episode_0155

155. Alcohol.

“Yohan.”

“Huh?”

*Slurp-*

Yohan looked at her face reflected beyond the liquor glass. It was red. Her eyes were red, her face was red, and her lips were red.

She was just all red.

“Do you want to leave the Tower?”

“Of course.”

Yohan frowned. Why would she ask something like that? Isn’t it obvious?

Then she wore a lonely expression.

“···Really? Even if I go outside, nothing really changes for me. Whether it’s the Tower or outside. It’s the same anyway, I don’t die.”

“······”

Yohan had no choice but to shut his mouth. Sarah is a regressor. It must be twice as hard for her to build relationships than ordinary people.

Because she is a regressor, she apparently faced many unexpected accidental deaths. I couldn’t ask her for details.

‘There is always cause and effect in everything. If the ability to regress is given, you will inevitably encounter death often.’

Is she drunk? She held the liquor glass upside down with her fingers and spun it around.

“I don’t want to return to reality. It’s a little better here. There are fewer deaths than I thought. And······ um.”

She mumbled the last word. Yohan nodded and affirmed her words. Yohan understood her feelings too.

However.

“No matter what happens, I will return to reality.”

“······.”

She was silent. Her expression darkened slightly, as if she didn’t like Yohan’s words.

Yohan continued.

“Even if I return to reality, I will think of you as a friend. So don’t worry.”

“······Is that, possible? What if the ability disappears?”

There was certainly a possibility of that. But if we started questioning things like that, there would be no end.

“I promise. No matter what happens, I will remember you, Sarah.”

Yohan said that and raised his glass. Inside the glass palace, purple waves were surging.

“······Okay.”

She also raised her glass and lightly clinked it against his. And she tilted her head back and poured it coolly into her mouth.

She put the glass down with a *thump* and muttered.

“······It’s a miracle.”

It wasn’t easy to hear.

“Huh?”

“······.”

She didn’t move. Yohan waved his hand in front of her eyes.

Yohan smiled slightly.

“Check, please.”

“Yes.”

Yohan handed over a wad of gold from his pocket. A brilliant smile formed on the bartender’s face.

“Oof.”

Yohan lowered his body and piggybacked her. She was light. Is it because my strength has become stronger that she feels lighter? Or was she originally light?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s both.

“Sell a lot.”

“Thank you for your patronage.”

Yohan headed to the hotel with her on his back. Thanks to her outstanding beauty, some unruly men approached her, targeting the drunken Sarah.

They were full of yang energy. So Yohan personally froze their entire bodies white. It wasn’t difficult.

······Eventually, Yohan arrived at the hotel.

*Beep beep beep-* *Ttiriring!*

They were sharing each other’s room passwords. Yohan skillfully opened the door lock and went inside.

“Hah.”

Yohan carefully laid Sarah down on the bed. He had already used magic on the way to make her clean.

“Ugh······.”

As Yohan’s hand was removed, she frowned and groaned. Is she having a bad dream? Unfortunately, Yohan didn’t know any magic related to dreams.

Yohan held his palm facing upwards. Then a gray pebble appeared on his palm. Yohan sent magical power into the pebble.

*Woo woong-*

The temperature of the pebble gradually rose. The strange thing was that the weight of the pebble was very light, like fluff. Yohan placed the pebble on Sarah’s stomach.

“Uung······.”

Then Sarah’s face became much more comfortable. Yohan smiled slightly and straightened his bent knees.

“Indeed, a person sleeps well when their stomach is warm.”

Yohan muttered the words his grandmother had told him a long time ago and stepped out of the room.

*Sssh*, the sound of the door closing was very faint. It was indeed a luxury hotel. Yohan went straight back to his room.

······Approximately five minutes had passed since Yohan left.

“Ah.”

She slowly opened her eyes. And she rolled her eyes and looked around every corner of the room. Yohan’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

Her clothes were also intact. He did not make any unnecessary touches other than for the purpose of carrying her.

“······Damn it.”

Harsh words flowed from her mouth after quite a long time.

***

The day dawned.

Yohan and Sarah ate a simple breakfast and left the hotel.

Perhaps because it was the day the tournament started, there were particularly many people on the streets.

“Wow, Mommy! Look at that! It’s a bear, a bear!”

“Oh my, you’re right. Be careful, son. If you let go of Mommy’s hand, that bear *mister* will take you away, okay?”

“Gasp.”

A seemingly harmonious fox beastfolk mother and child, groups of ten or more orc male high school students swarming around, and a human male with a sword at his waist.

