Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  After a period of silence, the cow-head mask boy spoke first in a low voice, "Are you two a couple?"

  "Why do you ask?" Seiji countered with a question of his own.

  "Because I hate couples! I'm so jealous of couples that act sickeningly sweet and lovey-dovey together," the cow-head mask boy spoke in a seemingly serious tone.

  Seiji was rendered speechless.

  Did he just meet a wild FFF sect member? Seiji revealed a subtle expression.

  Not to mention, this was a strange fellow who wore a cow head mask… thinking back to how evil "minotaurs" were in a certain game, Seiji greatly raised his vigilance!

  "Answer me, are the two of you a couple or not?" the cow-head mask boy asked once again.

  "I don't see any need to answer you," Seiji responded with a forceful tone. "Besides, who are the two of you?"

  The cow-head mask boy, er, the minotaur raised his head and spoke in a fierce tone, "Isn't it obvious just by looking? I'm a minotaur!"

  Once again, Seiji was rendered speechless.

  This "minotaur" boy seemed to be too into this, which made it difficult for Seiji to even comment.

  Teehee… someone giggled.

  The giggle was from the dog-head mask girl.

  The minotaur boy and Seiji and Mika all turned to look at her.

  "Hello, I'm a dog-head girl," a clear female voice spoke from behind the mask.

  The dog-head girl chuckled yet again. It was obvious that she felt what she just said was rather silly.

  After laughing, she asked them in a polite manner, "May I inquire as to who you are?"

  "…I'm the leader of our Knight Order, while behind me is the Sixth Knight," Seiji responded politely.

  "A knight leader and the Sixth Knight… Could I ask from which Knight Order you're from?"

  "Of course. But please first state where you're from, Miss dog-head girl and Mister minotaur."

  "We are from the Lain Kingdom of Baluya," the dog-head girl responded in a seemingly serious manner.

  "Baluya" was the name of the world of the well-known anime, "Honey Candy Girl." The "Lain Kingdom" was the name of the Beastman Kingdom in that story.

  "Nice to meet you. We're from Baluya as well. We're the Knight Order from the Yat Kingdom," Seiji responded in an equally seemingly serious manner.

  "I've only visited the Yat Kingdom twice myself. It's a really nice place, with beautiful scenery and incredibly delicious pancakes."

  "Why, thank you. The Lain Kingdom is a wonderful place as well, although I've only been there once. Still, everyone's friendliness and passion, along with all sorts of tasty meat jerky left me with such a deep impression."

  "Thank you for your praise as well. It must be fate that we've met here, heehee…" The dog-head girl giggled again.

  "Yeah, such wondrous fate, ahaha…" Seiji smiled as well.

  The two of them kept smiling as they faced each other, as if they were really having fun.

  Even though it was perfectly clear that both sides were making up completely ridiculous stories, neither of them stated it directly out loud.

  The minotaur boy and Mika who watched all this were both rendered speechless.

  "How did the two of you get here?" the dog-head girl asked another question.

  "Of course, we were accidentally pulled into here." Seiji looked at her. "Is that not the case for you?"

  "No. We came here intentionally," the dog-head girl responded.

  Hearing this, something flashed in Seiji's eyes.

  "Hey! Dog-head girl…" The minotaur boy seemed to want to say something.

  "It's fine to tell them, minotaur boy." The dog-head girl glanced at her companion and couldn't help but chuckle again.

  "Intentionally… Can I understand it that this was a place created by you guys?" Seiji asked seriously.

  "No, we don't have that ability," the dog-head girl shook her head slightly.

  "Then why did you two come in here?"

  "That's private business, Mister knight leader." The dog-head girl chuckled. "Unless you're willing to join us."

  Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.

  "I can join you?"

  "Indeed. Not only you, Miss knight behind you is welcome to join us as well."

  "…Why?"

  "Because you're able to enter this location."

  "I don't understand what you mean."

  "This isn't a place where you should have originally been. But, you were able to enter, which means you have the right to join us."

  "…And if we don't wish to join you, what will happen?"

  "We will help you to leave this place, and I think that we'll never meet again," the dog-head girl mentioned casually.

  Conversation options appeared in front of Seiji:

  [A: I would like to join you.]

  [B: I'm not interested in joining you.]

  [C: I would like to learn more first.]

  Seeing these three options, Seiji fell into silence.

  He felt that these two individuals were highly likely to be from the Soul World faction, or related to it!

  According to what the dog-head girl said, they weren't intending on getting others involved in this Inner World. However, he and Mika had entered this place, which meant to them for whatever reason that these two were interested in recruiting them.

  Although it didn't sound like she was lying, it was difficult to tell. If he chose to join them, perhaps it would be some type of trap. If he chose not to join them, they might attack. Asking to know more might also cause them to attack.

  All three options had some risk… Seiji first silently saved a file before he made his decision.

  "I would like to know more so that I can make a more informed decision," he stated in a serious tone.

  "If you join us, you'll be asked to perform tasks for us for which you'll be paid appropriately. Failure may have some type of punishment, but also may not," the dog-head girl explained. "You can also refuse to do the tasks that you don't wish to do. However, you can't refuse every single one. All relevant information needs to be kept secret. There will be a punishment for revealing our secrets. The payment is quite excellent. The punishments are severe as well. The tasks are high-risk, high-reward… That's all I can tell you."

  "Only knowing this much isn't much different from not knowing anything at all." Seiji expressed his dissatisfaction.

  "I apologize, that's really all that I can tell you."

  "Dog-head girl… are you really being serious?" the minotaur boy asked in a low voice.

  "Of course I'm being serious." The dog-head girl looked at him. "These two should be fine."

  "You're being too casual."

  "Please don't say that to a lady like me."

  "Lady…? Ha."

  "What could that laugh of yours possibly mean?"

  The minotaur boy ignored her and looked back towards Seiji.

  "The two of you are a couple, aren't you?" He insisted on continuing to ask this question.

  "What if we are, and what if we aren't?"

  "If you are, I'm going to attack you."

  Seiji was rendered speechless. Was this guy really a terrorist member of the FFF cult?

  "Don't scare him, minotaur boy," the dog-head girl told him.

  "I'm not scaring him. I'm being serious."

  "That's even worse, then."

  "Relax, I'll only attack with the blunt side of my sword."

  "That's still going overboard."

  "Only by using my sword's blunt side will I be able to vent the rage in my heart."

  "You're too violent."

  The minotaur boy once again rose his head and spoke in an adamant tone, "I'm a minotaur!"

  The dog-head girl ignored him and turned towards Seiji again.

  "I apologize for the antics of such an idiot."

  "It's fine… I'd like to ask, are there more people like you in your organization, or more people like Mister minotaur over here?"

  "I don't know."

  'Does this mean that she herself doesn't know all the members in her organization?' Seiji thought to himself.