After arriving at the mountain, I searched for thunder bears on my phone and found that there were quite a few of them. There were too many of them in one mountain. There's definitely a subspecies of this one.
　However, I can only say that we were lucky that there were so many of them and that there wasn't much damage to the human population. In fact, it is lucky that no one was attacked, although it is said that their fields are being raided, so there is some damage here and there. Is this mountain rich in animals and nuts to be preyed upon?

Well, let's just get it over with, shall we?

　I locked on to all the thunder bears in the mountain and thought for a moment about dazzling them with magic. It would be a waste of materials that could be stripped off if I defeated them. As I recall, the pelt of the thunder bears could be sold for a very high price. And the liver can be used to make a potion. I heard the meat isn't bad, but it's not very tasty either. If you magically charred it black, the value of the fur would not only be halved, it would be completely lost.
　Noooooooo, the best way is to use a blade to kill, and that's with a stabbing weapon, which won't hurt the fur the most. No, the best would be poisoning, suffocation, or a heart attack. It's not as good as a heart attack in Paralise.

'Thunder bear population confirmed.'
Confirming... finished. Twenty-three bears including cubs.

　Even a baby bear can't be left alone. It could become a marvel if it grows up. It's a little heartbreaking, but........
　Anyway, let's just put a bullet in its heart one by one and get it over with. It'll all be over in an hour. First, I opened the gate to the nearest one.



"Huh. That was pretty messy.

　The variants were more stubborn than I expected, and they didn't show an opening. Taking advantage of the fact that I could only attack its heart, it fired thunderbolts at me everywhere, and it was troublesome to avoid them. I still managed to defeat it and stored it in the 'storage' like the other defeated thunder bears, though.
　Now there were no more thunder bears in this mountain. Now I just need to get the guild to cash in this material. Oh, and I've got to cancel the request that the town sent out. Or rather, I don't think the request has even reached the guild yet, so I don't think any of the idiots will say that the request was intercepted.

'Well, what was it? Ah, Senka. It's a Senka town.

　Search the map for the town where the guild says the request was made. It's just west of here.
　I activated my flight magic and flew away at once. I'm sure this magic is useful after all. I'm not sure if I can achieve the same level of speed by using the "accelerator boost", but this is much easier. Well, "Accel" has a higher instantaneous acceleration, and "Fly" doesn't increase the speed of thought. I guess you have to use each one to its own advantage.
　While I was thinking about this, I could see the town through the clouds. So that's the town of Senka.
　Since it would be noticeable if I went down into the town, I decided to get off before it and walk. I checked the location of the guild on the map and headed straight there.
　It was a small building that was incomparable to the guild in Belfast's royal capital, but the inside was surprisingly neat. The familiar request boards were lined up and various request forms were posted on them. With a sideways glance at it, I headed to the female staff member in the reception area.

Welcome, what can I do for you?
"I need you to buy the materials for the magical beasts. Also, I don't think I've received it yet, but I need to cancel the request for Colette's town that should arrive tomorrow.
What do you mean?

　He looked at me like I was looking at someone suspicious, so I turned in my guild card. I explained the situation to the staff member who was rolling his eyes at the rank silver card and managed to get him to agree with me. After that, I laid out the corpses of the thunder bears, including the subspecies, in the courtyard and had them assessed for cash. I have to prove to the townspeople that I hunted thunder bears, leaving only two of them to be redeemed for all the rest.

''Sh, it will take a little time, would you mind?''

　Well, there are a lot of them. It can't be helped. I was killing time looking around the guild until the assessment was finished. To pass the time, I look at the request form posted on the board.

The East Cave...Megathlime, huh? I've never defeated this guy before.

　The slime types are opposed by all of our ladies across the board. I've met all sorts of monsters and demons since I came to this world, but I've avoided slime, ropers, and slimy, gooey things. I'm not going to go out of my way to meet them, though.
　As I was looking at the board, I suddenly saw someone coming in from the entrance. Well, there have been adventurers coming and going since a while ago, so I didn't mind, but when I saw the person who came in, I did a double take a look.

''Hey, isn't that Fuyu Yoru. Why are you in this place?
Ende...!

　The boy, still in the same monotone style of white hair, long white scarf, white shirt, black jacket, and black pants, was surprised to see me.

'Why is Ende here?'
You know what I heard? I'm just returning from beating up that King Ape thing near here.

　Ende replies with a wry smile. King Ape. It's a great ape monster beast. I'm pretty sure he's not very smart. I've fought one myself.

I don't care about that. I've got a lot more questions to ask you.
You want to hear it? Well, okay, but I'm going to need you to wait a minute. I'd like to go finish my order.

　I went to the reception desk and glanced at Ende's guild card, which was submitting the part to be defeated, and saw that it was rank red. I received my reward and pocketed it and we sat down facing each other on the couch in the corner of the guild.

''So, what is it you want to ask me?''
The Frays. Who the hell are these guys?

　Hmmm," Ende gave a little thought to this, but eventually opened his mouth.

'There are some things I can talk about and some things I can't, if that's okay?'
Okay, well I'll tell you what you can do. Tell me what you can tell me.

　Ende leaned back deeply in his chair and began to speak.

'I don't know if you'll believe me, but those guys aren't life forms from this world. 'I don't know what to call them, but they're not life forms from this world, they're visitors from a different world, if you will.'
'Visitors? Aren't you an invader?
'I don't know if it's right to call them invaders, because we didn't mean to invade those guys. They came to this world from another world looking for their 'king'.

