed down his cheeks like a flood. Then he turned back around.

  “Let’s… just go get a beer,” he muttered to the other guard.

  After watching them walk away, shoulders slumped and faces down, I noticed Midori and Aoi were still clinging to my arms. I quickly pulled myself free from their grip.

  “Anyway... Now what?”

  “We’re going to the palace,” Midori said.

  “Why?” I asked. Then my memory finally caught up. “Oh, right. I almost forgot… The Kingdom Quest!”