kscans

Chapter 2 - A New World and a First Battle

When I came to, Mizuki and I were standing in a clearing surrounded by trees.

Sunlight streamed in. It seemed to be daytime.

A cobblestone road stretched out before and behind us.

"I can't tell which way the town is."

I was about to speak to Mizuki when I realized she was genuinely crying.

"What's wrong? Happy about the kiss?"

"No! I'm frustrated!"

She wiped her tears with a handkerchief and glared at me.

But for some reason, that glare turned to one of confusion.

I, too, felt a sense of oddness about Mizuki's features. She was already pretty, but it felt like she'd been fine-tuned to be even more so.

"Were you always that beautiful? Maybe you were an idol or something?"

I blurted out.

"Wh-what, are you trying to flatter me so you can kiss me again?"

"No way! But I'm ready whenever you are. More importantly, look at your hair color."

She took a lock of her own hair and gasped.

Where her hair had been pure black in Laciel's place, it now had a bluish tint.

"Is it the light?"

"I don't think so. I can't explain it well, but your whole vibe has changed."

"Right? Your hair is almost green, too. When I saw you on the train, I thought you looked like someone I knew, but now... it's like your aura is even closer to his..."

So she'd mistaken me for that guy and accused me of being a pervert.

"Was that guy a habitual groper?"

"N-no, that's not it! That person is, well..."

For some reason, she was incredibly flustered.

"So, he's your boyfriend?"

"No!"

She flared up in anger.

"But, please forgive me for suspecting you. I'll just accept that as my punishment."

"'That'? What's 'that'?"

She meant we should call it even, but I wanted to make her say what I'd done to her.

"I don't want to say it. I've already forgotten."

"After that, I got a slap in retaliation. That's not exactly balanced."

I rubbed my slapped cheek. It felt hot and swollen.

"Ugh, I'll think of something to make it up to you for that."

"A kiss will do. Once you've done it once, doing it again doesn't change anything, right?"

"It's not about the number of times! You're just really not my type! Please, just let me forget!"

As usual, she came at me with words that wounded the soul.

"And besides..."

Mizuki hesitated.

"What is it, got a boyfriend?"

"W-well, not exactly, but there's someone I think I might like. And also, I have..."

She trailed off, looking at me as if for confirmation. I had no memory of it, but was it possible we had some connection in the past?

"What, are you a sugar baby or something?"

"Of course not! Stop with the weird assumptions!"

After that, we started walking, aiming for a town.

Since we didn't know which way to go, we decided to walk until we reached a spot with a clear view.

Mizuki won at rock-paper-scissors and chose the direction.

"Damn that Laciel. She could have sent us somewhere more obvious."

"Maybe it's a good thing it'll take a while to get to town."

"Why's that?"

We were on a road, so it should be fine, but if we got lost and stranded, it didn't seem like anyone would come to help us. The situation was starting to look bad.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hm, sure."

"Before that, is it okay if I call you Mash, old man?"

"Sure. And I'll call you Mizuki-chan."

"Ugh, that's creepy, but just call me by my name. It's shorter, so it's more bearable than with the '-chan'."

"Got it, Mizuki."

When I called her by name as requested, she shuddered. I'm really disliked.

Why do high school girls hate middle-aged men so much?

"My handprint is still on your cheek, Mash. I'd like it to disappear before we find a town."

"Seriously?! It's been hurting this whole time."

It would be nice to run into someone, but we hadn't seen a single soul.

I had a feeling we were heading away from civilization, but I had no proof.

It would be the worst if we had to camp out here.

As we continued walking, I started to sweat.

"It's hot."

I took off my tie. I tried to carelessly shove it into my storage, failed, and dropped it on the road.

"Hey, don't just litter,"

Mizuki said, spotting it keenly and picking it up.

"Hm? Just a little slip-up."

When I tried to snatch the tie from Mizuki, she dodged.

"I'll hold onto it."

"Why? Give it back. It's junk, but it's mine."

"You're just going to throw it away again, aren't you?"

Mizuki tucked it away in her own storage.

As we were bickering, I thought I heard a scream from deep within the bushes off the road.

"Hm, is someone there?"

I strained my ears.

"Help!"

Someone was shouting in the distance. There were screams mixed in, too. I could faintly hear the sounds of a struggle.

"We have to go!"

"Hey, wait!"

