A Guide for Mortals Traveling in Parallel Worlds. (1)

  It was a world filled with the tears of the red sun. Evan murmured blankly as he looked at the sea of lava in front of him.

  “Shouldn’t they at least have a place to step on?”


  “You’re floating without having to step on anyway, Master.”


  Maybell’s sharp tackle flew in. Then she was floating in the air with her bat wings. Evan nodded in agreement.

  “It’s not me; it’s someone else here that’s the problem.”


  He pointed to Cattleya, who was clinging to his back like a cat. It was funny that Meow-one and Meow-two hung in the same shape as their owner behind his back. She shouted for no reason as she clung to him.

  “I-I’m fine, too! I’m just worried that Meow-one and Meow-two might fall…!”


  “So, why did you follow me? You knew it might be tougher than the Demon Realm.”


  “It’s because she has a crush on you, Master.”


  Maybell squinted at Cattleya. She was speaking boldly, even if she had little contact with Evan. But Cattleya pouted back at her words.

  “Not everyone likes flowers like you. I followed this man because I couldn’t live there.”


  “Something is going on? Oh, you don’t like him? So, I don’t have to worry about that? You can swear on that, right?”


  “…”


  Maybell came in as keen as an owl, and Cattleya couldn’t answer correctly. Maybell snorted with an expression as if she knew everything.

  “It’s not new. Master, this is a women’s trick. Pretending not to be interested in you, pretending that it’s all for business, but it turns out that’s how you increase your contact with the man, and it helps when you’re trying to eat him!”


  “I think it’s the opposite of men and women, but…no, thanks. More than that, Cattleya, be specific about your situation.”


  “I’m sure you know that. At least the moment I met that guy, Nave.”


  At Cattleya’s words, Evan shut up. He thought maybe she was right because he realized that there were many similarities between the birth of Cattleya and the birth of Nave. But even though he watched closely until the seal was over, he thought nothing happened, so he thought it would be over with…


  “…Are you the alter ego of the Devil, too?”


  “Not like him. He did it by pulling off a part of his body. However, the source of the magic that forms me must have come from the Devil. Nave was the alter ego used to move and prepare for the descent, and I was the alter ego to be used as his body…maybe we are just one of many waiting.”


  However, Cattleya survived without being captured by the Devil. Nevertheless, it was clear that there was a spirit of magic in her, and as soon as the seal was made, she felt that her internal magic was in a state of flux. If she had stayed there, she would have lost her magical power and died, Cattleya informed them calmly.

  “But before that, I thought it would be okay to move on to another world. When I saw you trying to overcome the curse of the world by moving between worlds, I improvised, but now I see…I think that’s what happened.”


  “That was ridiculously reckless.”


  [Why didn’t you stop him from sealing the Devil’s body when you knew you were going to be in danger?]

  Fayna, who had been still, was also in the sky, flapping her feather wings. She opened her eyes and asked. Cattleya then gave a tearful look.

  “So, you want me to stab the Master in the back?”


  [You had to do it to survive, right? Aside from whether it’s possible or not, isn’t it right to do anything to survive?]

  “…”


  Cattleya couldn’t respond to Fayna’s harsh words and blushed.

  “Hey, hey.”


  Maybell came up and patted her on the back as if she understood everything. A blade appeared, flashing from her waist.

  “Just be honest and be comfortable. I’ll make it easy for you in a minute.”


  “Well, go away! No! I can’t stop it even if I step up to the plate, so I just stayed still. That’s what it is!”
-

  Meeeeoooww!-

  Meeeew!

  When Cattleya ran wild, Meow-one and Meow-two, who clung to her back, were frightened, crying and clawing. Evan felt secure in Maybell’s unwavering appearance anytime, anywhere.

  [You’ve come to show yourself to the rest of the world…]

  “Ha.”


  Perhaps she was the same mind as Evan, but Fayna murmured so much, and Maybell, who was harassing Cattleya, snorted.

  “And the same goes for you. You’ve always been acting so demurely, and at the critical moment, you clung onto the Master. I was amazed.”


  [Hahaha, I just wanted to help Zero travel to the rest of the world to repay him for his contribution of spreading the authority of the Great Mother Earth…]

  “Is that what the Great Mother Earth thinks, too?”


  […]

  Fayna turned her head and avoided Evan’s interrupting gaze. When Maybell’s eyes flew in from the other side, she turned her eyes again obliquely. It was a pity that her neck couldn’t turn 360 degrees.

  “What if you become a fallen angel because of this?”


  [I might…]

  As expected, something dangerous might of happened.

  “Even the apostles are surprisingly impulsive.”


  [It’s all right, it’ll be all right. Thanks to Zero, I’ve made a ridiculous achievement. Now, even if I do what I want to do, she’ll be generous…maybe.]

  “There are so many thief cats everywhere…!”


  Maybell, who must be treated by now as a rare thief cat in Sherden, shivered, saying such a thing. Evan ignored her and turned his eyes forward.