Various races were walking around the streets. Thanks to that, Yohan’s eyes were entertained. It felt like being in a parallel universe, different from Earth.

“Let’s go that way. Sarah.”

“Okay.”

Yohan’s finger pointed to one place. It was a place with particularly many people. There, figures neatly dressed in white suits were controlling the races.

They shouted, waving red light batons around.

“Residents! This is a place where only tournament participants can enter! Please step back!”

Not as much as Sarah, but Yohan’s superhuman hearing detected the shout. The two men and women headed towards them with unwavering steps.

“Oh, you shouldn’t come······ Oh?”

A rabbit. A rabbit beastfolk wearing a suit widened his eyes as he tried to stop Yohan. At the same time, his long ears stood up straight.

Yohan raised his eyebrows at the unusual reaction.

‘What is it?’

“Oh! Player, please come in!”

The rabbit beastfolk politely bowed his head and extended both arms towards the entrance path. Yohan asked with a reluctant face.

“······How did you know? That I’m a player?”

“Ah, it’s nothing! The Chairman gave us this!”

The rabbit beastfolk flicked the light baton. Before he knew it, the color of the light baton had changed. From red to blue.

‘An artifact of some kind that detects players.’

Yohan focused on the word Chairman among the words spoken by the rabbit beastfolk.

“Chairman······. Are you talking about the administrator?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Do you know that person well?”

“Well. I’m just an employee, so I don’t know well······.”

Yohan nodded. He didn’t expect much anyway.

Either way.

‘I’ll be able to meet him soon.’

Yohan took the steps he had stopped.

***

Yohan and Sarah continued to walk forward. Perhaps because the destination was located underground, the path was not flat.

‘I think we’ve come down quite a bit.’

How much time had passed? Suddenly, Sarah opened her mouth.

“Yohan.”

“Yeah.”

“There are people gathered ahead. We’ll encounter them soon.”

“How many are there?”

Sarah frowned. Her ears perked up, and her small nostrils flared.

“Approximately······ 50? There are about that many.”

“Not many.”

Before long, Yohan also sensed them. It was a distance that Yohan’s five senses could not reach. However, his magic was different.

Yohan’s magic spread widely and counted their numbers one by one.

The result that was derived was surprising.

‘Fifty-one people.’

Yohan let out a hollow laugh. He wouldn’t have counted the number of people using magic like himself, but to show this level of accuracy with just pure five senses.

It’s something new, but.

‘He’s not human.’

Yohan shook his head and continued walking.

*Step-* *Step-*

Soon Yohan arrived at a huge plaza. It was about the size of a soccer field.

Only ‘humans’ were gathered in the plaza. One of them looked at the two men and women and muttered.

“Oh. Another one is coming. No, is it two people?”

Yohan didn’t bother answering. He didn’t feel the need to.

“Completely ignoring me? Well, you do look a bit easy to underestimate.”

“······Shut up.”

A woman next to the man who had been muttering chuckled. Her fingers were poking the man’s side.

Yohan only rolled his eyes and looked around. It must be the place where the tournament participants are waiting, but for some reason, there wasn’t a single object like a chair to be seen.

*Snap.*

When Yohan snapped his fingers, a chair made of rock popped up from the ground.

“Let’s sit.”

“Okay.”

Yohan and Sarah sat down leisurely and watched the people. Coincidentally, the two people’s location was right in the center of the plaza.

Thanks to that, everyone’s attention was focused on the two men and women.

It was at that moment. The man who had first muttered while looking at Yohan approached Yohan.

He said.

“Are you a wizard?”

“······I am, so what?”

“I’m a wizard too, this is perfect. My name is Alex.”

“······?”

Alex said that and flicked his finger from bottom to top. It seemed to be a signal to get up from the rock chair.

‘What is it.’

He didn’t have anything else to do anyway. Yohan willingly got up from his seat.

Alex twisted his neck from side to side. With a *crack*- sound, he said.

“I was waiting, so I was getting bored. How about a magic duel?”

“Why should I?”

Alex smiled and raised his magic power. There was no sign of an intention to attack. So he watched quietly.

*Crunch-*!

Immediately after, a sword made of steel appeared on Alex’s palm. Yohan widened his eyes.

He didn’t take it out of the inventory. It was a steel sword that he had manufactured on the spot.

“How is it, are you a little more interested now? It’s even a steel-based spell.”

Alex was still smiling gleefully. Yohan smiled back at this.

“······Certainly, I’m getting interested.”