The golden spear flies, tracing a trajectory.
Gungnir, having accelerated on its own in mid-air, sent a thug flying with the blunt butt of its shaft leading the way.
The thugs were helplessly swept away by the bizarre spear that moved freely as if it possessed a will of its own.
“Why did you have to bring a combat-aptitude student?! You crazy bastards! Attack all together! Stop that weird weapon!”
The burly boss, who had been swept away by Gungnir’s ultra-vibrating shockwave, staggered as he shouted.
“Oh, he’s sturdy.”
Even though it was low output, it was quite impressive considering everyone else who had been caught in it had fainted.
Elsie, slightly impressed, flicked her finger once.
Gungnir responded to the movement signal.
Gungnir, having spun its shaft at high speed to beat away the surrounding thugs, accelerated rapidly with a vibration, and instantly flew to Elsie’s side.
“It seems easier to handle.”
Elsie muttered, looking at Gungnir with a slightly surprised expression.
In the Aesir Saga, every movement of Gungnir had to be manually controlled, one by one.
Elsie, who had spent a considerable amount of time mastering the controls, gave a bitter smile.
Now, Gungnir seemed to have a will of its own.
Its immediate response to simple commands and movement gestures was astonishing.
It was as if it understood what she wanted and moved accordingly.
Beyond the limitations of a weapon, it felt like she had gained a reliable ally.
‘Maybe this is Gungnir’s true ability.’
As this world faithfully realized things like original myths or settings attached to games, Elsie’s speculation was valid.
“Elsie, don’t let your guard down! More than one or two people have died or gone missing because of these guys!”
At Doyun’s warning, Elsie gripped Gungnir tightly.
“Don’t worry. I always do my best when I fight. More importantly, what are you doing here?”
“That’s what I want to ask… Weren’t you supposed to be shopping with Thrud? How did you get mixed up with these guys…”
Doyun glanced at Thrud in the distance, throwing large objects at the thugs as if they were playing ball, and shook his head.
“Shopping… we did a lot… enough to be sufficient. Ha…”
Elsie avoided Doyun’s gaze, recalling the hellish shopping trip that would remain a trauma.
“What happened?”
“If you’re curious, I’ll set up a time next time, so you should definitely come along too.”
“Y-You’re asking me to go shopping with you?”
Elsie, having deflected a flying axe with a swing of Gungnir, turned to look at Doyun with a look of surprise.
“You promised to help this morning and then ran away immediately.”
Elsie shrugged and swung the shaft, sending two thugs flying.
“That’s true, but… shopping together, that’s…”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to. I’m not forcing you. It’s not a pleasant experience anyway…”
Elsie traced back her memories.
The painful time when she was treated like a living doll.
How many outfits had she changed into?
For Elsie, who needed resolve and effort to forcibly adapt to the academy uniform, women’s casual wear was truly an unknown world.
And people are inherently wary of the unknown and feel fear.
She was no different.
She didn’t have much memory of what clothes she bought.
She only had a vivid memory of Thrud and the shop assistants sticking to her and changing her clothes because she was clumsy at dressing.
In fact, she could confidently say that that was more difficult than her aversion to clothes.
It was an experience where her embarrassment had reached its limit.
Elsie’s face flushed with the sudden memory.
She shuddered and slammed the blunt butt of the Gungnir she was holding onto the ground.
*Thwoom-!*
A large ripple spread out as if the sound was amplified by a speaker.
The sound wave spread beyond the thugs’ hideout and even outside the commercial district.
“Ugh! How embarrassing! Now that it’s come to this, I have to vent this frustration on these criminals!”
Gungnir responded to Elsie’s will.
She shuddered at her own weakness, having been helplessly changed without being able to resist.
Elsie’s emotions were properly stirred.
“Gungnir! Energy focus!”
“W-Wait a minute!”
The magical moments when the clothes on her body disappeared one by one by the hands of the female shop assistants and Thrud.
Her figure, instantly transformed into underwear, standing in front of the mirror.
‘This is bullshit—’
An excessively embarrassing memory was revived.
