Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 96
“First of all, thank you so much for saving me. I missed the right moment to say it before. Truly… if you all hadn’t come, I would have died.”
“You’re welcome… I guess? Honestly, I just got caught up in everything. Unlike the folks from Killcrawler.”
“Even so. You saved me, truly.”
It didn’t feel like she called me out here just to say thanks. There had to be a main reason.
As usual, she was cloaked in a robe, her hood pulled deep over her head, hiding her appearance as much as possible.
Maybe that was also why we had come to a place away from prying eyes?
“…Shizuma-san, could it be that you’re from the same clan as me?”
“Huh?”
“If not, that’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“…Is this about my hair and eye color?”
“…Yes. I see black hair occasionally. But eyes close to black are rare.”
“I see… I’m actually from a very—very—faraway place.”
There probably are people in this world who resemble Asians.
If I had to guess, maybe they live somewhere at the far western edge of the ocean?
That’s just speculation based on what I’ve seen and heard so far.
“I see.”
“Your hair’s black too, Verjus-san? Is that why you hide it?”
“…Yes.”
As she answered, Verjus removed her hood.
It was the first time I saw her hair—it was, just like mine, jet black, long, glossy, and perfectly straight.
From my perspective, there was no reason to hide it at all. It was beautiful.
“…Actually, I’m more hiding my eyes. I don’t really want people to see them.”
She took off her hood, but then quickly covered her face with her hand, hiding it from view.
Now I was even more curious!
And… there’s also what I saw using [Observation Eye].
“I see. So black eyes are something you need to hide? I didn’t know. Maybe I should be more careful too.”
At least, I don’t think anyone’s looked at me strangely because of it… other than thinking I look younger than everyone around me.
“You’ll probably be fine. I brought it upon myself, to some extent. I just wanted to know if you had any connection to my clan. Sorry for taking your time.”
With that, Verjus quickly walked past me and left.
But in that brief glimpse of her profile, I felt like I had seen something—a glimpse of the abyss.
She was beautiful, no doubt. But in the eyes I saw for only a moment, I saw the meaning of the word Abyss.
“…Honestly, she’s got a unique charm. I think it’s a cute character point.”
Really! From a person from Earth, it wouldn’t bother us at all! I mean, her eyes had no reflection whatsoever, pure black. Probably a unique eye structure that doesn’t reflect light.
As I watched her walk away, I muttered to myself.
When I got home, Melt wasn’t back yet.
Well, it was still before four. I’d gotten back earlier than expected.
I immediately started prepping the sauce and vegetables to go with what I’d started calling the “Marumetano” Melt would probably bring back.
Thanks to my increased cooking level, I found myself breezing through the more complex steps way more easily than I had when cooking in Same or Hash.
“Someday I’d like to think up a sterilization spell… they’ve probably already discovered microorganisms in this world.”
From what I’ve heard, even genetics is a field of study here, so microscopes might exist too.
Seriously though, the whole “I want to eat raw eggs” problem is bound to happen in any isekai scenario.
“Alright… Hollandaise sauce complete! It’s basically fancy mayo, right?”
Since I used a hot-water bath to pasteurize the ingredients, you could call it a safer kind of mayonnaise.
Now I just had to wait for Melt to get home.
I took off my apron, walked to the sunroom, checked to make sure no one was nearby, and let myself relax.
“…Yeah, my mental state has definitely changed a little. What was I even thinking during the dungeon accident?”
I felt bad for Verjus, but when I thought about the two students who died… the first feeling that came to mind was “they had it coming.”
It was that guy. The one I knocked out with the flat of my sword. That day, there were three students in the seminar.
One was knocked unconscious, so he didn’t hear the full explanation.
So in a way, I’m indirectly involved in the incident too. I understand that.
Even so, I thought, So what?
I’ve gained power, and I might be straying a bit from the path of humanity. But… I don’t feel the slightest sense of danger about that.
…Besides, Verjus herself explained how they weren’t exactly good people.
“Oh, right. I haven’t checked my status yet.”
I shook off the gloom and decided to check how much I’d grown in one day.