　The King of the Frazies. I've heard that before. The purpose of Frazeez is to find him.

And why would it attack a human?
I can't tell you much about it, but Fraise has a nucleus that is the source of its life activity. As long as this core is not destroyed, even if the body is shattered, it can absorb the magic of the natural world and eventually regenerate. And the core of the King is in this world. And they are killing humans to get it back.
Wait. What does getting the King's core back have to do with killing a human being?
Because the core of the King is in the human body of this world.

　What? The core of the King is in the human body? And you're killing humans to get it back!

'Maybe it's not always humans. I'm sure it's inhabited by beastmen, demons, and life forms with a certain amount of intelligence. The core of the King is dormant at the moment. It's in a state of suspended animation. It's in a state of suspended animation, waiting for someone to slip into it and move on to the next level. The King's core emits a wave that lets them know we're here, but they can't see the details. But they can't see the details. They can't hear the slightest sound that only the King can. The sound of its host's heart was drowning it out. So they kill humans. They kill people to remove the noise they make.

　Wait a minute. What is it then? You're killing every single human being in this world just to find the core of the "King" in one person who doesn't know who he is! It's called a lice hunt, but I can't believe they're doing exactly that.

What the hell is this Frayze thing...?
They were originally from another world, where they evolved, but one day, the King who ruled them disappeared from that world. So they set out across the world to find him, and that's how it all started. The King has his own agenda. It would be tactless of me to get in his way. You could've just left them alone, but they're acting on instinct.

　Like ants and bees with a queen. Are you saying that they are attracted to it and are coming together? And the purpose of the "king"?

The nucleus of a 'king' that has crossed the world resides in the body of a human in that world. It absorbs the host's life force bit by bit, and when the host reaches the end of its life, it transitions to another host. It repeats this process, and then uses the accumulated power to eventually travel again to another world.
"...Is that what Frayze is coming for? They kill people all over the world to find the nucleus of the King, and when the King's nucleus transitions to another world, the Frays leave in pursuit of it...
Well, that's pretty much it.

　I'm not kidding. You're saying that they're going to devour the humans of that world like locusts and leave! They cross from one world to the next, rudely destroying other worlds. Moreover, they do not have the awareness that they are trying to destroy the world. They just do what they do because it is necessary. There is no good or evil in it. It's an instinct.

"...Ende said he was looking for the core of the King. Are you killing people too?
'Oh no, don't get me wrong, I'm waiting for the King's core to transition to the next world. I don't want you to be with those guys.

　I'm not sure what this guy's purpose is. Is he some kind of nuclear guardian of the "King"? I'm sure you'll find that the world is in a lot of trouble because of this "king".

What are the boundaries of the world?
'Hmm... other worlds are like this... like a spiral staircase, slightly out of alignment and overlapping each other. You can go up one level quickly, but you can't go up ten steps quickly, can you? This height is a world apart, and you have to step over all the steps to get to the top step. Well, I might be able to pull off a step, though. However, the world has a barrier to prevent people from coming in. Normally you wouldn't be able to go up a step.

　Somehow, I think I know what I'm talking about. The reason why there are similarities between this world and the one I was in before may be because the gap between them is not so big.

I think we've talked about this before, but this boundary is not like a wall, it's like a fine mesh. So if it's small and harmless to that world, it can get through. That's why the King's core is in suspended animation. Only the King can pull off such a feat, though.

　So.........in a state of suspended animation, you won't be played by the world? It's like it's coming in through a gap in the net.

But if you are forced to pass through this boundary, well, that's usually not possible, but a tear will appear. If you do that over and over again, the hole will gradually grow larger and larger, and once it opens completely, it will no longer function as a barrier. That happened five thousand years ago.

　The invasion of the Fleurieu, that's what Dr. Regina was talking about. The invasion of the Frazeez, the one Dr. Regina mentioned, the one that nearly destroyed the world... So that's what it was.

''For some reason, the wards were repaired at that time, and the threat of Fraise was gone. The remaining flames were eradicated and the world was spared from destruction. I helped hunt the remnants too, though.

　This guy says he was around 5,000 years ago. He's not just a man. At the very least, he's not human. But what does it mean that the wards have returned to normal? Ende doesn't seem to know either, but....

I thought it would be a relief for a while and went to sleep, but then it got noisy again. The wards are starting to break down again. It's still intact, but I think it's only a matter of time before the High Level Flames come to us. Well, I don't know if it will be in a year or in fifty years, I don't know the details.
"...Ende is on the side of the humans?
'I'm not so sure about allies. 'I'm hunting for Fraise, it's just a way to buy time. To be honest, once the wards are broken, I might just let the rest happen. I'm not going to side with Frase, though.

　I still don't know where this guy stands. At least it's better that he's not on the Fray's side.

The only thing I can talk about is this. I've got some things to do, you know.

　With that, Ende stands up and tries to leave the guild.

''....Finally. Ende, who are you?
Me? I'm a crossover. Bye, Winter's Night.

　After saying that, Ende left the guild.
　Frase's purpose, the core of the "King", the world's wards....... I'm finding out all sorts of crazy things. If you think about it in real life, it's pretty bad, isn't it? 5,000 years ago, the crisis was averted by putting the wards back up. But this time? Can we stop the invasion of the Frays? The Frays will continue to hunt humans indiscriminately to find the core of the King. There probably aren't many who can resist them; if they show up in hordes like they did 5,000 years ago, they're at your mercy....
　Puzzled by the truth that had been revealed, I accepted the money for the Thunder Bear that had been exchanged at the reception desk and left the guild.