I grabbed the arm of Mizuki, who was about to run toward the screams, and stopped her.

Mizuki gave me a reproachful look.

"Are you just going to leave them?"

"That's not it. This isn't Japan. I want to be careful."

"Right. Okay."

"First, get your sword out of storage. Let's try to get close while staying hidden, to a place where we can see what's happening."

Mizuki nodded. The sword Laciel had given us was a small one-handed blade.

Clutching it, we moved toward the sound, hiding behind trees. We had no choice but to push through the underbrush, so we gave up on being completely silent.

The overlapping sounds became clearer.

The thud of blows, beastly cries of 'Gya, gya,' and human groans. I wanted to pretend I hadn't heard anything and just leave.

We reached a position where we could see the scene.

Small, humanoid creatures. They resembled monkeys but had no fur and wore only loincloths. These monsters were swarming a man and a woman, swinging clubs. There were about ten of them.

The woman had fallen, and the man was trying to rescue her. The monsters were mercilessly beating him with their clubs.

"Goblins? Kobolds?"

There was nothing we could do. We didn't know how strong they were, or even how strong we were.

"Let's go."

"Huh?"

Before I could stop her, Mizuki leaped out. She successfully caught one by surprise and cut it down. The monster burst and vanished.

Mizuki bravely lunged at a second one, but her attack was blocked by a club.

Multiple enemies closed in on Mizuki. I charged at one of them.

My sword found its mark, and the enemy vanished with a shriek.

But that didn't turn the tide of battle. Mizuki was on the defensive, pressed by two monsters.

Another one was closing in from behind, raising its club to smash the back of her head.

"Dammit!"

I instinctively rushed to Mizuki's side. I tried to block the club with my sword, but I couldn't stop its momentum.

A dull impact struck my shoulder, and the next thing I knew, I was face down on the ground.

I tried to push myself up, but a sharp pain shot through my shoulder, and I rolled on the ground.

This was a hopeless situation.

"Mizuki! This was a mistake. Run!"

"Super Save...?"

Mizuki muttered, looking down at me.

I thought I saw a blue light in her eyes, but the light blue panties visible from under her skirt were far more dazzling.

Her movements after that were breathtaking.

Though she took a few hits from the group, she dodged every seemingly fatal blow, and every swing of her sword was a definite fatal wound.

As the number of enemies dwindled, the man who had been calling for help rejoined the fight.

By the time the battle was over, I had been lying on the ground, catching glimpses of Mizuki's panties.

"Are you okay?"

Mizuki rushed over to me.

"Worry about yourself. You got hit a few times."

"I'm fine. Nothing hit me squarely."

Enduring the pain in my shoulder, I somehow managed to get up.

As I was groaning, a group of four people, who must have heard the commotion like we did, appeared.

"My name is Reed. I'm the leader of Wind Blade. I'm an adventurer affiliated with the Adventurers Guild in the city of Richel. There have been a lot of incidents with groups of goblins attacking people, so we were on a patrol quest,"

the man in the lead introduced himself. He was young and quite handsome. Wind Blade was apparently the name of their party. It consisted of an adventurer, a warrior, a mage, and a priest.

I wished they had come sooner. I wished they had defeated the goblins before we arrived.

"Here's a potion. Drink it."

At the mage-like woman's urging, I drank the liquid. It was bitter.

The priest-like woman placed her hand on my shoulder and chanted an incantation. The pain in my shoulder disappeared.

"Please help Mizuki, too."

"I'm fine,"

Mizuki hastily declined.

"Hmm. But you have taken some damage. Let me cast a healing spell on you,"

said the priestess. Irrelevant, but she was buxom.

"Ah, thank you."

The man and woman we saved had been gathering medicinal herbs when they were attacked by goblins.

Usually, the area around the city is patrolled by knights and adventurers who deal with monsters, so only weak, solitary monsters appear. A group like this was a rare case, they said.

Both of the people we rescued were seriously injured. The woman was already down when we arrived, and the man who had been fighting collapsed at the end.

The man was able to walk on his own after some healing magic, but the woman's injuries were too severe for potions or magic to handle, and she would need treatment in the city.

That was the assessment of a short, bearded man who arrived after Wind Blade. He was apparently a dwarf.

We all decided to head back to the city. We tagged along.

The dwarf was about to carry the woman, but Reed stopped him.