HP: 4711
Strength: 977
Magic: 91
Spirit: 581
Agility: 1214
- [Growth Rate: MAX – Fully Reflected]
- [Blessing of the Silver Fox]
- [Observation Eye]
- [Beginner Enchant Magic]
- [Survival Instinct]
- [High-Speed Movement]
- [Throwing]
- [Gourmet]
- [Rhythm Step]
- [Music Lv3]
- [Cooking Lv4]
- [Crafting Lv1]
- [Sewing Lv1]
- [Swordsmanship Lv6] ← Rank Up
- [Archery Lv1]
- [Hunter’s Wisdom Lv1]
- [Scholar’s Wisdom Lv1]
- [Thief’s Wisdom Lv1]
- [Swordsman’s Wisdom Lv4] ← Rank Up
- [Warrior’s Wisdom Lv7] ← Rank Up
- [Mercenary’s Wisdom Lv2]
- [Dance Wisdom Lv4] ← Rank Up
I had grown a lot.
Defeating a wide variety of monsters must be a key factor in growth.
And the abilities that increase depend on what kind of actions you take… the sprinting and flying kicks I used, the warrior-style combat—I could feel how those had directly contributed to my growth.
“At this rate, maybe in three more days… I’ll be fighting those guys.”
Have I surpassed them yet?
When I face them… will I be able to capture them without hesitation? Or even… be prepared to kill them, if necessary?
I have to make myself as strong as possible in the next three days—no matter what decision I end up making.
After I finished cooking, I waited for Melt in the sunroom.
I passed the time by fiddling with the piano, but at [Music Lv3], I couldn’t play anything too complex.
Still… I ended up playing the school anthem from my old high school.
It felt like a ritual. Something to steel my resolve.
“…Huh? Is that Melt?”
Just then, a glowing dot appeared on the window of the sunroom, still open, and rapidly approached the house.
I headed to the entrance to greet her—
“I’m home!”
“Welcome back, Melt.”
“You were actually home today!”
“Of course! And… this smell. You bought it, didn’t you?”
“Of course! I bought two each!”
“Hmm… well, alright! I’ve already got the veggies, bread, and sauce all ready.”
“Yay~!”
I realized… if anything tried to take this life from me—the life I now live with Melt—I probably wouldn’t show any mercy.
That thought settled quietly in my mind.
“By the way, how did things go with the guild chairman?”
“Ah… yeah, about that…”
Melt began to speak, her expression a little sad.
“We’re still departing tomorrow, as planned… so in the end, I accepted the request.”
“I see. You don’t have to look so down about it, Melt. It’s for your rank-up, right?”
“But… you’re about to face a huge battle soon, right? I heard as much from the Queen. And at a time like this, I’m not even in the city. I wondered if that’s really okay…”
“Melt, a battle isn’t guaranteed to happen. At best, my presence as someone they recognize is just to help prevent resistance and increase the chance for dialogue.”
“That’s a lie. Honestly, I believe there’s a high chance this will turn into a fight.”
“But there’s no need to plant such seeds of worry in my family.”
“Part of this is also about my own personal satisfaction, after all.”
“It’s fine, Melt. Honestly, I’m more worried about you going alone on a guard mission where bandits might show up. Don’t they have anyone else assigned to go with you?”
“Actually, on the day itself, Letty-chan from the Glory Knights will be coming with me! There’s a blacksmith she knows in the town we’re heading to. He’s going to make my light armor, so she’ll be tagging along to handle that as well!”
“Oh, in that case, I’m relieved. She’s probably a veteran, right?”
Maintaining public safety is probably part of the Glory Knights’ role too.
The merchant association likely arranged for them in advance.
Maybe they even had Melt go along just to make it easier for Letty to accept the request.
Melt and Letty seem to be pretty close friends, after all.
“…Are you really not going to fight? Shizuma, do you really think you’ll be able to avoid fighting those people?”
At that moment, Melt stared at me with honest, piercing eyes.
Clear blue eyes, sharp and perceptive, as if they could see straight through me.
I realized then—I wasn’t grown-up enough to lie to eyes like those.
“…You got me. Yeah, I think there’s a good chance we’ll end up fighting. Honestly, I doubt they even see me as an equal. I’m not sure I’ll even be able to talk to them properly.”
“Then I should come too—”
“But! …Even so, I want to face this myself, Melt. I want to end things—with my own will, with the comrades I once broke away from. If they’re a threat to this country, I want to be the one to remove that threat with my own hands.”
“…I see. Then all I can say is, ‘Good luck.’”
“Yeah. I’ll give it my all.”
