Chapter 4: Square 4: The Hero is Late...
I decided to walk around the town for now.
At the very least, it was better than spacing out on the bench.
Weapon shops, magic item stores, specialty magic bookstores.
Shops straight out of a game lined the streets as if it were completely normal.
"Isekai... So this really is another world.
Even though I’m seeing it with my own eyes, it doesn’t feel real."
I picked up a strangely shaped staff displayed in front of a store.
A shape I had never seen, a texture I had never felt.
Yet the price tag clearly used yen as the currency.
The mismatch was so absurd that I couldn’t help but smile.
"...Selling and buying magic staves.
What is this, a secondhand bookstore’s catchphrase?"
While looking up at a sign that gave me a strong sense of déjà vu, a delicious smell of grilled meat drifted in from somewhere in the distance.
I felt like I had smelled this before...
"Ah! ...Kebab!?"
Kebab, Turkish food with shaved meat stuffed into naan-like bread.
Drawn by the nostalgic smell I had often eaten from street stalls, I wandered toward it.
Following the scent, I arrived at a large, bustling plaza.
A nearby sign read "Central Plaza."
A large fountain in the middle created a beautiful rainbow, spreading a fantastical scene.
The smell was coming from beside that fountain.
"Uncle~! Me too!"
"Yes, yes, wait your turn."
At a simple makeshift stall, meat sizzled invitingly.
Children had gathered, probably lured by the delicious aroma just like me.
The food being sold looked more like grilled meat than traditional kebab.
The kids were happily eating it off forks.
"Now that I think about it, I haven’t eaten yet..."
When I looked up, a large clock tower, practically a symbol of the town, towered in the distance.
It was clearly visible from the plaza.
The current time was 11:30.
It was a bit early for lunch, but resisting this smell would be torture for my stomach.
I took out my wallet and joined the line at the stall.
While imagining the taste and watching the meat grill, a sound mixed in with the sizzle of the iron plate reached my ears, a voice that sounded like crying, definitely not normal.
"...Is someone screaming?"
I strained my ears to locate the source.
Moving slightly away from the stall, the sound seemed to be coming from the other side of the fountain.
I couldn’t see what was happening from here.
"...help... please..."
I heard it clearly for a moment.
It was a girl’s voice.
Forgetting all about the meat, I ran toward the sound.
What I saw was a girl crying and screaming while passersby deliberately avoided eye contact and kept walking.
The girl desperately called out to them, but no one stopped.
"Please! There are robbers in my house!
Really... really bad people! Someone, please help!!"
"Little miss, you should tell the guards about that kind of thing..."
"There’s no time!
Please... my little sister... Lily is going to die!"
I had just been brutally murdered by villains.
To me, this girl’s situation couldn’t be ignored.
I had experience reaching out to crying girls before.
...Well, it was usually helping lost kids find their parents.
But this was on a completely different level.
"...Even so, I can’t just abandon her.
If I don’t help now, I’ll definitely regret it later."
I ran over to the girl, grabbed her shoulders, and shouted.
"Where’s the house with the robbers!?"
"Eh?"
"You want to save your sister, right?
Then hurry!"
"Y-Yes! This way!"
The girl shook her black hair wildly and ran with all her might.
I chased after her immediately.
From her running posture, she looked around middle school age.
She had features unusually close to Japanese for this world.
Wearing a white one-piece dress and sandals, a rather casual outfit, she had probably been out nearby or had barely escaped with her life.
Despite how desperately this girl had begged for help, the people around her had just walked past.
"Damn... she’s fast..."
I wasn’t particularly slow, but I was falling behind and couldn’t catch up.
I could only desperately chase her back as it grew more distant.
"There!"
We arrived in a quiet residential area with few people.
The house the girl pointed to was a small, cute single-family home.
But looking closely, there were bloodstains on the window glass.
"Please! Hurry and save my sister!"
"Yeah... wait a second."
I caught my breath, breathing heavily.