Doyun was horrified as Elsie, her pupils dilated, showed signs of going berserk.
He quickly swung Notung, sweeping away the surrounding thugs, and grabbed Elsie’s wrist.
“C-Calm down! The security forces will be here soon to clean up! It’ll be a problem if you go wild!”
Elsie, whose eyes had been spinning, regained focus and stared at Han Doyun.
Doyun felt like his breath was taken away for a moment as her jewel-like blue eyes looked directly into his.
“I’m going! Let’s go shopping together next time.”
“…You really don’t have to force yourself? I was just joking.”
Elsie, looking at Doyun, who was stiff with a flushed face, with a blank expression, stared at her hands held by him.
‘Why isn’t this guy letting go?’
She was grateful that he had stopped her from almost losing her mind, but the thugs were not completely dealt with yet.
‘Swinging it myself feels better, but I can’t help it in this situation.’
Elsie flicked her index finger, and Gungnir, which had been vibrating around Han Doyun, flew up.
“Activation.”
Elsie quickly rolled her eyes.
Scanning the remaining thugs, she fired Gungnir.
Gungnir began to fly like a missile once again.
As it was originally a spear for throwing, this method could be said to be the correct way to use it.
However, the method Elsie preferred was to swing the spear directly.
Using Gungnir’s automatic activation and self-floating characteristics, freely navigating the 3D space to fight was originally Elsie’s combat method.
At least in the Aesir Saga, there was no one who could properly respond to her 3D high-mobility combat method.
Elsie recalled the moment when she first won the martial arts tournament in the Aesir Saga.
The feeling of longing began to spread into a bitter smile.
Elsie’s fingers flicked busily as if she were controlling a puppet.
In response, Gungnir swept away the thugs with ghostly movements.
‘The problem is that muscle pig, the burly guy.’
Unnecessarily, no, excessively sturdy.
He didn’t fall easily to attacks that moderately beat him with the shaft for suppression.
“Hey, let go of me now. I can’t concentrate.”
“S-Sorry.”
No matter how she thought about it, adjusting the strength to suppress the opponent was too difficult.
‘But I can’t use the blade part either.’
Gungnir’s blade is dangerous.
It was definitely not something that could be used for suppression.
Therefore, Elsie, freed from Han Doyun’s restraint, pondered.
How should she subdue that dirty human trafficker?
‘Should I leave it to Han Doyun or Thrud? No. This is all experience….’
Even though various senses were synchronized with this world while possessing the body, Elsie could still be said to lack practical experience.
Gungnir’s shaft swung around, beating the burly boss this way and that.
As the situation became fixed, Elsie asked Han Doyun with concern.
“You said the security forces are coming, right?”
As Elsie flicked her delicate index finger, the butt of the spear struck the burly man’s abdomen.
“Y-Yeah. We planned for them to rush in a little after I infiltrated.”
“…What are you doing on a holiday?”
This time, as she flicked her index finger, the shaft swung and struck the burly man’s chin.
“It’s like a part-time job. To train, and to clear my head…”
‘Clearing my head has failed, though.’
Doyun, who didn’t know he would be reunited with the person who was messing up his head so quickly, drooped his shoulders.
“A part-time job?! This?”
To earn living expenses and repay the debt she owed Thrud, she needed to find a job.
Elsie was interested in this kind of work, beyond just making a living.
“Can you tell me more about it later?”
Doyun, staring at Elsie with shining eyes, quietly nodded with a reddened face.
Meanwhile, Thrud, who had dealt with the thugs, approached with a refreshed face.
She glanced at Gungnir moving on its own and opened her mouth.
“That magic wand is so amazing.”
“It’s not a magic wand, it’s a spear!”
“So, how long are you going to just swing it around like that?”
The burly boss, who was being beaten by Gungnir without being able to breathe, was stubbornly not falling.
“…I was going to subdue him, but he’s sturdy.”
“Seeing him last that long… he might be a combat-aptitude person.”
There were many people who honed their combat aptitude or magical abilities, although not as much as the academy students.
Most of them ended up with mediocre growth, but there were bound to be those with outstanding strength.
