If anyone had told Artyom that partying up with the main character of a harem isekai anime would be the most dangerous decision he’ll ever make, he’d fall to the floor laughing.


    If anything, he’d feel like his money was well spent, because only a professional comedian directly targeting him at a paid show could come up with something so funny.


    “Thanks for letting me join your team,” said Artyom as he gave the young man and four unnaturally attractive women in front of him a smile that didn’t come close to reaching his eyes.


    And he most certainly wasn’t laughing.


    “Whatever, it wasn’t much of a test anyway, you shouldn’t look so proud of yourself,” said Xerica with a harrumph. Her flowing red hair fluttered as she did, making it billow behind her head as if it were a cape.


    The dungeon they sent him to held an end-game boss monster capable of taking on an entire army by itself, let alone a single adventurer.


    “It must be the goddess’ will,” said Lensa, the girl with the lavender hair, meekly walking up behind the redhead. “And her blessing I gave him earlier.”


    The so-called blessing was a curse that rendered Artyom mentally impotent, making the man from Earth run into the dungeon without a care in the world before getting knocked out. It was only by a real miracle he was able to break out of it before getting killed.


    “Big whoop, we’ve all got the goddess’ blessing,” said Daisy, a short-haired fit blonde with a shorter temper. “We’re already part of her chosen hero’s party, after all.”


    She had pulled out her weapons and threatened to kill him when they first met just for talking to the hero.


    “Whatever, can we just get on with the day?” asked Ecole with a groan. She idly brushed her green hair out of her face before taking another bite of breakfast. “We don’t know if he’ll even stay for long.”


    Artyom didn’t have anything to say about Ecole. She didn’t actively try to kill him, but she didn’t seem the kind of person to actively do anything. She was still most certainly in on it.


    “I hope he stays a while,” said Neitra, the brunette girl standing in the back of the inn away from the crowd. She wore a cloak whose hood cast a shadow over much of her face, which made it hard for Artyom to discern how she actually felt.


    He didn’t like that. Context meant everything with a line like that; was it supposed to be friendly or a threat? It didn’t help that Artyom was caught by surprise when she spoke since he didn’t notice her until now.


    Every single person in the group was dangerous; each capable of killing him without a second thought, and some of them had even tried! Yet he was still here, walking into the middle of a viper’s den. But why?


    “Glad we finally have another guy with us!” exclaimed the young man of the group. “It’s like that time the summer camp I went to was only filled with girls and I barely made any friends.”


    The others nodded along, not really understanding what “summer camp” was, and Artyom copied them, despite knowing fully.


    Tommy, the young man, was supposedly from Earth. He might not have looked the part with his inhuman elf-like ears that matched the locals’, but he sounded just like a kid from back home.


    And Artyom was a member of the Isekai Police. He traveled between worlds to save anyone who ended up somewhere that wasn’t conducive to the stereotypical isekai dream.


    That meant if the villains weren’t shy about committing war crimes against children, Artyom and his team would intervene and bring the summoned Earth kid to safety.


    He’d already witnessed several war crimes on his third day in this world.


    “Yeah, whatever,” replied Ecole. “Do you have our supplies for the trip?”


    “I was waiting to see if the new guy would join before buying them,” replied Neitra. Her tone, while similar to Ecole’s, was cool and distant rather than uncaring.


    “What the heck, Neitra?!” shouted Daisy, who was in the process of stuffing half a croissant in her mouth. “Why couldn’t you just get the stuff first?! We’ve already spent too much time here!”


    “Everyone was talking about how he wouldn’t be able to succeed, so I followed what you all wanted,” replied the brunette.


    Xerica, the redhead, looked at Neitra and shook her head. “I have to agree with Daisy, you need to show better initiative if you’re going to be on the team.”


    “We’ve already got a replacement for her anyway, wanna see how he does her job?” asked Ecole.


    The five women looked at Artyom, the four near Tommy with discerning looks and Neitra with sudden apprehension.


    Artyom bit his lip. He didn’t want to be dragged into team drama so soon, especially when saying the wrong thing might make someone want to kill him sooner. He looked around the decadent inn for some kind of out, but all the other richly dressed patrons were keeping their distance from the boisterous group. Some of them who were paying attention looked at the man with pity.


    “I-”Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Just then, the inn’s front door and surrounding brick fell with a crash, throwing up a cloud of dust.


    Everyone’s attention was instantly grabbed and they turned to face the disturbance.


    “I finally found you,” a deep voice rumbled from behind the cloud. “It took me long enough to recover and follow the treasure all the way here, but it’s all about to be worth it.”


    Artyom’s eyes went wide in shock, leaving him speechless.


    As the dust settled, a massive figure covered in scales and muscle looked down on the man from Earth with eyes filled with pure hatred. Despite his regenerative abilities, his body was marred with pockmarks and scars, only adding to the threatening visage he casted upon the inn patrons.


    “You and those pathetic kobolds thought a little fire was enough to put me down for good? Do you know who I am?! Once I kill everyone in this building, I’m heading back and teaching those smug little idiots a lesson they’ll never forget!”


