Evan POV

  Walter: You guys! I found my body! Still in the snow, with all my stuff lying around!

  Evan: YES! LET’S GOOOOO!

  Aisha: WOOHOO!

  Evan: Walter, somehow lead us there!

  Walter: How the hell am I supposed to do that!?

  Evan: I don’t know—fly above, give us a landmark or something.

  Walter: HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GIVE YOU A LANDMARK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHER—

  ...

  Walter: …Oh wait, I see a village or something.

  Evan: There we go! Alright, do some recon. Find the name of that village, if you can. I’ve gotta take care of a few things here before we move out.

  Walter: Copy that. Walter out.

  Aisha let out a satisfied sigh beside me.

  “It does feel like a freakin’ Spec Ops mission with you as the leader.”

  I nodded solemnly. “If that’s the case, then from now on… call me Colonel.”

  She blinked. “Hrrngh, Colonel. I’m dummy thicc and the clap of my asschee-”

  “I’m gonna stop you right, There’s kids around.”

  I turned toward the rest of the group— Hope and Faith just hanging around. The rest sitting comfortably around the library space.

  “So, what’s our next move?” Aisha asked, refocusing.

  “Hmm?” Luna blinked, tilting her head towards us.

  “We finally got word from Walter,” Aisha explained in a luder voice so everyone could hear us. “So we need to plan our next step.”

  I nodded and stood up. “Aisha and I will go check out the coordinates Walter finds. Shouldn’t take long—maybe a few minutes.”

  “You all should stay here,” I continued. “Guard the kids, keep reading, maybe learn a spell or two. We’ll be back before you know it.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  But before I could take a step, I felt a tug on my coat.

  I looked down.

  Hope stood there, fidgeting with her hands, eyes a little shaky.

  “I… I also want to go with Papa,” she said softly.

  Needless to say, I was… a little stunned.

  Hope usually stuck to the sidelines with Faith. This was new.

  “Huh? Why?” I knelt beside her. “It’s going to be really dangerous. You and Faith should stay here with the others. Papa’s strong—he can handle it, okay?”

  “I-I’m also going!” Hope said, her voice trembling—but her feet planted firm.

  That… caught me off guard.

  It’s rare to see Hope stand her ground like this. Even Faith would've backed down by now. But Hope?

  She wasn’t budging.

  “Why do you want to come with us?” I asked gently.

  Her eyes welled up. Big, glistening tears threatening to fall.

  Before she could answer, I leaned forward and wrapped her in a hug.

  That was all it took.

  She broke down completely.

  Her tiny hands clutched at my coat, her face buried into my shoulder as sobs racked her small frame.

  I had no idea why. She’d seemed fine until now. Faith stood nearby, clearly worried—but more for Hope than anything else.

  “Alright, alright, calm down,” I whispered softly, rubbing her back. “Papa’s right here. Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

  She shook her head, still clinging to me, then finally mumbled into my shoulder.

  “Because—sniff—when Papa left us before… bad people attacked us. Sniff If they attack Papa… then what’ll happen to Papa? Sniff WAAAAHHHH!”

  She burst into tears again, and all I could do was hold her tighter.

  So that’s it.

  She wasn’t scared of being left behind.

  She was scared of me getting hurt.

  I gently wiped her face with my sleeve, even as she refused to let go.

  “…I should’ve asked this earlier, but… why did the cultists target you all in the first place?” I asked, turning toward the others.

  “Well…” Tifa started, her voice hesitant. “It went like this...”

  She explained everything—how the cultists attacked while everyone’s attention was focused on me and Aisha. How they were trying to kidnap Faith and Hope. How Hope stayed conscious through all of it… and how she got hurt.

  Faith didn’t remember much—she was unconscious from the start. But Hope?

  She remembered everything.

  The fear.

  The pain.

  The helplessness.

  And now, the panic of seeing me walk away again.

  …

  I didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

  But something heavy and dark curled in my gut.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Anger.

  Not the usual petty annoyance or dramatic flair I throw around.

  This was cold.

  Silent.

  A river of violence swirling just below the surface—waiting for a target.

  Waiting for a name.

  And I already had one in mind.

  A certain brother of Daisy.

  I slowly looked up, my voice calm because of Pain Immunity.

  “…Change of plans,” I said. “Aisha will go to the rendezvous point. The rest of us are going home.”

  Aisha blinked. “Y-Y-Yeah, sure. Got it.”

  She flinched a little.

