4 - CASE: 3 In Later's Case
The upbringing of the three idiots ends here for now. They will merge starting from the next time.
The soul who used "Ore" as a first-person pronoun was reincarnated as Later.
The second son of Hourou, the village chief of a rural village in the Leonesta Empire, he was a genius of close-quarters combat from a young age... or so others evaluated him. In reality, it was different.
Like Geoglyph and Marianne, he had devoted himself to magic power training during infancy, but he felt frustration once he became able to stand and move.
"Too slow."
Above all, his body's movements were sluggish. Since he was a toddler, he had almost no muscular strength. While that was only natural, even so, he could not move as he wished. That was more painful than anything. In his previous life, he had been a truck driver, and while he cared about specs, he cared about controllability above all else. He hated it when things did not move as intended, as he aimed.
Or rather, whether driving a large vehicle or a passenger car, if it does not move as intended, it easily leads to an accident.
That is why he did not need unnecessary assists, and he frowned at low-level drivers who relied on them. Just because someone is a professional does not mean they can do everything. Due to the relationship between inertia and stopping distance, it is impossible to stop instantly on the spot even if one senses danger, so one must always predict while driving. Professional drivers understand this and drive with care, but what about the other general drivers who look down on them as the bottom of the barrel? Despite using the same public roads, they use smartphones, force their way into small gaps, look away, tailgate, drink and drive... is it not a state of lawlessness?
Do not take the easy way. Concentrate. Predict. Do not go against the flow of traffic. Practice so that you can move the vehicle as you intend. Realize that this lump of iron can easily kill others if control is lost. Thinking in a somewhat self-righteous manner that just doing that would greatly lower the accident rate, he was therefore irritated that his own body would not move as he wished.
There are no automobiles in this world.
However, the concept of handling something well, whether it be a body or an object, which he had cultivated there, was ingrained in him. Therefore, as a result of thinking about various things, he decided to use magic power well. He tried a supplementary application, wrapping his body in magic power like the powered suits he had seen in movies in the past.
As a result, he acquired mobility that was unthinkable for a three-year-old.
When he deployed magic power like a spring on the soles of his feet and released it, he flew about 20 meters into the air.
This is not a metaphor or a joke. He seriously flew. When he first did it, he thought he would die. In fact, if there had not happened to be a cedar tree nearby, and if he had not clung to the trunk like a cicada in a split-second decision, he would have died from the fall. He had thought that since it was a child's body, it would be good if he could fly about 1 meter, and this was the result. He deeply reflected that his KY (danger prediction) was insufficient.
But he understood the main point. After that, he began practicing, thinking that all that was left was to use this well to move as he wished. By the time he was six, he would enter the forest alone, hunt magic beasts, and provide meat for the dining table. His family, who were hesitant at first, gradually had their senses numbed in the face of Later, who boasted abnormal physical abilities, or perhaps they grew fond of the meat provided, and they stopped saying anything. The village where Later was born was not a poor village on the verge of collapse, but it was still not that wealthy. If even a child could use it, they were a fine labor force.
Around that time, an old warrior visited the village.
He was a wolf beastman who had traveled various countries for many years as an adventurer and seemed to be looking for a final home after retiring. Apparently, this village, which he had stopped at on a request previously, resembled his destroyed hometown, so he wished to settle down. Later's father, the village chief, readily agreed to this. The knowledge of an adventurer is useful, and although he was old, his combat ability was still intact. Above all, he judged that if he could teach it to others, he could contribute to the village's defensive power.
Later also welcomed him. Very enthusiastically. To the point where the wolf beastman was a bit put off. Later is not into men. He is not into men, but...
(KEMOMIMI KITA---!!)
He was a kemoner.
He was an old male beastman. The old beastman was not handsome, and in the first place, Later, who was seven years old, did not have sexual desire yet. All he had were the fetishes carried over from his previous life.
He has beast ears and a tail. This raises the tension. There are beastmen in this world. Just that made his chest hot.
Let me clarify that originally, this is not the level of beastliness that a kemoner would rave about. It is an orthodox light type (beast level 1) with only ears and a tail on a human. He would likely receive a sneer or a reprimand from the hardcore crowd, calling him a light kemoner. If you're going to call yourself a kemoner, do it from beast level 2, where the face is also a beast, you novice.
But Later thought that was fine.
In reality, ears and a tail were attached, and they were not fake but had blood flowing through them. They moved. They were fluffy. If that is the case, he could not help but be moved. He could not help but be excited. He could not help but fluff them. Moreover, the fact that there are kemomimi types means there might be beings with higher beast levels. No, there probably are. Yotsukemo levels are entirely possible. This expands the dreams, he danced in his heart.
Thus, the kemoner full of worldly desires held hope.
From that day on, Later followed that old man... Gado. Gado, who was a bit, no, quite put off at first, was won over by the sparkling eyes of Later, who looked like a child, and began to deal with him. It was definitely not because the tail brushing, which he let him do because Later pleaded with heavy breathing, felt good.
Eventually, Gado noticed his abnormal physical abilities using magic power and began to hammer in his own experience... and they became master and disciple.
Eventually, Later, who made it his goal to create a fluffy paradise, heard that strength is what is sought in beastmen, so strong ones are popular, and decided to thoroughly train his body. Whether the fluffy things he collects are male or female does not matter. To become the alpha of the pack, he must first become strong.
While he is full of desire, Gado, who was impressed by actions that were like a kind of obsession, decided to hammer all the combat techniques he possessed into Later.
Although Gado's muscular strength had dropped significantly from his prime, he had continued to polish his techniques in exchange. The sharpness of his techniques was rather honed. The time it took to absorb all the techniques of a Gold rank (top tier) adventurer was seven years. Whether this is considered long or short depends on the person.
Later thought it was long, and Gado thought it was short.
"Alright. Then, shall we go fulfill the promise soon?"
Later told his family and master that he would go on a warrior's pilgrimage and left the village. The farewell gifts were food for the journey from his family and travel funds from exchanging the materials of the magic beasts Later had hunted. From his master Gado, an artifact equipment he had used during his adventurer days.
"Wait for me, fluffy things...!!"
And the kemoner began to walk toward the Imperial Capital with high spirits.
The continuation will be posted tomorrow.