"Aidan, I know you're an A-rank adventurer. I can't let you do that. I'll have my slave carry her."

"I see,"

Aidan nodded.

"Beers, carry her."

The man who looked like a warrior, called Beers, lifted the woman. Aidan helped him.

We walked in the opposite direction from which we had come.

We walked along the cobblestone road toward the city. Mizuki was already chatting amicably with the members of Wind Blade.

Her communication skills were abnormally high, something I couldn't replicate.

As I wondered why she didn't use those skills on me, she came to my side.

"The mage is Cecily-san, and the priestess is Aira-san. They're both beautiful, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

Mizuki laughed at my half-hearted reply. It seemed she had anticipated my reaction.

"They're both Reed-san's lovers!"

"What did you say?"

I hated Reed for nurturing Aira's breasts.

"The citizens of the city are monogamous, but adventurers are free people, so it's different. Far to the east, there's a Demon Kingdom, and it seems they practice polygamy there."

A wonderful system. But on second thought, it's a system where handsome men get all the beautiful women.

Reed had two beauties with him and even had a slave. It didn't seem like a system designed for me.

"Changing the subject, here's this..."

She handed me something that looked like a small marble. In the center, a white something flickered in the shape of a flame.

"It dropped from the monster Mash defeated. It's a Mana Seed."

It seemed more like a gem than a seed.

"Mana Seeds can raise your stats if you drink them, or they can be used to enchant weapons and armor with magical effects."

"Do you know what stat a goblin's Mana Seed raises?"

"It seems to be fixed for other monsters, but for goblins, it's random."

"I see. It might be a good idea to collect a ton of Mana Seeds and max out my stats."

"They say you'd have to hunt about ten thousand of them for one to drop."

"I see. That's a staggering number. By the time you kill ten thousand, you'd probably be strong enough not to need Mana Seeds."

I laughed. It was a valuable item.

"So, I have a request. Can I have it? I want to keep it as a good luck charm."

"Huh? Are you living in a fantasy land? That's such a waste. It's probably rare, so it'll sell for a high price. Let's sell it and split the money."

"Mmm, well, it's a drop from an enemy you defeated, so if you want to sell it, that's fine. The money can be all yours, Mash."

Mizuki pouted.

It didn't seem like she was planning to keep it for herself and sell it secretly.

"Well, I almost died because you recklessly jumped in, but thanks to you, my life was saved. You should keep it, Mizuki."

I handed the Mana Seed back to Mizuki.

"That's a bit of a backhanded way of putting it, but I'll cherish it. Thank you, Mash."

"So, about the fight earlier, do you remember the special skills I got?"

"The 'Large-Scale Retail Store Act' or something?"

"I get that you're trying to be funny with that lame joke."

According to Mizuki, the skill called Super Save allows her to evade a fatal blow aimed at herself.

And Super Kill is a skill that gives her a chance to deal a fatal blow to an enemy.

When either of them activates, Super Expansion activates, improving the evasion ability of Super Save and increasing the probability of Super Kill.

And every time Super Save or Super Kill activates, Super Expansion infinitely improves the skills' abilities. The ability to simply evade a fatal blow also comes to handle evasion of normal attacks, and the probability of defeating an enemy in one blow also increases.

The skills are used regardless of Mizuki's base abilities.

That chain of skills is what crushed the group of goblins.

"So, you're saying that even if I hadn't helped, Super Save would have activated, and you could have wiped out the goblins on your own?"

It was so invincible it was laughable. The ability Laciel gave Mizuki was just too cheat-like.

"I think I would have been in trouble if you hadn't helped. It seemed like Super Save activated when you came to my rescue."

Even without my help, Super Save's ability would have protected her in some other way. Though, she was being overwhelmed by attacks, so it would have been a difficult situation.

"I see. But you probably shouldn't tell anyone about your skills or the fact that you're a transmigrator."

"Mmm, why not?"

"I want to explain, but I can't put it into words well. If something happens, you'll learn the hard way and regret it."

If Mizuki's power is the greatest in this world, she can just keep wielding it.

But there is a Demon Lord. There must be other transmigrators who were given power like us.

Plus, with Mizuki's reckless personality, she'll end up using her power constantly.

It's plain to see that she'll face a greater backlash of power.

"I kind of thought the same thing you're saying, Mash. I'll be careful."

She's so obedient. That's scary in its own way.