Chapter 11

"How the fuck did you manage that!" Ulbert asked, his voice sounded absolutely flabbergasted.

"I don't fucking know!" I shouted back, pacing back and forth behind my seat. The entire guild was present; all 50 members sat at the table, looking at the stick before them.

World Savior. The strongest World Item in the game.

"I punched a tree, and it fell!"

"That's so freaking stupid!" Pero banged the table with his fist. "But so freaking cool!"

"Do you all know what this means?!" HeroHero, the blue slime asked, which earned the eyes of everyone on him. "We are undoubtedly the strongest guild now!"

"Not yet." I corrected, looking at the stick. "Right now, it barely does any damage, and to anyone higher than level 20, I don't think it'd even take any HP from them."

"But it's potential…" Herohero pushed, and I nodded at that. In time, the wielder could shred entire guilds by themselves.

And that wielder happened to be me.

I didn't expect it to be auto-bound to the first person who found it, but I'm not complaining.

…There is one problem, though.

"So Gram…" I paused.

"Yeah, you have both weapons bound to you. You can't give one up and use World Savior as a sw-" Momonga started before pausing.

"..."

"..."

Everyone paused, looking at the stick.

I quickly picked it up and opened my character status to see if I could put it in my offhand as a sword-

And it worked.

I held Gram in my right hand and World Savior in my left.

"..."

The entire Guildhall went silent as they looked at both World Items in my hands.

"Kakuei doesn't go out of Nazarick alone without us around, agreed?" Buku asked, and everyone gave slow nods.

"It's honestly kind of funny; Gram is this epic-looking black blade that stores the souls of dragons. While World Savior…is a stick."

The Guild had already died laughing earlier when I showed them that it was a stick. Everyone was expecting it to be a golden spear or some shit like that.

But a stick? That was just the devs laughing at us.

I took another closer look at the World Items in my hands. Gram was a strong World Item on its own. It had a base damage increase, but from there, initially, it did 3x Damage to dragons. Upon cutting down dragons, I realized it has another feature.

With every ten level 100 dragons I kill, the blade goes up 1x damage.

So if I kill 100 level 100 dragons, the blade would go up 10x damage.

Which would basically be a one-shot to all dragons. Ofc upon learning this, I started farming dragons for my fucking life because who the fuck wouldn't? At this point, Gram was sitting at 53x damage to dragons. I didn't see a need to get it any higher. Every dragon in the game could be one-shotted by me-

Except the World Eater, Yggdrasil's strongest and final boss.

The World Eater and all of the game's world enemies were immune to all World Items. So even though it was a dragon, Gram wouldn't have any effect against him.

Though, I did wonder if I could get and store his soul in Gram. Would that do anything? I defeated one of his fragments in the past to earn the midnight armor, and when i defeated it, I absorbed a fragment of its soul, so I assume I should be able to-

Although, probably not, knowing those shitty devs.

"Well, as eventful as this night has been, it's super late, and I have work early." HeroHero groaned. "My boss has been laying it on me recently. Can you believe the audacity of-"

Before HeroHero could keep going, dozens of the Guild Members logged off, not wanting to hear his complaining. His endless rants about work had gotten some members to approach me privately and ask me to kick him.

Leaving the real world out of the Guild was one of the rules, after all.

As he continued to go on his rant, I watched as Touch Me and Ulbert logged out, and they were the last-

Barring one woman who was too caring for her good.

"That must be hard." Momonga nodded.

"Tell me about it! It sucks! And even when others are around me, he always-"

"HeroHero," I said, putting my hands on the table. "Rule Number Four."

He paused, turning his slimy head to me, and gave a quiet sigh and a nod. "Sorry, Kakuei, I guess I got lost in suffering again."

"You have to stop doing that, man. I wish you the best, though; make sure you get some shut-eye."

"Thanks, you as well." He turned to Momonga. "Thanks for hearing me out, Momonga."

"Of course." She sent a peace sign emoji, and HeroHero logged out. Now it was just us two left—Momonga and I.

"Do you have work in the morning?" I asked, retaking my seat. Momonga sat directly to my left in her seat.

"Yeah." She sighed tiredly. "My rent is coming up, so I might have to work overtime for a while."

That…was bad. Momonga typically worked from around 4 AM to 6 PM, which were horrible hours but not uncommon in our world. But to work overtime-

She wouldn't have enough time to hop on.

And we needed her. She was one of the strongest players in the Guild and one of its leaders behind myself, Touch Me, and Ulbert.

"You know, I could help you out."

She looked up at me, staring at me momentarily before waving her hands in front of her frantically. "N-No, it's fine!"

"Is it?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"It is." She said much more quietly this time.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Momonga. We haven't been together long, but I can't just sit by and watch you struggle. Let me help you."

She looked at me for a long while before looking down. Silence permeated in the room before she finally gave me an answer.

"Thank you."

"No problem." I sent a grinning emoji. "Honestly, we can save money by having you move in with me."

Never had I seen someone's head snap up to look at me so fast.

"L-Live w-with you?!"

Ah, it's too soon for something like that.

But was it?

"Look, no offense, but I make more than you. My house is pretty spacious and has two bedrooms. I inherited it from my parents, remember?" I asked, earning a slow nod from her. "You could take the other room free of charge."

"W-What about work?" She asked, although it sounded like she was entertaining the idea.

"Well, obviously, you'd have to quit your job, but just work with me." I shrugged. "I'm an Overseer, so I direct people at construction sites. As for you, you could be my Secretary, sorting jobs, determining costs, and contacting the necessary people for equipment. It's been a pain doing all that by myself anyway."

"Wouldn't you get paid less then?" She questioned, sounding worried.

"Nah, I don't get paid to do it at all." I crossed my arms and shook my head. That shit fucking sucked.

