Jian strode confidently ahead. I, attached to his side, floated along as if I weren’t heavy at all. Whoosh!
The method of movement was incredibly simple.
He moved forward. A wall appeared in front. He swung his sword to clear it. Then he continued on the path that opened up. This repeated continuously. Swish!
Any obstacles on the ground were hardly a problem. Whenever I seemed about to trip, Jian would effortlessly lift and move me, which made me feel a bit like a piece of luggage, and I was quite annoyed, but I knew that if I tried to walk alone, it would just slow us down, so I couldn’t complain too much. Tap!
Something… something feels off…
My pride, it’s hurting…
“By the way…”
I asked Jian, who was moving straight ahead with one hand covering my mouth.
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Kind of.”
Jian replied.
“…How?”
When I questioned him,
“Ha ha…”
he awkwardly laughed and looked away. Um, excuse me?
Even with the direct blessing of the goddess, it was impossible for me to track demons or find witches. I’d never created such magic. Of course, in this world’s nature, which develops its own logic, it wouldn’t be strange if such magic existed. Sparkle!
In fact, Aurora had once tracked Rina down by some means I didn’t know and had led us here. If I’d continued writing my story, maybe magic like that might have appeared later on.
But Jian wasn’t that kind of character! He was purely a knight. Sure, he was a bit too strong to just call him “a knight,” but he wasn’t born with magical talent.
The reason I could say this so confidently is that after a little quiz, my magic-related scores were so low that I got scolded by Selena, the top student. In that world, magic was basically engineering, so if one didn’t understand the fundamental issues, proper magic usage was impossible regardless of how high their magical power was.
Moreover, my story was written in the first-person perspective. It would be impossible to pretend to be good but deliberately make it look like I was bad. There were countless aspects of the story that went unexplored, but unless the story mentioned Jian’s actions or thoughts, it wouldn’t even be possible for such a situation to occur.
As I stared suspiciously at Jian’s actions, a drop of sweat formed on his temple.
“…I see.”
“Do you believe me?”
“I believe that we’re going to the witch. I’m just curious about how we’re getting there.”
Another drop of sweat trickled down Jian’s temple. Well, at least it’s good he’s not good at acting and lying. But the “righteous” part is definitely there, so it’s not like he would hide anything for an outright villainous reason.
“I think he’ll tell us someday.”
“Yeah. Someday.”
Seeing Jian make that promise made me feel reassured. Like most righteous protagonists, he keeps his promises with all his life on the line. With a response like that, he would eventually tell me whenever he felt like it.
Still, the fact that the protagonist had secrets I didn’t know was a pretty serious situation. I hadn’t anticipated Jian’s swordsmanship would be that impressive, but not knowing the extent of his strength and not knowing the specific settings was a huge difference.
As Jian slashed away obstacles in the background, I began to seriously rummage through my brain. The story I’d written back then, the world I doodled when bored, the character settings…
After a while of chewing on these thoughts, I eventually recalled the settings I had written for Jian.
He was supposed to be in the mid-170s in height but would grow over 180 by graduation. There was no setting for his weight, but he was fit, almost like the lean muscular bodies you often see in photo collections.
As a descendant of a swordsman who could cut through beasts or demons without hesitation, he was a genius swordsman if he held a sword in his hand.
Like I mentioned before, I had planned on including the goddess in his harem later on, and almost all the women around him would gaze at him with heart-shaped eyes… Honestly, he had the looks that even I thought were charming, not to mention his great personality, skill, and sufficiently decent magical abilities aside from magic. He truly was a “munchkin” protagonist.
To be more precise, he embodied the version of me that I wished I could be while I was obsessively writing back then.
While I was reading my own work, I felt a strong aversion to the writing quality and structure, but more than that, it was too glaringly obvious what my thoughts were while creating that character Jian that I couldn’t bear to read the whole thing, even though no one was watching.
However, even so, I couldn’t bring myself to discard that cringeworthy piece of my past and was trying to rewrite it into something readable. The reason was—
The reason was that I had affection for that notebook, which contained my first written story.
Of course, I also had affection for the characters. If possible, I wanted to write the ending of that story.
Though putting it off and putting it off, ultimately, I never got to write it before dying.
Um—well, anyway.
I’m slowly starting to remember. I had written a single keyword for each character. For example, Selena was a tsundere, Satsuki a class president character, Erica a childhood friend character, something like that. Characters with keywords were mostly the main ones I created for long-term writing, so, of course, Jian had such a keyword too.
The keyword I assigned to Jian was—
“World’s Strongest.”
