Meanwhile, aboard the [Fraxinus].
“Commander! We’ve detected a spirit!”
“Put it on screen!”
“Confirmed: a new spirit has appeared!”
“What is that? A knight?”
The newly manifested spirit was clad in knight’s armor. Then, without warning, the spirit—who had been standing perfectly still—suddenly flopped face-first onto the floor.
“The spirit is exhibiting strange behavior!”
“Zoom in!”
[Fuck! This isn’t right!!! Send me home!!! I want to go back!!! Fuck, I just want to go home!!!]
The zoomed-in feed revealed the spirit lying there, whining and throwing a full-blown tantrum.
“······.”
The commander and the rest of the crew stared at the screen in dead silence.
*
While I was still having a meltdown in the pit I’d fallen into, a group of strange women flew toward me.
“Confirmed: the new spirit has manifested! Commence extermination!”
At one woman’s shout, missiles came screaming toward me.
Huh? Missiles? So this really was the modern world! Yes!
Kaboom!
“It’s still alive!”
The missiles rained down on me, but I managed to endure the blast thanks to [Separation], which I had activated beforehand.
“I’m a person! Hey, ladies over there! Where is this place?!”
I greeted them cheerfully, thrilled to see people from the real world for the first time in ages. However, one of them stepped forward and suddenly swung a sword at me.
“Eek! What are you doing?!”
“Don’t pretend to be human, you spirit.”
What the hell is a spirit?
“I’m not a spirit!!!”
“Liar!”
Despite my protests, the white-haired woman continued to slash at me, insisting I was a spirit. And whenever she paused her assault, the other women in the distance kept firing missiles.
Damn it! These people are insane! How am I a spirit? I’m just a normal person!
Dodging as many attacks as I could by rolling, I started searching through my available abilities for something usable.
“Captain! That guy’s only rolling, and our attacks aren’t landing!”
“No choice! Everyone, switch to melee and follow Tobiichi!”
At the captain’s order, all the women charged at me with their swords drawn.
By the way, why are their clothes like that?
As I kept rolling and using quicksteps, I caught a glimpse of the women’s outfits. They were...
...insanely cool. What is this, some kind of sci-fi gear? And here I am wearing weird medieval armor.
Honestly, I was jealous. I’d gone through all that hell just to make it back, and now I was being attacked by women wearing gear straight out of a futuristic movie. At least give me something that cool.
“Eek!”
While I was wasting time daydreaming, one woman’s sword grazed my earlobe.
“Got it!”
I couldn’t use my heavier attacks because I didn't want to kill them, so I used a miracle I'd acquired. I cast [Force].
Boom!
With a sharp, explosive sound, a burst of light erupted around me.
“Agh! My eyes!”
“My eyes! I can't see!”
The women, who had been attacking me from point-blank range, clutched their eyes and rolled on the ground in agony.
Yes! [Force]! I knew I could count on you!
Taking the opportunity, I tried to bolt.
“You’re not getting away!”
The white-haired woman suddenly appeared in front of me and sliced across my throat.
Sshhk!
My neck was severed far too easily. My head rolled across the ground, and my body stood frozen for a moment before collapsing forward with a dull thud.
Wow, I can’t even feel pain anymore.
I felt the sensation of the cut, but there was no actual pain. Well, I knew I was going to come back to life anyway, so whether it hurt or not didn’t really matter.
“C-Captain! We exterminated the spirit!”
“G-Good! Tobiichi! You did great!”
The women, slowly recovering from the blinding light of [Force], saw my severed head and began cheering, hugging each other in victory.
No, I’m not a spirit.
Why do they keep calling me a spirit?
After confirming my death, the group departed, leaving me abandoned in the forest.
“Ugh! Man, I’m stiff.”
After a short while, my body dissolved into ash, which then coalesced to reform my physical self.
“Ugh, what the hell was with those crazy people?”
They’d suddenly appeared, labeled me a spirit, and beheaded me without asking a single question. I was already pissed that I couldn’t go home, and now I’d had an even worse experience on top of that.
“Haah... How am I supposed to survive from here on out?”
For now, I figured I had to get out of the woods, so I started walking aimlessly. It took a few hours, but eventually, I found my way out.
“What the hell? It was just a park?”
The area I’d been in was simply the interior of a fairly large park. I really was a hopeless idiot when it came to directions.
Having learned something new about myself, I headed toward the nearby city.
“Mom! Look at that! It’s armor!”
A child passing by pointed at me, her eyes wide with wonder.
“Hello there, little miss.”
I greeted the child cheerfully.
“Wow! Mister, are you a knight?”
“Guhk!”
I was still in my early twenties, for crying out loud! Calling me "mister"? It must have been because my helmet made my voice echo weirdly, making me sound older.
“Ahem. Yes, I’m a knight. I protect people.”
“Wow! That’s amazing! Mom! Mom! Take a picture of me!”
The child’s mother looked a little flustered. It was understandable; some weird guy in full knight armor had suddenly started talking to her daughter.
“Haha... Is it okay if I take a picture?”