Elsie, hearing Thrud’s words, briefly retrieved Gungnir.
As the relentless barrage stopped, the burly man, who had been faltering for a moment, began to tremble all over and rage.
“You goddamn bitch!!!”
“Oh, he’s really okay.”
She had been controlling her power, but still, a considerable amount of impact had been delivered.
Considering that, he was indeed incredibly sturdy.
“I’m going to kill you!”
The enraged burly boss, with bloodshot eyes, pulled out a large hand axe.
“I’ll chop you lovebirds into pieces and throw you to the beasts!”
A dark red aura rose from the burly man’s hand axe.
The rapidly heated axe turned bright red and began to emit heat.
“….”
Elsie, who had been quietly watching, grabbed Gungnir with both hands and aimed the spearhead.
“Energy Blast.”
Concentrate: Release!
A golden ray of light burst from the tip of the shining spear.
_Kwaaaah!!_
***
Crackle, crackle—
The city guards were busily moving through the debris where embers were scattered.
Elsie, watching the thugs being restrained and taken away from a distance, sighed and leaned against the wall.
“I was planning to fight from the start, but it was too much of a weapon to use against those guys.”
“No matter how I look at it, it looks like a magic wand…”
Thrud, who was quietly watching Gungnir floating next to Elsie, muttered.
“Hey, it’s a spear.”
“A flying, ray-emitting stick isn’t generally called a spear, Elsie.”
Elsie raised her head, holding her forehead.
‘She’s not wrong.’
Two large crows were flying in the blue sky visible between the narrow alleys.
“By the way, I didn’t know Han Doyun was working as a mercenary.”
Elsie quietly watched Han Doyun exchanging words with the guards.
He was wearing meticulously crafted light armor with added plates, giving the impression of an adventurer from a fantasy world.
Seeing such clothes in real life made her heart flutter.
“It’s making my heart race a little.”
“What—?!”
Thrud, who had been anxiously watching Elsie staring at Han Doyun, exclaimed in astonishment.
“Huh?”
“E-Elsie, what did you just say?”
“Just now? That my heart is racing?”
Thrud trembled at the unbelievable words.
Elsie simply tilted her head at Thrud’s strange behavior.
“Y-Your heart is racing? For that?!”
Thrud pointed at Han Doyun with a trembling hand and asked, hoping she had misheard.
“That? Ah… a little?”
Elsie, thinking she was referring to his mercenary attire, affirmed Thrud’s question.
“N-No way!!”
“Huh? What, what is it?”
Elsie, who had agreed because she thought it was a fantasy-inspired armor design, flinched at Thrud’s intense reaction.
Could it be because it was a common armor to Thrud, who was born and raised in this world?
But Elsie preferred the simple charm of that armor to the somewhat flashy game designs.
“I-It’s cool…”
At Elsie’s shocking statement, Thrud held her forehead and staggered.
“Since when… since when did you like that, that…”
‘That pervert!’
“J-Just now, when I saw it…”
“No way! Elsie, it’s because your memories haven’t fully returned yet! You lack the eye for it!”
Elsie could only nod blankly at Thrud’s active denial.
As much as she lacked common sense in this world, it was possible that her sense of fashion was lacking.
“W-What about me?”
At Thrud’s question, patting her chest, Elsie glanced at her attire.
Short shorts that accentuated her healthy beauty and a hooded zip-up with a rabbit design suited Thrud very well.
“Y-Yeah, good. Cute.”
At Elsie’s nodding affirmation, the corners of Thrud’s lips began to twitch and rise.
“How does it compare to that?”
A comparison between mercenary attire that stimulates fantasy romance and stylish, natural everyday wear.
Logically speaking, natural wear would be better.
“Yours is a bit more?”
Thrud smiled brightly at Elsie’s hesitant answers.
She hugged Elsie tightly with a satisfied expression.
Not yet. She didn’t want to lose her first true friend to someone else yet.
So she didn’t let go of Elsie, who was wriggling like a fish pulled out of the water.
Under the blue sky, a pair of large crows perched on the roof of the alleyway, watched the scene quietly, and then flew away.