Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  "It's a trap!"

  …Nobody said such a thing.

  Everyone found it difficult to come to any immediate conclusions about what the blonde curly-haired prince told them.

  "We should ask about that sword," Natsuya spoke up.

  Seiji nodded and showed Prince Adnan the golden sword that they retrieved from the restaurant owner's body.

  "Do you recognize this sword?"

  Adnan glanced over at the sword.

  "This is a sword from the armory in the palace… why is it in your hands?"

  Seiji explained the situation to Adnan.

  "I wasn't the one who did it. I wanted all of you to come as quickly as possible rather than prevent your arrival. I would never do such a thing." Adnan furrowed his eyebrows. "Someone must have stolen this sword and used it to attack your companion. Earlier, I had a faint feeling that someone was spying on me. However, I was unable to find anyone, nor did I find any traces of anyone. But now, I'm certain that I wasn't merely hallucinating. There really was a concealed individual around here spying on me! However, I no longer sense that feeling of being spied upon. My guess is that this unknown individual must have been injured by your companion's counterattack. The unknown individual most likely left this world already. Still, it's also possible that they're still around. We must remain vigilant." A powerfully sharp glint appeared in the blonde curly-haired prince's eyes. "This unknown individual is most likely the cause behind everything that happened here! I don't know what their goal is, or what else they intend to do… But I swear in the name of the Arlosis Family that if this person who dared to make such a fool out of me ever appears before me, I shall exert my full power in killing them!!"

  He spoke in an incredibly vicious tone that caused everyone present to feel a tangible chill run down their spines.

  Right after this, Adnan seemed to suddenly detect something as he looked towards the black mist off in the distance.

  "They're coming."

  Seiji and the others also looked in the same direction, only to see some white skeletons!

  The skeletons continuously walked out of the black mist. There were soon too many to even count.

  "This world is almost about to collapse, so the creatures of chaos are appearing… Come! Into the palace!" Adnan indicated for everyone to follow him into the palace.

  Editor Yoshizawa and the other award ceremony attendees followed after him.

  Everyone looked at Seiji. Seiji nodded and took the lead in following after Adnan.

  A large number of skeletons chased after them!

  Everyone speedily ran into the palace. The blonde curly-haired prince then waved his hand, causing the heavy palace door to automatically close and lock itself.

  "The closer this world gets to completely collapsing, the smaller the radius of the circle of order that I'll be able to maintain. Currently, I can still block them from entering the palace, but that won't last much longer." Adnan faced everyone. "As you can see for yourselves, this is how the situation is… Please believe in me! I need all of you to assist me."

  Once again, everyone looked towards Seiji.

  Seiji noticed this and knew that he had to make a choice here.

  Seiji could either agree and promise to help Adnan, which meant braving danger to protect him.

  Or, Seiji could choose not to believe Adnan… which probably meant fighting Adnan immediately right now.

  After he carefully considered the two options, Seiji slowly spoke, "Alright."

  Seiji decided to believe in Adnan.

  Inside the palace's banquet hall.

  This was an extravagant, golden, and opulent location decorated with exquisite artwork. The paintings and sculptures hanging on the walls and ceiling were wonderful. It was a pity that nobody currently had the time to enjoy the breathtaking sight.

  Editor Yoshizawa, Head Editor Hattori, and all the other award ceremony attendees were gathered here.

  Seiji had Nomura and the others, as well as Adnan (who represented Shoutarou Rinura) place their hands on himself before Seiji picked up the golden longsword and concentrated.

  The seal on Seiji's right hand began to glow white. The longsword started glowing as well, growing brighter and brighter.

  Approximately ten seconds later, the longsword was now so blinding that it appeared to be a sword completely made out of light. A faintly visible mystical spell formation appeared around the sword.

  "Open!" Seiji shouted loudly as he forcefully swung the sword, leaving behind a pure white trail in midair!

  This white trail gradually expanded and formed a large white void hole.

  The blonde curly-haired prince commanded the award ceremony attendees to enter this hole which led them back to the real world.

  Adnan then cast a spell that erected several solid walls which completely encased the portal back to Seiji's world.

  After Adnan was able to leave this world safely, the magic spell creating these walls would automatically be canceled, allowing Seiji and the rest to return to their world.

