Day 17 – In front of the cave.
We already ate breakfast, so it’s time for departure.
「Well then, we will be taking a shortcut through the forest, so make sure to arm yourself?」
「「「Yeeeeah.」」」
Everyone is in such high spirits since the morning, did they eat some bad mushroom? That’s why I said so many times to have fish……
The forest is filled mostly with gobs, and kobolds, no orcs. At this rate, we should be able to travel at a good speed.
Perhaps everyone became faster with the rise in Lv, but even fighting we are going pretty quick. Did everyone get more stamina?
Which reminds me, in the cave they were showing off their stomachs before each other. Like, look how thinner I got, look how toned I got. I wish they would be more aware of high school boys nearby.
Before noon we already crossed the point where we turned back yesterday. We should be able to cover a considerable distance like this.
For lunch, we munched on portable provisions, namely dried mushrooms, while walking. Though it’s dull, we still have a long road ahead of us. I wonder if the geeks reached the place. If they decided to settle somewhere along the way, we might accidentally slay them.
I keep checking surroundings for food with Appraisal, but there is nothing but herbs. And almost all of them are poison remedy, is this a flag? Let’s collect, just in case.
There is an antidote, but no poison, isn’t this strange? If this is not a flag, then it’s just a weed.
Surveying the surroundings with Farsight, the forest stretches as far as I can see, all of the presences around belong to kobolds, and the only thing we can pick up here are antidote herbs…… The tension from the morning is about to expire too. Time for a rest.
「Let’s rest. Juice, juice, very cheap!」
「Hey, buddy, one juice, I’ll pay with my body.」
「No, thank you, just have it for free.」
「Looks like…… I’m not…… Worth even one cup of juice……?」
Nudist Girl began drawing circles on the ground. I’d like to do the same, in the end, I didn’t have time to create a cellar……
「Haruka-kun, please don’t corner Fukunuki-san any further, she is on a verge of losing it.」
Eh? Why is it always my fault? Even though I’m just giving away juice? Is this a form of psychological warfare? Mental abuse?
「We came quite far, but we definitely will have to camp for the night. Riverside? It’s a bit far, but there is a sandbank?」
I can barely pick it up with Farsight, so it should be pretty far. However, if the monsters are really avoiding the water, then it should be a safe location.
Should I scout ahead? I do have something I’d like to test after all.
「You should be able to handle what awaits in the woods, so I’ll scout ahead? Or something like that?」
「If only you didn’t phrase it like a question…… Can I come with you?」
「No, please stay here, president. I’ll just take a look, so I will be fine alone.」
Having said that I separate from the leading party. While running, I buff myself by enveloping the body with Mana Wrapping, after which, I dash. For now, everything is just as usual. Then, I make my body lighter by using weight magic…… Woow…… This is pretty effective.
Even lighter…… Lighter…… Lighter……
I run downstream, following the river. I tried to dash through the forest, but it’s impossible. At this speed, trees keep coming at me at a scary speed. And there are a ton of them. Not possible.
The riverside has little obstacles, and though the footing is bad, I can leap ahead, due to reduced body weight.
Can I actually fly with this? I’m light and fast. If I take an approach run, shouldn’t it work? Probably need a straight path for that?…… Oh, the path ahead is a straight line!
「I’m sure I will be able to fly, I…… CAN…… Fuuuu…… Laaaaay…… WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAA!!!」
Rather than flying, it’s more like a super speed super long-range Air Walk? To think I’d experience being a bullet…… You never know what awaits you in life. It might be even more unusual than getting summoned to another world.
The river and the forest keep shrinking under me…… Exit, found…… The forest ends…… I tried to take a look at the other side of the forest, and turns out, using Farsight was a mistake……
Flying high up into the air at a high speed, with an incredible air resistance…… Losing balance…… Means crashing.
「GYAAAAAAaaaaAaAAaAAAAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA」(CRASH!! THUD! DUMB!)
I fell. Hp is below half. Looks like the sky is more dangerous than monsters. And not paying attention is even more dangerous. And what was the last sound? Is the ground making fun of me?
Shooting into the sky like a projectile and then plunging into the forest with a tailspin, it hurt pretty bad but was also fun. I’m glad that I wrapped myself in mana.
I got a good grasp of terrain by looking from above. Our path is curving to the right. It would be better if we take a shortcut by going straight through. Let’s report it back.