“Yes. Of course.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the mother asked for my permission. I was more than happy to comply; it was a child's request, so there was no reason to refuse.
“There we go. How is it, little miss?”
“Wow! It’s high! So high! Knight mister is super strong!”
I lifted the child onto my forearm for the photo. Afterward, the girl looked at the picture with joy, and her mother thanked me.
“You must be tired. Thank you for your kindness.”
“Not at all. I’m just glad to see the child happy.”
When I first arrived, I was attacked immediately, which made me wonder if everyone here was as aggressive as the inhabitants of the [Dark Souls 3] world. Thankfully, they weren’t. Besides, seeing the kid's happiness was rewarding in its own way.
“Ah, little miss. Come over here for a second.”
I called the child over and placed an item in her hand.
“This is a gift for you.”
“Wow! It’s pretty! Thank you, knight mister!”
“Oh my... Is it a ring made of grass?”
The item I gave her was the [Ring of Favor and Protection], a ring that increases stamina recovery speed when equipped.
“You’re really quite skilled.”
“Haha, it’s nothing special.”
“Mister! Put it on for me!”
“Of course, little miss.”
I knelt on one knee and held out my hand like a knight from a comic book. The child placed her hand in mine as if she were a princess or a young lady from a noble family.
“There, all done. How do you like it?”
“Yes! Mom! Look! Isn’t it pretty!”
The child showed off the ring to her mother, her eyes sparkling.
“This... I don’t know what to say, receiving a gift like this...”
Even though it looked like a simple ring of grass, the mother seemed genuinely touched. That alone told me she was a kind person.
“Ah, by the way, do you happen to know where this is?”
“Huh? You don’t know where you are?”
“Embarrassingly, I only arrived here not long ago.”
The mother covered her mouth in surprise.
“I see. This is Tengushi.”
Tengushi? It was a place I had absolutely no knowledge of. The signs around here were in Japanese, but it seemed this was a completely different location that just happened to look similar to where I used to live.
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
“No, I’m the one who should thank you for spending time with my daughter.”
“Haha, you’re making me blush. Well, I should get going now.”
“Bye-bye! Knight mister!”
“Take care.”
“I hope you both have a peaceful day.”
After parting with the mother and daughter, I once again walked wherever my feet took me.
Haah... Where the hell am I supposed to go? No, more than that, how am I supposed to survive?
The road ahead looked bleak. I’d barely managed to reach the ending just so I could go home, only to end up in some strange place. I didn’t even have any money. Seriously, what was I supposed to do?
“Hey! You there, mister!”
“Hm?”
“Yeah! You, knight mister!”
At the sound of someone calling, I turned my head and saw three people who looked like delinquents emerging from an alley between buildings.
“What do you want?”
“Come over here!”
One of the delinquent-looking guys told me to come over, so I complied for the time being.
“Nice, you listened right away! All right, we’ve got a job for you, mister. We’ll be counting on you, okay?”
*
“Oh dear... Thank you kindly.”
“Grandma, you’re way too weak, lol!”
“Guess we have no choice but to carry the luggage for her, lol!”
Heh...
Surprisingly, the three people who looked like delinquents were actually volunteers. They spent their time helping people in need of assistance.
“Mister! You’re strong!”
“Yeah, no wonder you’re just walking around in armor, lol!”
“Haha, I’m flattered.”
“And polite too, lol!”
The reason they’d called me over was that one of their regular members was out with a cold, so they were looking for a temporary helper on the street. I just happened to be passing by. Since I was wearing armor, they figured I’d have the strength to help, so they recruited me.
“There, is that the last one?”
“Yep! That’s the last one!”
“Oh dear, what would I have done... Thank you so much...”
“Grandma, you just need to say thanks, lol!”
“We’re doing this because we want to, so just say thanks, Grandma, lol!”
I really couldn’t get used to their way of talking.
“All right! Mister! Here’s your money!”
“Huh? Am I really allowed to take this?”
“We called you out of nowhere, so this is your reward for helping us! Take it!”
“But...”
“If you refuse, we’ll be the bad guys, lol!”
“Are you trying to make us look bad on purpose, mister, lol!”
“If you put it that way... then yes, thank you.”
I even got paid for helping out. The more I looked at these people, the kinder they seemed despite their appearance. They were the real saints of this age. Anyway, the money I received was 10,000 yen.
These guys have money, so why do they dress like that?
I had no idea why they dressed like delinquents, but for now, I was just grateful. With this much, I should be able to find somewhere to sleep nearby.
“Well, this body doesn’t really need to eat, drink, or sleep, but if I don’t do those things, I’m not really living like a person.”
I could survive without those necessities if I had to, but I still possessed human desires. In the [Dark Souls 3] world, the only thing to consume was basically Estus.
“All right. Let’s look around this area first.”
I sought out the cheapest hotel I could find nearby. For reference, the place I ended up at was a capsule hotel.
Guy got take out while being max level? He should be ashamed of himself. I like how they couldn't hit him while he was rolling. Must have been the invincibility frames.