Chapter 222 - Hyakka and the New World's Quest V
The encompassing heat and the vortex of flames were gone. I gasped for air, panting heavily. I hadn't run away myself. I had just been clinging to the horse's back, holding onto Fam. But the pressure I had felt was even greater. I stopped the horse and looked back. A quiet corridor stretched out as if nothing had happened, which only made it feel more eerie. I couldn't shake the feeling that the dragon's breath was lurking somewhere. I shook my head, dismissing it as an impossible illusion. On the horse's back were the members of the New World party and Fam. It had seemed large when I first saw it, but it was now clearly bigger. It seemed its size changed according to Hyakka-chan's feelings. As expected of a phantasmal beast summoned by a special skill. Its abilities were absurd.
"You're used to these kinds of life-or-death situations, aren't you…"
Etowan, too, was cautiously checking behind us for any sign of the enemy.
"Your team's coordination was more polished."
I replied, surprised myself that I was complimenting him.
"What's with the strange look on your face?"
He jabbed me with his elbow. It hit my chest, crushing Hyakka-chan's small mounds. I couldn't tell if it was out of embarrassment and the spot he hit was accidental, or if he had intentionally aimed for my chest. As I pondered my response, Chihiro grabbed my arm.
"Let's go back. We can use this horse to lead them on and wear them down. There's no way they can maintain a special skill like that, let alone use it repeatedly. I'll finish it with my special skill."
He seemed to have changed into a different person the moment he saw Yuuki. Speaking of change, Sierra was the same. She had been wearing a stern expression toward Hyakka-chan, but now her attention was focused on Yuuki's group.
"Wait, are you planning to kill Yuuki?"
"What are you saying now?"
He retorted with such a strong tone that I was left speechless. Only Yuuki had shown himself earlier, but there must have been other members. Clovis Leafclout. And that small transfer student who had blocked Racshell's arrow. Did we even have a chance of winning? Although I was Hyakka-chan now, as Mash-kun, I had arranged a meeting with them through Zeno Leafclout. If we could just get through this, there was a possibility of reconciliation.
"Master, let's go back…"
Fam, who had been lying limply in my arms, sat up.
"Back then, Samuemu could have cut me with her dagger. But she only pushed my hand away."
She looked at me with a strong gaze. Did she think Samuemu was alive in that situation? As I considered it, I reconsidered. Even Racshell put up a barrier to prevent her attacks from affecting areas they weren't meant to. I didn't know if that dragon had such consideration, but the small transfer student was there too. Above all, they were occupying the entrance to this floor. To avoid them, we would have to defeat the area guardian, and in the worst case, Levante could fall into that trap.
"You're right. Let's go back."
Just as I said that, Korne's body swayed and he fell off the horse.
"Korne!"
Moos's cry echoed. Samuemu's small sword was deeply embedded in Korne's body.
Korne was lying limp, his face contorted in pain. Hyakka-chan and Chihiro were casting healing magic on him, but it seemed to be healing slowly. Beyond a certain amount of damage, the power of healing magic was insufficient, and treatment at a church became necessary. I didn't know how severe this wound was. The white horse summoned by the special skill had already been sent back. We had given up on turning back to counterattack. There seemed to be no pursuit from Yuuki's group for now.
"Damn it, you clumsy oaf…"
Etowan was spewing his usual foul-mouthed curses, but he kept glancing at Korne's face, folding and unfolding his arms, completely restless. Seeing him, a smile crept onto my lips. He was worried sick. He noticed Hyakka-chan watching him.
"Hey, don't look at me! Concentrate on healing!"
He said that, but whether I concentrated or not, the effect of the magic was the same. Just as Marmie had said. Faith and the effect of healing were not proportional. It was the difference in the spell formula and the amount of mana that could be poured into it. As I was thinking this, I heard footsteps echoing from the opposite direction from which we had fled.
"Tch, at a time like this… Trolls?"