In the meantime, I observed the situation as much as I could see.
"The front door is broken, but there are no screams...
...Alright, wait here."
I left the girl there and approached the window while staying low so I wouldn’t be seen from inside.
I quietly took out my smartphone from my bag, started the camera, and recorded the interior without showing my face.
I pulled the phone back, pressed play, and instinctively covered my mouth.
"What the hell is this..."
A woman with her head split open near the table.
A lump of flesh under the sink, probably the father, judging by the size.
When I looked toward the cupboard, I saw a young bound girl lying there.
Blood was flowing from her head, but her abdomen was moving slightly in the video, she was still alive.
As for the criminals, there appeared to be two.
One was a slim man armed with a well-used knife.
The other was an obese man over two meters tall, casually carrying a massive machete on his shoulder.
I really didn’t want to be crushed by that, even if I could come back to life.
"Hey, what are we going to do!?"
"Wait, just wait a sec... ah, no."
It was understandable. Her family was being massacred.
She wasn’t in a state where "wait" would calm her down.
"It’s okay. I’ll do something."
I didn’t have much on me.
The only thing that could even serve as a weapon was the box cutter in my stationery set.
But then again, what else did I have? What could I use to turn this situation around?
It was reckless, but I had no choice. I immediately started preparing.
"Hey~ Haven’t you found her yet~? The guards are gonna come~"
"How am I supposed to know?
If the kid had escaped it’d be different, but she’s right there rolling around."
"Hmm~? Wasn’t there only one kid?"
"I don’t know, you’re the one who tied her up.
Just move your hands already."
"Yeah, but~ if we stay too long~ it’ll get dangerous, you know~?"
"You’re too damn scared.
A fatty like you should just worry about calories."
"That’s mean~ I do watch my weight quite a bit..."
"""Radio Calisthenics Number One!!!"""
The voice rang out at a volume that would disturb the entire neighborhood.
"""Te-te-re, te-te-te-te, te-te-re, te-te-te-te"""
"What the hell is this!? Whose voice is that, damn it!"
"Aniki! Is this an enemy!? Enemy!?"
"Shut up, fatty! You guard the door!!"
"O-Okay~"
After confirming the slim man had gone out the window, I burst into the house through the front entrance.
"Ehh!? Who? Who are you? Enemy!? A... Anikiiii!!"
If the dangerous guys were grouped together, I had to split them up first.
Taking down multiple people alone was something only Superman could do.
An ordinary person like me had neither speed nor power.
Rather than swinging a sword when I couldn’t fight, it was better to use dirty tricks and aim for weaknesses!
"Take this!!"
In my hand was the crystallization of modern science, my smartphone.
At maximum volume through a speaker app, it blasted the sound of thunder!
I flashed the shutter in sync with the thunderclap.
"Hii...! Lightning magic!? Where is it coming from!?"
"Right here, fatass!"
I stabbed the fat man’s crotch as hard as I could with a ballpoint pen!
"Ngyuaaaaaaaaahhh!!"
The fat man let out a beast-like scream, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed.
The blood dripping from the pen tip looked horribly realistic, but I had secured the first victory.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and immediately stopped the thunder sound.
"You never know what’ll come in handy in this world."
It was a collection of nature sounds I had on my phone.
The first half was mostly birdsong, perfect for naps... but who would’ve thought the thunder would be useful.
I looked at my phone, and the radio calisthenics sound finally stopped.
It was supposed to be on repeat, so it shouldn’t have stopped naturally.
I glared hard at the man coming back through the window.
"You set up some stupid trick!
I’ll kill you... Hey, Dapp!?
What the hell did you do to my little brother!?"
The man was holding shattered pieces of a tablet screen.
He must have destroyed the one I had set up outside.
But incapacitating one was enough.
Now it was a battle of how far my bluff would work.
"Too bad, you’re too late.
I already injected him with poison."
I showed him the blood-covered ballpoint pen.
To people from this world, an ordinary ballpoint pen would look like a mysterious object.
