ch1-ch20 · 016-ch15

Chapter 15

Sai was asked to deliver five hundred small magic stones to renew his license.

He'd decided to collect the stones by hunting goblins on floor eight, but there was no need to rush. Plus, he had a small request, so today he decided to do a commentary-style stream, explaining his fighting techniques as he conquered the floors.

The reason was that the other day, he'd received a DM from the party that had struggled against the large Skeleton Knight on floor five.

The DM contained a report that they'd successfully defeated the Skeleton Knight, along with their thanks.

It also included a problem they were facing.

Apparently, they'd made it to floor six safely, but were struggling against the sheer number of enemies.

Up to around floor five, most monsters just charged in blindly. But from floor six onward, wolves, goblins, kobolds, and other enemies that attacked in groups and used cunning appeared.

Honestly, if they were struggling against even a large Skeleton Knight, they'd definitely get wrecked around floor seven or eight. What happened the other day with Hiyori and Mio was a perfect example.

So he decided to give fighting advice through his stream.

The stream title was "Sai-Style Monster Extermination ~ How to Fight When Taking on Many Enemies Alone ~."

Don't tell him the title's lame, okay.

The old man's naming sense is hopeless.

Naming sense aside, his combat know-how, honed in the other world, was the real deal.

If this know-how could help the next generation, then as someone who'd worked as an instructor at the Adventurer's Guild in the other world, he had no objections.

With that in mind, he fought while explaining.

He finished his conquest a little past evening.

Since he was hunting while lecturing, the number of monsters he'd taken down was low, but he'd still earned a decent amount of magic stones. Good enough.

When he got home after all that, two high school girls were standing in front of his house.

"Old maaan!"

"Hello."

Looking closely, it was Ichijō Hiyori and Kuri Mio.

Maybe because they were both wearing their school uniforms, honestly, he didn't recognize them at first.

Seeing them like this, they really didn't look like adventurers at all.

"Uh, it's good to see you again, right?"

"Yes. Thank you again for your help the other day."

"Oh, and this is a thank-you cake. The recommended one."

"That's very kind of you. Thanks."

He accepted the cake without fuss.

They probably hadn't come all the way to his house just to thank him.

If all they wanted was to say thanks, they could have waited for him at the Adventurer's Guild in Shinjuku — that would have been faster. Guessing as much, Sai decided to invite them in.

"...You've got something to talk about, right. Come in."

Sai's house was renovated, but originally it was a small town factory.

The first floor was a garage-cum-training room, and the second floor was the living space.

With guests, he should probably take them to the living space, but he couldn't exactly bring two young girls into a middle-aged man's solo living quarters.

So they ended up talking in the first-floor garage.

Adventurer gear and tools were scattered all over the place — it was a bit messy — but his guests were fellow adventurers. Even if they were high school girls, they'd forgive him. Probably.

The three of them sat around a table, nibbling on coffee and the thank-you cake as they talked.

Sai had just come back from hunting in Shinjuku Tower, so the sugar from the cake was welcome.

"So, to get straight to it. Is there something you want to talk about?"

When he asked, Mio leaned in eagerly.

"I'd like to ask you about the magic you use, Yamana-san."

"Magic?"

"This."

Mio pulled out her phone.

On the screen was Sai, fighting a Giant Bat.

He'd held part of his magic mid-air, kicked a nearby Giant Rat, and then fired the magic bullet at the Giant Bat.

"It's just ordinary magic bullets... Is there something about it that bothers you?"

"Are you playing dumb?"

"No, no, that's not my intention."

"The other day, after you saved us, I watched your stream archive, Yamana-san. The way you use magic is strange. When you fire a spell, it should fly toward the target immediately after activation, right?"

Sai's mind went "Hmm?"

Obviously, magic bullets were fired to hit a target. But if the enemy caught on just before you fired, or if there was an obstacle in the way, you'd hold off on firing and shoot when the timing was right.

Preparing a magic bullet in advance and firing it at the right moment was "standard technique in the other world."

But that technique he'd thought was standard was, in fact, a highly refined skill.

Mio was asking about precisely that.

"Is it really that rare?"

"At the very least, I've never seen even top-tier mages do anything like that."

Hearing Mio's words, Sai realized his mistake.

He honestly felt he'd messed up.

Earth had only been using magic for less than thirty years. In contrast, the magic Sai used was the culmination of techniques refined over thousands of years in the other world.

Even if the magic bullets themselves were the same, there was a huge gap in the finer details.

The techniques that had been too ordinary in the other world were not ordinary on Earth.