  [What are you going to do from now on, Zero? If you don’t solve the curse that surrounds you, you won’t be able to go back to the original world. Are you planning to find a way to solve it in this world?]

  “Call me Evan,” Evan snapped. “That’s my real name.”


  [I’m a little touched.]

  “Evan…”


  The two women who discovered Evan’s name for the first time looked more excited than he thought. He began to explore the world by accepting their reactions in moderation and expanding his senses.

  “Well, there would be a world like this.”


  [No, he hasn’t answered my question yet. Zero…Evan, what are you going to do in this world? Is it a secret to us?]

  “Oh, no, it’s nothing. I’m going to make the Elixir.”


  [Hmm…?]

  It was then. Evan began to move in the air as if he had found something. Everyone knew how fast his Annihilation was, and Cattleya held him even harder, and Maybell and Fayna grabbed him by the arm.

  “I didn’t expect to win from the beginning.”


  “We’re moving so suddenly.”


  Evan stretched one foot forward. The very next moment, they were standing in front of a very high wall of flames. The surrounding environment was still a sea of lava, so it seemed that the wall suddenly appeared in front of them. But of course, it wasn’t a wall. It was so big that it felt like a wall, but it was a living creature.

  “Did you flap your wings?”


  [Don’t tell me…]

  “It’s a phoenix.”


  It was so huge that it was too late to realize what it was. Overwhelming size and momentum, no match for a middle-class dragon. It would look like this if the phoenix that Evan had hunted in modern times were ten times larger.

  [If these things had crossed over, Middle Earth would have ended…]

  Even Fayna, the Apostle of God, was nervous and squeezed Evan’s collar. Evan had three women on his body, but he had no signs of nervousness at all.

  “There’s no way these monsters can be easily crossed over. It might have been possible someday if Middle Earth had become a crazy environment beyond the Demon Realm.”


  [You’re lucky to have blocked the Devil.]-

  Devil…do you know the Devil? What happened to him?

  “Oh, do you know the Devil?”
-

  Um.

  The giant phoenix readily answered, perhaps because he thought that Evan was a Demon since he had two Demons on his back.

  – He promised to invite me to his world, so I lent him strength.

  “There must be a lot of people who lent him much strength, right?”


  – Sure, but why don’t you, his minions, know that? Also, how could you come here?

  “It doesn’t matter at all. The important thing is what deal you and I are going to make.”


  Evan reached forward. On the way, he realized that he was bare-handed and faltered but soon shrugged.

  ‘Naz would have picked it up on her own.’


  The phoenix was confused by Evan’s dignified attitude. Even the ruler of another world, the Devil, had been courteous to himself, and what the hell was this man now?

  – Deal?

  “Okay, listen up. I want your feathers.”
-

  How dare you!

  The deal broke before it even started. To say that you wanted a feather that contained its power pierced the phoenix’s reason!-

  How dare you to covet my feathers!

  The phoenix blew out fireworks with its mouth! At the same time, the lava sea forming the world rose like a tidal wave and surrounded Evan’s party. The terrible heat was near the heart of the sun. If they were ordinary beings, they would have melted down at this point and left only blood. But the flames that had been coming from all directions dared not invade Evan and perished in the air. This was because the translucent walls soaring from all directions blocked both physical and magical interference.

  “Where the hell did you get this ability?”


  Maybell was dumbfounded by his ability to break down enemy attacks into atomic units, not just at a barrier level. Evan replied with pride.

  “This is what happens when you reconcile the power of Nave with the power of Annihilation.”


  Yes, Evan was now a master of everything! Meanwhile, the phoenix, which had intended to melt Evan and his companions at once, stepped back in dismay at Evan’s appearance, not blocking the flames but extinguishing them. The sea of lava fluctuated violently.

  – Well, that’s the magic of the Devil…!?

  “If you aren’t willing to make a deal… I can’t help it. I see. Then I’ll take it, so just stay still.”
-

  Wait, how are you related to the Devil…!

  Evan created a long, thin thorn in the air made of pure destructive force and shot it straight forward through the phoenix. Then the phoenix stopped in place just like an animal frozen in amber.

  “It’s a magic that effectively releases the pressure of Annihilation and stops all enemy movements.”


  “Don’t explain it because I won’t understand it, anyway. Ju-just get it over with.”


  Cattleya was still hanging around his neck and shivering. It wasn’t known whether it was a fear of lava, a fear of the phoenix, or a fear of Evan, who only used ridiculous magic.

  “Then let’s pull it out.”


  “By the way, Master. The Elixir has already been made.”


  “It was not enough.”


  “Not enough?”


  “Yes.”


  Evan hummed as he approached the phoenix frozen in the air.

  “I need at least ten times of what I had.”


  “Whose…?”


  Maybell wondered and asked this in return, but Evan had no intention of answering yet. He just boldly plucked out the phoenix feathers.

  It was when the unnamed god who traveled through the parallel worlds successfully took his first step.