  Maybe she saw it in my face.

  Pain Immunity suppressed all of the anger. I couldn’t feel the anger. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t knew I was angry, I guess there are still things you can’t suppress.

  Evan: Don’t worry, Aisha. I have a plan.

  Aisha: o.o?

  A Few Minutes Later

  3rd Person POV

  At the kingdom’s main gate, Aisha, Lucy, and Oswald stood at the exit, cheerfully waving at the small group of riders departing the city.

  Evan, Luna, Faith, Hope, and Tifa waved back from atop their horses, already trotting down the road that led home.

  “...I can’t believe this is actually working,” Aisha muttered under her breath.

  From behind the shadows of the gate, a familiar figure stepped out with a sly grin.

  “I’m surprised myself,” Doppelganger Evan said. “Let’s just hope I don’t glitch and fade out mid-wave. That’s sure to rattle the kids.”

  Evan POV

  Who knew the Doppelganger spell would turn out to be such a cheat code?

  I’d tested it out thoroughly—made sure it could hold form, follow instructions, and act just like me for short periods. Then I let the others in on the plan. Luna and the rest agreed to play along without question.

  They understood. I needed to make sure Walter was okay.

  “We’re happy to help,” Lucy said. “But, Shishou… why ask us to stay behind?”

  “I was wondering that too,” Aisha chimed in.

  I turned to Lucy with a grin. “You remember that promise you made? About introducing me to your grandfather?”

  “Oh—oh yeah!” she blinked. “I almost forgot! When should I bring you to him?”

  I forget a lot of things. But if it’s tied to my goals? I never let it slip.

  “Wait,” Aisha raised a brow. “Why do you want to meet her grandfather?”

  I smirked. “Aisha. Let me ask you something. What does Lucy call me?”

  “Uh… Shishou?” she replied.

  “Exactly. And as far as I know… ‘Shishou’ ain’t English.”

  She froze.

  Stared at me blankly for a second.

  And then it hit her.

  Her eyes widened.

  “SHE’S JAPANESE—!”

  I slapped a hand over her mouth before she could blurt it out like we were being watched by hidden mics.

  She gave a muffled “mmph!” and nodded quickly.

  “Since you get it, let’s just leave it at that,” I said as I lowered my hand.

  Lucy tilted her head, clearly confused, but I waved it off.

  “We’ll talk about your grandfather after I help my friend. Until then… didn’t you two have something else you needed to take care of?”

  Both Lucy and Oswald blinked. Then froze. Eyes wide.

  “The Coliseum!” they shouted at once.

  We all turned to look at it.

  The once-destroyed arena?

  Now perfectly restored.

  “Looks like the coliseum’s back in shape,” I said, squinting at the perfectly restored building in the distance. “I wonder if they’ll start the tournament again…”

  I mean, surely there’s no way they’d be crazy enough to—

  “Oh, they probably will,” Lucy cut in without missing a beat.

  “…Huh?”

  “Since people from all over the world come to compete,” Oswald added, “they can’t exactly cancel it unless the whole kingdom’s under attack. Now that it’s repaired, they’ll most likely resume it after a short pause.”

  “Oh…”

  Well then.

  “Alright, listen up! Private Lucy! Private Oswald!” I snapped into full commander mode.

  “Sir, yes sir!” they saluted in unison.

  “As your teacher, I want you to enter that coliseum and show me your worth!” I declared, pacing side to side dramatically. “Climb as high as you can in the rankings while we’re still here!”

  “Yes, Shishou!” Lucy said with stars in her eyes.

  I nodded before saluting as well.

  “Go… and make me proud to be your teacher!”

  …Even though I didn’t actually teach them that much.

  And I’m definitely not doing this to avoid babysitting duties.

  …

  Okay, maybe a little.

  But also because I genuinely want to see how far they’ve come!

  “I’ll show them all what I’ve learned!” Lucy shouted, fire in her eyes.

  “Me too!” Oswald pumped his fist.

  And off they went—running toward the coliseum like it was their start of a shounen arc.

  Soon after, Walter started messaging us.

  Walter: You guys done yet?

  Evan: Yep. Just wrapped up. What did you find?

  Walter: Town’s called Northmarsh. It’s inhabited by… a strange race.

  I opened my map and started checking. With all the guidebooks I’d read, it should’ve been unlocked—or at least documented somewhere.

  Aisha: What do you mean by strange?

  Walter: Well… they’re tall. Like really tall. Blue-skinned. Their limbs look like they’re made of ice, and they’ve got icicle horns.

