“It seems to be going all right.” I observed from my vantage point overlooking the eerritory. Shaeu was behiill fav her injured limb, although my efforts and her natural recovery had left it in much better shape.

  “Well, ohing you - rely on Trolls for is destru.” she sniffed. Down below several Trolls were making use of their great vitality and the heavy armour I had gifted them with, smming into the defensive barrier with reckless abandon. Orc corpses were diminishing to ether, where they had foolishly challehe Trolls. Bolts of aetheric light were occasionally smming into our forces, but even the more powerful bolt of the Sniper Empt was not enough t a Troll down, though the armour was starting to led, punched full of metal craters.

  Damn, I’m going to have to fix them all ter, aren’t I? A leader's work is never done…

  Still, with several smaller groups of Trolls and Grulgor attag other pces, the defenders were stretched thin. And when enemy forces gathered to repel oa-masse, that was when Shaeu and I started our own assaults, bsts of wind and fire weakening the barrier. Defensive barriers were strong, but against such persistent attacks, it was already starting to colpse in pces. Yeah, breaking the barrier is the easy part. On the Territory we’ll be weakened, and have to fight against that wraith on her own terms. Still, I’ve kept Foehn hidden for that reason…

  Shaeu lowered her hand, spears of wind smming down on the barrier in multiple pces, shards of emerald energy pushing through and bsting the ground within. “o overthink things, Akio. We do not-not o rush. Ohe foe is exhausted and overstretched, then-then we should strike!”

  I nodded, ruffling her hair. “Yeah… the only is if the master of the Territory es forth, but theing him head-on offers several outes which could be us.”

  “In that-that case, you should return to the Material. You have been here long, your fatigue is showing.”

  I retty tired. I had spent much effort oher Healing, in addition to my crafting exploits. The eerritory on my borders was a niggling thorn, ohat I wished to excise as quickly as possible, but uhe situation ged we had reached a sort h stalemate, so another day to let Shaeu fully recover a me to peak dition robably wise. Plus I always have things to do back at the shrine…

  “Good advice. You are in charge then. Now that we have a sed Kamaitachi to support you, you’ll be fine.”

  “Hmph, I would be fine-fine even if I was alone, who do you think I am?” Shaeu pihough she looked pleased at my pliment.

  After some more banter we retreated to the shrine, following the Trolls who had also withdrawn, though they headed off to attaother location. I theuro the Material pne.

  Opening my eyes in my shabby apartment, I realised that soon I’d be waking up elsewhere. Surprisingly, I found I’d actually miss it a little. Cheg the clock it was just after midday. My phone was also blinking at me, no doubt with missed calls or messages from Karen-. Getting up I stretched and ran through a quick workout to loosen my muscles, and while I was winding down my ph. Pig it up I was surprised to see the caller wasn’t Karen-, but…

  “Afternoon, so to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?” I answered, getting an indignant squawk from the other end.

  “Less with the sarcasm, buster.” Shiro replied. “You know that there are no end of guys who would love to hear my sweet voi their ear to enliven a dry, dull afternoon. And I know you are one of them, Aki!”

  “Yeah, well that’s only because they don’t know yht?” I teased her. “I do, however. And while you may be beautiful, you make up for that by causing trouble. Every time we go out you end up colpsing, and the girls, Hayato-san or I end up having to look after you. So, anyway, what’s up? You never answered my question.”

  “Ugh, you are just an Aki, you don’t get to talk down to a princess like me! It isn’t my fault I’ve always been frail. Men are supposed to like proteg fragile girls, right, right! So appreciate me more!” she groused, causio smile. Shaeu and Shiro, what a pair…

  “My bad. So, seriously, why are you calling? I’ve got a lot on, so if it isn’t important…”

  “Whoa, everything I want is important. Besides, did you fet? You said when you got back from your trip we’d all get together, the old gang. Besides, apparently Hayato has some o share. I think you guess?”

  Oh, yeah. I think I . “So, Hayato-san’s got a girl then? Do you think Hina- worked up the ce to fess, or…” I hoped she had. Everyoh eyes could see that the shy Hina- was crushing hard on Hayato-san, as he was a very friendly and approachable guy, the tre of roup for sure.

  “She’d better have. After all, she came to me for advid I told her to just go for it.” Shiro said proudly. “You don’t get anywhere in life by waiting for others to notice how you feel. That’s some free advice for you too, Aki.”

  I couldn’t help but think that advice wasn’t as helpful as she thought, as telling someone shy to well… not be shy… was archetypal in its obviousness and difficulty, but it was so very Shiro.

  “Anyway, how about this weekend? Apparently the job that Hayato has is going well. I hear you did a ton for him. Speaking of…” Her tone ged, being wheedling and sickly-sweet. “… you think you do a bit more for me, Aki? I’m making goress, so if you could do just a bit more that’d really help me out. I’ll let you buy me a drink as your reward!”

  Hah, some reward huh? She even offers boons like Shaeu, making a favour for her seem like one for me. Unfortunately, now is not a good time for me… not with the Territory dispute, and my family and the Mori’s visiting…

  “Sorry, I’m afraid I’m really busy this weekend. I’ve got a lot going on myself. Sadly I’ll have to give it a miss, unless you postpone a week? As for your work, now isn’t a good time, but iure, I might be able to squeeze a little in, for old times’ sake…”

  “… so, not only did you not call when you got back from your trip, now you ’t even make it out socialising with your dearest friends? You disappoint me, Aki. This princess is very sad indeed.” She put on a voiock disappoi. “I’ll speak to Hayato, he’ll probably reschedule if it means we get everyoogether, but really… are you just upset that you’ll be the only one in the group that is still a single loser? It’s that isn’t it, poor Aki…”

  Seriously, you are still single aren’t you, Shiro? Or are you fetting that?

