Konrad woke from the strangest of dreams, trying to reconstruct the events as he lazed in bed. He had nothing better to do in his tiny Tokyo flat. Not on an early Saturday morning anyway.
But sleep took him back to the Halaima Pass.
It all looked way too real, but also random.
As if he saw the actual future or the past, but somehow it wasn't him at all.
He led a gigantic golem up the mountain, crushing nomads under its feet.
A brutal solution, but an effective one. One he would have avoided in real life.
Not only did he hate senseless killing, but he couldn't have summoned such a beast anyway.
Still, he kept cackling like a Demon Lord. Stella didn't appreciate it.
She smacked him in the head, hard, which was—
Stella Nord, of all people? That had to be the strangest part of the entire dream.
If it were the dragoness or Gabrielle?
But no, neither of them was present. He saw Welf, Helena, Bor, and Count Rolalt's towering knight. And that was it; a brutal victory in the mountains that didn't sit well with him.
All from a third-person perspective, watching himself from the outside.
Made no sense.
But, well, not every dream had to have an actual meaning.
It wasn't like one of those vague prophecies Lucifer used to whisper to him.
He could have been homesick, hoping the people in Kasserlane took care of themselves.
But he had no real way of knowing it now.
His return ticket—an experimental spell that seemed impossible to learn—was gone.
Even if he were the Prodigy the merchants thought him to be, he couldn't cast it without mana. And after recovering his reserves from the adamantite sword, the armor, and everything—
He had five hundred points.
That's it.
Way less than he remembered. Could have been enough for the time-trap, but beyond that?
Even if he got it right on the first try, he would have gotten himself stuck in a timeless void.
Or don't even try, and stay in Japan.
He sighed, kicking off the covers to get out of bed.
Money or mana.
Without them, he couldn't do anything at all. And since the dragon and the Demon Lord have been here for a while, experimenting in vain—
Konrad was better off focusing on money first.
Checking his phone, he saw a fourth GPS coordinate saved—and the first number, full of sixes.
Kaede's contact. Still in a hospital, and he didn't know which one.
But he had a potential place to work now, and an entire day to explore it.
"I don't want to," he groaned, but pulled on his school uniform anyway.
It was the only thing he had that wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb. Although on a weekend?
He needed to do some serious shopping. Again, he needed money for that. And some money to make more money. The shop he wanted to check was a few train stops away.
Student ID, check.
Now that he thought about it, the police didn't even bat an eye when he showed them.
Was it actually real?
Flipping it around between his fingers, his stomach groaned.
Well, not like he knew how these IDs looked anyway.
But when was the last time he ate? Back in school yesterday? A lot has happened since.
His assault on the Demon Lord's castle. Deciphering new magic, fighting Lucifer in a convenience store. Yeah, the dream from before didn't even seem that strange now.
"Guess I'll make some toast," Konrad muttered, double-checking the route while waiting.
There was nothing to overthink here.
Eat, go, and apply for a job. He had done this before, in his previous life, and—
Yeah, no, he didn't plan on getting stuck in the same shitty work forever again. Here, he was still a student. He had options. He could have started a new life if he wanted to.
Keeping the Demon Lord in check with Kaede. Fighting off the fallen angel's minions.
Which—okay, that didn't seem so simple after all. Not without his magic. Without an army.
And to make it all worse, there was also this strange feeling he couldn't shake.
Was he forgetting something?
It kept bugging him while he ate and on the entire way on the train, too. What was it?!
Unfinished business in Kasserlane? Homework? Something he hadn't tried yet—or a person?
An instrument store.
No, he didn't forget that; he was standing in front of one. That's where the GPS brought him, so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice it at first.
The streets weren't as busy as he had expected. This was a quieter part of town.
But a single glance at the shop window got him hooked.
Shiny new guitars. Keyboards. Drum sets and instruments he couldn't even name—
All stacked in neat lines along the walls. Even for someone who never got too deep into music, his heart was beating faster. Working as a shopkeeper wasn't exactly a dream job.
But in a place like this?
He'd rather spend his days between instruments than behind a desk for another life.
Boring calculations versus things he never even considered?
That sunburst paint on the shiny wood won, hands down.
He froze at the door, unsure if he was even allowed in such a sanctuary. Luckily, a customer opened it for him, and the scent of wood, wax, and ozone almost swept Konrad off his feet.
"Irassaimase," the shopkeeper jumped up, leaning against the counter beforehand.
For being in his forties, he moved as if his legs were spring-loaded.
The customer waved, pointing at the keyboards, and they chatted away like old friends.
Konrad would've stayed by the door to take in the sights, but the shopkeeper didn't forget about him, either. With a sharp nod and a bark, he called someone else, and—
A girl with the most ridiculous, teased hair covering half her face shuffled forward.
An emo? 2006 was calling, wanting this forgotten style back.
And the stuff she wore made no sense at all.
Black jeans and an oversized tee full of rivets and studs. But with rainbow colored accessories. Chains clinked with every one of her lazy steps, her posture hunched and terrible, but—
Underneath the excessive makeup and rings piercing her lips and nose, she was pretty.
Almost. And way too young to be dressing like this.
"Hai, hai, how can I help?" she asked in the most bored tone he had ever heard. Her voice was high and thin, but she had the motivation of someone long deceased. "Buying or looking?"
Konrad tried his best not to stare, but he could feel his mouth hanging open.
It took him a moment to recover from yet another culture shock. People in this city were weird.
"Uh, neither," he said, stumbling back. "I'm Konrad. A friend told me you guys were hiring?"
The transformation was immediate.
Her bored sneer turned into a gasp, her raccoon eyes going wide as she took another look.
"Majide?!" she asked, as if he had introduced himself as the duke of Halaima. She went from zombie to hyper in under a second. "Oto-san, Oto-san, we finally have a part-timer."