「I’m back, if we keep going, we should be able to leave the forest by night.」
「Eh? You scouted so far ahead?」
「No, I got launched and checked from above? Kind of?」
「Haruka-kun, your「Report・Inform・Consult」skill is totally not working! Why do you go to scout ahead and get launched?! Do you have Reconnaissance Satellite skill or something?! Why are you so trashed from scouting?!」
Well, I’m a loner, so I had no one to Report, no one to Inform, and no one to Consult, so the level didn’t rise.
「Well, you see, I was wondering if I can fly, but rather than flying, it turned more into being shot up into the sky…… And I fell? Or more like, crashed?」
Even so, an untearable cloak? and clothes? They are so durable that I’m beginning to question what is a cloth? They were fine even after a kobold bit into them. No matter how much dirt or blood gets on them, wash them with water, and they are just as new. Just what Villager A-san was doing in the village?
Changing our course quite hard to the right, we move through the very depths of the forest. It’s a shortcut, but we have to be careful, after all, there still might be unknown monsters.
With each party taking turns to walk in the vanguard we slay monsters. When the next party catches up with the advancing party, they change places, as a result, speed doesn’t drop that much.
As expected, the president’s planning, leadership, and analyzing abilities appear to be quite high. Could it be that her sexual abilities are just as high? With High Sexual Vigor and Insatiable Libido they should… No, I didn’t think of anything weird… The weather is so nice today… I’mnotlying?
It’s dark already, before long it will be midnight, there are fewer and fewer trees around, soon enough we should be able to get out of the forest, but once we do that, there won’t be anything to provide us with cover anymore…… I guess we should make a camp somewhere around here. The river is also nearby.
「Let’s stop for the night. Okay?」
「「「「Yaaay! Agreed.」」」」
Looks like they are pretty tired. Let’s put up the tent. Okay, done.
For some reason, I’m getting intense stares. It seems they have some kind of a problem with a tent, or rather, an air dome, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Though I also have a problem with them glaring at me each time I do anything?
「No, I just have to say 『Open』for it to be set up. Look, 20 people can easily fit inside.」
Creating a simple bath near the river I put up a partition screen around it. After heating the water I immediately run away. The reason being, even if Nudist Girl strips in front of me, it’s likely I am the one who will be scolded. Did I get 「Hated person」among my titles?
Antidote herbs are all that I managed to gather today, and they can’t be used as a food ingredient. An all you can eat buffet of mushroom salad. The only flavor available is salt, please bear with it.
The girls are taking baths in turns, eating dinner, and rolling around in the tent.
It bothers the president if I work too much, so I sit down and pretend like I’m resting. Meanwhile, I put my hand on the ground and sneakily created a fence and a ditch around the camp. Speaking of which, the geeks were doing something similar, didn’t they?
What’s left? Ah, yeah, pitfalls. Let’s dig some. I wonder if I can make magic traps?
We don’t need to post a night watch. The tent has a monster repelling feature, and I also can use Search and Detect Presence while I sleep. Until now I managed to spot the geeks, gobs, and the idiots with it.
But for the girls, it will be good practice and is also something that will become necessary later.
I thought that we were going to have 5 groups, 4 made up of girls and the 5th consisting of me. But for some reason, we have 4 groups, with me joining the girls.
The tents smell of trouble and the weather is good, so I will sleep in a sleeping bag. The effects of hikikomori should also protect me.
Which reminds me. Light rain occurred 2 or 3 times at night, but no actual rain-like rain? Is it a dry season?
I have a night watch, so let’s sleep already…… I wonder how others can tell time?
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「Haruka-kun, please wake up, it’s your turn.」
I was already awake due to Detect Presence, but to keep the tension, I decided it would be better to keep it secret.
「Yeah, I’m getting up…… In afterlife?」
「Just how long do you want to sleep? Is this life not enough for you?!」
As I got out of the shelter while speaking nonsense, the meathead girls, the big four of women sports clubs, were waiting outside. I wonder who is the weakest one among them.[1. TL Note: Reference to that cliché, “You defeated XX, but he was the weakest one among us!”] Probably Nudist Girl.
「Good morning. Well, let’s do our best on night watch!」
「Faah, we just need to stay awake? No patrols?」
「Don’t you dare fall asleep, or I will sleep together with you.」
「I’m sleepy…… Sleepy?…… Sleep?」
「No, if you sleep together, it means that he already fell asleep. And also, DON’t SLEEP!」
The athletic girls happen to be celebrities. Though it’s only to a degree of occasionally appearing in small articles in newspapers, they had a lot of popularity.
Since they are popular, they might even have names. I have no idea though?
Actually thinking about it, they probably had their own troubles in the original world as well.
Nudist Girl is a candidate for the Olympic swimming team.
I’m pretty sure the rhythmic sports gymnastics girl, who for some reason is full of desire to sleep, also was the same. Both seem to be participating in international competitions.