Noticing Sai's grim expression, Mio asked quietly.

"...Does that mean you learned it in another world?"

Sai was surprised by her words.

He'd only told his family about being in the other world. His nephew Asai Kenji seemed to have contact with these two, so he must have been the one who talked.

He didn't know the circumstances that led to him saying it, but Sai decided to take it lightly.

Was it okay, with just two high school girls? Not being honest felt wrong too.

As he was worrying, Hiyori, who'd been listening to their exchange, spoke up proudly.

"It's okay, old man. You're talking about the other world — Kakuriyo, right?"

"Kakuriyo?"

"You learned magic from gods or spirits over there, right? Then we're in the same circle, so don't worry."

Sai was taken aback by Hiyori's words.

Actually, back when he was in the other world, he'd looked into whether there were traces of Japanese or Earth people.

He'd wondered if there were other humans who'd been transported besides himself.

Back in the other world, he'd occasionally come across things he'd vaguely heard about in Japan.

Popular monster names were mostly the same, and races thought to be "Earth fiction" like elves and dwarves actually lived there. The year had twelve months, with thirty-day months and twenty-four-hour days. Of course, there were many differences in the details too, but with this many similarities, he'd thought there might have been transporters in the past.

And hopefully, if he could find a way back to Japan...! He'd dreamed of it.

But back then, he'd gotten absolutely no results.

And now, after returning to Japan, he'd met someone connected to the other world!

Sai was overjoyed.

If she was connected, he could talk as much as he wanted.

"Is that so. So that world is called Kakuriyo over here... Huh. First I've heard of it. Nobody over there knew the name of the world. Oh, about the magic — I learned from all sorts of people, but the reason I can use it as well as I do now is thanks to my partner, an elf."

Sai spoke happily.

He'd been in the other world for nearly thirty years. He probably couldn't go back, but being able to talk about it was genuinely nice.

It was his second home, the place he'd lived for so long.

But Hiyori looked bewildered after hearing his story.

"Elf... Old man, are you sure you weren't tricked by a tanuki or something?"

"No, no, they're really elves. ...C'mon, they show up in manga and games over here too, right? The ones with long ears."

"You're sure a tanuki didn't trick you?"

"Illusion Analysis is a standard skill for adventurers over there. A tanuki would have a different magical wavelength too — I'd see through it right away."

Hearing Sai's words, Hiyori had a "huh?" look on her face, and Mio for her part was asking "What's Illusion Analysis!?"

...He had a feeling they were on very different pages.

"If it wasn't a tanuki, then like, a hermit or a tengu?"

"...I hear hermit sages exist, but I never met one. Never heard of tengu over there, either."

Hearing that, Hiyori frowned in thought.

"Right. What was the place called where you were, old man...?"

"The place I was the longest was a kingdom called Tuare. I was transported there, so."

"Hiyori, you've got a face I've never seen before."

Hiyori's expression was indescribable. Her face was all scrunched up.

Mio, on the other hand, was listening calmly.

"Do you have anything you got from that other world? Ideally something you can only get in the other world."

"Ah, I've got something good for that."

Sai reached into his Item Box and pulled out an item.

It was a necklace with an arrow-deflecting blessing.

"The necklace I'm using now is like this too, but this is an older model with an arrow-deflecting enchantment formula."

Their reactions were dramatic.

"Arrow-deflecting — like the one in myths!? Wait, no, that magic just now — what was that!?"

"Waaah! This doesn't feel like Kakuriyo at all~~~! What IS this...!"

Mio pressed her face close to Sai, while Hiyori clutched her head looking at the necklace.

Seeing their reactions, Sai became certain.

"Calm down, calm down. From your reactions just now, I can tell — Hiyori-san. The Kakuriyo you're talking about? That's different from the other world I went to."

"Yeah... probably so."

Hiyori stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"And Mio-san. What I just showed you is a magic called Item Box. It's magic that stores and retrieves items from another dimension. The capacity depends on your total magical power. The arrow-deflecting blessing is a necklace with an enchantment that makes arrows and long-range attacks like magic bullets miss. I haven't tested it against Earth guns, but for simple physical projectiles, they absolutely won't hit."

Hearing Sai's explanation, both Hiyori and Mio were completely frozen.

They'd never seen magic or items like this before.

As for Sai, he was disappointed too — he'd assumed they were connected to the other world and spoken freely.

"What do I do about this atmosphere..."

The mood became exquisitely awkward, and Sai muttered to himself.

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Thank you for reading.

Today also marks a two-chapter update.

Another update was made at 9 AM as well.

Thank you very much.