It had been half a day since we left the last town, and we were already more than halfway to the capital.

"So… Playdono has a spirit bound to him. His quest is to find a way to give Moniksama a real body again."

"Yeees," I retorted plainly. "That is indeed a way to summarize it."

Yae nodded and turned back to driving the horses. "A n.o.ble cause."

/"Great! It's actually quite a surprise that you don't seem too surprised about this!"/ Monika said out loud.

"Eashen is the land of the G.o.ds. There are many G.o.ds, large and small, and spirits may come from even the most humble of things. Ah, I do not mean that Moniksama is a humble thing, I do not."

I nodded. "Humble is certainly something that Monika is… not."

/"Hey! I'll have you know am the very epitome of humble,"/ Monika sniffed and elegantly flipped her hair. /"A bundle of it, even!"/

"I guess Monika could be considered to be a minor kami, yes. So try to stay… whelmed, about the things you see happen. We can get a bit crazy."

"And how we're so relieved that we can't see what you two can get up to!" Elze shouted from near the front of the cart.

"That is not the purpose of Monika Points!" I shouted back.

That was totally the purpose of Monika Points.

With now three people that could handle the horses, I had even less to do other than laze around in the back. I was lying down occupying the full rear of the wagon, while Elze and Linze sat near the front, right behind Yae driving the pair of horses pulling the wagon. The girls could continue their conversations that way, with me contributing only now and then to things I overheard.

We had deployed the tent on poles to serve as a sun shade, and in the middle of the wagon was a large pot filled with magically-created ice cubes to keep things cool.

I had plenty to read inside my saved files, but for physical media there was still only the book of Null spells.

I paged through it idly. "So, Monika, what Null powers have you been able to decompile and reuse?" I pointed to a particular spell. "[Apport]. Say, isn't this just Kazuma's [Steal] skill?"

Monika nodded. /"Yes, it is. But as useful as it may be, it is quite specific that it can teleport-grab things that can fit inside your hand. And….

/"[Apport!]"/ Monika waved her hand out with fingers splayed open. /"I don't exactly have hands, you know? We can't digitalize matter. It's the same thing with [Storage]."/

"Nuts. An [Inventory] system would have been quite useful. In another world with mah Pip Girl!"

Yae whispered to Linze "So, do you understand what Playdono and Moniksama are talking about?"

"Not at all!" Linze replied brightly.

"… mysterious indeed are the ways of spirits and their mediums, that is so."

"… you changed something," Linze noticed. "You were calling Mister Zah, Playsan, earlier.. now it's Playdono? What does 'dono' mean?"

"It means milord, and ranks below 'sama' or 'master, esteemed superior, or great lord' in terms of respect," I explained idly, "but higher than 'san', or the generic 'sir', as a polite suffix."

"That is correct. I mean no disrespect, Playdono… but…"

"You don't know if I'm actually a lord of any standing, but Monika is an immortal spirit thematically superior to humans, so 'sama' is quite to be expected."

/"No. I refuse. I don't like it either. I'm just Monika. No sama, no san, no chan, no nothing! Just… Moni…ka..."/ Monika's words trailed off into a stunned realization.

J̶u̴s̴t̷ ̴M̸o̴n̵i̷k̴a.

"No, never Just Monika," I said, prodding her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. "Never again! Not only Monika anymore, you can trust in that!"

Then I turned to Yae. "Just keep calling her Moniksama. Clearly nothing could go wrong from this."

"… I… yes? I suppose I should?" Yae replied, nonplussed.

Then I pointed my face away and resumed talking towards the empty air. "Monika. h.e.l.lo? Sorry about that. You all right, mah babecakes? Sweetumpies? Cocoalov"

/"Quiet."/

I made a motion of zipping my lips. Even Linze was giving me a 'you're being super-annoying right now, Mister Zah' look.

/"Player, something's wrong! I'm getting red blips about a kilometer away ahead!"/

I snapped out of my lazy slump on the wagon and stood up. "Hostiles?!"

Elze tried to stand up as well, but she could only see the trees covering the bend ahead. "Enemies?! Where?"

Even zooming in, I couldn't see anything. There was the gentle rise in the terrain in the way. "Kokonoe, stop!"

Yae pulled on the reins and the horses neighed and reared back, slowly bringing the wagon to a halt. I jumped off. "I'm going to scout for a bit!"

"Hey, Playa! Don't rush off ahead!" Elze warned.