Just as I expected, the slim man’s face gradually turned blue.
"...Y-You have an antidote, right!?"
"You can see the clock tower, right?
I hid it somewhere over there.
The poison takes about three hours to fully circulate."
"Somewhere!? Tell me exactly where or I’ll kill you!!"
He looked like a demon.
The roar of a murderer was enough to make my legs go weak no matter how many times I heard it.
But I kept it off my face as much as possible and shouted back threateningly.
"I don’t know either!
This is a self-destruct item I was entrusted with by the organization.
If you don’t believe me, go ahead and torture me.
Your brother will be dead by then."
I had my own pride.
With lives on the line, my lies came with real intensity.
The slim man was completely fooled by that pressure.
"Goddammit goddammit goddammit!!!
Dapp, I’ll save you right now, just wait!!"
The slim man quickly lifted the fat man onto his shoulders and fled through the window.
"...I won?"
It was all a bluff.
Using nothing but lies, I had saved the girl’s family.
Overcome with joy, I almost thrust my fist into the air in triumph.
"Wait... right!"
I rushed over to the little sister I had come to rescue.
Her heart was beating, and she was breathing.
"Good, I’ll untie you now."
I tried to undo the rope binding her hands behind her back, but it was tied very tightly and I couldn’t loosen it with my strength.
I rummaged through my bag for the box cutter... and that’s when I heard it.
"Footsteps?"
Not from outside.
It was a creaking sound, like wood bending, coming from below, from the basement.
"Don’t tell me... a basement!?"
Another enemy.
My spine froze at the possibility I hadn’t anticipated.
"Weapon... no, this won’t work."
I shoved the box cutter back into my bag and looked at the machete lying on the floor.
"Alright, if I can ambush with this... it’s heavy!"
The weapon was heavier than it looked, making it hard just to hold.
Swinging it would probably make me lose balance entirely.
"...What do I do? There’s no time.
Damn, is this all I’ve got?"
A kitchen knife left on the counter.
It was a pathetic weapon, but far better than being unarmed.
At that moment, there was a noise from the door in the back.
There was no time to hide. I simply stood ready with the knife, waiting for the door to open.
What emerged was a woman in a grayish robe.
"Thank you so much. Thanks to you I was sa...."
I pointed the tip of the kitchen knife at the woman.
"Don’t lie."
They had tied up even a small child and beaten her.
There was no way a good-looking woman like her would come out completely unharmed.
"Oh my... So you saw through it?"
The woman’s expression instantly changed into a creepy smile.
However, only her mouth was visible.
Most of her face was hidden under the robe’s hood.
"It’s not good to do acting you’re not used to."
The woman slowly drew out a uniquely curved blade.
Seeing her weapon, I recalled materials from when I had handled a product called "Adventure Sugoroku."
I was pretty sure it was a scimitar-like weapon called a shotel, a rare curved sword with a giant hook shape designed to disable shields.
"Oh my... You’re not going to run after seeing this?"
"Well, if it was a projectile I might have run."
"Really? This might be much scarier than a projectile, you know~"
The woman’s eyes continued to observe me, not missing a single movement.
It was quiet, but I couldn’t let my guard down for even a second.
This type of opponent was the most troublesome.
I couldn’t read her thoughts at all, and my own mind was rapidly tiring.
"By the way, was that thunder from you earlier?
It reached all the way underground, you know~"
"Yeah."
I didn’t give a deep answer, just enough information.
But upon hearing that, the woman’s eyes changed.
"Black hair, black eyes, lightning user.
I had heard rumors before... I see.
That explains how you took down those two so quickly in such a short time."
She was mistaking me for someone else?
I didn’t know who, but from her tone, it seemed she thought I was strong.
"Well... who knows? Want to find out?"
The moment I said it dramatically, the woman took a half-step back.
I might be able to take advantage of this misunderstanding.
"Hey, you... Hm?"
The instant I tried to probe her, the woman vanished from in front of me.