…
…
Oh! Indeed!
It totally makes sense!
Ah haha! If he’s the “World’s Strongest,” then it wouldn’t be strange at all for him to slice incoming shells or different high-ranking demons! Boom!
This is bad.
This time it was my forehead that began to sweat.
Of course, being the world’s strongest doesn’t mean he cuts down every character in one hit like Swordmaster Yamato. He might struggle with some enemies or might not win against groups. After all, “world’s strongest” assumes one-on-one fights. Otherwise, it would be hard for the story to hold together.
However, saying this could imply—
If a goddess fought one-on-one, Jian would win.
Whoosh!
The moment Jian wielded his sword, again, the obstacles piled high to form a wall shattered into pieces and flew away. A path large enough for not just two, but for about five or six people opened up. Even if the wall before us had been made of concrete, it could have been smashed with ease.
… Don’t look at me like that. I have things to say too.
When I said “world’s strongest” it didn’t mean he was the strongest since birth. To be precise, it meant “destined to become the strongest.”
The protagonist is supposed to defeat all the witches, and finally take down the demon race to become the strongest, meaning he’s not meant to just sweep aside everything in front of him since birth!
But, I had already written that term in my notebook.
And for some reason, it seems that term did apply faithfully in this world.
“You’re sweating a lot. Are you okay?”
Is he trying to extend his hand to his lovely companion like a true protagonist?
“Oh, no. I’m fine. Just a bit nauseous…”
Anyway, it’s because of the nausea. I definitely don’t feel like escaping from the content I wrote. Jian’s destruction and the various fluids spilling onto the ground were what made it so. In any case, that’s it.
At least half of it was the truth, and it seemed like Jian understood my words.
“Want a lift? I promise I won’t do anything inappropriate.”
The very fact that he said that must have made it no different than doing something inappropriate from the girls’ perspective, right? It’s fine if I, as a guy, think that way.
“No. We’re going this way.”
“Uh? Oh, um. Okay.”
When I firmly drew the line, Jian answered a bit flustered. Still, boy, what’s wrong with you? At the very least, choose one of the heroines!
… Surely I’m not included as one already, right?
*
After that, I just kept quiet and followed the direction Jian led us.
Though it felt like ages, in reality, it had been less than ten minutes. No matter how much magic had expanded it, the underground was still underground. It wouldn’t have expanded enough to take an hour to walk through. The witch must have nearly reached her end.
As Jian regularly cleared the obstacles ahead, he suddenly stopped swinging his sword.
It’s fascinating that even when stopping mid-swing, no sword energy was released from the blade. What kind of trick is this? If it’s not magic, then there must be a physical law applying, but could he even control that with his strength? Isn’t that a bit over-the-top for a munchkin?
Honestly, do I really need to be here?
Was it really necessary to bring me to this world? It seems like he could handle everything here by himself.
… Of course, if that was the case, Rina would be dead.
I clearly wrote in the story that the protagonist was cornered by a witch, leading to Rina’s sacrifice, but wouldn’t that story fall apart if he was that strong?
Or maybe, something disastrous might happen due to the disconnect between the plot’s progression and the settings I wrote… I still don’t know. The goddess never directly told me.
… I’m sure there has to be a reason! A reason why I need to be here. There are hardly any clues to judge by, so thinking alone just muddles my brain. Let’s leave the unsolved problems for tomorrow’s me and focus on overcoming the situation at hand.
“Sit here for a moment.”
Jian carefully set me down. Thinking back, he had been carrying me like this for quite some time now. Didn’t that seem obvious that I looked perfectly fine? Well, it was definitely too late to raise an objection now.
Right now, I couldn’t do anything without Jian’s help, so I obediently leaned against a slightly protruding table. And I silently observed what Jian was trying to do.
Jian gripped the sword with both hands, and unlike when he was carelessly blasting away obstacles, he looked extremely focused.
He closed his eyes and, as if preparing for the duel of a lifetime, took a deep breath (I was again impressed; breathing comfortably amidst this stench!).
“Haah!”
He exhaled sharply and made a diagonal slash!
Following that, two more slashes followed.
“Hah!”
With a speed beyond ocular detection, dozens, if not hundreds, of slashes continued in quick succession.
So fast, time felt like it was flowing slowly. In reality, only a few seconds had passed, and the wall of obstacles began to crumble before my eyes.
Centered on the two large slices he made first, a triangular shape emerged. The items in between shattered into pieces and slowly collapsed, creating a passage for us to walk through.
Just a moment ago, he blasted everything behind him without a second thought— before I even finished saying that, sounds came from beyond the hole.