“Shizuma, you really have gotten stronger, huh?”
“I probably wouldn’t lose to you in arm wrestling now, you know?”
“What? No way!”
Melt giggled, her usual cheeky grin appearing.
She set her half-eaten Marumetano burger on the plate and gave me a mischievous look.
“Okay then! Let’s push the plates aside and settle this with an arm wrestle!”
“Oh? I’ve seriously gotten stronger today, you know?”
“No way! There’s no way someone changes that much in just one day!”
Heh heh heh, is that so? Well, I am a hero candidate summoned from another world!
…Realistically, I guess my rapid growth isn’t just because of my equipment, but also thanks to the “summoned hero” buff.
On top of that, I’ve inherited the abilities of characters like Silent, which let me defeat monsters I normally couldn’t handle yet, so my growth rate has skyrocketed.
It’s like power-leveling. Exactly the same as in an online game.
I grabbed Melt’s outstretched hand firmly.
A small, delicate hand—but the hand of someone who knows how to fight.
We locked eyes and silently asked how we’d start the match.
“Okay then… Let’s go when the ice in the cola clinks!”
“You’re on!”
Her glass of cola was filled with plenty of ice as usual.
Bubbles clung to the ice and popped one by one, slowly signaling the start.
And then—
“Here I go!”
“Hmph!”
Along with the faint clink of ice, the table creaked.
The pressure on my elbow shot up.
My forearm burned, as if it were swelling with heat.
I held my breath and pushed hard—Melt’s arm tilted just a little.
But when I exhaled even slightly, she regained ground and pushed mine closer to the table.
A back-and-forth struggle—it was almost evenly matched.
But—
I had just eaten, after all.
Melt’s stamina gradually waned, and she couldn’t maintain her full strength.
At last, I gently pushed her hand flat onto the table.
“Victory! I win today! If it were before dinner, I might’ve lost though.”
“Muuu! You have gotten stronger! I’m frustrated, but also kind of relieved! Next time, we fight when I’m hungry!”
“Alright, it’s a promise.”
A small but meaningful victory. A clear sign of growth.
And so, that day, with both satisfaction and determination in my heart, I drifted off to sleep—
Darkness. Nothingness.
Suddenly, light breaks through.
Where the light shines, a large round table appears.
A huge, round table, surrounded by more than twenty chairs.
There’s no information on where this table is or who it’s for.
But… it seems the first person has arrived.
“…This place… So, this is my will, huh?”
The one who appeared was a muscular, savage-looking giant of a man.
His name—
“Ah, you beat me here. Well, you are the first character after all, Silent.”
“Lent, you too. I see… so this is based on the order we were created.”
“Silent” is the very first character Shizuma ever created—and the one he trusts the most.
This place exists not in the real world, but within Shizuma’s mind—like a shared consciousness or inner world.
And now, following Silent, appeared Lent—a tiny elf girl whom Shizuma had only seen once.
“Why do you think our consciousness suddenly became free?”
“Dunno… or maybe I do. Could it be because Shizuma got stronger?”
Silent replied to Lent’s question. And then—
“That’s highly likely. The most significant change in Shizuma’s recent behavior was his sudden growth—particularly the sharp rise in his ‘Mental Strength’ stat. That may have triggered this.”
“You’ve arrived—the third one. Coming from you, that theory holds weight.”
“In my case… should I say ‘Nice to meet you’? For some reason, I seem to only share memories with everyone here.”
“Yeah, that is a strange thing, Sheele.”
The only personality currently fully separated from Shizuma, Sheele, appears.
The round table begins to slowly fill.
At the head sits Silent. Clockwise from him, Lent and Sheele take their seats.
“Yes, Sheele’s theory seems the most plausible. If ‘Mental Strength’ is taken literally, it could mean Shizuma now has enough inner space for our ‘spirits’ to communicate freely.”
“Same, huh? Yeah, hearing that from you makes it more convincing. You were always the most in sync with Shizuma’s consciousness.”
“True. We’re close in age, and I can relate to him in many ways.”
Another young man appears and sits next to Sheele.
“Technically, most characters have appeared before Shizuma at least once. But maybe only those who stayed in their roles long enough can appear here.”
“Ehh? Then isn’t it weird that I’m here? I was only there for a moment!”
Lent objects to Same’s theory.
Indeed, Lent was only used by Shizuma for a brief moment.
