Kays Translations

Side Story: Mika’s Perspective

Because of my older brother, I ended up watching a lot of manga and anime, so the image of a hero I had in my mind was something bright and glittering.

But… the reality of being a hero is an incredibly harsh 3K world—hard, dirty, and dangerous.

Of course, it’s not all bad. Like the protagonist of a story, I was given powerful abilities from the start, and because I’m strong, fighting monsters can even be fun sometimes.

But honestly, it’s just so exhausting and monotonous.

I know it’s because I just reincarnated and still need to get used to fighting. Still, constantly diving into dungeons is really tough.

It’s not like we have anything like Lure or Relemito to escape instantly. Once you enter a dungeon, you’re stuck there for at least three days.

During that time, of course, you can’t take a bath.

If I were holed up in my room for three days without bathing, I could probably endure it. But dungeons are underground, always dusty, and you get dirty dodging or taking hits from monster attacks.

Naturally, you sweat a lot too. Three days without bathing in those conditions… Even for someone as easy going as me, it was way too much to handle.

Even so, because I was being treated like a hero, I kept pushing myself… But when I got an upset stomach in the dungeon, it was the final straw.

I snapped.

Stealing a moment when no one was watching, I ran away. I didn’t even have a destination in mind—I just kept running.

Eventually, I ended up at the place I’d heard about through rumors: the home of the man who had been transported to this world with us, living somewhere rural.

I didn’t want to ask for help from someone who was probably in a worse state than us, but I had nowhere else to go.

As I wandered nervously around in front of the house, feeling guilty, the attendant who had been by his side at the royal castle noticed me and invited me in.

Shortly after, the man himself came to see me. I explained everything in detail.

I thought he might throw me out, but instead, he welcomed me with a smile, even though I had come unannounced.

“Mika-san, I’ll be working in the nearby fields, so please call me if you need anything.”

He was probably being considerate, trying not to leave me alone in my depressed state… but the word “fields” caught my attention.

This place is in the countryside, and since you can’t just buy food here, I figured he must be growing some crops.

The food in this world is terrible, and honestly, that was one of the reasons I felt so demotivated—even outside of battles and dungeons.

But if it’s something grown by this man who came here with us from Japan, maybe it’ll taste good.

That thought alone filled me with hope, and before I knew it, I was getting excited.

“Fields…? What are you growing?”

“I’m cultivating vegetables from this world, such as Crackdraff and Browntarn, and a small number of tomatoes.”

“—T-Tomatoes!? You mean that tomato?”

“Yes, the tomatoes you’re imagining.”

“I want to eat them! Please, let me try one!”

I couldn’t believe it—he was growing tomatoes!

No matter what, I absolutely had to try one!

I knew they must be precious to him, but I couldn’t help pleading.

“Of course, I don’t mind. Would you like to come with me?”

“Thank you, Uncle! I’ll come with you!”

He agreed without a second thought.

I felt bad for judging him earlier—thinking he was probably in a miserable state and looked like he had no luck in life.

While apologizing in my heart, I followed him to the field.

It had been too dark to see in the early morning, but there really was a field in front of his house, and in the middle of it, glowing under the sunlight, were bright red tomatoes.

I’d never particularly liked or disliked raw tomatoes before, but right now, they looked more radiant than rubies to me.

“Those are real tomatoes! …Can I eat one?”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“Uncle, thank you so much. I’ll dig in!”

After thanking him properly, I plucked a tomato from the vine and bit into it without hesitation.

—Delicious! There’s no strange smell or bitterness, just the fresh, pure taste of a tomato.

I never imagined there’d come a day when eating a tomato would move me to tears.

As I wiped away the tears that had started to fall, I kept devouring the tomato.

In the end, I ate four tomatoes in total.

But instead of getting angry, he just smiled and watched over me.

When he accepted me into his home so suddenly… no, even on the day we first arrived in this world and he immediately showed concern for us, I’d already realized it.

This man is genuinely kind.

The mere fact that there was someone willing to accept me after I had run away made the heavy feelings I’d been carrying since that morning suddenly lighten.

I wanted to do something to repay the uncle who helped me.

Driven by this impulse, I looked around and… noticed a slime had invaded the field.

“I’d like to do something to thank you… Oh, there’s a slime in the field! I’ll take it out—”

“Stop! That slime is my familiar.”

“Fam…iliar? So it’s like your pet?”

“Something like that. It’s quite endearing since it’s grown attached to me.”

“Raising tomatoes and keeping a slime as a pet… Who are you?”

“I’m just an ordinary guy who got caught up in an otherworldly reincarnation.”

I had thought about defeating the slime as a way of saying thanks, but it turned out to be his pet.

As far as I knew, he was supposed to be just a regular guy dragged into this world without any special powers… but it’s clear he’s not exactly normal.

Still, I guess that slime isn’t a bad one.

Ever since coming to this world, I’ve seen all monsters as enemies, but seeing a slime that doesn’t attack anyone is kind of cute.

Afterward, the uncle let me touch the slime, and I played with it, hugging its cool, squishy, jiggly body.

…Yeah. It’s actually pretty adorable.

“Hey, can I try giving it some stuff?”

“Sure. As long as Lime doesn’t mind, it’s fine.”

With his permission, I decided to give Lime different things to see what would happen.

While the uncle went back to his farm work, I rummaged through my bag and randomly gave Lime whatever I had.

It seemed like Lime could eat just about anything, devouring everything I offered without leaving a trace.

Watching it eat was oddly fascinating, and I started to think that I’d like to keep a slime of my own. But just then, Lime’s body suddenly started to glow.

“Hey, Uncle! Lime’s acting weird!”

I immediately called for him, and together we watched Lime. The glowing subsided quickly, but its body had turned darker, and the core at its center had changed shape.

Even the uncle didn’t know what caused it, so he told me not to feed Lime anything else for the time being.

Lime, unaware of the situation, clung to my leg as if begging for more. But no matter how cute it was, I couldn’t feed it again.

Apologizing to Lime, I decided to play a different game with it instead.

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