Etowan and the others readied their weapons, but it wasn't trolls. It had only been half a day since we had parted, but they were a nostalgic and reassuring sight: our comrades.
"Mizuki, Maira, Mo, Shizuka… and, Mash-kun…"
I called out all their names. They too saw us and ran over. Mash-kun followed a step behind them.
"There you are! It's fine to meet up with Hyakka-chan's group, but you had us worried!"
Mash-kun confronted Fam.
"Hmph, Shizuka gave us terrible directions, so we got lost!"
Fam replied in her usual tone, but there was a hint of shadow in her voice. Mash-kun seemed to notice it too. Then he saw the limp Korne and rushed over.
"Wh-what happened…?"
As she took his place, I stood up and walked over to Levante. Looking at their faces, they all seemed to have their eyebrows raised and their cheeks puffed out. They all looked angry. Were they angry that Fam had left to join us?
"M-Maira, please treat Korne. The healing power of a Paladin seems to be weak."
"Understood."
I thought she might argue, but she simply nodded and walked over to Moos. Her ample chest swayed. An element that the New World party was lacking. Maira's presence was indeed something to be cherished up close rather than from afar. I almost reached out to touch her chest, but I restrained myself since I was Hyakka-chan right now. She knelt down and placed her hand on Moos's wound. While watching her, I pulled Mizuki's hand.
"Hey, what happened?"
"Huh? You're the one something happened to, aren't you?"
"No, you're all angry about something, right?"
"W-well…"
Mizuki scratched her cheek, looking awkward.
"Are you all angry at Fam? She has a good sense of smell, so you might think she has a good sense of direction, but in reality, she's no different from us. She really just got lost and couldn't get back. We tried to find you guys too. But with her information, it was impossible."
I rattled off excuses so she couldn't interrupt. I felt it was better to make excuses and apologize before being asked for a reason.
"We were worried, but we're not angry about that. It's…"
She glanced at Marmie, Shizuka, and even Fam, as if to call them over. Maira was treating Korne, so she was probably excluded. The fact that her gaze didn't go to Mash-kun meant he was the cause. Come to think of it, when Fam joined us, she was complaining about Mash-kun too.
"…Mizuki, didn't you say something like 'I might like him' about Mash-kun, just to spite me?"
"Because he was just ordering me around and wouldn't listen to a thing I said!"
Mizuki looked like a normal girl. It was hard to put into words.
"Well, I've been ordering you around a lot too, haven't I?"
"Mash-kun doesn't trust me. Hyakka-chan trusted me. In the end, she left it to me."
I thought while poking her heating-up cheek with my finger. We had what we had built up, even if it was only for two months. Mash-kun didn't have that, so it couldn't be helped. And for him, one person with no combat experience, one who had studied but had little combat experience, and two with only two months of experience must have seemed incredibly unreliable. If anything, I sympathized with him.
"…That's why I said it would be better to take Hyakka with Mash's personality, even if Mash and Hyakka swapped bodies."
Marmie muttered, interrupting.
"No, you didn't say a word! Mo didn't say anything and just followed Mash-kun! I'm a delicate person, you know. I was incredibly hurt!"
"…I thought Mash-kun was cooler at first too."
She puffed out her cheeks even more, hurting Hyakka-chan further.
"…Anyway, Hyakka won't listen to me."
Mizuki, Shizuka, and I nodded in agreement at those words.
"Right! I was trying to be considerate and talk to him so he could get used to the party quickly, but Mash-kun just said I was annoying and pushed the mapper role on me!"
"You're the newcomer in Levante, Shizuka!"
Even with a different master, Hyakka-chan's body didn't miss the timing for a retort. As we were talking, Mash-kun, who had overheard our conversation, approached. His cheeks were puffed out just like Mizuki and the others. For an old man, it was quite disgusting.
"These guys are all so damn annoying! Especially Shizuka. She kept talking about perverted stuff, I thought I was going to lose my mind!"
