episode_0084

“Ugh… ugh……”

It felt like I had a very long dream.

It felt like dreaming of the life I used to live in the past…

The time when I was trapped at home due to the hardships I faced during my school days and unfortunate family circumstances.

A time when I couldn’t do anything because everything I tried seemed to go wrong, and eventually I stopped trying to do anything at all.

Back then, I was just a human surviving because I was alive.

There were times when I wanted to do something meaningful.

But I didn’t have the ability or the environment to do so.

I, who couldn’t even accomplish small things, how could I do something meaningful in this world?

So, the choice I made was an absurd one to come to this world.

Honestly, it was an escape from reality… I still think so.

Such a thing couldn’t happen to me.

Even if I studied various ways to come to this world, it was all made up by someone.

Even if I were to die in an accident like being hit by a truck, I knew that it wouldn’t take me to this world, I would just die and that would be the end.

…Until I really came to this world.

Consciousness returned.

Was I lying on the bed feeling the soft sensation on my back?

Opening my eyes became a bit scary.

What if the reality from the dream continued when I opened my eyes?

Swallowing dry saliva, I slowly opened my eyes.

Then, a familiar face was staring at me from a distance so close that it felt like our noses could touch.

Seeing that face, I felt a sense of relief that I was still in this world, along with confusion.

…Meruru?

“Wow! Yunoa! Yunoa has awakened!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Meruru shouted and patted my chest with both hands.

It was like being hit with a soft stick, but the sound was oddly cheerful.

As I sat up, I realized I was on my bed.

Wait… I was definitely at the Belfork Mansion helping Mariel with something…

“Meruru? Why are you here? And why am I here?”

“Wow! Yunoa is a fool! I thought she had turned into a human-shaped plant!”

“Hey, calm down. What’s going on?”

Trying to calm down the frantic Meruru, I tried to recall my memories.

Oh, right. I was definitely putting mana into Mariel’s huge mana storage device.

Once I filled it with mana, she wouldn’t bother me anymore, and she promised to give me magical tools for free when I made them later.

“I have to go meet my sister, but you kept lying down! I tried to wake you up every day by hitting you with my fists!”

Meruru complained tearfully.

Go meet my sister… Did Alcott mention the Demon Protection Center?

How long was I lying down for…?

“Meruru, how long was I asleep?”

“For a week! You’ve been almost dead for a week!”

“…A week?!”

That damn witch, Mariel.

And that damn narrator.

If a person loses consciousness for a week, isn’t that a severe aftereffect?

I feel resentment towards the narrator who simply expressed it as ‘tired and exhausted’.

I immediately got up and stretched my body, checking my condition.

I made sure there was nothing wrong with the mana inside my body.

Fortunately, aside from the fact that I had been lying down for a week, my body was light and in good condition.

My body is fine, but what is this unjust feeling…?

“But why are you here?”

“I came to find Meruru’s sister! Master told me to! That’s why I want to meet her!”

“Okay, but…”

“But Master won’t tell me where he is! Yunoa knows! Yunoa said she knows where he is! Yunoa said we should go together when she wakes up! But Yunoa was half-dead here!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Meruru weakly punched her own body again.

If Algot had told her, then Aruru from the Demon Protection Center must have adapted enough to be able to visit.

Was it Algot who attached Meruru to me?

Well, it didn’t matter since I had already planned to take Meruru to the Demon Protection Center once I was ready.

I immediately changed into new clothes and headed to the Adventurer’s Guild with Meruru.

* * *

“……”

“Oh! You’re here! Thanks to you, my mana storage device is full! Don’t worry, I’ll use it sparingly!”

Kubel Adventurer’s Guild Master’s office.

Inside, Algot and Mariel were sitting across from each other, drinking tea.

As soon as Meruru and I entered, Mariel greeted me with a warm smile.

Why is that witch here again?

“You were unconscious for a week thanks to her. I won’t do that again.”

“It’s fine for now, but I’ll definitely ask for your help again later!”

“How do you listen to people?”

“Well… you did give me a lot of money, and you promised to make me magical tools! As long as you’re healthy, that’s all that matters!”

Mariel’s gaze turned sinister again as she spoke.

When she looked at me with those eyes, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Ignoring Mariel’s gaze, I turned to Algot.

“I heard that I can go meet Meruru’s sister.”

“Oh, yes. I roughly explained it to Meruru. Take this with you.”

Algot took out a small badge from his pocket and handed it to me.