  Evan: …Horns?

  Walter: Yeah. Guys have one big one on the front. Girls have two small ones on either side of their head. Kind of elegant-looking, actually. I don’t know what the race is called though.

  Evan: ...That’s… quite interesting.

  Ah—finally found it.

  The town Northmarsh appeared on my map… and right next to it?

  A little grayed-out chibi icon of Walter.

  Black hair. Dark brown eyes. Average-looking face with an eternally unbothered expression.

  Cute.

  Except when I focused on it?

  “Walter – Dead.”

  Evan: Hey Walter, did you know your dead body is just chilling on my map like a collectible?

  Walter: …If that’s true, then I’d be really pissed.

  *...5 seconds later.*

  Walter: “Yep. Now I’m pissed.”

  Aisha: “That’s tragic. You missed our Moon Lord fight for absolutely no reason.”

  Walter: “Excuse me—there’s no way you guys fought the Moon Lord while I’ve been stuck here in snow purgatory.”

  Evan: “I’d love to agree with you, buddy. But Aisha’s telling the truth.”

  Walter: “HOW THE FU—You know what, no. Don’t even explain. You guys owe me so much.”

  Evan: “Correction: I don’t owe anything to someone who died on night one.”

  {Author Note: Oh, look who’s talking.}

  Aisha: “Okay, okay. We’ll all trade stories once we revive you. Sound fair?”

  Walter: “Fair enough.”

  Evan: “Speaking of which… since your icon is showing up on the map, I’m wondering if I can just use a Wormhole Potion to teleport straight to you.”

  As long as you can see someone’s icon on the map, boom—you can warp to them instantly.

  Aisha: “Wait, how do you make those again?”

  Evan: “Pretty sure it’s bottled water, blinkroot, and… Specular Fish.”

  Aisha: “One—how do you even remember that? Two—I didn’t even know a fish called Specular Fish existed.”

  Evan: “I was unemployed. Don’t judge me.”

  I pulled out one of the wormhole potion from my inventory.

  The liquid inside shimmered—a mysterious light blue glow, faintly sparkling like it was made of stardust. It even gave off a subtle, unsettling hum, like the sound of space yawning.

  Evan: Still have five bottles from earlier cave runs. Found ’em in random underground pots. Those little jars are basically loot pi?atas so it’s easy to get them. So, How many do you have Aisha?

  I glanced at Aisha.

  She… looked away.

  Evan: “…You haven’t gone into a single underground cave yet, have you?”

  Aisha: “...Maybe.”

  Evan: “You lazy ass gremlin.”

  I sighed and tossed her the potion I had in my hand.

  Evan: Here. One Wormhole Potion. Use it responsibly.

  We both stared at it for a second like it was a sacred artifact.

  “Alright…” I muttered. “Let’s hope this works.”

  I focused on Walter’s icon and thought about teleporting directly to his corpse.

  The system handled the rest.

  Everything went black for a split second—and then bam—

  I was standing knee-deep in a snow-covered forest.

  Correction, I was standing on top of Walter’s corpse.

  The body immediately shimmered, pixelated—and zipped straight into my inventory with a little chime like I’d just looted a rare drop.

  Neat.

  I went to my inventory to check his body but it was a common tier item.

  Oh… Poor Walter.

  “Alright! Body recovered! Aisha—mission accomplished!” I called out proudly.

  I turned to look at her—

  And saw Aisha on all fours, facing away from me.

  “BLAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHH!”

  She was puking her guts out into the snow.

  Violently.

  And that pristine white landscape?

  Now... disgustingly yellow.

  “…You okay?” I asked, half-concerned.

  She turned to me, face pale, eyes wide—and promptly vomited again.

  To be fair, I did feel a little dizzy during teleportation. But nothing major.

  …

  Oh. Right.

  Pain Immunity Senpai hits again.

  I quickly conjured a mana ball, infused it with Pain Immunity, and lobbed it at her like I was casting a divine cure-all spell.

  The moment it hit—

  She blinked.

  Snapped upright.

  Wiped her mouth.

  Whirled on me with unfiltered outrage, I'm talking constant smacking my chest with her puny strength.

  “HOW—IN THE HELL—ARE YOU STANDING AROUND LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED!?!”

  With the calm of a sage and the serenity of a man who’s used this line way too often, I looked her dead in the eyes.

  “Pain Immunity-senpai… will always be the goat.”