"…"
As expected, the original's retort was sharp. Even as Mash-kun, his skills were sharp. To master Hyakka-chan's body, I would have to master this sharp retort.
"What are you grinning and being impressed about! It's because you didn't discipline them properly, Hyakka-chan, that they've all gotten so cocky!"
"Their noise is a reward, isn't it! They're definitely cuter that way! Besides, you're noisy too! …But I completely agree about Shizuka."
"Why just me?!"
Shizuka shouted.
"Hyakka-chan…"
Mash-kun muttered in exasperation, ignoring her feelings. He let out a big sigh.
"From now on, Hyakka-chan is the leader of Levante. I'm going back to the New World…"
As he said this with a loss of confidence, Etowan, who had been watching us from a distance, made a blatantly disgusted face.
"We've got enough old-man characters over here. Fam is fine, but send over the one with the big boobs!"
Etowan shouted.
"What the hell?!"
Mash-kun retorted and ran over to protest. As they swapped places, Korne approached, supported by Maira and Moos.
"Are you okay?"
Maira and Moos moved away from Korne's side. He raised his arm and flexed his bicep.
"My bad. I won't let my guard down again. How about a rematch?"
The corner of his mouth curled up.
Before the battle, I had to tell Levante about Yuuki. Especially Mizuki. The thought weighed heavily on me. They didn't know what had happened after Fam saw a figure that looked like Samuemu and chased after it. Next to me, the members of the New World party were explaining the situation to Mash-kun. Yuuki's name came up here and there in their conversation, and each time, Mizuki would look over with a worried expression.
"Master, it's about time…"
Fam urged me on as I was trying to listen in on the New World party's conversation, just like Mizuki.
"Ah, right…" I nodded to her. "Actually, we were attacked by Mizuki's senpai… Yuuki."
At those words, Mizuki gasped, and her hands, which had been crossed in front of her body, tightened into fists.
"And… tell me the rest."
I nodded at Mizuki's words. Then, I told her the series of events that had transpired since we saw Samuemu. She listened in silence without interrupting.
"I don't know their objective. Whether it's something on this floor, a fight with Levante, or a fight with the New World party. But they're positioned at the entrance to this floor. The members of the New World party intend to break through. So we have to go with them."
"Why?"
"There's also the option of taking a different route, defeating the area guardian, avoiding the ambush, and leaving the dungeon. But with Shizuka here, and me unable to use the goddess summon, if something were to happen, we'd be wiped out."
Mizuki's expression remained unchanged, and she silently waited for my next words.
"And, I can't leave the battle with Yuuki's group to them alone. The outcome is unpredictable. Since they're showing their will to fight, we'll cooperate with the New World party and fight with all twelve of us. If we can put the New World party in our debt, we can also protect Yuuki and Samuemu from being killed by them."
Fam had also used her special skill. The center of the battle would likely be Mizuki, Hyakka, Chihiro, and the high-firepower Marmie. I glanced at Marmie, and she nodded as if she understood.
"Do you really think… that will be the outcome?"
I remembered Yuuki's special skill from before. He probably couldn't summon that dragon again. But if he had a similar special skill, we would need to respond with a comparable force. But for now, I had no choice but to nod.
"I see…"
Mizuki murmured. I turned my gaze to Shizuka.
"Hey, you've been listening like this has nothing to do with you, but you're going to have to work too, Shizuka."
"Huh? Shizuka-chan gets to have a turn too?"
Suddenly addressed, she raised her hand in surprise.
"Use your special skill, Bamboo Scale. Measure all their dick sizes. I'll post it at the guild and make it so they can't stay in this city."
Her special skills were all pretty useless, but Bamboo Scale was in a league of its own. An ability that measured a man's erect size, I had no idea what it could be used for.
"What if they're impressive? In that case, I'll dump Mash and join them!"
She started spouting nonsense again.