It was a silver badge similar to an adventurer rank badge.

“This is a delegation badge that proves you are on an important mission assigned by the Guild Master of Kubel. It will show that I sent you when you show it at Pifnel.”

“Do I just show this when I get there?”

“Showing this won’t get you through the underground lawless area, but it’s a mark for my people to recognize you. And this too.”

Algot handed me a folded note.

Carefully unfolding it, I saw the location of the hidden Demon Protection Center inside a shop was written on it.

Behind the 13th pillar at the 2nd entrance of the Pifnel underground waterway, there is a restaurant called Paprika.

Algot had explained this to me before.

The Demon Protection Center is hidden inside a shop disguised as a double-layered establishment.

Inside that restaurant, there is a hidden gambling den, and you have to go through that den to reach the Demon Protection Center.

I carefully kept the badge and note that Algot gave me so as not to lose them.

Meruru, next to me, was making strange noises, wagging her tail impatiently, eager to set off.

Mariel’s sinister gaze was uncomfortable, so I decided to leave quickly.

With Meruru, I turned to leave the office.

As I did, Algot added a word from behind.

“Oh, and please take good care of Meruru. She’s rougher than you think.”

Well, it’s the lawless area after all.

Dealing with demons, this shouldn’t be a problem.

I prepared to leave Kubel with Meruru like that.

* * *

The carriage heading to the capital Pifnel was comfortable.

We had to travel a long distance, so I spent a little more money to ride a good carriage.

I could see outside through the window, and the cushioned seats made sure my butt didn’t hurt.

Before departure, Mariel appeared and suggested, ‘How about using my spatial teleportation magic to get there in an instant! Sending others is still in the testing phase, but if successful, it can save time!’ I declined.

It could save time if successful, but if it failed, I could end up dead.

Even the sacrificial lamb of magic cannot be sacrificed at the testing stage.

She thought that she couldn’t afford to relax in front of her.

Meruru couldn’t calm down in the carriage, constantly flicking her tail and ears while looking out the window.

Although they were still far from arriving, she seemed to be in a good mood at the thought of meeting her sister.

“Meruru, why did my sister leave the island of Helvetika?”

Feeling bored from the long journey, I spoke to Meruru first.

Meruru turned her head towards me and answered with sparkling eyes.

“My sister wanted to be an adventurer! She wanted to leave the narrow island and go to a wider place.”

“She wanted to be an adventurer?”

Didn’t they say that the people of Helvetika Island were all weak?

Yet she had such a dream.

“There were ships that often came to our island. If we gave them lots of fruits and herbs, we could get meat in return. My sister heard adventurer stories from the humans who came there.”

“Trading ships….”

I recalled the large trading ship that Meruru first stowed away on.

It was a large trading ship that passed through Helvetika Island.

As long as trading ships came and went, it was not strange for them to be influenced by the goods brought from there.

Perhaps Aruru had learned about adventurers and the continent after encountering such information.

Thinking about the characteristics of the people of Helvetika Island, Aruru’s tremendous physical abilities must have developed after becoming a demon.

If her physical abilities before becoming a demon were not much different from Meruru’s, it was hard to imagine how much she had suffered.

If I hadn’t found Meruru, she would have likely been captured by slave traders or become a target for bad people.

If Aruru had come to the continent alone just because she wanted to be an adventurer, she wouldn’t have lived a smooth life.

“We’ll be able to meet her in a few days.”

I wonder how Aruru is doing now.

Her hostile gaze that seemed to want to kill me still lingers in my mind.

Has she really changed her mind at the demon shelter?

“Aruru, who is both a demon and a demon, was doing well at the demon shelter.

She was shocked to see so many ‘unaccepted demons’ like herself.

Although she didn’t trust humans because of that, she knew that it was safer to be at the demon shelter than in the outside world.”

The narration provided some information about Aruru’s current state.

She still doesn’t trust humans.

Well, it’s not easy to quickly fix such deep distrust of humans.

Even if she doesn’t know what happened, if there aren’t enough good memories to offset the bad ones, the distrust won’t go away.

Still, she seems to be accepting staying at the demon shelter positively.

As long as she doesn’t run around recklessly, time might resolve things.

Meruru started shaking her tail vigorously again while looking out the window of the carriage.

Watching her back with mixed emotions in my eyes…

Swish, swish-

“Epupeupweup!”

Meruru’s lush tail swept through my face, and her tail hair went into my mouth.

Meruru… she sheds a lot of fur….