Eternally Regressing in Another World

Chapter 30: Square 24: Reunion at the Run-Down Inn (2)

[Beep beep, 5] [Beep beep, 4]

"Just throw the damn thing!"

"What if it explodes when we touch it!!"

[Beep beep, 3]

"Hey! What about the girl!?"

"Forget her! Let’s bail!"

[Beep beep, 2]

"Mmmph!! Mmmmmph!!!!"

[Beep beep, 1]

"Mmmmmmmmphhhhhhh!!!!"

[Beep beep, say cheese... click!]

A strangely cheerful mechanical voice, completely mismatched with the situation. A flash of light lit up the woman. And then, the sound of footsteps rushing over.

"Can you stand? Let’s get out of here!"

The two of them bolted out of the alley at full speed.

"Haah, haah... glad I made it in time."

"Um, what exactly was that weird bomb thing?"

The woman pointed at the object in my hand, still looking frightened.

"Ah, this is a digital camera, ...though you probably don’t know what that is. Think of it like some kind of noisy toy."

"...I... see."

The woman seemed to relax and sank down right there. But this spot still wasn’t exactly safe.

"You okay? Think you can push a little further?"

"Yes, thank you so much."

"I’ll walk you home, just to be safe."

"Ah, you’ve been so kind about all of this."

...From the outside, this probably looked like a clean rescue. Except if those thugs ever came looking for revenge, I’d probably be the one needing protection instead. Depending how you look at it, princess and bodyguard, except our actual strength was reversed entirely. Not knowing any of that, the woman gripped my clothes tightly with trembling hands. Something that should’ve been a pretty great moment for any guy, except walking around with a beautiful woman clinging to me was only raising my odds of getting targeted. My heart was already pounding out of my chest.

"...Um, is it alright if I get a little closer? I’m still scared."

"Huh? Ah, sure, go ahead."

She moved close enough that our shoulders were nearly touching. I tried to think of some topic to distract her with, but...

"......"

Nothing came to mind. Thinking about it, I didn’t have much experience talking with women to begin with, let alone finding common ground with someone from another world. Once I started worrying about it, the silence started feeling more and more awkward. Anything that could work as a conversation topic?

"Um... did you hear? Apparently they found an oil field in a village up in the northern forest."

"Huh?"

Caught off guard by the sudden topic, I couldn’t respond right away.

"Ah, um, sorry. I just felt like I had to say something..."

"Ah... actually, I was thinking the exact same thing. But oil field, that means petroleum, right?"

"Yes, exactly. Apparently the village sits right between our country and the northern superpower, Canary."

Even in a world of magic, oil was still something people needed, huh. Well, useful things are useful no matter the world. There’s a reason people talk about oil tycoons, the profits from an oil field could easily shake an entire nation. Maybe there’d be some kind of tension with that Canary Kingdom over this down the line.

"But isn’t it awful!? Shouldn’t that belong to the village normally!"

"Huh? Well, I guess that could be true, but..."

"Borders shouldn’t matter! Things like that should belong to whoever found them, that’s what I think!"

The woman was getting surprisingly worked up about this. Maybe she was just an easily invested type of person? While talking about all that, we ended up arriving at her house before I even noticed.

"Thank you so much for today. As a small thank you, would you like to join me for a meal or something?"

"No, I’ve got a kid waiting for me."

Not technically my kid, but I wasn’t exactly lying either.

"In that case..."

In the end, pushed along by her insistence, I ended up receiving a bunch of groceries from her. I told her to avoid going out at night going forward, and she bowed deeply, continuing to wave as I walked away.

"Let’s see, pork, a bit of beef, potatoes, onions, lettuce. Oh, bread, dried meat, cheese, some bottled sauce, and... oh, there’s even mayonnaise! And this water pouch is... milk!"

And sure enough, the vegetables I’d been meaning to buy anyway were included too. I pulled out a plump, glistening red tomato.

"A little misshapen, but looks fresh and big. Probably home grown. Better hurry back."

With this unexpected haul, I headed home in high spirits. Skipping the trip to the store entirely was a genuine stroke of luck.

"No fridge in that place, so I should probably use up whatever won’t keep tonight... man, I’m getting hungry."

Looking over the groceries in the basket, I started planning tonight’s menu. That’s when I suddenly remembered the digital camera still in my pocket.

"Ah, right, hope that thing didn’t break."

Given how far I’d thrown it, the screen might’ve cracked. Well, even if it broke, it only had photo data meant for report documentation on it anyway, so no real loss either way.

"Yeah, just some scuffed paint."

No visible damage to the screen either. Just to be safe, I checked through the data inside, and my hand suddenly froze completely.

"...Th-this is!!"

What was displayed was a photo of the woman from earlier. Taken from an unfortunate angle, catching a clear view underneath her skirt. Combined with her bound body, the gag in her mouth, and her face streaked with tears, it gave off an unmistakably criminal vibe.

"Hm... shame to lose it, but deleting this."

I hesitated for just a moment, but figured I’d regret it with guilt later, so I went through with it. What exactly I hesitated over, I won’t say. Yeah.

After that, I made my way back to the inn safely, sticking to the busier streets. A night that taught me just how life threatening grocery shopping could actually be.

—-

[A/N: I hope everyone’s enjoying the story’s direction. I’m trying my best to make the mc feel as much realistic as possible. Thanks for reading, more to come :D]