"I won't!" I promised. I held my palms down and open towards the ground and chanted "Come, Wind! Silent bell, [Form Verniers]!" Stiff winds spiraled around my ankles. Then I leaped and shouted "Come, Wind! Push against everything, [Boost Rocket!]"

A noisome blast of air burst out from under my boots and flung me high up into the air. Then higher up I began to make a pus.h.i.+ng motion with my palms, lowering the heavily rotating air current to past my boot soles. There was a moment of unsteady terror fearing I would fling myself out of control and jackknife back into the ground like a top-attack anti-tank missile.

Healing magic was great, but it won't fix a broken neck.

But the counter-rotating thrust bells held, and focused the reaction against the wind force created ex nihilo, forcing me higher and higher up like a rocket.

It was stepping closer to true flight, but still the need to use both hands for control meant that it was still not very useful. I looked north, towards the red dots showed by the minimap, and Monika overlaid the hostile markers onto my normal view. She zoomed in optically, expanding picture boxes inside picture boxes until I could see the distinctive shape of a tall carriage, surrounded by enemies. People in armor were fighting larger beings with green skin and thick tails.

"Are those… lizardmen?"

Monika zoomed in on one, just in time to see a lizardman stab at a guard with his spear. The point went into the human's neck, he tried to make a desperate last clawing swing at the enemy with his sword, but the lizardman pulled back – pulling the spearhead out of the guards' neck – and the dying guard collapsed face down into a puddle of blood.

Lizardman archers peppered the carriage and the guards to keep them off balance. The guards were dressed in half plate, resistant enough to arrows, but if the guards had to raise their arms to protect their face this left them less able to deflect more spear thrusts.

Frack.

I turned off all magic and dropped straight down like a rock.

"Come, Wind! Desperate cus.h.i.+on! [Down Draft!]" I cried out just before I smashed myself like an egg on a hot boulder.

The horses neighed in terror again at the sudden gale force winds, but Yae managed to get them back under control. She rubbed at their flanks and made soothing noises.

"There's lizardmen attacking a carriage ahead! They're killing people! No time, I'll have to go ahead!"

"I'll come with you!" Elze shouted back, leaping off the wagon.

/"She can do this."/

Right. Stacked legs boosts. "All right!" I looked up towards Linze still on the wagon then pointed to Yae. "Get moving as fast as you can! Yae! Once you arrive, join me at the fast front line as Elze withdraws to defend her sister as she provides supporting fire!"

"Hai!"

I crouched down and clenched my fists. Elze nodded grimly back at me and copied my stance. She whispered "[Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!] [Boost!]"

"Come, Wind! Runner's flowing steps! [Burst Bound!]"

The ground burst into splinters around us, and soon the world was nothing but a green blur as we rushed forth, our feet pounding holes into the road with each powerful swinging step. We were ninjrunning, leaning forward with our arms held straight out behind us as a counterweight, each step at least two human-lengths away from the previous.

True, sustained, superhuman speed.

And we crashed that lizardman ambush like a hurricane!

Elze turned her running into a two-footed dropkick. The lizardman that took the brunt of her arrival towered over the human guards, a powerful muscular reptilian creature with thick pebbled green skin and wore a thick metal breastplate. He never had a chance to stand up to Elze, but instead was flung down into the ground and dragged along as she skidded to a stop.

Elze left a ribbon-trail of mangled red meat on the ground from her braking maneuver.

All combatants there temporarily paused to stare in shock.

Which was when I dropped down from above, yelling "AIR! DRILL! [SLAM]!"

The ground crumpled into a shallow crater under my feet, the winds spiraling around the edge of my drawn spear-sword. The twisting winds around Zanzibar not only broke my fall, but threw away all enemies around me. The gusty winds nearly toppled over the carriage. I heard a young girl scream.

Elze kicked blood off her metal boots and raised her gauntleted fists. She stomped one foot on the ground, and bent one knee ready to rush forth again. Her grin was full of b.l.o.o.d.y violent brilliance.

I slashed out with my sword and held Zanzibar straight out. My hold was just right behind the hilt, halfway down its real length. The s.h.i.+ning white of my helmet and gloves made the lizardmen squint in pain. Served them right for trying this s.h.i.+te in the middle of day! Just before noon, even!

"STAND DOWN OR DIE!" I roared out, Monika amplifying my voice.

"Kill them! Kiiilll theeem!" a shrill voice ordered from behind the lizardmen. "Kill them but leave the child! I want only that girl alive!"

"OKAY THEN YOU'RE DEAD!"

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