My instincts screamed danger at full volume.
"Shit!!?"
I threw myself forward in a desperate roll across the floor.
The spot where I had just been standing was sliced cleanly through, along with the furniture.
"My my~ You look full of openings but your instincts are sharp."
Because it was a horizontal slash, I would have died if I had dodged left or right.
It wasn’t a calculated move, it was just that the only evasive action I could manage was a forward roll.
This woman wasn’t being cautious.
...She was toying with me.
"You bitch... messing with me."
"Ufufu, are you angry?
But I’m quite shocked you could dodge that."
While saying that, the woman switched her sword to a thrusting grip.
The situation was no longer one where conversation was possible.
How do I dodge? How do I defend?
There was no defensive method that could stand up to a sword that sliced through metal parts of furniture so cleanly.
As anxiety stalled my thinking and dragged me into a quagmire, the woman asked me a question while keeping her stance.
"...Yellow Heart. You’ve heard those words before, haven’t you?"
...Yellow Heart?
A code word? Codename? Slang? Industry term?
There was no way I had an answer for that here.
"Yellow Heart. I won’t let you say you forgot~"
How do I dodge this? How do I buy time?
I have to answer quickly, but... wait, don’t attack!
Wait, stop, stop, stop stop stop stop!
"...Stop."
Extreme tension made the word slip from my desperate mouth.
There was no way this woman would overlook that statement.
"What do you mean by that?"
The situation I was in couldn’t be overcome with a normal answer.
In that case... I’d force my way through with pure momentum!
"You already know, don’t you?"
Of course, there was no deep meaning behind those words.
But this woman seemed to have a habit of overthinking things.
I would use that to make her misunderstand with my words and actions.
"To be honest, if I fought you I wouldn’t get out unscathed either.
I still have things I need to do."
While speaking, I took out a breath spray from my bag.
Making a show of it, I opened the cap and dripped the contents onto the floor.
Of course it meant nothing.
It just made my nose tingle with xylitol scent.
Seeing this full-of-openings scene, the woman quietly lowered her attacking stance.
"...I’ve never seen that magic tool before."
I threw the empty plastic container behind me.
"Come if you want."
I bluffed while internally screaming please don’t come.
All I could do now was shove my hands in my pockets and act like a powerful person.
"You shouldn’t underestimate me~ I’ll kill you now."
To prove those words weren’t a lie, the woman smoothly readied her weapon again.
I might have failed, but it was too late to do anything about it.
Since I had told her to come, I couldn’t back down with my words, and I didn’t think I could escape.
I simply opened my eyes wide and prayed in my heart that the sword would be lowered.
For a brief moment, I thought I saw the woman’s cheek loosen into a smile.
"Ufufu, goodbye."
...I hadn’t blinked, but I didn’t notice the scenery changing so drastically.
Her movement was so fast that it didn’t even give me time to register the change.
What filled my vision was a silver line that vertically split my sight.
"You really don’t value your life, do you..."
The woman’s sword moved away from my face.
Only then did I realize the blade had stopped right in front of my eyes.
"A spell to call allies? A curse that possesses people?
Or perhaps a counter-type magic?
Ufufu, well, whatever.
As tempting as the invitation is, I think I’ll pass on it~"
I simply glared at the woman’s face.
Well, honestly I was too scared to talk back and could only glare.
"I don’t intend to get into a war of attrition here either.
I’ve finished investigating this house, so I have no more business.
Ufufufu, let’s meet again."
With those parting words, the woman ran out the front door.
For a brief moment, I clearly saw her face through a gap in the robe.
A dark-skinned beauty with purple eyes and silver hair.
If we had met under different circumstances, I might have been captivated by her beauty, but right now I felt only terror.
The lingering tension and sense of accomplishment made my face twitch.
"So... did I win?"
The moment I said that, all strength left my body and I collapsed.
After that, the guards the girl had called apparently arrived and caused a huge commotion, but to be honest, I don’t remember much.
Comments