    “This is bullshit!” Artyom reflexively shouted, much to the displeasure of the sophisticated inn patrons. But behind that frustration, there was relief that the kobolds who toiled under this monster were safe… for now.


    His reflexes didn’t end there however, and he cast a battery of spells on himself: Sonic Waverider for unparalleled speed, Tungsten Body to reinforce his durability, and he began to charge a Gravity Blender attack in his hand.


    Before Artyom could act further, Xerica spoke. “Did you say everyone in the building?”


    The monster looked over to her and the rest of the group with contempt, before his own eyes began to widen in realization.


    “Oh, you recognize someone?”


    “T-the hero?” said the monster with a stutter. “No, no please!”


    “You know we can’t have anyone hurting our precious Tommy,” said Xerica with a snap of her fingers. “Time to cut you off.”


    The other ladies immediately pulled their weapons out and charged at the monster, not giving him any time to react.


    Daisy with her twin swords ran between the hulking creature’s legs and slashed the achilles heel of both his feet, causing him to lose balance.


    Ecole threw a poison-coated knife into his protruding belly next, suddenly making the veins around the impact turn a shade of dark green and purple, and the rest of his face paled even further.


    Neitra, seizing the opportunity, leapt onto the monster’s back and dragged a dagger across his throat like a hot knife through butter, causing a spray of blood to hemorrhage out. She fell back as a fireball from Xerica struck his face the next second, sending errant wisps of flame flying towards her.


    “Get out of the way!” the redhead shouted with a tisk before looking at Lensa.


    The lavender haired girl raised her staff and completed a chant, causing a faint glow of a thick ethereal rope pointing towards the sky to appear above the monster.


    “No, don’t!” he gargled out like a twisted parody of a cartoon duck, but it was too late.


    Daisy ran up the walls and was in front of the thread, which she cut with a casual flick of her blade.


    His rapidly regenerating injuries immediately stopped healing, and blood began to pour out of his wounds at an even faster pace. It didn’t take long for the four women to tear the monster to pieces.


    “And to make sure you don’t get back up again,” began Xerica as she lit a white-hot flame in her hand. She threw the mote of bright light at the monster, and as soon as it made contact, it exploded into a controlled orb of fire that completely engulfed its body.


    Only some of the heat leaked out, but the color of the flames and the level of control being exerted told Artyom everything he needed to know about the power of the spell and its caster.


    At that moment, the man from Earth wanted to grab a chair and sit down after witnessing how easily the four of them took out the monster he struggled to fight with a small army at his back. The only thing that stopped him was the desire to not show any sign of weakness to the predators around him.


    “Was the fight really that easy, and the relative power of the people in this world just that high?” Artyom thought to himself before shaking his head. “No, the adventurers and warband I encountered at Freeacres were much weaker than this, but both groups were made up of newbies. This could just be the height of power they’re expected to quickly grow into…”


    “Hey, new guy!” shouted Daisy.


    Artyom was snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face her.


    “That’s the boss from the dungeon we sent you to, wasn’t it? You were supposed to kill him, you failed your test!”


    Before Artyom could get a chance to speak, Neitra interjected.


    “The test was for him to get the armor piece, not kill the boss,” said the brunette as she inspected her hair for any burnt strands.


    “Nobody was talking to you,” shot back Daisy.


    “She’s right though,” said Tommy, stepping forward. “The test was to get the armor piece, and he got it!”


    Daisy’s features softened, and after a few seconds, she looked away and sputtered out something before walking upstairs.


    Xerica just shook her head and let out a sigh. “Well, Tommy’s right, you’re still part of the team.” Her features then hardened as she practically looked through Artyom’s soul. “But if your negligence gets Tommy hurt, we’ll do a lot worse to you than we did to that dungeon boss.”


    Artyom used all his willpower not to swallow the lump in his throat and simply nodded.


    “Good!” said Xerica, suddenly brightening up. “Now while we finish getting ready for the day, why don’t you head out with Neitra to buy our supplies?”


    The man from Earth looked around the inn, and without another word, nodded and turned around to follow Neitra out of the inn through the destroyed front wall.


    There was no doubt in Artyom’s mind that Tommy’s party would keep him safe from most threats, but that wasn’t Artyom’s biggest worry.


    Something about this world wasn’t right.


    A coddled and naive hero being put up against a ruthless and sadistic enemy didn’t sit well with Artyom, no matter how strong Tommy or his party was. Not to mention Tommy’s not-quite human visage.


    Was he really from Earth? From what Artyom knew, the only way to summon an Earther was through a portal, but that wasn’t how Tommy got here. And if the hero did get rescued, the people of this world could just summon another one. Artyom would have to find the actual source of the summoning and put a stop to it.


    It was his strangest and most dangerous mission to date. None of the rules applied, and he would have to use all of his wits to get through this alive.


    Artyom looked back at Tommy chatting with the remaining three, and at the destruction that marred the inn.


    “No doubt the owner will be out here soon, and anyone still at the inn is going to have to answer for all the damages. I’m not going to be able to talk to Tommy at this rate, and besides… better them than me.”