The remaining two are also pretty popular, being on TV and taking silver medals in an National inter-high school competition during their first year of high school.
「Errr? I remember…… Ah! Twin Lightpole of some high school?! 」
Yes, yes, there even was a banner at school. Mmm, I recall seeing it, thank goodness, if I try to put my gray matter to work, then this much is……
「「Who are Twin Lightpoles?! Do you want to say that we have fat legs?! And 『Some high school』?! You forgot the name of your own school?!」」
「Eh? But wasn’t there such a banner sometime earlier?」
「It’s Twin Tower! Isn’t that obvious, that there won’t be Twin Light Poles?」
「If I find a banner saying Twin Light Poles I’d definitely burn it!」
Seems like I was wrong? Looks like my gray matter doesn’t care at all.
「Oh my, being on night watch while surrounded by celebrities, I’m so nervous?」
「「「Some celebrities! You don’t even remember our names!!! Even though we are classmates!!!」」」
「I’m just…… Nudist…… Nudist girl…… nudist……」
Looks like Nudist Girl was pretty hurt. Is it a trauma from the attack by the boys?
「No, look, I saw Nudist Girl on TV…… Eeeh…… That…… Mamma Mia……Pudding…… Of Girls swimming??」
「……Mamma Mia…… Pudding? Must be tasty…… Pudding.」
Hm, the wounds seem to be getting deeper? Is it a trauma from daily battles with monsters?
「Just how do you have to mishear Mermaid Princess for it to become Mamma Mia Pudding?!」
Ah, so I heard it wrong, misheard so to say.
「Ugh, I’m sure you got mine wrong as well.」
「It’s okay, at school, they had posters of Rhythmic Gymnastic Girl…… Febreze… of Corridors Top? right? I saw it one morning.」
「Just who would post Febreze posters in school corridors?!」
「「「It said Fairy Dance on the Gym Floor!! Who the hell was spraying Febreze in the corridor?!」」」
What a troublesome bunch, we are on the night watch, so we have to be quiet. And when I warned them about that, they got mad at me for some reason. So this is the so-called misplaced anger.
While keeping a bonfire I check the surroundings. Neither Detect Presence nor Search show anyone approaching. The Big Four of Athletic Meathead Girls seem to be dissatisfied.
Ah, yeah, the Meathead Girls must have the same level of intelligence as the Meathead Boys. None.
「Would you like juice?」
「「「「Yaaaay!」」」」
In the end, they are of the same species as the idiots or goblins. Easy-peasy.
「Fruit juice. But didn’t you say that there aren’t many fruits around? Is it okay?」
「Yeah, I put the fruits into the water, and for some reason, the flavor kept getting stronger? Even when I tried to water it down, it gradually turned just as strong as before. A mysterious drink.」
「Ooh, another world’s unlimited drink bar!!」
「I will share some with you when we part. Each group will get one bag?」
「Haruka-kun, are you really going back?」
There are some things that you can’t accept even if you understand that they are correct.
I long since noticed that there was something that the girls couldn’t agree with.
But at the same time, they knew what it meant themselves.
「If you were to participate in the international competition as a team, would you include someone in the team who sucks just because you were training together? Wouldn’t that be a disaster for everyone involved?」
No matter how they feel about it, as top athletes they should understand well enough what it means.
They are probably the only ones from our original world, who truly understand what level difference means.
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Finally, our watch was over, and the Uniform Squad of the president came to replace us. I wonder who is the real vice president?
Let’s sleep.
Day 17 – Late at night, camp in the woods, inside the tent, girls assembly.
After ending their watch the athletic girls give their report.
They said that they didn’t have much opportunity to talk with Haruka-kun and that they also wanted to thank him, so we arranged the shift so they will be together, but,
「Sorry, we screwed up, it were us who got persuaded.」
「If he puts it like that…… There is nothing we can say back.」
「In the end, he dragged us into his own pace.」
「We couldn’t say anything…… Even though we had a lot on our minds……」
Looks like it was impossible after all.
Every time Haruka-kun is about to be seriously thanked, he makes a mess out of the conversation. Like a centrifugal machine, he mixes things so hard that they become a completely unrecognizable mess, making one lose not only the thread of conversation but the very idea of what they were talking about. And before one notices, instead of thanking him, they are getting angry at him?!
「So, is there no other choice but find Oda-kun and others and ask for their advice?」
Persuading him seems to be very difficult, after all, he won’t even let us thank him.
Even though everyone is waiting for their turn to thank him…… He is extremely shy.
Day 17 – Over.
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