  “… you know, I’ll let you y shoulder. Most guys would kill to have a beautiful princess listen to their woes. You pour my drinks and tell me all about your ideal woman. Though don’t get the wrong idea, even if I’m being o you and your fragile heart, I’m not for you! Bank bance of a hundred million yen minimum to eve a date…”

  Oh my, if only you knew… I let out a chuckle as I started fiddling with my phone, causio ask what was so funny. I found the photo I wao send, and o was done I waited.

  “What… a photo? If this is a lewd one I’m going to sue you, Aki. You ’t defile the eyes of a princess… hang on, what… who… uh?”

  As she trailed off dumbfounded I burst out ughing, my chuckles growing to full-throated mirth. It was rare to throw Shiro off her act, but very satisfying, sidering how often I had ended up the butt of her jokes in the past.

  “Hey, so… this photo. It’s not a photoshop jht? You haven’t gone off the deep end, finally tired of being alone? If I’d have known it was this bad, I’d have…”

  “Enough with the jokes Shiro. You’ve heard me talk about her before, you surely remember? Besides, you said it yourself earlier, you don’t get anywhere in life by waiting, right?” I choose to ighe fact that it wasn’t me that stopped waiting, but Eri…

  “That’s Shirohime.” she responded reflexively. “… so, that’s your mythical childhood friend, isn't it? Her and your sister were the only two girls you ever talked about, so… uh, hey, that’s an e ring there, right?”

  “It sure is. That’s why this weekend is no good. Eri’s family is ing to Tokyo, and we o… iron out… a few things.” My father is ing too. My stomach hurts just thinking about it…

  “My whole worldview is crashing down. Aki got engaged. Didn’t even pause at the girlfriend stage. I’m shocked, I thought you were holding out the vain, futile hope that I’d go out with you. Poor deluded Aki. Still… gratutions, I guess. Damn, my mind ’t process this, and I’m a genius! It’s that shog!”

  Our banter tinued for a while, and when she discovered I had proposed atop the Strat in Las Vegas, Shiro was jealous. Not of me of course, but that Eri had su experience. She did accept that this weekend really wasn’t the time for me to be partying, and she promised to square things with Hayato-san. Though she did twist my arm into promising to do some more work for her, as, how did she put it… pensation for the mental distress I caused her by no longer being the Aki she knew…

  “Yeah, so I won’t tell anyone why you ’t make this weekend.” Shiro finished up. “We might as well have ty surprises as well as one.”

  Is it really a surprise when you already told me about Hayato-san and Hina-? Not that it matters, I guess.

  “Yeah, well, the drinks’ll be on me.” I promised, bringing a happy agreement from Shiro. “Just… try not to colpse this time, okay? Hayato-san and I shouldn’t be carrying pretty girls around anymore, we are taken. And Aimi- and Hina- won't want to be taking you home and missing half the night like always.”

  “Ugh, Aki has a big head. Fine… I’ll be on my best behaviour, talk to you ter, anyway…”

  With that call finished I decided to treat myself to a beer. I had to admit it felt pretty good finally having a rebuttal to her teasing. Still, Shiro was a long-term friend, so I didn’t really mind it, it was all in good humour. Opening up a with a satisfying ting, I took a swig. My phone had other messages, from Karen-, as I suspected, so I gave her a call as well.

  “Oh, Akio-kun… err, sorry, manager…” Karen- began, but I cut her off.

  “Akio-kun is fine. o stand on ceremony. It’s just you and Shaeu w for me right now, and she’s not big on formalities, so no worries. Anyway, what’s up?”

  “Well, I’m here at the shrine, having tea and sweets again. It’s nice, but… I feel a bit like a wage thief. There isn’t really mue to do here, the building work seems to be going smoothly. The plumbers are repg the toilet and making sure the bath works, as you requested, and over on the main stru site maery and supplies are being unloaded on schedule. Still, I’ve got to say I’m impressed you knew about the obscure pnning ws that allow shrines special privileges. Otherwise there’d have been no way you’d have got permission to build here, not for months or even years…”

  Wait, what? I didn’t even think of pnning ws… “Yeah, things worked out perfectly.” I chuckled nervously, bluffing. “Anyway, don’t worry about it, just enjoy the downtime, you will be busy iure to make up for it. Hey, that reminds me…” That’s right. I might as well put her to use…

  “Yes, I’m all ears, Akio-kun.”

  “There’s a shrine a bit to the north…” I expined about the location of the shrihat matched up with the one our enemy trolled in the Boundary. “… so I’d like you to find out all the information about it. Nothing is too trivial. And if you get ce, you also scour for rumours about any strange happenings in the surrounding area.”

  “… Well, you are the boss. It’s certainly a strange request though.”

  “I did say there’d be a few of those, didn’t I? But it’d be helpi, so I’d appreciate it.”

  “Well, like I said, you are paying my wages. I’ll get right on it. Will you be visiting Shirohebizumi today?”

  I thought about it before shaking my head. “No, not today. I have other stuff to do. So I’ll leave you to get on with things.”

  “Roger that, Akio-kun.” And with that she hung up.

  Looking down at my thigh, there atch of pale, mostly healed skin, all that remained of the wound that I had suffered in the Boundary version of Takakura Antiques. It was healing at a rapid rate, bolstered by both my Ether Healing and high stats. Though I think I fix it fully now. I don’t wao see my body full of scars, after all.

  The only ones I would leave would be the faint ones on my abdomen that the dog had caused long ago, as they were wounds of pride. Other than that… time to get to work. I’m close to improving the Skill again…