“Perhaps it’s based on the will of the personalities themselves… If we go in order, then after Same—”
“Yes, as you’ve guessed, I’m next.”
Following Sheele’s words, a gentle-looking man steps out from the darkness.
With theatrical flair, as though on a stage, he walks up and takes his seat.
“My, my—Sheele-san, you are truly beautiful. And so wise. They say the heavens don’t grant two gifts, but it seems you are the exception.”
“…Hash, your overbearing nature seems to have caused Shizuma some trouble.”
“Oh no, I simply wished to share with him a love for peace of mind and music. Truly, such calm is exactly what he needs right now, especially given how tense he’s become.”
Hash’s face grows solemn as he ends his sentence.
The others mirror his seriousness with composed expressions.
“But that’s precisely why he now seeks emotional support, to live alongside those he can trust—and why he’s willing to face the trials ahead, am I wrong?”
A reassuring voice echoes from the shadows.
The one who appears next is Seira.
“Welcome, Seira-san. Please, take the seat next to me.”
“Hmm… Normally, I should skip a seat, right? That means, Hash, the seat to your left is vacant.”
“Kuh… So the one meant to sit next to me is ‘him,’ then.”
“Exactly. Among those of us in support roles, he’s been the most helpful, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Still, perhaps because he hasn’t acted directly yet, he’s unable to appear…”
Hash and Seira share their thoughts about the one meant to sit in the empty seat.
Then, a voice echoes from the darkness.
『Seems that way. I suppose someone like me hasn’t yet grown strong enough to fully manifest here.』
“Oh, I can hear your voice at least. I’d love to have a jam session with the golden tones you strike!”
『Kuahaha! My hammer isn’t a musical instrument, you know. But someday, maybe.』
The group at the round table smiles at the voice from the shadows.
“I see. So, support roles are a step behind us in terms of strength… which may be why they can’t fully manifest in this space yet.”
“Yes, and maybe because their ties to Shizuma are looser, the mental burden of appearing here is too much.”
Sheele and Same’s theory is met with agreement. However—
“But that also means that—even if the connection is weak, as long as they’ve appeared even briefly and possess overwhelming strength—they can come here.”
“Silent, do you have to say such ominous things?”
Lent grumbles.
But the others can’t help swallowing nervously. After all, it’s not impossible.
And then—that possibility becomes reality.
『Yes, yes, exactly! That’s right! I’ve dreamed of the day I could speak face-to-face with all of you! What a magnificent gathering!』
The cheerful yet deranged voice echoing from the darkness sends chills through everyone at the table.
“Y-You…!”
『Oh, no need to worry, Silent. It seems I’m still being tightly restrained by our master. I can’t come there just yet! Not yet, anyway.』
“…We can handle you if it comes to that. And Shizuma is growing stronger. You won’t get a chance to surface. And neither will… those two.”
『Of course, of course! But our dear master is greedy for power. He may one day drown in it and stray far from his path. That’s where I come in! I’ll shoulder his madness in his place! When the time comes, I’ll make my grand entrance! Rest assured, everyone—I revere our master as my divine idol! Now then, that’s all for today’s greetings…』
The voice, dripping with madness, fades into the night.
Those gathered at the round table let out sighs.
“…He’s a hard man to read. I can never tell how much of what he says is serious.”
“But what he said isn’t completely wrong either. I’ve felt it myself—Shizuma is starting to value power more and more. He’s aware of its danger, but he’s still drawn to it. If there’s ever a time when even Silent can’t deal with it—no, shouldn’t deal with it—then Shizuma might not hesitate to become him. But… I still believe in Shizuma. I don’t think he’ll be swallowed by madness and lose his way.”
“Yeah. He’s getting stronger. Stronger than any of us. That’s our master for you. I’m sure he’ll soon take on the trials and settle things with his brethren. That’ll make him even stronger. His heart will grow. He won’t be consumed by the likes of that madman.”
“Silent, you really like Shizuma, huh?”
“Of course. I’m the First, after all. I’ve known him the longest.”
“Ohhh, that’s just a dig at me because I was created early but mostly left unused, isn’t it?!”
Their banter lightens the mood slightly.
Laughter begins to fill the round table within Shizuma’s heart.
Because Shizuma is not alone. He’s never alone.
Even if they can’t always speak, his companions are always there.
The time of trial draws near—