"My boss has been milking me this entire time for that shit, but it's time he hires someone that can handle that load."

"Are you sure he'd be willing?"

"Yeah, he definitely would be, especially if I started complaining. He knows he'll never find an Overseer as good as me if I start getting testy." I sent an evil laugh emoji, which she giggled at. "So, what will it be, Momonga?"

She tapped the table with her bony fingers for several moments before nodding. "If you'd be willing, then I'll gladly accept!"

I smiled internally. There was no way she wouldn't. Living in her small apartment, eating shitty meals, and going to a shitty job must suck.

I'm changing her life right now, going from low-middle class to middle-upper class.

"Nice." I stood up from my seat. "Should I pick you up tonight?"

"W-What?!" She pushed herself to her feet. "W-Why tonight?!"

"I don't have work tomorrow." I shrugged. I had weekends off, unlike most people who just had shorter hours on weekends. "Plus, you don't need to go to work tomorrow."

She paused at that.

If she was quitting, why did she need to work? Judging by her silence, I assume she figured that out.

"...If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Great. I'll be there in an hour and some change."

"U-Um, right." She nodded, and just as I was about to log off, she grabbed my hand.

"Momonga?" I tilted my head.

"Thank you…Kakuei. For everything."

"No problem, Momonga."

— Later —

I sat in my truck, tapping the top of my steering wheel while waiting for Momonga to leave her apartment. I had already sent her the money for her rent so she could leave anytime.

She texted me that she still had to pack, but that was as I left my house.

People didn't own as much nowadays, so I'd be surprised if she had more than a few boxes.

After waiting a few minutes, the door to Momonga's apartment opened above me.

I turned off my truck and hopped out, giving her a wave, which she returned. Then, I walked up the stairs and hugged her.

"All set?"

"Yeah, I just have a few things left over."

I looked inside the apartment and blinked. It was smaller than I thought. She had some boxes lined up, though, and they didn't look that heavy.

"Is that everything?" I questioned my girlfriend, earning a slight nod. "Alright." I reached into my pocket and handed her the keys. "Have a seat in the truck; this won't take long."

"Are you sure?" She asked, looking at the boxes. "I can help."

"I know you can, but you're tired; I do stuff like this for a living. It won't take more than two minutes."

"O-Okay." She didn't seem very happy about letting me do all the work alone, and I appreciated that. Looks like I managed to find myself a hidden gem of a woman.

I picked up a box and went down to my truck with her. She got inside and closed the door as I went back up.

It only took three trips before I had placed all of her stuff in the bed of my truck. I hopped into the driver's seat, and she handed me the key.

"Ready?"

"Mhm."

It was clear that she was going through a mix of emotions. Happiness, surprise, hesitance, anticipation, etc. I could see them all twinkling in her eyes as I started the car and drove out of her apartment lot.

"You packed your console, right?" I asked.

"Of course!" She looked at me like I had just asked the most offensive question known to man. "It was the first thing in the box!"

"A proud gamer, my apologies for underestimating your commitment, Megumi."

She blushed and grew silent at me, calling her by her first name.

The car ride was nice. The roads were quiet and clear, so we didn't have to worry about traffic. While I drove, Momonga and I talked about various things, mainly the job she would be starting whenever I told my boss about needing a secretary.

She was unusually excited about working with me, but I considered that a huge positive. Most people hate their jobs so much to the point where I'm almost sure the average person has depression. The fact that Momonga was excited to work-

It meant everything to me.

We pulled up at my house after an hour on the road, and I pulled into my driveway.

"This is it." I pulled down my facemask and grinned at her.

"Wow! It's nice!" She looked it up and down. "You can afford this?!" She asked before quickly covering her mouth.

Yeah, that came off kinda rude.

"I get paid a good wage, and I tend to clock in a decent amount of overtime," I admitted, pulling my mask back up and opening the door. Momonga did so as well, stepping out of the car.

The house wasn't even anything impressive by normal standards. It's just most people don't own a house nowadays. If you did, you were considered high class.

Hell, my house in this world was smaller than my house in the other world, and I definitely wasn't rich.

I picked up a box that looked heaviest, and Momonga picked up another box. We made our way inside, and I opened the locked door. She followed me as I carried her stuff up to the second bedroom that used to be mine when I was a kid. As we placed the stuff down, I looked at her.

"Make yourself at home. I'm gonna head down and grab the last box."

"Mhm." She nodded, looking around the room.

I went downstairs and outside, grabbed the box, and returned right up. When I did, I saw her unpacking what was in her box and laying it out.

"Does it suit you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, it's amazing, way better than any room I've slept in before."

"Besides the hotel." I grinned. Her eyes lit up in remembrance, and she blushed.

"The second-best room I've ever slept in."

"Hey, at least it's second." I chuckled, and she giggled. We returned downstairs, and I gave her a full house tour. There were two bathrooms, one on each floor, a kitchen, a living room/common area, and various small closets throughout the house.

By the end of the tour, Momonga looked excited but visibly tired, so I called an end to it and led her back to her room. Within moments of lying down, I could hear her snoring softly. I was surprised to see she had so much trust in me-

Then again, we'd known each other for years. I turned off the light and made my way out of the room, heading to my own.

I started thinking about the New World as I lay in my bed.

I wanted Momonga there with me, and with this new living arrangement, she'd definitely have enough time to hop on for the server's closing.

But she wasn't the only person I wanted to bring.

I wanted all of my friends there. Sure, I didn't like everyone in the Guild, and there were plenty that I wished to reject from joining the Guild but lost out by majority vote.

But Momonga would want them there.

And the more time I spent with Momonga, the more I wanted to see her smile.

As I closed my eyes and let sleep welcome me for the first time in my life since reincarnating in this world-

I felt happy to be me.