"They've put all their stats into being handsome and good-looking! There's no way any nutrients made it to their crotches! Heaven wouldn't grant two gifts. They must be packing small!"
"Mash doesn't have either of those two gifts, but well, if that's the case…" she replied, slightly taken aback. "Leave it to me. I'll make a ranking chart including Mash and the members of the New World party and announce it!"
"Mash-kun's is not needed!"
Mizuki was the one who decided his size. She bore full responsibility. I thought Mizuki might laugh a little, but her troubled expression didn't change.
"Mizuki…"
"Shizuka says a lot of things, but she loves Ko-kun the most…"
Mizuki murmured. I suppose so. Although, I had a feeling Shizuka liked her teacher more, but the one she was worried about and constantly mentioned was Ko-kun.
"Hyakka and Chihiro are close, and Rinko and Airi like each other too. They all have a strong bond from before they came to this world."
Hyakka and Chihiro's closeness seemed to go a bit too far, but she was right. Ema had deep affection for Ito, and Joe and Becky, Takemura and Komachi too. They all had connections from before they came to this world.
"Mash and I don't have that. I was thinking all sorts of weird things, so maybe I was summoned by mistake…"
"What weird things? Even if that's true, it's too late now!"
She gave a weak smile at my words.
"Mash, you know," she started to say something, then shook her head as if to deny it. "Maybe both of us were supposed to be summoned to this world with different people."
What was she denying, and what was she trying to say? Her eyes shimmered with tears.
"I want Mizuki. I don't want anyone but Mizuki."
"You'd say that to anyone in this situation! You wouldn't even come with me if I said I wanted to go back to my original world!"
"…Mizuki."
I tried to wipe away her tears, but she pushed my hand away.
"Are you really okay with a girl like me? If a girl like Fam had been chosen from the start, you wouldn't have gotten involved with so many other girls, would you?"
"It's true that seeing your reaction gave me a taste for it…"
Mizuki looked away.
"This isn't love. No matter how much I fall in love with Mash, he'll only ever see me that way. And I've come to think that's okay."
Any guy would go crazy if a beautiful girl like Mizuki showed him affection. I had never even had a close conversation with a girl, let alone had one direct those kinds of feelings at me. It was only natural that I wouldn't know how to handle it. I had pure feelings too. But my interest was drawn to her body and to sex. Mizuki had let me do whatever I wanted so far, hadn't she? Wasn't that also natural? It wasn't a simple "yes" or "no." A myriad of emotions were all mixed up. That's why I was so strongly attracted to her. I wanted to tell her that. But would she accept it? I knew we couldn't go on like this. But what could I do to make her accept it?
"What is love? I do what I want in front of you. You should do what you want too. Is that not okay?"
"Hyakka-chan… no, Mash."
"What is it?"
"I want to go back to my original world. With you, of course. And everyone else, Senpai, Hii-chan, Shizuka, all the transfer students."
She was trying to make me lie. And then use that as a reason to berate me further. I had a feeling that was it. So, I had to answer honestly.
"I don't want to go back to my original world. I really want you to stay in this world too, Mizuki. Of course, I want to live with everyone, including Fam, Maira, and Mo. I definitely want to help you with your desire to go home. But there's time until that happens. I plan to convince you somehow."
"If you have other girls, you don't need me, do you?!"
"I love you, Mizuki. That's why I need you!"
"We're both the worst…"
I thought she would blame me, but she included herself in it. I was overcome with the urge to ask her why, but before I could, my body moved on its own, and I was hugging her. However, in Hyakka-chan's body, I wasn't tall enough, so it was more like I was lunging at her chest.
"I want to do something about your senpai and Samuemu. I want to bring closure to Hyakka and Chihiro's feelings too. Right now, I can't see a way to do that. I don't want an ending that makes someone sad. I really mean it."
Her arms wrapped around my back. I was enveloped in a soft sensation.
"I wish you'd do this when you're back to normal. We can't even kiss like this."
Mizuki murmured.