“Look, here they come!”
“Seems like it.”
Beyond the crumbled wall was not a path but rather an extremely narrow space, barely enough for two people to fit through. If Jian had swung his sword through like he was breaking through another passage, those two would likely have been reduced to halves by Jian’s sword technique capable of splitting 155mm shells mid-air.
“Just a bit later, and it could have been a hug between the two.”
The person stepping out with a cheerful expression was— Andrea?
Her hairstyle was a bit less old-fashioned than usual though. If you only looked at the clothes she was wearing and her straight hair, she could easily be mistaken for a college student.
“Really, if it had been that close, my life would have been in danger. My hair isn’t even dry yet.”
“I wouldn’t say it was life-threatening.”
But judging by her tone, it was definitely Andrea. She seemed to have been trapped along with Rina after coming in earlier.
Following Andrea was Rina, who didn’t seem surprised to see Jian at all. Her expression was as if she had expected him to arrive.
“I knew it.”
“Huh?”
Andrea and Rina exchanged very meaningful comments. What’s up? Did I screw up again? No, it’s not like I have any specific memory of doing something wrong until now.
“Did he follow you?”
“Uh?”
When Rina pointed at me leaning against the wall, Jian tilted his head.
“No. I told him to come, and Clara met us on the way.”
“Eh?”
Hearing Jian’s answer left Rina in disbelief. It was a voice we hardly ever heard from her. Being quite intelligent, she wasn’t someone easily duped; her quiz scores were also pretty high.
I didn’t know what she was thinking, but it seemed she thought I had somehow tracked her down.
“Really? You mean you personally came to find him?”
Rina asked Jian again incredulously.
“Yeah, that’s right…”
“How?”
“Uh…”
As Rina stared intently at Jian, a drop of sweat formed on his temple, just like when I questioned him earlier. How did he manage to find me?
“Whatever, it’s fine.”
Not wanting Jian to avoid answering, Rina shrugged her shoulders with a resigned expression.
The tracking was actually done by Aurora, but it felt unnecessary to waste time explaining that, so I just stayed quiet. It’s something those two would figure out for themselves later.
For some reason, Andrea was wearing a remarkably confident smile towards Rina, but I decided to let it slide for now.
“So now, I’m thinking we should start moving. Is that alright?”
“Yes, it’s fine.”
As I stood up, Jian slipped a hand under my armpit and helped me up.
“Ah.”
Seeing that, Rina mumbled in a daze,
“Hey!”
and then struck Jian on the back of the head.
“Whoa!”
A startled Jian turned around, rubbing the back of his head, and Rina was seething.
“What are you doing getting all handsy with the girl? Especially with the face-to-face thing…!”
Rina paused midway through her sentence.
“With the face-to-face thing?”
“With the face-to-face thing?”
“Anyway, you get away from him. You didn’t bring him along like that, did you?”
“No, I carried him all the way like this.”
Not just any casual hold, either; I was basically cradled as he carried me here.
…Thinking about it, we had been walking closely, feeling each other’s silhouettes, all the way.
That too, while I was drenched.
“…”
Um, this may have looked like a misunderstanding from anyone else’s perspective.
Of course, I had justifiable reasons. I was mentally and physically worn out from vomiting a few times. Though I could walk, there’s no way I could keep up with his pace.
So I really didn’t have any reason to be embarrassed— but considering Rina’s cold stare at me, that’s not what it felt like.
“It’s not my fault…”
As I mumbled that, Rina let out a deep sigh and waved her hand, shooing Jian away.
Then Rina came up beside me and supported me. Unlike when Jian had had his arm around me, this was a textbook method of supporting an injured person.
Wow~! It felt like sticky body contact with a girl from my class! Wink!
Except the fragrant sticky liquid on my body was an aromatic scent that stank, and the body contact was merely our sides touching. Our sides pressed together, but it didn’t really feel that significant. There was a slight touch of our sides, sure…
Then again, with my mind preoccupied with just wanting to finish this and return home, there was no time to savor it fully.
“You seem a bit too unguarded for a saintess, don’t you?”
Rina whispered to me, but the distance was such that if I opened my mouth, I feared the sour scent in my mouth would waft over to her. No way would I want to unleash that odor on a girl!
While I was agonizing mentally, I felt someone poke my shoulder.
“Clara sisters.”
Then suddenly, a water bottle was presented to me. Andrea was calmly offering it without saying a word.
…Ah, did they already realize?
I quickly realized there wasn’t a single normal human here.
With tears welling up, I accepted the water bottle. Swoosh!
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