  Until then, they had to do a good job protecting the prince from coming to any harm.

  The first layer of defense consisted of Nomura, Miyabi, Yuuko, Maishi, and Yoshida.

  According to Adnan's explanation, the authors had all acted as support in constructing this world of illusions, which was why they all had the power of order which could defend against the chaos.

  After this world began collapsing, Adnan gave over all his remaining power over order to Nomura and the other authors, telling them all that they needed to maintain the stability of the banquet hall.

  Any creatures of chaos that forced themselves into the banquet hall would be dealt with by the second layer of defense, which consisted of Seiji, Natsuya, Shika, Hitaka, Rana, and Matsutani.

  If everything went smoothly, nobody would be injured. But if things didn't go so smoothly…


  Until the very last moment before the world started completely collapsing, Adnan did his best to teach Nomura and the other authors how to use the power of order in this world.

  Seiji, Natsuya, and the others quietly observed them.

  "Do you really believe that he's a human from another world?" Natsuya whispered to Seiji.

  "I believe him, even though I don't have any concrete evidence," Seiji replied. "How about you?"

  "It's quite difficult for me to believe. But, it doesn't seem to me that he's lying…"

  "It's still very hard for you to accept, right?"

  "Indeed." Natsuya nodded ever so slightly.

  Seiji chuckled.

  "It is indeed inconceivable for there to really be people from another world. It's only normal for it to be difficult to accept. As for me, perhaps I'm the highly open-minded type since I'm an otaku. After all, I've already seen so many other worlds!" Seiji flashed a shiny expression.

  Natsuya didn't know how to respond to this for several seconds.

  "If he truly is a person from another world, then the spell that managed to summon him to this realm… is incredibly frightening." Natsuya sighed.

  A spell that was capable of summoning someone from another world meant that it was capable of affecting multiple dimensions!

  While the ability to move between dimensions was an incredibly common and cliché event in light novels as well as anime and manga, it was actually quite a serious topic if one seriously thought about it in a real-world situation, just like revival of the dead.

  "It does have its scary factors," Seiji agreed. "But, if you don't think about the negatives and focus on the positives…" Seiji paused for a moment. "I think that this dimensional summoning spell is actually quite romantic."

  "Romantic?"

  "Yep. Being able to meet with someone from another world is quite romantic, isn't it?"

  Natsuya tilted her head slightly as something flashed in her eyes.

  "For example, I… if I used such a spell to summon the male or female lead of 'Brother Monogatari' so that I was able to actually meet them and talk to them, I think that would be amazing," Seiji stated.

  He then turned to look at Shika who was next to him. "What do you think, Shika-chan?"

  "I think that would be wonderful as well." Shika nodded in agreement.

  Seiji smiled.

  Actually, he really wanted to say something else instead. But, the truth in his heart was just too awkward for him to say—'I think that it was quite romantic how I'm actually a person from another world who traveled across dimensions to meet all of you…' That was just too difficult for him to say out loud.

  Natsuya blinked at this.

  "If I only think of the positives… I suppose you're right…"

  "If I have the ability to summon someone from another world, I'd summon a female elven beauty who'd fall in love with me at first sight!" a serious-sounding voice spoke up behind them.

  This voice belonged to Matsutani.

  "I don't believe that there's any elven beauties out there that will fall in love with you at first sight, Senpai," Seiji retorted.

  "Shush! That's my romantic dream." The pudgy middle-aged man waved his hand. "Even if it's not an elven beauty, any beautiful woman from any species will do as well. My only requirement is that she falls in love with me at first sight."

  "I think that being able to summon with such strangely specific requirements will be incredibly difficult… Besides, if falling in love with you at first sight is the only requirement, won't beautiful women from our world work for you as well?" Seiji continued commenting about Matsutani's statements.

  "There's no such thing as a beautiful woman in our world who will fall in love with someone like me at first sight. I've long since realized this." The pudgy middle-aged man averted his gaze.

  Seiji fell silent for a moment.

  "Senpai… I apologize." He sincerely expressed his apology.

  "Why are you apologizing!? Can't you comment on this sentence of mine somehow, you bastard!?"